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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EternalNewbie" data-source="post: 3877528" data-attributes="member: 6489">“So who set us up?” Shayla asked, after Gorak had calmed down a bit.“Halaal,” Khalid answered immediately, “it has to be, yes, has to be Halaal.  The only question, yes, is whether or not Arbaq was involved.”“Absolutely not,” Shayla replied without hesitation.Gorak wasn't as quick to answer.  He scratched his jaw absently as he looked from Khalid to Shayla.  “Maybe.” he grumbled at last.  “Maybe he decided end our little arrangement on account of us messing about with Halaal, but if'n that devil don't scare him, I don't see one wizard without no spells giving him pause.  I don't see no profit it in.  Do you?” he asked Khalid.“Ah, no, not really,” Khalid agreed.“But even if he didn't set us up, he's a damned fool for not checking out his informants a little better,” Gorak growled.“So what do we do now?”  Shayla asked.Gorak shrugged.  “Simple, go forward or turn back.”“Ah, forward?  Through the goblin warrens?” Khalid asked incredulously.Shayla crossed her arms across her chest and shivered slightly.  “I don't think...” she started softly, then trailed off.  Starting again in a clearer voice, she said, “I don't think I'm ready for that.  Not yet.”“Yeah, well that ain't exactly what I meant.  The path split a ways back.  Maybe that branch leads through to the other side.” Gorak rumbled.“Ah, perhaps, or perhaps there is no route through the mountains and that was all just part, yes, part of the ruse.” Khalid pointed out.“Ya, maybe,” Gorak agreed as he leaned back against the invisible boundary of the spell.  “But we've got enough provisions for months up here.  I can get around easy enough to scout out a trail and with my help, you two can make it over the rough spots.  One way or another, we're getting over these mountains.”“What about the goblins?” Shayla asked.  “It's gonna be hard enough without them harrying us from one end of the mountains to the other.”“We'll stomp that outpost flat on the way back.  Leave 'em a nice little warning.  Maybe they'll get the point.” Gorak gave them both an evil grin as he cracked his knuckles loudly.“Ah, yes, well from what I've seen of goblins, you're going to have to impale each and every one of them before they get the point.” Khalid said bitterly, then he sighed wistfully.  “If I had access to alchemical supplies I could distill, yes, distill a narcotic.  A little bit in their cisterns, or in their food and the entire tribe would sleep, yes, sleep for a week.”Gorak sat up quickly, an intent look on his face.  “What did you just say?”“Ah, nothing Gorak,” Khalid said, dismissing the question with a wave of his hand.  “Just wishful thinking.  I have none, yes, none of what I would need.”“Maybe you don't, but I do,” Gorak growled with a toothy grin.  “But I ain't gonna put 'em to sleep.  You remember, about a dozen years back, what happened in the poor quarter, out near the floodplains?”“Ah, vaguely.  There was a pestilence, was there not? Some sort of fever, yes fever spread through the population.”“Yup,” Gorak replied, “they even tried seal off the poor quarter.  None of my tribe could get inta the city for a month.  Well, I got a spell that can conjure up something just as nasty.  I'll turn myself into a big rat, and go fer a little stroll. I'll nip the first goblin I see and in a few days, we won't hafta worry about them bothering us no more.”*“Ah, Gorak, didn't quite, yes, quite a few people die from that illness?” Khalid asked.Gorak shrugged.   “I don't remember. Maybe some of the weaker folk.  But even so, we'd be doing 'em a favor.  You know, culling the herd a little before winter.  And you'd have to figure the chances are pretty good that the next time the universe spat 'em out, they'd be something a bit better off than these poor bastards.”“Ah, well, yes, I suppose...” Khalid began.“And it sure beats the alternative.  Or did you really want to do it the hard way, one at a time?” Gorak interrupted before he could finish.“Well, no, of course not...” Khalid started again.“If it means I don't have to go into those caves, I'm all for it.” Shayla spoke up eagerly.“Ah, it's just that...” Khalid tried one last time.“Look,” Gorak growled, growing impatient with Khalid's objections.  “They're bound to have a shaman or a wiseman or something.  It'll probably just make 'em real sick for a little while 'till they get it under control.”Outnumbered and overruled, Khalid abandoned his objections and resigned himself to the plan.  They had to wait until the next day for Gorak to acquire the necessary spells and the time passed slowly in the featureless dimension.  In the morning, Gorak dropped out of the portal, and shifted his form into that of a tree.  An hour later, he briefly reverted back to his own form to cast a spell and then turned himself into a giant rat, and vanished out of sight.Surprisingly, it didn't take him long to return.  Shayla nudged out the rope with the toe of her boot, opening the gate, and Gorak climbed in.  His customary scowl was more pronounced then usual as he growled, “Well that was a waste of time.”“Ah, what happened?” Khalid asked.“Nothing.” Gorak grunted.  “I musta bit the healthiest goblin in the whole damn tribe.  The spell didn't take.  