It was New Year’s Eve; dark, quiet with snow falling out of the sky. As I scurried on the walkways between the buildings of the Free City of Gate Pass, high above street level, I looked around me, and forced myself to walk slower and with more care on the slippery snow. It would not do for me to fall off at this moment especially as I wasn’t used to being out after dark, particularly in this part of the city; but these were extraordinary days and extreme circumstances. Shortly, the Ragesians would arrive at the city gates and the Scourge, as Master Gabal called it, would begin. All spell casters disloyal to the Empire of Ragesia would be turned over to the Inquisition. According to Gabal, that was all of them; I agreed but many of the common folk did not understand why there was such a fuss over a group of spell casters. Surely, the Ragesians would arrive, investigate, find the guilty and then leave. After all, they were only searching for the murderer of their Emperor, Drakus Coaltongue.
Of course, the general population were not spell casters so they were more than happy to sacrifice a few individuals to preserve the status quo. However, anyone who had an ounce of intelligence realised that there was far more to this than an investigation by the Inquisition; and anyone who actually believed that an investigation was all that would happen was in for a rude shock. The Ragesians had viewed the independence of Gate Pass as a strategic thorn in their side for decades and this was the perfect opportunity and excuse to remedy this situation. Yet still there were people who were happy to stick their head in the sand.
Thankfully, the city guard had come to an understanding with Master Gabal’s School. It was something like “do not go around casting overt magic and you will not force us to try to arrest you. You can shout and denounce as much as you like though.” Master Gabal, the famous magician, was one of the people who realised that no matter what the situation was now, it would be infinitely worse once the Ragesians arrived. This was why he had made preparations. Many of his students would disappear into the depths of the city; others would leave to rally support elsewhere. I hoped my friends Ophelia, Drusilla and Morgayne would not be in any danger.
The Master said that he had chosen me for a special task; something to do with the Resistance; I was not to tell anyone; I knew that if there was one group who were even angrier about the Ragesians coming to Gate Pass than my Master, it was the Resistance. It was what they dreaded the most, what they had feared and why they existed.
As per his instructions, I was on my way to the Poison Apple pub; I made sure to ask for detailed instructions as to its location. It must be closed as Master Gabal said there would be only one person there, a warrior priestess by the name of Torrent. She would tell me more but I was warned to purchase supplies and pack for a long trip.
This would be my first journey outside Gate Pass. I was excited. I had already warned my family that they may not hear from me for some time. They understood and wished me the luck of the gods. They had their own plans to enact as the Ragesians approached. Dwarven merchants are nothing if not pragmatic.
Reaching the building and descending down to street level, I was not very impressed. To put it bluntly, it was derelict, almost a ruin. Made out of wood and with two stories, it was plainly boarded up and showed no signs of habitation. I had been told to be there at midnight and I was almost late. I took one more instant to read a brief proclamation that this pub had been closed until further notice as the owner, one Treeant Finnar, had been taken into custody.
In a dark alley, I hurried to the side door. The snow was beginning to accumulate there. I tried the door and opening it, slipped in. When the door opened, I could hear a soft murmur of conversation which stopped abruptly as I entered. The room was surprisingly cosy and quite warm. It had a bar, several tables and a set of stairs obviously leading to the upper floor. There were six other people already there, all humans. I glanced at them quickly, assessing. I was good at that: assessing people.
The most striking person was a woman with a handsome face. It was a strong face and she had short white hair and piercing eyes, now fixed on me. Her apparel was almost as striking. She wore a breastplate decorated with odd swirls resembling water and painted blue. There was a vicious looking axe on her belt. I assumed that this was the lady warrior priest I had been told about, named Torrent.
The other two impressive individuals were another priest and a warrior. The former was a tall man, with dark hair and a thin build. He looked serene in that way that priests do. He wore a holy symbol of Farlanghn around his neck. He was looking at me with an amused expression on his face and he obviously hadn’t shaved for a few days. He didn’t seem to be armed but he did have a stout stick next to his chair. The warrior was sitting, smoking a pipe. He was also quite at ease with the situation and he was obviously doing most of the talking to Torrent. He wore a sword and had short cropped hair in military style. He also displayed a holy symbol quite openly but I did not put him down as a priest, more a warrior in service to the Temple of Heironeous.
