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<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 1940695" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p><strong>Horse Thieves</strong></p><p></p><p>Lanara looked up, and sighed. It was going to rain.</p><p></p><p> They were only three days from Laeshir, by their best guess. Until she’d seen the clouds rolling in, Lanara hadn’t been looking forward to arriving at the stuffy dwarven city. She’d hoped her traveling companions would be ready to move on from there quickly, but the conversation around the campfire didn’t give her much hope. Kavan and Kyle were talking about making potions for everyone, and that priest Tolly was talking about making full plate armor! The cansin had no idea how long that took, but she guessed that “a couple of days” wasn’t the answer. She took comfort in the fact that Osborn, like her, would be pressuring the group to move along quickly. The hin’s presence in the group was comforting to her, as entirely too many of the others were too rigid for her tastes. A couple of them had potential, though.</p><p></p><p>She began to look her companions over, her gaze resting on a few in particular. Thoughts began to form in her head, not for the first time. Lanara had to fight not to smile to herself as she contemplated some of the ideas that had sprung into her head in the last few weeks while traveling with these people and watching them interact with each other. Do I start now, or do I wait? She thought to herself. Certainly, it was within her ability to accomplish; after all, she’d once managed to cause a sophisticated noblewoman to fall in love with her stableboy; this would be no more difficult than that. It was amazing what kinds of situations you could get two people into with just the right song, the right turn of phrase, the subtlest of comments dropped here and there…</p><p></p><p>Her train of thought was interrupted by a large drop of rain that landed on her nose. <em>I’ll wait</em>, she thought to herself, wiping away the offending drop. <em>Right now I’d rather concentrate on getting out of the rain.</em></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> The steady rains of that day turned into true thunderstorms by the next morning. The group slogged on, careful not to curse Dakotha* too frequently in case the goddess of storms decided to prove things could be much worse. They kept to higher ground as much as possible, but the pouring rain and mud slowed them down, delaying their arrival in Laeshir by at least a day. They halted their march by late afternoon, finding a slight rise on a hillside that would make a suitable campsite. Within an hour they were all huddled inside their two large tents, forlornly chewing their provisions of dried venison and even drier biscuits.</p><p></p><p> “At least there’s plenty of water to wash these down,” Kyle joked. No one laughed.</p><p></p><p> Once they had eaten and dried off their provisions as best they could, they set watches for the evening. It was a long, miserable night; the heavy rain prevented those on watch from talking, and the others in their tents weren’t feeling much more talkative either. For Tolly and Xu, who were on the last watch, it seemed as though dawn would never come.</p><p></p><p> But just as the clouds in the sky began to lighten from the sun hidden behind them, Xu stopped, and pointed up the hillside. Tolly’s gaze came to rest on the nearby trees, and the large, shadowy forms moving just out of the range of their vision.</p><p></p><p> “Wake the others,” Tolly commanded, and raised his arms. Light as bright as the sun shone forth from his holy symbol, bathing the area. At the edge of the light, Tolly could now make out two of the hulking forms.</p><p></p><p> “Ogres!” he shouted back toward the tents, hefting his warhammer. He then turned back to face the ogres. “Come, foul creatures!” he bellowed. “Come and face Ardara’s wrath!”</p><p></p><p> Meanwhile Xu had dashed into the men’s tent, quickly shaking Kyle, Kavan, and Osborn awake. She dashed out of their tent just as Tolly’s challenge rolled out across the hills. Osborn stod up and dashed outside, his dog Rupert on his heels. Osborn went behind the tent and began pulling on his leather armor. Kyle and Kavan walked out as well, and as soon as Kyle saw the ogres he threw up a <em>mage armor</em> spell. He then reached out and touched Kavan on the shoulder, protecting him with an enchantment that blurred his form. Kavan was already walking forward to stand next to Tolly, his longsword bared. Rivulets of rainwater dripped from the blade’s edge.</p><p></p><p> Xu made a quick pass through the women’s tent before dashing outside and off into the woods, hoping to circle around and flank the ogres. Unfortunately, the women were much heavier sleepers than the men, and did not rise immediately. It wasn’t until Kyle noticed their absence and began shouting for their help that Arrie, Autumn, and Lanara woke fully and moved out into the rain. Arrie grabbed her bow and poked her head out. She could clearly see six ogres approaching, now well illuminated since Tolly had moved forward to engage them.</p><p></p><p> “This is an armor situation,” she gulped. “Definitely an armor situation.” She knew that the reach of the ogres’ greatclubs was equal to what she could manage with her spiked chain, which took away her primary advantage if they closed into melee. Once, when she was younger and first learning to use the chain, she’d grown cocky over her advantage in reach. Master Galbreth and a pair of his longspear-wielding assistants had taught her a valuable lesson; she still bore a tiny scar just below her left armpit as a reminder.</p><p></p><p> “Autumn!” she shouted, “help me put on my armor!”</p><p></p><p> Autumn quickly stepped up behind her sister and began pulling at the clasps and straps that held the light chain shirt together. She glanced wistfully at the own field plate, carefully packed away next to her bedroll. Donning her own armor would take far too long.</p><p></p><p> Meanwhile Kavan and Tolly had moved up to engage the ogres, ignoring the scattering of javelins that came at them. They were accompanied by the sounds of Lanara’s lilting voice, carrying inspiring words to their ears. The cansin bard had taken up position behind the tents where she could still be heard, even over the rain. Kyle stood back away from the battle, trying to decide where to lend his help. He saw Arrie and Autumn emerge from their tent, Arrie with her double bow and Autumn with a crossbow. Arrie had her chain armor loosely draped over her shoulders, while Autumn had no protection. Kyle winced to himself – he should have saved the mage armor spell for her rather than put it on himself; he could just stay out of the way.</p><p></p><p> He shook his head and looked back at the ogres. Wishin’ don’t make the corn grow, as Pa used to say, he thought. He pulled arcane energy from the ether and shaped it into a pattern, then let it loose upon a trio of ogres advancing through the trees. Thick, sticky strands of webbing enveloped them; one managed to pull free before the webbing set, but the other two were stuck fast.