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Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
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<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 2798389" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p><strong>Final Answer</strong></p><p></p><p>Maddie’s eyes flickered open as she came out of trance. She glanced around the dark room, her eyes taking in the room despite the pre-dawn darkness. She saw Arrie, Lanara and Xu laying on their cots nearby, huddled under blankets to ward off the morning chill. Maddie laid still for a few minutes more, then quietly rose and got dressed.</p><p></p><p> She walked quietly down the hallway, carrying her boots in her hands so as not to make noise. The walls in the Dry Inkpot were fairly thin, and sound traveled. As she passed the door to Kyle and Autumn’s room, Maddie smiled and shook her head. <em>Sometimes sound travels a bit more than some people realize,</em> she thought. But perhaps it was her own keen elven hearing that was the problem in this case, rather than a lack of discretion on their part.</p><p></p><p> As her thoughts turned to ‘keen elven hearing’, Maddie slowed down even further as she passed the next door, tiptoeing past. She had no doubt that Razael, her new bodyguard, was also out of trance and awake in his room. She only hoped that Rupert’s snoring from the room next door was enough to mask the sound of her own footfalls. It wasn’t that she begrudged the tracker’s desire to do his duty; she only wanted a few minutes alone for a morning walk. Besides, then she wouldn’t have to worry about the way Razael looked at her. Maddie had noticed a distinct change in the way she was looked at by others after her transformation, a change she found both refreshing and unsettling. Razael’s gaze, in particular, was one of desire for a young, attractive elf maiden. Which was flattering, in some ways, even though Razael was centuries older than her. Maddie still had yet to decide how she wanted to respond to those looks. Of course, those looks could easily change if and when Razael found out about who she used to be. She smiled again; well, even if he did have a problem with that, he could always turn his attentions to Lanara, who seemed only too happy to return Razael’s looks of appraisal.</p><p></p><p> Once out of the hallway and out the front door of the inn, Maddie pulled on her boots and headed for the wall. She had already learned that the town’s militia would permit her to climb up and walk along the outer wall of Stacks; likely a combination of her status as one of Erito’s Favored and the desire of the young guards for an interesting change of scenery. Sure enough, she walked past the guard at the bottom of the stairs without challenge, and was soon strolling along the wall, nodding greetings to the occasional watchman on patrol.</p><p></p><p> She stopped near the center of the southern wall, just over the gate, leaning on her elbows and looking out at the hills surrounding them. Within a few hours they’d be leaving Stacks, on their way north to Tlaxan and Merlion, where among other things they intended to purchase a ship to take them to the planet’s southern pole. Maddie rolled her shoulders, feeling the skin on her back move and the lines and ridges of Erito’s map move with it. She would be glad when they finally reached this oasis that her goddess had pointed her to, and perhaps they would all understand more of their purpose.</p><p></p><p> Something odd caught her eye out in the darkness, just as one of the guards came walking by behind her. She stared out into the gloom, then waved the guard over.</p><p></p><p> “Do you see anything odd?” she asked the young man.</p><p></p><p> “Um, no ma’am, I don’t,” came the reply. “It’s still too dark to see anything.”</p><p></p><p> Maddie frowned. <em>Why don’t they have any elves up on the walls at night?</em> “Out there,” she said, pointing, “about fifty yards from the gate. It looks like…” she trailed off and stared hard, eyes darting about. The color slowly drained from her face. “Go get your captain,” she said to the guard. “Quickly. And quietly.”</p><p></p><p> “Why?”</p><p></p><p> “Just go!” she barked.</p><p></p><p> The young guard swallowed nervously, then saluted, nearly dropping his spear. He then ran off down the wall. Maddie staying in place, trying to make out any details she could. As the tiniest glimmer of the sunrise touched the sky to the east, Maddie’s eyes were able to make out a few more details. Straining to see, she caught the barest glimpse of something familiar.</p><p></p><p> “Oh, dear,” she said to herself.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"> * * *</p><p></p><p> Autumn rolled over and poked Kyle in the ribs as the knocking at the door continued, pulling the blanket over her head. Sighing, Kyle rolled out of bed and grabbed his robes, draped over a chair.</p><p></p><p> “One of these days I’m going to turn you into a morning person,” he said. Her only response was to wave her hand in the general direction of the door before disappearing under the blankets again.</p><p></p><p> Walking over and opening the door a crack, Kyle was somewhat surprised to see Maddie standing in the hallway. Taking a moment to make sure he was decent, Kyle then stuck his head out the door. “What is it, Maddie?”</p><p></p><p> “Kyle, how big would something have to be before you considered it an army?”</p><p></p><p> Kyle frowned. He didn’t like where that question was leading. “Well, it’s pretty relative, but I’d say at least a hundred soldiers.”</p><p></p><p> “Oh, good. Then there’s definitely not an army camped outside the city.”</p><p></p><p> “Oh, really.” Kyle rubbed sleep from his eyes. “And how close are we to having an army camped outside the city?”</p><p></p><p> “I’d say it’s more like half an army. I wouldn’t have mentioned it, except that it looks like they’re flying Lord Hungai’s flag. I think they found us.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle leaned heavily against the doorframe. “Looks like it,” he sighed. “Why don’t you go wake the others, I’ll get Autumn up. What time is it?”</p><p></p><p> “An hour before sunrise. I wanted to catch you before you started preparing your spells for the day.”</p><p></p><p> “I appreciate it. Now, please go get the others, Maddie.”</p><p></p><p> “I’ll wake Xu last,” she said, before heading down the hall to Osborn and Razael’s room.</p><p></p><p> Kyle turned and finished pulling his robes on before walking over to the bed. He sat down gently next to Autumn and began running his fingers through her golden hair.</p><p></p><p> “Autumn, sweetie?”</p><p></p><p> “Yes?” she moaned after a while.</p><p></p><p> “Time to wake up, dear. We have to go fight an army.”</p><p></p><p> A single blue eye poked out from under the covers. “What army?”</p><p></p><p> “The one that’s come for Xu, sugar dumpling,” he said. When he saw the eye widen in alarm, he amended, “not ‘you’ you, the monk Xu.”</p><p></p><p> The eye disappeared, and Kyle heard a sigh from under the blanket. “F*ck,” she said.</p><p></p><p> Kyle stood up. “Not now, dear, I have to prepare spells.” He walked over to retrieve his spellbooks, pretending he didn’t notice the pillow thrown at him.</p><p></p><p> The party was gathered in the common room a half-hour later. Xu was still upstairs, asleep; they’d decided to give her a few more minutes of peace before breaking the news.</p><p></p><p> “Okay, so, we haven’t got long before Xu wakes up on her own for her morning exercises,” Arrie said, “so what’s the plan?”</p><p></p><p> “The town militia has already been alerted,” said Maddie. “They’re already rousing their extra men and getting ready. Loremaster Fezhoth has also been alerted. They’re trying to prepare as quietly as possible to not raise a panic, and so that hopefully Hungai’s men don’t know we’re on to them yet.”</p><p></p><p> “It’s light enough now that even a human would be able to see the tents,” Autumn said, “so that ruse won’t hold long. Obviously, Hungai the Great isn’t worried about the people of Stacks knowing he’s here.”</p><p></p><p> “What do you think of the town’s defenses?” Maddie asked Arrie.</p><p></p><p> “Well, the wall’s in good shape, and the library should still serve as a fortress if needed. The water comes from a well to an underground river, so we could hold out a while. But their militia’s mostly volunteer and not experienced. And with all the paper and glue in here, this place will go up like kindling to the first volley of fire arrows.”