Two other people sat around the table, although they seemed less voluble than the warrior and the priest. One had a bow stave next to his chair, as well as quiver of arrows. He was a weathered, thin man, so he obviously spent a great deal of time outdoors. He had a small knife and was carefully quartering an apple. He looked like a man who spent a great deal of time alone. He also had some sort of sword around his belt. Once it wasn’t a long sword, I had difficulty in knowing what it was. The other chap was much paler and in fact was one of those people who was perfectly ordinary, one to whom no one would give a second glance. Unusually, I could not distinguish any sort of weapons on him although there were many strange pouches and little sacks all over his apparel.
Finally, there was another warrior who seemed to sit a little apart. Again a very ordinary face, with dark hair and dark eyes although he had very fair skin. His most salient feature was his strange sword, a large, wide bladed weapon, the like of which I had never seen before. He also had a very small shield strapped to his arm. I had seen that before although I had no idea what earthly use it could be.
I also noticed that near the table around which everyone sat was a large mound of equipment consistent with a group that planned to leave the city and go into the snowy wilderness. This included large, warm blankets, small tents, warm clothing, back packs and other pieces of that type.
The woman with the white hair smiled and said:
“Hello, I am Torrent. You must be Faden, Faden Tarabond. Let me introduce you to the others. The Farlanghnian priest over there is Felix Terpin and the holy warrior is Longhelim the Farmer”.
Both of these individuals nodded at me in a friendly manner.
“The archer is Salubrious Drudge and the fellow next to him has always been known only as Slippery John. He…..slips into places quite easily. Finally, over there is Victor, Victor Trask, our contact in the Guard and a good soldier as well.
Gentlemen, this is Faden Tarabond. As you can see from his distinctive red cloak he is a member of Gabal’s School and I am hoping that Gabal has been able to spare us one of his special students for this endeavour. Now, back to business.
Now that we are all here at the appointed time, I will be brief. The Ragesian army is on its way. It will reach Gate Pass certainly by tomorrow, the day after at best. Once it is here, it will attack and most likely take the city. Most members of the Resistance have resigned themselves to this state of affairs and as we speak they are preparing for the invasion. However, we have also had an offer, a very interesting offer from the Lyceum, the mage academy of Seaquen. They will offer refuge for anyone who escapes from the Ragesians. It is imperative that the Resistance makes contact with the Lyceum and you have been chosen to make this happen.
We also have something to offer the Lyceum. A gnome spy, Rivereye Badgerface has managed to obtain a set of military secrets from the Ragesian Empire and it is very important to get this information to the mages at Seaquen. I have arranged a meeting with Badgerface at the Depository, which as I am sure you know, is one of the most secure places in the city; there we will collect the documents and once in our possession, we will leave the city, travel through the Fire Forest of Innenotdar and make our way South to Seaquen. That is the mission.”
I stared at Torrent for several moments. I didn’t know about the others but I thought that the plan was…..ambitious. Getting out of the city would be difficult; not impossible but certainly difficult with a Ragesian army about to besiege it. The Fire Forest was another matter entirely. I had never been there but legends about that place abounded. In short, it had been burning for decades. Obviously, the Fire was not natural. Little could be done about it as going into a burning forest was suicidal; and we were supposed to go through it. I hoped she had a plan for this.
Longhelim took out the pipe from his mouth and puffed gently. There was something soothing about this and the tobacco smelled very aromatic.
“What about the fire?”, he asked.
Torrent replied quickly: “In my backpack, I have a collection of magical potions which will shield us against the heat”.
Longhelim continued to puff away contentedly.
Everyone looked at each other. I didn’t know any of these people but I could see the importance of the mission outlined to us.
Longhelim took out his pipe and said: “I know someone who may be able to help getting us out of the city”.
