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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 5429965" data-attributes="member: 9546">FORT DRELEV“How do you recommend we handle this?”  Davrim asked.The companions stood on the main road leading to Fort Drelev, several hundred yards from the gate.  They had encountered little to no traffic coming into or out of the town during the last several miles of their journey.  “Leave that to me,” Mox smiled.They continued walking towards the gate, and the guards posted there quickly became alert when they saw the travelers approaching.  The soldiers wore no livery, but they didn’t look like standard mercenaries either.  Their arms and armor were well-made, and they appeared as if they knew how to use them.  “We don’t get many visitors through here these days,” one of them said as Mox and the others came close.  “What’s your business?”“We’re just travelling through,” Mox said, flashing her most winning smile.  “We’re tired from the road, and we’re seeking a place to rest our bones and spend some coin.  If that’s not acceptable, then we’ll continue on our way.”The guard considered her for a moment, allowing his eyes to roam up and back.“I suppose that’s acceptable,” he said at length.  “Tend to your own business while you’re in town, and don’t let yourselves be caught on the streets after dark.  There’s a curfew.”“Curfew?”  Mox asked.  “Is their danger?”“Not if you follow the rules,” the guard smiled.__________________________________________________________There was very little activity in the streets of Fort Drelev, and while the shops and markets appeared to be open, and farmers and craftsmen plied their trades, they did so quietly and without noise.  Many of the buildings were empty, or were only partially completed.   Guards patrolled the streets at regular intervals, some pausing now and again to pick something from a cart or stand without paying.At one point, Velox stopped to ask a shopkeeper for directions.“We’re looking for the Velvet Corner,” the oracle said.The merchant smirked.“’Course ya are!” he barked.  “Only place still doin’ a fair trade these days.  Just follow the guards.”He nodded his head down the street.“Why is that?”  Velox asked innocently.  The merchant’s eyes narrowed, and he glanced furtively around.“Ye’re better off not askin’ such questions, young fella,” he said.  “If ya ain’t one o’ the guards, or one o’ the nobles, ya ain’t nuthin’ round here.  They even got the nerve t’have some big party for baroness’s birthday tomorrow night!  And while good folk are starvin’ in the streets!  Ha!”He seemed to realize suddenly that his voice had been raised, and he glanced around quickly in fear.  “Good day to ya,” he said quietly, and turned and went back inside his store.The Velvet Corner was both a brothel and a gambling hall, and as the merchant had said, business was good.  The only customers, however, seemed to be off-duty city guards, and they were a rowdy bunch.  The working girls kept forced smiles pasted on their lips as they tried to avoid overly zealous hands while still trying to ply their trade.  The mistress of the establishment looked harried as she rushed about the place attempting to deal with small issues before they turned into a full-scale brawl.“Excuse me,” Mox interrupted as she tapped the woman  on the arm when she swept past.“If you want a drink, try the bar,” the mistress said.  “If you want a girl, you’ll have to wait in line.”“We’re actually looking for Satinder Morne,” Mox said quietly.The woman’s eyes narrowed in her beautiful face.  She was dressed better than anyone else in town, and though frazzled, she still exuded a sense of confidence, bravado and charm.“Who’s asking?” she said.“Friends of a friend,” Mox said as she passed Satinder Kisandra’s ring with the stem of a rosebud threaded through it.Satinder’s eyes widened in shock, and then, for the briefest instant, welled up.  She quickly composed herself and cleared her throat.“There’s a room behind the kitchen,” she said softly.  “I’ll meet you there in ten minutes.”___________________________________________________________Satinder sighed deeply as Mox finished her story.  The queen had explained concisely the events that had transpired in Fort Spears, and what Kisandra had told them.“Thanks be to Calistria that she’s alive and safe,” Satinder said.  “So, now that you are here, what are your intentions?”“We intend,” Mox said coldly, “to hold Baron Drelev and his barbarian and Pitax allies accountable for their actions against our country.  In the course of that, we will keep our word to Kisandra and attempt to liberate her father and sister.  Any assistance you can give us in this would be greatly appreciated.”Satinder considered this for a moment, then nodded.“Then you shall have it,” she said.  “You will of course find the baron in his keep up on the hill.  He is well-guarded by the mercenaries that Pitax left behind, not to mention a half-dozen giants they also left, who patrol the streets at night.  