</p><p></p><p> “I don’t understand how they found us,” Razael said. “Ever since you said that one of you was being followed our of M’Dos, I’ve been covering our trail.” The tracker scowled. “They must’ve cheated.”</p><p></p><p> “I saw about two dozen people at the south gate,” Maddie said, “and someone told me there were that many more at the north gate. There are also archers at the east and west walls.”</p><p></p><p> “Any sign of a command tent?” Razael asked.</p><p></p><p> “Not on the south side,” Maddie said.</p><p></p><p> “Well, I’m going to go check the north, see what I can see,” Razael stood and walked out the door, grabbing his bow. Osborn went with him. After crossing the town and climbing up the stone stairs to the top of the north wall, the two could see a small force gathering on the road leading to the north gate. The force was comprised half of pikemen, and half of men with maces and heavy shields. Further from the town, near the treeline, sat a large tent flying several colorful flags.</p><p></p><p> “There’s your command tent,” said Osborn.</p><p></p><p> “Bet I could set it on fire from here,” Razael commented.</p><p></p><p> Osborn turned to one of the local militia. “They made any demands yet?”</p><p></p><p> The soldier shook his head. “Maybe when the sun rises fully, sir,” he said. “So far, nothing.”</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, we think they may be after one of the people in our group,” Razael said casually, still eyeing the distance to the command tent.</p><p></p><p> “Um, Razael? Maybe we should check back in with the others before we go shooting the bad guys?”</p><p></p><p> “Well, sure.” Razael shouldered his bow and followed Osborn back to the inn, where they gave a full report of everything they’d seen.</p><p></p><p> “So, Kyle,” Autumn said, “you’re used to annihilating armies, right?”</p><p></p><p> “Oh, sure,” he said sarcastically. “Used to do it all the time back on the farm.”</p><p></p><p> By this time Xu had awoken, and come downstairs, somewhat surprised to see everyone else waiting for her, fully armed. When told what was happening outside the town walls, Xu only panicked for a few seconds before regaining her composure.</p><p></p><p> “So, what do we do?” Razael asked. “Drop a fire arrow on Hungai’s tent?” </p><p></p><p> “You know,” Kyle said, “I’m pretty sure I know what the response to this is going to be, but I’d like to point out that technically they haven’t done anything yet.”</p><p></p><p> “They’ve barricaded and laid siege to the city,” Autumn said.</p><p></p><p> “Have they? I didn’t hear anything about catapults being readied or battering rams being deployed. And no one’s tried to leave, how do we know that Hungai’s men will stop them?”</p><p></p><p> “I could sneak outside the city, past those archers,” Razael mused. “So could the hin, I suppose. But that wouldn’t do Madrone a lot of good. I assume you’re not so good at sneaking out of the city?”</p><p></p><p> Maddie shook her head to confirm Razael’s suspicion.</p><p></p><p> Autumn turned to Arrie. “This will be the first time we’ve taken on an army,” she said with a gleam in her eye. Arrie nodded in agreement.</p><p></p><p> “How many you think you can account for?” Razael asked Arrie.</p><p></p><p> “Well, I have to get up to them first,” she said.</p><p></p><p> “Maybe,” Kyle said loudly, “there’s a way to do this without killing everything we see?”</p><p> “Why else would they be here,” Maddie asked, “if not for us to kill?”</p><p></p><p> “Look, I’m just trying desperately to cling to the shred of morals I have left,” Kyle complained.</p><p></p><p> “Kyle, I’m not making it the point of my day to go out and kill people,” Arrie said, “but they are an army, and odds are that they’re here to fight. It would be very rude of me not to oblige them. If they’ll parley, that’s great, but I doubt they will.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle sighed and shook his head, but didn’t say anything.</p><p></p><p> “Well, parleying might be difficult anyway,” Osborn said. “Xu’s the only one who speaks their language, and I doubt we’re sending her out to talk.”</p><p></p><p> “Can’t you cast translation spells?” Autumn asked Kyle.</p><p></p><p> “Yes, but I didn’t prepare those spells,” he replied. “What about you, Lanara?”</p><p></p><p> “Not anymore, I can’t,” the cansin snapped.</p><p></p><p> “I think the first thing we should do is talk to the town leaders and see what they want to do,” Arrie said. “It is their town, and we should get their input before we have our fun.”</p><p></p><p> The party went and requested to meet with Loremaster Fezhoth, the same man they had seen just the day before to request a divination regarding Lanara’s unusual condition. Once inside the loremaster’s chambers, Kyle laid everything out bluntly.</p><p></p><p> “Loremaster, we’d like to help with the current situation, as it’s likely that we’re the reason there is a situation.”</p><p></p><p> The old elf arched a brow. “Please, do explain.”</p><p></p><p> “We have reason to believe that the men camped outside may be looking for one of us,” Kyle continued. “Honestly, we didn’t expect this many people coming for her, but the banners they’re flying are familiar.”</p><p></p><p> “I see.”</p><p></p><p> “Obviously, since this is our mess, we’d like to help clean it up,” Kyle finished.</p><p></p><p> Loremaster Fezhoth stroked his chin. “Well, first, they haven’t done anything… yet. So I would like to see what they do first, especially as we are in a position of defense. If they attack, we will retaliate in kind. But if they wish to talk, we can negotiate. I have already sent word to M’Dos of our situation and am awaiting a response. So, what can you offer our defenses?”</p><p></p><p> “Well, he certainly didn’t put his tent far enough away,” Razael commented.</p><p></p><p> “We have a degree of combat experience,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “We put sharp things into soft things that scream and bleed,” Arrie clarified.</p><p></p><p> “Frequently,” Autumn added.</p><p></p><p>Kyle shook his head. “I’m a wizard, and can lend my arcane skills. I’ve prepared spells in anticipation of a large-scale battle. We also have people skilled in stealth and reconnaissance. Probably the best thing to do is once Hungai makes his demands is to let the eight of us work together and do our thing.”</p><p></p><p>Fezthoth nodded. “We will notify you when you are needed.”</p><p></p><p>Just then, they heard a commotion outside. Stepping out, they saw people running about; when asked, one of the townsfolk said that the enemy army was sending someone to present demands. As he spoke, they heard a horn sound from the north.</p><p></p><p> The party walked quickly to the north gate and ascended the stairs. Outside, a single figure was walking down the road, a horn in one hand and a spear with a white cloth tied to the end in another. Stopping about a hundred feet from the gate, the man began to speak.</p><p></p><p> “I could shoot him from here,” Razael said.</p><p></p><p> “Don’t shoot the messenger,” Arrie said. “Just listen.”</p><p></p><p> The messenger began to speak in a loud, clear voice. “Citizens of the town of Stacks, the Great Lord Hungai demands that you send out the monk known as Xu Dhii Ngao. If you do not do this, we will enter your town and burn it to the ground. There will be nothing but ashes and corpses remaining. You have until high sun to meet his demands.” The messenger turned and walked away. As the guards began to mutter to themselves, the party quietly returned to the Dry Inkpot to talk.</p><p></p><p> “High sun is in five hours,” Xu said calmly. “That is not much time to prepare.”</p><p></p><p> “It’s enough,” Razael said. “Osborn, how about you and me go see what we can see in a bit?”</p><p></p><p> “Sounds good to me,” Osborn said.</p><p></p><p> “Well, this is a pretty pickle,” Kyle said. “How do we get rid of Hungai without endangering Stacks?”</p><p></p><p> “Assuming that Loremaster Fezthoth doesn’t just kick us out of the city,” Maddie said.</p><p></p><p> “It would be the smart thing for him to do,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “Why don’t I go talk to the loremaster and see what they want to do,” Arrie offered. “Osborn and Razael can do their thing while I’m gone.”</p><p></p><p> “Maybe we can talk to this Hungai,” Osborn said. “Tell him that Xu doesn’t want to marry him, and tell him to piss off. In a nice way, of course.”</p><p></p><p> “Lord Hungai already knows my feelings,” Xu said. “He does not care.