Vorput said:
I thought you'd all be happy to know that in an upcoming Eberron game starting in 2-ish weeks, inspired by this story hour- I'll be playing a gnome.
Excellent! You're going to be playing a beguiler, aren't you? After all, every gnome, even at its mother's knee, already has levels in beguiler
And in further celebration of your impending gnomishness, here's the next instalment. As mentioned earlier, I'm jumping forward to the
Serenity's departure from Aundair.
* * * * * * * * * *
The Angels stand near the rear of the
Serenity, watching the walls and towers of Fairhaven retreat slowly behind them, their glow turning from silver to gold in the light of the westering sun. “Well, that wasn’t too bad,” says Korm.
“Yes,” agrees Nameless dryly. “We came out of there alive, haven’t added too many enemies that I know of, and Luna didn’t kill anyone – also, that I know of. I can’t remember the last trip we had of the kind.”
“That’s all right,” says Korm, with equal pessimism and cheerfulness. “We’ve got more than enough time for people to kill us before we finish the trip.”
* * * * *
His statement comes back to Korm as his eyes nap open to the sound of a dull pounding sound and screams, coming from somewhere below him, muffled by distance and the snoring of Luna in her bear form a few feet away. It is nearly a day and a half since they left Fairhaven and early at night on the 21st, less than a full day before the
Serenity is to reach Korth.
Grabbing his weapons and rushing out of the door, Korm is met by Nameless emerging hurriedly from his chamber. They both hurry past the two surprised looking guards standing before the door leading to the antechamber outside Haydith’s and the two diplomats’ chambers, and into the princess’ room. “Something’s going on below decks,” says Nameless. “We’ll investigate and be right back.”
Rising hurriedly, Gareth begins to cast a number of spells, but the alienist stops him. “Don’t get hasty. This might be a ploy to use up our resources. But I can spare a little just to be safe.” He casts one of his most powerful conjurations, causing a winged angel with a hawklike face to appear. The angel glances around and then turns a keen gaze on Nameless. “Your command?” Nameless indicates Haydith. “Guard her from any harm.” As he turns and head out the door, he pauses to jerk a thumb at Gareth, “And don’t listen to him.”
The paladin’s aggrieved, “Hey!” follows Nameless and Korm as they emerge and hurry in the opposite direction, towards the ladders leading up and down. As they reach them and head downwards, Six appears, descending from the main deck above.
The three Angels descend quickly towards the main hold, and meet the sources of the screams, two terrified and fleeing crewmen. Korm grabs one and shakes him. “Snap out of it! What happened?”
The man gasps, “In the hold! We heard a noise and went in and….” His compatriot interrupts hurriedly, “The monsters! They killed Kayni!” The continuing pounding sounds from behind them, now significantly louder and accompanied by that of smashing wood, indicate the source of their fear.
“Get upstairs and warn the crew!” snaps Korm, before heading towards the hold, followed closely by Nameless. Six pauses to call on the new powers of the harness and the black tendrils of shadow cover him and his chain. The two already scared crewmen take one look at the process and run for the exit.
Meanwhile, bursting into the hold, Korm immediately locates the monsters they mentioned. Standing a good ten feet tall, roughly humanoid in shape, with craggy arms ending in bludgeon-like globes of stone, three earth elementals stare back at Korm for a moment. Smashed and broken crates stand around them, amidst which lies the battered body of the unfortunate Kayni. Two have been pounding on the hull of the airship, and a spiderweb of thick cracks shows that some more damage might actually have breached it.
With an inarticulate warcry, the Gatekeeper rushes in, swinging a blow that puts a deep crack into one of the elementals’ torsos, though the creature’s rocky exterior is less pervious than a fleshy target would be. Immediately, the three swarm over him, mighty fists swinging. Despite his plethora of magical protections, they hurt when they hit, and with six fists smashing at him, Korm can’t avoid taking multiple painful blows.
“You might want to consider dodging a bit,” suggests Nameless, as his
magic missiles blast holes in the stony lump that passes for one elemental’s head. Korm snarls back, “You think? I had no idea that might be an option!” and uses the anger to drive his blade right through the elemental’s weakened head. There is a dull rumble as the creature’s body crumbles, followed by a soft hiss of air as the falling debris whiffs out of existence.