That was it. With that one sentence, he had accepted the mission. The others looked at each other and Victor volunteered that he had been part of the guard so he could provide information about the guard numbers on the gates, Felix said that he had been near the local farmsteads so he had at least been outside of the city, even if only for short distances. Neither Slippery John or Salubrious Drudge had said much up to this time.
At this point, a small barrel of beer was lifted onto the table, mugs were produced, ale was poured and everyone began to discuss methods of getting out of the city; as we discussed our situation and almost agreed that a councilor by the name of Erdan Menash, an acquaintance of Longhelim’s, would be most likely to aid us in vacating the city, suddenly, I heard some faint thumps on the roof. Quickly, I raised my hand with a finger pointing to the roof, but saw that several of the others were looking upwards and hands were straying to weapons. Drudge had already strung his bow.
As everyone was getting ready, there was a cry from outside: “Front door – go” and with a splintering crash, the front door was driven in by a pair of individuals wielding a battering ram. They were human, wearing scale mail and were wielding saps of all things. They also had armbands, red with a black horse head in their centre. Another call from outside demanded our surrender but the only one to reply was Torrent who politely refused. Victor had gone to the foot of the stairs. He had not forgotten the thumps on the roof. I had just left the field clear to my colleagues. In these cramped quarters, with opponents milling about, I would just get in the way. Torrent drew her axe and confronted the two individuals in the doorway; Felix was already there. Drudge was shooting his bow into them and one had an arrow stuck in his side. As predicted, there were thumps from the stairs and as a figure appeared, it received a blow from Victor which staggered it. He certainly seemed very handy with that strange sword of his; unfortunately, another figure bounced acrobatically and landed behind him. Suddenly, there was an almighty thump and the whole building shook, while flaming oil leaked through the newly created cracks in the ceiling. There was a scream from above as a burning figure tumbled uncontrollably down the stairs.
Longhelim, seeing Victor facing two opponents with potentially several more up there, moved to help him. As he did so, though, flaming debris fell from the ceiling and everyone had to dodge this new hazard. Victor began to trade blows with his opponents and even though he was outnumbered, he was holding his own. Quickly, he dropped one of enemies but the other was proving a tougher nut to crack. He did prevail but not before suffering several debilitating blows with the sap and I could see that he could barely stand up as he leaned against the wall.
The battle by the doorway was also almost won. Felix was fighting with his staff and Drudge had managed shoot more arrows into the two men, one of whom had finally fallen over. Even I darted in with my staff and managed to rap the last remaining opponent across his shins, much to his annoyance. Finally, seeing that he was the only one left, he shouted that he wanted to surrender. We vacillated at this and seeing that we stopped, this individual began to shout that he surrendered again and then began to tend to his comrades, most of whom were unconscious rather than dead.
At this point, I darted outside, to check what the situation was there. I could see one other human in scale mail, this one holding a growling dog; but what caught my attention was a large figure on horseback. It was wearing some sort of armour although it was difficult to tell in the dark. The horse was huge and was standing perfectly still, obviously the product of training. The man just looked at us but then he shouted that we should be allowed to go.
At that moment, there was a momentary gust of wind as a large shape could be seen in the sky. It had bat wings and a vaguely reptilian shape. I recognized it as a wyvern and could see that it had a rider. These were the famed Wyvern Knights, elite aerial troops used by the Ragesian Empire. The assault must have begun early!
The others had shouldered their equipment and mine; barely looking at the rider, we disappeared into the night; I wondered who this strange figure was and what red armbands with black horse heads signified.
However, I did not have a great deal of time to wonder about this. Somehow, we had obviously been compromised which meant that we did not have the luxury of sitting down and planning our course of action. We had to get to the Depository as quickly as we could and hope that whoever was behind this attack on us was not aware of Badgerface. However, doing that was easier said than done. The city was in complete chaos as it could be seen that an aerial battle was taking place between the Wyvern Knights and the Griffin Riders of Gate Pass. It was impossible to see the results of the battle in the darkness and the snow but people were running in panic and screaming.