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, then, maybe a single combat? Our best against their best. If we win, he leaves her alone, if he wins, she goes with him.”</p><p></p><p> “No,” Autumn said flatly.</p><p></p><p> “I am not willing to gamble on such a proposition,” Xu said.</p><p></p><p> “Because they’ll cheat,” Autumn said.</p><p></p><p> “Whether they cheat or not, if for some reason fortune favored Hungai, then I would be honor-bound to accept the terms and return to Xhintai with him. I cannot accept that fate.”</p><p></p><p> Osborn shrugged. “Well, then, let’s kill him.”</p><p></p><p> “My thoughts exactly,” Razael said.</p><p></p><p> “Any way to lure the army away from the city?” Kyle asked.</p><p></p><p> “Not without punching through them,” Razael said.</p><p></p><p> “Do you have any illusions you could use?” Lanara asked Kyle.</p><p></p><p> “Not really. Most of the spells I know come out of necromancer’s grimoires, and most necromancers don’t get too heavy into the illusion spells.”</p><p></p><p> “I could disguise myself as Xu,” Lanara offered.</p><p></p><p> “For what purpose?” Maddie said. “It doesn’t get the army away, and simply puts you in their hands, which gives them another bargaining chip.”</p><p></p><p> “I could get close enough to do something to Hungai,” Lanara protested.</p><p></p><p> “But we don’t even know for sure that Hungai himself is out there,” Kyle pointed out. “For all we know he’s sitting back in Xhintai, and this is just one of his men leading this force.”</p><p></p><p> “And even if you could,” Arrie added, “then what?”</p><p></p><p> “You guys come to save me?” Lanara said, knowing that her plan wasn’t panning out.</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, that puts us in a worse place than now.” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “I suppose just giving her up is out of the question,” Razael said.</p><p></p><p> “No,” said Autumn and Arrie at the same time.</p><p></p><p> “You saying the same thing?” Razael asked Maddie.</p><p></p><p> She nodded her head in agreement. “I will not allow Xu to be violated.”</p><p></p><p> “We could see if we could push our way through the southern force,” Xu offered. “They do not appear to have horses.”</p><p></p><p> “Neither do I,” said Razael. “But don’t worry about that. I can catch up to you folks later.”</p><p></p><p> “But that might not prevent Hungai from taking his anger out on the town if we run,” Maddie said. “And if we are separated, Razael, then you’re not performing your duty to protect me very well.”</p><p></p><p> “You’ve got a point there,” the tracker said.</p><p></p><p> “Let me go talk to Fezhoth,” Arrie said. “We can at least eliminate some guesses about what they’re going to do.” Arrie stood and walked out of the inn, returning to the library-church. This time she was let right in to see the loremaster.</p><p></p><p> “Loremaster,” Arrie said, bowing her head.</p><p></p><p> “Princess,” Fezhoth replied, bowing in turn. “You are no doubt here to see if I’m about to order you and your companions out of the city.”</p><p></p><p> “Something like that. I understand you have priorities in this situation that we don’t necessarily share.”</p><p></p><p> “Admittedly, it would seem to be the solution most in our favor,” the loremaster said, “but things are rarely as they seem on the surface. After all, there is no guarantee that these men will hold to their word. What are your intentions?”</p><p></p><p> “Well, basically these people want to take our friend back to a person who wants to make her his wife against her wishes. If it comes to it, we will make a stand on her behalf.” Arrie paused. “I’m wondering if you will be entering into a negotiation with them.”</p><p></p><p>“I was about to perform an <em>augury </em> to determine if surrendering you and your monk friend would be the wise course. If you would like to wait…” he gestured to a small sofa on one wall of his office.</p><p></p><p> Arrie went and sat down while Fezhoth pulled a small bronze brazier out of his desk drawer and filled it with incense. After several minutes of staring into the whorls of smoke coming from the brazier, he leaned back. “The <em>augury </em> indicates that giving up your friend will bring great misfortune,” the loremaster said. “Therefore, we will not do that.”</p><p></p><p> Arrie smiled. “I’m not unhappy to hear that.”</p><p></p><p> Arrie went back and filled the rest of the group in. For their part, the group had been discussing tactics. Lanara was still offering to disguise herself as Xu to sow confusion if they decided to meet the enemy head-on.</p><p></p><p> “It’ll decrease the chance that they get their hands on the real Xu,” the bard protested.</p><p></p><p> “I appreciate what you are trying to do for me,” Xu said. “But in order for the ruse to work, I would either be forced to remain out of the battle and do nothing, or you would be forced to fight as I do. Neither are options I believe we are willing to take.”</p><p></p><p> “Ironically, the more we look at it, it seems the safest option we have is to rush out and attack,” Maddie commented.</p><p></p><p> “Well, maybe we don’t have to,” Osborn said. “I mean, Hungai’s basically declaring war on Medos. Maybe we could threaten these guys with that, see if they’re prepared for the consequences.”</p><p></p><p> “We could,” Arrie said, “but it might be better if that came from Loremaster Fezhoth rather than us.”</p><p></p><p> “You know,” Autumn said sadly, “Tolly would have loved this.”</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, smiting people disrupting order,” Osborn agreed.</p><p></p><p> “Okay, so, do you want me on the north wall or the south wall?” Kyle asked.</p><p></p><p> “Let’s wait and see what the town wants us to do,” Arrie said. “They haven’t even had a chance to say ‘no’ yet.”</p><p></p><p> “The question is, how emphatic of a ‘no’ do they want?” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> Just then, a messenger came to the inn. “Fezhoth would like to speak with all of you, if you please,” the young page said.</p><p></p><p> The group assembled a few minutes later in the loremaster’s office. “I don’t know who this Hungai is, or what business he has here other than your monk friend,” Fezhoth said, “but he has made a grave mistake in attacking a sovereign nation.”</p><p></p><p> “That’s what I thought,” Osborn said.</p><p></p><p> “I have received a message back from M’Dos,” Fezhoth said. “They are sending the army to deal with this incursion into Medos’ territory. They will arrive in two days.” The loremaster thought for a moment. “Can you and your people help us fend off these attackers for that long until they can be properly chastized?”</p><p></p><p> “Absolutely,” said Arrie.</p><p></p><p> “A thought occurs to me,” the loremaster said. “We don’t know if they have reinforcements in the woods.”</p><p></p><p> “I can find out,” Razael said.</p><p></p><p> “Me too,” Osborn chimed in.</p><p></p><p> “Very good,” Fezhoth said. “I believe I will station your group at the southern gate, and move most of the militia to the north gate. We still have preparations to make, and so we will wait until just before the deadline at high sun to make our answer known to them. Until then, do as you will.”</p><p></p><p> The group made their way to the south wall, while Osborn and Razael went to the east to get over the wall and scout out the enemy. Osborn donned his ring of invisibility, while Razael lowered a magical rope. Both made it over without being spotted by Hungai’s archers. They circled around and made their way into the trees, heading north toward where the command tent lay. As they drew close, they heard a strange noise coming from the woods a short distance from the clearing. Heading that direction, both Osborn and Razael were surprised to see a large creature tethered to a thick pine tree. The gray-skinned quadruped was twice as tall as Razael, and had two large, floppy ears, a pair of white tusks, and a long, prehensile appendage where its nose should have been.</p><p></p><p> “It’s an elephant,” whispered the invisible Osborn.</p><p></p><p> “A what now?”</p><p></p><p> “An elephant. They’re not native to Affon. One of the hin circuses in the Steppes had one, years ago when I was a boy. Our boss, Billyup, tried to buy it from them, but they wouldn’t sell.”</p><p></p><p> Osborn and Razael noted that the elephant wore a rather large saddle on its back. “It’s not an ogre-sized saddle,” whispered Razael, “although this critter could carry one. Looks human size, but for an awful big human.” Razael glanced around. “Osborn, why don’t you go take a look at the tent? I’ll stay here and see what I can find.”