Chapter 19 - This means war

Alana reaches the end of the circular tunnel, shortly followed by a huffing and puffing Logan. They drop onto a dirt floor of what appears to be a small underground cave of sorts, illuminated by strange purplish glows. They gasp.



Some sort of latticework of tree roots, coming through the vaulted ceiling seems to converge in the centre of the space, surely from the wood trees on the surface above.

Even more shocking, a girl of their age is standing in the centre of the room and seems to have ripped the roots at the very core. She is wearing an odd trench coat with bulky shoulders. The girl turns around, seeing Al and Logan drop from the circular tunnel.

In the girl's hand is the Osmos Fulcrum, glowing within its polyhedral metal cage!!

Beverly sees a short-haired girl and a boy entering the underground chamber and stare at her. Are these the guys from the Davey Jenkins rescue article??

"Hey, what are you doing with that?" Al shouts. She drops the flashlight and immediately pounces at the girl, trying to wrestle the fulcrum from her.

The two girls immediately start a tug of war over the Fulcrum!

Beverly gives a squeak of surprise, turns as Alana closes on her and attempts to bump her away with her hip. "What the heck are you doing!?"

She needs knock this unknown assailant down and escape!

Bev has whirled to face the boy, her stance like a football player--Brian would be proud.

As her free hand shoots up to her right lapel she thinks, who the heck is Chet Salom?!

Her shoulders pointed at the boy she *yanks* the red chord tucked under her lapel. When she yanks it, two ill concealed patches drop away from the shoulders of her coat, exposing two beam style lights.

"High BEAMS!" Bev shouts at the top of her lungs.

But, the red chord yanks clear off her coat, and a small *pop* issues from her shoulder. No light appears.

Instead, Bev continues to stand, facing the boy, awkwardly holding the fulcrum in one hand, and a dangling red chord in the other.

This is awkward, she thinks as her cheeks blush. She waits to see what the boy does...

An awkward pause ensues. When it is clear that the strange lights on the girl's shoulders aren't doing anything, Logan rushes near her too, trying to snatch the Fulcrum from her hands.
"Let it go! You don't know what this is! It is a dangerous, powerful thing!"

The shouts and commotion are suddenly drowned by a rumble coming from the latticework of roots above them. A loud, strange sound, half guttural and half squelching. The tug of war stops momentarily, and everyone looks up.

A huge bulky mass falls heavily from the roots above, hitting the ground below with a loud, wet impact sound. Logan, Bev and Alana are startled by the sudden motion and instantly recoil from the mass...

Logan shouts in horror as the thing rises!

Johnny , still at the top of the circular tunnel with Ripper, hears commotion, then screams coming from down below...

At the sound of the screams below, Johnny gives up the idea of holding the rear guard and dives into the new hole, scrambling to help his friends. Enclosed dark places aren't his favorite but he wasn't about to let Logan and Alana face whatever it was alone.

No longer concerned with the unknown boy and girl, Bev's eyes widen at the sight of the creature. "Holy smOKES!"

a positional scheme. It takes one round to move from one area to an adjacent one

[outside]

[tree hole passage (Ripper)]

[round tunnel (Johnny)]

[root chamber (Al, Bev, Logan, Worm Thing)]

Cards time!

Johnny crawls through the smooth tunnel in the dark. Luckily a purplish glow becomes visible after a while, and he follows it, making haste.
He eventually sees an opening and is presented by the strange vista of an underground chamber, at the centre of which a network of roots meets.

He has no time to admire the locale though, as he can also see a tall creature made of worms facing Logan, Alana and a strange girl in a trench coat. The girl has the Fulcrum in her hands, that is illuminating the scene in a strange purple haze.

The creature turns to acknowledge the arrival of the newcomer...