To approach the keep in the open would be suicide.  However, I know of a very well-guarded secret.  The baron has an emergency escape tunnel that runs beneath the keep and the town to emerge about a half-mile from here, along the shores of Lake Hooktongue.  I’m not certain how well guarded it is, but I’m sure it is a much safer option.  Tomorrow night, a fest is being held in the keep for the birthday of the baroness.  It may be that during such a distraction might be your best chance to strike.  With any luck, you may catch all the snakes in their lair at once…except for the barbarian chief, Armag.”“Where is he?”  Velox asked“He left here over a week ago,” Satinder replied.  “He took the women hostages with him, including Kisandra’s sister, Tamary.  I’m not sure where they went.”“What about her father?”  Davrim said.“As far as I know, he’s still in the keep’s dungeon,” Satinder replied.  “Then tomorrow night it is,” Mox said.__________________________________________________________Sundown the following evening found the companions gathered at the foot of a bluff on the shores of Lake Hooktongue.  Following Satinder’s instructions, they quickly located a well-hidden door behind a curtain of hanging vines.  It gave onto a roughly carved tunnel that led back in the direction of Fort Drelev.  They followed it for several hundred feet before it opened into a massive cavern, the walls of which bore signs of discoloration from occasional flooding, no doubt due to the water from the lake which entered through the eastern passage.  Stagnant runoff had collected in a natural limestone basin to the north.  To the west, an iron gate rimed with rust blocked the way forward.  Davrim moved ahead to examine the gate, but as the others moved to follow him, the water in the basin suddenly surged upward in a shallow wave, and two…things crawled forth onto the stone floor.  They looked like nothing so much as immense black blobs of goo.  They slithered towards the companions, extending grasping, hungry pseudopods as they approached.  Before the warriors could even ready their blades, Selena and Mox turned to face the oozes, and simultaneously released balls of fire and acid.  In a moment, both of the creatures were reduced to cracked piles of ash.“Black puddings, gentlemen,” Mox explained to the wide-eyed swordsmen.  “Hitting them with sharp, point objects just causes them to split in two.  As I’ve said before, men need to learn that all problems can’t be solved with phallic substitutes.”Davrim turned his attention back to the gate.  It was old, but still strong and securely locked.  He took the gauntlet from his right hand, and placed it against the lock.  Closing his eyes, he began to concentrate, and his hand began to glow.  A moment later, the metal around the lock began to pit and rust before dissolving completely.  He shoved the gate open, and the group continued on.The tunnel passed through a second, dry limestone cavern, blessedly unoccupied, before ending at a stone wall.  Stevhan’s sharp eyes picked out the door concealed there, which in turn opened into what seemed to be a hidden vault of some sort.  An L-shaped table sat in one corner of the dusty room, its velvet-lined surface displaying a number of small, precious stones and pieces of jewelry.  A couple of larger, ornately carved cedar trunks took up the other corners of the room.“Baron Drelev won’t be needing these after tonight,” Mox said as she raked the gems and jewelry into her pack.  “Perhaps his people can make better use of them.”Another door led into a wine cellar, which in turn gave onto a cellar, with stairs that apparently led up to the main keep.  A single door off this chamber, however, opened into a cold, musty dungeon.  Five cells, complete with meticulously crafted iron bars and doors, filled most of the space.  Only one of the cells was occupied, and in it lay a bedraggled middle-aged man who, despite his condition, still possessed a regal bearing.“Lord Numesti, I presume?”  Mox asked.“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure,” Numesti replied.“I am Queen Mox of Kardashia,” Mox said, projecting the full authority of her position.  “We are here on behalf of your daughter, Kisandra, as well as the people of Fort Drelev, and our own people as well.”“Your Majesty,” Numesti said as he bowed low from the waist.  “I am humbled and honored.”“Now that the formalities are over,” Mox smiled, “how about we find you some more comfortable accommodations?”Davrim performed his trick on the cell’s lock again, and then Velox and Tungdill tended began tending Numesti’s wounds.  “What can you tell us of Drelev and his minions?”  Mox asked as she stood by the proceedings.  “We understand there’s a celebration tonight for the baroness’s birthday.”“Oh yes?”  Numesti raised an eyebrow.  “That fits.  She’s always been a self-centered twit who cares more about that yapping dog of hers than she does her own people.  I suppose that’s one reason, among many, why the baron took a mistress.”At this Mox raised her own eyebrow.