Nevertheless, we hurried through the various Districts of the city. The panic was widespread. People were milling around, scared, distressed and confused; here and there, families were trying to keep together and many of the buildings were on fire. Every so often, flying shapes were silhouetted against the night sky or a fiery building. On one occasion, I almost lost my bearings and seemed to lose my memory for a moment; then I came to and Victor quickly told us that even our group had completely panicked as a huge crimson shape with bat like wings had flown above our heads, producing a horrifying roar.
We also had to stop to help a poor lady who was trapped in a burning building, high up on the fourth floor. Victor took one look and immediately commandeered a group of people to build a mound of soft, fluffy snow under the window; then he took out one of our blankets and then, with Felix, Longhelim and he holding it, managed to convince her to jump. They caught her on the blanket without any mishap and left her in the care of her family but then we had to carry on the Depository.
We finally arrived there. It was an imposing tower, surrounded by a wall. The gatehouse looked very sturdy and was being manned by four guards. They obviously took their job very seriously as they were still there. They were also a very unusual mixture: two dwarves, an orc and a half orc. They obviously recognized Torrent as they allowed us through without any trouble and we arrived at a pair of large iron doors which led into the tower proper. There was another guard there and he warned us about the truly ugly gnome who was waiting inside.
Encouraged, we heard a word being said and the doors were pushed open. Led by Torrent, we entered into a large room which was full of lockers, obviously storage for valuables, and several doors. As soon as we entered, Torrent looked around expectantly and we could hear someone approaching, wheezing loudly.
Soon, we could discern a small shape. Torrent sighed in relief and waited. The figure stopped and said:
“Peppin?”
Torrent frowned and replied that Peppin was not with us. Then Rivereye asked: “What is the password”?
At this point Torrent stiffened and said slowly: “There is no password”.
Something in her tone of voice must have warned Rivereye as he swore and suddenly bolted out of a door, looking remarkably agile for an old, wheezing gnome.
“After him,” shouted Torrent and we all ran after the figure. I wasn’t sure what was happening but obviously something wasn’t right. I ran through one of the doors which led to a balcony and a set of stairs going up, obviously to other floors. Although I was willing, dwarves are not built for speed and I was soon overtaken by the others. Victor then shouted that the gnome was climbing the wall by magic. The others were still running up the stairs, trying to get to the upper floors and intercept him. Victor also shouted that there was a ball of light up there, hovering near the gnome. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. What ball of light?
Finally, I reached the upper floor. At this point, I was bent over, panting, my throat tasted of bile, my lungs were burning and I could barely move my legs. I was exhausted. Dwarven magicians were not very fit either. I leaned on the door frame and then heard more shouting. I could see that everyone with the exception of Drudge was in this room. More shouting and then everyone half-heartedly began running towards the stairs again, this time going down. Apparently, the gnome had jumped off the roof now. With horror, I thought I would have to run down again but before I reached the stairs Torrent called Victor and Slippery John back. She pointed out several unconscious figures hidden between some of the lockers. Curiously, we moved over there and saw that some of the figures were obviously guards and there was also a gnome, a very ugly gnome, in fact one that looked remarkably like our greeter. Someone was playing games here.
John began to untie the guards and thankfully, we realised that they were alive with the exception of one unfortunate soul whose face was almost burnt off. Just as John was finishing the untying, the others returned. They said that the gnome, or whatever he was, had landed on the grounds safely by magic and then disappeared to an unknown location.
Felix looked at the victims and quickly began to administer some first aid. He was able to revive most of the guards and the real Rivereye Badgerface. In the meantime, I received a good description of the “ball of light”, which was seen flying off towards the east. I was left scratching my head. The description matched exactly that of a lantern archon but that did not make any sense. These were good creatures, in fact they were renowned for being good; what on earth it was doing robbing treasure towers was beyond me. It must have been compelled for some reason. It was even odder that it was very likely that the one corpse that we had, the poor fellow with the burned face, was most likely a victim of the archon; they did have spell powers which matched his injury. It may or may not have been the guilty party but it was at least guilty by association.
