Tales of the Legacy - Concluded

[Delemental]

Feeling Swamped

And now, we return you to your regularly scheduled Story Hour...

* * *​

The group left town early the next day, hoping to get a good start on their long trip to Laeshir. They guessed that the journey would take about three weeks to complete. Along the way the group talked about a great many things – it was the first chance that they’d had since finishing school to get to know each other outside of a mission. There was some discussion over where the group would go after their stop in Laeshir, but nothing was decided for certain, and they agreed to wait until after concluding their business in the dwarven city to make a final decision.

For the first day or two Autumn spoke little, still upset over their decision to leave the shadar-kai unmolested. But she returned to her former spirits eventually, and was even seen smiling by the fourth day of their trip through the forest. Kyle was more talkative than ever, however, perhaps reveling in the fact that his deafness had been cured. He was seen wandering back and forth to the other members of the group, asking them questions and occasionally making notes in one of his books.

A break in the monotony of the forest came on the fifth day of their trip. Kavan had climbed a tree to get their bearings, and when he came down reported seeing signs of a small village up ahead about an hour’s walk away.

“Good,” said Osborn, chewing on a chunk of bacon. “Maybe they’ll have something to eat there besides trail rations.”

“Osborn,” said Arrie, “we’ve only been on the trail for five days now.”

He caught her in a level stare. “One day of trail rations is one day too many.”

They continued on without further discussion of the subject. The group chatted amiably as they walked, but as they came around and caught sight of the village, the words died in their throats.

The village looked as though it had once consisted of about fifty buildings, though only half that stood now. Thick, choking vines seemed to have wrapped themselves around some of the structures, and appeared to be literally tearing them apart. The entire village was eerily quiet, with no sounds of dogs barking or children playing. A pungent smell wafted across the village and assaulted their noses. The only sign that anyone had ever lived here was the prone figure in the center of the street ahead of them, lying motionless in the summer sun.

“Is he dead?” asked Kyle.

Tolly squinted. “It’s hard to tell from here,” he said. “Maybe.”

Kavan pushed his way forward and began walking toward the prone figure. “We should see if he needs help,” he said simply.

A few of the others stammered out mild protests about ambushes and plagues, but the warnings went unheeded. Kavan knelt down by the man and turned him over.

“He’s alive,” he called out, “but very sick.”

Tolly approached and knelt next to Kavan, studying the man. He frowned. “Slimy doom,” he said, “very nasty. Turns the victim’s innards into ooze.”

“Can you cure him?” asked Lanara, who was holding a cloth up to her face.

“Perhaps,” said Tolly, “but not today. I would need time to request the proper rituals from Ardara.”

Kavan nodded his head to indicate that the same was true for him. “Perhaps there’s a healer here in this town,” he said, standing up.

Just then another figure came running up from behind one of the few undamaged buildings. “Hello!” he cried, waving his arms in the air.

“Greetings, friend,” said Kavan, extending his hand.

“Oh, it’s been so long since we’ve seen anyone come through here!” the young man exclaimed. He looked over the group, eyeing their weapons and armor. “Oh, please, tell me you’re adventurers.”

The group looked at each other. “Well, yes, we are,” said Arrie.

“Thank the gods!” he shouted. “Please, you have to help us. We’re being attacked!”

Hands went to the hilts of weapons immediately. “Attacked? Who? Where?” Arrie barked.

“There’s this crazy hin that lives in the swamp! He’s been coming to our village for the past two weeks now. He sends wild animals to attack us, he makes the plants rise up and destroy our homes! He’s been sending plagues to kill us off slowly!”

“All right, all right, slow down,” said Arrie. “I’m sure we can help.” She glanced over at Kavan, who was still looking at the man on the ground. “But first we need to see your healer.” She looked over at Tolly. “Is this slimy doom stuff contagious?”

When Tolly shook his head, she and Kavan picked up the unconscious man and carried him into the village, following the young man. They arrived at a small building on the edge of town, and Kavan went inside while Arrie laid the man down out front.

Inside an old, stooped woman with bright eyes like a bird was shuffling over to a pot of boiling water, clutching a handful of roots and leaves in her hand. On the floor next to her was a young woman, obviously just as ill as the man outside. The young woman was shivering despite the heat of the day, and in the dim light of the house Kavan saw that her lips were blue.

“Are you the healer?” Kavan asked.

“Aye, Mahina’s my name, stranger.”

“I am Kavan. My friends and I found a man outside the village. He appears to have contracted a disease called slimy doom. Can you help him?”

Mahina looked up at Kavan and shook her head sadly. “I can make him comfortable, but I cannot cure him, son. These diseases are beyond my skills. I’m just a poor old woman who knows a few tricks with elixirs and poultices.”

“Diseases? You mean there’s more than one?”

“Aye, son. Ever since that hin showed up from the swamp. Most of them I’ve never even heard of, like this ‘slimy doom’ of yours. But the ones I do know… like her, for example,” Mahina pointed with a crooked finger at the shivering woman on the floor. “I read once a long time ago about a disease called ‘devil chills’ that literally freezes you from the inside out. This looks exactly like what the book described, but how can that be? Devil chills only come from contact with devils. There’ve been no devils in our village that I’ve seen, unless that hin is one himself.”

Kavan thanked Mahina for her time and withdrew from the home to share what he’d learned from the healer.

“Neither Kavan nor I can do anything about the sick villagers until tomorrow at the earliest,” Tolly said. “Perhaps we should deal with this hin that is causing the problem.”

“He sounds like a druid to me,” said Kyle. “The attacks that we’ve heard about remind me of some of the spells we saw Ghurka use.”

Arrie turned to address the young man that had approached them. “Where is this hin?”

“He lives in the swamp,” he said.

“Do you know where, exactly?” Kyle asked.

“I’m not sure,” said the man, “but if I were him I’d be living in the ruins of the old castle.”

“Who would build a castle in the swamp?” asked Lanara. “Wouldn’t it sink?” *

“Don’t ask me,” the man said. I just know it’s there, about two hours walk from here. Most of it’s ruins, but parts are intact. There’s an old cobblestone road that leads to the ruins from here through the swamp. It’s a bit slippery, but better than wading up to your waist through the muck.”

“Sounds promising,” said Arrie. “We’ll check it out.”

“Someone should stay at the village,” said Tolly, “in case this hin returns while we’re gone.”

“I’ll stay,” said Autumn. “Field plate doesn’t do well in a marsh. Besides, I may be more resistant to the hin’s magic than others.”

“I’ll stay too,” offered Osborn. “I can try and set some booby traps for him if he does come back.”

The rest of the group tied their horses up in the center of the village and set out for the swamp. The edge of the marsh was only a quarter mile from the village. Soon the group was sloshing through dank water, following the barely visible outlines of the cobblestone trail. As promised, the footing was treacherous, and within fifteen minutes only Arrie and Xu had managed not to slip and fall in the slimy water.

“Hey, Kyle,” Lanara said, spitting out strands of rotten plants, “you got one of those ‘clean-up’ spells handy?”

“You mean prestidigitation? Yeah, but only one.” He looked around at the mostly soggy group. “It’d probably be better if I saved it for after we leave the swamp.”

Lanara grimaced, and kept walking, hoping the water wouldn’t ruin her leather outfit.

During the exchange, Xu was looking around, admiring the swamp. She had been trained to notice the details that others missed, and she was able to pick out spots of bright color amidst the gloom. Her eyes lit upon a large, bright green vine dangling on a branch overhead. It appeared far larger and healthier than the others nearby. But as she stepped forward to get a closer look, the vine suddenly twitched, then shot out and wrapped itself around her neck. Gurgling, Xu was lifted off the ground, kicking.

The others instantly turned at the commotion. “Assassin vine!” Lanara gasped.

The group moved in to help Xu. Lanara threw a flask of some foul, brown liquid, which seemed to eat away at the vine. Tolly and Arrie took swings at it, as did Kavan. Xu herself managed to escape the vine’s grasp, and jumped up into the tree to attack the deadly plant at its roots. Kyle, seeing that his line of fire was clear, stepped up and let loose a blast of fire from his palm, burning the vine badly. In response, it lashed out at the wizard, wrapping itself around his neck. Kyle was not as well trained in breaking a grapple as Xu, and soon he began to turn blue.

The others laid into the vine with renewed fury. Kavan sent healing energy into Kyle to keep him from being asphyxiated, while the others pounded away. Soon all that was left of the assassin vine was a mass of shredded plant matter, oozing with a milky white fluid.

The party set out again, making their way to the old ruins. But only a few minutes later Arrie yelped as her boot came down in a hole in the trail and she felt the sting of several pairs of fangs. As she jumped back, five large copperhead snakes wriggled out of the hole and went after the other party members. Though the snakes were quickly dispatched, the party had to spend the next several minutes inspecting their calves for bites. Fortunately, no one appeared to have been seriously poisoned.

“My, such a warm, inviting place this is,” grumbled Lanara.

They continued their trek, this time walking slowly to avoid more mishaps. Even so, the loose stones under their feet sometimes gave way, and sent someone into the water. Still, by some miracle, Arrie and Xu remained clean and dry… at least from the knees up.

Kavan’s head suddenly perked up. His keen ears had picked up a faint sound in the distance, over the burbling of the swamp and the cries of various animals.

“Listen,” he said, calling a halt to their march. “Do you hear that?”

They all strained to hear. Soon the noise became louder – a pitiful, desperate sound of a young child calling for help.

“Someone’s lost!” Kavan said. He jumped off the old stone path, and began wading through the tangle of marsh reeds. “It’s coming from this direction!”

The rest began to follow, albeit more slowly. Kyle, in particular, was slow to move. “Something’s not right,” he said to himself softly. Then he called out to Kavan and the others. “Hey, that kid doesn’t sound right to me!”

They all slowed their advance, listening again. Kavan, several feet ahead of everyone else, concentrated on the sound and realized what Kyle was talking about. The cries for help were too repetitive, too similar to each other.

Just then a large form jumped out of the water next to the elven priest. It looked like a jaguar or other large hunting cat, but at the end of its long tail was an appendage that looked remarkably like a human hand. It slashed at Kavan with its claws while the hand-tail grabbed for his face. Kavan barely managed to avoid its grasp.

Arrie and Xu ran forward to help. Unfortunately, the footing within the swamp was much more treacherous, and both of them tripped on underwater roots and slime and ended face-down in the brackish water. Tolly approached much more cautiously, hoping he could make it up to the cat in time. Lanara looked at Arrie and Xu struggling to get up, and bit back a comment about ‘poetic justice’ Instead, she pulled out her sling. Kyle, seeing her, did the same with his crossbow. The cat was large enough to fire at its flanks with little risk of hitting Kavan, and Kyle wanted to preserve his spells for the battle with the druid. Kavan himself slashed at the strange cat-creature with his longsword, putting long gashes into its side. As crossbow bolts and sling bullets slammed into its side, and with three other enemies converging, the cat decided this meal wasn’t worth the trouble, and swam away quickly.

“What was that thing?” asked Arrie, wiping mud from her face.

The rest of them shrugged collectively. “I suggest that we no longer deviate from the path,” said Tolly.

Another half-hour of walking finally brought them to their destination. The castle had once been large, but the majority of it had fallen into the swamp. The path led up to some sort of old gatehouse, which was remarkably still mostly intact. They approached the building until they were within a few yards, then Tolly held up a hand.

“We should split up and approach from different angles,” the priest said. “That way we don’t present a single target if the hin is expecting us.”

They group agreed, and after preparing themselves for battle, they split into three groups. Arrie and Lanara approached from the left, Kyle and Tolly down the center, and Xu and Kavan from the right. They closed on the yawning opening to the building. Thin shafts of light poked through the ceiling in places, providing minimal illumination. They could hear dripping water inside.