I think I can get another shot at it again tomorrow.  I got outta there pretty quick after I attacked him and judging from the state of that cesspool, rat bites are a pretty common occurrence.”    Forced into inactivity and stuck within the cramped confines of Khalid's spell for another day,  boredom weighed heavily on Gorak and Shayla.  Gorak in particular found the bland and empty dimension hard to endure.  Khalid took advantage of the brief respite to resume his studies and was pleased with the progress he made.  Looking over his notes before putting them away for the night, he was certain he was on the verge of unlocking a new combination of formulae that would increase his growing repertoire.Gorak was already gone by the time Khalid and Shayla awoke.  They passed the time with idle talk, as they waited for him to return.  Judging from the light outside, it was just past mid morning when he returned.  He stormed into the portal without a word, and the foul expression on his face told Khalid everything he needed to know.“No luck?” Shayla asked him, somewhat courageously.Khalid could see the explosion coming, but to his surprise, Gorak paused for a second and mastered his emotions before growling, “No.  This has got to be the hardiest damn tribe of goblins in the West.”“Maybe it's the mountain air,” Shayla suggested.“Yeah, well whatever it is, this ain't gonna work.  Worse yet, I think they're on to me.  The bastard that I bit clubbed me, and he got real excited when I didn't squish like he was expecting.”“Ah, yes, well, what are we going to do now?” Khalid asked, although he was fairly certain he knew what Gorak's answer would be.“Back to the original plan,” Gorak growled.  “We hole up here for a bit 'till they calm down, and then we go stomp the piss outta those buggers on the plateau on the way out.”With a task before them, the time passed a little more quickly as they each undertook their own preparations.  Outside, Khalid was dismayed to notice it had begun to snow until Gorak pointed out that it would cover their tracks and any signs of the battle they were about to initiate.  They dropped out of the portal and hurried up the path towards the outpost.  As they walked, Gorak ran through the plan one last time, in the thick growl that passed as whispering for him.  “When we get close, I'll make it easy for us to climb up the side.  I'll check it out first, then start climbing.  You two follow me up.  I'll try to keep 'em back away from the ledge, long enough for you two to get your footing.  Once we're up there, just finish 'em off like usual.”Khalid's heart began to hammer in his chest, long before he caught sight of the plateau.  The odd stickiness that accompanied Gorak's spell wasn't helping either, as it prevented him from fiddling with his spell components.  Muttering a calming mantra under his breath, he stopped speaking as Gorak motioned for them to stop.  Scarcely before Khalid realized it, the situation became deadly serious.  Gorak poked his head around a sharp jut of rock, then sprinted across the twenty feet of open ground to the side of the pillar.  Leaping into the air, he caught the rock face of the cliff with one hand, about eight feet off the ground, and swung his other hand overhead to grab a hold.  Moving quickly, Gorak scaled the rock face.Hesitating for only a second, Khalid ran after him, with Shayla a step behind.  His breath whistling in short gasps between clenched teeth, Khalid clutched at the rock and began to climb.   His robes billowed out around him as he scuttled up the cliff face below Gorak.  Gorak reached the top and Khalid sidled away, trying to avoid the shale and ice tumbling down on him.  The move saved his life as Gorak, scrambling to his feet at the top of the cliff, was surprised by a quick witted goblin.     Driving a shield into his face, the goblin sent Gorak tumbling backwards off the plateau with a roar.  Narrowly missing Khalid, he plunged thirty feet to the ground below.  Fortunately for both Gorak and Sousee, a snowbank at the base of the cliff broke their fall somewhat.Khalid, feeling dreadfully exposed but knowing he wouldn't fare any better than Gorak if he continued climbing, stopped where he was and began to recite the complex intonations of his most powerful summoning spells.  A goblin, hearing the noise, leaned out over the edge, giving Shayla a chance to incinerate him.  As the smoking body fell past Khalid, he forced out the last words of his spell and struggled mightily to impose his will on the resisting creature.  Then, with a flash of flame, a huge muscled hound, snorting sulfurous smoke, appeared on the ledge directly above Khalid's head.  It immediately vanished  out of sight, but the screams of panic from above left no doubt the effect the hell hound was having.  Moving sideways another half dozen feet, Khalid started casting again almost immediately.A goblin appeared above Shayla and fired an arrow down at her, barely grazing her shoulder.  The goblin tried to duck back out of sight, but Shayla cast out a handful of glittering discs and took his head clear off before he could take cover.Gorak, groaning, staggered to his feet at the base of the cliff, and then cursed as the goblin head bounced off the rock above him and showered him with gore.  Gripping the cliff face carefully, he began to climb upwards again, carefully watching the ledge.  