THE FALL OF THE TIAMIKAL NUL-SHADA
“It’s no good,” Hawk said, lowering Quaero in disappointment after another fruitless attempt to have the ancestral relic divine the location of one of the vault keys. The sword informed its master in a patient, long-suffering voice that there was simply no such item in the city, at least as far as it could tell.
“We have no choice then,” Havok said, pulling himself to his feet from where he’d been sitting slumped against the vault doors. “We’ll just have to tear this place apart until we find one, and woe be to any giants that get in our way.”
“Just hold on a second,” Faust replied, raising one hand and shaking his bald head. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for slaughtering giants, but I don’t know if this place is where we should be focusing our efforts. Why not the palace? That group of giants we ran into there was looking for something before we interrupted them. And just where were they hiding all that time we spent searching the place? I say we go there first and root them out and find out exactly what it is they’re being so secretive about.”
“I disagree,” Havok retorted, “and here’s why: we know there are three giant factions here…Gorgecrawlers, Gorgelords, and the Tiamikal Nul-Shada. The Gorgecrawlers and the Gorgelords were at war with each other when the dragons attacked, while the Tiamikal Nul-Shada remained neutral. The vault is in their citadel! From what we know, the Order of the Storm placed stone giants over the phylactery all those centuries ago. Have you seen the first stone giant since we came here? I think the original guardians were defeated, and each group of giants that has taken control of this city since has taken on the responsibility of guarding the vault. But what if, over time, they forgot what they were guarding…and why? What if the guardianship itself became the most important thing? You saw in the frost giant’s notes that he was searching for a way to open the vault. I believe they don’t even know what they have here. Chances are the vault keys are here in the citadel, but without the ritual to open the vault doors, they are useless.”
Faust pondered the warlock’s logic for a long moment before slowly nodding his head. “It may be as you say, but we’d better make quick work of this place. My mental capacities have been pushed almost to their limits today, and I know the thunder twins there have been praying out their spells like mad.”
“It’s settled then,” Hawk said, hefting his shield, “and if any giants oppose us, we will defend ourselves, but as long as I’m alive, any enemy asking quarter shall be given it.” The civilar then turned for the stairs and began the long ascent.
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Bram Cleftshank sat alone in the mess hall, sourly munching on an enormous, crisped drumstick. From time to time the burly, horribly scarred giant would glance out the windows at the distant shapes of circling dragons, and he would curse. He itched to be out on the battlements, daring the filthy wyrms to come for him. If Thundersmiter hadn’t insisted that the remaining citadel defenders conserve their resources, that was exactly where he would be. Cursing again, he threw the charred meat onto the platter in front of him…just as the door on the far side of the hall opened slowly. To his utter amazement, a human stood there! Dressed head-to-toe in mail and bearing a shield in one hand and a puny sword in the other, the warrior seemed just as surprised to see Bram as the fire giant was to see him. Bram was quick to regain his composure, however, and with a snarl he surged to his feet, snatching up the spear which leaned against the wall behind him. The only thing Bram enjoyed as much as slaughtering dragons was slaughtering anything else. Cocking his arm back, he hurled his spear. Reflexively, Hawk ducked behind his shield, but if the giant was aiming at him, he had missed by a large margin. It was at that point, however, that Hawk noticed the heavy, iron pot of glowing coals hanging from the ceiling beams directly above him. The spear struck the chain supporting the pot, leaving it dangling by the barest thread. The giant spat, and dropped the spear which had miraculously appeared back in his hand, drawing a battleaxe from his back and a smaller handaxe from his belt.
Havok, standing in the outer hall with the others, glanced around nervously as the sounds of battle reached him. Three other doors, as well as an ascending stair exited from the wide corridor, and at any moment they might find themselves surrounded. Quickly, the warlock drew a scroll from his belt and recited its contents. An instant later the hall was blanketed in silence, blocking out any sign of the melee.
