Session One, Part Four: Familiar Places, Familiar Faces
Dru nodded. "You're right. It's over." A half-smile crossed her face. "Now someone please untie poor Captain Donnach and get this crap off of me? Oh, and heal Di'Fier."
Ashrem grinned, and returned the padded blade to the loop on his belt. "I've got some solvent with our equipment. Looks like Quooral is going to need it, too."
Katya knelt by Di'Fier and pulled a short wand from her belt, waving it over him. The man's eyelids flickered, and he sat up, rubbing his head. "I'm glad you guys are on
our side," he began. "And I'm glad I'm not a criminal. I'd make a
terrible criminal."
"Sorry about the head, sir," Quooral muttered, bending over to help Di'Fier up.
"It's OK, I'll be fine. I think next time we'll use double padding on that hammer of yours, though."
The genasi hesitated a moment, as uncertainty reigned on the broad plain of his face. "...did we pass?"
Dru laughed, peeling the remains of the tanglefoot bag out of her hair. "We would have passed you even if Di'Fier had gotten away."
Quooral frowned. "But you always told us to never let the criminals get away..."
Di'Fier grinned. "What do you think, Captain?"
Donnach rubbed his wrists, and began untying the gag that now hung around his neck. "Well, they're your team, Di'Fier. But I'll bet that you'll more than justify Lady Elise's support for this whole idea. Good work, all of you."
Footsteps clumped up the hall. "Took you long enough," rasped Jaffar, looking around the room. "They got you, Dru? Jeez."
"Both of us, actually," said Di'Fier, still rubbing his head. "And not a casualty on their side, thanks to some good planning, good teamwork..."
"And plenty of luck," Jemis finally piped up.
"This work has a lot more luck in it than I care to think about," admitted Dru.
Jaffar rubbed at his moustache. "Well, sh-t. I just lost a bundle, then. Figured you'd take out three of 'em and then make your escape."
Donnach gave the Watchman a reproving glance, and turned to the rest of them. "All right, everyone. Let's head home and get some...what is it, Arinbjorn?"
The new arrival took a deep break and wiped the rain from his face. "Warehouse District, sir. Explosion - explosion
s in one of the warehouses. We have it cordoned off, but we need a detective to come look over it."
"No rest for the wicked," the Captain said. "Dru, Di'Fier - this sounds like just the kind of thing your unit was made for. Check it out."
"Kiva, Davos, Kliege," Di'Fier greeted the guards waiting outside the warehouse. "What have we got?"
Davos grunted.
"It's pretty bad, Lertenant," Kliege filled in, pulling his hood forward to keep the rain off. "Looks like there was a bunch of people in there, and they weren't unloading the usual cargo, if you know what I mean."
Dru scowled up at the warehouse, as if she could intimidate the building into telling her what had happened. "We've been here before," she said, and Di'Fier nodded.
"When we busted the group smuggling
kantha leaves," he agreed. He glanced back over the rest of the group, and saw Jemis huddled in Quooral's shadow - whether it was to get some shelter from the rain and wind or to escape notice, he wasn't sure. He almost said something, but let it go. "All right, let's have a look."
The stench hit them as they entered the doors. The humid air carried with it a stench of burnt flesh that hit like Quooral's hammer, staggering the Watchmen and weakening their knees. Overlaid on it was the sickly sweet smell of the burnt
kantha. Dru pulled a handkerchief and held it over her mouth and nose. They wouldn't be able to remain here long.
The sight of the blackened corpses was too much for Jemis. He crumpled to his hands and knees, hunched over and spewing his dinner onto the packed earth of the floor.
"Jemis...why don't you wait outside. Quooral, Glunnyn, come with me," ordered Di'Fier. "Dru, we're going to check out their little escape tunnel in the back."
His partner nodded, then looked at the others. "Ashrem, make sure Jemis is all right. Katya, let's look at the victims."
If truth be told, there was not much left to look at. The fire had burned to the bone on most of them, leaving only brittle, carbonized ash where the flesh had once been. Several crates had been blasted open by the explosions, and the dried leaves inside still smouldered, giving off their toxic vapors.
Dru knelt by one of the corpses, more intact than the others, to look for any signs of identification. As she reached out to turn it over, she saw its chest twitch in a shuddering breath.
"Katya!" she snapped. "Looks like we have a survivor."
The priestess looked down at the man and shook her head. "I've done everything I can for him, but the spells I know can't replace what's been burned away. Without powerful magic, he'll never see or speak again, and it's not likely that he'll even be able to walk." She hesitated, and then turned towards Dru. "There was no way he could have survived on his own for that long. Someone stabilized him before we got here. They
meant him to survive."
The other three Watchmen returned from their inspection of the warehouse. "The trapdoor was still buried under the crates," Di'Fier told her. "I don't think anyone got out that way."
Glunnyn wriggled to the front between Di'Fier and Quooral. "We also analyzed the distinctive patterns produced by the combustion and have ascertained not only that it was produced by a magical effect - which is certainly consistent with the other observed phenomena - but also identified the particular dweomer which was used."
The human mage nodded. "
Fireball. Multiple castings simultaneously, which means we've got several powerful wizards on our hands." He looked down at the man Dru and Katya had been looking at. "What's this?"
"A survivor. I'm not sure whether he's the lucky one or not. He's in no shape to talk, though."
"A simple divination would enable me to align the memetic receptors of my own mind with..." Glunnyn trailed off as Dru held up her hand.
"I'm not interested in the theory, Glunnyn. Can you do it now?"
The gnome sniffed. "Of
course."
What were you doing here?
i was unpacking crates the crates have the leaves and i will get paid for this i know it ain't legal but everyone said we would be okay this time but we werent the last time we had cops but this time it was the men in the cloaks and they burned the world oh god the fire the fire
How many of them were there?
there were one two three four of them and the big one in the center is five and fire and the boss was hit first and then the fire came for me
Who healed you?
it was black all black and the pain went away but now its back and i can't be healed because its still black and if i were healed it wouldn't hurt like this
Quooral and Katya carried the man out of the warehouse on a makeshift stretcher, with Dru and Di'Fier following.
Jemis stiffened at the sight. The healing spells had regrown skin where they could, but the eyes were still empty sockets, and his teeth still showed through the hole that had been burned in his cheek. Still, it was enough, and Jemis turned away to lean heavily against the wall again and fight to keep control of his stomach.
"Oh gods...poor Arjis..."
End of Session 1