“Summoned,” comments Nameless, as he hurls another spell. “I thought so, since they have an aura of conjuration around them.”
Korm has no time to ponder this revelation, as a stony fist hammers into his side, cracking ribs, while another glances off his parrying blade and scrapes his forehead. “Dammit, Six!” he calls, hurriedly casting a healing spell before striking back, “Get your metal ass in here!”
In response, a dark and shadowy form dives through the doorway, spiked chain – now bathed in black flames – lashing out to slash and scorch chunks from one of the remaining elementals. With Six joining in, the three Angels quickly dispatch the remaining elementals, each of which disappears like the first.
Korm, breathing heavily and bleeding, looks around and asks, “All right. So where did they come from? Those were big, so someone using a
Summon Nature’s Ally would need a version of the fifth power for each, or have to get lucky with one of the sixth power.” As he begins to heal himself, Nameless rises into the air and begins to scan the area, while Six moves over to check the damage to the hull. “They almost broke through,” he comments.
“An airship can fly perfectly even with its hull breached,” says Nameless, “But I don’t want to have to test that quali… hold on – I found something.” He indicates an area to the side and flies down. “I don’t see anyth…,” begins Korm, and then his eyes catch the glint of reflected light from the hold’s
everburning torches in something on the ground. Nameless carefully picks it up with his fingertips and brings it over, to show the others multiple pieces of some shattered crystalline object. “Elemental gems,” the alienist says with certainty. “Three. That’s how they summoned the elementals.”
“So it’s probably not a spellcaster, or not a powerful one hopefully,” says Korm. “Six, can you find any tracks?”
“No,” says Six, who is already scanning the area around the spot where the gems lay. “None at all.”
“We need to get Luna here and see if she can sniff something out,” says Nameless. “Speaking of which, how come she isn’t here?” Korm shrugs. “No idea. She was still snoring when I ran out the door, which is a little unusual, since she can normally hear a fly take a crap a hundred feet away. She seems to be sleeping a lot more heavily recently.”
“I wonder if it has anything to do with that pregnancy that Mordain mentioned,” says Nameless, and then looks quizzically at Korm and Six. “I never did get around to asking what she found out from the Jorasco healer-cum-midwife she went to.”
“Umm…,” Korm hesitates, and then slowly says, “Luna said that, as far as the Jorasco woman could tell, she’s not pregnant.”
“Really? I should speak to her about it. Somehow I doubt Mordain was pulling our legs. I wonder if she was told anything else that might be worth investigating.”
Korm and Six exchange glances. If Nameless speaks to Luna, the rest of the hitherto unmentioned details about the visit will emerge. Probably in way more graphic detail than if they cover it themselves. After a few seconds, Korm sighs and says, “There’s a bit more we didn’t mention.”
“And…?”
“Six and I went with her … and got … examined too. We’re not pregnant either.”
When Maddox and four Karrnathi guards rush into the hold a few seconds later, they’re more than a little surprised to find the normally forbidding alienist laughing so hard that he has to hold onto a crate to stay upright.
* * *
Once Nameless has recovered, they head back to the princess’ cabin. Entering the antechamber, the group is joined by Gustavus and Theda, who emerge, both red-faced and breathing a little heavily, from the former’s room. The Angels, after a couple of surprised glances, simply ask them to follow to Haydith’s chamber. There, they inform the princess and Gareth – who had been warned of a commotion by Maddox as he led his men downstairs – what had happened and say that they should stay together in her room while they perform a search of the ship. Then Luna, still snoring blissfully, is woken up and taken to the hold.
After sniffing around in the form of a singularly obese bloodhound, Luna says, via her magical tongue, “No scent besides all of you and the three crewmen. Nobody else has been here in hours, or at least nobody that I can make out.”
“Magic?” asks Six. Nameless shakes his head. “I’d have at least picked up a lingering aura, if it’s a spell strong enough to mask any tracking. My money’s on undead.”
“It is possible,” says Maddox grimly. “The more well-preserved of undead leave no scent.”
“All right, then,” says Nameless. “Let’s assume we have at least one undead on board. We’re going to have to cover this entire ship. This’ll take a while.”
