Servants of the Swift Sword (A Kalamar campaign)
- Thread starter Wicht
- Start date
Elder-Basilisk
First Post
Kinshag shows up at the end of the storyhour with a horse and the intention to accompany them so I'd guess his player just had to miss a session.
Excellent update. I'm glad to see this back on the frontpage.
Excellent update. I'm glad to see this back on the frontpage.
Wicht
Hero
Chapter 16 - Loona
A bell from above clanged out a warning.
“Sea Monsters!” came the shrill accompanying call.
“C’mon guys,” said Alairic, struggling into his armor.
“Sea Monsters off the Port Bow!” The bell on the crow’s nest continued to clang.
Tilliana staggered to her feet. Her face was pale and her eyes red. The alarm was not sounding at a good time for her. She had just been sick and had not made it to the bucket provided her for just such an occasion.
“Ooo,” said Niccolo, putting on his own armor and staring with distaste at the mess on the floor. Nearby the horses shifted uncomfortably in the hold. Two-socks lay on the floor, paws over his nose.
For two days, Tilliana had resisted seasickness. The calm sea and the cool air had made it easier. But then, just as the sun rose on the morning of the 7th of Mustering, the ship had run into a thunderstorm. For five hours the ship had been tossed about and Tilliana had been violently sick the whole time. The storm had been over for two hours already and still the slight young priestess was having problems.
The alarm bell continued to clang.
Struggling with her stomach, Tilliana managed to pull on her armor and stumble to the deck behind the other three.
The air was heavy with fog and the breeze was cool. The twin sails were puffed out and the ship seemed to be moving at a good pace. The floor of the deck was a chaotic mess. Sailors were running to and fro as the alarm bell clanged. Captain Antolo was yelling at his first mate to unlock the weapons chest and hand out the crossbows and rapiers to the crew.
Taking it all in, the four companions soon saw the source of the alarm. Two great beasts were swimming at the ship from the North-East. Their snake like necks arched more than twenty feet out of the water. Their mouths opened and closed savagely revealing many sharp teeth. It seemed certain that the two great sea monsters were making for the ship, perhaps hoping for a meal of some sort.
Despite her nausea, Tilliana still managed to act first. Thickly, but surely, she mouthed a prayer and motioned at the closer of the two creatures. A glowing great sword flew through the air and swung at the neck of the beasts. The divine sword connected, but the swing was weak and the creature seemed little affected.
Niccolo pulled out his longbow and fired off an arrow at the same creature. It landed in the thick neck, and the creature let out a high pitched roar of rage. It swum at the ship with a renewed vigor, fueled by rage.
Kinshag had his bow in hand, but he wavered, uncertain whether to shoot.
“Shoot it,” yelled Niccolo.
“How do we know it’s dangerous?” said the half-hobgoblin.
The first of the two creatures swam into the side of the ship with a thud. The creatures head easily cleared the railing of the deck and the huge jaws snapped about, seeking something to bite. A moment later, the second monster did the same.
Somewhat unsteadily, Tilliana drew her sword and charged. The spiritual sword she had conjured swung ineffectually at the great neck, but Tilliana, with great effort used her more material blade to better effect. The sharp edge of her sword sliced into the creatures face. Alairic charged the other beast. Talbright, his sword, swung into the neck drawing blood. Niccolo, exchanging bow for sword was soon at Alairic’s side.
“Hey!” said Alairic, as Niccolo stabbed the beast in the face, “This is my beast!”
Kinshag, arrow nocked fired at the creature Tilliana was fighting, but the shot went wide as he tried to avoid hitting the seasick priestess.
Tilliana moved to avoid the great mouth that opened up at her, but she moved too slow. Savagely, the sea monster clamped its jaws around Tilliana with crushing force. The glowing spiritual weapon vanished into thin air and the priestess’s greatsword fell from her fingers and clattered to the ground as pain coursed through her small frame and consciousness left her. The other beast bit at Alairic, but he moved swiftly out of the way and swung once more, striking the creature on the snout.
“Tilliana!” cried Niccolo, looking right and seeing the other sea monster preparing to drag the limp body of Tilliana off the deck. With a cry, Niccolo rushed along the deck of the ship, striking the neck of the offending beast. In a moment Kinshag was on the other side of the creature, hacking with his great-axe. The monster snapped its jaws at Niccolo, dropping Tilliana in the process.
The monster Alairic was fighting roared loudly at the paladin and then slipped away from side of the ship and dissapeared beneath the waves. Alairic wasted no time in charging at the other monster. All three warriors were busy dodging its attack and swinging wildly at it. The beast fled from half a dozen wounds, but showed no sign of weakness. Kinshag’s ax sunk into the flesh of the creatures neck but he moved back too slowly. The beast turned on him in an instant, its teeth sinking into his flesh. Kinshag screamed in pain as the massive jaws clamped down.
But the creature was distracted just enough for Alairic to swing true and straight. His sword cleft into the beast’s brainpan, a mortal blow. The jaws released Kinshag. As its life left it and the ship continued to move forward the monster fell away from the ship, its vast body slowly sinking into the depths of the great bay.
Tilliana was not dead and when the ship docked in Loona two days later both she and Kinshag were their normal selves once more. The captain had praised them highly after the battle and had promised to buy them a meal in Loona. As they were leading their horses off of the ship, he made it clear he intended to honor that promise.
Loona, the companions noticed, was a ramshackled affair. The buildings all leaned and the majority of them seemed to be braced. The whole town was of wood and likely only the dampness in the air kept it from becoming a pile of ashes, for the wood was certainly old and frail. Mildew seemed to be everywhere and the smells of fish, rot and other unmentionables were overpowering. Xaarum was known as a dirty city, but Loona had it beat. Nevertheless, the small port city seemed to be a busy place. Carts and Wagons rumbled to and from the docks and people crowded the dirt streets.
Captian Antolo led them to a place he knew, a small but busy tavern that served palatable food. They tied their horses outside and Niccolo left Two-socks with them to act as a guard. As the four companions ate, the captain inquired as to their plans and made a few mentions of things he knew about the Loona and Geanavue. Tilliana was interested in the possibility of Alairic’s brother being in town, but the captain did not think the White Tide was in port.
As Niccolo was kidding Alairic about the possibility of learning childhood secrets from Alairic’s brother Dailoo, they became aware of a fight breaking out at the counter close by. The noise in the tavern died down for a minute and all eyes turned to the sailor who was arguing with one of the natives.
“You are nothing but a stupid Loon!” snarled the sailor.
There was a murmur in the tavern room and the local man had his knife out in an instant. A flash of steel later and the sailor was on the floor disemboweled.
Conversation immediately resumed in the room. Noone seemed to be to put out by the sudden demise of the sailor.
“Get the body out of here,” snarled the barkeep to the knife-weilder, “dump it in the bay or something.”
“Whoa,” said Niccolo, impressed by the sheer lawlessness of the place, and then as the thought struck him, “You mean they just dump bodies in the bay, that can’t be good.”
“Loona is a bit rough,” admitted Captain Antolo, “If you want a more peaceful place head in to Geanavue. The watch sometimes come in from Geanavue to clean up things, but for the most part, Loonans are left to themselves. There’s a decent inn just inside the Loona Gate of Geanavue, Muratuur’s welcome.”
As the captain was talking a gangly youth with a lyre strapped to his back cautiously approached the table.
“Excuse me,” he said gingerly, “but, uh, I have a bit of a problem and, well, I thought perhaps you looked like a group of people who could help me.”
“What sort of people do you mean?” asked Niccolo.
“Well, heroes to be exact,” said the youth somewhat emberassed.
“Who are you? What do you need?” asked Tilliana.
“My names Toska, Toska the Bard, and well, there’s this girl. Her father’s a wealthy merchant in Geanavue and she was coming to Loona to see me, and she disappeared. She wasn’t supposed to be seeing me and so I don’t want to go to her father about it as it might get her in trouble. But I don’t want to leave her either cause that might be worse and so I thought you looked like the sort of people who might be willing to get her.”
Alairic took the opportunity to concentrate on the young man’s aura as the others engaged him in conversation. Toska was evil, mildly so. Which means, thought Alairic, he could be lying or not lying.
“You know where she is?”
“I think so. She was supposed to be seeing me, but I was busy and so she told her friends she was going to a place called the pit and she never came back.”
“I have to be going,” put in the captain, “I will leave you to your business, best of luck to you four.”
The captain left the tavern, leaving them with Toska.
“What is her name?” asked Alairic.
“Is it important?”
“Yes.”
“If you must know, her name is Desme.”
“And you said her father was a merchant? What was his name?” asked Niccolo
“Is it important? He’s a merchant.”
“But what’s his name?”
“He would be awful mad if he found out where his girl had been. I would rather not get her in trouble.”
“If you know where she is, why don’t you get her?” asked Tilliana.
“Yeah,” said Niccolo.
“Well, to be quite honest, I am a bit of a coward. I’m not really a fighter if you know what I mean and the Pit is not quite the sort of place I like to frequent. ”
“What’s so bad about the Pit?” asked Niccolo.
“It’s a hive of debauchery, rape, drugs and violence.”
“If the Pit is such a bad place, why would this girl go there?”
“Well,” said Toska, slightly embarrassed, “She’s a bit of a wild spirit, she is after all dating me.”
“I can’t pay you any money,” continued the young bard, “but I might be able to pay you in other ways. I know all sorts of things about all sorts of things.”
Alairic thought this over, “It might be useful to have a bard owe us, making songs about the glory of Naemae and spreading tales in all the common areas.”
“Huh?” said Niccolo.
“Bards are singers,” explained Alairic patiently, “They sing and if we want the area to know of Naemae, a bard would be useful.”
Niccolo seemed wary of Toska’s story.
“I could write a song about you if you wanted,” said Toska, “And I can show you where The Pit is. Will you go in there and get her out for me?”
“Sure,” said Tilliana, deciding to go with the flow and see where it led.
“Great! I can show you where the Pit is. It’s on the very western edge of town.”
“I think as payment,” said Niccolo, “He should have to journey with us after we do this.”
“Huh?” said Alairic.
“You wouldn’t want me,” said Toska, “I know I’m a coward.”
Toska asked about their horses. Not really wanting to leave their horses alone with the bard they decided to seek a stable to temporarily house them in. Toska promptly offered a name of a place and led them there.
“Keeping horses is a glint a day,” said the stall-master.
“A glint?” None of the four companions understood the phrase.
“Outlanders,” grumbled the man, “A glint is a gold coin, I’ll take whatever currency your carrying.”
“Five gold coins,” said Tilliana agreeing and handing over the coins.
Once they saw their horses would be cared for, they followed Toska to a pair of buildings on the western edge of Loona. They were two decrepit looking buildings, joined by two walkways, one on the first floor and one on the second. The walkways were walled. The building on the right appeared to be nothing more than a warehouse of some sort. The building on the left was likewise unmarked, but there were two large men in black leather armor standing guard by the door. There were no signs on the building.
“You get into The Pit through the door on the left,” said Toska, “Good luck.”
Not sure what they were getting themselves into, the four companions nevertheless crossed to the entrance.
“Watcha want,” snarled one of the men. They were both very large and looked very strong.
“We want in,” said Niccolo.
“Entrance is a glint a person,” said the same guard.
“You have to pay to get in?!” said Niccolo surprised.
“Here,” said Tilliana, “Four gold pieces.”
The guard took the coins with a smile and then pointed at Kinshag and Niccolo, “You and you can go on in, but you and you,” pointing to Alairic and Tilliana, “you can’t go in.”
“Why not!?” said Tilliana angrily.
“You’re the wrong sort of riff-raff.”
Tilliana and Alairic realized it was their clerical robes. The guard was not going to let them in because they were clerics of Naemae.
Angrily Tilliana drew her sword, “We’ll see about that.”
In an instant both guards had stout wooden clubs in their hands and moved to attack her. Tilliana moved just a bit quicker and swung her huge blade at the closest goon. He stepped back, out of the way and swung his club at her. Tilliana parried and ducked both clubs. Alairic’s greatsword caught one of the guards on the side. Howling, the injured man stumbled backwards, just as Tilliana’s blade descended towards him. Her blade missed. Meanwhile Niccolo stabbed the other guard with his longsword and Kinshag finished him off with a blow from his great-ax. The remaining guard, badly injured, missed Tilliana’s head and was easily struck down by Alairic.
Bending down, Tilliana fished her four gold coins out of the pocket of the guard.
“Hah,” she said to the corpse triumphantly.
The door the two had been guarding was a stout wooden door. Indeed as they looked they saw that the door was probably stronger than the walls it was attached to. Nonetheless, it was not locked and they opened it and looked in.
The room beyond was dimly lit and packed with people. Alairic, leading the way, stepped inside.
Just past the door, hanging from the ceiling, was a long sign with the words, “The Pit” written on it. The room was about thirty feet by thirty feet and people and noise filled it. The people were, for the most part, in various stages of drunkeness and some of them seemed to be slightly more than drunk. Some of them giggled, some of them cried, some of them were talking, though not to anyone that could be seen.
In the middle of the room was an empty spot. No one sat or lay there. The reason was soon obvious. There was a large open stone pit in the middle of the floor. The door they had entered was in the middle of the eastern wall. The Western side of the north wall was covered with a black curtain and two men stood guard at the curtain. And there was another door on the western wall, behind a long bar counter.
Tilliana noticed a man, his back to them, at the northern edge of the bar counter. He was dressed in what appeared to be a very loose toga and his head was shaved.
“A cleric of the vice-lord,” guessed Tilliana. The vice-lord was an evil god of sloth and vice. His clerics delighted in the raping of innocents and in drunken revelries. They were also noted for shaving their entire bodies and wearing clothing that could be easily discarded. Tilliana pointed him out to the others. As they looked at him, they couldn’t help notice two men approach the two guards standing near the curtain. Money changed hands and the two were allowed to go behind the curtain. They dissapeared from sight.
“We stand out,” said Alairic to Tilliana.
“I’ll take care of that,” said Tilliana quietly.
“Me and Kinshag are going to check out what’s behind that black curtain,” whispered Niccolo, “It might lead to a back room.”
Tilliana headed to the left, looking for a drunk in a cloak. Kinshag followed Niccolo across the crowded room to the curtain. Alairic stood for a moment uncertain and then he heard something. It sounded almost like something slithering and it seemed to be coming from the pit. He walked to the center of the room and looked down into the pit. The bottom was dark and it was hard to make anything out down there. As he gazed, a man on the north side of the pit suddenly laughed evilly and pushed another man into the pit. He fell to the bottom, some twenty feet, yelling. A crowd immediatelly formed around the edge of the pit, a crowd of drunken and drugged men, eager to see what would happen next. Alairic, struggling not to allow himself to be pushed in, had a good view of the proceedings at the bottom of the pit.
The man was injured from the fall, but he still had life left in him. Struggling to his feet he looked around in horror. Something moved in a corner of the pit. Alairic thought it might be a snake perhaps. Then there was a sound, like a click, or a metallic blade being drawn. A snakelike form sped across the bottom of the pit, brushing past the unfortunate man and then into the shadows on the other side. For a moment nothing happened and then with a scream the man clutched his bleeding chest and fell dead on the floor of the pit. There were a few cheers and then, the show being over, each in the crowd went back to their former activities.
Tilliana spied a drunken man laying unconscious against the southern wall and while a majority of the crowd was straining to watch the events in the pit, she was working to take the large cloak off of his shoulders.
“Watcha doing?” asked another drunk watching her.
“I’m cold,” she said.
“Oh, thatsh ok, allright then,” said the drunk with a smile.
Tilliana rolled her eyes and put the cloak on, covering her clerical robe. Then she started looking for another cloak for Alairic.
Niccolo and Kinshag made it to the two guards at the curtain. Two-socks was at Niccolo’s heels.
“We want through,” said Niccolo.
“It’s 5 glint a person,” said one of the guards.
Niccolo fished out the ten gold coins and handed them over. The other guard held aside the curtain and let the two through. Behind the curtain however was just a wall, no door.
“There’s probably a lever,” said Niccolo softly, “Look for it.”
Alairic, standing alone in the middle of the room, suddenly found himself to be the object of attention. The toga wearing man at the bar counter had suddenly spotted him.
“Hey you!” shouted the man at Alairic, “You are not wanted here! Get out of here!”
Alairic looked at the man closely and saw that Tilliana’s guess had been right. He was a cleric of the vice-lord. Hanging from his neck was a boar’s tusk, wrapped in human hair, one of the unholy symbols of the foul god. Rather than leave, Alairic started to stride across the room to confront the man.
“Get him,” snapped the man at the two guards near the curtain.
Tilliana meanwhile had found another cloak on another drunk and was in the middle of removing it from its owner for Alairic.
“Hey, stop that!” shouted a drunk, apparently a friend of the man Tilliana was taking the cloak from.
A drunk near Tilliana punched at her. The drunk’s fist hit her armor and he yelped in pain.
“Fight! Brawl! Fight!” The words rang out through the room which immediately erupted into chaos. Fists and chairs started flying. A couple of unfortunate patrons were knocked into the pit where their screams added to the chaos.
Behind the black curtain, Niccolo had just found a somewhat hidden lever when the cries and screams erupted behind him. He pulled the lever and a section of the wall opened like a door, revealing a hallway. Niccolo looked at Kinshag trying to decide whether to see if their friends needed help or not.
Tilliana was surrounded by drunks intent on bashing her head in. Their intoxicated state was such however that they failed to land a single blow. Tilliana, drawing her sword, gutted one and began wading across the room.
The evil priest, seeing that Alairic had to wade through two guards and several drunks to get to him, confidently clutched the boar’s tusk that hung from his neck and cried out words in a strange hissing tongue. One of the man’s goons, weilding a club, swung and struck Alairic a glancing blow. Kinshag, bursting from behind the curtain, charged the other guard, swinging wildly with a dagger. Alairic positioning himself, absorbed another hit from his opponent’s club and then with a mighty swing of his sword cut his opponent open, dropping him on the spot. Tilliana meanwhile had moved a step closer to the paladin, having hewn through a second drunk who tried to hit her with a chair.
Any elation the companions might have felt at their minor successes was cut short by the appearance of the two very large snakes that chose that precise moment to crawl out of the pit. Arching their heads, the snakes hissed and hoods, like those of a cobra, flared out. Then with a metallic clicking sound, the hoods contracted and expanded again and knife like blades sprang from the sides of the hoods. The snakes hissed and swung their bladed hoods and two drunks near the edge of the pit screamed, clutched their bleeding sides and fell in the pit.