</p><p></p><p> “You’re going to steal the elephant, aren’t you?”</p><p></p><p> Razael made a show of looking around, as if unsure who was talking to him. “Who asked that? Was that my conscience? Haven’t heard from you in a long time.”</p><p></p><p> Shaking his head in amusement, Osborn slipped off to investigate the command tent. He was able to slip under the tent wall with little difficulty, and looked around. Inside he could make out a pair of figures in another chamber talking; one of the voices was very deep and sounded like it was coming from much higher up. Osborn poked an eye through the wall of silk separating the two parts of the tent, but could only make out two pairs of feet. Lying falt on his back and wriggling under the bottom of the wall, the hin was able to see more.</p><p></p><p> Two figures stood talking in a strange tongue, which Osborn assumed was Zhintai. Both men were tall, but one in particular was massive; his head almost touched the top of the tent. Osborn estimated that the man was almost eight feet tall. The massively-muscled behemoth wore plate armor that seemed to not quite fit; it was patched in places with sections of chain mail. Osborn saw a third figure nearby, lying on a cot, but he was unable to make out details other than the person’s presence. Unable to understand what was being said, and unable to move further into the room without risking being spotted, Osborn slid out of the room and retreated out the back of the tent.</p><p></p><p> Just as Osborn retreated into the trees and his invisibility wore off, he heard a loud trumpeting sound, one he hadn’t heard since he was a boy. A moment later, he felt the ground shake as the elephant jogged by, with Razael on his back. The elf was trying to spur the elephant to run, but the massive creature was cheerfully ignoring him, snatching leaves off of nearby trees with its nose as it sauntered by. Behind them, Osborn saw the smaller of the two men who had been talking in the tent emerge, shouting something at Razael. The tracker fired an arrow in response; the shot was wide, but was enough to send the man diving for cover. Osborn quickly slipped away, reactivating his ring, and returned to Stacks, scaling quietly up the wall. Several minutes later, Razael appeared at the top of the wall, covered in dust and dry leaves.</p><p></p><p> “Ran it off into the woods a ways,” Razael said. “That ought to delay them a bit.” The tracker pointed, and sure enough a pair of archers from both the east and west flanks suddenly broke off of their unit and went running toward the command tent and the woods where the elephant had been. He didn’t share the fact that the elephant had stopped walking after only a few minutes, and in order to get it moving again he’d had to shoot it in the rear end with an arrow.</p><p></p><p> Osborn had, by this time, informed the rest of the group of what he’d seen in the tent. Xu confirmed that the very large man was probably Lord Hungai the Great himself. She had no idea who the other soldier and the person on the cot could be.</p><p></p><p> “You’re filthy,” Kyle said, noting the layer of dust on Razael.</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, the elephant decided it wanted to take a dust bath with me still on its back.”</p><p></p><p> “You… want me to take care of that?” Kyle pulled out his wand of prestidigitation.</p><p></p><p> “Nah, I’m fine, thanks.” Razael walked away, trailing dirt, and missed Lanara and Kyle looking at each other and wrinkling their noses.</p><p></p><p> The situation became a waiting game. Despite their convictions that the elephant-knapping would trigger an immediate attack, Hungai’s forces seemed content to wait. When the high sun deadline passed, the archers began shooting sporadically at the town, but the volleys were neither well coordinated nor particularly accurate. Razael, Arrie, and Osborn took to the east wall to return fire. Razael strung a pair of arrows to his bow, while Arrie loaded arrows on both strings of her double bow. The tracker’s shots hit their mark, severely wounding one of the archers, while Arrie’s shots were short. The warrior shrugged and stepped back. Then Osborn stepped up, swinging a sling over his head. Razael’s brow arched questioningly at the hin, but he said nothing as Osborn wound up and fired. The bullet sailed out across the battlefield, and struck the already wounded archer in the head, dropping him.</p><p></p><p> Osborn grinned at Razael’s appreciative nod. “I’m pretty good with these,” he said, holding out a dagger,” “but I grew up with this before I was ever allowed to touch a blade.” He twirled the sling in his other hand with pride. </p><p></p><p> The archers moved back father after Osborn’s shot, trying to get out of range. They retreated behind a low ridge and fell flat, keeping the party from shooting at them. In response, Lanara used a wand to summon a fiendish viper behind the enemy lines. As archers jumped up out of their defensive positions to avoid the serpent, Arrie and Razael wounded a few more.</p><p></p><p> As the commotion settled down, the party regrouped at the south wall. Kyle and Autumn sat in the shelter of the crenellations, looking bored.</p><p></p><p> “Did you want to help out?” Arrie asked.</p><p></p><p> Kyle looked up at her. “Am I allowed to help?”</p><p></p><p> “Well, of course you are,” Arrie said, looking confused.</p><p></p><p> “I just wanted to make sure. Seems like every time I’ve wanted to look for a peaceful solution, everyone's ready to kill, but when I suggest getting aggressive, someone has a problem with it.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, they are shooting at us now, you know.”</p><p></p><p> “So, the gloves are off?”</p><p></p><p> “Absolutely!”</p><p></p><p> Kyle stood up and brushed dirt off his robes, then helped Autumn to her feet. He walked up to the edge of the wall, and glanced down at the massed ranks of pikemen and shield-bearers below at the gate. Upon seeing someone, they immediately began shouting and beating their maces against their shields.</p><p></p><p> Kyle threw up his hands and chanted a spell. Instantly, a cloud of sickly yellowish vapors rose up around the enemy soldiers. There were shouts of panic inside that were quickly cut off. The cloud slowly drifted south, down the road. As it moved away from where it was summoned, everyone saw the dead, twisted bodies of Hungai’s troops laying scattered on the road, their eyes bulging and their necks bloody from where they had tried to claw their own throats out.</p><p></p><p> Dropping his hands, Kyle started to walk away. “The southern front is safe,” he said.</p><p></p><p> “That… was impressive,” Razael said.</p><p></p><p> “I… guess that they know we’re serious now,” Osborn said.</p><p></p><p> The party crossed the city and went to the northern wall to survey the scene, reporting to the militia commander about the decimation of the enemy on the other side of the town. Razael finally got what he wanted, and was allowed to launch a flaming arrow at Hungai’s command tent. The arrow pierced the tent, and the party waited to see what would happen. But after a few minutes had passed, they saw no flames or smoke rising from the tent. Several minutes after that, they saw a single figure emerge from the tent. Judging from his size, it could only be Lord Hungai.</p><p></p><p> “I have taken your measure now!” he shouted at the town, though it was clear he was speaking to the party. “I will be back for you later, Xu Dhii Ngao!”</p><p></p><p> “That’s what you think!” Lanara shouted back at him.</p><p></p><p> Hungai ignored the bard. “And I will also see then about restoring the pink-haired one to you!”</p><p></p><p> The last comment caused the party to exchange looks of concern. “But… I’m right here!” said Lanara.</p><p></p><p> There were three short blasts on a horn, and the remains of Hungai’s forces began to withdraw. The command tent was quickly taken down and packed away as the troops marched away, to the cheers and shouts of Stacks’ defenders. The party was less cheerful.</p><p></p><p> “Do you think that Hungai could have stolen Lanara’s abilities?” Autumn asked.</p><p></p><p> “Could be,” Maddie replied.</p><p></p><p> “Can I kill him now?” the sentinel asked.</p><p></p><p> “I think we have to catch him first,” Lanara pointed out.</p><p></p><p> “No problem, he’s big.”