</p><p></p><p> Tolly and Kavan had managed to do well, holding against the ogre’s initial charge. Tolly had taken a heavy blow to the chest, but unlike Autumn he was armored, and the force of the blow was dissipated somewhat. The two priests had counterattacked, inflicting minor wounds on a pair of the brutes. Suddenly, the ogres began to withdraw.</p><p></p><p> “What’s going on?” asked Kavan, a snarl on his normally serene face. “Why do they run? We’ve barely scratched them!”</p><p></p><p> “I don’t know,” said Tolly, who had paused to heal himself. “Perhaps they fear magic?” He gestured at the globe of webbing that two ogres struggled to free themselves from.</p><p></p><p> “Unlikely,” Kavan snapped. “These creatures are too stupid to know fear. Come on, they’re getting away.”</p><p></p><p> Kavan began to move forward even as Autumn and Arrie loosed arrows into one of the wounded ogres, dropping it. Kyle tried to weaken one of the trapped ogres to prevent it from escaping, but his aim was off, and with a roar it burst out of the webs and began to withdraw as well. Soon only one ogre remained, buried deep inside the webs. Arrie, Tolly, and Kavan surrounded it and began to tear into it while Autumn and Kyle covered them to make sure the other ogres didn’t return.</p><p></p><p> By this time Osborn had finished putting his armor on, and he snapped his fingers to call his riding dog to him. But just as he was about to mount, his ears perked up at a strange noise coming from the other side of the camp, where they’d tied up the horses. Cautiously, Osborn went to investigate, pulling out a lamp enchanted with a continual flame. The light from the lamp cut through the pre-dawn gloom, allowing Osborn to see the small hillock where there horses used to be.</p><p></p><p> “The horses!” Osborn shouted.</p><p></p><p> Only Lanara, Kyle, and Autumn were close enough to hear. They came running to join their hin companion, who was frantically searching around in the mud.</p><p></p><p> “Gone,” he moaned. “Even the pack horses. All our supplies, all our food…”</p><p></p><p> “Impossible,” Autumn said. “Defiance and Ghost are trained for war. If a stranger tried to lead them away they would have fought them.”</p><p></p><p> “I don’t see any signs of a struggle,” said Osborn. “The hoof prints just go off into the woods.”</p><p></p><p> “Can you follow them?” asked Kyle.</p><p></p><p> Osborn shook his head. “I’m no woodsman. The tracks are pretty obvious here, but the rain’s already starting to wash them away, and the ground’s rockier that way.”</p><p></p><p> “We have to try!” said Autumn.</p><p></p><p> “Relax, Autumn,” said Lanara. “Sure, it’s a pain in the ass, but they’re just horses. We can buy more in Laeshir.”</p><p></p><p> “No,” she said through a clenched jaw. “I will not abandon Defiance. He is… he is all I have of my own family.” She turned and walked up the hill to alert the others.</p><p></p><p> Lanara’s expression was puzzled. “I thought Arrie was her family.”</p><p></p><p> “Arrie’s her cousin, not her sister,” said Kyle. “She was adopted into Arrie’s family as a child. I think Autumn might mean her birth family.”</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> Subduing the last ogre was a simple task, if not quick. Once the ogre was securely tied, the group quickly broke camp and armed themselves fully. There was some concern for the whereabouts of Xu, who had not been seen since she had woken the camp, but they couldn’t go to look for her with their prisoner, and they dared not split up the group for fear the ogres were waiting nearby to ambush them. They decided to cross that bridge later.</p><p></p><p> Kavan seemed particularly eager to dispatch the ogre. The elven priest seemed to have little regard for the giant-kin. Thus he stood by impatiently while the ogre was questioned, Lanara using her innate magic to communicate with it. Unfortunately, though her spells allowed her to understand the ogre’s language, none of them could speak it, and their efforts to pantomime their questions were fruitless, as the ogre was either too stupid or too stubborn to respond.</p><p></p><p> “Well, now what?” asked Arrie. She’d been pacing during the entire attempt at questioning the ogre; the news that her own horse Ghost had been stolen was almost as upsetting to her as it was to Autumn.</p><p></p><p> Kavan looked back at the bound ogre casually. “We could skin him.”</p><p></p><p> Osborn’s eyes widened. “Why would we want to do that?” he asked, horrified.</p><p></p><p> “We skinned that crocodile that attacked us, didn’t we?”</p><p></p><p> “Yes, but crocodile hide is worth something!”</p><p></p><p> He shrugged. “An ogre’s skin has got to be worth something to someone.”</p><p></p><p> They all just stared at Kavan.</p><p></p><p> “Look, we can’t kill it yet,” said Lanara. “In case you’ve forgotten, we have no idea where they took our horses. Maybe we can convince it to lead us to their hideout.”</p><p></p><p> “You mean like we convinced him to tell us where it is?” Osborn smirked.</p><p></p><p> “Okay, then, we let it go and follow it home like a lost puppy.”</p><p></p><p> “Do not bother,” said Xu.</p><p></p><p> They all turned in unison to see Xu walk up from behind them, as if she had been out for a quick stroll in the rain. None of them had heard her approach.</p><p></p><p> “I know where the ogres have gone,” the monk said.</p><p></p><p> Kavan smiled. “Excellent,” he said, as he drew a dagger and began walking toward the ogre.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> It turned out that Xu had been quite busy while she was gone. Intending to flank the ogres, she noticed that they were withdrawing unusually quickly. Curious, and as yet undetected, she decided to follow them to find out where they were going. Once she had a good look at their camp, she walked back to her companions.</p><p></p><p> They all now looked at that camp. They had come to the base of a cliff, perhaps four hundred feet high. Built into the base of the cliff was an old castle that had seen better days. Only the main floor and part of a tower remained. There were no windows facing outward, and the wooden door was closed fast. There was no movement outside. The sun rose behind the cliff, so the cliff face and castle were in deep shadow.</p><p></p><p> “That’s where they went?” Arrie asked, pointing. Xu nodded.</p><p></p><p> Kyle studied the castle. “First the swamp, now here. What’s with all these dang ruined castles?”</p><p></p><p> “They’re pre-Cataclysm,” said Lanara. “Or very early post-Cataclysm. Only humans build castles like that, so for them to be in the Dwarven Confederates they’d had to have been built before the dwarves showed up.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, let’s go,” Arrie said. “I want my Ghost back before he ends up on a spit.”</p><p></p><p> “I don’t think ogres cook their meat,” offered Kyle, but he quickly shut his mouth when he saw the looks from Autumn and Arrie.</p><p></p><p> The group began walking toward the castle, spread out a bit in case the ogres charged out of the front door. With no visible windows in the castle, they were unafraid of coming under fire from javelins.