Over the course of the next hour, the Angels, accompanied by Maddox and a couple of guards, move in a group over the entire ship, scanning for magic, talking to crew-members, guards and everyone else on board, and looking for signs of anything suspicious. The search is completely abortive, doing little more than tiring and irritating most of those involved.
“Well, that didn’t do much,” complains Luna, as the group proceeds back towards the Angels’ sleeping quarters and the princess’ chamber. “I wasn’t really expecting it to,” admits Nameless, “But it doesn’t hurt to try. Of course, the chances are the aim of the attack was to distra….” He never finishes the sentence, as the sound of multiple muffled screams and shouts breaks out behind them, towards the front of the ship. In unison, the group turns and rushes back the way they came.
A few seconds of hurried running serves to narrow the source of the continuing shouting to the area where the Karrnathi guardsmen are quartered. Rushing into the hallway which their rooms open onto, the Angels see all of the doors open, with the sounds of fighting coming from one of the rooms.
Six and Korm reach the doorway first, to find a chaotic melee in progress in the large bunkroom beyond. Half a dozen half-clad Karrnathi warriors are engaged with four shadowy figures that flit around among them. The roughly humanoid forms flow back and forth silently, their incorporeal nature making them immune to most of the blows leveled at them, while their shadowy claws reach easily into their targets. Most of the Karrnathis are pale and stagger more and more weakly with each hit, and two already lie dead.
Six and Korm focus on a single shadow, their magical weapons quickly ripping it to shreds, even though half their blows fail to connect. Some of the guards do have magical weapons, it seems, since another shadow falls apart. But even as the two undead are now truly slain, a third guard falls, drained and dead, to the floor. And more worryingly, the two corpses already on the ground fall in on themselves, transforming in instants from flesh to darkness, until two more shadows rise in their stead. The four shadows, with strange coordination, fly towards the walls or begin to sink into the floor.
“Stop them!” shouts Nameless from the doorway, as Luna squeezes her way through. “If they get away, they can go anywhere on the ship!”
“Done!” says Maddox, shouldering his way past the alienist. The bone knight’s gauntleted hand holds aloft the holy symbol of the Blood of Vol, and as he calls on his strange powers a flash of gray light envelops the room. Everyone around him feels a momentary chill, and the shadows halt instantly, half-buried in the wooden partitions of the ship. “You cannot escape!” says Maddox firmly, and then snaps to his allies, “All right. Destroy them!”
Korm, Six and Luna quickly comply, the helpless shadows falling apart in seconds, a couple of them actually being forced by Maddox to emerge from the woodwork and make themselves into easier targets.
“Good work, Maddox,” says Nameless. The bone knight simply nods and then says, “Watch him,” indicating the lone corpse. The Angels prepare themselves, and the emerging shadow has barely a second of unlife before it is destroyed.
Maddox immediately turns to the Karrnathi soldiers and begins to question them. They explain that they, being among the off-duty contingent, had been about to turn in or had already done so when five shadows emerged through the floor and began to attack. Some of them, from the room across the corridor, had heard the commotion and rushed in to try and help, and they had slain one before the Angels arrived. Maddox commands them to remain armed and armored for the time being and then heads outside with the Angels.
“These undead couldn’t have been the ones who used the
elemental gems, right?” asks Korm, as they head back towards their rooms once more.
“No,” says Maddox. “They’re incorporeal.”
“And they weren’t summoned,” says Nameless. “No magical auras. Which means that they were already on this ship.”
“And we have someone else who brought the elementals. This gets better and better,” says Six. “I wonder what’s next.”
The answer comes quickly, as they reach the princess’ cabin, which now has some extra guards, all looking extremely tense, around it. The senior-most one turns and hurriedly salutes Maddox. “There’s been a murder, sir. Lord Gustavus Thul has been killed.”
* * *
“Two of the guards came to warn us that there was more fighting going on toward the front of the ship,” explains Gareth, in the now quite crowded area of the princess’ chambers, “And Haydith told them to ask both Theda and Gustavus, who had returned to their rooms, to join us. The guards found him dead.” Haydith, sitting beside Gareth and looking composed, if very pale, nods silently. So does Theda, sitting nearby and looking relatively calm.
“All right,” says Nameless. “Everyone stay here. We’ll check the scene.”