“Oh no,” said Alairic as the snakes eyed him and began to move his way. Even as they moved towards Alairic, Niccolo and Two-socks sprang from behind the curtain. Niccolo headed straigt forward over the body of the dead guard and swung his longsword at the head of one of the snakes, cutting it. Two-socks, going to the left rushed at a drunk who was trying to hit Alairic from behind and with a growl tore into the man’s throat.
Kinshag’s dagger was proving ineffective against the club wielding guard and as Kinshag futilely tried to land a blow, the club smashed into his arm. The evil cleric, taking advantage of the chaos, made his way, accompanied by the bar-tenders, to the door on the west wall and slipped out of the room. Their was nothing the companions could do to stop him.
Tilliana, easily deflecting the attacks from those attacking her, moved to where she could strike at the snakes. They were wasily twenty feet long and though their heads were near Alairic, Tilliana could get close to one of the backs of the snakes. Alairic, perhaps panicked by the single-minded way in which the snakes were moving at him, swung and missed as one of the snakes charged forward at him. The hooded blade swerved and a cut appeared on Alairic’s leg. A drunk stumbled into the path of the other snake, preventing it from attacking Alairic. With a sort of silent fury, the snake sliced the man open, killing him. Niccolo moved now to where the drunk had been standing and swung at this second snake, cutting it.
Kinshag, giving up on his dagger, pulled out his greatax and skillfully swung at the guard he was fighting. He connected, but still the man fought on, swinging wildly with his club. Tilliana hefted her sword to cut one of the snakes in half, but a chair struck her in the back from behind and her swing was brought short, her sword missing the snake and striking the floor besides it.
Still determined to get at Alairic, the second snake swung its hood viciously at Niccolo, cutting the half-elf deeply. Alairic too was cut again by the deadly hood of the large snake in front of him. So busy was Alairic in defending himself from the swift snake that he failed to see the man next to him ready to clobber him over the head with a chair. Fortunately for Alairic, Two-socks saw the threat and with a growl, the wolf plowed into the man, knocking him screaming into the open pit.
Trying to ignore the drunks fighting around her, Tilliana once more prepared to cut the snake in two and once more the same man knocked her in the back with a chair, causing her to miss the snake.
Alairic, bleeding heavily, steadied himself and swung his sword around and into the neck of the snake. Two-socks charged in and grabbed the snake with its jaws. Tilliana swung and finally managed to hit her target. The snake fighting Niccolo twitched as its back was severed and the life drained out of it. Kinshag chose that moment to finally get past the agile defenses of the guard and planted his axe firmly in the other man’s chest. The snake fighting Alairic made one more futile attempt to slice open the paladin and then died as the paladin’s greatsword decapitated it. Almost as quick as it had started, the fight ended. The few remaining drunks chose to flee out the door rather than face a group of armed and dangerous killers. They were drunk, but not quite as much as they had been.
Alairic and Tilliana spent a minute or two tending to the wounds of the group and then they considered their options. They could go out the western door after the evil cleric or they could investigate the hallway behind the curtain. Niccolo voted for the door, Alairic wanted to investigate behind the curtain. Tilliana was meanwhile finding a cloak that would fit Alairic. They had decided to go with the door and were making their way towards it when two more guards burst into the room from behind the curtain. One of them struck Niccolo from behind with a club. Alairic turned on his heel and swung Talbright. Their was a flash from the holy sword as the blade connected with the guard and the man fell dead. Kinshag, with a yell planted his axe squarely in the skull of the other one.
“I told you we should have checked back there,” said Alairic.
The western door led to a small kitchen connected to a storeroom. It was full of kegs and crates. The kegs had cheap booze in them and the crates contained both a powdered substance and cheap bottles of wine.
“We don’t want to mess with that powder,” said Alairic.
Niccolo agreed.
There were also stairs going up to the north out of the store-room. They took these and entered into a square room with a door on both the north and south walls. Alairic was in the lead.
“Which way?” asked Alairic.
Two-socks paced up the stairs past Niccolo, Tilliana and Kinshag and growled at the southern door. Alairic opened that door.
There was a puff of sulfur and two ugly, purplish, round things appeared. They stood about four feet tall and stood on stubby legs. Arms sprouted from all sides of their bodies and they had three eyes. But the most noticeable thing about them was their mouths. They stretched from one side of the round body to the other side, opening like a toothed crack at the top of the ugly, scab-ridden bodies.
“Ooo,” said Niccolo in disgust.
Alairic wasted no time in attacking the foul looking creatures. He and Two-socks charged the one standing in the southern doorway. Both wolf and sword missed as the ungainly creature moved out of the way with a surprising speed. Niccolo and Kinshag charged the other one. Niccolo’s sword cut deep into the rotund body bringing forth a black and foul smelling ichor. Tilliana, seeing no opening, summoned forth her spiritual sword and sent it flying at the wounded monster.
Meanwhile, the creature fighting Alairic and Two-socks charged the paladin and opening its gaping maw bit down hard, crunching through armor and bone alike, nearly killing the paladin in a single attack.
Alairic, with the little strength that remained in him, brought his greatsword down atop the creature. The holy sword flashed and cut deep into the unholy creature which promptly dissapeared in a flash of sulphurous smoke. Niccolo swung at the other creature, stabbing it again and it too dissapeared in a puff of foul-smelling smoke.
They tended to the badly injured Alairic and then investigated the room beyond. It was a bedroom, but the only thing of value that remained in it was a set of silk sheets on the bed. There was an open chest at the foot of the bed, empty, and an open window on the west side of the room.
They searched the rest of the upstairs and found nobody. There were several small rooms, five feet by ten feet, filled only with mattresses and pillows. There was another bedroom, this one with eight beds, but it too was empty. There was also a second set of stairs going down. They took these.
The room at the bottom of the stairs was about the same size as the Pit Room. But it was dominated by a stage in the center of the room. Here, fifteen girls stood, wearing little to nothing, arms raised above their heads, chained to a wooden pole. They stood as if in a stupor, hardly moving. The pole was connected to a mechanism on the north end of the room. A crank which apparently would cause the pole to move back and forth. Their was a stool by the crank and a bucket of water at the foot of the stool. There was also a door on the southern end of the room.
Other than the girls, there was nobody else in the room. Alairic unchained the girls and they collapsed to the ground. They were evidently drugged. Their bodies all looked bruised and abused, but they were clean and looked to be fed. Niccolo checked out the door on the south wall. It opened up to reveal a small hallway.
“I bet that leads to the other room,” said Niccolo.
Tilliana, hoping to revive one of the girls, took the bucket of water by the stool and threw the contents, soapy water, on one of them. The only result was a soapy and wet girl in a drugged stupor. After some discussion, realizing they couldn’t very well leave the girls in that condition, they decided that Kinshag and Niccolo would retrieve their horses and hire a cart for a day. Alairic and Tilliana in the meantime waited and watched.
There was little difficulty in renting a cart and soon they were loading the women up on it. They first however, took some of the clothing off of some of the dead men in the Pit and dressed the girls as well as they were able.
Tilliana also took the snakes. She had thought of burning them as a sacrifice in the bottom of the pit itself but then thought better of it and decided to offer them up elsewhere.
“I say we burn down this place,” said Niccolo when the last girl was loaded.
“That would be illegal,” said Alairic practically.
After the girls were loaded, Niccolo went alone to the docks to find Toska. The young man was in a tavern drinking.
“We did it,” said Niccolo.
“You don’t say! Very good,” said Toska with a smile that struck Niccolo just then as slightly less than sincere.
“So you will write a song about the glories of Naemae?”
“Naemae? Uh, oh sure. Thanks a lot by the way, and do me a favor. Don’t mention me in connection with any of this. I would hate for Desme to get in to much more trouble.”
“Sure,” said Niccolo, and then with a look at the poor appearance of the young bard, Niccolo kindly slipped him ten golden coins.
Toska looked at them in genuine surprise.
“Wow! Thanks! I’ll be sure to drink your health tonight!”
The companions asked around Loona for a nice inn and were referred to “Muratuur’s Welcome”in Geanavue. They also received several strange looks due to the fifteen girls dozing in the back of the cart. Finally one kind soul suggested they drop the girls off at one of the temples in Geanavue, either Ilavaar, the temple to Mosia the Holy Mother, or else Geona Hau, the temple to the Peacemaker.
This sounded good to them and so they drove into Geanavue. The road between Loona and Geanavue was as straight and flat as they could have wished for and the ride was pleasant. As they drew near the gates of the city however, their first thought was the gates seemed smaller than they imagined and then they realized this was only because there were two giants standing guard at the gate. These giants stood about twelve feet tall and had gray skin. The giants stopped the companions at the gate.
“Where are you going? What is your business?” came the booming voice of the giant as he eyed the girls in the back of the cart.
The four of them explained what had happened and how they had found the girls. The giants relented after hearing the explanation and suggested they take the girls to the Geona Hau near the north gate of the city.
The city itself was a busy place. Like the dock in Loona, it seemed that carts and wagons were everywhere. Busy people bustled about their business. Nevertheless, they found the temple of Geona Hau with little difficulty. The clerics there were polite and readily agreed to take the girls. But as they unloaded them, they lectured the four on the evils of violence.
“You realize,” said one of the peacemakers, “That violence is never a solution. Problems in this world are caused by so many things, so many inequities and killing people is never the answer.”
Tilliana listened to the lectures in silence, as did Kinshag and Alairic. Niccolo however would have none of it.
“I wish it were that simple,” he retorted, “but what about when people are trying to kill you.”
“Better to die than shed blood,” was the response. Niccolo’s defense only caused the lecturing to last longer. Finally the girls were unloaded and the four companions took their leave of the peacemakers.
“This is going to be a difficult area to convert,” observed Alairic.
A bell from above clanged out a warning.
“Sea Monsters!” came the shrill accompanying call.
“C’mon guys,” said Alairic, struggling into his armor.
“Sea Monsters off the Port Bow!” The bell on the crow’s nest continued to clang.
Tilliana staggered to her feet. Her face was pale and her eyes red. The alarm was not sounding at a good time for her. She had just been sick and had not made it to the bucket provided her for just such an occasion.
“Ooo,” said Niccolo, putting on his own armor and staring with distaste at the mess on the floor. Nearby the horses shifted uncomfortably in the hold. Two-socks lay on the floor, paws over his nose.
For two days, Tilliana had resisted seasickness. The calm sea and the cool air had made it easier. But then, just as the sun rose on the morning of the 7th of Mustering, the ship had run into a thunderstorm. For five hours the ship had been tossed about and Tilliana had been violently sick the whole time. The storm had been over for two hours already and still the slight young priestess was having problems.
The alarm bell continued to clang.
Struggling with her stomach, Tilliana managed to pull on her armor and stumble to the deck behind the other three.
The air was heavy with fog and the breeze was cool. The twin sails were puffed out and the ship seemed to be moving at a good pace. The floor of the deck was a chaotic mess. Sailors were running to and fro as the alarm bell clanged. Captain Antolo was yelling at his first mate to unlock the weapons chest and hand out the crossbows and rapiers to the crew.
Taking it all in, the four companions soon saw the source of the alarm. Two great beasts were swimming at the ship from the North-East. Their snake like necks arched more than twenty feet out of the water. Their mouths opened and closed savagely revealing many sharp teeth. It seemed certain that the two great sea monsters were making for the ship, perhaps hoping for a meal of some sort.
Despite her nausea, Tilliana still managed to act first. Thickly, but surely, she mouthed a prayer and motioned at the closer of the two creatures. A glowing great sword flew through the air and swung at the neck of the beasts. The divine sword connected, but the swing was weak and the creature seemed little affected.
Niccolo pulled out his longbow and fired off an arrow at the same creature. It landed in the thick neck, and the creature let out a high pitched roar of rage. It swum at the ship with a renewed vigor, fueled by rage.
Kinshag had his bow in hand, but he wavered, uncertain whether to shoot.
“Shoot it,” yelled Niccolo.
“How do we know it’s dangerous?” said the half-hobgoblin.
The first of the two creatures swam into the side of the ship with a thud. The creatures head easily cleared the railing of the deck and the huge jaws snapped about, seeking something to bite. A moment later, the second monster did the same.
Somewhat unsteadily, Tilliana drew her sword and charged. The spiritual sword she had conjured swung ineffectually at the great neck, but Tilliana, with great effort used her more material blade to better effect. The sharp edge of her sword sliced into the creatures face. Alairic charged the other beast. Talbright, his sword, swung into the neck drawing blood. Niccolo, exchanging bow for sword was soon at Alairic’s side.
“Hey!” said Alairic, as Niccolo stabbed the beast in the face, “This is my beast!”
Kinshag, arrow nocked fired at the creature Tilliana was fighting, but the shot went wide as he tried to avoid hitting the seasick priestess.
Tilliana moved to avoid the great mouth that opened up at her, but she moved too slow. Savagely, the sea monster clamped its jaws around Tilliana with crushing force. The glowing spiritual weapon vanished into thin air and the priestess’s greatsword fell from her fingers and clattered to the ground as pain coursed through her small frame and consciousness left her. The other beast bit at Alairic, but he moved swiftly out of the way and swung once more, striking the creature on the snout.
“Tilliana!” cried Niccolo, looking right and seeing the other sea monster preparing to drag the limp body of Tilliana off the deck. With a cry, Niccolo rushed along the deck of the ship, striking the neck of the offending beast. In a moment Kinshag was on the other side of the creature, hacking with his great-axe. The monster snapped its jaws at Niccolo, dropping Tilliana in the process.
The monster Alairic was fighting roared loudly at the paladin and then slipped away from side of the ship and dissapeared beneath the waves. Alairic wasted no time in charging at the other monster. All three warriors were busy dodging its attack and swinging wildly at it. The beast fled from half a dozen wounds, but showed no sign of weakness. Kinshag’s ax sunk into the flesh of the creatures neck but he moved back too slowly. The beast turned on him in an instant, its teeth sinking into his flesh. Kinshag screamed in pain as the massive jaws clamped down.
But the creature was distracted just enough for Alairic to swing true and straight. His sword cleft into the beast’s brainpan, a mortal blow. The jaws released Kinshag. As its life left it and the ship continued to move forward the monster fell away from the ship, its vast body slowly sinking into the depths of the great bay.
Tilliana was not dead and when the ship docked in Loona two days later both she and Kinshag were their normal selves once more. The captain had praised them highly after the battle and had promised to buy them a meal in Loona. As they were leading their horses off of the ship, he made it clear he intended to honor that promise.
Loona, the companions noticed, was a ramshackled affair. The buildings all leaned and the majority of them seemed to be braced. The whole town was of wood and likely only the dampness in the air kept it from becoming a pile of ashes, for the wood was certainly old and frail. Mildew seemed to be everywhere and the smells of fish, rot and other unmentionables were overpowering. Xaarum was known as a dirty city, but Loona had it beat. Nevertheless, the small port city seemed to be a busy place. Carts and Wagons rumbled to and from the docks and people crowded the dirt streets.
Captian Antolo led them to a place he knew, a small but busy tavern that served palatable food. They tied their horses outside and Niccolo left Two-socks with them to act as a guard. As the four companions ate, the captain inquired as to their plans and made a few mentions of things he knew about the Loona and Geanavue. Tilliana was interested in the possibility of Alairic’s brother being in town, but the captain did not think the White Tide was in port.
As Niccolo was kidding Alairic about the possibility of learning childhood secrets from Alairic’s brother Dailoo, they became aware of a fight breaking out at the counter close by. The noise in the tavern died down for a minute and all eyes turned to the sailor who was arguing with one of the natives.
“You are nothing but a stupid Loon!” snarled the sailor.
There was a murmur in the tavern room and the local man had his knife out in an instant. A flash of steel later and the sailor was on the floor disemboweled.
Conversation immediately resumed in the room. Noone seemed to be to put out by the sudden demise of the sailor.
“Get the body out of here,” snarled the barkeep to the knife-weilder, “dump it in the bay or something.”
“Whoa,” said Niccolo, impressed by the sheer lawlessness of the place, and then as the thought struck him, “You mean they just dump bodies in the bay, that can’t be good.”
“Loona is a bit rough,” admitted Captain Antolo, “If you want a more peaceful place head in to Geanavue. The watch sometimes come in from Geanavue to clean up things, but for the most part, Loonans are left to themselves. There’s a decent inn just inside the Loona Gate of Geanavue, Muratuur’s welcome.”
As the captain was talking a gangly youth with a lyre strapped to his back cautiously approached the table.
“Excuse me,” he said gingerly, “but, uh, I have a bit of a problem and, well, I thought perhaps you looked like a group of people who could help me.”
“What sort of people do you mean?” asked Niccolo.
“Well, heroes to be exact,” said the youth somewhat emberassed.
“Who are you? What do you need?” asked Tilliana.
“My names Toska, Toska the Bard, and well, there’s this girl. Her father’s a wealthy merchant in Geanavue and she was coming to Loona to see me, and she disappeared. She wasn’t supposed to be seeing me and so I don’t want to go to her father about it as it might get her in trouble. But I don’t want to leave her either cause that might be worse and so I thought you looked like the sort of people who might be willing to get her.”
Alairic took the opportunity to concentrate on the young man’s aura as the others engaged him in conversation. Toska was evil, mildly so. Which means, thought Alairic, he could be lying or not lying.
“You know where she is?”
“I think so. She was supposed to be seeing me, but I was busy and so she told her friends she was going to a place called the pit and she never came back.”
“I have to be going,” put in the captain, “I will leave you to your business, best of luck to you four.”
The captain left the tavern, leaving them with Toska.
“What is her name?” asked Alairic.
“Is it important?”
“Yes.”
“If you must know, her name is Desme.”
“And you said her father was a merchant? What was his name?” asked Niccolo
“Is it important? He’s a merchant.”
“But what’s his name?”
“He would be awful mad if he found out where his girl had been. I would rather not get her in trouble.”
“If you know where she is, why don’t you get her?” asked Tilliana.
“Yeah,” said Niccolo.
“Well, to be quite honest, I am a bit of a coward. I’m not really a fighter if you know what I mean and the Pit is not quite the sort of place I like to frequent. ”
“What’s so bad about the Pit?” asked Niccolo.
“It’s a hive of debauchery, rape, drugs and violence.”