</p><p></p><p> Autumn suddenly stopped when they were a few yards away from the door. She grabbed Kyle by the shoulder, and pointed up at the cliff. “Can you see that?” she asked.</p><p></p><p> Kyle squinted and followed the sentinel’s finger. Just barely, he could make out what looked like a cave about halfway up the cliff.</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, I see it. But I don’t see any way to get up there from here.”</p><p></p><p> As they both watched, however, they saw some movement within the cave. A moment later something large came out and began plummeting toward them fast.</p><p></p><p> “Incoming!” shouted Autumn. She grabbed Kyle by the arm and pulled him aside, but they became tangled and she ended up falling on top of him. A few feet away, a large boulder crashed to the ground, only inches from where Tolly had been standing.</p><p></p><p> “Are you all right?” asked Autumn.</p><p></p><p> “Yeah,” gasped Kyle, looking up at the field plate clad warrior, “but I might’ve been better off under the boulder.”</p><p></p><p> The group quickly scrambled for the castle as boulders began to rain down. Arrie reached the door first and began to bash it with her shoulder. Kavan, Tolly, Xu, and Osborn were immediately behind her. Kyle and Lanara hung back, realizing that if there was resistance on the other side of the door there would be a bottleneck, and those in the back would be easy targets for the ogres.</p><p></p><p> As another stone landed right where Autumn was standing a moment ago, Arrie finally bashed in the door. She dove into the room in a roll, hoping to come up behind any sentries. Instead, her roll stopped short as she ran into something large and solid. The others scrambled up to see Arrie sprawled upside down, at the feet of her warhorse Ghost.</p><p></p><p> “A little help, please?” she asked.</p><p></p><p> They quickly righted her and looked around. The chamber was small, barely big enough for Ghost to stand. Doors led off to of the parts of the castle.</p><p></p><p> “Osborn,” Tolly said. “Please check those doors. And quickly; we need to move forward so our friends have cover from the boulders.”</p><p></p><p> “On it.” Osborn squeezed past everyone and quickly checked a side door. Opening it, he called out “Defiance is in here!”</p><p></p><p> He moved to another door as the others shifted and squeezed to let everyone inside. Eventually Osborn found the main hallway, and the group was able to fully move past the two warhorses. In a side chamber they found the remainder of their riding horses, but their pack horses with all their gear were nowhere to be seen.</p><p></p><p> “Over here!” called Kavan. He pointed through a doorway to a long, winding corridor that sloped sharply upwards.</p><p></p><p> “I think this leads up to that cave Autumn saw,” he said.</p><p></p><p> Osborn went to investigate. He came back with a glum expression. “Well, I have good news, bad news, and worse news.” He sat down on a nearby flagstone, sighing. “The bad news is that the ogres can easily throw their boulders down the corridor as we come up; we’d be sitting ducks. The good news is that I think they only have three boulders left.”</p><p></p><p> “What’s the worse news?” asked Lanara.</p><p></p><p> “In the cave there’s the four ogres we saw before; a couple of them are still hurt. But I also got a look at their leader, who we hadn’t seen before.” Osborn sighed again. “He had blue skin.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly coughed and shook his head. “An ogre mage,” he said. “More intelligent, and more dangerous. They are resistant to magic, and their wounds heal almost instantly unless inflicted by fire or acid. They can become invisible at will, and have other magical abilities as well.”</p><p></p><p> The group looked at each other. “You know,” said Osborn, “we have most of our horses. We’ve lost our supplies except for the tents, but we’re only a couple of days from Laeshir. We could just leave.”</p><p></p><p> “We could,” said Kyle, “but that leaves these ogres here to keep doing this to other people.”</p><p></p><p> After a moment’s silence, Autumn spoke. “We need a distraction. Something to lure the ogres into wasting their last boulders.”</p><p></p><p> “An excellent idea,” said Tolly. “Perhaps some of us could scale the cliff and attack from two fronts?”</p><p></p><p> “Most of us aren’t that good of climbers, though,” said Lanara. “It’s raining, and half of you wear heavy armor, including you Tolly.”</p><p></p><p> “I could make the ascent,” said Xu.</p><p></p><p> “So could I,” said Osborn. “But we still need something to distract them while weg et into position.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Who has some spare clothing?” he asked.</p><p></p><p> Lanara looked at him “I have a few outfits. Why?”</p><p></p><p> “Can I borrow one for a while?”</p><p></p><p> “Well, sure, but I don’t think they’d flatter you very much.” She set down her pack and pulled out a tight bundle. She unwrapped it and shook out a brightly colored set of clothing that seemed to have entirely too little fabric in them.</p><p></p><p> “Perfect,” said Kyle, taking the clothes. Concentrating for a moment, he summoned his innate magical talent and created an unseen servant that filled the clothing. Though the shape was wrong, it was passably human looking from a distance.</p><p></p><p> Kavan looked at the clothes hovering in the air, then at Lanara. “I’ve never seen you wear that outfit,” he told the cansin.</p><p></p><p> She smiled, and her mismatched eyes flashed. “It’s my dancing outfit.”</p><p></p><p> Kavan continued to stare at Lanara. When his gaze had rested on her a little too long, she cleared her throat. “Hey, Kavan? You can stop picturing me wearing the outfit any time.”</p><p></p><p> Kavan blinked, and gave an apologetic half-smile. “Forgive me. Old ways of thinking are difficult to completely abandon.”</p><p></p><p> Lanara wondered what the elf meant by that. Other than his devotion to Erito, they knew little of Kavan. He had hinted at some sort of dark secret in his past, but said that he wasn’t ready to share it yet. Lanara was dying to know.</p><p></p><p> Meanwhile, Kyle, Osborn, and Xu had moved back up to the castle entrance. “Get ready,” Kyle said. He looked at the stack of floating clothing. “Go out into the open area outside the door and move around randomly, keeping these clothes with you at all times,” he ordered. The servant began to float out the door. As soon as it was within sight of the cave above, Kyle motioned for Osborn and Xu to begin their ascent.</p><p></p><p> “We’ll be at the cave by a count of five hundred,” said Osborn. “Be ready.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle watched from the door as Osborn and Xu moved out along the castle wall and scrambled up a pile of rubble to reach the cliff face. Meanwhile, a boulder came flying down, landing just short of the decoy. The second boulder, however, flew true, and the servant and its clothing were smashed under the stone.</p><p></p><p> “Oops,” said Kyle to himself, “looks like I owe Lanara a new outfit.”