“Yes, the ‘Lady’ Quintessa Maray,” Numesti sneered.  “Oh, she’s a beauty to be sure, but something about her story of being a poor, exiled noblewoman from Galt rings false.  She wasted no time insinuating herself into Drelev’s bed, much to the vexation of the baroness.  I suppose that had something to do with her inviting her brother to come here from Brevoy.  She needed an ally.”“My, my,” Mox sighed, “the guest list just keeps growing.  What do we need to know about this brother?”“His name is Imeckus Stroon,” Numesti replied, “and he’s a wizard of some renown.  You need to watch that one.”“Can you tell us anything of the layout of the keep?”  Velox interrupted as he finished his last curative charm.“I can do better than that,” Numesti smiled.  “If you have some spare parchment, I can draw you a rough floor plan.  If there is indeed a party tonight, it will be held on the third floor in the ballroom.  Have a care, because Drelev has become more paranoid these days, and usually travels with contingent of guards.  I’m sure the guard captain, Ameon Trask will be in attendance as well.”His eyes dropped to the floor for a moment.“I would join you, please believe me,” he said, “but I have a duty to my family.  I feel that I must go to Kisandra and see to her wellbeing.”“Think nothing of it,” Velox said.  “Thought your wounds are mended, you are still not battle ready.  Go to your daughter, and rest easy knowing that after we deal with Drelev, we are going after Armag, and we will return your other child to you as well.”Numesti’s jaw set.“My life is now yours, my lords and ladies,” he said solemnly.  “I will return here once I’ve seen to Kisandra, and when I do, I will bring the people of Fort Drelev to you as well.  On this, you have my word.”__________________________________________________________After they’d made sure that Numesti had made it back to the escape tunnel, the companions returned to the cellar and climbed the stairs to the main level of the keep.  They emerged into a large foyer, and came face-to-face with a pair of house guards.  Before their hands could even drop to the hilts of their weapons, Davrim was across the room and had driven his sword through one’s chest.  Selena dropped the second into a deep slumber with a wave of her hand, and the inquisitor quickly finished him off as well.  He and Velox then dragged the bodies back down into the cellar while Mox wove a simple prestidigitation cantrip to remove all traces of blood.  Just as she finished, an elderly man in servant’s livery emerged from a side door.“Is…everything ok out here?”  he asked tentatively as he eyed the strangers with suspicion.  “I thought I heard a noise.”“Everything is just fine,” Mox said with authority.  “We are specialists summoned by the baron.  He’ll be calling for you shortly from the ballroom.  I suggest you return to your duties and mind your own affairs until then.”The steel in the queen’s eyes spoke volumes, and the man gulped once before he scurried back into the pantry.Moving with alacrity, the group hurried up the central stairwell, passing the second floor landing, and proceeding to the third.  Velox was in the lead, and it was he who emerged into a large art gallery.  The walls held several recessed stone ledges that contained small sculptures and a few paintings.  A pair of double doors on one side opened into a large ballroom, while on the far side, an open-air balcony looked out over the main courtyard.  A dozen or more people stood within the gallery and the ballroom.  Most were armed guards, but four stood apart, two women and two men.  One woman was middle-aged and matronly, dressed in the manner of a Brevic noble.  She carried an annoying-looking little dog under one arm.  The other was much younger, and stunningly beautiful.  She wore a form-fitting, lavender gown with a billowing cape and hood trailing.  The first man was also dressed in noble’s robes, but he also wore fine mail beneath his garb, and carried ornate, though obviously functional weapons at his side.  The second wore more plain and simple robes, though he clutched an intricately carved staff in one hand.  Velox stared at them, and they stared back at him in stunned silence.“For Kardashia!!” the oracle cried as he drew his blade and charged in.____________________________________________________________Drelev stared in shock for a moment as the battle-enraged oracle rushed into the gallery.  ‘The Kardashian nobles?’ he thought to himself.  ‘Here?  In person?’  It wasn’t supposed to be like this.  Captain Trask had, of course, told him of the defeat at Fort Spears, but he never dreamed they would actually come here!  Irovetti had set him up, and now Armag was gone as well.  Panic began to set in.“What are you waiting for, fools!?” he cried to his guards.  “Stop them!”Imeckus Stroon was not a bit surprised.  He had suspected all along that nothing good would come of his idiot brother-in-law’s inept leadership.  