“If the Pit is such a bad place, why would this girl go there?”
“Well,” said Toska, slightly embarrassed, “She’s a bit of a wild spirit, she is after all dating me.”
“I can’t pay you any money,” continued the young bard, “but I might be able to pay you in other ways. I know all sorts of things about all sorts of things.”
Alairic thought this over, “It might be useful to have a bard owe us, making songs about the glory of Naemae and spreading tales in all the common areas.”
“Huh?” said Niccolo.
“Bards are singers,” explained Alairic patiently, “They sing and if we want the area to know of Naemae, a bard would be useful.”
Niccolo seemed wary of Toska’s story.
“I could write a song about you if you wanted,” said Toska, “And I can show you where The Pit is. Will you go in there and get her out for me?”
“Sure,” said Tilliana, deciding to go with the flow and see where it led.
“Great! I can show you where the Pit is. It’s on the very western edge of town.”
“I think as payment,” said Niccolo, “He should have to journey with us after we do this.”
“Huh?” said Alairic.
“You wouldn’t want me,” said Toska, “I know I’m a coward.”
Toska asked about their horses. Not really wanting to leave their horses alone with the bard they decided to seek a stable to temporarily house them in. Toska promptly offered a name of a place and led them there.
“Keeping horses is a glint a day,” said the stall-master.
“A glint?” None of the four companions understood the phrase.
“Outlanders,” grumbled the man, “A glint is a gold coin, I’ll take whatever currency your carrying.”
“Five gold coins,” said Tilliana agreeing and handing over the coins.
Once they saw their horses would be cared for, they followed Toska to a pair of buildings on the western edge of Loona. They were two decrepit looking buildings, joined by two walkways, one on the first floor and one on the second. The walkways were walled. The building on the right appeared to be nothing more than a warehouse of some sort. The building on the left was likewise unmarked, but there were two large men in black leather armor standing guard by the door. There were no signs on the building.
“You get into The Pit through the door on the left,” said Toska, “Good luck.”
Not sure what they were getting themselves into, the four companions nevertheless crossed to the entrance.
“Watcha want,” snarled one of the men. They were both very large and looked very strong.
“We want in,” said Niccolo.
“Entrance is a glint a person,” said the same guard.
“You have to pay to get in?!” said Niccolo surprised.
“Here,” said Tilliana, “Four gold pieces.”
The guard took the coins with a smile and then pointed at Kinshag and Niccolo, “You and you can go on in, but you and you,” pointing to Alairic and Tilliana, “you can’t go in.”
“Why not!?” said Tilliana angrily.
“You’re the wrong sort of riff-raff.”
Tilliana and Alairic realized it was their clerical robes. The guard was not going to let them in because they were clerics of Naemae.
Angrily Tilliana drew her sword, “We’ll see about that.”
In an instant both guards had stout wooden clubs in their hands and moved to attack her. Tilliana moved just a bit quicker and swung her huge blade at the closest goon. He stepped back, out of the way and swung his club at her. Tilliana parried and ducked both clubs. Alairic’s greatsword caught one of the guards on the side. Howling, the injured man stumbled backwards, just as Tilliana’s blade descended towards him. Her blade missed. Meanwhile Niccolo stabbed the other guard with his longsword and Kinshag finished him off with a blow from his great-ax. The remaining guard, badly injured, missed Tilliana’s head and was easily struck down by Alairic.
Bending down, Tilliana fished her four gold coins out of the pocket of the guard.
“Hah,” she said to the corpse triumphantly.
The door the two had been guarding was a stout wooden door. Indeed as they looked they saw that the door was probably stronger than the walls it was attached to. Nonetheless, it was not locked and they opened it and looked in.
The room beyond was dimly lit and packed with people. Alairic, leading the way, stepped inside.
Just past the door, hanging from the ceiling, was a long sign with the words, “The Pit” written on it. The room was about thirty feet by thirty feet and people and noise filled it. The people were, for the most part, in various stages of drunkeness and some of them seemed to be slightly more than drunk. Some of them giggled, some of them cried, some of them were talking, though not to anyone that could be seen.
In the middle of the room was an empty spot. No one sat or lay there. The reason was soon obvious. There was a large open stone pit in the middle of the floor. The door they had entered was in the middle of the eastern wall. The Western side of the north wall was covered with a black curtain and two men stood guard at the curtain. And there was another door on the western wall, behind a long bar counter.
Tilliana noticed a man, his back to them, at the northern edge of the bar counter. He was dressed in what appeared to be a very loose toga and his head was shaved.
“A cleric of the vice-lord,” guessed Tilliana. The vice-lord was an evil god of sloth and vice. His clerics delighted in the raping of innocents and in drunken revelries. They were also noted for shaving their entire bodies and wearing clothing that could be easily discarded. Tilliana pointed him out to the others. As they looked at him, they couldn’t help notice two men approach the two guards standing near the curtain. Money changed hands and the two were allowed to go behind the curtain. They dissapeared from sight.
“We stand out,” said Alairic to Tilliana.
“I’ll take care of that,” said Tilliana quietly.
“Me and Kinshag are going to check out what’s behind that black curtain,” whispered Niccolo, “It might lead to a back room.”
Tilliana headed to the left, looking for a drunk in a cloak. Kinshag followed Niccolo across the crowded room to the curtain. Alairic stood for a moment uncertain and then he heard something. It sounded almost like something slithering and it seemed to be coming from the pit. He walked to the center of the room and looked down into the pit. The bottom was dark and it was hard to make anything out down there. As he gazed, a man on the north side of the pit suddenly laughed evilly and pushed another man into the pit. He fell to the bottom, some twenty feet, yelling. A crowd immediatelly formed around the edge of the pit, a crowd of drunken and drugged men, eager to see what would happen next. Alairic, struggling not to allow himself to be pushed in, had a good view of the proceedings at the bottom of the pit.
The man was injured from the fall, but he still had life left in him. Struggling to his feet he looked around in horror. Something moved in a corner of the pit. Alairic thought it might be a snake perhaps. Then there was a sound, like a click, or a metallic blade being drawn. A snakelike form sped across the bottom of the pit, brushing past the unfortunate man and then into the shadows on the other side. For a moment nothing happened and then with a scream the man clutched his bleeding chest and fell dead on the floor of the pit. There were a few cheers and then, the show being over, each in the crowd went back to their former activities.
Tilliana spied a drunken man laying unconscious against the southern wall and while a majority of the crowd was straining to watch the events in the pit, she was working to take the large cloak off of his shoulders.
“Watcha doing?” asked another drunk watching her.
“I’m cold,” she said.
“Oh, thatsh ok, allright then,” said the drunk with a smile.
Tilliana rolled her eyes and put the cloak on, covering her clerical robe. Then she started looking for another cloak for Alairic.
Niccolo and Kinshag made it to the two guards at the curtain. Two-socks was at Niccolo’s heels.
“We want through,” said Niccolo.
“It’s 5 glint a person,” said one of the guards.
Niccolo fished out the ten gold coins and handed them over. The other guard held aside the curtain and let the two through. Behind the curtain however was just a wall, no door.
“There’s probably a lever,” said Niccolo softly, “Look for it.”
Alairic, standing alone in the middle of the room, suddenly found himself to be the object of attention. The toga wearing man at the bar counter had suddenly spotted him.
“Hey you!” shouted the man at Alairic, “You are not wanted here! Get out of here!”
Alairic looked at the man closely and saw that Tilliana’s guess had been right. He was a cleric of the vice-lord. Hanging from his neck was a boar’s tusk, wrapped in human hair, one of the unholy symbols of the foul god. Rather than leave, Alairic started to stride across the room to confront the man.
“Get him,” snapped the man at the two guards near the curtain.
Tilliana meanwhile had found another cloak on another drunk and was in the middle of removing it from its owner for Alairic.
“Hey, stop that!” shouted a drunk, apparently a friend of the man Tilliana was taking the cloak from.
A drunk near Tilliana punched at her. The drunk’s fist hit her armor and he yelped in pain.
“Fight! Brawl! Fight!” The words rang out through the room which immediately erupted into chaos. Fists and chairs started flying. A couple of unfortunate patrons were knocked into the pit where their screams added to the chaos.
Behind the black curtain, Niccolo had just found a somewhat hidden lever when the cries and screams erupted behind him. He pulled the lever and a section of the wall opened like a door, revealing a hallway. Niccolo looked at Kinshag trying to decide whether to see if their friends needed help or not.
Tilliana was surrounded by drunks intent on bashing her head in. Their intoxicated state was such however that they failed to land a single blow. Tilliana, drawing her sword, gutted one and began wading across the room.
The evil priest, seeing that Alairic had to wade through two guards and several drunks to get to him, confidently clutched the boar’s tusk that hung from his neck and cried out words in a strange hissing tongue. One of the man’s goons, weilding a club, swung and struck Alairic a glancing blow. Kinshag, bursting from behind the curtain, charged the other guard, swinging wildly with a dagger. Alairic positioning himself, absorbed another hit from his opponent’s club and then with a mighty swing of his sword cut his opponent open, dropping him on the spot. Tilliana meanwhile had moved a step closer to the paladin, having hewn through a second drunk who tried to hit her with a chair.
Any elation the companions might have felt at their minor successes was cut short by the appearance of the two very large snakes that chose that precise moment to crawl out of the pit. Arching their heads, the snakes hissed and hoods, like those of a cobra, flared out. Then with a metallic clicking sound, the hoods contracted and expanded again and knife like blades sprang from the sides of the hoods. The snakes hissed and swung their bladed hoods and two drunks near the edge of the pit screamed, clutched their bleeding sides and fell in the pit.
“Oh no,” said Alairic as the snakes eyed him and began to move his way. Even as they moved towards Alairic, Niccolo and Two-socks sprang from behind the curtain. Niccolo headed straigt forward over the body of the dead guard and swung his longsword at the head of one of the snakes, cutting it. Two-socks, going to the left rushed at a drunk who was trying to hit Alairic from behind and with a growl tore into the man’s throat.
Kinshag’s dagger was proving ineffective against the club wielding guard and as Kinshag futilely tried to land a blow, the club smashed into his arm. The evil cleric, taking advantage of the chaos, made his way, accompanied by the bar-tenders, to the door on the west wall and slipped out of the room. Their was nothing the companions could do to stop him.
Tilliana, easily deflecting the attacks from those attacking her, moved to where she could strike at the snakes. They were wasily twenty feet long and though their heads were near Alairic, Tilliana could get close to one of the backs of the snakes. Alairic, perhaps panicked by the single-minded way in which the snakes were moving at him, swung and missed as one of the snakes charged forward at him. The hooded blade swerved and a cut appeared on Alairic’s leg. A drunk stumbled into the path of the other snake, preventing it from attacking Alairic. With a sort of silent fury, the snake sliced the man open, killing him. Niccolo moved now to where the drunk had been standing and swung at this second snake, cutting it.
Kinshag, giving up on his dagger, pulled out his greatax and skillfully swung at the guard he was fighting. He connected, but still the man fought on, swinging wildly with his club. Tilliana hefted her sword to cut one of the snakes in half, but a chair struck her in the back from behind and her swing was brought short, her sword missing the snake and striking the floor besides it.
Still determined to get at Alairic, the second snake swung its hood viciously at Niccolo, cutting the half-elf deeply. Alairic too was cut again by the deadly hood of the large snake in front of him. So busy was Alairic in defending himself from the swift snake that he failed to see the man next to him ready to clobber him over the head with a chair. Fortunately for Alairic, Two-socks saw the threat and with a growl, the wolf plowed into the man, knocking him screaming into the open pit.
Trying to ignore the drunks fighting around her, Tilliana once more prepared to cut the snake in two and once more the same man knocked her in the back with a chair, causing her to miss the snake.
Alairic, bleeding heavily, steadied himself and swung his sword around and into the neck of the snake. Two-socks charged in and grabbed the snake with its jaws. Tilliana swung and finally managed to hit her target. The snake fighting Niccolo twitched as its back was severed and the life drained out of it. Kinshag chose that moment to finally get past the agile defenses of the guard and planted his axe firmly in the other man’s chest. The snake fighting Alairic made one more futile attempt to slice open the paladin and then died as the paladin’s greatsword decapitated it. Almost as quick as it had started, the fight ended. The few remaining drunks chose to flee out the door rather than face a group of armed and dangerous killers. They were drunk, but not quite as much as they had been.
Alairic and Tilliana spent a minute or two tending to the wounds of the group and then they considered their options. They could go out the western door after the evil cleric or they could investigate the hallway behind the curtain. Niccolo voted for the door, Alairic wanted to investigate behind the curtain. Tilliana was meanwhile finding a cloak that would fit Alairic. They had decided to go with the door and were making their way towards it when two more guards burst into the room from behind the curtain. One of them struck Niccolo from behind with a club. Alairic turned on his heel and swung Talbright. Their was a flash from the holy sword as the blade connected with the guard and the man fell dead. Kinshag, with a yell planted his axe squarely in the skull of the other one.
“I told you we should have checked back there,” said Alairic.
The western door led to a small kitchen connected to a storeroom. It was full of kegs and crates. The kegs had cheap booze in them and the crates contained both a powdered substance and cheap bottles of wine.
“We don’t want to mess with that powder,” said Alairic.
Niccolo agreed.
There were also stairs going up to the north out of the store-room. They took these and entered into a square room with a door on both the north and south walls. Alairic was in the lead.
“Which way?” asked Alairic.
Two-socks paced up the stairs past Niccolo, Tilliana and Kinshag and growled at the southern door. Alairic opened that door.
There was a puff of sulfur and two ugly, purplish, round things appeared. They stood about four feet tall and stood on stubby legs. Arms sprouted from all sides of their bodies and they had three eyes. But the most noticeable thing about them was their mouths. They stretched from one side of the round body to the other side, opening like a toothed crack at the top of the ugly, scab-ridden bodies.
“Ooo,” said Niccolo in disgust.
Alairic wasted no time in attacking the foul looking creatures. He and Two-socks charged the one standing in the southern doorway. Both wolf and sword missed as the ungainly creature moved out of the way with a surprising speed. Niccolo and Kinshag charged the other one. Niccolo’s sword cut deep into the rotund body bringing forth a black and foul smelling ichor. Tilliana, seeing no opening, summoned forth her spiritual sword and sent it flying at the wounded monster.
Meanwhile, the creature fighting Alairic and Two-socks charged the paladin and opening its gaping maw bit down hard, crunching through armor and bone alike, nearly killing the paladin in a single attack.
Alairic, with the little strength that remained in him, brought his greatsword down atop the creature. The holy sword flashed and cut deep into the unholy creature which promptly dissapeared in a flash of sulphurous smoke. Niccolo swung at the other creature, stabbing it again and it too dissapeared in a puff of foul-smelling smoke.
They tended to the badly injured Alairic and then investigated the room beyond. It was a bedroom, but the only thing of value that remained in it was a set of silk sheets on the bed. There was an open chest at the foot of the bed, empty, and an open window on the west side of the room.
They searched the rest of the upstairs and found nobody. There were several small rooms, five feet by ten feet, filled only with mattresses and pillows. There was another bedroom, this one with eight beds, but it too was empty. There was also a second set of stairs going down. They took these.
The room at the bottom of the stairs was about the same size as the Pit Room. But it was dominated by a stage in the center of the room. Here, fifteen girls stood, wearing little to nothing, arms raised above their heads, chained to a wooden pole. They stood as if in a stupor, hardly moving. The pole was connected to a mechanism on the north end of the room. A crank which apparently would cause the pole to move back and forth. Their was a stool by the crank and a bucket of water at the foot of the stool. There was also a door on the southern end of the room.
Other than the girls, there was nobody else in the room. Alairic unchained the girls and they collapsed to the ground. They were evidently drugged. Their bodies all looked bruised and abused, but they were clean and looked to be fed. Niccolo checked out the door on the south wall. It opened up to reveal a small hallway.
“I bet that leads to the other room,” said Niccolo.
Tilliana, hoping to revive one of the girls, took the bucket of water by the stool and threw the contents, soapy water, on one of them. The only result was a soapy and wet girl in a drugged stupor. After some discussion, realizing they couldn’t very well leave the girls in that condition, they decided that Kinshag and Niccolo would retrieve their horses and hire a cart for a day. Alairic and Tilliana in the meantime waited and watched.
There was little difficulty in renting a cart and soon they were loading the women up on it. They first however, took some of the clothing off of some of the dead men in the Pit and dressed the girls as well as they were able.
Tilliana also took the snakes. She had thought of burning them as a sacrifice in the bottom of the pit itself but then thought better of it and decided to offer them up elsewhere.
“I say we burn down this place,” said Niccolo when the last girl was loaded.
“That would be illegal,” said Alairic practically.
After the girls were loaded, Niccolo went alone to the docks to find Toska. The young man was in a tavern drinking.
“We did it,” said Niccolo.
“You don’t say! Very good,” said Toska with a smile that struck Niccolo just then as slightly less than sincere.
“So you will write a song about the glories of Naemae?”
“Naemae? Uh, oh sure. Thanks a lot by the way, and do me a favor. Don’t mention me in connection with any of this. I would hate for Desme to get in to much more trouble.”
“Sure,” said Niccolo, and then with a look at the poor appearance of the young bard, Niccolo kindly slipped him ten golden coins.
Toska looked at them in genuine surprise.
“Wow! Thanks! I’ll be sure to drink your health tonight!”
The companions asked around Loona for a nice inn and were referred to “Muratuur’s Welcome”in Geanavue. They also received several strange looks due to the fifteen girls dozing in the back of the cart. Finally one kind soul suggested they drop the girls off at one of the temples in Geanavue, either Ilavaar, the temple to Mosia the Holy Mother, or else Geona Hau, the temple to the Peacemaker.
This sounded good to them and so they drove into Geanavue. The road between Loona and Geanavue was as straight and flat as they could have wished for and the ride was pleasant. As they drew near the gates of the city however, their first thought was the gates seemed smaller than they imagined and then they realized this was only because there were two giants standing guard at the gate. These giants stood about twelve feet tall and had gray skin. The giants stopped the companions at the gate.
“Where are you going? What is your business?” came the booming voice of the giant as he eyed the girls in the back of the cart.
The four of them explained what had happened and how they had found the girls. The giants relented after hearing the explanation and suggested they take the girls to the Geona Hau near the north gate of the city.
