HEX Campaign, The Children

The start of this story can be found here https://nickelandimeproductions.blogspot.com/2019/04/hex-campaign-knock-on-door.html

Grace's mood was grown darker by the day, as near as she could guess its been about 2 weeks since the fight with the Germans at the ruins, but who could tell in this place of no night or day, the time immediately had past fast as Tom, John, Ronld & herself along with some of the natives had headed to the river in search of the Germans, only to find their U-boat gone.

Unperturbed they'd followed the river for what they estimated was about 30 miles until it opened out into a sea, finding no sign of the Germans along the way.
Although they could see land on the horizon they had no way of crossing the sea, so at a deadend they headed back to the village which was now their home, what keep their spirit up on the trek back was the hope that the Scorpion had returned, for without it, it now seemed they would be stuck here forever.

The Scorpion had not returned though & the group were perplexed as to what to do next, as not to be a burden on the villagers resources & to pass the time Grace, Tom & Bob help out with things like hunting & croup gathering, while Jenny Bill & Gregory spent most of their time at the ruins, which was just as well as it was there that they found their way to move on.

Bill, with a grin like a Cheshire cat "I think I found away to cross the sea which doesn't involve been on a boat & running the risk of getting eaten"
Building a boat to cross the sea had been the first thoughts but as any boat they could build would be to small to stand an attack from any of the larger sea creatures, they'd dropped the idea almost at once.
Grace, her mood starting to lift at the thought of been able to continue the search for her friends, "Ok you coy old fox don't keep us waiting spit it out.
Bill explained how he believed that from his exploring of the ruins that there was an underground passage that linked the land here to the land across the sea, they would need to speck to the beastmen to find out if they knew anything about it & if they could help.

At first the elder of the beastmen refused to talk with them about it, but with Roald intervention & given the fact the group had helped them out against the Germans they finally relented, it turned out that Bill was indeed correct in that there was a passage across that their ancestors use to use to trade with others of their kind on the far side of the sea, but they had to close it off as the red beastmen who lived on the other side became more aggressive.

The passage they told them was closed off by a great door that has not been open in many life times, but they agreed to let them try to cross accompanied by one of their kind, so that if the door could be opened he could close it off once again behind them.

Roald had decided not to go with them & bid them farewell at the ruins, Grace as were they all was saddened by this news as they all thought of Roald as a good friend.
Grace, as they were parting" Are you sure you won't come with us ? as it might be your only chance to find away home"

Roald"I'm sure Grace, I think in some kind of a strange way I've come to think of this place as home & as I've no family in the world above I've no real reason to go back"
Tom" Well thanks once again for all of your help Roald" & turning to Grace said " Come on its time to get going"
As Roald turned away Grace & Tom followed the others who were lead by Uk-got into the opening.

How long their journey through the passage way under the sea took none of them could guess,

but they were all relieved to find that the great door opened as easily as it had the day it had been built & a short time after they stepped out once again into the twilight of this strange world.

As Uk-got turned & headed back into the dark the group found they where high up on a ledge, looking down on a valley with a river & what looked like some kind of settlement on the far side.

As they made their way down the cliff face they notice there was groups of children moving around on the ground below, but no sooner had they set foot on the valley floor when the sound of a loud horn rang out, at this some of the children started to make their way towards a bridge that crossed the river while others seemed to panic.
Jenny" There must be something wrong, we'll better try & help these kids"
The group split up & started for the kids,but the kids seemed spooked & backed away from them.

As Grace tried to assure some of them, Bob spotted what was the cost of the panic, as some kind of fierce beast appeared from the foliage in front of him. 

Quickly un-slinging his rifle Bob let off two shots with one of them slamming into the beast's chest, but still it charged forward, it took Bob all of his courage & years of military experience not to turn & run & standing to he fired off another couple of shots out of which hit the beast's head bringing it to a stop just as it was on him. 

After directing the group of kids over to Jenny & Gregory, Grace noticed one of the children had climbed upon a rocky outcrop & started to climb up, no sooner had she reached the top when she noticed Bill been chased by one of the foul creatures, whipping out her pistol she fired off a couple of rounds missing the target & could only watch on helplessly as it gored at Bill.

Try as he did Bill was no match for the beast & Grace could only watch on in horror at what was unfolding below her, then Bill with the blood steaming from a nasty leg wound & starting to tier from  the onslaught he felt a slight shudder under his feet, the beast must have noticed it as well, for to Bill's amazement & relief it broke off its attack & darted away.

Just as Jenny & Gregory were leading the first of the children to the safety of the bridge the reason for the break  off of the attack by the beasts reviled its self .

With a mighty roar a T-Rex burst into view close to were Grace was trying to shepherd some children towards the bridge, from his vantage point Bob opened fire, followed by Tom on the ground, but the bullets seemed to have little or no effect on the monster.

The speed of the brute had to be seen to be believed as it quickly covered the ground on Grace who had keep herself between it & the children, lowering it's massive head it snapped at Grace.

Luckily it's aim was a bit off but the teeth racked across Grace's back & as the pain exploded in her she fell to the ground.

This proved to be the saving of Grace but the dooming of the children.

Although horrified by what he witnessed, Bob keep firing away, this brought his attention to it giving the rest of the children & the rest of his group apart from Grace, time to reach the safety of the bridge.
As the T-Rex reach the outcrop Bob climb down on the opposite side & for the next while had to engage in a game of cat & mouse with it, known that any slip up would cost him his life.   

Getting feed up with the game the T-Rex soon headed off in search off a meal some place else leaving Bob free to head over to where Grace had falling.
While badly hurt Grace with Bob's help was able to gain her feet & with his help they crossed the bridge to where the others were waiting.

To be continued

Designers note, I'm not going to go into details in this note as there are thing I want to cover in the next news, so I'll leave it at saying its great to have this back up & running after what was a longer then expected break.
As always my thanks for dropping in & if you want to be a movie critic & leave a comment it would be welcomed :)