</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> Mandool waited patiently. He knew the travelers from the woods were coming up the passageway; he need only wait. Two of his minions waited at the entrance, their last remaining stone ready. He scowled at that; they had wasted the other two on that decoy. At least one of them was dead, though. Behind him, his other two remaining servants waited. He had decided to keep them in reserve, as they’d already been wounded by the travelers.</p><p></p><p> Soon, he thought. Soon they will be here, and they will die, and I will let these simpletons suck the marrow from their bones while I claim the real prize. Mandool had no doubt the travelers carried many valuables, and perhaps even magic.</p><p></p><p> His keen ears perked up. From the tunnel, he heard the sound of metal armor clanging. At last, they were here. He pointed down the tunnel, and the boulder was hurled down the tunnel. Mandool grinned as he heard the satisfying clang of stone against metal, and knew they’d struck at least one. Then, he heard the rhythmic chanting of arcane magic.</p><p></p><p> That will be the arcanist, the one who ensnared Grom and Udan. His smile grew wider. Let him try that trick on me.</p><p></p><p> The two ogres by the door drew in shoulder-to-shoulder as the travelers rushed up the tunnel. He saw the human woman with the chain in the lead, next to the male with the hammer who Maag had told him was glowing like the sun. Behind them came the celestial-kin and the elf, and behind them, barely visible, were the chaos-touched woman and the arcanist, blocked from the battle by their own companions. The chaos-touched woman began to sing, for lack of anything better to do.</p><p></p><p> Suddenly Mandool saw movement out of the corner of his eye near the ground. He jerked his leg away just as a hin clambered over the edge of the cliff and swiped at him with a tiny sword. Angered, Mandool swept his hand out and caught the hin in the chest, sending him back over the edge. Next to him, another human woman with no weapons came up and rushed him. Mandool knew better than to assume that unarmed meant not dangerous. He barked a command, and his two reserve ogres came up to confront the small woman.</p><p></p><p> Turning back to the main battle, Mandool saw that the elf was gesturing at him with some sort of holy symbol. He felt the divine power strike him, and to his astonishment it penetrated his indomitable will as well as the aura of innate magical power that coursed through him. He suddenly felt the wrath of Erito in his heart, and he knew these were not foes to take lightly. He would have to be cautious.</p><p></p><p> Chaos ensued. Mandool tried to attack the unarmed woman, but she dodged out of the way. With a scowl he saw the hin scramble back up as well, having apparently secured himself with rope before coming into the cave. The travelers seemed to be moving unnaturally fast, no doubt thanks to that arcanist. One of his ogres went down, its brains splattered across the cave walls by the priests’ hammer. Nearby, the other priest was healing the celestial-kin. Mandool finally connected with the dodging woman, but not before the hin cut him deeply across the shin. No matter, thought the ogre mage, as he could feel the wound healing over already. A burst of energy exploded near his head, and a spray of acid flew at him. But the magically summoned acid washed over his magical defenses, flowing away harmlessly.</p><p></p><p> “You’ll have to do better than that, priest!” he bellowed in the human tongue to the hammer-wielding priest who had sent the acid. But then the small woman jumped in and jabbed at his stomach. At first he thought he would hardly feel the blow, but as her fist landed, he suddenly felt dizzy, and the edges of his vision went dark. Images swam in his eyes as he tried to clear his head; he saw another of his minions fall, and suddenly there were forms around him. He felt the bite of weapons from several directions. He saw the arcanist summon a missile of acid and launch it, the magic penetrating his defenses and seeping into his flesh where it burned horribly. He was being separated from his remaining two ogre servants as well. Mandool knew when to retreat. Summoning his inner power, he willed himself off the ground and began to fly out past the edge of the cliff, out of range of the intruders. Once at a safe distance he would balst the entire cave with numbing cold. True, the ogres would die as well, but he could always find another tribe.</p><p></p><p> As he moved he felt the weapons of the intruders bite into him with renewed fury. Mandool felt his head going light from blood loss. Still, he smiled. Even if they managed to draw enough blood to cause him to lose consciousness, and send him plummeting to the earth below, his magically-enhanced metabolism would continue to function. Within the space of a minute or so, he would be able to rise again and make his escape.</p><p></p><p> Sure enough, Mandool felt a sword slip between his ribs, and he felt suddenly cold. As he tumbled, he caught sight of the interlopers turning and laying into his former tribe. Then there was a horrible crunching sound, and all went black.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> Kyle could see the battle was well won. With the ogre mage gone, they would make short work of the other two ogres. Kyle turned to say something to Lanara, but she was no longer behind him. Shrugging, Kyle walked over to a small side passage he’d noticed. Summoning a light, he walked inside, curious as to what he’d find.</p><p></p><p> He was halfway into the next chamber when he felt a metal gauntleted hand on his shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going?” Autumn asked.</p><p></p><p> “I’m exploring,” said Kyle. “The fight’s practically over.”</p><p></p><p> “By yourself?” The sentinel frowned at him. “That’s unwise, Kyle. You have no idea what’s in here.”</p><p></p><p> “And everyone else is just a shout away,” he said. “Besides, I still have my <em>lightning bolt</em> spell.” When Autumn didn’t return his grin, he sighed. “All right, come with me then if it makes you feel better.”</p><p></p><p> They walked into the chamber. Inside they found a large bed, and in the corner were three large boxes. Autumn and Kyle looked at each other, and then at the boxes.</p><p></p><p> “Osborn?” Autumn called out. “We found something for you to check out!”</p><p></p><p> The hin walked in a moment later, wiping ogre blood off his dagger. He looked around at the chamber, and whistled. “Not bad for a big blue ogre, huh?” Osborn glanced at the enormous bed, then at Kyle and Autumn. “Boy, you two should be glad that Lanara didn’t wander in here before me. She’d probably make some sort of comment about the two of you wandering off together into a room with a big bed.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle looked around as if he wasn’t quite sure how he should react to the comment. Autumn, on the other hand, only smiled. “Yes, I could see her saying something like that. She’s never one to miss a compromising situation, is she?” Autumn looked around as the others began to file into the room. “Say, where is Lanara, anyway?”