The city itself was a busy place. Like the dock in Loona, it seemed that carts and wagons were everywhere. Busy people bustled about their business. Nevertheless, they found the temple of Geona Hau with little difficulty. The clerics there were polite and readily agreed to take the girls. But as they unloaded them, they lectured the four on the evils of violence.
“You realize,” said one of the peacemakers, “That violence is never a solution. Problems in this world are caused by so many things, so many inequities and killing people is never the answer.”
Tilliana listened to the lectures in silence, as did Kinshag and Alairic. Niccolo however would have none of it.
“I wish it were that simple,” he retorted, “but what about when people are trying to kill you.”
“Better to die than shed blood,” was the response. Niccolo’s defense only caused the lecturing to last longer. Finally the girls were unloaded and the four companions took their leave of the peacemakers.
“This is going to be a difficult area to convert,” observed Alairic.
Wicht
Hero
Chapter 17 – Geanavue (Tilliana’s Day Out)
The sun was just starting to rise over the edge of the city wall as Kall and Jozz headed out of their house, looking for something to occupy them. At the age of 14, both boys were already as tall as most of the men around them. Though Jozz was slender and Kall was thick and muscled, the similarity of face and feature made it easy to tell they were brothers. Their father helped in various stables around the city, having a reputation for being one of the best horsemen in Geanavue. He also worked as a craftsman, as did the majority of workers in the city. His specialty was the carving of fine wooden images. Both boys, of course, had been trained by their father to assist in the work when need be, but their adolescent blood cried out for adventure and what they really wanted to do was be great heroes.
Around them the city was already bustling. Indeed, by Geanavue standards, the twins were getting a late start. But their father had given them the day off and so they were out on the city to see what adventure they could scrounge up. Kall carried the huge club he had purchased the summer before and Jozz had a crossbow strapped to his back. They were ready for anything.
Their chance for some glory that morning was destined to come in the form of rats, giant sewer rats that had invaded one of the warehouses on the south side of the city. As they wandered the streets, dreaming of their chance at glory, they had espied a man sitting outside a closed warehouse. He was clearly upset. Curious to learn what was the matter they had approached him.
“Why are you upset,” asked Jozz diplomatically.
“I’ll tell you why! Its those rats, twenty or thirty sewer rats came up out of the sewer sometime last night and invaded my warehouse! They bit one of my workers and scared the horses near to death! My men all left and said they would come back when I got rid of the rats.”
He looked at them a bit closer. Then he smiled.
“Say, you two look like capable young men. I will pay you 1 silver coin for each rat you kill and if by some miracle you can get rid of all of them, I’ll throw in 5 glint.”
Jozz and Kall smiled. This was the chance they were looking for. Money and glory!
“Yeah!” said Kall, enthusiastically.
“We will do it!” said Jozz.
“Now be careful,” said the man as he opened the door for them, “some of those things are downright nasty, don’t get yourself killed.”
The two boys headed into the warehouse excitedly, scarcely heeding his words. Their were wooden boxes and crates stacked everywhere. In the middle of the large dimly lit room, a wagon sat, half loaded. It was Kall who spotted the first rat. It was over a foot long, sitting under the wagon near the wheel watching them. Gleefully Kall gripped his club in both hands and charged forward. Though the position was ackward, Kall managed to swing his club in such a way as to connect with the rat. Furious, the rat sprang out, teeth bared in an attempt to bite the boy. Wanting in on the action, Jozz ran forward to help, but even as he pulled up alongside his brother, Kall swung his club again in a great overhanded arc and flattened the rat in a mess of gore.
“Alright!” said Kall.
Even as Kall smiled another rat leaped out of the shadows and ran at them. It bit at Jozz who managed to leap back just in time. Kall swung at the rat with his club and the result was another dead rat.
Nothing else leaped at them and so they looked around, seeing what they could see.
“There,” said Jozz and cocked his crossbow and fired up into the shadows above them. A rat squealed and, impaled by the bolt, flew off the box it had been perched on. It landed on the ground dead. It was Jozz’s turn to smile.
They could see no more rats where they were standing and so together they began to walk the warehouse, peering up at the tops of boxes and back, into the dark corners. Despite their close scrutiny, they were still surprised by two ferocious rats that charged at them from out of the shadows. Back to back, the brothers swung around, avoiding being hit and fighting to hold back the two rats. Jozz managed to scratch one with his dagger even as it was charging in to bite Kall. It connected and Kall cried out from the injury. Enraged, Kall swung hard at the other rat, killing it. The first rat continued to bite Kall as Jozz struggled futilely to stab it. Kall managed to kick it away and with a swing of his great club he finished its life.
Jozz looked questioningly at Kall’s bleeding leg. Kall shrugged it off.
“I want to kill more rats,” said Kall smiling.
They killed another rat that ambushed them, Jozz sustaining a minor bite. Then Jozz managed to shoot another one that was crawling along above them. That seemed to be an end to the rats that they could see. Looking around the warehouse however they saw that there were stairs going down.
“Let’s go,” said Kall. It was dark at the bottom of the stairs however and so prudence dictated that they find a light. Jozz scrounged up a lantern from one of the walls of the warehouse and lighting it they proceeded down the stairs.
There were three rats at the bottom of the stairs, glaring up at them and hissing. These were even bigger than the ones that had been above. Seeing them, Jozz fired. But his shot was wild and missed them completely. Hissing furiously, the three rats charged up the stairs. Both boys were bitten.
“Now I am mad,” roared Kall and he swung hard, smashing one of the rats open. He was bitten again, as was Jozz. Kall swung a second time and killed a second rat. Jozz, ignoring his pain, feinted to the left and then when the rat opened itself up, he plunged his dagger into it’s side, killing it.
“Let’s go on,” snarled Kall.
“We need healing,” argued Jozz.
Listening to his brother, Kall relented and the two boys made their way to the warehouse entrance. The warehouse owner looked at their bleeding bites and winced.
“How many did you kill?” he asked.
“Ten,” said Jozz.
“Good job boys! I can find someone else perhaps to get the rest. In the meantime, here is the 10 silver pieces I promised you. Get those bites tended to.”
Jozz took the coins and smiled. Money and glory indeed! With happy hearts they headed northward towards the temples.
*********************************
As the sun was rising higher into the sky, Tilliana strolled out of Muratuur’s Welcome for a day on her own. The companions had been in Geanavue for a couple of days now, enjoying the bustling city and the comforts of the inn. Tilliana had a rough plan for the day. She planned on checking up on the girls they had rescued from the clutches of the vile cleric and his men and then perhaps looking for her aunt Zilma. The air was warm and the sky was clear. With a light heart Tilliana set forth.
“Excuse me, miss!” yelled a man at Tilliana. He was dressed as an officer of the watch and Tilliana noticed a squad of men with him. The officer, a young handsome man, left his men and made his way over to her, striding briskly.
“Are you Tilliana?” he asked as he came closer.
“Yes sir.”
“I thought so, we don’t see many female Servants of Naemae in the city. I am Latoor Soi, Caalavelar of the Teerel district. It’s good to meet you. I was looking for you or one of your friends.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Well, first of all, I want to officially welcome you to Geanavue. But I also wanted to talk to you. We heard about a little mix-up that happened in Loona and we talked to the priests at Geona Hau and so we are aware that you rescued a number of women that had been kidnapped, included three or four that we had been officially looking for. Still, there did seem to be a number of corpses in Loona and we thought it would be a good idea to caution you. Geanavue is a peaceful city and we like to keep it that way. I would greatly appreciate it if you did not kill anyone else while you visit with us.”
“Uh-huh,” said Tilliana, feeling slightly guilty at having to be cautioned by an officer of the watch.
“Still, I am sure that we won’t have any troubles with you,” sail Latoor with a broad smile, “Just make sure to listen to members of the watch, citizens are duty bound to do whatever a watch officer tells them to do, understand.”
“Yes sir,” said Tilliana.
“Good, and I must say, I look forward to seeing you around. You have a good day.”
“Thank you sir,” said Tilliana.
Latoor strolled back to his men and they walked off through the crowd. Gathering her thoughts, Tilliana headed west, planning on strolling past the castle and then north through the market to Geona Hau, the temple to the god of peace.
As she walked through the market, she heard loud laughter from her left. Looking over she saw a small crowd beginning to gather in front of an open tavern. An argument was apparently starting between a well-dressed young man and a rather provocatively dressed woman. The woman was clearly upset and the man was laughing at her. Glaring, the woman moved to slap the man who ducked and kicked her into the mud.
“That’s where you truly belong!” said the man with glee.
The young woman, sitting in the mud seemed about to cry.
“But you promised…”
“I promised? My dear I believe you are mistaken, I said nothing of the king.”
“But you said,… you said after last night we would be together.”
The man made a face and the crowd laughed. Tilliana, though she felt no real sympathy with a woman that could let herself be used like that felt irritated at the coldness of those who were laughing at her expense.
The man fished some coins out of his pocket and threw them in the mud besides her.
“I suppose I do owe you something after last night… I should think this is better than the going rate,” he sneered. The woman turned scarlet, embarrassed and began to cry. The man and his friends laughed and turned to walk away.
Savagely, the woman snatched the coins off the ground and turning to the crowd she yelled, “Is there no one here who will defend me?” She quickly counted the coins, “Eight gold glints to the man who will be my champion. Thrash this brute who has insulted me and I will give you all the money I have.”
A second woman stepped forward, “I’ll add my coins to that. 12 gold glints to the one who will defend the honor of my friend Sabine!”
There was an amused gasp from the crowd and the young man turned around in surprise. Seeing that no one else was stepping forward, Tilliana stepped forward.
“What did he do to you?”
The woman took in Tilliana’s outfit, her armor and her sword and then answered, “He insulted me, my lady. He lied to me and now he kicks me into the mud.”
“What did he promise you?” asked Tilliana, though she knew the answer.
Before the woman could reply, the young man laughed, “A woman threatens to fight me! They do have to stick together I suppose.”
Tilliana glared at him. She had intended to try to avoid violence, still recalling the cautionary visit of Latoor Soi.
“I will defend your honor,” said Tilliana to the woman. She turned to the man, who somewhat surprised raised his fists.
He was wearing light leather armor Tilliana noticed, so she did not feel too guilty about being in armor of her own. She moved toward him and the fight began. Almost from the beginning it was clear that the young gentleman was outclassed. Tilliana moved to avoid most of his punches, landing two good, hard jabs. He circled warily, and for several seconds neither one managed to land a good solid punch until finally Tilliana, landed a fierce uppercut that laid him out cold on the ground.
“He shouldn’t have laughed,” muttered Tilliana to herself.
“Thank you,” said the woman, Sabine, handing Tilliana the coins and grinning broadly.
“Keep them,” said Tilliana, “I don’t need them. I only fought to teach him a lesson.”
“Thank you very much then,” said Sabine and she and her friend walked off laughing. Several people congratulated Tilliana on her victory and the young man’s friends hefted him up and made their way southward through the market.
“Excuse me,” said a voice. It was a young man trying to get Tilliana’s attention. Tilliana looked at him. He was a young man, blonde, very tall, but most likely in his early teens. Next to him stood another young man who, despite being almost twice as big, could only have been his brother. Both were, Tilliana noticed, bleeding from a number of wounds, bites perhaps.
“Yes,” said Tilliana.
“Me and my brother were attacked by some rats today and you looked like a cleric. We wondered if you could help us?”
Tilliana sighed and looked at their wounds, “I guess.” She offered up prayers for both of them and their wounds healed up completely and the bleeding stopped at once. The crowd around her murmured its approval at her generosity.
“Thanks a bundle, I am Jozz and this is Kall.”
“You’re welcome,” said Tilliana.
“My dear,” said another woman, grabbing Tilliana by the arm, “Can it be?”
Wondering at this new intrusion, Tilliana turned to the woman and caught her breath. For a moment she thought it was her mother. Then she saw it was not. The appearance was similar, but this woman was older and slightly heavier.
“Aunt Zilma?”
“You must be Tilliana! You look just like Zailoo! I haven’t seen you in years girl, not since you were what, five, no not even that old! But I would know you anywhere! You must come home with me! I am not working right now, I can feed you and we can talk! What are you doing here in Geanavue? I see you are a cleric of Naemae, just like your father, I bet he would be so proud of you!”
Zilma took Tilliana home and fed her and talked. She pried Tilliana for news of Zailoo and of Tilliana’s brother and relayed quite a bit of information and gossip about the various relations of Tilliana’s in the area. The talk turned eventually to the fact that Tilliana was planning on soon heading up to find her father’s old temple and to the fact that Tilliana actually knew very little of her father’s activities in that area.
“I am not surprised,” said Zilma, “Your mother never did like talking about it and she was so miserable when she was forced to leave I think she would be ahppier not talking about it, but I am here. I can tell you what I know. Your father was in a group of adventurer’s. They were all four from the coast. There was Roanai, your father of course. And there was Fleet, and Elias, and Tamil. These four found an area where there was a great deal of evil and they worked to eliminate it. There were some caves, and an evil temple and this castle, built right over a waterfall and all sorts of horrid monsters lived there. They succeeded though and totally cleaned the place out and then they settled down and built right there in that spot. Your father built a temple and then built his house right next to it. Fleet, he loved horses and he built himself a ranch. Elias built himself a little fort and then a water-mill and Tamil, he was a wizard, he built a tower for him and Angel, his cat.”
At the mention of Angel, a vague memory jarred in Tilliana’s memory.
“Angel,” said Tilliana, “was he a white cat? And he could talk, couldn’t he?”
“That’s right. All you children thought that was the neatest trick in the world, that talking cat. And you are right, he was a pure white, short haired cat. Anyway, there we moved soon after that mill was built, your grandfather working the mill and soon farmers were moving in and things were being built up. Your father married my sister and your brother was born and then you. I was sorry when we had to leave, that was a real nice piece of country. You know, I have a map I have kept back. Let me get it for you. You can have it. If you are going that way it might be useful.”
Zilma left Tilliana for a few minutes, only to return covered in dust and carrying a parchment upon which a map was drawn. Tilliana gazed at it as Zilma pointed out the features.
“Here’s where your father’s temple was, marked by the eye of Naemae, and down here was the mill and up there was the ranch and the cat marks Tamil’s tower. The castle was up here.”
“What do you know about the castle?” asked Tilliana.
“Only that nobody lived there while your father was alive. They always felt it was too out of the way, hard to get to and they wanted to be where people could live, so they just let it stand empty.”
“The woods,” asked Tilliana, “anything in them?”
“Only deer when we lived there. Over here was your father’s favorite fishing spot, a nice little pond.”
“Did you know my father well?”
“He did marry my sister. He was a good man, very likable. I always liked him anyway and he treated your mother well. Your mother hated it when she had to leave her house.”
“Why did we leave?” asked Tilliana.
“Well, there was a dragon in the mountains and people said it was forming an army of fire-giants. Your dad and the others thought they were the ones to take care of it. Off they went. I think Angel, that was the cat, knew they were dead first. Tamil did not take him with him and Angel knew when Tamil died. After they were gone, there was nobody to defend us. Things started coming back to the caves and your poor mother couldn’t fight them. She was forced to move back with us, and then things just got worse and we all had to leave the area and come back south. There weren’t enough of us to fight and it didn’t seem worth dying for.”
“What happened to Angel?”
“We left him. That cat refused to leave that tower and we couldn’t make him so we just had to leave him there. I don’t know what happened. He’s probably dead now, he was after all, in the end only a cat and it’s been fifteen years. Will you look at that! Where has the time gone. I have to go to work dear, but you come visit again! Where are you staying? ”
Happy at having had such a nice visit, Tilliana said her good-byes and let her aunt leave for work. Then she herself turned to head towards Geona Hau, still wanting to find out how the girls they had rescued were doing. It was about an hour after noon.
As she walked down the streets, trying to find her way back, she was startled by a small cloaked figure that bumped into her and then took off at a run down the street. With a start, Tilliana realized she had just been robbed.
“Hey you,” she shouted and started to give chase. Her armor slowed her and the thief slowly gained ground.
On the other side of the street Jozz and Kall were walking home.
“Did you see that,” said Jozz as he saw Tilliana run by, “she was chasing someone, come on.”
Tilliana turned a corner, following the thief into a narrow alley between two buildings. Stopping she grasped her silken holy symbol and barked out a command, “STOP!”
The thief instantly came to a screeching halt. With a smile Tilliana started forward again when she heard another voice from the shadows mutter something. Her muscles froze. A spell, she realized with frustration. In a second about eight people were surrounding her, clubbing her to the ground with saps.
Everything went black.
A block away, Jozz watched from around a corner.
“Let’s go get them,” said Kall.
“There are too many of them,” said Jozz, “lets follow them.”
Tilliana came to and immediately felt cold. With a start she realized that she was nude and that her hands were bound to the wall above her head, a very compromising position.
“I thought a small healing spell would bring you around,” gloated the man in front of her. He was completely shaven and was wearing only a loosely fitting toga. Around his neck was a boar tusk on a leather sting. He reached out and stroked Tilliana’s face.
“That was a very profitable little enterprise that you and your friends busted up on me and I was not happy in the least. But you shall have a chance to make it up to me, my dear. I shall be back in just a minute as soon as I get some toys and some other friends to play with you. I am so looking forward to a moment of revenge upon you.”
He savored the look of horror on Tilliana’s face and then left her. He closed the door to the room behind him, leaving her naked and alone, tied to a wall in an otherwise barren room. On the floor Tilliana saw her clothes and armor piled in a heap, her sword next to it. There was no way however for her to get to them.
There was however a window in the room and even as Tilliana noticed it, she heard something outside the window. Somebody crouched down and looked in it. Tilliana realized she was in a basement of some sort. As Tilliana scrutinized the face through the dirty glass pane, she recognized it. It was one of the boys she had healed earlier in the day. For his part, he looked slightly surprised to see her. He fiddled with something and after about a minute, he had the window unlocked. He wiggled his body through and landed on the floor. A second later his brother followed suit.
“Untie me,” hissed Tilliana at the first boy who was gaping at her. Quickly he complied and pulling out his dagger he sliced the ropes over her head. His brother moved to help him, undoing the knots for Tilliana.
“Thank you dears,” she said, “Now turn around, don’t look.” As they blushed and turned their backs on her she rushed forward and grabbed her clothes, dressing hastily. As she dressed she talked quietly to them.
“There is a man coming back in here in a minute, a very bad man.”