As the fire giant hefted his weapons, a door to his right which Hawk had failed to notice, suddenly burst open. A huge, reptilian creature with twelve snake-like heads erupted into the room, a thick chain, attached to a shackle on its hind leg, trailing behind it. Hawk never hesitated. He darted fully into the chamber, going around the large, stone dining table on the side opposite the hydra. Mak and Grubber were only a step behind him. Before they’d gone a dozen paces, however, Faust poked his own head into the room. Seeing the ravening hydra, a thin smile creased his lips. “I do so love dumb animals,” the psion chuckled as he stripped the creature’s memory of its own death at his hands from its feeble mind. In mid-stride, the lumbering brute collapsed onto all twelve of its necks, twitched once, then exhaled its last breath.
Bram’s attention was momentarily distracted by the abrupt demise of the Tiamikal Nul-Shada’s beloved mascot. With a roar of outrage, he swung his axe out blindly, managing to just clip Mak on his upper arm as he charged. Mak brought his own blade up as he closed inside the reach of the giant. Bram’s momentum was such that he turned his belly directly into the goliath’s waiting sword, impaling himself upon it. With a snarl he wrenched the blade free, nearly tearing it from Mak’s grasp, and then bringing both of his axes to opposite shoulders, he slashed the goliath with twin cuts across his chest. Mak staggered back, directly into Grubber’s waiting arms, but as the priest was forced to lower his guard to support his brother, Bram hacked at him as well, his handaxe sinking deep into Grubber’s wrist. At that moment Hawk pushed past the siblings, Quaero flashing in his hand. The civilar’s strikes were so fast, and so precise that the giant barely knew what hit him. He dropped to his knees, clutching at his severed trachea, watching his life’s blood spill onto the table in front of him.
Ignoring the dieing giant, Hawk threw open the door from which the hydra had come, searching for more hidden foes. The room beyond was small, and befouled by dung and partially eaten corpses. A long ladder extended to a closed trapdoor in the ceiling above. When he stepped back out, Mak was busy tending to his wounds as well as his brothers. By the time he’d finished, Havok and Faust had joined them. Havok quickly related his tactic for maintaining their privacy, assuring them that they should be able to search the other rooms off of the main hall at their leisure.
Hawk tried the door in the south wall of the hall first. On the other side was a kitchen and larder, dominated by a large fireplace. A spit large enough to cook an ox stood within, and barrels of cheap wine and rancid foodstuffs fit only for the uncouth palate of a giant were stacked near the back of the chamber. Huddled in one corner were six cowering bugbears, kitchen knives gripped in their hands in a futile attempt at self-defense. Hawk looked at them with a bemused expression before putting one finger to his lips. “Shhhhhh!” he said, and one of the terrified creatures nodded vigorously. As the civilar stepped out of the room, Havok was approaching the door on the far, east wall of the hall. As he did so, he pulled out a small, amber wand. “Mobilify!” he said, and in an instant, he had switched places with Hawk, who hated when the warlock did that without warning him first.
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“Did you hear that?” Gustav asked Fritz. The other giant cocked his head quizzically.
“Hear what?” he asked.
“I heard voices from below,” Gustav said as he moved towards the descending stair well. “Wait here,” he called back over his shoulder to his watch partner.
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Faust had just positioned himself near the ascending stair when he saw the giant appear on the landing above. Before he could do more than register his mild surprise, Gustav turned and called loudly over his shoulder, “Intruders!”
“My friends,” Faust called to his own allies, “I think…how does the saying go? ‘The jig’s up!’” Raising his fingers to his temples, he sent a frigid current of mental energy lancing towards the fire giant. Gustav immediately doubled over in agony as the intense cold burned into his skin, but even in his pain, he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had done his duty.
‘Intruders?’ Fritz thought. Surely not the dragons. They would have heard them if they had breached the outer walls. Who then? The Gorgecrawlers? Even they would not have the audacity to assault the citadel. No matter. The alarm had been sounded, and all he needed to think about was responding to it. Stomping across the guard room, he threw open the door and relayed Gustav’s warning, shouting at the top of his lungs.
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In the Chamber of the Heartkeeper, Kagro Thundersmiter heard the alarm. His mind, much keener than that of his sergeants, immediately leapt to a different conclusion. It was the strangers he had met at the gate. He knew it intuitively. They had come for the treasure hidden in the vault. The Heartkeeper’s blood began to boil, both at their temerity, and at his own stupidity for having let them live. Both situations would be put right in short order. Reaching for his weapons, he began to prepare.