</p><p></p><p> “I think that Razael will be able to easily follow a man leading half an army and an elephant,” Xu observed.</p><p></p><p> “You want to follow him?” the elf asked.</p><p></p><p> Everyone turned and looked at Arrie. “Why is it that whenever people want an impetuous answer, they look at me?” She grinned. “Of course we’re going to follow him!”</p><p></p><p> The party wasn’t able to leave the town right away, as Loremaster Fezhoth had ordered the gates barred until Hungai’s forces were well out of sight.</p><p></p><p> “You know,” Arrie said as she saddled up Ghost, “Herion’s not going to be happy that I’m chasing after this guy.”</p><p></p><p> “You can tell him it was my idea,” Autumn said.</p><p></p><p> “And what makes you think he’ll believe you?” commented Maddie. “Your reputation precedes you, Arrie.”</p><p></p><p> “Herion,” Razael said, shaking his head. “He’s going to have my hide again.”</p><p></p><p> Arrie, Maddie, and Autumn looked at each other as the tracker walked off. “Again?” Arrie whispered.</p><p></p><p> The party gathered at the north gate waiting for them to open. Kyle moved his horse back and forth, eager to get moving.</p><p></p><p> “You all right, Kyle?” Autumn asked.</p><p></p><p> “I just want to get the bastard,” the wizard replied.</p><p></p><p> “You’re getting into this, aren’t you Kyle?” Arrie said.</p><p></p><p> “I just want it over with,” he growled. “We have better things to do than deal with Hungai. But now it sounds like he might know something about what happened to Lanara. Between that, and giving Xu some peace of mind, I’m ready to dish out what this guy has coming.”</p><p></p><p> The gates of Stacks finally swung open, and the party spurred their horses to a gallop, raising a cloud of dust as they went off in pursuit of Hungai.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 2798389, member: 5203"] [b]Final Answer[/b] Maddie’s eyes flickered open as she came out of trance. She glanced around the dark room, her eyes taking in the room despite the pre-dawn darkness. She saw Arrie, Lanara and Xu laying on their cots nearby, huddled under blankets to ward off the morning chill. Maddie laid still for a few minutes more, then quietly rose and got dressed. She walked quietly down the hallway, carrying her boots in her hands so as not to make noise. The walls in the Dry Inkpot were fairly thin, and sound traveled. As she passed the door to Kyle and Autumn’s room, Maddie smiled and shook her head. [I]Sometimes sound travels a bit more than some people realize,[/I] she thought. But perhaps it was her own keen elven hearing that was the problem in this case, rather than a lack of discretion on their part. As her thoughts turned to ‘keen elven hearing’, Maddie slowed down even further as she passed the next door, tiptoeing past. She had no doubt that Razael, her new bodyguard, was also out of trance and awake in his room. She only hoped that Rupert’s snoring from the room next door was enough to mask the sound of her own footfalls. It wasn’t that she begrudged the tracker’s desire to do his duty; she only wanted a few minutes alone for a morning walk. Besides, then she wouldn’t have to worry about the way Razael looked at her. Maddie had noticed a distinct change in the way she was looked at by others after her transformation, a change she found both refreshing and unsettling. Razael’s gaze, in particular, was one of desire for a young, attractive elf maiden. Which was flattering, in some ways, even though Razael was centuries older than her. Maddie still had yet to decide how she wanted to respond to those looks. Of course, those looks could easily change if and when Razael found out about who she used to be. She smiled again; well, even if he did have a problem with that, he could always turn his attentions to Lanara, who seemed only too happy to return Razael’s looks of appraisal. Once out of the hallway and out the front door of the inn, Maddie pulled on her boots and headed for the wall. She had already learned that the town’s militia would permit her to climb up and walk along the outer wall of Stacks; likely a combination of her status as one of Erito’s Favored and the desire of the young guards for an interesting change of scenery. Sure enough, she walked past the guard at the bottom of the stairs without challenge, and was soon strolling along the wall, nodding greetings to the occasional watchman on patrol. She stopped near the center of the southern wall, just over the gate, leaning on her elbows and looking out at the hills surrounding them. Within a few hours they’d be leaving Stacks, on their way north to Tlaxan and Merlion, where among other things they intended to purchase a ship to take them to the planet’s southern pole. Maddie rolled her shoulders, feeling the skin on her back move and the lines and ridges of Erito’s map move with it. She would be glad when they finally reached this oasis that her goddess had pointed her to, and perhaps they would all understand more of their purpose. Something odd caught her eye out in the darkness, just as one of the guards came walking by behind her. She stared out into the gloom, then waved the guard over. “Do you see anything odd?” she asked the young man. “Um, no ma’am, I don’t,” came the reply. “It’s still too dark to see anything.” Maddie frowned. [I]Why don’t they have any elves up on the walls at night?[/I] “Out there,” she said, pointing, “about fifty yards from the gate. It looks like…” she trailed off and stared hard, eyes darting about. The color slowly drained from her face. “Go get your captain,” she said to the guard. “Quickly. And quietly.” “Why?” “Just go!” she barked. The young guard swallowed nervously, then saluted, nearly dropping his spear. He then ran off down the wall. Maddie staying in place, trying to make out any details she could. As the tiniest glimmer of the sunrise touched the sky to the east, Maddie’s eyes were able to make out a few more details. Straining to see, she caught the barest glimpse of something familiar. “Oh, dear,” she said to herself. [CENTER] * * *[/CENTER] Autumn rolled over and poked Kyle in the ribs as the knocking at the door continued, pulling the blanket over her head. Sighing, Kyle rolled out of bed and grabbed his robes, draped over a chair. “One of these days I’m going to turn you into a morning person,” he said. Her only response was to wave her hand in the general direction of the door before disappearing under the blankets again. Walking over and opening the door a crack, Kyle was somewhat surprised to see Maddie standing in the hallway. Taking a moment to make sure he was decent, Kyle then stuck his head out the door. “What is it, Maddie?” “Kyle, how big would something have to be before you considered it an army?” Kyle frowned. He didn’t like where that question was leading. “Well, it’s pretty relative, but I’d say at least a hundred soldiers.” “Oh, good. Then there’s definitely not an army camped outside the city.” “Oh, really.” Kyle rubbed sleep from his eyes. “And how close are we to having an army camped outside the city?” “I’d say it’s more like half an army. I wouldn’t have mentioned it, except that it looks like they’re flying Lord Hungai’s flag. I think they found us.” Kyle leaned heavily against the doorframe. “Looks like it,” he sighed. “Why don’t you go wake the others, I’ll get Autumn up. What time is it?” “An hour before sunrise. I wanted to catch you before you started preparing your spells for the day.” “I appreciate it. Now, please go get the others, Maddie.” “I’ll wake Xu last,” she said, before heading down the hall to Osborn and Razael’s room. Kyle turned and finished pulling his robes on before walking over to the bed. He sat down gently next to Autumn and began running his fingers through her golden hair. “Autumn, sweetie?” “Yes?” she moaned after a while. “Time to wake up, dear. We have to go fight an army.” A single blue eye poked out from under the covers. “What army?” “The one that’s come for Xu, sugar dumpling,” he said. When he saw the eye widen in alarm, he amended, “not ‘you’ you, the monk Xu.” The eye disappeared, and Kyle heard a sigh from under the blanket. “F*ck,” she said. Kyle stood up. “Not now, dear, I have to prepare spells.” He walked over to retrieve his spellbooks, pretending he didn’t notice the pillow thrown at him. The party was gathered in the common room a half-hour later. Xu was still upstairs, asleep; they’d decided to give her a few more minutes of peace before breaking the news. “Okay, so, we haven’t got long before Xu wakes up on her own for her morning