Tolly called forth holy power, and the inside of the building was filled with light as bright as the sun. They then moved cautiously inside. Half the room was flooded, with deep pools in each corner and a smaller one in front of them. The group moved in, and spread throughout the room searching for signs of the druid.

They didn’t have long to look. From the far corner of the room, shrouded in shadow, a thin, ragged voice called out. “We have guests,” it rasped. “Have you come to join me in my cause?”

“What cause?” Lanara asked.

“To protect nature, of course,” the voice wheezed.

“Why do you attack the nearby village?” asked Arrie.

“To obliterate the stain of civilization from the land,” the voice replied. “Their dwellings are a wound upon the land.”

“Hold on a minute,” said Kyle. “Aren’t you living in a building right now?”

They heard heavy breathing for a moment. “This place suits my purpose for the moment,” it said at last. “But soon it too shall fall.”

“Sounds pretty hypocritical to me,” said Kyle. His companions braced for combat.

Sure enough, a second later a huge form erupted out of the pool opposite the voice’s source, close to where Xu stood. An enormous crocodile burst onto the shore and closed its jaws around the monk, hoping to pull her into the water. At the same time, the sound of chanting could be heard, and a moment later Kyle and Lanara were in the midst of a swarm of rats. They kicked and fought their way out of the biting, clawing mass of rodents, Lanara retreating to the far side of the room, while Kyle attempted to cast a spell at the druid that would paralyze him in place. His spell, however, failed to take hold. The other party members rushed toward the druid, identifying him as the greater threat and confident in Xu’s ability to handle the crocodile.

Xu, however, was not so sure. Her blood flowed freely into the creature’s jaws. She had already been wounded by the assassin vine, but at the time had not felt she was injured seriously enough to seek healing. Now she regretted that decision, as the vice-like jaws of the crocodile were aggravating her old wounds. She managed to slip out of its toothy grasp, and dashed around the corner just outside the building to gain a moment’s respite and drink a healing elixir.

The chords of Lanara’s magical song began to fill the room as the heroes pressed forward. The hin summoned lightning from the sky to strike down Tolly, but much of the bolt’s strength was sapped away when it had to punch through the ceiling, and it did little harm to him. Arrie spun her chain around, but the diminutive figure immersed in the pond was difficult to strike. Kavan charged his hand with destructive negative energy and tried to touch the druid, but he also had difficulty locating his target.

Kyle avoided the swarm of rats once again, and then noticed Xu dash outside, bleeding. He decided the hin was well in hand, and turned his attention to the croc. He summoned his own bolt of lightning to strike it, but the jagged bolt grounded itself in a pool of water just shy of the reptile, doing little harm to it. The bolt was enough to get its attention, however, and it charged Kyle, snapping the wizard up in its jaws. Kyle, though strong, was not able to apply the correct leverage, and remained trapped in the jaws of the beast.

On the other side of the room, the fight had turned to the party’s advantage. Arrie was holding her strikes, waiting for the hin to begin casting a spell before lashing out. Kavan’s hand finally connected, and much of the druid’s life energy was drained away. Tolly hit the druid with one of his acidic bursts, and then waded in with his warhammer. The assault was too much for the hin, and he fell lifeless into the stagnant water.

The party moved in to aid Kyle just as his vision was beginning to blur from pain and blood loss. Kavan summoned up enough healing energy to keep him conscious, while the others pounded of the creature. The crocodile let Kyle go, and tried to escape. As it turned, however, it found itself looking a much healthier Xu right in the eyes.

One kick finished the battle.


---------------------------------------

* You can all stop reciting the Monty Python skit right now.

 

[Delemental]

Horse Thieves

Lanara looked up, and sighed. It was going to rain.

They were only three days from Laeshir, by their best guess. Until she’d seen the clouds rolling in, Lanara hadn’t been looking forward to arriving at the stuffy dwarven city. She’d hoped her traveling companions would be ready to move on from there quickly, but the conversation around the campfire didn’t give her much hope. Kavan and Kyle were talking about making potions for everyone, and that priest Tolly was talking about making full plate armor! The cansin had no idea how long that took, but she guessed that “a couple of days” wasn’t the answer. She took comfort in the fact that Osborn, like her, would be pressuring the group to move along quickly. The hin’s presence in the group was comforting to her, as entirely too many of the others were too rigid for her tastes. A couple of them had potential, though.

She began to look her companions over, her gaze resting on a few in particular. Thoughts began to form in her head, not for the first time. Lanara had to fight not to smile to herself as she contemplated some of the ideas that had sprung into her head in the last few weeks while traveling with these people and watching them interact with each other. Do I start now, or do I wait? She thought to herself. Certainly, it was within her ability to accomplish; after all, she’d once managed to cause a sophisticated noblewoman to fall in love with her stableboy; this would be no more difficult than that. It was amazing what kinds of situations you could get two people into with just the right song, the right turn of phrase, the subtlest of comments dropped here and there…

Her train of thought was interrupted by a large drop of rain that landed on her nose. I’ll wait, she thought to herself, wiping away the offending drop. Right now I’d rather concentrate on getting out of the rain.

* * *​

The steady rains of that day turned into true thunderstorms by the next morning. The group slogged on, careful not to curse Dakotha* too frequently in case the goddess of storms decided to prove things could be much worse. They kept to higher ground as much as possible, but the pouring rain and mud slowed them down, delaying their arrival in Laeshir by at least a day. They halted their march by late afternoon, finding a slight rise on a hillside that would make a suitable campsite. Within an hour they were all huddled inside their two large tents, forlornly chewing their provisions of dried venison and even drier biscuits.

“At least there’s plenty of water to wash these down,” Kyle joked. No one laughed.

Once they had eaten and dried off their provisions as best they could, they set watches for the evening. It was a long, miserable night; the heavy rain prevented those on watch from talking, and the others in their tents weren’t feeling much more talkative either. For Tolly and Xu, who were on the last watch, it seemed as though dawn would never come.

But just as the clouds in the sky began to lighten from the sun hidden behind them, Xu stopped, and pointed up the hillside. Tolly’s gaze came to rest on the nearby trees, and the large, shadowy forms moving just out of the range of their vision.

“Wake the others,” Tolly commanded, and raised his arms. Light as bright as the sun shone forth from his holy symbol, bathing the area. At the edge of the light, Tolly could now make out two of the hulking forms.

“Ogres!” he shouted back toward the tents, hefting his warhammer. He then turned back to face the ogres. “Come, foul creatures!” he bellowed. “Come and face Ardara’s wrath!”

Meanwhile Xu had dashed into the men’s tent, quickly shaking Kyle, Kavan, and Osborn awake. She dashed out of their tent just as Tolly’s challenge rolled out across the hills. Osborn stod up and dashed outside, his dog Rupert on his heels. Osborn went behind the tent and began pulling on his leather armor. Kyle and Kavan walked out as well, and as soon as Kyle saw the ogres he threw up a mage armor spell. He then reached out and touched Kavan on the shoulder, protecting him with an enchantment that blurred his form. Kavan was already walking forward to stand next to Tolly, his longsword bared. Rivulets of rainwater dripped from the blade’s edge.

Xu made a quick pass through the women’s tent before dashing outside and off into the woods, hoping to circle around and flank the ogres. Unfortunately, the women were much heavier sleepers than the men, and did not rise immediately. It wasn’t until Kyle noticed their absence and began shouting for their help that Arrie, Autumn, and Lanara woke fully and moved out into the rain. Arrie grabbed her bow and poked her head out. She could clearly see six ogres approaching, now well illuminated since Tolly had moved forward to engage them.

“This is an armor situation,” she gulped. “Definitely an armor situation.” She knew that the reach of the ogres’ greatclubs was equal to what she could manage with her spiked chain, which took away her primary advantage if they closed into melee. Once, when she was younger and first learning to use the chain, she’d grown cocky over her advantage in reach. Master Galbreth and a pair of his longspear-wielding assistants had taught her a valuable lesson; she still bore a tiny scar just below her left armpit as a reminder.

“Autumn!” she shouted, “help me put on my armor!”

Autumn quickly stepped up behind her sister and began pulling at the clasps and straps that held the light chain shirt together. She glanced wistfully at the own field plate, carefully packed away next to her bedroll. Donning her own armor would take far too long.

Meanwhile Kavan and Tolly had moved up to engage the ogres, ignoring the scattering of javelins that came at them. They were accompanied by the sounds of Lanara’s lilting voice, carrying inspiring words to their ears. The cansin bard had taken up position behind the tents where she could still be heard, even over the rain. Kyle stood back away from the battle, trying to decide where to lend his help. He saw Arrie and Autumn emerge from their tent, Arrie with her double bow and Autumn with a crossbow. Arrie had her chain armor loosely draped over her shoulders, while Autumn had no protection. Kyle winced to himself – he should have saved the mage armor spell for her rather than put it on himself; he could just stay out of the way.

He shook his head and looked back at the ogres. Wishin’ don’t make the corn grow, as Pa used to say, he thought. He pulled arcane energy from the ether and shaped it into a pattern, then let it loose upon a trio of ogres advancing through the trees. Thick, sticky strands of webbing enveloped them; one managed to pull free before the webbing set, but the other two were stuck fast.

Tolly and Kavan had managed to do well, holding against the ogre’s initial charge. Tolly had taken a heavy blow to the chest, but unlike Autumn he was armored, and the force of the blow was dissipated somewhat. The two priests had counterattacked, inflicting minor wounds on a pair of the brutes. Suddenly, the ogres began to withdraw.

“What’s going on?” asked Kavan, a snarl on his normally serene face. “Why do they run? We’ve barely scratched them!”

“I don’t know,” said Tolly, who had paused to heal himself. “Perhaps they fear magic?” He gestured at the globe of webbing that two ogres struggled to free themselves from.

“Unlikely,” Kavan snapped. “These creatures are too stupid to know fear. Come on, they’re getting away.”

Kavan began to move forward even as Autumn and Arrie loosed arrows into one of the wounded ogres, dropping it. Kyle tried to weaken one of the trapped ogres to prevent it from escaping, but his aim was off, and with a roar it burst out of the webs and began to withdraw as well. Soon only one ogre remained, buried deep inside the webs. Arrie, Tolly, and Kavan surrounded it and began to tear into it while Autumn and Kyle covered them to make sure the other ogres didn’t return.

By this time Osborn had finished putting his armor on, and he snapped his fingers to call his riding dog to him. But just as he was about to mount, his ears perked up at a strange noise coming from the other side of the camp, where they’d tied up the horses. Cautiously, Osborn went to investigate, pulling out a lamp enchanted with a continual flame. The light from the lamp cut through the pre-dawn gloom, allowing Osborn to see the small hillock where there horses used to be.

“The horses!” Osborn shouted.

Only Lanara, Kyle, and Autumn were close enough to hear. They came running to join their hin companion, who was frantically searching around in the mud.

“Gone,” he moaned. “Even the pack horses. All our supplies, all our food…”

“Impossible,” Autumn said. “Defiance and Ghost are trained for war. If a stranger tried to lead them away they would have fought them.”

“I don’t see any signs of a struggle,” said Osborn. “The hoof prints just go off into the woods.”

“Can you follow them?” asked Kyle.

Osborn shook his head. “I’m no woodsman. The tracks are pretty obvious here, but the rain’s already starting to wash them away, and the ground’s rockier that way.”

“We have to try!” said Autumn.

“Relax, Autumn,” said Lanara. “Sure, it’s a pain in the ass, but they’re just horses. We can buy more in Laeshir.”

“No,” she said through a clenched jaw. “I will not abandon Defiance. He is… he is all I have of my own family.” She turned and walked up the hill to alert the others.

Lanara’s expression was puzzled. “I thought Arrie was her family.”

“Arrie’s her cousin, not her sister,” said Kyle. “She was adopted into Arrie’s family as a child. I think Autumn might mean her birth family.”