That’s why his sister had originally asked him to come to this forsaken backwater, to help bail them out of this mess.  That was, of course, before the arrival of the young Lady Quintessa.  Now his sister wanted her dear husband and his whore removed…permanently.  The fools from Kardashia were just the solution to that little problem if, that was, he could stop them from destroying the whole town, himself and his sister included.  As the Kardashian general charged out of the stairwell, the wizard waved his hand and conjured a curtain of crackling electricity behind him, cutting him off from his friends still trapped upon the stairs.‘That should make things a bit more interesting,’ he chuckled to himself.Drelev’s guards drew their blades and rushed into the gallery to place themselves in a ring around Velox, keeping him away from their lord.  A deafening roar drew their attention back towards the stairs, however, as a towering half-orc hurled himself through the wall of lightning, electricity snapping across his armor as he brought his upraised sword down squarely upon the head of the nearest guard, dropping the man with his skull split in two.  Ameon Trask snarled to himself at the inability of his men to perform a simple task.  As he stalked towards the melee, he drew a red gem from his tunic and crushed it in his hand.  As he did so, a towering pillar of flame bearing a roughly humanoid outline suddenly erupted in the middle of the gallery.Velox, though fully in the throes of Iomedae’s wrath, was not unaware of what was going on around him.  Though Davrim’s arrival on the scene had distracted his opponents, the appearance of the elemental had more than balanced the equation.  Until the others found some way around the lightning wall, a problem he was sure Mox was already working on, he and the inquisitor were on their own.  Time to even the odds again.  Calling on the favor of his goddess, the oracle began to grow.  Within seconds, he towered nearly twice his normal size, his arms and armor growing proportionately.  The guards’ faces blanched as they beheld the ten-foot long greatsword being leveled at them.“We’re not getting any younger,” Selena said as she grabbed Mox by the wrist.  “Are you ready?”“For anything,” Mox smiled.  “Tungdill, are you coming?”“Don’t worry ‘bout me, girlies,” the dwarf rumbled.  “Got my own way of travellin’.”Mox nodded, and in a flash, she and Selena vanished, only to reappear a moment later just inside the gallery.  The first thing that caught Mox’s attention in the general chaos, was the sight of Baroness Pavetta Drelev fleeing towards the balcony, her little ankle-biting dog yapping its fool head off.“Not so fast, my Lady,” Mox murmured as she pinched her thumb and forefinger together.Across the room, the baroness suddenly grabbed her throat, her face going red and her eyes bulging as all the air was abruptly sucked from her lungs.  Suffocating, she reached a door on the far side of the balcony and jerked it open…only to come face-to-face with a hulking…thing that appeared to be made entirely out of earth and rock.“Goin’ somewhere, missus?”  Tungdill growled.  The druid’s feet were still buried in the floor where he had glided through the stone to prevent just such an escape attempt by any of the party goers.  Parvetta’s eyes, if possible, grew even wider.  She slammed the door shut again just as consciousness failed her.  Black spots before her eyes from lack of oxygen, she slumped against the door, her lips blue.  Her little dog began licking futilely at its mistress’s face.Quintessa Maray was still in a state of shock.  Like her lover, the baron, she felt that things were not supposed to be happening this way.  When the forces of Pitax had mobilized against Fort Drelev, certain powers in the River Kingdom of Daggermark had taken an interest in what their old rival might be up to.  Quintessa (not her real name) had been sent as a spy to infiltrate Drelev’s court and learn what she could about the motives of Pitax.  Endearing herself to the baron had seemed the most expedient way to accomplish her mission, and she’d learned much, both in and out of his bed, in the ensuing weeks.  Still, she wasn’t certain of what Irovetti had hoped to gain by attacking Kardashia.  It seemed a foolish risk, and now here were the upstart realm’s rulers here in the flesh.  Though she was loyal to Daggermark, Quintessa had no desire to die in the line of duty.  Having no immediate avenue of escape, her only recourse was to aid her erstwhile allies in defeating the Kardashians.  So she did what she did best…she began to sing.  So beautiful and haunting was her voice, that for a moment, the battle came to a halt.  Then, Drelev’s men, so inspired by her words, snarled with renewed vigor as they pressed their attack.Velox danced a deadly ballet with the cadre of guards that surrounded him.  He winced in pain as a sword thrust slipped past his defenses, but kept moving, trying to avoid letting his enemies attack his flanks.  