exercises,” Arrie said, “so what’s the plan?” “The town militia has already been alerted,” said Maddie. “They’re already rousing their extra men and getting ready. Loremaster Fezhoth has also been alerted. They’re trying to prepare as quietly as possible to not raise a panic, and so that hopefully Hungai’s men don’t know we’re on to them yet.” “It’s light enough now that even a human would be able to see the tents,” Autumn said, “so that ruse won’t hold long. Obviously, Hungai the Great isn’t worried about the people of Stacks knowing he’s here.” “What do you think of the town’s defenses?” Maddie asked Arrie. “Well, the wall’s in good shape, and the library should still serve as a fortress if needed. The water comes from a well to an underground river, so we could hold out a while. But their militia’s mostly volunteer and not experienced. And with all the paper and glue in here, this place will go up like kindling to the first volley of fire arrows.” “I don’t understand how they found us,” Razael said. “Ever since you said that one of you was being followed our of M’Dos, I’ve been covering our trail.” The tracker scowled. “They must’ve cheated.” “I saw about two dozen people at the south gate,” Maddie said, “and someone told me there were that many more at the north gate. There are also archers at the east and west walls.” “Any sign of a command tent?” Razael asked. “Not on the south side,” Maddie said. “Well, I’m going to go check the north, see what I can see,” Razael stood and walked out the door, grabbing his bow. Osborn went with him. After crossing the town and climbing up the stone stairs to the top of the north wall, the two could see a small force gathering on the road leading to the north gate. The force was comprised half of pikemen, and half of men with maces and heavy shields. Further from the town, near the treeline, sat a large tent flying several colorful flags. “There’s your command tent,” said Osborn. “Bet I could set it on fire from here,” Razael commented. Osborn turned to one of the local militia. “They made any demands yet?” The soldier shook his head. “Maybe when the sun rises fully, sir,” he said. “So far, nothing.” “Yeah, we think they may be after one of the people in our group,” Razael said casually, still eyeing the distance to the command tent. “Um, Razael? Maybe we should check back in with the others before we go shooting the bad guys?” “Well, sure.” Razael shouldered his bow and followed Osborn back to the inn, where they gave a full report of everything they’d seen. “So, Kyle,” Autumn said, “you’re used to annihilating armies, right?” “Oh, sure,” he said sarcastically. “Used to do it all the time back on the farm.” By this time Xu had awoken, and come downstairs, somewhat surprised to see everyone else waiting for her, fully armed. When told what was happening outside the town walls, Xu only panicked for a few seconds before regaining her composure. “So, what do we do?” Razael asked. “Drop a fire arrow on Hungai’s tent?” “You know,” Kyle said, “I’m pretty sure I know what the response to this is going to be, but I’d like to point out that technically they haven’t done anything yet.” “They’ve barricaded and laid siege to the city,” Autumn said. “Have they? I didn’t hear anything about catapults being readied or battering rams being deployed. And no one’s tried to leave, how do we know that Hungai’s men will stop them?” “I could sneak outside the city, past those archers,” Razael mused. “So could the hin, I suppose. But that wouldn’t do Madrone a lot of good. I assume you’re not so good at sneaking out of the city?” Maddie shook her head to confirm Razael’s suspicion. Autumn turned to Arrie. “This will be the first time we’ve taken on an army,” she said with a gleam in her eye. Arrie nodded in agreement. “How many you think you can account for?” Razael asked Arrie. “Well, I have to get up to them first,” she said. “Maybe,” Kyle said loudly, “there’s a way to do this without killing everything we see?” “Why else would they be here,” Maddie asked, “if not for us to kill?” “Look, I’m just trying desperately to cling to the shred of morals I have left,” Kyle complained. “Kyle, I’m not making it the point of my day to go out and kill people,” Arrie said, “but they are an army, and odds are that they’re here to fight. It would be very rude of me not to oblige them. If they’ll parley, that’s great, but I doubt they will.” Kyle sighed and shook his head, but didn’t say anything. “Well, parleying might be difficult anyway,” Osborn said. “Xu’s the only one who speaks their language, and I doubt we’re sending her out to talk.” “Can’t you cast translation spells?” Autumn asked Kyle. “Yes, but I didn’t prepare those spells,” he replied. “What about you, Lanara?” “Not anymore, I can’t,” the cansin snapped. “I think the first thing we should do is talk to the town leaders and see what they want to do,” Arrie said. “It is their town, and we should get their input before we have our fun.” The party went and requested to meet with Loremaster Fezhoth, the same man they had seen just the day before to request a divination regarding Lanara’s unusual condition. Once inside the loremaster’s chambers, Kyle laid everything out bluntly. “Loremaster, we’d like to help with the current situation, as it’s likely that we’re the reason there is a situation.” The old elf arched a brow. “Please, do explain.” “We have reason to believe that the men camped outside may be looking for one of us,” Kyle continued. “Honestly, we didn’t expect this many people coming for her, but the banners they’re flying are familiar.” “I see.” “Obviously, since this is our mess, we’d like to help clean it up,” Kyle finished. Loremaster Fezhoth stroked his chin. “Well, first, they haven’t done anything… yet. So I would like to see what they do first, especially as we are in a position of defense. If they attack, we will retaliate in kind. But if they wish to talk, we can negotiate. I have already sent word to M’Dos of our situation and am awaiting a response. So, what can you offer our defenses?” “Well, he certainly didn’t put his tent far enough away,” Razael commented. “We have a degree of combat experience,” Kyle said. “We put sharp things into soft things that scream and bleed,” Arrie clarified. “Frequently,” Autumn added. Kyle shook his head. “I’m a wizard, and can lend my arcane skills. I’ve prepared spells in anticipation of a large-scale battle. We also have people skilled in stealth and reconnaissance. Probably the best thing to do is once Hungai makes his demands is to let the eight of us work together and do our thing.” Fezthoth nodded. “We will notify you when you are needed.” Just then, they heard a commotion outside. Stepping out, they saw people running about; when asked, one of the townsfolk said that the enemy army was sending someone to present demands. As he spoke, they heard a horn sound from the north. The party walked quickly to the north gate and ascended the stairs. Outside, a single figure was walking down the road, a horn in one hand and a spear with a white cloth tied to the end in another. Stopping about a hundred feet from the gate, the man began to speak. “I could shoot him from here,” Razael said. “Don’t shoot the messenger,” Arrie said. “Just listen.” The messenger began to speak in a loud, clear voice. “Citizens of the town of Stacks, the Great Lord Hungai demands that you send out the monk known as Xu Dhii Ngao. If you do not do this, we will enter your town and burn it to the ground. There will be nothing but ashes and corpses remaining. You have until high sun to meet his demands.” The messenger turned and walked away. As the guards began to mutter to themselves, the party quietly returned to the Dry Inkpot to talk. “High sun is in five hours,” Xu said calmly. “That is not much time to prepare.” “It’s enough,” Razael said. “Osborn, how about you and me go see what we can see in a bit?” “Sounds good to me,” Osborn said. “Well, this is a pretty pickle,” Kyle said. “How do we get rid of Hungai without endangering Stacks?” “Assuming that Loremaster Fezthoth doesn’t just kick us out of the city,” Maddie said. “It would be the smart thing for him to do,” Kyle said. “Why don’t I go talk to the loremaster and see what they want to do,” Arrie offered. “Osborn and Razael can do their thing while I’m gone.” “Maybe we can talk to this Hungai,” Osborn said. “Tell him that Xu doesn’t want to marry him, and tell him to piss off. In a nice way, of course.” “Lord Hungai already knows my feelings,” Xu said. “He does not care.” “Well, then, maybe