Drudge said that he could see the false gnome was conversing with the ball of light which was further proof that this was most likely an archon and sentient. Drudge then told me he had also shot it, but it had little effect.
Rivereye Badgerface, in the meantime, was talking very fast to Torrent. He was loud and grateful. He proclaimed us all heroes and said that all the trouble began as a group of elves asked for access to the Depository and once inside, they proceeded to overpower everyone and tie them up. He did not know how the one guard died. He was made to hand over the box with the Ragesian military secrets. He was very helpful in describing the box: apparently roughly one foot by one foot and about half that in depth; it was made of a black metal possibly adamantite.
At this point Torrent joined in and said she had become suspicious when she heard the false gnome utter the name Peppin. Peppin, an acquaintance, had been killed, slayer unknown. Rivereye finally piped up and gave us one precious piece of information, saying that he had overheard the archon talking to the false gnome and talking about a contact in Gabal’s School.
I started; the School was almost deserted. Gabal had gone. His opposition to the Ragesians was well known and they would have loved to get their hands on him. The person left in charge was a man named Diogenes, one whom I did not know very well although I remember him being quite cynical. However, there was no help for it; we had to go to the School and investigate this group of elves. Their presence meant that the Shining Lands of Shahalesti had decided to play a hand in this game.
Saying goodbye to Badgerface and the guards, we left the Depository, this time at a more civilized pace.
As we retraced our steps towards the District containing Gabal’s School, we could see that the battle above the city still raged although the panic had abated slightly. Those who could take shelter had already done so. There were still people running around in a panic just not so many. As we raced back, suddenly a griffin and a wyvern swooped incredibly low, just above our heads. As the griffin twisted nimbly, we could see that the wyvern was in more trouble and it crashed on top of a nearby building. This was something we could not ignore and we changed direction towards the crash site. A little later, as we neared it, the first thing we saw was a series of corpses; they had been freshly slain, probably with an axe; three of them, a young couple and a child. This was someone very ruthless with little respect for life. Drudge was able to track him through an alley into a door. We opened the door and inside was a room which smelt of more death. Three more corpses were evident; another two adults and young girl. At the back of the room, we could see that a warrior in armour was holding a young boy with a dagger to his neck; with a sinking feeling I realised that the boy was already dead. This maniac was going to try to use him as a hostage to go free so he could continue to slaughter his way through the city. This could not be allowed. Sure enough, as soon as he saw us, he grated:
“One more step and the kid dies!”
We could see that he had been wounded. His side was soaked in blood. That had not deterred him from slaughtering his way into this building though. In a short space of time, he had managed to kill four adults and two children and was probably going to add another child in one moment. Thankfully, I could see that my new companions had managed to perceive this already and both Longhelim and Victor stepped towards him without hesitation, both ready for combat.
The maniac slew the poor boy and charged us. At this point I was able to work a little spell I had been taught and suddenly the floor beneath his feet became incredibly slippery. He kept his balance briefly, but as he raised his weapon his feet slipped beneath him and he ended up on the floor. Up to that point, he had been a very skilled and dangerous opponent. His expertise was obviously much greater than that of either Longhelim and Victor but once he was on the floor, they were able to take advantage and cut his killing spree short, the final blow coming from Drudge. Briefly, I wondered what had possessed him to start slaughtering townspeople indiscriminately but it was too late. There was little we could do for the poor family so we just left the house with the corpse of the maniac.
Stripping him of his possessions, Longhelim was now the owner of some shining new armour that was much better than his previous set. He also had a very nice axe.
We resumed our trip to the School. As we approached, we could see a figure standing just outside the door, watching the chaos in front of him and smoking. I recognized Diogenes. Quickly I announced our presence and although he did not profess any friendliness at least he was not hostile. He looked at us curiously though and said:
“I thought you would be out of the city by now Faden. What brings you back here?”