</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> Mandool’s consciousness slowly returned. At first there were only vague sounds and flashes of color, but they soon coalesced into coherent thought. The ogre mage inhaled deeply, feeling ribs snap back into place. With a smile, he opened his eyes.</p><p></p><p> Standing above him was the chaos-touched woman, the one who could do nothing better than sing during battle. In her hand she held a lit torch. Mandool’s smile faded.</p><p></p><p> The woman held up a tangled, filthy mess of colored fabric in her free hand. “You ruined my dancing outfit,” she said angrily, before she shoved the torch into Mandool’s face.</p><p></p><p> There was pain, but only for a moment.</p><p></p><p>---------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>* Dakotha is the weather goddess.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 1940695, member: 5203"] [b]Horse Thieves[/b] Lanara looked up, and sighed. It was going to rain. They were only three days from Laeshir, by their best guess. Until she’d seen the clouds rolling in, Lanara hadn’t been looking forward to arriving at the stuffy dwarven city. She’d hoped her traveling companions would be ready to move on from there quickly, but the conversation around the campfire didn’t give her much hope. Kavan and Kyle were talking about making potions for everyone, and that priest Tolly was talking about making full plate armor! The cansin had no idea how long that took, but she guessed that “a couple of days” wasn’t the answer. She took comfort in the fact that Osborn, like her, would be pressuring the group to move along quickly. The hin’s presence in the group was comforting to her, as entirely too many of the others were too rigid for her tastes. A couple of them had potential, though. She began to look her companions over, her gaze resting on a few in particular. Thoughts began to form in her head, not for the first time. Lanara had to fight not to smile to herself as she contemplated some of the ideas that had sprung into her head in the last few weeks while traveling with these people and watching them interact with each other. Do I start now, or do I wait? She thought to herself. Certainly, it was within her ability to accomplish; after all, she’d once managed to cause a sophisticated noblewoman to fall in love with her stableboy; this would be no more difficult than that. It was amazing what kinds of situations you could get two people into with just the right song, the right turn of phrase, the subtlest of comments dropped here and there… Her train of thought was interrupted by a large drop of rain that landed on her nose. [I]I’ll wait[/I], she thought to herself, wiping away the offending drop. [I]Right now I’d rather concentrate on getting out of the rain.[/I] [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] The steady rains of that day turned into true thunderstorms by the next morning. The group slogged on, careful not to curse Dakotha* too frequently in case the goddess of storms decided to prove things could be much worse. They kept to higher ground as much as possible, but the pouring rain and mud slowed them down, delaying their arrival in Laeshir by at least a day. They halted their march by late afternoon, finding a slight rise on a hillside that would make a suitable campsite. Within an hour they were all huddled inside their two large tents, forlornly chewing their provisions of dried venison and even drier biscuits. “At least there’s plenty of water to wash these down,” Kyle joked. No one laughed. Once they had eaten and dried off their provisions as best they could, they set watches for the evening. It was a long, miserable night; the heavy rain prevented those on watch from talking, and the others in their tents weren’t feeling much more talkative either. For Tolly and Xu, who were on the last watch, it seemed as though dawn would never come. But just as the clouds in the sky began to lighten from the sun hidden behind them, Xu stopped, and pointed up the hillside. Tolly’s gaze came to rest on the nearby trees, and the large, shadowy forms moving just out of the range of their vision. “Wake the others,” Tolly commanded, and raised his arms. Light as bright as the sun shone forth from his holy symbol, bathing the area. At the edge of the light, Tolly could now make out two of the hulking forms. “Ogres!” he shouted back toward the tents, hefting his warhammer. He then turned back to face the ogres. “Come, foul creatures!” he bellowed. “Come and face Ardara’s wrath!” Meanwhile Xu had dashed into the men’s tent, quickly shaking Kyle, Kavan, and Osborn awake. She dashed out of their tent just as Tolly’s challenge rolled out across the hills. Osborn stod up and dashed outside, his dog Rupert on his heels. Osborn went behind the tent and began pulling on his leather armor. Kyle and Kavan walked out as well, and as soon as Kyle saw the ogres he threw up a [I]mage armor[/I] spell. He then reached out and touched Kavan on the shoulder, protecting him with an enchantment that blurred his form. Kavan was already walking forward to stand next to Tolly, his longsword bared. Rivulets of rainwater dripped from the blade’s edge. Xu made a quick pass through the women’s tent before dashing outside and off into the woods, hoping to circle around and flank the ogres. Unfortunately, the women were much heavier sleepers than the men, and did not rise immediately. It wasn’t until Kyle noticed their absence and began shouting for their help that Arrie, Autumn, and Lanara woke fully and moved out into the rain. Arrie grabbed her bow and poked her head out. She could clearly see six ogres approaching, now well illuminated since Tolly had moved forward to engage them. “This is an armor situation,” she gulped. “Definitely an armor situation.” She knew that the reach of the ogres’ greatclubs was equal to what she could manage with her spiked chain, which took away her primary advantage if they closed into melee. Once, when she was younger and first learning to use the chain, she’d grown cocky over her advantage in reach. Master Galbreth and a pair of his longspear-wielding assistants had taught her a valuable lesson; she still bore a tiny scar just below her left armpit as a reminder. “Autumn!” she shouted, “help me put on my armor!” Autumn quickly stepped up behind her sister and began pulling at the clasps and straps that held the light chain shirt together. She glanced wistfully at the own field plate, carefully packed away next to her bedroll. Donning her own armor would take far too long. Meanwhile Kavan and Tolly had moved up to engage the ogres, ignoring the scattering of javelins that came at them. They were accompanied by the sounds of Lanara’s lilting voice, carrying inspiring words to their ears. The cansin bard had taken up position behind the tents where she could still be heard, even over the rain. Kyle stood back away from the battle, trying to decide where to lend his help. He saw Arrie and Autumn emerge from their tent, Arrie with her double bow and Autumn with a