“We will help you,” said Jozz. His brother nodded in agreement.
“Thank you, you can look now.” She moved to don her armor next and readied herself for battle. They soon heard footsteps out in the hall and Tilliana motioned for the two boys to stand back out of the way. Jozz moved behind the door and Kall his himself on the other side of the room from Jozz. As the door began to open, Tilliana muttered a brief prayer and reached out to touch the man coming through the door.
Even as she touched him, she realized that it was not the priest of the Vice Lord. But as she recognized him as one of those who had been beating on her in the alley she did not check her hand. As she touched him, there was a flash and the man fell to the floor dead.
“Was he a bad guy?” asked Jozz.
“Yes dear,” said Tilliana, hefting her sword and noticing another man standing in the hallway outside the door. As the boys were moving out of hiding, Tilliana was charging into the hall. She swung her sword in a vicious arc and cleaved the man open. Like the first man, he never had the chance to say a word.
The boys looked out in the hallway. There was a door on the left and another down the hall at the end. Jozz moved forward to take the lead and he opened the door on the left. There was a man standing inside. He looked up startled. He could see Jozz, but Tilliana and Kall were still out of sight.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“I’m Jozz.”
“Yeah well, but who are you?”
“Oh, I’m a hero.”
With a start the man drew his short sword. Before he could do anything else though, Jozz raised his crossbow and shot him in the chest. The man fell dead. Jozz stared a minute. He had actually killed someone, a person.
“Search his pockets,” directed Tilliana, snapping him out of his thoughts. They searched all three bodies and found quite a few glints and a key. It looked like perhaps a house key. Tilliana too the key. Jozz marched over to the other door in the hallway.
“Follow me,” he said gallantly. As Tilliana did so, she suddenly realized with a start that the boys were unarmored. It was dangerous for Jozz to be so bold, but it was brave.
The door opened to reveal stairs going up. The three started up them just as two other men were starting down. Jozz fired but missed. With a shout the two men ran down the stairs charging. Tilliana parried one sword thrust and with a powerful swing she ended the life of her attacker. Kall with his club did the same to the other man. As Tilliana looked at the bodies, she guiltily remembered what Latoor Soi had told her that morning. Thinking of that, she let out a little groan as the boys searched the bodies. These two also had gold and the boys also found another key matching the one Tilliana already had.
The stairs led into a kitchen. As they entered the small room, they heard voices through an open doorway. As the voices drew nearer, Tilliana prayed for a blessing upon Jozz.
“Come on men, I promised you a treat and I am going to deliver. She…,” The sentence was cut short as the speaker entered. It was the toga wearing priest. With him were two men, though the second man was actually a halfling. In the priest’s hands were all manner of strange rods, whips, chains and ointments.
“Who are you?” demanded Jozz.
“There you are little one,” said Tilliana to the halfling, realizing it was he that she had been chasing.
Kall did not waste time speaking. With a shout he rushed at the halfling, clubbing the small man over the head. Tilliana, only a fraction of a second behind sliced into the unarmored evil cleric. Jozz, realizing that dialogue was not going to occur, shot the other companion of the priest. His aim was true and the man died clutching the bolt through his chest. The priest raised his hands to defend himself, but with a terrific shout, Kall brought his club around and literally tore the man’s head off. Tilliana wiped her blade.
Behind the men she could see the door leading out. She did not want to stay any longer than she had too. She helped them search the bodies and after dividing up all the gold they had found between the two boys, she made them leave the keys they had found on the bodies and made Kall clean his club off. Then, as casually as she could manage she and the boys left the house.
“I would greatly appreciate it,” said Tilliana with an embarrassed smile, “If you would not mention this to anybody, alright.”
“Sure,” said Jozz.
She healed herself on the way to Geona Hau. It was about four hours after noon when she finally managed to reach the temple and inquire after the girls. It turned out that they had all been released the day before. After the drugs had worn off, they had known who they were and each of them had possessed family to go to. Tilliana tried to get specific information, but none was forthcoming. Not quite satisfied, but having nothing else she could do, she left the temple, aware of the scathing glances her attire caused within.
She was making her way back through the market towards the castle when she became aware of two men moving through the crowd talking to each other. She could not help but overhear their conversation.
“That fat fool didn’t even notice it was missing.”
“Shut up and move, he will notice it soon enough.”
She saw the two men clearly and noticed they were tussling over a black velvet pouch.
“Give it here, let me see it.”
“I have it, just move.”
A shout for the watch rang out from a stall nearby and the two men startled started running, still fighting over the pouch. As they ran a small red stone fell and landed on the ground in the gutter. Tilliana moved towards the men but they were lost in the crowd. She glanced down and saw it was a small gem lying on the ground. She wrestled with her conscience for a moment, tempted to just leave it there and forget she had seen anything. Then with a sigh, knowing it was the right thing to do, she bent down and picked up the gem. It did not seem all that valuable. Holding it she made her way to the stall where even as she walked a group of watchmen were gathering.
“Excuse me sir,” hollered Tilliana, holding out the gem and offering it to the merchant behind the stall, “is this yours?”
“Who are you?” shouted the merchant angrily, “Where did you get that?”
“Tilliana?” said a voice.
She turned. It was Latoor Soi.
“It’s alright Necoot, I know her.”
“Two men were running that way,” said Tilliana, “they dropped this on the way.”
Latoor took the stone and handed it to Necoot.
“Thank you Tilliana, I appreciate you honesty, did you get a good look at the men?”
“Yes,” said Tilliana and she described them.
“I think I know just the men responsible,” said Latoor, “I’ll dispatch some men immediately to check on it. ” He spoke to one of the watch men and shortly a group of them was leaving.
“So tell me,” said Latoor in a very friendly fashion to Tilliana, “How was your day today?”
Tilliana hesitated, immediately feeling guilty.
“Um, I had a very interesting day. I found a relative of mine, an aunt and had a nice visit with her?”
Latoor looked at her curiously.
“Why do you look guilty about something,” he asked.
“No reason,” she lied. He was not fooled.
Smiling he grasped her arm and said as they walked, “I want to compliment you on helping out back there.”
“I try sir.”
“But I find it surprising that such an attractive woman could get into so much trouble. Do me a favor and stay out of trouble.”
“Yes sir,” she said curtly and freeing her arm she walked away, determined to head back to her inn and go to bed early.
Latoor smiled as he watched her walk away and then chuckling he returned to his duties.
The sun was just starting to rise over the edge of the city wall as Kall and Jozz headed out of their house, looking for something to occupy them. At the age of 14, both boys were already as tall as most of the men around them. Though Jozz was slender and Kall was thick and muscled, the similarity of face and feature made it easy to tell they were brothers. Their father helped in various stables around the city, having a reputation for being one of the best horsemen in Geanavue. He also worked as a craftsman, as did the majority of workers in the city. His specialty was the carving of fine wooden images. Both boys, of course, had been trained by their father to assist in the work when need be, but their adolescent blood cried out for adventure and what they really wanted to do was be great heroes.
Around them the city was already bustling. Indeed, by Geanavue standards, the twins were getting a late start. But their father had given them the day off and so they were out on the city to see what adventure they could scrounge up. Kall carried the huge club he had purchased the summer before and Jozz had a crossbow strapped to his back. They were ready for anything.
Their chance for some glory that morning was destined to come in the form of rats, giant sewer rats that had invaded one of the warehouses on the south side of the city. As they wandered the streets, dreaming of their chance at glory, they had espied a man sitting outside a closed warehouse. He was clearly upset. Curious to learn what was the matter they had approached him.
“Why are you upset,” asked Jozz diplomatically.
“I’ll tell you why! Its those rats, twenty or thirty sewer rats came up out of the sewer sometime last night and invaded my warehouse! They bit one of my workers and scared the horses near to death! My men all left and said they would come back when I got rid of the rats.”
He looked at them a bit closer. Then he smiled.
“Say, you two look like capable young men. I will pay you 1 silver coin for each rat you kill and if by some miracle you can get rid of all of them, I’ll throw in 5 glint.”
Jozz and Kall smiled. This was the chance they were looking for. Money and glory!
“Yeah!” said Kall, enthusiastically.
“We will do it!” said Jozz.
“Now be careful,” said the man as he opened the door for them, “some of those things are downright nasty, don’t get yourself killed.”
The two boys headed into the warehouse excitedly, scarcely heeding his words. Their were wooden boxes and crates stacked everywhere. In the middle of the large dimly lit room, a wagon sat, half loaded. It was Kall who spotted the first rat. It was over a foot long, sitting under the wagon near the wheel watching them. Gleefully Kall gripped his club in both hands and charged forward. Though the position was ackward, Kall managed to swing his club in such a way as to connect with the rat. Furious, the rat sprang out, teeth bared in an attempt to bite the boy. Wanting in on the action, Jozz ran forward to help, but even as he pulled up alongside his brother, Kall swung his club again in a great overhanded arc and flattened the rat in a mess of gore.
“Alright!” said Kall.
Even as Kall smiled another rat leaped out of the shadows and ran at them. It bit at Jozz who managed to leap back just in time. Kall swung at the rat with his club and the result was another dead rat.
Nothing else leaped at them and so they looked around, seeing what they could see.
“There,” said Jozz and cocked his crossbow and fired up into the shadows above them. A rat squealed and, impaled by the bolt, flew off the box it had been perched on. It landed on the ground dead. It was Jozz’s turn to smile.
They could see no more rats where they were standing and so together they began to walk the warehouse, peering up at the tops of boxes and back, into the dark corners. Despite their close scrutiny, they were still surprised by two ferocious rats that charged at them from out of the shadows. Back to back, the brothers swung around, avoiding being hit and fighting to hold back the two rats. Jozz managed to scratch one with his dagger even as it was charging in to bite Kall. It connected and Kall cried out from the injury. Enraged, Kall swung hard at the other rat, killing it. The first rat continued to bite Kall as Jozz struggled futilely to stab it. Kall managed to kick it away and with a swing of his great club he finished its life.
Jozz looked questioningly at Kall’s bleeding leg. Kall shrugged it off.
“I want to kill more rats,” said Kall smiling.
They killed another rat that ambushed them, Jozz sustaining a minor bite. Then Jozz managed to shoot another one that was crawling along above them. That seemed to be an end to the rats that they could see. Looking around the warehouse however they saw that there were stairs going down.
“Let’s go,” said Kall. It was dark at the bottom of the stairs however and so prudence dictated that they find a light. Jozz scrounged up a lantern from one of the walls of the warehouse and lighting it they proceeded down the stairs.
There were three rats at the bottom of the stairs, glaring up at them and hissing. These were even bigger than the ones that had been above. Seeing them, Jozz fired. But his shot was wild and missed them completely. Hissing furiously, the three rats charged up the stairs. Both boys were bitten.
“Now I am mad,” roared Kall and he swung hard, smashing one of the rats open. He was bitten again, as was Jozz. Kall swung a second time and killed a second rat. Jozz, ignoring his pain, feinted to the left and then when the rat opened itself up, he plunged his dagger into it’s side, killing it.
“Let’s go on,” snarled Kall.
“We need healing,” argued Jozz.
Listening to his brother, Kall relented and the two boys made their way to the warehouse entrance. The warehouse owner looked at their bleeding bites and winced.
“How many did you kill?” he asked.
“Ten,” said Jozz.
“Good job boys! I can find someone else perhaps to get the rest. In the meantime, here is the 10 silver pieces I promised you. Get those bites tended to.”
Jozz took the coins and smiled. Money and glory indeed! With happy hearts they headed northward towards the temples.
*********************************
As the sun was rising higher into the sky, Tilliana strolled out of Muratuur’s Welcome for a day on her own. The companions had been in Geanavue for a couple of days now, enjoying the bustling city and the comforts of the inn. Tilliana had a rough plan for the day. She planned on checking up on the girls they had rescued from the clutches of the vile cleric and his men and then perhaps looking for her aunt Zilma. The air was warm and the sky was clear. With a light heart Tilliana set forth.
“Excuse me, miss!” yelled a man at Tilliana. He was dressed as an officer of the watch and Tilliana noticed a squad of men with him. The officer, a young handsome man, left his men and made his way over to her, striding briskly.
“Are you Tilliana?” he asked as he came closer.
“Yes sir.”
“I thought so, we don’t see many female Servants of Naemae in the city. I am Latoor Soi, Caalavelar of the Teerel district. It’s good to meet you. I was looking for you or one of your friends.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Well, first of all, I want to officially welcome you to Geanavue. But I also wanted to talk to you. We heard about a little mix-up that happened in Loona and we talked to the priests at Geona Hau and so we are aware that you rescued a number of women that had been kidnapped, included three or four that we had been officially looking for. Still, there did seem to be a number of corpses in Loona and we thought it would be a good idea to caution you. Geanavue is a peaceful city and we like to keep it that way. I would greatly appreciate it if you did not kill anyone else while you visit with us.”
“Uh-huh,” said Tilliana, feeling slightly guilty at having to be cautioned by an officer of the watch.
“Still, I am sure that we won’t have any troubles with you,” sail Latoor with a broad smile, “Just make sure to listen to members of the watch, citizens are duty bound to do whatever a watch officer tells them to do, understand.”
“Yes sir,” said Tilliana.
“Good, and I must say, I look forward to seeing you around. You have a good day.”
“Thank you sir,” said Tilliana.
Latoor strolled back to his men and they walked off through the crowd. Gathering her thoughts, Tilliana headed west, planning on strolling past the castle and then north through the market to Geona Hau, the temple to the god of peace.
As she walked through the market, she heard loud laughter from her left. Looking over she saw a small crowd beginning to gather in front of an open tavern. An argument was apparently starting between a well-dressed young man and a rather provocatively dressed woman. The woman was clearly upset and the man was laughing at her. Glaring, the woman moved to slap the man who ducked and kicked her into the mud.
“That’s where you truly belong!” said the man with glee.
The young woman, sitting in the mud seemed about to cry.
“But you promised…”
“I promised? My dear I believe you are mistaken, I said nothing of the king.”
“But you said,… you said after last night we would be together.”
The man made a face and the crowd laughed. Tilliana, though she felt no real sympathy with a woman that could let herself be used like that felt irritated at the coldness of those who were laughing at her expense.
The man fished some coins out of his pocket and threw them in the mud besides her.
“I suppose I do owe you something after last night… I should think this is better than the going rate,” he sneered. The woman turned scarlet, embarrassed and began to cry. The man and his friends laughed and turned to walk away.
Savagely, the woman snatched the coins off the ground and turning to the crowd she yelled, “Is there no one here who will defend me?” She quickly counted the coins, “Eight gold glints to the man who will be my champion. Thrash this brute who has insulted me and I will give you all the money I have.”
A second woman stepped forward, “I’ll add my coins to that. 12 gold glints to the one who will defend the honor of my friend Sabine!”
There was an amused gasp from the crowd and the young man turned around in surprise. Seeing that no one else was stepping forward, Tilliana stepped forward.
“What did he do to you?”
The woman took in Tilliana’s outfit, her armor and her sword and then answered, “He insulted me, my lady. He lied to me and now he kicks me into the mud.”
“What did he promise you?” asked Tilliana, though she knew the answer.
Before the woman could reply, the young man laughed, “A woman threatens to fight me! They do have to stick together I suppose.”
Tilliana glared at him. She had intended to try to avoid violence, still recalling the cautionary visit of Latoor Soi.
“I will defend your honor,” said Tilliana to the woman. She turned to the man, who somewhat surprised raised his fists.
He was wearing light leather armor Tilliana noticed, so she did not feel too guilty about being in armor of her own. She moved toward him and the fight began. Almost from the beginning it was clear that the young gentleman was outclassed. Tilliana moved to avoid most of his punches, landing two good, hard jabs. He circled warily, and for several seconds neither one managed to land a good solid punch until finally Tilliana, landed a fierce uppercut that laid him out cold on the ground.
“He shouldn’t have laughed,” muttered Tilliana to herself.
“Thank you,” said the woman, Sabine, handing Tilliana the coins and grinning broadly.
“Keep them,” said Tilliana, “I don’t need them. I only fought to teach him a lesson.”
“Thank you very much then,” said Sabine and she and her friend walked off laughing. Several people congratulated Tilliana on her victory and the young man’s friends hefted him up and made their way southward through the market.
“Excuse me,” said a voice. It was a young man trying to get Tilliana’s attention. Tilliana looked at him. He was a young man, blonde, very tall, but most likely in his early teens. Next to him stood another young man who, despite being almost twice as big, could only have been his brother. Both were, Tilliana noticed, bleeding from a number of wounds, bites perhaps.
“Yes,” said Tilliana.
“Me and my brother were attacked by some rats today and you looked like a cleric. We wondered if you could help us?”
Tilliana sighed and looked at their wounds, “I guess.” She offered up prayers for both of them and their wounds healed up completely and the bleeding stopped at once. The crowd around her murmured its approval at her generosity.
“Thanks a bundle, I am Jozz and this is Kall.”
“You’re welcome,” said Tilliana.
“My dear,” said another woman, grabbing Tilliana by the arm, “Can it be?”
Wondering at this new intrusion, Tilliana turned to the woman and caught her breath. For a moment she thought it was her mother. Then she saw it was not. The appearance was similar, but this woman was older and slightly heavier.
“Aunt Zilma?”
“You must be Tilliana! You look just like Zailoo! I haven’t seen you in years girl, not since you were what, five, no not even that old! But I would know you anywhere! You must come home with me! I am not working right now, I can feed you and we can talk! What are you doing here in Geanavue? I see you are a cleric of Naemae, just like your father, I bet he would be so proud of you!”
Zilma took Tilliana home and fed her and talked. She pried Tilliana for news of Zailoo and of Tilliana’s brother and relayed quite a bit of information and gossip about the various relations of Tilliana’s in the area. The talk turned eventually to the fact that Tilliana was planning on soon heading up to find her father’s old temple and to the fact that Tilliana actually knew very little of her father’s activities in that area.
“I am not surprised,” said Zilma, “Your mother never did like talking about it and she was so miserable when she was forced to leave I think she would be ahppier not talking about it, but I am here. I can tell you what I know. Your father was in a group of adventurer’s. They were all four from the coast. There was Roanai, your father of course. And there was Fleet, and Elias, and Tamil. These four found an area where there was a great deal of evil and they worked to eliminate it. There were some caves, and an evil temple and this castle, built right over a waterfall and all sorts of horrid monsters lived there. They succeeded though and totally cleaned the place out and then they settled down and built right there in that spot. Your father built a temple and then built his house right next to it. Fleet, he loved horses and he built himself a ranch. Elias built himself a little fort and then a water-mill and Tamil, he was a wizard, he built a tower for him and Angel, his cat.”