a single combat? Our best against their best. If we win, he leaves her alone, if he wins, she goes with him.” “No,” Autumn said flatly. “I am not willing to gamble on such a proposition,” Xu said. “Because they’ll cheat,” Autumn said. “Whether they cheat or not, if for some reason fortune favored Hungai, then I would be honor-bound to accept the terms and return to Xhintai with him. I cannot accept that fate.” Osborn shrugged. “Well, then, let’s kill him.” “My thoughts exactly,” Razael said. “Any way to lure the army away from the city?” Kyle asked. “Not without punching through them,” Razael said. “Do you have any illusions you could use?” Lanara asked Kyle. “Not really. Most of the spells I know come out of necromancer’s grimoires, and most necromancers don’t get too heavy into the illusion spells.” “I could disguise myself as Xu,” Lanara offered. “For what purpose?” Maddie said. “It doesn’t get the army away, and simply puts you in their hands, which gives them another bargaining chip.” “I could get close enough to do something to Hungai,” Lanara protested. “But we don’t even know for sure that Hungai himself is out there,” Kyle pointed out. “For all we know he’s sitting back in Xhintai, and this is just one of his men leading this force.” “And even if you could,” Arrie added, “then what?” “You guys come to save me?” Lanara said, knowing that her plan wasn’t panning out. “Yeah, that puts us in a worse place than now.” Kyle said. “I suppose just giving her up is out of the question,” Razael said. “No,” said Autumn and Arrie at the same time. “You saying the same thing?” Razael asked Maddie. She nodded her head in agreement. “I will not allow Xu to be violated.” “We could see if we could push our way through the southern force,” Xu offered. “They do not appear to have horses.” “Neither do I,” said Razael. “But don’t worry about that. I can catch up to you folks later.” “But that might not prevent Hungai from taking his anger out on the town if we run,” Maddie said. “And if we are separated, Razael, then you’re not performing your duty to protect me very well.” “You’ve got a point there,” the tracker said. “Let me go talk to Fezhoth,” Arrie said. “We can at least eliminate some guesses about what they’re going to do.” Arrie stood and walked out of the inn, returning to the library-church. This time she was let right in to see the loremaster. “Loremaster,” Arrie said, bowing her head. “Princess,” Fezhoth replied, bowing in turn. “You are no doubt here to see if I’m about to order you and your companions out of the city.” “Something like that. I understand you have priorities in this situation that we don’t necessarily share.” “Admittedly, it would seem to be the solution most in our favor,” the loremaster said, “but things are rarely as they seem on the surface. After all, there is no guarantee that these men will hold to their word. What are your intentions?” “Well, basically these people want to take our friend back to a person who wants to make her his wife against her wishes. If it comes to it, we will make a stand on her behalf.” Arrie paused. “I’m wondering if you will be entering into a negotiation with them.” “I was about to perform an [I]augury [/I] to determine if surrendering you and your monk friend would be the wise course. If you would like to wait…” he gestured to a small sofa on one wall of his office. Arrie went and sat down while Fezhoth pulled a small bronze brazier out of his desk drawer and filled it with incense. After several minutes of staring into the whorls of smoke coming from the brazier, he leaned back. “The [I]augury [/I] indicates that giving up your friend will bring great misfortune,” the loremaster said. “Therefore, we will not do that.” Arrie smiled. “I’m not unhappy to hear that.” Arrie went back and filled the rest of the group in. For their part, the group had been discussing tactics. Lanara was still offering to disguise herself as Xu to sow confusion if they decided to meet the enemy head-on. “It’ll decrease the chance that they get their hands on the real Xu,” the bard protested. “I appreciate what you are trying to do for me,” Xu said. “But in order for the ruse to work, I would either be forced to remain out of the battle and do nothing, or you would be forced to fight as I do. Neither are options I believe we are willing to take.” “Ironically, the more we look at it, it seems the safest option we have is to rush out and attack,” Maddie commented. “Well, maybe we don’t have to,” Osborn said. “I mean, Hungai’s basically declaring war on Medos. Maybe we could threaten these guys with that, see if they’re prepared for the consequences.” “We could,” Arrie said, “but it might be better if that came from Loremaster Fezhoth rather than us.” “You know,” Autumn said sadly, “Tolly would have loved this.” “Yeah, smiting people disrupting order,” Osborn agreed. “Okay, so, do you want me on the north wall or the south wall?” Kyle asked. “Let’s wait and see what the town wants us to do,” Arrie said. “They haven’t even had a chance to say ‘no’ yet.” “The question is, how emphatic of a ‘no’ do they want?” Kyle said. Just then, a messenger came to the inn. “Fezhoth would like to speak with all of you, if you please,” the young page said. The group assembled a few minutes later in the loremaster’s office. “I don’t know who this Hungai is, or what business he has here other than your monk friend,” Fezhoth said, “but he has made a grave mistake in attacking a sovereign nation.” “That’s what I thought,” Osborn said. “I have received a message back from M’Dos,” Fezhoth said. “They are sending the army to deal with this incursion into Medos’ territory. They will arrive in two days.” The loremaster thought for a moment. “Can you and your people help us fend off these attackers for that long until they can be properly chastized?” “Absolutely,” said Arrie. “A thought occurs to me,” the loremaster said. “We don’t know if they have reinforcements in the woods.” “I can find out,” Razael said. “Me too,” Osborn chimed in. “Very good,” Fezhoth said. “I believe I will station your group at the southern gate, and move most of the militia to the north gate. We still have preparations to make, and so we will wait until just before the deadline at high sun to make our answer known to them. Until then, do as you will.” The group made their way to the south wall, while Osborn and Razael went to the east to get over the wall and scout out the enemy. Osborn donned his ring of invisibility, while Razael lowered a magical rope. Both made it over without being spotted by Hungai’s archers. They circled around and made their way into the trees, heading north toward where the command tent lay. As they drew close, they heard a strange noise coming from the woods a short distance from the clearing. Heading that direction, both Osborn and Razael were surprised to see a large creature tethered to a thick pine tree. The gray-skinned quadruped was twice as tall as Razael, and had two large, floppy ears, a pair of white tusks, and a long, prehensile appendage where its nose should have been. “It’s an elephant,” whispered the invisible Osborn. “A what now?” “An elephant. They’re not native to Affon. One of the hin circuses in the Steppes had one, years ago when I was a boy. Our boss, Billyup, tried to buy it from them, but they wouldn’t sell.” Osborn and Razael noted that the elephant wore a rather large saddle on its back. “It’s not an ogre-sized saddle,” whispered Razael, “although this critter could carry one. Looks human size, but for an awful big human.” Razael glanced around. “Osborn, why don’t you go take a look at the tent? I’ll stay here and see what I can find.” “You’re going to steal the elephant, aren’t you?” Razael made a show of looking around, as if unsure who was talking to him. “Who asked that? Was that my conscience? Haven’t heard from you in a long time.” Shaking his head in amusement, Osborn slipped off to investigate the command tent. He was able to slip under the tent wall with little difficulty, and looked around. Inside he could make out a pair of figures in another chamber talking; one of the voices was very deep and sounded like it was coming from much higher up. Osborn poked an eye through the wall of silk separating the two parts of the tent, but could only make out two pairs of feet. Lying falt on his back and wriggling under the bottom of the wall, the hin was able to see more. Two figures stood talking in a strange tongue, which Osborn assumed was Zhintai. Both men were tall, but one in particular was