THIRTEEN CAGES
Houshang paced nervously in the anteroom outside zulkir Trelame’s office. The shards of the destroyed artifact clinked in the bag he clutched. Though the Bright Axes had surely saved his life, he considered the debt paid in full due to the assistance he had provided them while storming Imperagon’s stronghold. He had hastily explained that he must return to his home and had bade them an unceremonious goodbye. The fools had not even noticed that he had managed to recover the remnants of the Blade of Fiery Might, for all the good it would do him. In truth, his life was probably still forfeit. He had held out hope that his long absence would convince his superiors that he had died as expected on the suicide mission. Now, having realized that only a few days had passed on the Prime, he knew they would be looking for him, and expecting a full report on his success or failure. The only sliver of redemption was that they would accept the remains of the artifact for study and perhaps be able to reforge it some day. At that moment, Trelame’s door opened on its own accord. Houshang gathered what dignity he could muster and strode confidently into the inner office. Trelame didn’t look up from the scroll he was penning. “I’ve read your full report, so you needn’t bore me with further details,” the zulkir said without preamble. He waved towards a table in the corner of the room. “Put the shards there. I’ll examine them later.” Finally, he raised his cold, blue eyes to Houshang’s. “Now, tell me everything you know about the Cagewrights…”
_____________________________________________________________________________-
A monstrous gate of black metal blocked further progress along the smooth, volcanic tunnel. The Bright Axes had hiked for two hours, deep into the bowels of the volcano before reaching the barrier. Rusty estimated that they had traveled at least four miles into the earth. Fully fifteen feet high and eight feet wide, the gate was emblazoned with a symbol the adventurers had come to know as the Carcerian Eye…the symbol of the Cagewrights. A twisted, leering visage sculpted from the same metal as the gates adorned the lintel above the portal. The face seemed both calm and entirely insane, if such a thing were possible, and its race or gender was indeterminate. Its glowering eyes were also carved in the symbol of Carceri.
“Looks like this is the place,” Rusty said with a smirk. “They ain’t exactly tryin’ to hide their politics, are they?”
“Well,” Tilly replied, hitching up his belt, “let’s see if anyone’s home.” The little rogue turned the plain silver band on his finger once, and vanished from sight. He began creeping forward, as silent as a whisper, until he was within twenty feet of the gates. At that moment, some sixth sense warned him of danger, and he quickly rolled to his right as a beam of green light lanced from the left eye of the carving above the doorway. Where he’d been crouching an instant before, there was a large, smoking crater in the floor. Suddenly, the right eye began to glow, and Tilly dove into a forward roll as a second beam struck. He was now at the base of the gate, and he quickly began to scrabble up the doorframe until he was level with the demonic visage. Without hesitation he used his dagger to pop first one of the eye gems and then the other from its respective socket, dropping them into his pouch before leaping back to the floor. Twisting his ring again, he became visible. “Safe now,” he called back to his companions, and then he bent to examine the intricate locking mechanism on the portals. “Afraid this one’s beyond me though.”
“Never send a thief to do a sorcerer’s work,” Dalthon said as he strolled forward, rolling up his sleeves. He muttered a few words, and then rapped softly on the valves with his bare knuckles. With a soft click, the gates parted, revealing a long corridor beyond. “After you,” he said bowing to Tilly with a flourish.
“Nobody likes a smarta**,” Tilly muttered as he walked through the doorway.
__________________________________________________________
“Ah, we have guests!” Shebeleth said, looking up from his book as the silent ping of the Alarm chimed in his head. “Keeriv, would you be so good as to inform the others that company has arrived, no doubt with all sorts of nasty ideas and good intentions.” The shator glowered at the human behind his back. That he should be forced to serve as lackey to such an inferior creature still galled him, but Dyr’ Ryd had commanded it, and Keeriv would never dare to cross the two-faced one. Without a word, he left the chamber to warn the Cagewrights of the intruders.
___________________________________________________________
Tilly paused at the intersection. They had encountered no resistance so far, and that was making him nervous. The corridor continued on directly ahead, but to his right, it seemed to end at a blank wall, and that always made him suspicious. Motioning the others to wait, he crept down the hall to the dead-end. Just as he thought, all wasn’t as it seemed. Rather than rock, the ‘wall’ at the end of the passage was actually a cleverly woven curtain of some sort, made to look, and even feel to the casual touch, like stone. The rogue worked his fingers behind the material, and parted it a fraction of an inch, peering beyond it into a large, irregularly shaped room. Odd, uncomfortable looking pieces of furniture lay about the chamber, including several long, narrow beds. Bizarre statuary and paintings adorned the walls and several low pedestals, and a thick, black tarry substance covered most of the room’s surfaces. Something about this struck Tilly as familiar. The chamber at first appeared empty, but then the rogue’s sharp eyes spied a deeper shadow in one of the far corners. Instantly he recognized the creature…a farastu demodand, but much larger than any they had previously encountered. Quickly, Tilly moved back up the hall to his companions, warning them of what he had seen.