* * *​

Subduing the last ogre was a simple task, if not quick. Once the ogre was securely tied, the group quickly broke camp and armed themselves fully. There was some concern for the whereabouts of Xu, who had not been seen since she had woken the camp, but they couldn’t go to look for her with their prisoner, and they dared not split up the group for fear the ogres were waiting nearby to ambush them. They decided to cross that bridge later.

Kavan seemed particularly eager to dispatch the ogre. The elven priest seemed to have little regard for the giant-kin. Thus he stood by impatiently while the ogre was questioned, Lanara using her innate magic to communicate with it. Unfortunately, though her spells allowed her to understand the ogre’s language, none of them could speak it, and their efforts to pantomime their questions were fruitless, as the ogre was either too stupid or too stubborn to respond.

“Well, now what?” asked Arrie. She’d been pacing during the entire attempt at questioning the ogre; the news that her own horse Ghost had been stolen was almost as upsetting to her as it was to Autumn.

Kavan looked back at the bound ogre casually. “We could skin him.”

Osborn’s eyes widened. “Why would we want to do that?” he asked, horrified.

“We skinned that crocodile that attacked us, didn’t we?”

“Yes, but crocodile hide is worth something!”

He shrugged. “An ogre’s skin has got to be worth something to someone.”

They all just stared at Kavan.

“Look, we can’t kill it yet,” said Lanara. “In case you’ve forgotten, we have no idea where they took our horses. Maybe we can convince it to lead us to their hideout.”

“You mean like we convinced him to tell us where it is?” Osborn smirked.

“Okay, then, we let it go and follow it home like a lost puppy.”

“Do not bother,” said Xu.

They all turned in unison to see Xu walk up from behind them, as if she had been out for a quick stroll in the rain. None of them had heard her approach.

“I know where the ogres have gone,” the monk said.

Kavan smiled. “Excellent,” he said, as he drew a dagger and began walking toward the ogre.

* * *​

It turned out that Xu had been quite busy while she was gone. Intending to flank the ogres, she noticed that they were withdrawing unusually quickly. Curious, and as yet undetected, she decided to follow them to find out where they were going. Once she had a good look at their camp, she walked back to her companions.

They all now looked at that camp. They had come to the base of a cliff, perhaps four hundred feet high. Built into the base of the cliff was an old castle that had seen better days. Only the main floor and part of a tower remained. There were no windows facing outward, and the wooden door was closed fast. There was no movement outside. The sun rose behind the cliff, so the cliff face and castle were in deep shadow.

“That’s where they went?” Arrie asked, pointing. Xu nodded.

Kyle studied the castle. “First the swamp, now here. What’s with all these dang ruined castles?”

“They’re pre-Cataclysm,” said Lanara. “Or very early post-Cataclysm. Only humans build castles like that, so for them to be in the Dwarven Confederates they’d had to have been built before the dwarves showed up.”

“Well, let’s go,” Arrie said. “I want my Ghost back before he ends up on a spit.”

“I don’t think ogres cook their meat,” offered Kyle, but he quickly shut his mouth when he saw the looks from Autumn and Arrie.

The group began walking toward the castle, spread out a bit in case the ogres charged out of the front door. With no visible windows in the castle, they were unafraid of coming under fire from javelins.

Autumn suddenly stopped when they were a few yards away from the door. She grabbed Kyle by the shoulder, and pointed up at the cliff. “Can you see that?” she asked.

Kyle squinted and followed the sentinel’s finger. Just barely, he could make out what looked like a cave about halfway up the cliff.

“Yeah, I see it. But I don’t see any way to get up there from here.”

As they both watched, however, they saw some movement within the cave. A moment later something large came out and began plummeting toward them fast.

“Incoming!” shouted Autumn. She grabbed Kyle by the arm and pulled him aside, but they became tangled and she ended up falling on top of him. A few feet away, a large boulder crashed to the ground, only inches from where Tolly had been standing.

“Are you all right?” asked Autumn.

“Yeah,” gasped Kyle, looking up at the field plate clad warrior, “but I might’ve been better off under the boulder.”

The group quickly scrambled for the castle as boulders began to rain down. Arrie reached the door first and began to bash it with her shoulder. Kavan, Tolly, Xu, and Osborn were immediately behind her. Kyle and Lanara hung back, realizing that if there was resistance on the other side of the door there would be a bottleneck, and those in the back would be easy targets for the ogres.

As another stone landed right where Autumn was standing a moment ago, Arrie finally bashed in the door. She dove into the room in a roll, hoping to come up behind any sentries. Instead, her roll stopped short as she ran into something large and solid. The others scrambled up to see Arrie sprawled upside down, at the feet of her warhorse Ghost.

“A little help, please?” she asked.

They quickly righted her and looked around. The chamber was small, barely big enough for Ghost to stand. Doors led off to of the parts of the castle.

“Osborn,” Tolly said. “Please check those doors. And quickly; we need to move forward so our friends have cover from the boulders.”

“On it.” Osborn squeezed past everyone and quickly checked a side door. Opening it, he called out “Defiance is in here!”

He moved to another door as the others shifted and squeezed to let everyone inside. Eventually Osborn found the main hallway, and the group was able to fully move past the two warhorses. In a side chamber they found the remainder of their riding horses, but their pack horses with all their gear were nowhere to be seen.

“Over here!” called Kavan. He pointed through a doorway to a long, winding corridor that sloped sharply upwards.

“I think this leads up to that cave Autumn saw,” he said.

Osborn went to investigate. He came back with a glum expression. “Well, I have good news, bad news, and worse news.” He sat down on a nearby flagstone, sighing. “The bad news is that the ogres can easily throw their boulders down the corridor as we come up; we’d be sitting ducks. The good news is that I think they only have three boulders left.”

“What’s the worse news?” asked Lanara.

“In the cave there’s the four ogres we saw before; a couple of them are still hurt. But I also got a look at their leader, who we hadn’t seen before.” Osborn sighed again. “He had blue skin.”

Tolly coughed and shook his head. “An ogre mage,” he said. “More intelligent, and more dangerous. They are resistant to magic, and their wounds heal almost instantly unless inflicted by fire or acid. They can become invisible at will, and have other magical abilities as well.”

The group looked at each other. “You know,” said Osborn, “we have most of our horses. We’ve lost our supplies except for the tents, but we’re only a couple of days from Laeshir. We could just leave.”

“We could,” said Kyle, “but that leaves these ogres here to keep doing this to other people.”

After a moment’s silence, Autumn spoke. “We need a distraction. Something to lure the ogres into wasting their last boulders.”

“An excellent idea,” said Tolly. “Perhaps some of us could scale the cliff and attack from two fronts?”

“Most of us aren’t that good of climbers, though,” said Lanara. “It’s raining, and half of you wear heavy armor, including you Tolly.”

“I could make the ascent,” said Xu.

“So could I,” said Osborn. “But we still need something to distract them while weg et into position.”

Kyle’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Who has some spare clothing?” he asked.

Lanara looked at him “I have a few outfits. Why?”

“Can I borrow one for a while?”

“Well, sure, but I don’t think they’d flatter you very much.” She set down her pack and pulled out a tight bundle. She unwrapped it and shook out a brightly colored set of clothing that seemed to have entirely too little fabric in them.

“Perfect,” said Kyle, taking the clothes. Concentrating for a moment, he summoned his innate magical talent and created an unseen servant that filled the clothing. Though the shape was wrong, it was passably human looking from a distance.

Kavan looked at the clothes hovering in the air, then at Lanara. “I’ve never seen you wear that outfit,” he told the cansin.

She smiled, and her mismatched eyes flashed. “It’s my dancing outfit.”

Kavan continued to stare at Lanara. When his gaze had rested on her a little too long, she cleared her throat. “Hey, Kavan? You can stop picturing me wearing the outfit any time.”

Kavan blinked, and gave an apologetic half-smile. “Forgive me. Old ways of thinking are difficult to completely abandon.”

Lanara wondered what the elf meant by that. Other than his devotion to Erito, they knew little of Kavan. He had hinted at some sort of dark secret in his past, but said that he wasn’t ready to share it yet. Lanara was dying to know.

Meanwhile, Kyle, Osborn, and Xu had moved back up to the castle entrance. “Get ready,” Kyle said. He looked at the stack of floating clothing. “Go out into the open area outside the door and move around randomly, keeping these clothes with you at all times,” he ordered. The servant began to float out the door. As soon as it was within sight of the cave above, Kyle motioned for Osborn and Xu to begin their ascent.

“We’ll be at the cave by a count of five hundred,” said Osborn. “Be ready.”

Kyle watched from the door as Osborn and Xu moved out along the castle wall and scrambled up a pile of rubble to reach the cliff face. Meanwhile, a boulder came flying down, landing just short of the decoy. The second boulder, however, flew true, and the servant and its clothing were smashed under the stone.

“Oops,” said Kyle to himself, “looks like I owe Lanara a new outfit.”

* * *​

Mandool waited patiently. He knew the travelers from the woods were coming up the passageway; he need only wait. Two of his minions waited at the entrance, their last remaining stone ready. He scowled at that; they had wasted the other two on that decoy. At least one of them was dead, though. Behind him, his other two remaining servants waited. He had decided to keep them in reserve, as they’d already been wounded by the travelers.

Soon, he thought. Soon they will be here, and they will die, and I will let these simpletons suck the marrow from their bones while I claim the real prize. Mandool had no doubt the travelers carried many valuables, and perhaps even magic.

His keen ears perked up. From the tunnel, he heard the sound of metal armor clanging. At last, they were here. He pointed down the tunnel, and the boulder was hurled down the tunnel. Mandool grinned as he heard the satisfying clang of stone against metal, and knew they’d struck at least one. Then, he heard the rhythmic chanting of arcane magic.

That will be the arcanist, the one who ensnared Grom and Udan. His smile grew wider. Let him try that trick on me.

The two ogres by the door drew in shoulder-to-shoulder as the travelers rushed up the tunnel. He saw the human woman with the chain in the lead, next to the male with the hammer who Maag had told him was glowing like the sun. Behind them came the celestial-kin and the elf, and behind them, barely visible, were the chaos-touched woman and the arcanist, blocked from the battle by their own companions. The chaos-touched woman began to sing, for lack of anything better to do.

Suddenly Mandool saw movement out of the corner of his eye near the ground. He jerked his leg away just as a hin clambered over the edge of the cliff and swiped at him with a tiny sword. Angered, Mandool swept his hand out and caught the hin in the chest, sending him back over the edge. Next to him, another human woman with no weapons came up and rushed him. Mandool knew better than to assume that unarmed meant not dangerous. He barked a command, and his two reserve ogres came up to confront the small woman.

Turning back to the main battle, Mandool saw that the elf was gesturing at him with some sort of holy symbol. He felt the divine power strike him, and to his astonishment it penetrated his indomitable will as well as the aura of innate magical power that coursed through him. He suddenly felt the wrath of Erito in his heart, and he knew these were not foes to take lightly. He would have to be cautious.

Chaos ensued. Mandool tried to attack the unarmed woman, but she dodged out of the way. With a scowl he saw the hin scramble back up as well, having apparently secured himself with rope before coming into the cave. The travelers seemed to be moving unnaturally fast, no doubt thanks to that arcanist. One of his ogres went down, its brains splattered across the cave walls by the priests’ hammer. Nearby, the other priest was healing the celestial-kin. Mandool finally connected with the dodging woman, but not before the hin cut him deeply across the shin. No matter, thought the ogre mage, as he could feel the wound healing over already. A burst of energy exploded near his head, and a spray of acid flew at him. But the magically summoned acid washed over his magical defenses, flowing away harmlessly.