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Hawk moved to Faust’s side just as the fire giant, despite what must have been excruciating pain, and began moving down the stairs, sword raised.
“Don’t bother,” the psion told the civilar as he increased the energy flow through the mental current. The giant took one more, staggering step, and then collapsed at the Faust’s feet.
“Let’s take it to them,” Faust said, stepping over the giant and heading up the stairs. Hawk shrugged and followed, Mak right behind him. As they reached the guardroom, they saw the retreating form of a second fire giant disappearing through a door at the far end of a hallway leading from the chamber. In the small room beyond the door, the giant began rapidly climbing down through a trapdoor in the floor.
“He’s trying to flank us,” Hawk said. “Go after him Mak. I’ll warn the others.” The goliath nodded, and began trotting down the hall, while the paladin turned back towards the stairs.
“You coming?” he asked Faust.
“In a moment,” the psion said pensively, stroking his chin in thought.
In the hall below, Grubber was just making to follow after his brother, when a flash of light and a puff of smoke in the center of the chamber drew his attention. Turning, he was shocked to see Kagro Thundersmiter standing not a dozen feet from him, a large axe gripped in his hands, fury in his eyes.
Havok also witnessed Kagro’s appearance, but the invisible warlock went unseen by the Heartkeeper. From his position, Havok could also see into the mess hall, where another fire giant was emerging from the small room that had been the hydra’s pen. As he watched, the giant headed towards a door in the south wall of the room, and flung it open. The warlock needed more time if he was to stop both giants, and he knew just how to get it. Drawing a sheet of parchment from his seemingly endless roll of scrolls, he spoke the words to the spell written upon it…the spell which brought time itself to a standstill for all save himself. Casually, he pulled another scroll, then a third. With each of these, he created a stationary fog bank around both Kagro and his underling. Then, he brought forth twin forests of his trademark worm-like tentacles within the confines of each cloud. As the flow of time resumed, the giants found themselves engulfed in the viscous fog, which impeded even their massive strength. In addition, the writhing tentacles reached for them, further rooting Fritz in place. Though Kagro was not similarly restrained, he found the supernatural cold exuded by the tentacles to be like hot knives pricking his flesh.
Grubber didn’t know exactly what had happened, but he guessed that the sudden appearance of the twin fog banks was Havok’s work. He had been with the warlock long enough not to be surprised by anything he was able to do. Though he could not see Kagro, he guessed the giant to be somewhere inside the cloud. Gripping his holy symbol, he spoke a few brief words of prayer to Grumbar. Instantly, the goliath grew to twice his size, imbued with the righteous might of his deity, and entered the fog.
Mak reached the top of the ladder descending through the trapdoor to the hydra’s pit below. Deciding that haste was needed, the goliath simply dropped the twenty feet to the floor below, landing nimbly on his feet. He rushed into the mess hall, only to be brought up short by the roiling wall of mist and tentacles before him. From within it, he heard a giant’s voice once more shouting alarm.
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Down the southern corridor, Fritz’ cries were heard again, this time by another pair of Tiamikal Nul-Shada sergeants named Adolph and Augustus. Reflexes honed by years of training went into action, with Adolph rushing to a far door and opening it, emerging onto a battlement beyond. From there he could see the citadel gates and his three comrades still on duty there.
“Intruders in the keep!” he shouted. Back in the guard chamber, Augustus exited the room by a second door, and began hurrying down the corridor in the direction of Fritz’ continued shouts.
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Havok cursed when he heard the giant raising a second alert. They were going to be hip deep in fire giants in a matter of moments. Quickly the warlock conjured up a pair of walls, consisting of the rippling worms which served as flames, in the corridor the fleeing giant had been trying to reach. It would be from that direction that reinforcements would most likely arrive. Though he knew the heat from the walls would not deter the giants, the pure eldritch power which also comprised the barriers might give them pause.