crossbow. Arrie had her chain armor loosely draped over her shoulders, while Autumn had no protection. Kyle winced to himself – he should have saved the mage armor spell for her rather than put it on himself; he could just stay out of the way. He shook his head and looked back at the ogres. Wishin’ don’t make the corn grow, as Pa used to say, he thought. He pulled arcane energy from the ether and shaped it into a pattern, then let it loose upon a trio of ogres advancing through the trees. Thick, sticky strands of webbing enveloped them; one managed to pull free before the webbing set, but the other two were stuck fast. Tolly and Kavan had managed to do well, holding against the ogre’s initial charge. Tolly had taken a heavy blow to the chest, but unlike Autumn he was armored, and the force of the blow was dissipated somewhat. The two priests had counterattacked, inflicting minor wounds on a pair of the brutes. Suddenly, the ogres began to withdraw. “What’s going on?” asked Kavan, a snarl on his normally serene face. “Why do they run? We’ve barely scratched them!” “I don’t know,” said Tolly, who had paused to heal himself. “Perhaps they fear magic?” He gestured at the globe of webbing that two ogres struggled to free themselves from. “Unlikely,” Kavan snapped. “These creatures are too stupid to know fear. Come on, they’re getting away.” Kavan began to move forward even as Autumn and Arrie loosed arrows into one of the wounded ogres, dropping it. Kyle tried to weaken one of the trapped ogres to prevent it from escaping, but his aim was off, and with a roar it burst out of the webs and began to withdraw as well. Soon only one ogre remained, buried deep inside the webs. Arrie, Tolly, and Kavan surrounded it and began to tear into it while Autumn and Kyle covered them to make sure the other ogres didn’t return. By this time Osborn had finished putting his armor on, and he snapped his fingers to call his riding dog to him. But just as he was about to mount, his ears perked up at a strange noise coming from the other side of the camp, where they’d tied up the horses. Cautiously, Osborn went to investigate, pulling out a lamp enchanted with a continual flame. The light from the lamp cut through the pre-dawn gloom, allowing Osborn to see the small hillock where there horses used to be. “The horses!” Osborn shouted. Only Lanara, Kyle, and Autumn were close enough to hear. They came running to join their hin companion, who was frantically searching around in the mud. “Gone,” he moaned. “Even the pack horses. All our supplies, all our food…” “Impossible,” Autumn said. “Defiance and Ghost are trained for war. If a stranger tried to lead them away they would have fought them.” “I don’t see any signs of a struggle,” said Osborn. “The hoof prints just go off into the woods.” “Can you follow them?” asked Kyle. Osborn shook his head. “I’m no woodsman. The tracks are pretty obvious here, but the rain’s already starting to wash them away, and the ground’s rockier that way.” “We have to try!” said Autumn. “Relax, Autumn,” said Lanara. “Sure, it’s a pain in the ass, but they’re just horses. We can buy more in Laeshir.” “No,” she said through a clenched jaw. “I will not abandon Defiance. He is… he is all I have of my own family.” She turned and walked up the hill to alert the others. Lanara’s expression was puzzled. “I thought Arrie was her family.” “Arrie’s her cousin, not her sister,” said Kyle. “She was adopted into Arrie’s family as a child. I think Autumn might mean her birth family.” [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] Subduing the last ogre was a simple task, if not quick. Once the ogre was securely tied, the group quickly broke camp and armed themselves fully. There was some concern for the whereabouts of Xu, who had not been seen since she had woken the camp, but they couldn’t go to look for her with their prisoner, and they dared not split up the group for fear the ogres were waiting nearby to ambush them. They decided to cross that bridge later. Kavan seemed particularly eager to dispatch the ogre. The elven priest seemed to have little regard for the giant-kin. Thus he stood by impatiently while the ogre was questioned, Lanara using her innate magic to communicate with it. Unfortunately, though her spells allowed her to understand the ogre’s language, none of them could speak it, and their efforts to pantomime their questions were fruitless, as the ogre was either too stupid or too stubborn to respond. “Well, now what?” asked Arrie. She’d been pacing during the entire attempt at questioning the ogre; the news that her own horse Ghost had been stolen was almost as upsetting to her as it was to Autumn. Kavan looked back at the bound ogre casually. “We could skin him.” Osborn’s eyes widened. “Why would we want to do that?” he asked, horrified. “We skinned that crocodile that attacked us, didn’t we?” “Yes, but crocodile hide is worth something!” He shrugged. “An ogre’s skin has got to be worth something to someone.” They all just stared at Kavan. “Look, we can’t kill it yet,” said Lanara. “In case you’ve forgotten, we have no idea where they took our horses. Maybe we can convince it to lead us to their hideout.” “You mean like we convinced him to tell us where it is?” Osborn smirked. “Okay, then, we let it go and follow it home like a lost puppy.” “Do not bother,” said Xu. They all turned in unison to see Xu walk up from behind them, as if she had been out for a quick stroll in the rain. None of them had heard her approach. “I know where the ogres have gone,” the monk said. Kavan smiled. “Excellent,” he said, as he drew a dagger and began walking toward the ogre. [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] It turned out that Xu had been quite busy while she was gone. Intending to flank the ogres, she noticed that they were withdrawing unusually quickly. Curious, and as yet undetected, she decided to follow them to find out where they were going. Once she had a good look at their camp, she walked back to her companions. They all now looked at that camp. They had come to the base of a cliff, perhaps four hundred feet high. Built into the base of the cliff was an old castle that had seen better days. Only the main floor and part of a tower remained. There were no windows facing outward, and the wooden door was closed fast. There was no movement outside. The sun rose behind the cliff, so the cliff face and castle were in deep shadow. “That’s where they went?” Arrie asked, pointing. Xu nodded. Kyle studied the castle. “First the swamp, now here. What’s with all these dang ruined castles?” “They’re pre-Cataclysm,” said Lanara. “Or very early post-Cataclysm. Only humans build castles like that, so for them to be in the Dwarven Confederates they’d had to have been built before the dwarves showed up.” “Well, let’s go,” Arrie said. “I want my Ghost back before he ends up on a spit.” “I don’t think ogres cook their meat,” offered Kyle, but he quickly shut his mouth when he saw the looks from Autumn and Arrie. The group began walking toward the castle, spread out a bit in case the ogres charged out of the front door. With no visible windows in the castle, they