“You’ll have to do better than that, priest!” he bellowed in the human tongue to the hammer-wielding priest who had sent the acid. But then the small woman jumped in and jabbed at his stomach. At first he thought he would hardly feel the blow, but as her fist landed, he suddenly felt dizzy, and the edges of his vision went dark. Images swam in his eyes as he tried to clear his head; he saw another of his minions fall, and suddenly there were forms around him. He felt the bite of weapons from several directions. He saw the arcanist summon a missile of acid and launch it, the magic penetrating his defenses and seeping into his flesh where it burned horribly. He was being separated from his remaining two ogre servants as well. Mandool knew when to retreat. Summoning his inner power, he willed himself off the ground and began to fly out past the edge of the cliff, out of range of the intruders. Once at a safe distance he would balst the entire cave with numbing cold. True, the ogres would die as well, but he could always find another tribe.

As he moved he felt the weapons of the intruders bite into him with renewed fury. Mandool felt his head going light from blood loss. Still, he smiled. Even if they managed to draw enough blood to cause him to lose consciousness, and send him plummeting to the earth below, his magically-enhanced metabolism would continue to function. Within the space of a minute or so, he would be able to rise again and make his escape.

Sure enough, Mandool felt a sword slip between his ribs, and he felt suddenly cold. As he tumbled, he caught sight of the interlopers turning and laying into his former tribe. Then there was a horrible crunching sound, and all went black.

* * *​

Kyle could see the battle was well won. With the ogre mage gone, they would make short work of the other two ogres. Kyle turned to say something to Lanara, but she was no longer behind him. Shrugging, Kyle walked over to a small side passage he’d noticed. Summoning a light, he walked inside, curious as to what he’d find.

He was halfway into the next chamber when he felt a metal gauntleted hand on his shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going?” Autumn asked.

“I’m exploring,” said Kyle. “The fight’s practically over.”

“By yourself?” The sentinel frowned at him. “That’s unwise, Kyle. You have no idea what’s in here.”

“And everyone else is just a shout away,” he said. “Besides, I still have my lightning bolt spell.” When Autumn didn’t return his grin, he sighed. “All right, come with me then if it makes you feel better.”

They walked into the chamber. Inside they found a large bed, and in the corner were three large boxes. Autumn and Kyle looked at each other, and then at the boxes.

“Osborn?” Autumn called out. “We found something for you to check out!”

The hin walked in a moment later, wiping ogre blood off his dagger. He looked around at the chamber, and whistled. “Not bad for a big blue ogre, huh?” Osborn glanced at the enormous bed, then at Kyle and Autumn. “Boy, you two should be glad that Lanara didn’t wander in here before me. She’d probably make some sort of comment about the two of you wandering off together into a room with a big bed.”

Kyle looked around as if he wasn’t quite sure how he should react to the comment. Autumn, on the other hand, only smiled. “Yes, I could see her saying something like that. She’s never one to miss a compromising situation, is she?” Autumn looked around as the others began to file into the room. “Say, where is Lanara, anyway?”

* * *​

Mandool’s consciousness slowly returned. At first there were only vague sounds and flashes of color, but they soon coalesced into coherent thought. The ogre mage inhaled deeply, feeling ribs snap back into place. With a smile, he opened his eyes.

Standing above him was the chaos-touched woman, the one who could do nothing better than sing during battle. In her hand she held a lit torch. Mandool’s smile faded.

The woman held up a tangled, filthy mess of colored fabric in her free hand. “You ruined my dancing outfit,” she said angrily, before she shoved the torch into Mandool’s face.

There was pain, but only for a moment.

---------------------------------------------

* Dakotha is the weather goddess.

 

[Delemental]

Problems at the Mine

Hello readers (assuming I have any);

Just a quick note to say that although I'd hoped to continue updating this story hour on a weekly basis, I'm going to have to drop down to every other week for a bit. Not a huge change, but I figure better to say something.

But now, without further ado...

------------------------------------------------


Though it seemed as though the day would never come, at long last the group crested a rise and saw the broad plateau of the city of Laeshir spread out before them, white limestone and marble structures gleaming with a pinkish hue in the early morning sun.

“I never thought I’d be glad to see a dwarven city,” said Osborn.

“I hope that sentiment stays with you, Osborn,” said Tolly. “We may be here for some time. I must spend time at the forges of my church, crafting a new suit of armor as befits my new purpose.”

Osborn rolled his eyes behind Tolly’s back. Ever since being brought back from the dead, the Ardaran priest had been droning on and on about his ‘new purpose’ – something about being Ardara’s scalpel, or bread knife, or her lemon zester… something like that. Frankly, he didn’t see how anyone could be that serious about something for so long – sure, Osborn admitted to himself, even he could buckle down when he had a particularly clever trap or complex lock to handle, but that was what, two, three minutes tops?

The group moved on, eager to finally sleep in real beds and take real baths. On the way down, they saw Arrie take out a leather cord and tie it around her neck. The cord had five small, rough gemstones braided into it. Tolly glanced at the necklace.

“That’s the kind of necklace that dwarven children wear to show the level of respect they have earned from their elders,” he commented.

Arrie smiled. “Yeah, most dwarves really don’t see me as ‘grown-up’ yet.”

They passed through the gates fairly quickly after a rather unremarkable interview from the town guard, and found a pleasant-looking inn called the Uncut Emerald just off the main trade road before it dropped into the tunnel leading to ur-Laeshir, or “Lower Laeshir” as Tolly explained it.

“Most large dwarven settlements here in the Confederate have at least half their city underground,” he explained. “Most of the surface structures are there to cater to non-dwarven merchants, travelers, and residents.”

The group was lucky enough to be able to take up most of the rooms of the Uncut Emerald, laying out a large sum of gold to rent them for the next two months. The innkeeper, a plump dwarf named Burbark Hammerhand, groused a bit at the prospect of having so much space taken up by the party, but his protests eased when Lanara promised to perform in his common room at least twice a week. They rented a total of five rooms; each shared one room with another member of the group (a considerable improvement from sleeping four to a tent in the woods), and a smaller fifth room was rented for Kyle to use as an alchemical lab.

After changing clothes and bathing, the group set about taking care of long-overdue business. Tolly went to the temple of Ardara to report to his superiors and request access to their forges, while Lanara, Autumn, and Arrie went down to ur-Laeshir to try to get a good price on the treasures they’d found in the ogre mage’s possession. Kyle and Kavan went to a local alchemist’s shop to stock up on potion-making supplies, while Osborn volunteered to sample the nearby bakeries, butcher shops, and eateries to find out where the best places to eat were. Xu remained behind at the Uncut Emerald. “I wish to take advantage of your absence and meditate in solitude,” she said.

Lanara laughed. “I’ll bet you just want a chance to do all your bendy exercises without worrying if Kyle’s spying on you from behind a bush.”

Kyle opened his mouth to protest, but shut it when he realized he’d never come out on top of that kind of exchange with Lanara. The cansin saw this, and winked at Kyle to let him know he’d made the right choice. Xu, for her part, said nothing either way.

It was late in the evening before the group saw each other again. They sat at a corner table in the common room, watching Lanara’s performance for the sizeable crowd. The bard rejoined her friends after receiving thunderous applause from her audience.

“So, how’d everybody do today?” she asked.

“Well, the room’s set up,” said Kyle, referring to his makeshift lab. “I can get started tomorrow on those potions with Kavan’s help. It’ll be a long stretch, but we should be able to finish well before Midsummer.”

“We did sell some of the jewelry we found,” said Arrie, “but as we suspected, a couple of the pieces were more interesting.”

“Yeah, that crown we found?” Lanara chimed in, “you know, the one I thought was so interesting? Turns out it’s from pre-Dwarven Confederate days, during the time of the old Targethi Empire. It belongs to one of the minor kings who ruled in this area. Most likely wiped out during the orcish invasions from the Haran Desert a millennium ago.”

“Which means that it’s probably going to fetch a higher price if we find someone interested in that historical period,” said Arrie. “We’ll look around for a local sage or historian, but we may actually fare better if we take the crown into Targeth.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll make it back that way some day,” said Kavan. “What else?”

“This ceremonial knife was also interesting,” said Autumn, as she pulled the knife out from her cloak. “At first I thought it was just a knife dedicated to Bail*. But we learned that it’s actually a dwarven oathbond.”

“What’s that?” asked Kyle.

“Whenever dwarves sign treaties, they will forge a special blade commemorating the event and present it to the other side as a token of the strength of their oath,” explained Arrie. “The implication is sort of ‘if we break our promise you can stab us with this knife’. This knife was made as part of a trade agreement between the Dwarven Confederates and Tlaxan. The reason Bail is featured so prominently in the design is that her church was the main arbiter of this agreement.”

“Okay, so… what’s that mean?” asked Osborn.

“It means that this blade belongs to the Elven Court of Tlaxan, and should be returned to the Court in Noxolt as soon as possible,” said Autumn.

“Tlaxan?” Osborn moaned. “But we just came from there!”

“I didn’t say we had to go now, Osborn,” said Autumn. “We can journey that way once we’ve finished our business here.”

“Hey! Maybe when we leave we could head east and cut through the Peca Provinces to get to Noxolt!” Osborn looked up hopefully at Autumn. Lanara showed interest as well; a healthy dose of travel through the gnomish provinces would be a welcome remedy from their long exposure to dwarven stuffiness. Her only fear was that the party might be infected by the gnomes’ love of water and decide to take a boat to Tlaxan. On the other hand, there were the gnomish bathouses…

“That may be a possibility,” Autumn replied.

“Okay, so that’s two bits of shiny stuff that we’ll need to cart around a little longer,” said Lanara. “Now, what about you, Tolly? You got that armor finished yet?”

“No, Lanara, I haven’t started yet.”

The bard rolled her eyes. “Why not?”

“Because such things take time, Lanara. Mithral is challenging to work with, and one cannot just ‘whip up’ a suit of field plate even when working with common steel. There are precise measurements to make to ensure the armor fits properly on me.”

“Oh,” said Osborn, “then I guess you won’t be ordering any pie tonight, will you?”

Tolly didn’t answer, though the corner of his mouth curled up slightly. “However, I have been informed by my superiors at the church of a situation at a nearby mining town that requires intervention. I thought I would bring the matter to you, as it is the kind of work we specialize in.”

“So, long journeys in dark places with sporadic bursts of violence?” asked Arrie.

“Precisely. In addition, should we prove successful it may result in the work on my armor taking far less time that I anticipated.”

“Okay, so, what’s going on?”

“Three days from here is the town of Lisk, which supports a respectably-sized copper mine. The church of Ardara received word from the local priest there that about a week ago a stonebreather got into the mine.”

“Stonebreather?” Lanara asked. “You mean those big metallic-looking bulls that can turn you to stone with their breath?”

“The very same. The priests here in Laeshir were about to send someone to investigate, but when I arrived they asked if we could intercede on their behalf. They have stated that I may take the stonebreather’s hide as reward if we succeed.”

“Excuse me,” asked Xu, “but how does defeating this creature speed your work? We shall have to leave this city in order to deal with the stonebreather.”

“The hide of a stonebreather can be rendered down and alloyed with any other metal,” explained Tolly. “This alloy retains all the properties of the base metal, but it becomes far easier to work into the proper shape when heated, thus requiring less time at the forge.”

“Well, I’m in,” said Lanara. “Not that I’m all that excited about crawling into a mine, but any excuse to get out of the city, I’ll take.”

“Same here,” said Osborn.

Others began to nod their agreement. “Just give me some time to cap off my beakers, and I’ll be ready,” Kyle said.

As the talk turned to other matters, Kyle scooted his chair next to Autumn’s and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, sorry about that knife,” he said to her. “I know that you were wanting to hang onto it because Bail’s your patron.”

Autumn looked at Kyle and smiled. “No, it’s all right, really. I’m very much looking forward to returning this blade to the Elven Court.” As she spoke, a strange gleam appeared in her eye. Kyle almost questioned it, but decided against it – the question would probably come out all wrong anyway.