Kagro’s eyes darted from side to side, fixing on vague shadows that moved within the mist. His immediate vicinity was shrouded in total silence. Suddenly, a shape detached itself from the fog, closely followed by another. Hawk flashed past the giant, slicing deeply with his sword into his bicep as he went. As the Heartkeeper turned to follow the civilar’s progress, Grubber approached from the rear, slamming his maul into the side of Kagro’s knee. The fire giant bellowed in pain, though no sound came from his mouth. Kagro knew that he had been well and fully trapped. He had no hope of survival if he could not escape the cloud and burning tentacles. Somehow, his opponents were able to move through both at will. Limping away, he turned in the direction he knew the larder to be, but every step was a full exertion of all his strength and will, and his progress was glacial. Again Hawk darted past, slashing as he went. The giant’s blood fell in rivulets now, pooling on the floor around him. Grubber saw the direction the Heartkeeper was heading, and he quickly retreated from the cloud and its accompanying silence. Once clear, he chanted another prayer, picturing in his mind the concealed south wall of the hall. Instantaneously a wall of solid iron sprang into being before the door to the kitchens, blocking any hope of retreat for Kagro. The giant halted, twisting this way and that, looking for the direction from which the next attack would come. Suddenly, Hawk was there, looming out of the fog like death incarnate. Desperately Kagro brought up his axe in a warding gesture, but Quaero slipped easily beneath it, sliding under the giant’s breast bone and into his heart. At Hawk’s mental command, a surge of electricity pulsed through the blade, stopping Kagro’s heart completely. Hawk silently pulled his sword free as the Heartkeeper slumped to the floor. Then, a glint of metal caught the paladin’s eye. A large key hung from around the fire giant’s neck.
Mak circled cautiously around the edge of the fog cloud, searching for any sign of the giant within. Suddenly, a huge blade scythed out of the mist, slicing deeply into the goliath’s thigh. Cursing in surprise, Mak brought up his own sword reflexively, narrowly blocking a second strike. Now he could see the shadowy outline of the trapped giant, and he thrust forward, burying his weapon in Fritz’ ribs just as he turned to counterstrike. As a result, Mak suffered only a glancing blow, while Fritz’ breath came in ragged wheezes from a punctured lung.
By this time, on the eastern end on the corridor beyond the mess hall, Adolph and Augustus had reached the edge of Havok’s fog cloud and flaming walls of worms, while on the western end, the three gate sentries had done the same. All could hear the sounds of battle from somewhere beyond the mist and fire, and though they had no idea what awaited them, their duty was clear. The citadel must be defended at all costs. One by one they entered, and several things happened at once. The solidified fog slowed their forward momentum to a crawl, while the frigid, grasping worms pulled at them and seared their exposed flesh. Though the heat from the fire walls caused them no harm, the eldritch energy of the barriers burned as hot as any flame. Yet on they came.
At that moment, Faust appeared in the mess hall next to Havok.
“A nice bit of work you’ve done here,” the psion nodded in admiration.
“It’s what I do,” Havok replied, shrugging. “It’s only a matter of time now.”
“Yes, well, let it not be said that I didn’t do my part,” Faust said. Concentrating, and sensing the location of each giant trapped within the mist, he unleashed a psychic ball of freezing cold. The energy engulfed them all, killing them instantly.
“That still only counts as one,” Havok sneered.
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Methodically, the League searched the citadel, from top to bottom. They found no other living giant in residence, nor did they find evidence of the second key. Finally, they opened one final trapdoor, leading onto the tallest battlement of the keep. There they discovered the mangled remains of a fire giant, long dead. They began rummaging through his belongings, unaware that they were being watched.
In the clouds above, Xyzanth circled, waiting. He had heard the sounds of battle from within the citadel cease some time ago. He knew that the victors would have to emerge sooner or later, and now here they were. Brazzemal had warned him that agents of the druids were within the city, and that they were seeking the phylactery as well. He had told the fang dragon that should he see them, he should slay them immediately and determine whether or not they had found one of the keys. Now, that was exactly what Xyzanth intended to do.
Havok sensed the dragon’s approach a moment before he actually saw it plummeting out of the cloud cover. It was enormous, all teeth and claws, and of no color he had ever seen before. Through their mind-link he shouted a warning to his companions, then quickly touched each of them in turn, transporting them all through dimensions to safety. Xyzanth drew up from his dive in frustration. They had escaped him…for now.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
