[Realms #442a] Round and Round
Huzair shared with the others what Sparky had told him and Morier looked up at the cliff top again.
"Yaaaay...," he deadpanned, but the wizard was unperturbed.
"Okay, all. Here is a great plan. I have a scroll of Invisibility Sphere. Meaning I believe we all could be invisible. I could give Anania my Ring of Invisibility, the rest of us could use the Levitation Dust and she could pull us all up to the top. She could use the Slippers," he said, indicated Shamalin's footwear and grinning. "This would avoid the tunnel entirely. We could wait and get into a good position. I could surprise attack with a Fireball, thus not hitting any of us - a drawback to that spell in my opinion. Then we quickly charge those left standing." The wizard brushed his hands together as if cleaning them of dust and then spread his hands wide. "And being frost giants, the Fireball may injure them more."
He crossed his arms and regarded Morier with a challenging eye, daring the albino to find fault with his brilliant plan. "Pretty smart, eh Whitey?" he smirked. "I did not read Zarnack the Magnificent's book on warcasting cover-to-cover twice and not pick up a few tricks."
"What are frost giants?" Shamalin asked and Huzair shrugged.
"They are elemental giants, of course," the mage bluffed. "They hate fire. They are made of snow or something, I think." Anania's smooth brow grew creased at that and she shook her head.
"Actually frost giants are flesh and bone, but they do have snow white skin... and blue or pale yellow hair," the elf offered. "They stand 15 feet tall and tend to live high in snow-choked mountain ranges."
"Well then who knows what they are?" Huzair said, waiving off Anania's remark. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "So who likes my plan? Man, I am one smart wizard"
"You sure are, boss" said Sparky into his ear and the wizard smiled.
"Giants are stupid," Huzair observed. "Killing the leader first is never a bad idea."
"Giants are also massively strong," Ahlear countered. "It's easy for the mage to suggest all the killing while he does not need to soak up the hits."
"My plan does not include getting hit," replied Huzair. "I am suggesting ranged attacks from a good vantage point."
"That's all well and good until they start throwing rocks back," said the druid, shaking his head. "Rocks the size of your torso and bigger. Real smart tactician our mage is." Huzair regarded Ahlear with a sour expression on his dark face.
"I could possibly stop that too," he assured the man. "I am amazing, but I want you to come up with a better plan. Go ahead. Let us hear it." Ahlear chuckled, still shaking his head.
"Right!" he scoffed. "And how do you propose to stop 10 tons of stone from coming at your face?" The mage looked confident, polishing his fingernails on his robe.
"Oh, by being invisible and not letting them know where I am," he said matter-of-factly. "As for you guys... Well, I guess you should have studied wizardry." He looked around and saw that the others weren't enjoying his comments as much as he thought they would.
"Stop being such an arrogant wisecrack and go suck on this," Ahlear said, throwing Huzair a cigar which the mage deftly caught, his face brightening as he drew the stogie along beneath his nose.
"Look, Ahlear. It is simple. Do not fight these creatures at their strength, fight them at their weakness," the mage said, trimming the cigar with his dagger. "Oh, Morier was right; you do have a lot to learn." The druid smiled at Huzair's ignorance and turned to the others.
"We should try to enlist the dwarves to our cause, if they are there to be had as allies," Ahlear suggested. "I vote for a good scouting of the tunnels to find out where they lead. Perhaps do it in a day so we can rememorize spells for tomorrow's encounter with the giants?" Morier shook his head.
"I think this is a conflict we need to avoid at all costs," he said gravely. "We're not equipped to do battle with giants of any kind."
"How many giants are we even talking about?" Ahlear wondered. He looked at Huzair and asked, "Your little parrot has not told us that has he?"
"Not yet," the wizard admitted. Then he drew the hummingbird close and whispered to him, "Find a place safe and warm, buddy, and watch those big, stupid giants." He released the bird, watching until he disappeared against the sky. Then he pulled some miscellaneous things from his Haversack and hunkered down on a moss-covered rock. With his dagger, he began drawing a representation of the island and the cliff.
"While Sparky is doing his thing, let me explain my plan... slowly, so everyone can follow it," he said winking at Morier before strategically placing the various items he'd grabbed from his bag. Once he was done, he sat back and surveyed his handiwork.
"Here, my flower, you are the pearl," he explained, pointing out items on his improvised battlefield. "Shamalin is the diamond. I am the gold piece. Morier, you are the rock. And Ahlear, here is some bat guano; that is you." He laughed under his breath before turning his attention to the representation of the island.
"The giants and their weapons are over here. If we all are invisible and have suprise, that will be a huge advantage against a stronger physical threat. Web might be useful too; It could tie them up and prevent them from getting to their weapons," he hypothesized, puffing smoke. "Yes, I know a boulder in the skull would really hurt. I just want us to be positioned in a good spot and to get that vital first strike in. Maybe even get a good second attack before they know what hit them. Of course all of your dwarves will be helpful too. Where are they? Looks like they have not been here for a while, or so my little flower says." He nodded at Anania and watched Ahlear intently.