-----------------------------------------------------

*Bail is a minor god of trade and the honest accumulation of wealth and privilege.

 

[Delemental]

After three days of uneventful travel through the mountains, the party arrived in Lisk. They immediately went to the town’s small Ardaran church, where a dwarven priest named Durkoth greeted them.

“Thank you for coming so quickly,” he said. “The stonebreather has taken up residence in our mine, and all work has halted. We’ve lost a few of our miners to the beast already. The town guard has set up a watch outside the mine entrance, to keep others from wandering in.”

“Any other exits?” asked Kyle.

Durkoth shook his head. “Ventilation shafts, but nothing the stonebreather could use,” he said. “And recently some of the guard have reported hearing rumblings from inside the mine, as though there have been cave-ins.”

“It’s possible that the stonebreather is knocking out support beams,” said Lanara. “They’re really sort of the ‘see it, charge it’ variety of monster.”

“It’s the being turned to stone part that worries me,” said Osborn. “Kyle, anything you can do about that?”

“Sorry, Osborn. That’s a bit beyond what I’m capable of.”

“Actually, I can offer some help in that regard,” said Durkoth. “Just prior to your arrival, the Church sent us a vial of stone salve to aid those who had fallen victim to the stonebreather. I would be more than happy to reserve it to aid you should you require it, but there is only a small amount in the vial, and if several of you are petrified by the creature there may not be enough to help all of you.”

“We’ll take our chances,” said Arrie. “Now, which way to the mine?”

Durkoth led them to the mine entrance, introducing the group to the town guard so they would be allowed to pass. Durkoth advised them that the creature would be on the upper level, as it would be unable to operate the lifts to get to the lower tunnels. After unpacking their light sources, the group went inside. Osborn crept ahead, to just inside the range of their lamps. He made shadow-puppets of a bull on the wall while waiting for the others to get ready.

They didn’t travel far before encountering the stonebreather’s first victim. Their light shone on the small statue, which appeared as though it had been running for the exit and looked back at the moment of its doom. Kavan regarded the stone face frozen in fear as Tolly muttered a short benediction.

“This poor, unfortunate soul,” said Kavan.

“He’s better off than others,” said Lanara, pointing at the ground nearby. They saw scattered chunks of stone littering the ground; Lanara bent down and picked up a hand-shaped chunk of rock.

They continued to explore the tunnels, retracing their steps once or twice when they encountered a dead end. Occasionally they would pass another dwarf statue, or the shattered remnants of one. They eventually came to a widening in the tunnel just before it made a sharp right. The tunnel had once gone straight as well, but part of the wall had collapsed, blocking off the tunnel. Osborn peered up at the piles of stone.

“You know, I think I can squeeze through there,” he said. “Might want to check it out, in case that stonebreather got caught back there or there’s any trapped miners.”

“Sounds good, Osborn,” said Arrie. “We’ll wait here.”

Osborn unpacked his own lamp and scrambled up the piles of loose stone. His dog, Rupert, looked up at him, whined once, then laid down at the base of the pile. The hin shuffled through a narrow gap, allowing only the barest sliver of light to escape from his lantern. After going about forty yards, Osborn stopped and listened. He could hear the sound of water nearby.

Odd, he thought to himself. Just then he caught a glimmer of motion in the darkness ahead. After a moment’s self-debate, Osborn allowed a little more light to escape his lamp.

The tunnel opened up again a few feet ahead. Osborn saw that his light had caught the reflection of a large pool of water that had collected in a depression in the ground. The water rippled slowly, and Osborn could see that the chamber had no other exits. He was about to begin crawling back to his companions, but then he felt that familiar itching at the end of his nose.

Osborn had learned not to ignore that itch. It was his personal warning system, the way he knew that he’d missed something important. The itch had saved him back when he was still hunting for the man who’d stolen his troupe’s money, when he almost walked into that ambush. It saved him when he was opening up the door to that merchant’s home in order to get out of the rain (a simple Sargian double-tumbler, he recalled) and he’d almost missed the poison needle. It had saved him during his training at the Tower, when he realized that the pressure-plate trap he was disarming was counterweighted to go off if the main trigger was jammed.

Osborn surveyed the scene, this time more carefully. His eye kept wandering back to the pool of water, so he studied it. It was too shallow to be hiding anything, and even if someone was back here they could easily avoid the water. Scowling to himself, he looked harder, willing himself to see beyond the obvious.

Then he had it. He watched the rippling of the water, and realized that it was too regular, and a little too slow. He also realized that there was no water dripping into the pool from the ceiling that would cause the rippling. He also watched the light from his lantern dance on the surface, and realized that it wasn’t reflecting onto the cave walls properly.

Osborn decided that he needed some advice. He backed up into the tunnel, eventually emerging back on the other side of the cave-in. He gave Rupert a quick pat before reporting. He filled in the others of what he’d seen, including the details that bothered him.

“That is unusual,” Tolly admitted when Osborn finished. “However, whatever the cause of this strange pool is, we are not in a position to investigate. The pool is behind this pile of rock, and it would take days to clear it.”

“Besides, we’re not here to look at weird water,” said Arrie. “We’re here to kill a stonebreather. Let’s keep going.” She picked up her lamp and began to move around the bend.

Just then, the pile of stone moved. Or rather, something moved through the stone, oozing out from between the jagged rock. It was almost the same color as the grey stone surrounding them, and the spots where it touched the rock were hissing and smoking slightly. Three large gray blobs dropped onto the floor in front of the party, and pseudopods began to rise up from them, menacing the group.

Osborn immediately stepped back; he knew there was little he could do against a living ooze. Xu tried to punch one of the oozes, but quickly withdrew her hand in pain as the highly acidic ooze burned her flesh. Fortunately she was not seriously damaged. Arrie’s chain swept through an ooze, send globules flying everywhere. Her chain started to smoke a bit, but she whipped it around in a reverse stroke that flung most of the clinging bits off. Tolly pointed at the oozes and let loose an acid burst, which to everyone’s surprise actually seemed to hurt them.

“Heat and cold won’t affect them!” shouted Tolly.

Kyle stepped around to the side and let a lightning bolt fly through all three, scorching them and causing one to splatter apart altogether. Kavan and Autumn drew their swords and hacked into others, using swift strokes to avoid having acid cling to their weapons. In all, it only took a few more seconds for them to destroy the other two oozes.

Lanara looked around at the globs of ooze dripping from the walls, leaving shallow channels where the acid had eaten through the stone. “So, Tolly, is this sort of thing common in dwarven copper mines?”

“Not really,” he said. “Perhaps some of these cave-ins opened up a channel to an underground river, and the ooze came in from there.”

“I did hear running water while I was back in that chamber,” said Osborn.

“Well, let’s keep moving,” said Arrie, “and don’t step in any puddles.”

The tunnel wrapped around, descending slightly. After about a hundred and fifty paces, the tunnel dropped further, and water lapped at their feet. The tunnel had flooded in front of them, and although it seemed the water was only about four feet at it’s deepest, there was no telling how far it extended.

Xu dipped the end of her long staff into the liquid, and examined it. “It is just water,” she said.

“Looks like we’re wading,” sighed Kavan.

Lanara looked apprehensive. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“It won’t even go over your head, Lanara,” said Autumn.

“I know,” she sighed, “but it’ll ruin my leathers.”

Kyle suddenly yelped in surprise. Osborn had jumped up onto his legs and was scrambling up his back.

“Let’s go!” Osborn said, grabbing onto Kyle’s shoulders.

“What are you doing?” Kyle cried out. The others tried to hide their smiles.

“I need a ride,” Osborn explained. “The water may not be over Lanara’s head, but it’s over mine, and I don’t think she’d let me climb her.”

Kyle relaxed a bit. “Well, okay then. But you could have said something first.”

Osborn looked at him curiously. “But then it wouldn’t be funny,” he said.

“Yeah, but I have to admit, you’re the last person in this group I expected to try and climb on top of me.”

There were a couple of snickers from the others. “And who were you expecting to be the first, Kyle?” Kavan asked, his eyebrows arched into a mischievous look.

“Oh, come on, Kavan,” said Arrie, not even trying to hide her laughter. “Everybody wants some wizard loving.” She looked at Kyle, waiting to see how red he’d end up.

Instead, Kyle looked at her and flashed a half-smile. “Yeah, it’s something about our long staffs.”

Everyone had a hearty laugh. Arrie nodded, slightly impressed. She hadn’t expected such a witty comeback from Kyle. Maybe there was hope for him after all. Best get my fun in now, because in a few years…

Everyone saw Arrie’s face suddenly grow somber. “All right, let’s go.”

It turned out that the flooding didn’t extend too far. They waded through until they felt the floor under their feet start to ascend. Once the water was low enough, Osborn jumped off of Kyle and began walking forward. He got to the edge of the water, and looked around. The first thing he noticed that was odd was that he could see his own reflection dimly just a few feet away. This time he didn’t need the itch to tell him something was wrong.

“Help!” he cried.

The others began wading forward quickly as a large, cube shaped mass of nearly transparent matter slid forward slowly. Tolly, Kavan, and Arrie drew weapons and charged, while xu produced her crossbow, having learned her lesson from the fight with the ooze. Autumn had moved up closer to the cube, but had yet to draw her sword. Kyle dashed just in front of her in order to get into range, and loosed a beam of intense heat at the cube, watching in satisfaction as chunks of the ooze crisped and curled away. He prepared to fire another bolt, but at that moment Autumn stepped up behind him with a flask of alchemist’s fire in her hand. She placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder to make sure he didn’t step into her arc of fire. Her aim was true, but the unexpected touch threw Kyle’s aim off, and the second beam lanced into the ceiling, leaving a smoking black line.

“Sorry,” said Autumn quietly.

However, the loss of Kyle’s second ray made little difference in the final outcome. The slow-moving cube was unable to react quickly enough, and was quickly cut into chunks of quivering slime. Pausing only long enough to wipe their weapons clean, and collect the loose coins and valuables that had been suspended in the cube, they moved forward.

The group waded through a second flooded section of tunnel, this one blessedly free of any sort of ooze, mold, or fungus. As they went around yet another bend, Kyle suddenly called a halt.

“Listen,” he said, leaning up against another pile of loose stone. Leaning in, they heard the sound of a hoofed animal pacing somewhere beyond the barrier.

“Do you think it’s trapped back there?” asked Osborn.

“Are we going to have to dig it out?” asked Lanara.

“I’m not sure,” said Kyle, “but this tunnel continues on. It may bend back around and meet up to wherever that thing is. Let’s check it out before we start moving rocks.”

They continued forward, and sure enough the tunnel made a sharp turn and began to double back on itself. Within minutes, they could hear the same rhythmic stamping of hooves Kyle had picked up before. The group paused a good distance away, around a sharp corner.

“What’s the plan?” asked Kavan.

“We’re going to run in there and kill it quickly before it knows what hit it,” Arrie said, grinning like a madwoman.

“Ah, ‘Plan Get ‘em’,” said Lanara. “I think I’ll just stay back here and play my fiddle.”

The group made preparations. Tolly unloaded most of his remaining divine power on the party, enhancing their weapons and bodies. Kyle used a wand they’d found in the ogre mage’s cave to make the warriors stronger, then used a mirror image on himself, surrounding himself with seven identical images.

The group crept up to the corner as quietly as they could. Arrie raised a hand with three fingers extended, and began counting down.

Three.

Two.

One.

The majority of the group rushed into battle. Kyle placed a haste spell on several of them just as the charge began, which allowed them to easily engage the stonebreather standing several yards down the corridor. Tolly lit up the tunnel with daylight, banishing the darkness, while Kavan doomed the beast. Xu immediately engaged the metallic creature, striking a solid blow, while Osborn moved around to flank. Arrie and Autumn approached from either side, hugging the walls of the tunnel. Kyle also moved forward, though his progress was slower since he hadn’t hasted himself. The wizard saw that he wasn’t quite close enough for the spells he had in mind, so instead unleashed a magically conjured cloud of golden particles. Kyle hoped that the cloud might blind the stonebreather, but it blinked them away. Still, it was now covered in sparking gold dust, and would be easy to find if it chose to run away.

