The Grisly Grotto
by: Quilling, 10-21-99
The sky is the thing I remember most. It was just so dark and dank, the thick clouds continuously
rolling over each other, it was enough to make a man tremble. I remember my buddy since boot joking
about it, it wasn’t funny, but it served its purpose to relieve the tension. I faintly remember
the chopper’s pilot saying we’d arrived at the LZ, but my mind was on other things. First of all,
I was wondering just what the hell I was going to do, but all that came to the mind was to stay
alive and not screw the pooch, not getting everyone else killed. Our mission was to clear the
installation, aptly named the "Grisly Grotto", and recover the rune of Elder God Magic.
For those who don’t know or remember, the queen of evil from a different dimension, Shub-Niggurath,
had acquired four runes. We Ranger’s didn’t even know what they were for. Everything was on a
need-to-know basis, and all we were told was that if she kept them in possession much longer, all
our lives would be expendable. We were able to enter her dimension through a new device called a
slipgate, a device that we’ve been told has since been destroyed.
All ten members of the team hopped off the chopper, and it sped off to circle the area until we’d
cleaned up. We raced up to the entrance, which resembled a mineshaft. The team then crossed
themselves; a habit we’d picked up awhile back. It seemed to be most appropriate, seeing how what
we’d face was pure evil. Our demolitions expert set up the door charge, as the rest of us checked
our weapons a final time. I was packing an M60 machinegun; I was the team’s heavy gunner. People
had asked me why I hadn’t yet switched to the M249 SAW, but the gun had served my father well in
Vietnam. Besides, I had the thing so customized the base’s gunsmith had proved it had better specs
than the newer SAW.
Corporal Jack Wilson gave the sign, and blew the door in. I still wasn’t used to the noise, but I
didn’t falter rushing in with the others. To our surprise, the room was unguarded, and that was
nearly scarier than had there been bad guys. The Lieutenant shrugged, and we got in place around the
next door, as Jack went forward to place another charge. The double doors swung open at his
approach, and on the other side I made out a hovering figure, roughly man-sized, a Scrag. I
instinctively raised my heavy weapon and fired a short burst into the thing. It dropped to the
ground with a dull thud. Jack had dived onto the ground, and as he got up I could see the sweat
beads rolling down his face. There are much more and much worse things on the way buddy, I thought
to myself, but I felt the sweat on my face as well.
The Scrag is a half-man, half-floating-snake-thing, and boy are they ugly! It’s not quite as strong
as some of it’s other hell-mates, but it does spit an acid-venom, and can fly, so it must be treated
with caution.
Lieutenant Harrison patted Jack on the back, and gave the thumbs up sign to enter the room ahead.
This room was circular, and a circular staircase lead downstairs, where one of our team’s M4 A1
shooters, Sergeant Olson, pumped a couple explosive-tipped rounds into a tin-can Knight and it
slumped over on its sword. This room lead to a narrow tunnel which curved around to the heart of
the installation, the cave, or, grotto. The grotto had a good twenty to thirty feet of water,
and in the center of the grotto was a bridge, which Olson was first to point out was guarded by an
ogre.
An ogre is a roughly seven foot tall brute, wielding a chainsaw and a sack-full of grenades. About
the only good thing about the ogre is that he can only send the grenades so far, and their
chainsaw’s won’t do much good at that distance anyway.
Using thermal optics, I pointed out two more Scrags also patrolling above the water. We decided to
move five men out in a firing line to provide cover fire for the other five that would enter the
water and take the chamber to the right. We made sure each shooter knew which target each person
was going to shoot, I was going for the ogre on the bridge, as this target suited my weapon the
best. On five we began firing, and Delta team, as we’d call them, filed out into the water. I saw
my rounds strike their target, as the confused ogre spun around and hit the floor. Then, I saw the
Scrags hit the water, Harrison gave us the "clear" sign and we too filed off into the water.
We saw Delta team just reaching the opening which lead to the next chamber, as we dove down under a
structure that brought us up to an opening. As I was crawling up, the second one up, I raised my
head above water just in time to see Olson firing his M4 into the tough hide of an ogre. I saw a
grenade headed our way, and I pulled Olson underwater just before it exploded. Jack quickly swam
up with his M4 with a M79 grenade launcher under-mounted. He took a quick peak above water and then
fired off a grenade. It exploded and we resurfaced.
Lieutenant Harrison called for a status report from Delta team over his helmet-mounted radio.
They reported a run-in with two fiends and two Knights, but no one was hurt, although one member
had taken a liking to one of the Knight’s swords, and was contemplating taking it as a souvenir.
They could see the exit above, but they’d have to go through a few more rooms to get there.
Harrison okayed it, and we were back on our way.
We passed by the Ogre’s mangled body and came to a room with a walkway that lead to a center
structure that appeared to be a hut. I entered the room first; it was all too quiet. I could hear
my own heart thumping, and I swear I could hear my friends’ hearts as well. I walked cautiously
forward, and then I froze still and gave the "hold-up" signal when I heard a dull thumping. At
first, I couldn’t tell if it was my heart again or something else’s footsteps. Then, I heard a low
groan that I knew to be a Knight’s, but he heard me first, I realized as I heard the metallic
clashing noise of a sword unsheathing. I spun to my left in time to see a long blade slicing down
upon my shoulder. Luckily my body armor resisted the blade and I brought my M60 up to his head at
point blank. The gun roared to life as the Knight’s ended.
When all was quiet, I checked the gash in my armor, quite close to my unprotected neck. I’ll have
to ask General Hendricksen about getting some neck protection when we get back, I thought. I don’t
know how we’d overlooked that. I gave the "clear" signal, and the rest of the five-man team moved
into the room. We made our way to the hut, and inside was a platform-type elevator. We knew the
horrible possibility of an ambush above, but there was enough room for two people to go at a time,
so the shooters Olson and Glatson stepped up first. The platform started up as they got on, and the
metal gears grinding together were quite loud as it slowly moved up. Those were some strenuously
suspenseful seconds as it made its way to the top. When it came to a grinding halt, the sounds of
automatic gunfire came from above. The firefight lasted just over fifteen seconds, actually fairly
long for most fights. As suddenly as it began, it stopped, and then all was quiet. We down below
looked at each other puzzled, hoping for the best, when finally Olson bent over the edge and told
us it was clear.
Up above we saw the remains of three Knights, two Scrags and an Ogre. Being an experienced
demon-killer, I was quite impressed, and I offered a handshake to the two. The room looked like a
good place to stash a rune, so we scoured the area, but found nothing of the likes and quickly
moved on.
Up ahead was a large area where we stood on a platform high above the ground. Below was the
opening Delta team had entered which seemed to be so long ago. I made out the sunken forms of the
two fiends and three knights they had reported, and wasn’t surprised to see one of them missing
its sword. I guess Harrelson had made his decision. I looked up, and there was that devilish sky.
Then I looked straight out across the platform and my eyes rested upon five weary warriors. I
hurried up with the others to meet up with them again.
Again, I wasn’t too surprised to see a few of them blood-splattered, but upon closer inspection and
questioning them, I was relieved to find out, at least, most of it was the enemy’s. Apparently,
they’d had some pretty close-in fighting, and one Sergeant Harrelson told me he had struck a Knight
with his new souvenir. He always did seem honorable.
We made our way to the exit, just a scant few yards ahead and the Lieutenant radioed the chopper to
come pick us up. It turned out the rune was contained in a different installation, the House of
Cthon, one of Shub’s higher ranking underlings. Now the raid on that place, that was quite a story!
©1999 - "Quilling" - All Rights Reserved
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