Leaving Gareth to keep an eye on Haydith, the others proceed into Gustavus’ room. It looks much as it did when they saw it last – except for the corpse. Lord Gustavus Thel looks shrunken and undignified in death, sprawled awkwardly on his side next to the tipped over chair from his desk, drying blood pooled around him from the ebony-handled dagger buried in the back of his neck.
“Looks like he was about to write something,” says Six, pointing at the fallen pen whose ink has smeared a sheet of paper on the table. “And he saw the murderer come in, if he came in the door, since the desk faces that way.”
“Unless he
dimension doored in, came in invisibly or something else,” says Nameless. “Definitely not one of those shadows, however. If it was an undead, then it’s one who uses weapons.”
“Not undead,” says Luna in a tinny voice due to her tongue, as she looks up from carefully sniffing the area. “Theda’s scent is all over the dagger.”
“You sure?” asks Korm. “We did see her come out of the room with him earlier, and I thought they might have been getting a little frisky. Sure looked all excited.”
“I’m damn sure. Her scent’s in the room too, but it’s definitely on the dagger. Only hers.”
“Okay, we’ll go talk to her. But first let’s finish checking this room and then hers.” The Angels do so, searching both thoroughly. They find nothing that is really incriminating, but do collect all the documents, diplomatic and otherwise, before returning to the princess. There, they ask Gareth to accompany them outside for a moment, where they quickly explain what they found.
Returning to the chamber, Nameless says, “We have a few things to say, but first – remove that ring and give it to me.” He indicates the one on Theda’s finger, which he knows is one of
mind shielding.
I’m beginning to think every politician – and gnome – on this continent has one of these damn rings!
“What? I don’t understand! Are you accus…,” Theda begins indignantly, when cut off by Gareth. “Please, princess, would you command her to do so?”
Haydith looks quizzically at Gareth, but then nods her head. “Theda. Please comply with what Gar… they say.” The diplomat takes a deep breath and mutters, “As your Highness commands,” and does so.
“Thank you,” says Nameless, taking the ring. He nods slightly at Gareth, who has wandered over to a position behind Theda, and the paladin’s eyes begin to gleam with silver light as he attempts to
detect thoughts on her. “Let’s start with a simple question,” says the alienist. “Why did you kill Gustavus?”
Gareth’s ability, now heightened by Mordain’s modifications, easily finds its way through Theda’s not inconsiderable mental defenses, and he finds himself faced with the roiling mass of confusion that are her surface thoughts. Emotions of fear and anger overlay all the others, and for a moment Gareth expects that he will be able to work out very quickly what she is thinking. Then, to his surprise, he finds that she is holding her thoughts under iron control, almost as if she were afraid to verbalize to even herself what she is currently thinking. Even the most rigid of self-control, however, cannot prevent her from thinking of an answer to a question, and the words,
“They know!” leap to the surface of her mind. Followed instantly by,
“Because he was a fool and a traitor!”
Aloud, Theda says, “What? Are you insane?” before whirling to face Haydith. “Princess! You cannot believe them!” From behind her, Gareth nods at Nameless and then says to the princess, “She is lying.” Haydith looks curiously at his gleaming eyes, and he explains, “I can see her thoughts right now. She did it.” Luna growls from her position nearby, “And her scent is all over the weapon.”
Theda pales but continues to protest. Haydith looks uncertain for a few seconds, looking almost helplessly back and forth between her and Gareth, but then her expression firms. “I am sorry, Theda. You have been a loyal and valued servant to Karrnath, but I believe them. Gareth and the others have no reason to lie.” She pauses, and then adds, with a touch of steel in her voice, “Tell the truth and it will be the better for you.”
“Listen to your princess,” says Gareth, as persuasively as he can. “Tell us why you killed Gustavus. And who you are working for, how you brought the undead on board, and who your allies on board are.”
“The undead?” Theda stares at her interrogator’s glowing eyes and then back to Haydith. “I had nothing to do with that. I promise you, princess, I would never do anything to harm you or the royal family. I … I … did kill Gustavus, under cover of the commotion outside, but it was with no intention to harm you. It was for the sake of Karrnath. You must believe me!”