"Maybe the dwarves are enslaved or held prisoner," the druid suggested. "That's why we havent seen them actually?"
"So your plan involves first liberating the dwarves to ask for their help against the giants?" Huzair scoffed, baiting Ahlear.
"Enough," Morier intervened. "Let's make sure we have the most thorough recon possible of the layout up above. Then we'll check out the tunnel and see what there is to be seen there." Anania met Morier's eyes and nodded. She started for the tunnel when Huzair spoke up, forestalling her.
"I have a dark vison tattoo," he said, favoring the elf maid with a wink. "I could do it."
"But I can speak undercommon and the ability to move silently," Ahlear countered, "so cast your Invisibility magic on me and I will accompany the lithe elf on the scouting." Huzair sniffed.
"Can you see in the dark? Are you sure you will not clank around too much in there?" he qurestioned. "Oh, I guess you are not a human then are you?" The druid gave Huzair a sarcastic smile.
"In a little while I won't be human if I really want it to be so, but for now, I am," he told him and Huzair looked him up and down.
"I do have the Invisibility Ring I can let you BORROW," he emphasized that last word as he spoke and Ahlear nodded.
"Yes, please do let me borrow your Ring of Invisibility," he said holding out a hand to the mage. "Then I can sneak around without it costing you one of your dear spells So thoughtful of you to share your abilities."
""I am nothing if not a team player. And speaking of sharing, love," Huzair said, looking hungrily at Shamalin. "I still love those slippers - just my color. I do well with pastels, but you can hold on to them. I can totally picture you in them." He grinned lasciviously and eyed her up and down, all the while emitting a vaguely feline growl. Shamalin, who'd suffered a glimpse into the workings of Huzair's oily mind, unintentionally recoiled from his scrutiny. Ahlear saw her reaction and swatted the wizard on the arm.
"Please do puff some more on that cigar i just gave you," the druid implored. "It will keep you silent a while." Huzair snorted at that, plucking the stogie from his teeth.
"You are counting on this to keep me quiet?" he chuckled. "At the Pair o' Dice, I once sang all twenty verses of "A Night at the Frothy Wench", drunk, and never took the cigar from my mouth. Ask Morier; he was there." Ahlear glanced at the albino and Morier shrugged.
"Nothing keeps him quiet for long," the eldritch warrior said sardonically earning him a glare from Huzair.
"I appreciate your offer to come along and help scout," Anania said as she lead Ahlear away toward the tunnel entrance. "But please stay a few paces behind me. I can scout for traps and advise you if anyone is coming." Ahlear nodded at the wisdom of her plan.
"You're the primary scout, I am the communicator-scout," he said, deferentially. "I will stay back far enough for you to work properly, and when needed I will advance or retreat." She nodded and then paused long enough to show him a few basic hand signals she would use while in the tunnel to minimize the need for speech. He picked up the signals quickly and they started had back for the dark opening in the cliffside when the elf stopped again.
"Ahlear, please know that I plan to protect Morier at any cost," she said flatly. "I thought it important to tell you as you appear to be a... free thinker... and if you choose to deviate from our established plan I won't risk my life to save yours. My life is reserved, at this point, for Morier." Ahlear looked at her, disconcerted.
"I am not the only 'free thinker' here in the group, and as much as I understand your logic, I do not expect anybody to sacrifice their lives so blindly," he told her. "It is your choice though, and I have my choice. I just wonder what specifically made you say this?" She blinked, her face a poised, expressionless mask.
"I thought you should know, in case you decide to step forward and speak, or charge in for the attack. You will not find me there to support you. I will return to the group," she said and looked back to where the other three party members were arguing over something. Their words were inaudible over the roar of the waterfalls. "I would feel badly doing so if I had not been honest with you up front. I don't think it will come to that... but again, I thought if we were going to work in concert, you should understand my motivations."
He nodded understanding and she returned the motion.
"Let's get back to the mission at hand," she said, and fixing an arrow in place on her bowstring, she ducked into the dungeon entrance.
Anania quickly retraced her earlier steps she'd taken with Huzair, pointed out the pit trap to Ahlear, and bypassed the gate and the lever which opened it. From there it was unexplored territory and she slowed their pace, checking carefully for anything that looked like a trap. She found nothing, however and after only a short distance, they came to a vertical shaft with a spiral stair that corkscrewed around a central column of stone set into its center. The stairs marched upward into darkness and they could each feel a cool dampness on their skin as the air circulated up the shaft to whatever was at the top.
Anania turned to look meaningfully at Ahlear and then made for the stair, paying close attention to the ground as she went. They ascended the stairs slowly, the scout ever mindful of traps, and after a time, Anania held out a clenched fist, the signal to stop. She then pointed first to her ear and then upward. Ahlear activated the Ring of Invisibility and strained to hear what the elf had. At first he heard nothing, then it came to him: the sounds of combat, muffled either by distance or an intervening door or two. But the clash of steel and the grunts of effort and pain was unmistakable.