massive; his head almost touched the top of the tent. Osborn estimated that the man was almost eight feet tall. The massively-muscled behemoth wore plate armor that seemed to not quite fit; it was patched in places with sections of chain mail. Osborn saw a third figure nearby, lying on a cot, but he was unable to make out details other than the person’s presence. Unable to understand what was being said, and unable to move further into the room without risking being spotted, Osborn slid out of the room and retreated out the back of the tent. Just as Osborn retreated into the trees and his invisibility wore off, he heard a loud trumpeting sound, one he hadn’t heard since he was a boy. A moment later, he felt the ground shake as the elephant jogged by, with Razael on his back. The elf was trying to spur the elephant to run, but the massive creature was cheerfully ignoring him, snatching leaves off of nearby trees with its nose as it sauntered by. Behind them, Osborn saw the smaller of the two men who had been talking in the tent emerge, shouting something at Razael. The tracker fired an arrow in response; the shot was wide, but was enough to send the man diving for cover. Osborn quickly slipped away, reactivating his ring, and returned to Stacks, scaling quietly up the wall. Several minutes later, Razael appeared at the top of the wall, covered in dust and dry leaves. “Ran it off into the woods a ways,” Razael said. “That ought to delay them a bit.” The tracker pointed, and sure enough a pair of archers from both the east and west flanks suddenly broke off of their unit and went running toward the command tent and the woods where the elephant had been. He didn’t share the fact that the elephant had stopped walking after only a few minutes, and in order to get it moving again he’d had to shoot it in the rear end with an arrow. Osborn had, by this time, informed the rest of the group of what he’d seen in the tent. Xu confirmed that the very large man was probably Lord Hungai the Great himself. She had no idea who the other soldier and the person on the cot could be. “You’re filthy,” Kyle said, noting the layer of dust on Razael. “Yeah, the elephant decided it wanted to take a dust bath with me still on its back.” “You… want me to take care of that?” Kyle pulled out his wand of prestidigitation. “Nah, I’m fine, thanks.” Razael walked away, trailing dirt, and missed Lanara and Kyle looking at each other and wrinkling their noses. The situation became a waiting game. Despite their convictions that the elephant-knapping would trigger an immediate attack, Hungai’s forces seemed content to wait. When the high sun deadline passed, the archers began shooting sporadically at the town, but the volleys were neither well coordinated nor particularly accurate. Razael, Arrie, and Osborn took to the east wall to return fire. Razael strung a pair of arrows to his bow, while Arrie loaded arrows on both strings of her double bow. The tracker’s shots hit their mark, severely wounding one of the archers, while Arrie’s shots were short. The warrior shrugged and stepped back. Then Osborn stepped up, swinging a sling over his head. Razael’s brow arched questioningly at the hin, but he said nothing as Osborn wound up and fired. The bullet sailed out across the battlefield, and struck the already wounded archer in the head, dropping him. Osborn grinned at Razael’s appreciative nod. “I’m pretty good with these,” he said, holding out a dagger,” “but I grew up with this before I was ever allowed to touch a blade.” He twirled the sling in his other hand with pride. The archers moved back father after Osborn’s shot, trying to get out of range. They retreated behind a low ridge and fell flat, keeping the party from shooting at them. In response, Lanara used a wand to summon a fiendish viper behind the enemy lines. As archers jumped up out of their defensive positions to avoid the serpent, Arrie and Razael wounded a few more. As the commotion settled down, the party regrouped at the south wall. Kyle and Autumn sat in the shelter of the crenellations, looking bored. “Did you want to help out?” Arrie asked. Kyle looked up at her. “Am I allowed to help?” “Well, of course you are,” Arrie said, looking confused. “I just wanted to make sure. Seems like every time I’ve wanted to look for a peaceful solution, everyone's ready to kill, but when I suggest getting aggressive, someone has a problem with it.” “Well, they are shooting at us now, you know.” “So, the gloves are off?” “Absolutely!” Kyle stood up and brushed dirt off his robes, then helped Autumn to her feet. He walked up to the edge of the wall, and glanced down at the massed ranks of pikemen and shield-bearers below at the gate. Upon seeing someone, they immediately began shouting and beating their maces against their shields. Kyle threw up his hands and chanted a spell. Instantly, a cloud of sickly yellowish vapors rose up around the enemy soldiers. There were shouts of panic inside that were quickly cut off. The cloud slowly drifted south, down the road. As it moved away from where it was summoned, everyone saw the dead, twisted bodies of Hungai’s troops laying scattered on the road, their eyes bulging and their necks bloody from where they had tried to claw their own throats out. Dropping his hands, Kyle started to walk away. “The southern front is safe,” he said. “That… was impressive,” Razael said. “I… guess that they know we’re serious now,” Osborn said. The party crossed the city and went to the northern wall to survey the scene, reporting to the militia commander about the decimation of the enemy on the other side of the town. Razael finally got what he wanted, and was allowed to launch a flaming arrow at Hungai’s command tent. The arrow pierced the tent, and the party waited to see what would happen. But after a few minutes had passed, they saw no flames or smoke rising from the tent. Several minutes after that, they saw a single figure emerge from the tent. Judging from his size, it could only be Lord Hungai. “I have taken your measure now!” he shouted at the town, though it was clear he was speaking to the party. “I will be back for you later, Xu Dhii Ngao!” “That’s what you think!” Lanara shouted back at him. Hungai ignored the bard. “And I will also see then about restoring the pink-haired one to you!” The last comment caused the party to exchange looks of concern. “But… I’m right here!” said Lanara. There were three short blasts on a horn, and the remains of Hungai’s forces began to withdraw. The command tent was quickly taken down and packed away as the troops marched away, to the cheers and shouts of Stacks’ defenders. The party was less cheerful. “Do you think that Hungai could have stolen Lanara’s abilities?” Autumn asked. “Could be,” Maddie replied. “Can I kill him now?” the sentinel asked. “I think we have to catch him first,” Lanara pointed out. “No problem, he’s big.” “I think that Razael will be able to easily follow a man leading half an army and an elephant,” Xu observed. “You want to follow him?” the elf asked. Everyone turned and looked at Arrie. “Why is it that whenever people want an impetuous answer, they look at me?” She grinned. “Of course we’re going to follow him!” The party wasn’t able to leave the town right away, as Loremaster Fezhoth had ordered the gates barred until Hungai’s forces were well out of sight. “You know,” Arrie said as she saddled up Ghost, “Herion’s not going to be happy that I’m chasing after this guy.” “You can tell him it was my idea,” Autumn said. “And what makes you think he’ll believe you?” commented Maddie. “Your reputation precedes you, Arrie.” “Herion,” Razael said, shaking his head. “He’s going to have my hide again.” Arrie, Maddie, and Autumn looked at each other as the tracker walked off. “Again?” Arrie whispered. The party gathered at the north gate waiting for them to open. Kyle moved his horse back and forth, eager to get moving. “You all right, Kyle?” Autumn asked. “I just want to get the bastard,” the wizard replied. “You’re getting into this, aren’t you Kyle?” Arrie said. “I just want it over with,” he growled. “We have better things to do than deal with Hungai. But now it sounds like he might know something about what happened to Lanara. Between that, and giving Xu some peace of mind, I’m ready to dish out what this guy has coming.” The gates of Stacks finally swung open, and the party spurred their horses to a gallop, raising a cloud of dust as they went off in pursuit of Hungai. [/QUOTE]
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