At that moment, Stroon conjured up a second wall of coruscating electricity, this time with Velox trapped directly in the middle of it.  The energy rippled through the oracle and he went involuntarily rigid, allowing the wizard a few precious seconds to put some distance between himself and the giant warrior.  Before Stroon could get completely clear, however, Velox wrenched himself free of the wall and lunged for the wizard, his elongated sword tangling between the wizard’s feet and sending him sprawling to the floor.  Stroon quickly rolled to his back and threw up his arms to hurl a spell at the looming oracle, but Velox was faster and brought his blade down upon the man, ruining his casting and momentarily stunning him.At Trask’s direction, the fire elemental lumbered towards Velox, but before it had taken three steps, Davrim was there.  The hulking creature swung its burning arms in big, loping arcs towards the inquisitor, but he managed to duck and weave beneath the clumsy attacks.  Quick as a cat, he countered, his sword glowing with Iomedae’s power, specifically attuned to the elemental’s nature.  He struck three times in rapid succession, and the brute hemorrhaged liquid fire from the gaping wounds before it dissolved into ash, banished back to its home plane.Ameon Trask cursed roundly.  He wasn’t about to let these fools humiliate them a second time.  He drew a second gem from his belt and was preparing to crush it, when a hand abruptly seized his shoulder.  He turned in fury, and saw Selena standing behind him.“Let’s see how well you cast your hexes without your hands, witch!” he snarledBefore he could reach for his sword, however, Selena sent a powerful jolt of electricity surging through the guard captain’s body.  Trask jittered and jerked, blood pouring from his eyes and ears before he fell to the floor, where he continued to twitch for several more seconds before he finally became still for good.“That’ll be enough out of you, little songbird,” Mox said as she crooked her hand towards Quintessa.The bard’s voice abruptly choked off as Mox’s suffocation took hold.  Stroon lay not far from her, and she stumbled desperately towards the wizard, heedless of the giant oracle standing over him.  For his part, Stroon was only peripherally aware of the woman’s plight.  He was more concerned at saving his own skin, and as Velox’s sword began to fall again, the wizard managed to get off a last-ditch spell.  The blade stopped in mid-air as it struck an invisible barrier, a wall of pure force.  Quintessa’s eyes grew wide with hope, for she had ended up on the same side of the wall as Stroon.  Her lips turning blue, she fumbled a scroll from her belt pouch and dropped it at Stroon’s feet, her eyes pleading with him.  He glanced at it.  A dispelling enchantment.  “I think you have me confused for someone who has your best interest at hear, ‘my Lady,’” Stroon smirked.  He then snapped his fingers and vanished in a flash of light.  A moment later, Quintessa collapsed, and gasped her last.Drelev couldn’t believe what was happening.  In a matter of seconds, his wife, his lover, his guard captain…all dead, and his traitorous brother-in-law fled.  His soldiers fought valiantly, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before they were overwhelmed as well.  Already, more were falling.  One had managed to sneak  up behind the witch while she’d been occupied with Trask, and had driven a blade into her ribs, but to Drelev’s astonishment, there had been a backlash of energy, and the guardsman had fallen instantly dead.  Then she’d killed two more with her bare hands, electrocuting them both!  No, if he was going to have any chance at surviving this debacle, Drelev was going to have to act.  Blade in hand, he charged towards the towering form of Velox and slashed viciously across the oracle’s spine.  Velox howled in agony and spun about, swinging wildly.  Drelev danced nimbly away, but he underestimated the oracle’s reach.  Velox lunged after him, and that time, the tip of his sword swiped across the baron’s throat.  Drelev, in a panic, clasped a hand to the wound, blood pouring from between his fingers as he backpedaled towards the balcony.  His retreat was abruptly halted when he came up against a solid object…Davrim.  He turned in horror, just as Velox drove his sword completely through his back, the tip emerging from his chest.  “I…sorry…,” Drelev gasped as his sword fell from his numb fingers and he clutched at Davrim.“Apology accepted,” the inquisitor said.About one thing, Drelev had been correct.  His soldiers were no match for the Kardashians.  One-by-one, the remaining ones fell, though to their credit, none of them fled nor begged for their lives.  Their loyalty, though misguided, had been well paid for.  As the last one fell, however, the strident blast of horns sounded from somewhere beyond the balcony.“Umm…fellas,” Tungdill rumbled from where he stood overlooking the courtyard.  “I think I know where th’wizard went…t’find a few dozen friends…,”</blockquote>

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