I replied: “I was supposed to be out of the city but I was delayed. Diogenes, did anyone come in here recently or do you know anything about a ball of light which could possibly be a lantern archon?”.
His attention sharpened. “There is a guest staying here; an elven magician called Sherliss. Specifically she was an evoker, the specialists in loud bang spells,” he said in a slightly contemptuous tone. “She has a lantern archon as a familiar”.
He threw away his smoke and led us into the kitchen. Closing the door carefully, he told us that she was in her room right now, entertaining another guest who had arrived just before us. That sounded like our contact all right. Now the question was to somehow extract either the case or the information as to where the case was.
We sat down and discussed our current options. Diogenes was sitting down with us and it was immediately clear that he had little time for Sherliss. He spoke quite contemptuously of her although he did warn us that she was a powerful magician and that we had to be sure of our course of action before we attempted anything against her. Even though he was dismissive about her “loud bang spells” he did reluctantly admit that she was very good at them and that we would have to be very careful otherwise her bang spells were more than enough to deal with our attack.
After much planning and discussion, we decided to ambush. It would have to be done with very good timing as Sherliss’s familiar, the lantern archon, was just as formidable as she was. Diogenes, ever eager to discomfit this woman, volunteered to act as a decoy whilst we basically tackled and physically overpowered her. He also sold me two scrolls which would be used to subdue the archon,….we hoped.
The set up was simple. There was an entrance foyer; a corridor led from there and on each side of this corridor there were numerous doors which led to various quarters. Sherliss and her companion were in one of these quarters. Diogenes would lure her out of the room with a challenge to a spell duel while we waited, hidden behind the corners, in the foyer. As added security, Slippery John would be lurking invisibly in the corridor just beyond the door, in case the companion tried to interfere.
The plan was well thought out. We hid albeit not very expertly. We could hear Diogenes challenging Sherliss to a duel which she reluctantly accepted. I was left with the impression that she had no love for Diogenes either. There was obviously a deep running antipathy between these two individuals. As they approached, we tensed and at the appropriate moment, both Longhelim and Victor tackled her. Despite this, amazingly, she still managed to let loose several powerful spells, which ultimately resulted in poor Longhelim slumping unconscious on top of her; thankfully, Victor knocked her senseless. I used my two scrolls and took care of the archon. This took only a few moments although the whole episode was fairly hairy for a brief time.
At this point, we began a shouted conversation with the individual in the room. Quickly, he told us that the case was not here, that he did not know where it was but that Sherliss did; and could we leave him alone now please because he didn’t know anything else. I tended to believe him. Somehow, Slippery John was quite commanding, even if he was doing it through a locked door. He even managed to convince the contact, another elf, to open the door.
We managed to rouse Sherliss, who glared at us from behind her gag. I really hoped we would not meet her again. Smirking, Diogenes took out a wand and used it on her. He frowned; obviously it did not work so he used it again and again and again and again…….finally it worked. Suddenly, her demeanor changed and she was far more friendly; almost voluble in fact, especially to Diogenes. He had magically charmed her. This was so ironic. Elves prided themselves as being almost immune to charm. Considering their relationship, Diogenes must have been loving this and she would never live it down.
Now that she liked Diogenes, we found out that the case was actually in a safe house in the elven section of the city. She was able to give us directions and even wished us luck in our quest. We had to go into her room again to see a map to find out the exact location of the house and on the map there was an annotation which read as follows: “Arborea before Elysium before Celestia”; this was obviously some sort of code.
As we prepared to leave, we thanked Diogenes. He told us that the pleasure was all his and that he had not had such fun for a long time. He also grinned and said that it would be a long time before Sherliss lived this down; leaving her possessions behind for her was a particular stroke of genius as it meant that we had obviously had a higher purpose than common robbery. From his point of view the whole episode had been perfect as no one had lost any lives, we had achieved our aim and Sherliss had lost a great deal of dignity and would almost certainly have to do a lot of explaining to her Shahalesti superiors. The icing in the cake would be when we wrested the case from the elven safe house.