“If he’s hiding, he already knows we’re here,” Grimm rumbled. “It seems there is no further need for stealth.” The big half-ogre stalked down the corridor, and when he reached the curtain, he tore it aside, filling the entire chamber beyond with the celestial light that radiated from his helm.
“I like his style,” Ike said, smiling. The goliath had decided to join the Bright Axes after he heard more of their mission. If Kylon had put his faith in these people, then that was good enough for him. Besides, they always seemed to be able to find the best fights!
As soon as Grimm entered, the farastu leaped from its hiding place, but was immediately blasted back several paces by a barrage of glowing missiles from Dalthon’s outstretched hand. Ike roared past the sorcerer. “Thaaval!” he shouted, cursing his enemy in the goliath tongue as he closed the distance to the demodand and cleaved into it with his hammer. Meanwhile, Tilly had once more rendered himself invisible and managed to position himself behind the farastu. Now, as the creature reeled from Ike’s onslaught, the rogue drove his own blade deep into its knee. The demodand stumbled, throwing up one arm to ward off further blows, but it was too late. Grimm’s chain caved in its skull and it collapsed to the floor. “Well, that was easy enough,” Tilly said, wiping off his blade.
“Not so fast, little fella,” Ike said, staring past the halfling. From around a corner of the irregular chamber, two more farastus had emerged. Simultaneously, twin beams of green energy shot from their hands, striking both Ike and Grimm. Instantly, the two warriors felt themselves weaken as the magic sucked the strength from their sinews. The demodands then began shaking and quivering, foam slavering from their jaws. With incoherent cries of rage, they flung themselves forward.
As the farastus charged, Kiko appeared, leaping past his weakened companions. When the first creature surged towards him, the monk met the onslaught with a flying kick to its chest. The force of the blow was such that the monster rocked back on its heels, momentarily stunned. Ike gathered what strength he had left, which was still considerable, and rushed forward once more. This time, however, the farastu saw him coming. It reached out one long arm, and cuffed the goliath in the ribs. Before Ike could react, the large demon had scooped him up into a bear hug, and began squeezing the breath out of him.
Tilly once more took advantage of an opportunity provided. Seeing the effects of Kiko’s attack, he dove behind the stunned farastu, and slashed at the creature’s Achilles tendon, driving it to one knee. Grimm was right behind the halfling, smashing his chain into the demodand as it fell. Before the beast could recover its wits, Kiko struck twice more, crushing its windpipe and ending its life.
Dalthon stood alone back at the intersection, confident that his friends had the situation under control. At the entrance to the chamber, Rusty and Gunther stood ready to lend aid should the need arise. At that moment, the sorcerer heard movement behind him. Whirling around, he saw three more farastus approaching from the bend of the main hallway. Shouting a warning to his companions, he unleashed one of his most deadly spells at the lead demodand, the dreaded Finger of Death, but the hulking beast shook off the effect without pausing. Realizing he was outmatched, Dalthon took to the air, flying towards safety in numbers. He had no desire to visit the Bright Lands again any time soon.
The farastu dug its claws deep into Ike’s skin and began to rip and tear at the goliath. Clenching his jaw against any weak cry of pain, Ike struggled mightily to break the beast’s hold, but in his weakened state it was impossible. Suddenly, Ike felt the demodand’s grip loosen. Looking down, he saw Kiko striking repeatedly at pressure points on the monster’s legs and torso. Ike dropped to the floor, then regained his grip on his mallet, and laid into his opponent. Blow after blow rained down on the beleaguered farastu, until one final stab to the heart from Tilly put it to rest.
Back in the corridor, Grimm had moved to block the next wave of farastus. The group paused several yards away, and the foremost stabbed its hand into the air, seeming to rip a hole into the very fabric of reality. From the rift stepped a fourth demodand, and this one sent another of the green, strength-draining beams straight at Grimm. Again, the half-ogre felt himself weaken. Sensing an opportunity, the farastus began moving forward again, but by this time, Grimm’s own reinforcements had arrived. From the chamber behind him, Dalthon once more sent a burst of Magic Missiles, striking the newly arrived demodand full in the face. As the creature brushed at its momentarily blinded eyes, Grimm charged. Summoning all the strength he had left, he drove his chain into the farastu’s chest, almost imploding it with the impact. In a flash of light, the monster vanished back to Carceri. Maintaining the momentum of his charge, Grimm snapped the spiked chain back, wrapping it around the neck of the next demodand, and snapping it almost completely from the creature’s body.