were unafraid of coming under fire from javelins. Autumn suddenly stopped when they were a few yards away from the door. She grabbed Kyle by the shoulder, and pointed up at the cliff. “Can you see that?” she asked. Kyle squinted and followed the sentinel’s finger. Just barely, he could make out what looked like a cave about halfway up the cliff. “Yeah, I see it. But I don’t see any way to get up there from here.” As they both watched, however, they saw some movement within the cave. A moment later something large came out and began plummeting toward them fast. “Incoming!” shouted Autumn. She grabbed Kyle by the arm and pulled him aside, but they became tangled and she ended up falling on top of him. A few feet away, a large boulder crashed to the ground, only inches from where Tolly had been standing. “Are you all right?” asked Autumn. “Yeah,” gasped Kyle, looking up at the field plate clad warrior, “but I might’ve been better off under the boulder.” The group quickly scrambled for the castle as boulders began to rain down. Arrie reached the door first and began to bash it with her shoulder. Kavan, Tolly, Xu, and Osborn were immediately behind her. Kyle and Lanara hung back, realizing that if there was resistance on the other side of the door there would be a bottleneck, and those in the back would be easy targets for the ogres. As another stone landed right where Autumn was standing a moment ago, Arrie finally bashed in the door. She dove into the room in a roll, hoping to come up behind any sentries. Instead, her roll stopped short as she ran into something large and solid. The others scrambled up to see Arrie sprawled upside down, at the feet of her warhorse Ghost. “A little help, please?” she asked. They quickly righted her and looked around. The chamber was small, barely big enough for Ghost to stand. Doors led off to of the parts of the castle. “Osborn,” Tolly said. “Please check those doors. And quickly; we need to move forward so our friends have cover from the boulders.” “On it.” Osborn squeezed past everyone and quickly checked a side door. Opening it, he called out “Defiance is in here!” He moved to another door as the others shifted and squeezed to let everyone inside. Eventually Osborn found the main hallway, and the group was able to fully move past the two warhorses. In a side chamber they found the remainder of their riding horses, but their pack horses with all their gear were nowhere to be seen. “Over here!” called Kavan. He pointed through a doorway to a long, winding corridor that sloped sharply upwards. “I think this leads up to that cave Autumn saw,” he said. Osborn went to investigate. He came back with a glum expression. “Well, I have good news, bad news, and worse news.” He sat down on a nearby flagstone, sighing. “The bad news is that the ogres can easily throw their boulders down the corridor as we come up; we’d be sitting ducks. The good news is that I think they only have three boulders left.” “What’s the worse news?” asked Lanara. “In the cave there’s the four ogres we saw before; a couple of them are still hurt. But I also got a look at their leader, who we hadn’t seen before.” Osborn sighed again. “He had blue skin.” Tolly coughed and shook his head. “An ogre mage,” he said. “More intelligent, and more dangerous. They are resistant to magic, and their wounds heal almost instantly unless inflicted by fire or acid. They can become invisible at will, and have other magical abilities as well.” The group looked at each other. “You know,” said Osborn, “we have most of our horses. We’ve lost our supplies except for the tents, but we’re only a couple of days from Laeshir. We could just leave.” “We could,” said Kyle, “but that leaves these ogres here to keep doing this to other people.” After a moment’s silence, Autumn spoke. “We need a distraction. Something to lure the ogres into wasting their last boulders.” “An excellent idea,” said Tolly. “Perhaps some of us could scale the cliff and attack from two fronts?” “Most of us aren’t that good of climbers, though,” said Lanara. “It’s raining, and half of you wear heavy armor, including you Tolly.” “I could make the ascent,” said Xu. “So could I,” said Osborn. “But we still need something to distract them while weg et into position.” Kyle’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Who has some spare clothing?” he asked. Lanara looked at him “I have a few outfits. Why?” “Can I borrow one for a while?” “Well, sure, but I don’t think they’d flatter you very much.” She set down her pack and pulled out a tight bundle. She unwrapped it and shook out a brightly colored set of clothing that seemed to have entirely too little fabric in them. “Perfect,” said Kyle, taking the clothes. Concentrating for a moment, he summoned his innate magical talent and created an unseen servant that filled the clothing. Though the shape was wrong, it was passably human looking from a distance. Kavan looked at the clothes hovering in the air, then at Lanara. “I’ve never seen you wear that outfit,” he told the cansin. She smiled, and her mismatched eyes flashed. “It’s my dancing outfit.” Kavan continued to stare at Lanara. When his gaze had rested on her a little too long, she cleared her throat. “Hey, Kavan? You can stop picturing me wearing the outfit any time.” Kavan blinked, and gave an apologetic half-smile. “Forgive me. Old ways of thinking are difficult to completely abandon.” Lanara wondered what the elf meant by that. Other than his devotion to Erito, they knew little of Kavan. He had hinted at some sort of dark secret in his past, but said that he wasn’t ready to share it yet. Lanara was dying to know. Meanwhile, Kyle, Osborn, and Xu had moved back up to the castle entrance. “Get ready,” Kyle said. He looked at the stack of floating clothing. “Go out into the open area outside the door and move around randomly, keeping these clothes with you at all times,” he ordered. The servant began to float out the door. As soon as it was within sight of the cave above, Kyle motioned for Osborn and Xu to begin their ascent. “We’ll be at the cave by a count of five hundred,” said Osborn. “Be ready.” Kyle watched from the door as Osborn and Xu moved out along the castle wall and scrambled up a pile of rubble to reach the cliff face. Meanwhile, a boulder came flying down, landing just short of the decoy. The second boulder, however, flew true, and the servant and its clothing were smashed under the stone. “Oops,” said Kyle to himself, “looks like I owe Lanara a new outfit.” [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] Mandool waited patiently. He knew the travelers from the woods were coming up the passageway; he need only wait. Two of his minions waited at the entrance, their last remaining stone ready. He scowled at that; they had wasted the other two on that decoy. At least one of them was dead, though. Behind him, his other two remaining servants waited. He had decided to keep them in reserve, as they’d already been wounded by the travelers. Soon, he thought. Soon they will be here, and they will die, and I will let these simpletons suck the marrow from their bones while I claim the real