Personally, I thought he was a little mad but I did not have the time worry about this or her. As I mentioned previously, I just hoped we never met her again.
Swiftly, we travelled through the burning city to the elven section. This section of the city was peculiar as it was surrounded by walls with beautiful friezes of nature scenes and designs but no doors. The doors were there but they were hidden. If you were an elf, the hidden door should have been obvious and if you were not an elf then you had no business in the elven section. Thankfully, John managed to find the hidden door without too much trouble.
Travelling into the section, we saw that unlike the rest of the city, there were no panicking residents on the streets; in fact the whole place was quiet and deserted although the houses were obviously inhabited. Rapidly, we approached the house we had found on the map. It was a two story brick building with a gated trellis and three statues which seemed to be guarding the entrance to the grounds. These were of a leonine, an eladrin and trumpet archon. This immediately rang a bell in my head and I related it to the “Arborea, Celestia and Elysium” note on the map. Once we identified and cross referenced the statues with their corresponding alignment planes, we were able to trigger the statues in the right order and slip into the grounds of the house. Once inside, there was a side alley leading to a door.
The door was not locked and upon opening it, we could see that it led into a carpenter’s workshop; in fact it looked like a workshop that specialized in doors. There were various doors in specific stages of construction leaning against the walls and on work surfaces. However, we only briefly glanced at this as we could hear a snarling and growling from the interior and our lights revealed a trio of animals; badgers to be exact. These were larger than usual and were definitely acting as watch animals. They bared their teeth at us and made sure that we realised that they would attack if we trespassed. Looking more intently at these, I realised that they were somehow different, plane touched. They were certainly trained.
As I took all this in, the warriors were already moving and Victor, having opened the door, went straight in. The badgers moved to try to block but did not attack. More light revealed a set of stairs in one corner going up into the second storey. Now, both Victor and Longhelim moved towards the stairs, and although they were both obviously stalked by the badgers, these did not attack. As Longhelim reached the bottom of the stairs, the door opened and two elven warriors stepped out. They were in chain mail, again with the strange little shields strapped onto their arms and short bows. Victor had told me that the little shields were called bucklers.
The elf in the lead called out: “Leave now. There is nothing for you here.”
I answered: “We seek the case. It is ours. Give it to us and we will leave”.
“You will never get the case. You will leave now or face the consequences.”
That summed up our position. There was no subterfuge or attempt at denial. Reluctantly we realised we would have to engage the warriors of the Shining Lands of Shahalesti….again; or more importantly, they engaged us as an arrow thunked into Longhelim. As we engaged the elven warriors, the badgers attacked.
The combat was fast and furious. The elven warriors proved just as adept with their swords as they did with their bows and after an elaborate fencing match, Longhelim was overmatched and slumped to the ground, although he did leave his opponent badly hurt. The other warrior was sniping at us with his shortbow. He engaged in an archery duel with Salubrious Drudge which the latter lost. The warriors were clearly superior to us. The badgers bit us and slashed us with their claws; when hurt, they went into a total frenzy. Even I had to resort to trying to fend them off with my quarterstaff. Victor was able to strike at least two of them into unconsciousness and that is what turned the tide in our favour. Once they were out of the way, we were able to concentrate on the elven warriors and one of them had been badly hurt by Longhelim. Torrent then stepped in and was able to heal both Victor and Longhelim, who thankfully rejoined the fray. There was still one badger left at this point. Our respect for these creatures grew, as they desperately defended their masters to their last breath. Thankfully, although we had battered them badly, none of them were actually slain, just unconscious.
At this point, I personally lost consciousness. I had been locked in my own struggle with one of the badgers until I finally succumbed. Fortunately, I regained my senses, seeing Torrent kneeling next to me; with a smile she remarked that it was a long time since she had seen a magician standing in physical combat with a ferocious creature such as a badger.
I corrected her: “Please, it was a rabid badger! It makes all the difference”.
She looked at me with a perfectly straight face and nodded.