At the mention of Angel, a vague memory jarred in Tilliana’s memory.
“Angel,” said Tilliana, “was he a white cat? And he could talk, couldn’t he?”
“That’s right. All you children thought that was the neatest trick in the world, that talking cat. And you are right, he was a pure white, short haired cat. Anyway, there we moved soon after that mill was built, your grandfather working the mill and soon farmers were moving in and things were being built up. Your father married my sister and your brother was born and then you. I was sorry when we had to leave, that was a real nice piece of country. You know, I have a map I have kept back. Let me get it for you. You can have it. If you are going that way it might be useful.”
Zilma left Tilliana for a few minutes, only to return covered in dust and carrying a parchment upon which a map was drawn. Tilliana gazed at it as Zilma pointed out the features.
“Here’s where your father’s temple was, marked by the eye of Naemae, and down here was the mill and up there was the ranch and the cat marks Tamil’s tower. The castle was up here.”
“What do you know about the castle?” asked Tilliana.
“Only that nobody lived there while your father was alive. They always felt it was too out of the way, hard to get to and they wanted to be where people could live, so they just let it stand empty.”
“The woods,” asked Tilliana, “anything in them?”
“Only deer when we lived there. Over here was your father’s favorite fishing spot, a nice little pond.”
“Did you know my father well?”
“He did marry my sister. He was a good man, very likable. I always liked him anyway and he treated your mother well. Your mother hated it when she had to leave her house.”
“Why did we leave?” asked Tilliana.
“Well, there was a dragon in the mountains and people said it was forming an army of fire-giants. Your dad and the others thought they were the ones to take care of it. Off they went. I think Angel, that was the cat, knew they were dead first. Tamil did not take him with him and Angel knew when Tamil died. After they were gone, there was nobody to defend us. Things started coming back to the caves and your poor mother couldn’t fight them. She was forced to move back with us, and then things just got worse and we all had to leave the area and come back south. There weren’t enough of us to fight and it didn’t seem worth dying for.”
“What happened to Angel?”
“We left him. That cat refused to leave that tower and we couldn’t make him so we just had to leave him there. I don’t know what happened. He’s probably dead now, he was after all, in the end only a cat and it’s been fifteen years. Will you look at that! Where has the time gone. I have to go to work dear, but you come visit again! Where are you staying? ”
Happy at having had such a nice visit, Tilliana said her good-byes and let her aunt leave for work. Then she herself turned to head towards Geona Hau, still wanting to find out how the girls they had rescued were doing. It was about an hour after noon.
As she walked down the streets, trying to find her way back, she was startled by a small cloaked figure that bumped into her and then took off at a run down the street. With a start, Tilliana realized she had just been robbed.
“Hey you,” she shouted and started to give chase. Her armor slowed her and the thief slowly gained ground.
On the other side of the street Jozz and Kall were walking home.
“Did you see that,” said Jozz as he saw Tilliana run by, “she was chasing someone, come on.”
Tilliana turned a corner, following the thief into a narrow alley between two buildings. Stopping she grasped her silken holy symbol and barked out a command, “STOP!”
The thief instantly came to a screeching halt. With a smile Tilliana started forward again when she heard another voice from the shadows mutter something. Her muscles froze. A spell, she realized with frustration. In a second about eight people were surrounding her, clubbing her to the ground with saps.
Everything went black.
A block away, Jozz watched from around a corner.
“Let’s go get them,” said Kall.
“There are too many of them,” said Jozz, “lets follow them.”
Tilliana came to and immediately felt cold. With a start she realized that she was nude and that her hands were bound to the wall above her head, a very compromising position.
“I thought a small healing spell would bring you around,” gloated the man in front of her. He was completely shaven and was wearing only a loosely fitting toga. Around his neck was a boar tusk on a leather sting. He reached out and stroked Tilliana’s face.
“That was a very profitable little enterprise that you and your friends busted up on me and I was not happy in the least. But you shall have a chance to make it up to me, my dear. I shall be back in just a minute as soon as I get some toys and some other friends to play with you. I am so looking forward to a moment of revenge upon you.”
He savored the look of horror on Tilliana’s face and then left her. He closed the door to the room behind him, leaving her naked and alone, tied to a wall in an otherwise barren room. On the floor Tilliana saw her clothes and armor piled in a heap, her sword next to it. There was no way however for her to get to them.
There was however a window in the room and even as Tilliana noticed it, she heard something outside the window. Somebody crouched down and looked in it. Tilliana realized she was in a basement of some sort. As Tilliana scrutinized the face through the dirty glass pane, she recognized it. It was one of the boys she had healed earlier in the day. For his part, he looked slightly surprised to see her. He fiddled with something and after about a minute, he had the window unlocked. He wiggled his body through and landed on the floor. A second later his brother followed suit.
“Untie me,” hissed Tilliana at the first boy who was gaping at her. Quickly he complied and pulling out his dagger he sliced the ropes over her head. His brother moved to help him, undoing the knots for Tilliana.
“Thank you dears,” she said, “Now turn around, don’t look.” As they blushed and turned their backs on her she rushed forward and grabbed her clothes, dressing hastily. As she dressed she talked quietly to them.
“There is a man coming back in here in a minute, a very bad man.”
“We will help you,” said Jozz. His brother nodded in agreement.
“Thank you, you can look now.” She moved to don her armor next and readied herself for battle. They soon heard footsteps out in the hall and Tilliana motioned for the two boys to stand back out of the way. Jozz moved behind the door and Kall his himself on the other side of the room from Jozz. As the door began to open, Tilliana muttered a brief prayer and reached out to touch the man coming through the door.
Even as she touched him, she realized that it was not the priest of the Vice Lord. But as she recognized him as one of those who had been beating on her in the alley she did not check her hand. As she touched him, there was a flash and the man fell to the floor dead.
“Was he a bad guy?” asked Jozz.
“Yes dear,” said Tilliana, hefting her sword and noticing another man standing in the hallway outside the door. As the boys were moving out of hiding, Tilliana was charging into the hall. She swung her sword in a vicious arc and cleaved the man open. Like the first man, he never had the chance to say a word.
The boys looked out in the hallway. There was a door on the left and another down the hall at the end. Jozz moved forward to take the lead and he opened the door on the left. There was a man standing inside. He looked up startled. He could see Jozz, but Tilliana and Kall were still out of sight.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“I’m Jozz.”
“Yeah well, but who are you?”
“Oh, I’m a hero.”
With a start the man drew his short sword. Before he could do anything else though, Jozz raised his crossbow and shot him in the chest. The man fell dead. Jozz stared a minute. He had actually killed someone, a person.
“Search his pockets,” directed Tilliana, snapping him out of his thoughts. They searched all three bodies and found quite a few glints and a key. It looked like perhaps a house key. Tilliana too the key. Jozz marched over to the other door in the hallway.
“Follow me,” he said gallantly. As Tilliana did so, she suddenly realized with a start that the boys were unarmored. It was dangerous for Jozz to be so bold, but it was brave.
The door opened to reveal stairs going up. The three started up them just as two other men were starting down. Jozz fired but missed. With a shout the two men ran down the stairs charging. Tilliana parried one sword thrust and with a powerful swing she ended the life of her attacker. Kall with his club did the same to the other man. As Tilliana looked at the bodies, she guiltily remembered what Latoor Soi had told her that morning. Thinking of that, she let out a little groan as the boys searched the bodies. These two also had gold and the boys also found another key matching the one Tilliana already had.
The stairs led into a kitchen. As they entered the small room, they heard voices through an open doorway. As the voices drew nearer, Tilliana prayed for a blessing upon Jozz.
“Come on men, I promised you a treat and I am going to deliver. She…,” The sentence was cut short as the speaker entered. It was the toga wearing priest. With him were two men, though the second man was actually a halfling. In the priest’s hands were all manner of strange rods, whips, chains and ointments.
“Who are you?” demanded Jozz.
“There you are little one,” said Tilliana to the halfling, realizing it was he that she had been chasing.
Kall did not waste time speaking. With a shout he rushed at the halfling, clubbing the small man over the head. Tilliana, only a fraction of a second behind sliced into the unarmored evil cleric. Jozz, realizing that dialogue was not going to occur, shot the other companion of the priest. His aim was true and the man died clutching the bolt through his chest. The priest raised his hands to defend himself, but with a terrific shout, Kall brought his club around and literally tore the man’s head off. Tilliana wiped her blade.
Behind the men she could see the door leading out. She did not want to stay any longer than she had too. She helped them search the bodies and after dividing up all the gold they had found between the two boys, she made them leave the keys they had found on the bodies and made Kall clean his club off. Then, as casually as she could manage she and the boys left the house.
“I would greatly appreciate it,” said Tilliana with an embarrassed smile, “If you would not mention this to anybody, alright.”
“Sure,” said Jozz.
She healed herself on the way to Geona Hau. It was about four hours after noon when she finally managed to reach the temple and inquire after the girls. It turned out that they had all been released the day before. After the drugs had worn off, they had known who they were and each of them had possessed family to go to. Tilliana tried to get specific information, but none was forthcoming. Not quite satisfied, but having nothing else she could do, she left the temple, aware of the scathing glances her attire caused within.
She was making her way back through the market towards the castle when she became aware of two men moving through the crowd talking to each other. She could not help but overhear their conversation.
“That fat fool didn’t even notice it was missing.”
“Shut up and move, he will notice it soon enough.”
She saw the two men clearly and noticed they were tussling over a black velvet pouch.
“Give it here, let me see it.”
“I have it, just move.”
A shout for the watch rang out from a stall nearby and the two men startled started running, still fighting over the pouch. As they ran a small red stone fell and landed on the ground in the gutter. Tilliana moved towards the men but they were lost in the crowd. She glanced down and saw it was a small gem lying on the ground. She wrestled with her conscience for a moment, tempted to just leave it there and forget she had seen anything. Then with a sigh, knowing it was the right thing to do, she bent down and picked up the gem. It did not seem all that valuable. Holding it she made her way to the stall where even as she walked a group of watchmen were gathering.
“Excuse me sir,” hollered Tilliana, holding out the gem and offering it to the merchant behind the stall, “is this yours?”
“Who are you?” shouted the merchant angrily, “Where did you get that?”
“Tilliana?” said a voice.
She turned. It was Latoor Soi.
“It’s alright Necoot, I know her.”
“Two men were running that way,” said Tilliana, “they dropped this on the way.”
Latoor took the stone and handed it to Necoot.
“Thank you Tilliana, I appreciate you honesty, did you get a good look at the men?”
“Yes,” said Tilliana and she described them.
“I think I know just the men responsible,” said Latoor, “I’ll dispatch some men immediately to check on it. ” He spoke to one of the watch men and shortly a group of them was leaving.
“So tell me,” said Latoor in a very friendly fashion to Tilliana, “How was your day today?”
Tilliana hesitated, immediately feeling guilty.
“Um, I had a very interesting day. I found a relative of mine, an aunt and had a nice visit with her?”
Latoor looked at her curiously.
“Why do you look guilty about something,” he asked.
“No reason,” she lied. He was not fooled.
Smiling he grasped her arm and said as they walked, “I want to compliment you on helping out back there.”
“I try sir.”
“But I find it surprising that such an attractive woman could get into so much trouble. Do me a favor and stay out of trouble.”
“Yes sir,” she said curtly and freeing her arm she walked away, determined to head back to her inn and go to bed early.
Latoor smiled as he watched her walk away and then chuckling he returned to his duties.
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Wicht
Hero
Buttercup said:Enjoyable, as usual, Wicht. Are we going to see more of Kall and Jozz? And were the other players not able to make it this week? Or will we see the account of their day next?
Last week's regular game was canceled because of car problems. (This weeks regular game has also been postponed because of changes in work schedules.) In the interim, I decided to do something different. I had been practice gaming with my two boys (using the adventure box) and decided to see how they would do in a real game. Joshua (age 6) and Caleb (age 5) played the parts of Jozz and Kall and I think did very well for their ages. They want to play again, so we will see how it goes.
Incidentally, Kall is a barbarian and Jozz is a rogue.
Wicht
Hero
Chapter 18 – Dareen’s Tower
It was not yet noon when Jozz and Kall left Geanavue on a cart going south. In the back of the cart was a large crate, carefully packed and tied down to prevent it from banging around.
Their father, who besides caring for other peoples horses, also did woodwork, had just finished a statue for a man who lived about twenty two miles away from the city. A sudden demand by one of the nobles to break in a horse had meant however that he would not be able to deliver the statue himself. His boys however, he had reasoned, were nearly men and they could make the trip and be back the next day.
“Mr Forgewright’s place is easy to find,” he had told them, “You pass the cemetery on the Zoan road and then take the first path to the right, towards the mountains. Follow that path to the very end. He lives in a tower in the middle of Deepen Wood at the very end of the path. Do you got that? What did I just say?”
They had both seen their father working on the statue. They knew it was of a man, in full plate armor holding a greatsword point down into the ground.
“Stay out of trouble,” their father had warned them as they were pulling away from the house, “If you see giants, run. Don’t try fighting them.”
The twins passed the cemetery south of the city and coming to a path to the right, they took it. The sun slowly moved through the sky as they bumped along in the cart, their horse patiently plodding along at a slow but reliable rate. They passed farms and small communities until at last the houses grew further and further apart and the communities grew increasingly smaller. And then they came to Deepen Woods. It was an old woods, comprised of large, tall trees. Little light escaped to the floor of the woods and there was an ominous feel to the air beneath the leaves. Nevertheless, the two boys entered, their discussion turning to the subject of wolves.
The path through the woods was even less traveled than the rest of the path and the going was slower. They saw no sign of life in the woods until they passed by a house on the right. Even then however they could see no one inside the house. There was no sign that anybody was home. No light inside the building, nobody moving around outside the house.
“Is this the place?” asked Kall.
“Father said it was a tower,” said Jozz and they flicked the reins and continued on down the path.
It was another mile till they reached their destination. There standing alone atop a small rise was a wide, squat tower. The grey stones were large and the windows plain and situated high above the ground. There was a small stable to the right of the tower. It was empty.
The boys pulled the wagon into the stable and loosed the horse and tethered him with a bag of oats to keep him company. Then they opened the back of the cart and pulled off the crate. It was heavy, but between the two of them they managed to get it off the wagon and carry it over to the steps leading up into the tower.
Jozz climbed the steps and knocked using the large brass door-knocker. A solid boom echoed throughout the tower. They waited. No one answered the door. Kall reached out to see if he could open it. It was locked.
“I can open it,” said Jozz and he pulled out his set of lock-picks.
In less than a minute he had the door open and they looked in. It was dark inside.
“I’ll get a lantern,” said Jozz.
“I’ll get my club,” said Kall.
*********************************
It was about an hour after noon when Tilliana left Geanavue heading south. She was riding Prancer, but the war horse was not wearing its barding. Tilliana was after information, not battle.
She had spent the last few days trying to track down anyone who might know more about the area in which her father had built his temple. Almost by accident she had stumbled across the fact that there was another priest of Naemae living west of the city. He was an old man who, she had been told, might have been a friend of her father’s. His name was Dareen Forgewright and he lived in a secluded tower in the midst of remote woods.
“How do you get there?” Tilliana had immediately asked.
“You get to Deepen woods by going south, past the cemetery, which you don’t want to stop at cause it’s haunted, and then you turn west and follow the path for about twenty miles, out past the farms until you get to dark woods. His towers in the middle of the woods.”
“The cemetery is haunted? What can you tell me about that?”
“The cemetery has always been haunted. Spirits, ghost and the like that never hurt anybody. Lately though some people say they have seen skeletons in black robes chasing people with scythes.”
“Oh.”
Her curiosity piqued by the existance of a Servant of the Swift Sword that had not been known to Deochoo and by the hint that he might have known her father, Tilliana set out from Geanavue with a mind full of possibilities.
The ride was long and as she neared Deepen Woods the evening was already beginning to approach. She entered the woods and slowly made her way down the dim path. She felt slightly put off by the quietness of the trees. She could hear no birds and she saw no small animals, such as she might have expected to see.
She began to pass a house on the right. The house seemed strangely alone and quiet. She saw no one around the house and there was no light in any of the windows. There was an ax planted in a stump in front of the house and a lone wagon by the side of the house. But there was no horse and nothing to suggest anybody was present.
Tilliana rode up to the house and dismounted. She left Prancer standing by the stump and walked to the front door. She knocked. There was no answer. She peered in one of the windows and saw nothing. It was too dark inside.
Filled with curiousity, Tilliana went back to the door and tried it. It swung easily open and she entered.
*******************************
Jozz held his lantern up high and led the way into the tower. Kall followed right behind. The front door led into a hallway. There were three doors and Jozz opened the one on the right. The room beyond was a sitting room of sorts. The boys noticed that the decorative motif was the same throughout the room. Statues, wall-hangings, tapestries, paintings and rug all bore the same two emblems. A man in gold full plated armor holding a greatsword and a golden eye set on a background of blue and white diamonds.
“Let’s bring in the crate,” said Jozz. Kall agreed.
They carried the heavy wooden box up the stairs and placed it in the middle of the sitting room. Then they decided to look around further. They still heard no sound indicating anyone was home. They went out of the room and entered into another hallway. There were stairs going up to their left and in front of them was a door to the right of an open doorway. Light streamed out through the doorway and illuminated the whole hall. The room beyond was a library of some sort. Jozz opened the door and looked in by the light of his lantern. It was a bathroom containing a toilet and a sink, each fed by pipes descending from the ceiling.
“Let’s check up stairs,” said Kall and he led Jozz up the stone steps to the second floor of the tower. The stairs opened into a single straight hallway with two doors on either side. Jozz moved to open the first door on the right.
There was a bedroom on the other side of the door. A bad odor lingered in the room which was decorated with the same two emblems as the sitting room, the eye and the warrior. There was a suit of full plate mail standing in one corner of the room, a greatsword in a scabbard leaning against the wall next to it. There was also a dresser and a cedar chest in the room as well, of course, as a bed. There was a man lying in the bed, bundled up in the blankets, his back to the boys.
“Hello, who are you,” said Jozz to the man.
