Part VI
Eventually, Skakan pointed out a narrow passage that led to a staircase. “Down dere, you find it!” he said, and held out his palm. I placed the ten silvers in his hand, and he trotted off, no doubt looking for more luck in another tower’s Rat’s Market.
“Woooosh!” came a thundering noise from down the stairwell. The rumbling noises echoed along the walls of the sewers.
“What was that?” Samia, said, startled.
“I think it’s the sewer valves.” I said. “With all the rain last night, and the wastes of the tower, I would imagine there is a lot of liquid that needs to move through these valves.”
“Ugh!” Samia said, her pert elf nose wrinkling. “Someone else go down first, because I’m not going to be the first one to step in it!”
We organized ourselves to head down the staircase, with Target in front, followed by Rand and Baldon. Gear, myself, and Samia brought up the rear. I lit a sunrod to light our way and we headed down.
The staircase was about 5 feet across, giving us a little room to maneuver, but not much. Mold and sewage smells wafted up the staircase as we went down. It was almost like entering the stomach of some gigantic beast. The stink, the bursts of warm air, and the sudden “woooosh” of the valves gave the uncanny feeling that we were bits of food, heading for digestion.
The staircase went down about twenty feet, and then turned to the right. As we turned the corner, suddenly Target was struck by a rapier from the darkness!
“Flesh-lover!” screamed a war-forged as he leapt from a dark corner near where Target was standing.
Almost instantly Rand had pivoted around, his face feral in the light of the sunrod. His hands had lengthened into claws and with a powerful swipe, left deep gashes across the war-forged’s chest.
Baldon produced a fist-sized ball of flame and reached out to burn the war-forged, but missed.
Although I was all the way in the back, I began to chant battle songs to encourage my compatriots.
Target was next to recover, and he stepped around to give Rand more room as the two fought to flank their opponent.
Samia slipped through the melee, flipping over and around the battling warriors, achieving a flank on the attacker. She thrust her rapier at it’s back, where the blade bowed and barely left a scratch.
The war-forged maneuvered out of flanking range and again struck at Target, missing him this time.
I continued to sing, feeling the power of the Light surging through my song. I readied my crossbow in case an opening came for a shot.
That was his last mistake. It looked like Target brought his greatsword in a giant circle coming up from the depths of the earth rising up from behind his head, scraping the sky, and whipped the blade halfway through the war-forged. A powerful attack which left no doubt of the fate left to the attacking war-forged.
A small device leapt out of the war-forged and buzzed past the group, heading outside.
“Blade’s messenger!” Gear yelled as he leapt to try to catch it, but it was too quick for him.
I had barely time to absorb the import of this when Samia screamed!
“Help! Shifters!” Samia staggered back against the wall, blood sprouting from a gash on her arm.
Rand roared and spun around to see two shifters, one of whom he recognized as the shifter from the Rat’s Market.
“Target! Get the one on the left!”, Rand yelled as he ran to face the shifter from the market.
Baldon threw the flame at the one Rand has assigned to target and his clothing caught fire, burning the shifter badly.
“Woooosh!” went a valve, the water rushing behind the burning shifter, splashing him with murky water and putting out the fire.
Both enemy combatants had long claws and Rand grinned as he faced his opponent. He feinted with his sword and whipped a hand to the shifter’s face, causing it to tumble backwards in order to miss the deadly razors at the ends of his fingers.
The other shifter moved to engage Target, as Samia had moved out of the way. Both claws scrabbled at Target’s adamantine body, not finding a purchase.
Gear ran to Target, his dragonmark scintillating and pulsing as he healed Target of the previous damage from the war-forged.
Still energized by my chanting, Target and Rand both hit their enemies hard, Target with another mighty two-handed blow and Rand goring the shifter’s belly, and then slashing his longsword along the shifter’s arm.
Both had been wounded badly and began to run back down the sewer.
“Wooosh!” a valve from the other direction opened, knocking down one of the fleeing shifters. I fired my crossbow, dropping the one that had not fallen.
Rand raced over to the prone shifter and, as the shifter rose to attack, slashed it’s head with an overhand swipe of his claws.
Baldon went over to check Samia, who was looking a little pale. With some minor healing, he was able to partially close her wounds, but she was still injured.
“Is everyone else all right?” I asked, looking at the group.
Everyone nodded. Target thanked Gear for the repair job he did in the middle of the fight, and Gear, just smiled in reply.
“It’s what I did at the House Cannith forges,” he said. “I like working on war-forged, and I’m glad to be able to get to know one. The others went through the workshops too quickly.”
“What was that you did with the singing, Tharkhad?” Target asked. “I felt like.. a hero in an ancient saga!”
Rand agreed, nodding. “I felt… stronger, better. Like when I shift.”
I smiled. “Music is… a way of touching the heart. It can console and comfort, it can entertain, and sometimes – it can inspire. I’m glad I could help, standing there in the back row. I couldn’t think of anything else.”
Samia grinned. “Of course, now that we know you are so talented, I think you need to tell us all bedtime stories back at our lodgings.”
“As long as my voice holds out,” I smiled.
“Wooosh!” A spray of sewer water rushed behind me, splashing my legs with sludgy water.
“Let’s get out of this!” I said, and we grabbed the bodies and dragged them across the valve corridor, avoiding a final gout of sewer water.
We went about our tasks. Samia went through the possessions of the fallen. Gear examined the war-forged muttering things like “out-dated prototype” and “hack job done to install the messenger”. Rand stood watch by the corridor end, watching for any other foes, and cleaning his sword. Target, Baldon, and I cleaned up what parts had gotten dirty.
After stowing everything away for potential resale, we turned to the corridor that left the valve room. Five feet after the valve room, it “T”ed into another corridor, going north and south. Looking south, there was a downed heavily rusted portcullis, so we turned north. We could come back to investigate the portcullis if necessary.
Ahead, about 30 feet north, was a glowing circle of mithral, set into a circular hatch and carved with the same icon on Bonal’s Journal. House Cannith’s ancient sigil predating the Kingdom of Galifar itself.