Kyle felt his heart beating faster with anticipation. He felt that he’d prepared well for this battle. Though he’d had to use his lightning bolt and scorching ray against the oozes, he had more tricks up his sleeve. A grease spell would ensure that the stonebreather was unable to charge anyone, and a ray of enfeeblement would render it too weak to do much damage. All he needed to do was get a little closer so he was in range. It was one of those rare moments when Kyle felt he might just make a difference.

Then the creature breathed.

A thick, greenish cloud blasted out of the stonebreather’s mouth, enveloping everyone except Lanara, who was safely tucked around the corner. Kyle felt the vapors surround him, and he held his breath, but it almost felt as if the vapors were leaching into his flesh. He began to move forward to cast his next spell, but his feet suddenly felt very heavy. Glancing down, he saw the ends of his boots had transformed into solid stone. With horror, he realized the transformation was crawling up his legs.

Kyle tried to turn around, but the effect had traveled up past his knees, and his legs were now too heavy to move. He twisted spasmodically, as if he could shake the effect off somehow. He felt the petrifying magic move up past his hips, and he was hit with an unsettling sensation as his intestines were turned into granite. He tried to cry out, but the air was forced out of his chest as the magic solidified his lungs from the bottom up. Gasping, he looked around to see who might be able to aid him. The others seemed to have escaped his fate – Osborn and Xu were behind the stonebreather when it had emitted its magical breath, and the others had resisted its effects. All except one.

Autumn was standing just a little ahead of Kyle, and now stood helpless as she was slowly turned to stone. Autumn managed to turn her head to look back at Kyle just as the effect reached her neck. Her face was contorted with a look a panic, but upon seeing Kyle had suffered a similar fate, a glimmer of sadness appeared in her eyes just as she was fully petrified. A second later, Kyle’s vision went black.

Arrie coughed, waving the noxious clouds away from her face. She stepped back a moment to survey the scene. Her eyes came to rest upon the granite statue that was once her adopted sister. Blood rushed to her head, and she tightened her grip on her chain, her knuckles turning white. With a cry of rage, she spun her chain around in a blur, bringing its full weight down on the creature’s smooth, metallic hide. She was barely aware of her companions surrounding the bull-like beast, slashing and hammering away. None of that mattered to her. All that did matter was that this hells-spawned beast was trying to take away something precious to her, but that this time, at least, she had the power to do something about it.

It was Tolly, ultimately, that brought the beast down. Reeling from the fury of the party’s onslaught, the stonebreather was unable to sidestep Tolly’s warhammer as it crushed the creature’s forelegs, bringing it down in a heap of flesh and metal. A return swing caved in the top of its skull.

As Tolly stooped down to cut the stonebreather’s throat and begin bleeding it, and Osborn went off into the tunnel behind the beast to make sure the coast was clear, the others gathered around the statues of Kyle and Autumn.

“What do we do?” asked Kavan.

“We get them back up to town,” said Arrie. She was still covered in gore from the stonebreather, but seemed unaware of it. “He’ll bring her back. He promised he could bring her back.”

“You mean bring ‘them’ back, right?” said Lanara.

Arrie blinked and stared at Lanara for a moment, almost looking through her. Then she shook her head. “Yes, of course. You’re right. I’m just not thinking clearly right now.” She reached out and patted Kyle’s stone cheek, leaving a pinkish smear. “Sorry about that, Kyle.”

Navigating the two heavy statues and dead stonebreather through the tunnels was no easy task. Fortunately, the strength-enhancing enchantments they’d received before fighting the stonebreather were still in effect, which made the task easier. Before long they were standing out in the sun, surrounded by a crowd of dwarves that were cheering and throwing rocks at the dead beast. The priest, Durkoth, examined the two statues, and then produced a small golden vial. He poured a viscous liquid onto each one, watching as it oozed down and soaked into the stone surface. Within moments, both Kyle and Autumn stood fully restored, blinking in the sunlight and trying to get their bearings. Arrie gave her sister a big hug.

Later that day, as the group made their way slowly up the mountain trail leading back to Laeshir, Kyle spoke. “You know, this may sound kind of dumb, but in a way I feel bad that they had to use up all that stone salve on us. I mean, they’ve got their own folks to take care of, too, and now they won’t have the opportunity.”

“Nobody begrudged you or Autumn your chance at life, Kyle,” said Kavan. “You shouldn’t feel guilty about that.”

“I guess,” he replied. “I just wish that there was more that we could do to help.”

“Well, can you make any of that salve?”

“No. It requires stronger magic than I’m capable of handling.”

Autumn, who was listening in, stepped back to join the conversation. “Stronger magic than you can handle now, Kyle. One day you’ll have the ability, and maybe then you could return here to set things fully right.”

“You really think so?” asked Kyle.

Autumn smiled. “I’m certain of it.”

Kyle looked back over his shoulder at the small town, where he could see several bonfires had been lit in celebration. “One day…”

 

[Felikeries]

the beginning of this SH is great,it was like a novel,very interesting,but i find
that later on it gets difficult to interpret all these characters doing their stuff and keeping the theme of the action etc. coherent

maybe if there were less to this party,(i am saying killing them off as DM is a good idea)could make this more of a story,but i know that i myself am a game player not a writer so the SH can done however best pleases what an RPG friend is doing

 

[Piratecat]

I'm really diggin' this. Good writing.

 

[Delemental]

the beginning of this SH is great,it was like a novel,very interesting,but i find
that later on it gets difficult to interpret all these characters doing their stuff and keeping the theme of the action etc. coherent

maybe if there were less to this party,(i am saying killing them off as DM is a good idea)could make this more of a story,but i know that i myself am a game player not a writer so the SH can done however best pleases what an RPG friend is doing

I should clarify one thing off the bat; I'm a player in this campaign, not the DM. So while I could try and kill off some characters, I think that I'd end up being the only player that would end up leaving the game.

Also, thanks for the comment. I was beginning to wonder a bit if I still had any readers. I know you're not supposed to write Story Hours just to get comments, but lets face it; it's a nice bonus.

Admittedly, the fact that this is based of the actions of a rather large group of PCs does present its own challenges, and I'll admit that it's probably less effective a story than if there were fewer characters to focus on. But the truth is that this is a Story Hour based on a real game, and not a fiction novel where I have complete control over the characters. My challenge is to craft as good a story as possible within those bounds. The reason I do this is because I enjoy it, and it helps me improve my writiing skills. This SH is still fairly early in the campaign; I think that I get better as time goes on (my SH posts are about six months behind the actual game), so some of the problems with coherency may ease as the characters become familiar and settle into their roles more. Bear in mind that as players we're still fleshing out these characters at this point in time, which doesn't help. Also, at this point in the game I was still hand-writing notes during sessions; later I switch to a tape recorder, which makes a world of difference.

I think the major difference is that in a work of fiction, there's one or two central characters to hang the story on. Here, I have eight. In fact, a lot of my struggles in this phase of the campaign was trying to get the other players to contribute side material that I could incorporate into the SH in order to keep their characters fleshed out (inserting little vignettes, internal monologies, private conversations, etc that would give them depth beyond the in-game interactions). My biggest fear is that I end up focusing on one character for the sake of making writing easier, but by consequence turning the other PCs into secondary characters. After begging for material for a while, I finally gave up and started making stuff up for them, and basically said "if you don't like it, tell me and I'll change it, otherwise it stays". So far no one has complained that I got their character 'wrong'. I do think there are some characters that come out a little flatter than others (Xu Dhii Ngao is one I have trouble with).

Right now I'd say my biggest challenge is narrating large combats. Tracking the actions of eight PCs, plus multiple enemies, in a way that doesn't sound like a financial report isn't easy.

Well, that turned into a long response to a relatively simple comment. I must be feeling wordy today... I should probably be writing.

 

[Delemental]

I'm really diggin' this. Good writing.

Thank you. I consider that high praise from you, given your own illustrious Story Hour career.

 

[Delemental]

A Midsummer Night's Nightmare

The first day of Midsummer was heralded by a cloudless sky and a warm sun, a welcome sight in the normally chilly mountain are surrounding Laeshir. The residents of the dwarven city came to life slowly this morning – most of the shops and businesses were closed in honor of the festival, and even the normally industrious dwarves knew when to take advantage of a well-reserved rest.

At the Uncut Emerald, the guests were even slower to arise – or at least eight of them were. Slowly, the doors to their rooms opened, and the members of the party came out in pairs, gathering in the common room of the inn where the innkeeper was serving soft bread and cheese along with a light breakfast ale. Xu and Osborn were the first to arrive, followed soon after by Kavan and Tolly. They sat around in a circle of chairs they’d pulled together, conversing quietly as the others joined them; Arrie and Autumn were next to arrive, followed by Lanara. Kyle, surprisingly, was the last one down, coming slowly down the steps and sitting down without a word of greeting. His face was pale, and his eyes seemed slightly sunken. He was surrounded by a noticeable chemical odor, and the ends of his fingers were stained various hues.

Autumn reached out and placed her hand on top of his, a look of concern on her face. “Kyle, you look terrible.”

He looked over at her, and flashed a weak smile. “Potions,” he said. “Twenty-one days straight of making potions. If I never see another distilling coil it’ll be too soon. I need a break.”

Arrie tossed Kyle a hunk of bread. “Well, then you picked a good time for it. What are your plans?”

Kyle sighed. “Well, I need to clean up the lab and return the equipment by the end of Midsummer. Figure I’d tackle that first to get it over with and give the room a chance to air out so that Burbark over there can rent it out again. After that, probably a long bath so that I can be in public again. The rest of my day I haven’t decided what to do with yet.”

“Then keep your night free,” said Lanara. “We’re going out tonight.”

“We’ve been talking, and we’d like to all go together over to the Dirty Horse Tavern tonight to celebrate the first night of Midsummer,” Arrie said.

“Not to mention celebrating being around each other almost four months without anyone threatening to kill each other,” added Lanara.

“Unfortunately, I will be unable to come with you,” said Kavan. “Midsummer is Erito’s festival, and she requires her priests to spend the first evening in candlelight vigil.” The elf smiled. “However, after that the time is mine to observe as I see fit, so I’d be in favor of a second outing.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kyle said. “When should I meet you here?”

“Nine bells,” said Osborn. “And come thirsty. I was over at the Dirty Horse yesterday, and they’ve got a stack of ale barrels as big as my mom over there!”

“That sounds great,” Kyle said between bites. He stood up, brushing crumbs off his robes. “Well, I’m going to go tackle that lab. I’ve let too much of the day slip by already.”

Autumn looked up. “Would you like some help?”

“Sure,” Kyle said, offering a hand to help Autumn up. After they left, Arrie shook her head. “Man, Kyle needs to get out more. He looks like Death warmed over.”

“It’s the potion-making,” Kavan said. When Arrie gave him a look of not understanding, Kavan explained. “In order to create a magical potion, or any kind of magical item in fact, the creator is required to give up a portion of his or her life-force as a kind of seed to bind the enchantment to the item. In the case of such minor magic as potions this amount is small, but can build up over time. I’ve given what I could of my own energy to help him.”

“Wow, I didn’t know that,” said Arrie. “It doesn’t sound like much fun.”

“It is not unpleasant, but it is draining,” said Tolly. “It is a matter of striking a balance; using enough of your life-force to create items that will be of use to you or your allies, while not weakening your own inner strength to the point that you become less useful even with the new items. One can forge a weapon with the mightiest enchantments, but it will do little for you if you lack the strength or skill to wield it properly.”