He passed Khalid on the way by, who finished his second summoning spell, and summoned a powerful hunting mastiff up on the plateau.  Although small compared to its infernal cousin, the hound still and had a powerful bite, and attacked the goblins with heedless fury at Khalid's urging.A second after the dog vanished from sight another burned goblin, this one covered in smoldering bites, toppled over the ledge.  There was a short scream, followed by a horrible gurgling sound, and then silence.  After a moment, Khalid looked at Gorak and Shayla, and then the three of them climbed the rest of the way to the top.  Peering over the edge just in time to see the hunting dog disappear, they were greeted with a grisly scene.  Three mauled goblins lay scattered about the watch post, two of them badly scorched.  After a quick glance through the camp, they circled the edge of the plateau, watching the path below for any escaping goblins.  Satisfied after a few moments, that there were no survivors, they considered their next course of action.“Let's just stay here,” Gorak growled.**“Ah, are you sure about that?” Khalid asked, somewhat nervously.“Sure,” Gorak grunted as he heaved one of the corpses far over the edge of the path below, into a ravine several thousand feet deep.  “We'll just tidy up here.  With all this snow falling, it'll look like we've never been here in a few hours.” He paused to boot an arm off the ledge. “When the replacements get out here, they'll think these guys ran off scared, or are chasing us, or just got bored and wandered away.  Then in the morning, when your spell runs out, we'll jump out and take care of 'em.  Two fer the price of one, eh?”  He grinned toothily at Khalid and Shayla.Too wound up to argue, Khalid helped dispose of the remainder of the goblin camp, and then opened up another portal for them.  He spent a fitful night tossing and turning, dreaming of distant, darkened caverns and awoke several times to hear Shayla muttering under her breath in her sleep.He rose the next morning feeling groggy and stiff.  He stumbled about in a daze, absently shuffling his possessions around while his mind slowly switched on.  After a few minutes, he realized that Gorak was awake, standing over the portal and staring intently at the ground below.  As Khalid walked over to see what he was looking at, Gorak grunted, “What's that look like to you?”  He pointed, somewhat unnecessarily, at the ground.At first, Khalid saw nothing, as his eyes adjusted to the bright glare of sunshine reflecting off the snow.  Then he squinted as a gust of wind swirled the snow around.  “Ah, that looks like a rope.”  Another gust of wind kicked up, and scoured more of the snow away.  “Yes, quite.”“That's what I thought.  You'd better get Shayla up. I don't think we're alone up here.” Shayla woke up grumbling at Khalid's urgent prodding, but quickly shook herself awake when they explained what was happening.  Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Shayla asked, “Are you sure that isn't just a piece of junk from their camp?”“I don't think so, I'm pretty sure that wasn't there last night,” Gorak replied.“So what do we do now?” Shayla asked, stifling a yawn.“Khalid, how much time we got left in here?”“Ah, about two hours.”“Alright.  So we sit tight in here for a bit and let them freeze.  The longer they wait out there, they less alert they'll be.  I ain't got much in the way of magic left after last night, but I gotta coupla surprises still.”“So let me get this straight,” Shayla said in a dangerously calm voice.  “You just woke me to tell me we're not going to be doing anything for the next two hours.  Is that right?”“Ah, well, yes,” Khalid stammered, “I suppose it is.”Shayla glared at the two of them wordlessly, then grabbed her bedroll and wrapped herself up in it.  Whatever else she had to say to them was muffled by her pillow, but Khalid was fairly certain that he got the gist of it.Khalid sat down to study his spells for the day while Gorak took up watch at the portal.  By the time Khalid had finished studying, Shayla was awake again and, unfortunately for the goblins outside, in an even fouler mood then before.  They gathered up their belongings as Khalid ran through the plan quickly.  “Ah, the first person out of the portal is going to be in significant, yes, significant danger, so I'm going to summon a hellhound, and send it out first.  It should draw, yes, draw their initial attacks giving me time to escape, invisible and unnoticed.  Yes, quite.  Then I'll begin to summon more fiends to aid us while Gorak drops through the gate.”“Maybe I should go next,” Shayla interrupted.  “You know, to provide some covering fire.”Khalid could see the bloodlust rising in her eyes, and hurried on, “Ah, no, that's probably not a good idea.  Some of them might be disciplined, yes, disciplined enough to hold their attacks, so it should be Gorak next.  Yes, quite.”Without knowing how many goblins were outside, or where they were arranged, there was no use in any further planning.  Taking a deep breath, Khalid launched into a spell, and faded from sight.  Gorak gathered up the rope and prepared to open the portal as Khalid started in on his summoning spell.  The instant the slavering demonic hound appeared, the battle began.</blockquote>

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