There was no answer. Cautiously they approached the bed.
The man in the bed was dead. Kall looked on horrified.
“Is he Mr. Forgewright?” asked Kall.
“I don’t know,” said Jozz.
The man had obviously been old. His long silver white hair fell down limply around his wrinkled face upon which there was a serene look.
“What do we do now?” asked Kall.
“Let’s check the rest of the upstairs,” anwered Jozz.
There were two other bedrooms and a chapel. The chapel contained a small altar placed before a golden statue of the man holding a greatsword. The last lights of the setting sun streamed through a small stained glass window depicting the golden eye.
The boys decided to go back downstairs.
********************************
Tilliana looked into the small dark house and decided she needed a light. She prayed and brought forth a small divine light from her holy symbol by which she could see. The front room of the house was a mess. There were obvious signs of violence everywhere. Claw marks on the walls and dried blood on the floor told of a recent fight, onethat had occurred within the last day or two perhaps. Tilliana stepped in to get a closer look.
The door slammed shut behind her and she jumped. She saw however that it was just a rock, tied to a string in such a way as to make sure the door closed properly.
There were no bodies in the front room. An open doorway in the back of the room led into a small kitchen. There was also a door on the east wall which she opened. It led to a bedroom in which there were four beds. Lying on the floor of the room in various positions were four bodies.
Tilliana moved to get a closer look. The body closest to her was male. He seemed to have died from severe claw marks of some sort. She bent down to get a closer look.
The eyes opened on the corpse and stared at her. They were yellow and red. The corpse reached out to grab at her but she jumped back, just out of the way. Around the small room all four of the corpses were shambling to their feet.
Her heart pounding, Tilliana raised her holy symbol and prayed. Light burst forth in an explosion of divine energy and the corpses screamed. Their flesh melted and the fell back to the floor, writhing only for a moment and then were still.
With determination Tilliana set out to search the rest of the house for any clues as to what had happened here.
***********************************
Jozz and Kall descended the stairs. As they did so they started to hear a thumping sound. Something was banging around on the first floor. They went through the library and entered into a dining room. The thumping was coming from a door on the other end of the room. Jozz and Kall cautiously approached the door. Jozz held his lantern so that he would be able to see properly and slowly opened the door.
At first he saw nothing moving, and then a figure shuffled into view. It was covered in bandages and an odor of spices lingered in the air around it.
“A mummy!” said Kall.
Jozz raised crossbow and fired at the creature. The bolt stuck in it but seemed to do little. Kall pushed past Jozz and ran at the mummy, slamming at it with his club. He missed and the mummy turned as swatted at him, landing a solid blow on the boy. Jozz, thinking a moment raised his lantern and foregoing the crossbow he ran at the creature, swinging the lantern as a weapon. He struck and the lantern shattered and oil coated the mummy, bursting into fiery flame. Kall, enraged at being struck, swung his club as hard as he could and landed a blow. But it was clear that the fire was doing more to hurt the mummy than the huge club. Jozz tried to stab at the creature with his dagger but the flames kept him back. The mummy, screaming as it burned turned and struck Jozz, knocking him back a step. Again Jozz tried to stab it but with no greater success. Kall ducked a blow from the mummy and struck it once more with his club. The mummy, the flames eating its life away screamed one last time and fell to the ground. The boys quickly put out the small fires that had spread to other parts of the room. There was a sarcophagus in the room, opened, just one of many bizarre relics that filled the room.
********************************
Tilliana found nothing in the house to indicate anything other than the fact that these were simple woodcutters who had been killed in their own house. Frustrated she stepped back out the front door.
She saw immediately that Prancer was frightened by something. It did not take long to figure out what was scaring the young war horse. White skeletal shapes were marching out of the woods towards the house. Tilliana counted at least twenty of them. Slowly but surely they were surrounding her. She gripped her holy symbol and waited.
The rush came quickly. The skeletons, pinpoints of fire in their eyes raised bony claws and moved to attack her. Already prepared, Tilliana raised her silken holy symbol. For the second time that evening, divine light poured forth from it. A majority of the skeletons shreiked silently and crumbled into dust. But not all of them. Three remained and the surrounded the priestess, clawing at her. Prancer snorted and moved as to attack, but it was unnecessary. Tilliana once more called upon Naemae and the remaining three skeletons were smitten into dust.
The priestess, shaken, but not cowered mounted Prancer and headed once more up the trail, further into the dark woods.
*********************************
As they finished beating out the last of the fires, the two boys heard a scream from outside. It was high-pitched and unnerving. They rushed through the dining room to the front door and looked out just in time to see their horse bolting off through the trees. Something had frightened it badly.
There was a red glow, almost like a fire, coming from around the side of the tower. Gripping their weapons they ventured out to see what was making it. They saw first what appeared to be a crack in the ground from which red light streamed in a fiery glow. Then they saw the man shambling towards them, arms outstretched. He came from the direction of the crack and the red light outlined him.
“Uhhhh,” he said and they saw that he seemed to already be dead.
“Uugghh,” came an eerie voice from behind them and they saw another of the walking corpses aproaching from the stable.
Jozz fired and missed and then the two corpses were almost on top of them. They zombies moved slowly and both boys had enough time to ready themselves and attack. Kall struck one of them. The creatures head lolled sideways at a disturbing angle,but still the creature continued to try and press forward to attack Kall. Jozz failed to strike his and for his effort he received a strong, solid slamming punch to his ribs. Kall also was struck. The zombies moved slow but they were strong. Kall swung and missed and then another blow from one of the living dead struck down Jozz.
“My brother!” screamed Kall, and focusing more on swinging as hard as he could, Kall swung around at the creature that had attacked Jozz. He landed his blow and the zombie flew backwards and struck the wall of the tower. It did not move again. Kall redirected his energy at the remaining zombie and swung again missing. He was focusing too much on the force of his swing and not on where he was swinging. Moving nimble, he dodged the next strike and then swung his huge club around and smashed open the zombie which collapsed to the ground.
Kall bent down to see what he could do to aid Jozz who was unconscious. He slapped jozz lightly on the face and made sure he was not bleeding anywhere.
“Uuggghhh.”
Another zombie was slowly crawling out of the crack in the ground. Kall bent over and hefting his brother to his feet he half propelled and half carried him back to the tower and slammed the door shut behind. They went back to the trophy room and the two looked out the window. They could see the crack below them and as they watched they saw zombie after zombie crawling up out of the ground and walking away into the dark woods.
Tilliana healed her minor wounds as she rode through the forest. All was still silent. She heard no owls nor crickets. She heard nothing until she heard the hoofs. As she stared ahead down the path she saw a skeletal rider on a skeletal steed approaching her. The rider carried an ancient spear and when it was close enough, it raised its spear and charged her. Tilliana again raised her holy symbol and the undead horrors crumbled to dust.
She spurred Prancer forward, convinced somehow that something was dreadfully wrong somewhere in this forest. She soon approached a tower from which dim light could be seen in the windows. However it was the bright glow on the left side of the tower that most attracted her attention.
There was someone walking towards her from the direction of the glow. As it drew nearer she saw it was a walking corpse. Dismounting, Tiliana drew her sword and charged. Her sword flashed once, cutting into dead flesh, and then as she dodged a blow it flashed through the air a second time and the zombie fell to the ground in two. She stared out towards the crack and saw another zombie crawling slowly out.
She was not sure what she should do with Prancer so she decided to leave him first in the stables before doing any more fighting. She noticed there was a cart in the stable as well.
Having tethered Prancer she walked towards the glow. The zombie she had seen crawling out of the crackhad made it out and was moving slowly towards her. She waited till it drew closer and then charged. Unfortunately her foot caught on something in the dark and she swung wild. The zombie, grunting incomprehensibly swung at her and she ducked easily out of the way, seeking to regain her balance. Then she swung again. Her sword sank in, but she was too close and a molding fist caught her up alongside her helmet. She swung again and then again and finally the zombie was dead. Even as she stopped and caught her breath she saw another hand groping to reach up over the edge of the glowing crack and get out.
Determining that there must be a reason for a zombie spewing crack of doom she decided to look in the tower.
The door was unlocked and she entered in, her holy symbol illuminating the way. She walked through the front hall and into the dining room. Light from the library spilled into the room and she looked around.
The door on the left side of the dining room opened slowly and an eyed peered out. Then it swung more fully opened and Jozz stumbled out wincing.
“Hi Tilliana,” he said stiffly and weakly, “I don’t suppose you could spare a heal?”
“What are you doing here?”
“We were delivering a statue and we were attacked by zombies.”
“Who were you delivering it to?”
“Mr. Forgewright.”
“Come here,” said Tilliana. She saw Kall looking out the doorway and motioned him over as well. She reached out and touching their wounds she channeled the positive energies of her god into their bodies. The bruises cleared and the boys felt whole again. When they were healed she walked into the room they had been in and looked out the window as they had done. Below she could see the glowing crack and the zombie that was slowly crawling out.
“Is there anyone in the house?” she asked them.
“Yes,” said Jozz, “He’s dead.”
“Upstairs,” added Kall.
“Show me,” said Tilliana and so the boys led her up the stairs to the bedroom containing the body of the old man. Tilliana looked briefly at the body, the first she had seen that evening that was not still moving. Then she tried to look in the chest. It was locked.
“Let me,” said Jozz and he had it open in a flash.
Inside were blankets. Packed atop the blankets were three bottles, each containing a golden liquid. Jozz reached out and opening one he took a sip. It was sweet and felt uplifting.
“Potions of healing,” guessed Tilliana after hearing Jozz try to describe it. She handed one to Kall and took the third for herself. Then she turned her attention to the armor and the sword. While she looked at the sword and Kall admired the armor, Jozz looked more closely at the body on the bed. He saw there was a ring on the finger of the corpse. Swiftly the boy pulled it off and placed it upon his own finger.
Tilliana muttered a brief prayer and the sword started to glow. She looked at it with a smile. Then she noticed something else in the room glowing. The ring on Jozz’s finger was glowing, as was the medallion upon her neck. She had never bothered to check the amulet before to see if it was magical. It obviously was.
Tilliana took the sword, strapping it on her back with her other sword. Kall meanwhile finding the armor was not that bad a fit, started putting it on. If he was going to fight more monsters, he preferred to do so with some protection. It was heavy and he moved much slower in it, but he felt slightly more secure.
“What was the statue you brought,” asked Tilliana.
“It was like that one,” said Kall, pointing to a corner of the bed where in place of a standard post, a statue of Naemae was carved. All four corners of the bed bore the same figure. Looking around the room, Tilliana realized with a start that the symbols of Naemae covered everything. Indeed it had been the same way downstairs. Not even the temple in Xaarum had that many holy icons crammed into every feature.
“Let’s look in the basement,” said Tilliana, recalling that there had been stairs down leading out of the dining room. She led the two boys back down to the first floor.
“Over there’s the restroom,” said Jozz helpfully when they reached the first floor.
“Thank you,” said Tilliana.
"Just in case you need to go."
"I'm fine at the moment, I assure you," said Tilliana amused.
Jozz grabbed a candle from the dining room table and lighting it he led the way into the basement. The basement appeared to be nothing more than a good sized storage room. Odds and ends were stacked in various places.
Tilliana thought a moment and then walked towards the part of the basement in which direction she guessed the crack to lie.
“Look around,” she said, “there might be a secret door or something.”
It was Kall who found it. A pressed switch revealed a swinging panel of stone in the wall. Tilliana moved to go through it. Jozz and Kall also moved at the same time to go through it.
“Only one can go in front,” said Tilliana patiently.
“I think there should be a rule,” said Kall, “that whoever finds the secret passage gets to go through it first.”
“Ok,” said Tilliana, “but just remember there’s no rule that says I have to heal you when you get killed.”
Kall led the way through the secret panel and into a small hallway. It went straight for about fifteen feet and then they emerged into a room, about thirty feet square. On the far end of the room, in the right hand corner there was a crack in the ground. Four squat, ugly creatures with white blubbery skin, red eyes, bristle like hair and needle filled mouths were working to lift a large stone out of the crack. They looked at the three intruders and hissed.
“What are you doing?” said Kall as he entered the room and saw them.
“Go away! Go Away!” the voices rang in Kall’s head, not in his ears.
“Telepathy,” said Tilliana. The voices rang out in her head as well, as they did in Jozz’s.
“What are you going to do?” asked Kall
“Free the Master! Free the Master!”
“Are they bad?” asked Kall
“They’re bad,” Tilliana drawing her newest sword.
“How do you know they are bad?”
“They just are! Attack them!” said the priestess rushing forward.
She sliced into one and it flew across the room in pieces, almost exploding from the impact. Jozz fired, but his shot was slightly off the mark. Kall charged up alongside of Tilliana, but he found the tough hides of the monsters were thicker than they looked.
“Help me! Help me!” screamed one of the monsters, its silent voice echoing in the heads of the heroes. Whatever help the thing was seeking however failed to appear.
The other two charged Tilliana and scratched and bit at her. Tilliana swung and killed one of them. Jozz moved up alonside her and attempted to stab the other one.
“Darkness!” screamed the telepathic voice of the one that had called for help. The whole room was plunged into utter blackness.
“Daylight!” cried out Tilliana triumphantly, holding aloft her divine focus. The room burst forth with the light of day and the two remaining creatures screamed in horror. Tilliana managed to avoid being bit again, but Kall was not so lucky. His club seemed to be unable to penetrate the leathery hide of the creature he was striking at.
Tilliana sliced open one more of the creatures when the last remaining thing screamed, “Flee!” As the message bounced around in their skulls, both of the boys grew scared. Their breath grew short and sweat broke out on their skin.
Tilliana however was not affected and she planted her sword firmly in the creatures head. As swiftly as it had come, the supernatural fear implanted in the boys vanished. As they watched, the bodies dissolved into a greenish goo and then vanished.
“Let’s take a look at that stone,” said Tilliana, “I want to see if we need to destroy it.”
Neither boy was exactly thrilled at the idea but nevertheless Tilliana coaxed them into helping and soon they had it out. It was shaped like a large wheel, or perhaps like a millstone. On its upward side was written words in strange letters.
“Celestial,” said Tilliana recognizing the writing.
Even as she spoke, from the side of the stone, melding out of it appeared a black claw. It groped and soon the wrist and arm of the creature appeared.
“It seems to be a spell,” said Tilliana, “A spell written in celestial script.”
“Hurry,” said Jozz as the claw groped towards him. There was a whole black arm now somehow stretching out of the stone, as if the stone were water or an illusion of some sort.
Tilliana muttered a brief prayer and then reread the inscription.
“It’s a spell that seems designed to trap demons,” said Tilliana.
“Read it!” said Jozz, panic growing in his eyes as he sidestepped the groping claw.
Tilliana read the spell.
The claw was immediately sucked back into the stone. There was a swirl of darkness in the air and a swooshing and sucking sound as if the three were in the middle of some sort of vortex of air. They felt nothing but their eyes seemed to see a great darkness being drawn into the stone. And then in an instant it was over.
As Tilliana examined the stone the boys examined the rest of the room. Jozz was convinced there was another secret passage in the room. He soon discovered it and the boys dragged Tilliana away from the stone to examine the other room under the house. It was smaller than the first secret room and contained only a chest and a bow. Kall took the bow and looked it over while Jozz popped open the chest. Inside the chest was a great deal of gold coin, as well as a ring and a dagger.
Jozz smiled.
It was not yet noon when Jozz and Kall left Geanavue on a cart going south. In the back of the cart was a large crate, carefully packed and tied down to prevent it from banging around.
Their father, who besides caring for other peoples horses, also did woodwork, had just finished a statue for a man who lived about twenty two miles away from the city. A sudden demand by one of the nobles to break in a horse had meant however that he would not be able to deliver the statue himself. His boys however, he had reasoned, were nearly men and they could make the trip and be back the next day.
“Mr Forgewright’s place is easy to find,” he had told them, “You pass the cemetery on the Zoan road and then take the first path to the right, towards the mountains. Follow that path to the very end. He lives in a tower in the middle of Deepen Wood at the very end of the path. Do you got that? What did I just say?”
They had both seen their father working on the statue. They knew it was of a man, in full plate armor holding a greatsword point down into the ground.
“Stay out of trouble,” their father had warned them as they were pulling away from the house, “If you see giants, run. Don’t try fighting them.”
The twins passed the cemetery south of the city and coming to a path to the right, they took it. The sun slowly moved through the sky as they bumped along in the cart, their horse patiently plodding along at a slow but reliable rate. They passed farms and small communities until at last the houses grew further and further apart and the communities grew increasingly smaller. And then they came to Deepen Woods. It was an old woods, comprised of large, tall trees. Little light escaped to the floor of the woods and there was an ominous feel to the air beneath the leaves. Nevertheless, the two boys entered, their discussion turning to the subject of wolves.
The path through the woods was even less traveled than the rest of the path and the going was slower. They saw no sign of life in the woods until they passed by a house on the right. Even then however they could see no one inside the house. There was no sign that anybody was home. No light inside the building, nobody moving around outside the house.
“Is this the place?” asked Kall.
“Father said it was a tower,” said Jozz and they flicked the reins and continued on down the path.
It was another mile till they reached their destination. There standing alone atop a small rise was a wide, squat tower. The grey stones were large and the windows plain and situated high above the ground. There was a small stable to the right of the tower. It was empty.
The boys pulled the wagon into the stable and loosed the horse and tethered him with a bag of oats to keep him company. Then they opened the back of the cart and pulled off the crate. It was heavy, but between the two of them they managed to get it off the wagon and carry it over to the steps leading up into the tower.
Jozz climbed the steps and knocked using the large brass door-knocker. A solid boom echoed throughout the tower. They waited. No one answered the door. Kall reached out to see if he could open it. It was locked.
“I can open it,” said Jozz and he pulled out his set of lock-picks.
In less than a minute he had the door open and they looked in. It was dark inside.
“I’ll get a lantern,” said Jozz.
“I’ll get my club,” said Kall.
*********************************
It was about an hour after noon when Tilliana left Geanavue heading south. She was riding Prancer, but the war horse was not wearing its barding. Tilliana was after information, not battle.
She had spent the last few days trying to track down anyone who might know more about the area in which her father had built his temple. Almost by accident she had stumbled across the fact that there was another priest of Naemae living west of the city. He was an old man who, she had been told, might have been a friend of her father’s. His name was Dareen Forgewright and he lived in a secluded tower in the midst of remote woods.