Lanara stood up. “Okay, you guys are really killing my Midsummer mood. I’ll see you all at nine bells; I want to go see what dwarves do when they aren’t working.”

* * *​

Lanara was slightly disappointed.

Most of the early observances of Midsummer were spent in very formal, very dull ceremonies. There were speeches, and observances, and more speeches, and honorary titles given out, and yet more speeches. The crowds sat and watched with rapt attention, but Lanara quickly grew weary of it and left. The others scattered throughout the city, attending to their personal whims. Even Tolly, who was unable to work on his armor as the Ardaran forges were closed, spent the day touring Laeshir to see what he’d missed during his unrelenting work.

Finally, the afternoon wore into evening, and the party gathered in the common room of the Uncut Emerald. Several of them had bought new clothes for the occasion. Osborn walked up to Kyle, leaned in, and sniffed the wizard’s robes. Smiling, he gave Kyle a thumbs-up. Then he looked up at Tolly, who was dressed in simple but elegant Ardaran robes.

“Hey, Tolly, you’re not wearing armor! You feeling all right?”

“Since you have pointed out numerous times that I need not go to every occasion fully armored, I thought I might adopt more casual dress tonight,” he replied.

Lanara leaned in and whispered into Osborn’s ear. “I’ll bet he’s wearing a plate-mail loincloth under that robe.”

The Dirty Horse Tavern, despite its rather unpleasant name, was actually a well-kept and lively establishment, only a few blocks from the inn where they were staying. Each of them had been to the Dirty Horse on several occasions, but never together. As they walked, the group saw that the city’s many taverns and fest halls were filled to overflowing, and rowdy dwarves were running around everywhere, most with mugs of ale in their hands. The party had to sidestep a brawl that erupted out of the door of one tavern in front of them.

“I can’t believe I had to wait a whole month for this place to get interesting,” Lanara moaned.

As expected, the Dirty Horse was packed full, but the party was able to spot an open spot on the far wall by virtue of the fact they were taller than most of the other patrons. The seven of them squeezed around a small circular table, pressed together tightly. Ales were soon deposited on the table, and the waitress departed before anyone could fish coins out of their purses. As it turned out, there was quite a fierce competition going on between several of the regulars as to who would buy the next round for the entire tavern, and so there was no lack of ale flowing their way.

Osborn and Lanara chose to drink sparingly; Osborn wanted to stay alert in case any disreputable sorts with sticky fingers might be in the tavern, and Lanara merely wanted to be able to enjoy the chaos around her with a clear head. Xu, as befit her vows, declined any of the alcohol, and after a long discussion with the barmaid explaining that her choice had nothing to do with the quality of the ale or of the establishment, was served mugs of hot tea.

The others had no inhibitions in their consumption. Kyle seemed eager to down as much ale as possible; so, surprisingly enough, did Autumn, who was encouraged along by her sister. Arrie herself drank more moderately, keeping an eye on Autumn. Though she was glad to see her more reserved sibling let loose, Arrie wanted to make sure Autumn didn’t get too out of control and do something she’d regret. She found it somewhat comforting that the only other person at the table drinking as much as Autumn was Kyle, and he was harmless enough that she didn’t need to worry about him.

Tolly was keeping up with Kyle and Autumn in terms of quantity, but a lifetime raised among dwarves had allowed him to build up a considerable tolerance, and so he was less affected by the ales than the other three. Still, after an hour had passed, Tolly’s smile was considerably wider than it had been when they arrived.

Across the room, a single dwarf stood up on a table and began shouting for everyone’s attention. Although he was easily recognized as the owner of the Dirty Horse, his cries were mostly ignored. Frustrated, he shouted across the room.

“Everyone pay attention, or no more ale tonight!”

The room grew deathly quiet.

“Thank you! Ladies and gentledwarves, its time for the annual Dirty Horse Bar Brawl!”

There were shouts and cheers across the room. People began picking up tables and chairs from the center of the room, pushing them back to the already crowded walls. The dwarf who had made the announcement pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket and marked out a large rectangular area on the stone floor. He then stood in the center of the room.

“The rules are simple. Stand in the square if you want to be in the brawl. If you’re thrown out of the square or go down, you’re out. Last one standing is the winner. No weapons.”

“What about magic?” shouted Tolly. A resounding chorus of “No!” from the entire bar answered him.

A handful of dwarves began to filter into the square. Immediately the spectators began shouting out bets as they sized up the competition.

Arrie looked around at the others. “I think I’m getting in on this,” she said. “Who else wants to try their luck?”

“No thanks,” said Autumn. “I’m not that drunk yet.”

Tolly stood up. “I’m not that drunk either, but I would enjoy the challenge.”

Xu also rose. “Indeed, this would be a good test of my skills. I shall also participate.”

The three of them were about to head into the fight area, when Kyle stood up. “Hey, wait up.”

Everyone turned to look at Kyle, who was taking off his robes and setting them across the back of his chair. “Um, Kyle?” asked Lanara. “You do realize you’re a wizard, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, words slurring under the weight of six ales. “And I haven’t been in a good bar fight in years.”

Lanara looked at Kyle, taking in his large shoulders and well-muscled arms, and then looked at the other contestants assembled in the ring already. “Oh, this oughta be good,” she said, and she went off to sit next to the tavern owner. Osborn also left, climbing up into the rafters to get a better view. Once up there, he discovered several dwarven youth hiding up there, also eager to watch the annual bar brawl. Autumn remained at the table, guarding their ales, though it seemed she’d decided the best place to keep them safe was in her own stomach. To remedy this, Osborn pulled out a rope and grapple, and used it to hook ale mugs off the table and bring them up for everyone to share.

As the four humans walked into the ring and began sizing up their opponents, Arrie sidled up to a dwarf on the sideline who had been taking most of the bets. “What’re the odds on the girl?” she asked, pointing to Xu.

“The little thing? Twenty to one.”

Arrie fished out a handful of coins. “Put me down for ten gold,” she said.

The dwarf chuckled. “It’s your money, sweetheart. At least it is for about the next, oh, I’d say twenty seconds or so.”

Just as the dwarf finished his notation in his ledger, Xu began to stretch out in anticipation of the fight. Arrie and her bookie watched as Xu began bending backward, feet planted firmly on the floor, until her forehead was touching the ground behind her. Then she flipped over and landed on her feet again. Arrie looked over at the dwarf and grinned madly, while his face took on a decidedly green hue.

When it was clear that no one else was stepping forward, the owner stood up again and raised a small gong. An expectant hush fell over the crowd.

The sound of the gong was quickly drowned out by the roar of the crowd.

Xu immediately leapt into action, confronting three dwarves at the same time. They tried to punch her, but she was far too agile, blocking their clumsy fists and sending her own counterstrikes into their heads and stomachs. She was a blur of motion, and for a while commanded the most attention. Arrie and Tolly each squared off against their own dwarven opponents, while Kyle found himself surrounded by two dwarves intent on reducing the non-dwarven population of the brawl by one.

Tolly crouched low, and grabbed hold of the dwarf he was facing. Getting a good hold, he lifted the dwarf off the ground. Years of being raised by dwarves had taught him that the most effective way to fight them was to get them off the ground, though it was no easy task. Tolly staggered with the struggling dwarf toward the chalk line, and unceremoniously dumped him on the other side. The poor dwarf was soon covered in ale thrown by the other patrons.

Off to the side of the brawl, the owner scowled. The brawlers were being far too cautious, and it wasn’t making for a good show. He’d tried to stimulate the event by tossing a loose ale mug into the ring, but no one had even tried to pick it up and bash someone over the head yet. He turned to Lanara, who had been performing in his tavern for a few nights over the past month. “Anything you can do to liven things up?” he asked.

In response, Lanara began to play a lively tune on her fiddle. The music wafted over the arena, working its way into the minds of the brawlers. Immediately the combatants began to grow bolder; the dwarves who were cautiously avoiding Xu now charged in, confident they could take her down with strength of numbers.

Arrie was dealing handily with her own dwarven opponent. Like Tolly, she had spent many years with dwarves, and knew the same tactics. She just about had the dwarf pinned to the ground when suddenly she was grabbed from behind… by Tolly. The Ardaran priest had come up behind them and joined in the melee, hoping to eliminate two opponents at the same time. But Arrie was a cannier combatant than that, and within seconds she and Tolly were locked together in a death-grip, neither one able to get an advantage. The hapless dwarf was caught between them, an unwilling participant in this wrestling match between two humans.

The crowd’s attention was quickly diverted to this match, taking their eyes off of Xu who had by now dropped two of her opponents and was being charged by three more. The shouts were interspersed with catcalls and various lewd comments as Arrie and Tolly continued to grapple. Lanara leaned over and whispered something into the owner’s ear, and with a grin he waved over one of the barmaids and gave her instructions. She ran back into the kitchen.

Moments later, Arrie, Tolly, and the other dwarf were taken by surprise as a bucket of a warm, clear, slippery liquid was dumped on them, coating them thoroughly. The crowd went into a frenzy of cheers and hoots watching the two humans slip around and over each other trying to keep their grip, while the poor dwarf looked as though he’d like nothing better than to stop being the filling of the human sandwich.

Lanara leaned over to the owner again. “What’d you use? Oil?”

He shook his head. “Butter!”

Lanara laughed. “Good call!” she glanced over at the continuing melee, then winced. “Ugh, I guess that Tolly’s not wearing a plate mail loincloth after all. But I really, really wish I hadn’t found out about it like that.”

It was a sight to see. Xu continued her impressive display, spinning and kicking her opponents until they lay unconscious on the tavern floor. The dwarf involved in Arrie and Tolly’s fight wiggled his way free, and staggered away, wiping butter from his eyes and clearly shaken by the whole unnerving experience. Arrie and Tolly were aware of the lewd comments being made by the crowd, but they both possessed an inner fire of competitive spirit too strong to allow them to break off their battle for something as paltry as personal dignity. But eventually, Tolly managed to gain the upper hand, getting Arrie in a position where he could lift her without being knocked back over. He staggered, and nearly lost his grip as Arrie fought fiercely, but at last he was able to eject her from the ring. Panting with exertion, Tolly turned quickly to survey the scene. His eyes immediately came to rest on Xu, who had eliminated all but two of the dwarves. One of them, he saw, was the dwarf that had been caught between he and Arrie, still dripping butter.

A mischievous grin crossed Tolly’s face. The sight was so startling on the priest’s normally stoic expression that Lanara stopped playing her fiddle. Tolly walked up behind the butter-soaked dwarf, and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m back for more,” he said, giving the dwarf’s shoulder a slight squeeze.

Panicked, the dwarf swung around wildly. Tolly hadn’t noticed it before because the dwarf’s back was to him, but after getting out of the grapple he’d apparently picked up the loose mug that the owner had tossed into the ring. The dwarf swung at Tolly’s waist, missing by a hair’s breadth. Tolly’s amusement turned to irritation, and he slugged the dwarf, sending him crashing to the floor. Looking up, he saw that Xu had dropped her last opponent. Looking over at Tolly, she raised her hand and motioned for him to come for her, a confident smile on her face.

Tolly charged in, hoping to use the same grapple and toss strategy that had served him well so far. But Xu was not so easily caught, and was prepared. Just as Tolly was about to close his fingers around Xu’s arm, he saw stars as she kicked him in the jaw. He stumbled back, head spinning, and when the next blow came he was out like a candle in a winter storm.

Xu looked down at the unconscious Tolly, quickly honoring him mentally for his bravery and determination. Just as she looked up, however, was when the weight hit her like a charging bull.

