Meanwhile, a ripple in the air continued to follow the two guards across the Enclave of Plurg. One said to his companion, "Did the ol' gal seem a little off to you?"
"I dunno. Maybe she's sick or somethin'."
"Hope not. Hate to see what could make 'er sick. She just seemed a little... off."
As they walked down the street, an old crone with a bag of bright, juicy apples looked at them in surprise and distaste. Transforming into her true form, a ten-foot tall night hag, she spun on the hapless guards. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at your posts?"
The guards pulled up short. "One of your sisters told us to go to the base below the pipe foundry. Told us the new guards would watch the slaves 'til the delivery was made."
"Did she, now? Tell me about these new guards." The hag never noticed the shimmer in the air as it zipped back to the slave pen.
Moments later, a strange form appeared before Mahler and Alistair. The form had the torso of a man, but only a whirlwind for legs. Furthermore, the entire body of the stranger had a blue cast to it, and was vaguely translucent.
Mahler and Alistair leapt back, drawing their weapons. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"My name is Stithis," replied the djinn. "I've come to warn you. I've been watching your efforts, and you need to know that the hag found out that you had sent the guards away."
"She can teleport, so she'll be here soon." Alistair turned to the children who were still milling around. "You need to run now. The hag is coming back, so scatter." The children ran away from the dock in every direction. Alistair and Mahler clambered up to the top of the dock, where they each hid. Stithis simply resumed his invisibility.
Meanwhile, a group of Council of Opposition Canal Guards, resplendent in their many colored sashes, had arrived in a fast boat to clear the traffic problems. Knowing his cue to unblock the canal, the captain of the barge swung back into traffic, resolving the problem. But as a result of his delay, the Canal Guards were perfectly positioned to hear the hag cry out, "Where are my slaves?" The hag burst through the door at the end of the slave den below the pier, anger and hatred flashing in her eyes.
The leader of the Canal Guards turned to one of his companions. "Plurg isn't one of the Enclaves that permits slavery, is it?"
"No, sir."
"Pull for that pier!"
The hag looked at the approaching boat and called out some arcane words while gesturing. A lightning bolt ran the course of the guard boat, badly injuring many of the guards. Her magic attack only drew more attention, however. Alistair and Mahler continued to hide as best as they could on the top of the pier. A spark halfling sorcerer of their acquaintance, Delbon Glittercheeks, watched from a perch nearby. Stithis remained invisible. But most importantly, a group of Glordiadelian church guards, resplendant in their immaculate white surcoats, hurried towards the dock, followed at a little distance by a somewhat portly priest who could not move as fast now that he was no longer a young man. Seeing the lightning bolt, the Glordiadelians redoubled their pace, determined to engage the foe as swiftly as possible.
The hag recognized the threat that the Glordiadelians posed. Turning her attention back in that direction, she invoked another spell. With loud claps of displaced air, the two lesser hags appeared on the dock, between the night hag and the church troops. The lesser hags were both annis hags, with scabrous, mottled green skin, greenish black hair, and long claws at the ends of their hands. One of the green hags flung a clump of ivy at the nearest group of Glordiadelians, crying out the name of a major demon as the command word. As the ivy spun in the air, it expanded out into a net that ensnared three of the church soldiers and began slowly crushing the life out of them. The other hag pounced on one of the unentangled soldiers and savaged him with her claws, leaving him dead or dying in seconds.
Mahler could not simply watch any longer. He dropped off the end of the pier. As he fell, he stabbed the balck hag with one of his daggers and grabbed on as hard as he could, pulling her with him off the end of the lower level of the pier and into the foul water of the canal. The two began sinking quickly.
Delbon decided to help by conjuring a layer of grease under the hag that threw the constricting net, hoping to send her as well into the canal. She was unable to remain standing, but fell on the pier, not into the water. Stithis engaged the hag who was ripping into the guards. He slammed his halberd into the hag's back, but she continued on, oblivious to the new threat. Alistair, for his part, still viewed the situation as too dangerous to reveal himself, and quietly hid and hoped.
The black hag twisted out of Mahler's grip as they sank. She reached out and grabbed his head, turning it to face her so she could stare deep into his eyes. As she did, she unleashed one of her most fearsome powers, trying to use her gaze to snuff out Mahler's life, but his will was too strong. She did, however, carve a foul rune into Mahler's forehead with one of her claws. Mahler broke free of her and swam off towards the surface, hoping that she would be unable to swim and would drown.
The guards continued to battle the annis hags. The hag was too absorbed in her bloodlust to realize that the priest and Stithis each presented a greater danger than the church troops, so she ripped another guard apart. Delbon created grease beneath her as well, while Stithis continued to strike her. The priest gestured at her and held forth the sun symbol of his god. A bright beam of light shot out from his holy symbol and burned the hag. Alistair continued to hide, although he readied his spiked chain just in case.
The black hag, having lost her current prey, landed at the bottom of the canal and gave a mighty leap, travelling all the way out of the canal to land on the top of the pier. Mahler was not far behind, climbing up the side of the pier. Stithis and the guards continued battling the annis hags, who laid low another few guards. Fortunately, Glordiadelian church troops are determined and well-trained: they would die before allowing an enemy to reach the priest they guarded. A solid blow from Stithis caused the uninjured green hag to slip in Delbon's grease and to tumble all the way off the dock and into the water. Unlike the black hag, she both needed to breathe and could not swim, sinking worriedly to the bottom of the canal. After a few worried seconds, she remembered the stairs out of the canals some distance away, and simply walked along the bottom of the canals until she could make her escape. Still, she was out of the fight, which accomplished Stithis's main goal.
The priest, recognizing that the towering, extraplanar hag represented a much greater threat than the remaining annis hag, called forth a pillar of flame from the sky. His flame strike hurt the black hag, but she remained focused on vengeance twoards Mahler, who flung one of his daggers at her. As the hag began to cast another spell, Alistair decided that the time to hide had passed and struck out at her with his spiked chain. His aim was true and he hit a blow that should have been very heavy, but his weapon was unfortunately made of simple, unenchanted steel. The hag was not even distracted as the weapon failed to harm her. She finished her spell and bolts of magical energy streaked from her hand. As the magic missiles struck Mahler, he toppled over.
Stithis and the guards finally managed to overcome the remaining annis hag, and none too soon: only a handful of guards could still fight and protect the priest. Realizing that this was not a battle she could win, the black hag slung Mahler's unconscious, bleeding body over her shoulder and leaped back into the water below.
As she walked away on the bottom of the canal, Mahler began to drown. Stithis, however, possessed unusual devotion to his comrades for a djinn, and flew after Mahler hoping to perform a rescue. He skimmed invisibly along the surface of the canal. As his body consisted solely of hardened air, it was rather more malleable than most, and he shifted the lengths of his arms. Swinging his now greatly elongated right arm down into the water, Stithis scooped Mahler's unconscious form off of the night hag, and hauled his head above water, moments before he would have drowned. Stithis quickly flew back to the pier, and the night hag, although angered by the loss of her prisoner, continued on.
Meanwhile, the priest and Alistair tried to save as many of the guards as they could. Several guards were already quite dead, but the priest was able to heal several, and Alistair cut the net off the guards it entangled just before they would have died. After attending to his allies, Alistair stabilized the green hag before she would have bled to death. A prisoner, after all, is much more valuable than a dead enemy. Stithis carefully laid Mahler on the pier and made sure he was breathing. A quick spell by the priest restored Mahler to consciousness.
The priest looked around at the motley group gathered on the pier. "Where is he?"
Mahler looked at him in confusion. "Who?"
"Where is Lord Alistair?"