Kiko closed towards the remaining two farastus, but as he approached, the nearest demodand struck first. Slashing and biting, it tore at the monk, and then wrapped its massive arms around him, squeezing and rending in mindless fury. Its companion, also overwhelmed by bloodlust, leaped forward and began slashing at the monk as well. Dalthon fired off another volley of missiles, trying to drive the rampaging beasts away from the monk, but the demodands were single-minded in their rage. Kiko calmed his panic, and gathered his body’s energies into his hands. He then drove his fists repeatedly into the farastu’s neck, hammering at the tender pressure points there. The farastu stumbled back, yet maintained its hold on the monk. This hold ended, however, when Tilly arrived and severed the beast’s spinal cord.
The final farastu found itself surrounded by Ike, Grimm, Kiko and Tilly, and though it fought as if demon-possessed, its was a lost cause, and it quickly joined its companions in oblivion.
__________________________________________________________________
Gau stood poised in her chamber, her falchion gripped tightly in both, melon-sized hands. The minotaur had not heard the silent alarm that had alerted Shebeleth to the presence of intruders. Neither the lore master nor Dyr’ Ryd credited the barbarian with the intelligence to understand the nuances of even such a simple spell. No, Gau was valued more for her physical assets: brutality, viciousness, and unswerving loyalty. She had heard the distant sounds of battle, and knew the demodands had been bested. Now she waited, knowing instinctively that the trespassers would come to her sooner or later, and then it would be her turn.
____________________________________________________________
The group had reached a dead end. Beyond the chamber where they had encountered the first group of farastus, they found another, identical room, which had obviously been the lair of the second group. Beyond this, there seemed to be no other way to go. Gunther fished a small, bone wand out of his backpack, and began pacing around the room. In a matter of moments, he nodded in satisfaction, having detected a hidden door at the far side of the room. “This would seem the obvious choice,” the theurge said, “but perhaps we have bypassed other passages as well. Give me a moment to retrace our steps before we make a final decision.” With that, the young dwarf began making his way slowly back down the main hallway. At two points along the passage, he marked the location of other hidden doorways, one within only a few yards of the main gate. It was this path that the companions chose to investigate first, believing it might be a bypass used by the Cagewrights to navigate around their sentinel demodands.
Tilly made quick work of the locking mechanism on the secret door, and pushed the portal open. The severe neatness and organization of the room beyond stood in stark contrast to the animal stench that filled it…a combination of sweat, manure, and wet fur made the air thick and fetid. It appeared to be some sort of dueling or training chamber. Practice dummies lined the walls, along with weapon and armor racks displaying exotic equipment of all sorts. The most disturbing thing about the chamber were the spikes protruding from the walls in clusters at various heights…that and the eight-foot tall minotaur standing poised to charge on the far side. “Now you die!” the beast shrieked, and then surged forward. In the blink of an eye Tilly vanished from sight, only to reappear a moment later behind the rampaging minotaur and sink his sword deep into her calf. Gau roared, wheeling on her other foot and slashing down instinctively. Once…twice her huge blade slashed into the rogue, nearly disemboweling him. Incredibly, deep wounds simultaneously appeared in the minotaur’s hide as well when the falchion struck, and Gau screamed even louder in apparent ecstasy. Kiko dove forward while the beast was distracted, delivering a powerful kick to her flank. Ike was two steps behind the monk, but Gau was already turning, her sword slicing viciously across the goliath’s midsection. Again, blood spurted from the minotaur, and once more she howled with pleasure. She raised her weapon to strike again, but at that moment a length of heavy, spiked chain wrapped itself around the blade, and it was instantly jerked from her hands, sailing across the room to clatter against the far wall. In a flash, Rusty stepped forward and picked up the falchion, then darted back behind the relative safety of Grimm. With a shriek of frustration, Gau lowered her head, wicked horns flashing in the torchlight, and charged towards the half-ogre. Grimm snapped his chain forward again, cracking it directly in front of the minotaur’s face, stopping her in her tracks. Kiko and Ike were on her in a heartbeat, keeping her off balance with a flurry of attacks. Gau batted and swatted at them futilely, until Grimm moved in and slammed his chain into her skull directly between her horns. The minotaur’s cranium shattered like an eggshell and she sank to her knees, looking like nothing so much a pole-axed cow as she collapsed.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
.