prize. Mandool had no doubt the travelers carried many valuables, and perhaps even magic. His keen ears perked up. From the tunnel, he heard the sound of metal armor clanging. At last, they were here. He pointed down the tunnel, and the boulder was hurled down the tunnel. Mandool grinned as he heard the satisfying clang of stone against metal, and knew they’d struck at least one. Then, he heard the rhythmic chanting of arcane magic. That will be the arcanist, the one who ensnared Grom and Udan. His smile grew wider. Let him try that trick on me. The two ogres by the door drew in shoulder-to-shoulder as the travelers rushed up the tunnel. He saw the human woman with the chain in the lead, next to the male with the hammer who Maag had told him was glowing like the sun. Behind them came the celestial-kin and the elf, and behind them, barely visible, were the chaos-touched woman and the arcanist, blocked from the battle by their own companions. The chaos-touched woman began to sing, for lack of anything better to do. Suddenly Mandool saw movement out of the corner of his eye near the ground. He jerked his leg away just as a hin clambered over the edge of the cliff and swiped at him with a tiny sword. Angered, Mandool swept his hand out and caught the hin in the chest, sending him back over the edge. Next to him, another human woman with no weapons came up and rushed him. Mandool knew better than to assume that unarmed meant not dangerous. He barked a command, and his two reserve ogres came up to confront the small woman. Turning back to the main battle, Mandool saw that the elf was gesturing at him with some sort of holy symbol. He felt the divine power strike him, and to his astonishment it penetrated his indomitable will as well as the aura of innate magical power that coursed through him. He suddenly felt the wrath of Erito in his heart, and he knew these were not foes to take lightly. He would have to be cautious. Chaos ensued. Mandool tried to attack the unarmed woman, but she dodged out of the way. With a scowl he saw the hin scramble back up as well, having apparently secured himself with rope before coming into the cave. The travelers seemed to be moving unnaturally fast, no doubt thanks to that arcanist. One of his ogres went down, its brains splattered across the cave walls by the priests’ hammer. Nearby, the other priest was healing the celestial-kin. Mandool finally connected with the dodging woman, but not before the hin cut him deeply across the shin. No matter, thought the ogre mage, as he could feel the wound healing over already. A burst of energy exploded near his head, and a spray of acid flew at him. But the magically summoned acid washed over his magical defenses, flowing away harmlessly. “You’ll have to do better than that, priest!” he bellowed in the human tongue to the hammer-wielding priest who had sent the acid. But then the small woman jumped in and jabbed at his stomach. At first he thought he would hardly feel the blow, but as her fist landed, he suddenly felt dizzy, and the edges of his vision went dark. Images swam in his eyes as he tried to clear his head; he saw another of his minions fall, and suddenly there were forms around him. He felt the bite of weapons from several directions. He saw the arcanist summon a missile of acid and launch it, the magic penetrating his defenses and seeping into his flesh where it burned horribly. He was being separated from his remaining two ogre servants as well. Mandool knew when to retreat. Summoning his inner power, he willed himself off the ground and began to fly out past the edge of the cliff, out of range of the intruders. Once at a safe distance he would balst the entire cave with numbing cold. True, the ogres would die as well, but he could always find another tribe. As he moved he felt the weapons of the intruders bite into him with renewed fury. Mandool felt his head going light from blood loss. Still, he smiled. Even if they managed to draw enough blood to cause him to lose consciousness, and send him plummeting to the earth below, his magically-enhanced metabolism would continue to function. Within the space of a minute or so, he would be able to rise again and make his escape. Sure enough, Mandool felt a sword slip between his ribs, and he felt suddenly cold. As he tumbled, he caught sight of the interlopers turning and laying into his former tribe. Then there was a horrible crunching sound, and all went black. [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] Kyle could see the battle was well won. With the ogre mage gone, they would make short work of the other two ogres. Kyle turned to say something to Lanara, but she was no longer behind him. Shrugging, Kyle walked over to a small side passage he’d noticed. Summoning a light, he walked inside, curious as to what he’d find. He was halfway into the next chamber when he felt a metal gauntleted hand on his shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going?” Autumn asked. “I’m exploring,” said Kyle. “The fight’s practically over.” “By yourself?” The sentinel frowned at him. “That’s unwise, Kyle. You have no idea what’s in here.” “And everyone else is just a shout away,” he said. “Besides, I still have my [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell.” When Autumn didn’t return his grin, he sighed. “All right, come with me then if it makes you feel better.” They walked into the chamber. Inside they found a large bed, and in the corner were three large boxes. Autumn and Kyle looked at each other, and then at the boxes. “Osborn?” Autumn called out. “We found something for you to check out!” The hin walked in a moment later, wiping ogre blood off his dagger. He looked around at the chamber, and whistled. “Not bad for a big blue ogre, huh?” Osborn glanced at the enormous bed, then at Kyle and Autumn. “Boy, you two should be glad that Lanara didn’t wander in here before me. She’d probably make some sort of comment about the two of you wandering off together into a room with a big bed.” Kyle looked around as if he wasn’t quite sure how he should react to the comment. Autumn, on the other hand, only smiled. “Yes, I could see her saying something like that. She’s never one to miss a compromising situation, is she?” Autumn looked around as the others began to file into the room. “Say, where is Lanara, anyway?” [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] Mandool’s consciousness slowly returned. At first there were only vague sounds and flashes of color, but they soon coalesced into coherent thought. The ogre mage inhaled deeply, feeling ribs snap back into place. With a smile, he opened his eyes. Standing above him was the chaos-touched woman, the one who could do nothing better than sing during battle. In her hand she held a lit torch. Mandool’s smile faded. The woman held up a tangled, filthy mess of colored fabric in her free hand. “You ruined my dancing outfit,” she said angrily, before she shoved the torch into Mandool’s face. There was pain, but only for a moment. --------------------------------------------- * Dakotha is the weather goddess. [/QUOTE]
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