“”She’s telling the truth,” adds Gareth. “Or at least, believes she is, for what it’s worth.”
Maddox, who has been studying Theda silently with a forbidding expression since the Angels revealed her guilt, says, “Many people think they are acting for the good of Karrnath. Not all are correct.”
Nameless says, “Perhaps you are telling the truth about not being in cahoots with our attackers. But that still leaves the question of why you killed Gustavus. Why did you?” Gareth, continuing to read Theda’s mind, picks up the thought,
“Because he would have revealed …no, I must not even think it!” The diplomat clamps down on her own thoughts with a terrific mental effort, which only Gareth is in a position to appreciate, and turns to Haydith with sweat beading her brow. She bites her lip for a moment and then falls at the princess’s feet, clasping her around the knee.
Or, more precisely, attempts to. A couple of blades flash out to block her path and Korm’s huge fist meets her chin even as a spiked chain flashes around her ankle and deposits her on the ground, a second before a huge paw lands on her shoulders. As Theda screams, Luna asks conversationally, “Should I rip her head off?” For a moment, the near certainty of death flares in Theda’s mind, and Gareth notes that the emotion of great fear that accompanies it is strangely laced with a slight sense of relief.
“Princess!” babbles the woman on the floor, her face already purpling, “I simply meant to fall at your feet! Please – do not let them question me further. I beg you – leave it to your brother. What I have done I have done for Karrnath! Let the king judge me. You know he is not kind or gentle to those he thinks have transgressed, but he should be the one to condemn me, if any. These strangers must not know or ask why I killed Gustavus. Please! As you said, I have given my life to Karrnath! Believe me, I would n….” The speech breaks off into a pained gasp as Luna applies a little pressure. “Bored now!” says the druid. “So – can I?”
Haydith remains silent for a few seconds, and then rises to her feet. “Let her rise.”
“Oh, come on! Sh…,” begins Luna, before the princess says, this time in a tone of command belying her years, “Do it! She is still a servant of the Crown.” Luna wrinkles her snout in irritation and removes her paw. Theda only rises to her knees and then carefully extends a trembling hand to touch Haydith’s leg. “Thank you, princess! This is more important than you know.”
“I hope so, for your sake,” says Haydith evenly, before addressing the others. “I shall let my brother judge her, as she asks. Keep her bound and under strict watch.”
“Are you sure, princess?” asks Gareth. “There are many ways to hide the truth, and she can be a danger to you. After all, we’re fairly sure that there is still someone on board who summoned the elementals and somehow got the shadows aboard. This is one more complication for our aim of protecting you.”
“Yes, I am sure. I will not execute her out of hand without knowing further why Gustavus was killed, and that is better done before the King.”
With the decision made, the Angels and Maddox quickly follow Haydith’s commands. Theda, actually weeping with relief, is taken to a nearby cabin and left, tied and under guard. As they leave her, Six comments, “I think that counts for one of the many daggers, not all wielded by the same hand, that we were told we shall encounter. I wonder what it is she is hiding.”
“Whatever it is,” says Gareth, “It’s something that has her really scared.” He shrugs. “I’m curious, but right now I’m much more concerned about Haydith’s security.”
With that in mind, he returns again to the princess’ chamber, while the others – beginning to tire with the lack of sleep and constant exertions – retire to their rooms. Six, unaffected by such matters, returns to the main deck, while Korm moves to Nameless’ room. With Luna’s snoring no longer a factor, both he and the alienist quickly fall asleep.
* * *
Some time later, Nameless comes awake to the painful feeling of something hard bumping his forehead. In the near gloom of the chamber, lit only by an
everburning torch with a nightshade, his bleary eyes note that it is Edgar. The strange familiar, who usually naps beside Nameless’ pillow, is leaping forward on his spidery legs to butt the alienist in the skull.
“Wake up, you idiot!” comes the mental command.
Nameless’ eyes snap wide and he begins to sit up, before he notices the source of Edgar’s alarm. A dark figure leans over the side of the bed, a hand shooting out towards the alienist with lightning speed. Nameless only has a second to note the feral, glowing red eyes, set deep in a bone-white face above the hooked nose and the grinning mouth full of gleaming fangs.
And then the vampire’s claws rip his throat open from ear to ear.