“How do you get there?” Tilliana had immediately asked.
“You get to Deepen woods by going south, past the cemetery, which you don’t want to stop at cause it’s haunted, and then you turn west and follow the path for about twenty miles, out past the farms until you get to dark woods. His towers in the middle of the woods.”
“The cemetery is haunted? What can you tell me about that?”
“The cemetery has always been haunted. Spirits, ghost and the like that never hurt anybody. Lately though some people say they have seen skeletons in black robes chasing people with scythes.”
“Oh.”
Her curiosity piqued by the existance of a Servant of the Swift Sword that had not been known to Deochoo and by the hint that he might have known her father, Tilliana set out from Geanavue with a mind full of possibilities.
The ride was long and as she neared Deepen Woods the evening was already beginning to approach. She entered the woods and slowly made her way down the dim path. She felt slightly put off by the quietness of the trees. She could hear no birds and she saw no small animals, such as she might have expected to see.
She began to pass a house on the right. The house seemed strangely alone and quiet. She saw no one around the house and there was no light in any of the windows. There was an ax planted in a stump in front of the house and a lone wagon by the side of the house. But there was no horse and nothing to suggest anybody was present.
Tilliana rode up to the house and dismounted. She left Prancer standing by the stump and walked to the front door. She knocked. There was no answer. She peered in one of the windows and saw nothing. It was too dark inside.
Filled with curiousity, Tilliana went back to the door and tried it. It swung easily open and she entered.
*******************************
Jozz held his lantern up high and led the way into the tower. Kall followed right behind. The front door led into a hallway. There were three doors and Jozz opened the one on the right. The room beyond was a sitting room of sorts. The boys noticed that the decorative motif was the same throughout the room. Statues, wall-hangings, tapestries, paintings and rug all bore the same two emblems. A man in gold full plated armor holding a greatsword and a golden eye set on a background of blue and white diamonds.
“Let’s bring in the crate,” said Jozz. Kall agreed.
They carried the heavy wooden box up the stairs and placed it in the middle of the sitting room. Then they decided to look around further. They still heard no sound indicating anyone was home. They went out of the room and entered into another hallway. There were stairs going up to their left and in front of them was a door to the right of an open doorway. Light streamed out through the doorway and illuminated the whole hall. The room beyond was a library of some sort. Jozz opened the door and looked in by the light of his lantern. It was a bathroom containing a toilet and a sink, each fed by pipes descending from the ceiling.
“Let’s check up stairs,” said Kall and he led Jozz up the stone steps to the second floor of the tower. The stairs opened into a single straight hallway with two doors on either side. Jozz moved to open the first door on the right.
There was a bedroom on the other side of the door. A bad odor lingered in the room which was decorated with the same two emblems as the sitting room, the eye and the warrior. There was a suit of full plate mail standing in one corner of the room, a greatsword in a scabbard leaning against the wall next to it. There was also a dresser and a cedar chest in the room as well, of course, as a bed. There was a man lying in the bed, bundled up in the blankets, his back to the boys.
“Hello, who are you,” said Jozz to the man.
There was no answer. Cautiously they approached the bed.
The man in the bed was dead. Kall looked on horrified.
“Is he Mr. Forgewright?” asked Kall.
“I don’t know,” said Jozz.
The man had obviously been old. His long silver white hair fell down limply around his wrinkled face upon which there was a serene look.
“What do we do now?” asked Kall.
“Let’s check the rest of the upstairs,” anwered Jozz.
There were two other bedrooms and a chapel. The chapel contained a small altar placed before a golden statue of the man holding a greatsword. The last lights of the setting sun streamed through a small stained glass window depicting the golden eye.
The boys decided to go back downstairs.
********************************
Tilliana looked into the small dark house and decided she needed a light. She prayed and brought forth a small divine light from her holy symbol by which she could see. The front room of the house was a mess. There were obvious signs of violence everywhere. Claw marks on the walls and dried blood on the floor told of a recent fight, onethat had occurred within the last day or two perhaps. Tilliana stepped in to get a closer look.
The door slammed shut behind her and she jumped. She saw however that it was just a rock, tied to a string in such a way as to make sure the door closed properly.
There were no bodies in the front room. An open doorway in the back of the room led into a small kitchen. There was also a door on the east wall which she opened. It led to a bedroom in which there were four beds. Lying on the floor of the room in various positions were four bodies.
Tilliana moved to get a closer look. The body closest to her was male. He seemed to have died from severe claw marks of some sort. She bent down to get a closer look.
The eyes opened on the corpse and stared at her. They were yellow and red. The corpse reached out to grab at her but she jumped back, just out of the way. Around the small room all four of the corpses were shambling to their feet.
Her heart pounding, Tilliana raised her holy symbol and prayed. Light burst forth in an explosion of divine energy and the corpses screamed. Their flesh melted and the fell back to the floor, writhing only for a moment and then were still.
With determination Tilliana set out to search the rest of the house for any clues as to what had happened here.
***********************************
Jozz and Kall descended the stairs. As they did so they started to hear a thumping sound. Something was banging around on the first floor. They went through the library and entered into a dining room. The thumping was coming from a door on the other end of the room. Jozz and Kall cautiously approached the door. Jozz held his lantern so that he would be able to see properly and slowly opened the door.
At first he saw nothing moving, and then a figure shuffled into view. It was covered in bandages and an odor of spices lingered in the air around it.
“A mummy!” said Kall.
Jozz raised crossbow and fired at the creature. The bolt stuck in it but seemed to do little. Kall pushed past Jozz and ran at the mummy, slamming at it with his club. He missed and the mummy turned as swatted at him, landing a solid blow on the boy. Jozz, thinking a moment raised his lantern and foregoing the crossbow he ran at the creature, swinging the lantern as a weapon. He struck and the lantern shattered and oil coated the mummy, bursting into fiery flame. Kall, enraged at being struck, swung his club as hard as he could and landed a blow. But it was clear that the fire was doing more to hurt the mummy than the huge club. Jozz tried to stab at the creature with his dagger but the flames kept him back. The mummy, screaming as it burned turned and struck Jozz, knocking him back a step. Again Jozz tried to stab it but with no greater success. Kall ducked a blow from the mummy and struck it once more with his club. The mummy, the flames eating its life away screamed one last time and fell to the ground. The boys quickly put out the small fires that had spread to other parts of the room. There was a sarcophagus in the room, opened, just one of many bizarre relics that filled the room.
********************************
Tilliana found nothing in the house to indicate anything other than the fact that these were simple woodcutters who had been killed in their own house. Frustrated she stepped back out the front door.
She saw immediately that Prancer was frightened by something. It did not take long to figure out what was scaring the young war horse. White skeletal shapes were marching out of the woods towards the house. Tilliana counted at least twenty of them. Slowly but surely they were surrounding her. She gripped her holy symbol and waited.
The rush came quickly. The skeletons, pinpoints of fire in their eyes raised bony claws and moved to attack her. Already prepared, Tilliana raised her silken holy symbol. For the second time that evening, divine light poured forth from it. A majority of the skeletons shreiked silently and crumbled into dust. But not all of them. Three remained and the surrounded the priestess, clawing at her. Prancer snorted and moved as to attack, but it was unnecessary. Tilliana once more called upon Naemae and the remaining three skeletons were smitten into dust.
The priestess, shaken, but not cowered mounted Prancer and headed once more up the trail, further into the dark woods.
*********************************
As they finished beating out the last of the fires, the two boys heard a scream from outside. It was high-pitched and unnerving. They rushed through the dining room to the front door and looked out just in time to see their horse bolting off through the trees. Something had frightened it badly.
There was a red glow, almost like a fire, coming from around the side of the tower. Gripping their weapons they ventured out to see what was making it. They saw first what appeared to be a crack in the ground from which red light streamed in a fiery glow. Then they saw the man shambling towards them, arms outstretched. He came from the direction of the crack and the red light outlined him.
“Uhhhh,” he said and they saw that he seemed to already be dead.
“Uugghh,” came an eerie voice from behind them and they saw another of the walking corpses aproaching from the stable.
Jozz fired and missed and then the two corpses were almost on top of them. They zombies moved slowly and both boys had enough time to ready themselves and attack. Kall struck one of them. The creatures head lolled sideways at a disturbing angle,but still the creature continued to try and press forward to attack Kall. Jozz failed to strike his and for his effort he received a strong, solid slamming punch to his ribs. Kall also was struck. The zombies moved slow but they were strong. Kall swung and missed and then another blow from one of the living dead struck down Jozz.
“My brother!” screamed Kall, and focusing more on swinging as hard as he could, Kall swung around at the creature that had attacked Jozz. He landed his blow and the zombie flew backwards and struck the wall of the tower. It did not move again. Kall redirected his energy at the remaining zombie and swung again missing. He was focusing too much on the force of his swing and not on where he was swinging. Moving nimble, he dodged the next strike and then swung his huge club around and smashed open the zombie which collapsed to the ground.
Kall bent down to see what he could do to aid Jozz who was unconscious. He slapped jozz lightly on the face and made sure he was not bleeding anywhere.
“Uuggghhh.”
Another zombie was slowly crawling out of the crack in the ground. Kall bent over and hefting his brother to his feet he half propelled and half carried him back to the tower and slammed the door shut behind. They went back to the trophy room and the two looked out the window. They could see the crack below them and as they watched they saw zombie after zombie crawling up out of the ground and walking away into the dark woods.
Tilliana healed her minor wounds as she rode through the forest. All was still silent. She heard no owls nor crickets. She heard nothing until she heard the hoofs. As she stared ahead down the path she saw a skeletal rider on a skeletal steed approaching her. The rider carried an ancient spear and when it was close enough, it raised its spear and charged her. Tilliana again raised her holy symbol and the undead horrors crumbled to dust.
She spurred Prancer forward, convinced somehow that something was dreadfully wrong somewhere in this forest. She soon approached a tower from which dim light could be seen in the windows. However it was the bright glow on the left side of the tower that most attracted her attention.
There was someone walking towards her from the direction of the glow. As it drew nearer she saw it was a walking corpse. Dismounting, Tiliana drew her sword and charged. Her sword flashed once, cutting into dead flesh, and then as she dodged a blow it flashed through the air a second time and the zombie fell to the ground in two. She stared out towards the crack and saw another zombie crawling slowly out.
She was not sure what she should do with Prancer so she decided to leave him first in the stables before doing any more fighting. She noticed there was a cart in the stable as well.
Having tethered Prancer she walked towards the glow. The zombie she had seen crawling out of the crackhad made it out and was moving slowly towards her. She waited till it drew closer and then charged. Unfortunately her foot caught on something in the dark and she swung wild. The zombie, grunting incomprehensibly swung at her and she ducked easily out of the way, seeking to regain her balance. Then she swung again. Her sword sank in, but she was too close and a molding fist caught her up alongside her helmet. She swung again and then again and finally the zombie was dead. Even as she stopped and caught her breath she saw another hand groping to reach up over the edge of the glowing crack and get out.
Determining that there must be a reason for a zombie spewing crack of doom she decided to look in the tower.
The door was unlocked and she entered in, her holy symbol illuminating the way. She walked through the front hall and into the dining room. Light from the library spilled into the room and she looked around.
The door on the left side of the dining room opened slowly and an eyed peered out. Then it swung more fully opened and Jozz stumbled out wincing.
“Hi Tilliana,” he said stiffly and weakly, “I don’t suppose you could spare a heal?”
“What are you doing here?”
“We were delivering a statue and we were attacked by zombies.”
“Who were you delivering it to?”
“Mr. Forgewright.”
“Come here,” said Tilliana. She saw Kall looking out the doorway and motioned him over as well. She reached out and touching their wounds she channeled the positive energies of her god into their bodies. The bruises cleared and the boys felt whole again. When they were healed she walked into the room they had been in and looked out the window as they had done. Below she could see the glowing crack and the zombie that was slowly crawling out.
“Is there anyone in the house?” she asked them.
“Yes,” said Jozz, “He’s dead.”
“Upstairs,” added Kall.
“Show me,” said Tilliana and so the boys led her up the stairs to the bedroom containing the body of the old man. Tilliana looked briefly at the body, the first she had seen that evening that was not still moving. Then she tried to look in the chest. It was locked.
“Let me,” said Jozz and he had it open in a flash.
Inside were blankets. Packed atop the blankets were three bottles, each containing a golden liquid. Jozz reached out and opening one he took a sip. It was sweet and felt uplifting.
“Potions of healing,” guessed Tilliana after hearing Jozz try to describe it. She handed one to Kall and took the third for herself. Then she turned her attention to the armor and the sword. While she looked at the sword and Kall admired the armor, Jozz looked more closely at the body on the bed. He saw there was a ring on the finger of the corpse. Swiftly the boy pulled it off and placed it upon his own finger.
Tilliana muttered a brief prayer and the sword started to glow. She looked at it with a smile. Then she noticed something else in the room glowing. The ring on Jozz’s finger was glowing, as was the medallion upon her neck. She had never bothered to check the amulet before to see if it was magical. It obviously was.
Tilliana took the sword, strapping it on her back with her other sword. Kall meanwhile finding the armor was not that bad a fit, started putting it on. If he was going to fight more monsters, he preferred to do so with some protection. It was heavy and he moved much slower in it, but he felt slightly more secure.
“What was the statue you brought,” asked Tilliana.
“It was like that one,” said Kall, pointing to a corner of the bed where in place of a standard post, a statue of Naemae was carved. All four corners of the bed bore the same figure. Looking around the room, Tilliana realized with a start that the symbols of Naemae covered everything. Indeed it had been the same way downstairs. Not even the temple in Xaarum had that many holy icons crammed into every feature.
“Let’s look in the basement,” said Tilliana, recalling that there had been stairs down leading out of the dining room. She led the two boys back down to the first floor.
“Over there’s the restroom,” said Jozz helpfully when they reached the first floor.
“Thank you,” said Tilliana.
"Just in case you need to go."
"I'm fine at the moment, I assure you," said Tilliana amused.
Jozz grabbed a candle from the dining room table and lighting it he led the way into the basement. The basement appeared to be nothing more than a good sized storage room. Odds and ends were stacked in various places.
Tilliana thought a moment and then walked towards the part of the basement in which direction she guessed the crack to lie.
“Look around,” she said, “there might be a secret door or something.”
It was Kall who found it. A pressed switch revealed a swinging panel of stone in the wall. Tilliana moved to go through it. Jozz and Kall also moved at the same time to go through it.
“Only one can go in front,” said Tilliana patiently.
“I think there should be a rule,” said Kall, “that whoever finds the secret passage gets to go through it first.”
“Ok,” said Tilliana, “but just remember there’s no rule that says I have to heal you when you get killed.”
Kall led the way through the secret panel and into a small hallway. It went straight for about fifteen feet and then they emerged into a room, about thirty feet square. On the far end of the room, in the right hand corner there was a crack in the ground. Four squat, ugly creatures with white blubbery skin, red eyes, bristle like hair and needle filled mouths were working to lift a large stone out of the crack. They looked at the three intruders and hissed.
“What are you doing?” said Kall as he entered the room and saw them.
“Go away! Go Away!” the voices rang in Kall’s head, not in his ears.
“Telepathy,” said Tilliana. The voices rang out in her head as well, as they did in Jozz’s.
“What are you going to do?” asked Kall
“Free the Master! Free the Master!”
“Are they bad?” asked Kall
“They’re bad,” Tilliana drawing her newest sword.
“How do you know they are bad?”
“They just are! Attack them!” said the priestess rushing forward.
She sliced into one and it flew across the room in pieces, almost exploding from the impact. Jozz fired, but his shot was slightly off the mark. Kall charged up alongside of Tilliana, but he found the tough hides of the monsters were thicker than they looked.
“Help me! Help me!” screamed one of the monsters, its silent voice echoing in the heads of the heroes. Whatever help the thing was seeking however failed to appear.
The other two charged Tilliana and scratched and bit at her. Tilliana swung and killed one of them. Jozz moved up alonside her and attempted to stab the other one.
“Darkness!” screamed the telepathic voice of the one that had called for help. The whole room was plunged into utter blackness.
“Daylight!” cried out Tilliana triumphantly, holding aloft her divine focus. The room burst forth with the light of day and the two remaining creatures screamed in horror. Tilliana managed to avoid being bit again, but Kall was not so lucky. His club seemed to be unable to penetrate the leathery hide of the creature he was striking at.
Tilliana sliced open one more of the creatures when the last remaining thing screamed, “Flee!” As the message bounced around in their skulls, both of the boys grew scared. Their breath grew short and sweat broke out on their skin.
Tilliana however was not affected and she planted her sword firmly in the creatures head. As swiftly as it had come, the supernatural fear implanted in the boys vanished. As they watched, the bodies dissolved into a greenish goo and then vanished.
“Let’s take a look at that stone,” said Tilliana, “I want to see if we need to destroy it.”
Neither boy was exactly thrilled at the idea but nevertheless Tilliana coaxed them into helping and soon they had it out. It was shaped like a large wheel, or perhaps like a millstone. On its upward side was written words in strange letters.
“Celestial,” said Tilliana recognizing the writing.
Even as she spoke, from the side of the stone, melding out of it appeared a black claw. It groped and soon the wrist and arm of the creature appeared.
“It seems to be a spell,” said Tilliana, “A spell written in celestial script.”
“Hurry,” said Jozz as the claw groped towards him. There was a whole black arm now somehow stretching out of the stone, as if the stone were water or an illusion of some sort.
Tilliana muttered a brief prayer and then reread the inscription.
“It’s a spell that seems designed to trap demons,” said Tilliana.
“Read it!” said Jozz, panic growing in his eyes as he sidestepped the groping claw.
Tilliana read the spell.
The claw was immediately sucked back into the stone. There was a swirl of darkness in the air and a swooshing and sucking sound as if the three were in the middle of some sort of vortex of air. They felt nothing but their eyes seemed to see a great darkness being drawn into the stone. And then in an instant it was over.
As Tilliana examined the stone the boys examined the rest of the room. Jozz was convinced there was another secret passage in the room. He soon discovered it and the boys dragged Tilliana away from the stone to examine the other room under the house. It was smaller than the first secret room and contained only a chest and a bow. Kall took the bow and looked it over while Jozz popped open the chest. Inside the chest was a great deal of gold coin, as well as a ring and a dagger.
Jozz smiled.