I was told that finally, the second warrior was felled by a dart thrown by Slippery John. He must have been so badly hurt from previous blows that it must have been the last straw. Both Victor and Longhelim had bled copiously and Felix had also joined the fray. The Farlanghian priest was completely out of spells so he waded in with his staff. Drudge still had several arrows stuck in him and was in the process of being healed by Torrent; he was quite upbeat though. He had overcome elven warriors. That was a great feat. Both Longhelim and Victor had stripped the two elven warriors of their arms and armour and Torrent had also examined them. She had looked after their wounds, making sure they did not bleed to death. That would not do. We also then did the same for the gallant badgers.
Moving upstairs, we found another large room. This one contained our case, as described and a small coffer. John was able to open the coffer, finding a pile of platinum pieces inside. We took these as spoils of war and together with our case, we retired.
Torrent then suggested that we retired to a safe house, a gathering place for the Resistance. We were not aware of where she was talking about but were more than happy to follow her lead. She took us to the Temple of the Knights of the Aquiline Cross. I had heard of this order. It was made up of questing knights who searched for the Aquiline Heart. It had been recently introduced by a holy knight called Entras. She had found an abandoned chapel in Shahalesti and had been inspired by religious fervor to find this Heart. This all stemmed back to a legend of the four great elemental spirits of the land, the watery Kraken, the terran Worm, the fiery Dragon and the Eagle of the air. The Dragon and the Eagle had fought with the Dragon being triumphant and hiding the Heart of the Eagle in a place where no one could find it, thus confirming his superiority amongst the elements and depriving the land of a governing spirit of air. I assumed this was the Quest of the Aquiline Heart, finding this missing Heart of the Eagle. The Knights also practiced a philosophy of equality, fairness, mercy, sacrifice and protection of life.
This was where Torrent led us now.
The Temple was overcrowded and we barely managed to find a small spot amongst a throng of people in the main hall. Everyone looked shocked but at least they were safe from burning debris and insane Ragesian warriors who slaughtered people mindlessly. As a relief, a woman was strumming a lute at the entrance, playing some somber dirge while everywhere there were signs of distress with wails, cries and sobbing being common. A few people wondered around mindlessly, calling out names and desperately looking for loved ones. It was all very distressing.
Suddenly, as we were settling down, there was a commotion. Two youths, little more than boys, were harassing a young woman, who obviously had a lot of orc blood. The poor girl was obviously also a victim but due to her birthright, the boys decided that she was partly responsible. We decided that we had to nip that in the bud as it could lead to hysteria.
So I stepped forward and confronted them. Immediately, I could see that their pupils were very large and their faces were a little blank. Something or someone was playing with their minds. Realising that they were being manipulated, I just told them to go away. I also told the young woman to come and join us. The youths became belligerent when they realised that I was not going to confront them physically and then Salubrious Drudge stepped in with his sword drawn and swung it at them, albeit not very seriously. This gave them pause and it gave me enough time to cast a spell which left them slumped on the ground, asleep. One other person had been caught in my spell but thankfully we were able to wake him up with an apology.
Unfortunately, this interchange caused a little bit of distress amongst the other refugees although no one was hurt. They were just a little scared. Longhelim then approached us and told us that the woman strumming the lute may have had something to do with this commotion. He had sensed a capacity for evil from her and some musicians were known to be able to influence the weak minded through their music. I stared at this woman, wondering how she could do this at this time, bearing in mind the distress that it could cause. She just stared back, almost defiantly.
At this time, another man came bustling out, calming everyone out and wanting to know what the commotion had been. Torrent obviously knew him and called out. He came over and was introduced as Buron Watcher, the main priest of this Temple. He looked disapprovingly at Drudge when informed about his mock fight with the two bullies but the latter was unconcerned. Then Watcher took us through the Temple into another room which contained a hidden passage. This took us down to a room which had been obviously outfitted to allow rest. It was quiet, with bedding and food.
Finally, being able to relax, we looked at the case. We realised that it was magically locked and we had no capability of opening it at this time. However, we had obtained it and we were now in a position of resuming our mission to get this case to the Lyceum in Seaquen.