Kyle’s fight with the two dwarves had been largely ignored by everyone, as it was a simple back and forth slugfest as opposed to Xu’s acrobatic assault on multiple opponents or Arrie and Tolly’s quasi-erotic wrestling match. But somehow Kyle had come out of it, battering down his opponents with sheer determination. He’d looked around at the scene through bruised, swollen eyes, and saw Tolly and Xu finishing off the last of the dwarves. He circled around as Tolly charged in to attack Xu; Kyle was pretty sure who was going to come out on top of that fight. That left him and Xu standing. Kyle was sure that he’d be lying face down on the floor next to Tolly within a few seconds, but he wasn’t going to give up. He saw that in the fight Xu was only a few feet from the edge of the arena, and an idea sprang into his head. He crouched down a few feet from Xu, and waited.

Kyle made his move just as Tolly fell. His momentum caught Xu by surprise, and she staggered backwards to get some distance between her and Kyle. An admirable effort, she thought, but the charging bull is felled by a single arrow from the sky. She prepared to deliver a quick, painless strike to Kyle that would cause the blood to temporarily drain from his head, causing him to pass out. As she moved to strike, however, she became aware that the crowd had gone deathly quiet. She looked down, and saw that between her feet and the heavy boots of Kyle, a thick chalk line stretched out in either direction.

Xu looked down at the line, then up at Kyle, who was bleeding from a split lip and had both eyes nearly swollen shut. Slowly, a smile appeared on her face, and she bowed.

The patrons of the Dirty Horse went crazy. Kyle was immediately swept up by the crowds and carried in a victory lap around the tavern. He was set down next to his friends, who all came up to congratulate him, except for Tolly who was still sprawled on the ground. Arrie pounded Kyle’s back and grinned, seemingly unconcerned that she’d lost her bet on Xu. He was pulled away by the owner, who had him stand on a table. “We have our winner!” he shouted, and again the crowds cheered. One of the barmaids brought out a gold-plated beer stein suspended from a gold chain, and placed it around Kyle’s neck, though he had to lean forward for her to reach. The barmaid kissed him on the cheek and then walked back into the crowd.

“What’s your name, son?” the owner asked, as he filled Kyle’s golden stein with ale from a pitcher.

“Kyle Goodson,” he said proudly.

“Well, Kyle, as the winner of the annual Dirty Horse Midsummer Bar Brawl, you win our prize! You have the honor of buying the drinks for the entire bar for the rest of the evening!”

The dwarves all around him erupted into a frenzy of cheering and shouting for their mugs to be filled. Kyle, forgotten in the excitement, turned pale. He’d spent most of his money buying new spells, and had only a handful of silver to his name. Kyle began to imagine what dwarves did to people who couldn’t pay for their ale.

Seeing his distress, Arrie caught his attention and winked, letting him know that it was all right. Tolly, who had recovered enough to hear the announcement, also flashed Kyle an ‘its okay’ signal.

The remainder of the evening passed in a blur. Several more ales were consumed by the party, especially by Kyle and Autumn. Arrie suggested to her sister that they should dance with the winner of the brawl, and to everyone’s amazement Autumn agreed. Lanara immediately struck up a lively, bawdy tune for them. As they moved around the table dancing, a very drunk Kyle observed that only one of his dancing partners was covered in butter.

The situation was quickly rectified by the helpful staff of the Dirty Horse Tavern.

 

[Delemental]

Early the next morning, three dwarves wearing the tunics of the Laeshir City Watch entered the Uncut Emerald. They proceeded up the stairs and knocked loudly on the first door they saw. A moment later, the door was answered by Xu.

“Are you Lanara Rahila?” one of the dwarves asked.

“No,” Xu replied. “May I help you?”

“Is Miss Rahila inside?”

“She is still asleep,” Xu explained. “Can you return later today?”

“I’m afraid not. Can you get her, please?”

Puzzled, Xu closed the door and went to rouse her roommate. Lanara peered out from under her blankets with her green eye.

“What is it?” she groaned.

“There are three men outside from the city watch who wish to speak with you,” she said.

Lanara stood up, her pink hair poking out wildly from her head. “Why?”

“They did not say.”

Grumbling, Lanara stood up, wrapping her blanket around her torso like a toga. She shuffled over to the door and opened it.

“Lanara Rahila?” asked the head dwarf.

“Yeah, that’s me. What’d you want?”

“Can I see your boots, Miss Rahila? The ones you were wearing last night.”

“My boots?” Lanara was about to make a comment about strange fetishes, but saw the serious look on the faces of the watchmen, and thought better of it. She moved away from the door, and produced her boots. “And it’s Lanara, not ‘Miss Rahila’. I haven’t been called ‘Miss Rahila’ since… actually, I’ve never been called that.”

The lead dwarf took the boots, and turned them over to examine the soles. He pulled a piece of parchment out from his pocket, and compared the bottom of Lanara’s boots to the parchment. He then handed back the boots, and rolled up the parchment.

“Miss Ra… Lanara, do you recognize this?” From another pocket, the dwarf produced a scrap of fabric and held it out for Lanara to see. The blue, semi-transparent material was instantly recognizable to Lanara. It was the sleeve from her old dancing outfit, the one she’d lost to the ogres in the mountains on the way to this city.

“Yeah, I recognize it.”

“Does it belong to you?”

“Well, it used to.”

The dwarf put the material away. “I’m going to have to ask you to come with us, ma’am.”

Lanara looked genuinely shocked. “Now? Why?”

“You’ve been named as a suspect in a crime, and we have cause to take you into custody. Please, get dressed and we’ll escort you to the nearest security station.”

“One moment, officer…” Xu said, coming up to the door as Lanara walked backward, stunned, and sat on her bed.

“Estagond. Detective Estagond.”

“Detective, what is the charge?”

Detective Estagond shook his head. “I’m afraid that the laws of Laeshir don’t allow us to reveal specific charges to the public until a suspect has been detained. You and any other concerned parties are welcome to report to the security station where we can provide details, and you will be allowed to make a statement if you wish.”

By this time Lanara had pulled on a loose shirt and skirt, and shoved her feet into her boots. She walked out of the room, and was escorted out of the tavern by the watch. Xu immediately walked across the hall and knocked on the door.

Osborn’s head poked out of the door a moment later. “What’s up?”

“Osborn, please wake Kyle.”

Osborn glanced into the room. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“We have no choice. Lanara’s been arrested.”

“What?” Osborn dashed out into the hall, looking around. “When? Why?”

“Just this moment, and the cause is uncertain. We must go to the security station to learn more.” Xu turned to knock on the next door as Osborn dashed inside and shook Kyle, shouting his name.

Kyle jerked upright, blankets falling away from his head. His injuries from the brawl had faded, but his hair and clothes were matted with congealed butter. He winced at the morning light. Osborn was somewhat surprised at the wizard’s appearance. Toward the end of the night he’d left the tavern to escort the young dwarves home, and so didn’t see how the night ended. The bruises he expected, but not the butter. Osborn quickly decided he was no longer in the mood for toast this morning.

“Go away,” he muttered. “You don’t wake up a man with a hangover who knows the lightning bolt spell.”

“Do you have that spell prepared right now?” Osborn asked.

“No,” Kyle admitted after a pause.

“Good, then wake up. Lanara’s been arrested, and we need to go see what’s happened.”

“Arrested?” Kyle dropped the blankets onto the floor. He shielded his eyes from the light, and yawned. “Gods, I feel like I’ve been run over by an ale wagon.” He yawned again. “I can’t wake up.”

“Better find a way, and hurry!” Osborn shouted from down the hall. “I’m going to help Xu wake up the others!”

Kyle blinked and shook his head, but it didn’t help the spinning. He tried to recall what had happened last night, but after the brawl it was a blur. He vaguely recalled something about dancing…

Kyle snapped himself out of his train of thought. He’d have to do something drastic to focus on the present. Kyle took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Then he pointed his index finger at himself, and recited the words to the ray of frost spell.

The others were quickly roused by the hideous shriek that came from Kyle’s room moments later. Everyone came rushing in to see Kyle standing up, brushing frost off his robes, looking considerably more alert. The group looked around at each other, their gazes falling in particular on Tolly, Kyle, and Autumn, who were slicked with butter. Kavan, who had been at his church all night and only returned to the inn early that morning, looked bemused at the scene. He was clearly trying to envision what sort of escapades the three of them had been in last night.

Autumn looked down at her clothes. “How did I…” she looked at Kyle. “How did you…” She then looked at Arrie, who only smiled and winked. She’d been sober enough at the end of the night to clean herself off, eliminating any incriminating evidence.

Autumn looked at Tolly. “Do you have butter on you?”

He looked down at his once-pristine robes. “Oh… yeah.”

Xu explained what had happened to Lanara while Kyle cleaned everyone off with prestidigitation. They set out immediately for the security station, with Tolly and Autumn remaining behind to pull on their armor. Osborn almost made a comment that the process might go faster if they were still covered in butter, but in his haste to get to Lanara he let it slide.

The security station was bustling with activity. Droves of hungover dwarves were coming out of the station, having been detained the night before after their drunken revelry got a little too boisterous. A clerk at the front desk directed them down a long hallway to speak with the Detective’s Bureau. Several minutes passed as they waited in a small foyer, eventully being joined by Tolly and Autumn. Shortly after that, they were escorted back to a small, windowless office and sat around a long, narrow table. After another few minutes, Detective Estagond came into the room and sat at the head of the table.

“I’ll get right to the point,” he said. “Your friend has been accused of theft by the Temple of Estranë*. Last night around three bells a reliquary of the Temple was stolen from them. Evidence on the scene links Miss Rahila to the area, and thus she was named as a suspect. She will be held here until her trial, or until a bail of 200 gold is paid.”

“Oh, we’ll be posting bail today,” said Arrie. “Now, what kind of evidence are we talking about? Because I know that Lanara was with us last night at three bells.”

“A sketch of a boot print at the scene of the crime matches the footwear Miss Rahila had on last night. In addition, an article was found on the scene which she has admitted belonged to her.” Detective Estagond leaned forward onto the table. “You say that she was with you last night at the time in question?”

“Yes, she was. I remember hearing three bells sound just before we left for our inn last night,” Arrie said.

“You were out last night? By any chance were you intoxicated at the time?”

Osborn chimed in. “She was, but I wasn’t, and neither was Xu, and Arrie’s telling it right.”

The detective nodded and made a few notes on a sheet of parchment. “Is there anyone besides yourselves that can vouch for Miss Rahila’s whereabouts last night?”

“Just every single person in the Dirty Horse Tavern,” said Osborn.

“I see. We’ll send someone by there to take a statement. I would appreciate it if you would all do the same while you’re here.”

“Is Lanara the only one accused of this crime?” asked Tolly.

“We have other suspects,” Detective Estagond said curtly. “That’s all I’m at liberty to say. If you wish to post bail, I can direct you to the clerk’s office. Miss Rahila will be free to move about the city, but not leave it. Should our investigations conclude that Miss Rahila is responsible for the theft of the relic, she will be brought to trial by the city of Laeshir, but if convicted will be turned over to the church of Estranë for punishment.”

After entering their statements, the party paid the bail and met Lanara outside about an hour later. “What did they tell you?” Osborn asked her as she emerged from the jail.

“They told me that they thought I stole some old saint’s thighbone from Estranë,” she said, shivering slightly. “Why on earth would I want an old bone?”

“We’re going to figure this out,” said Autumn, putting an arm around Lanara’s shoulders. “What do you want to do first?”

“I need a long bath, and new clothes,” said Lanara.

“I am going to the Temple of Ardara,” said Tolly. “I wish to research the legal codes here in Laeshir, so that we know what to expect from the legal system.”

“Let’s all meet back at the inn this afternoon to decide what we’re going to do about this,” Kyle said. They parted ways, with most of the party returning to the inn with Lanara.

The cansin stomped her way upstairs, eager to change her clothes and get into a relaxing bath. How dare they accuse her of stealing? She had a mind to write a scathing ballad about the city. She opened the door to her room, and saw a dwarf sitting in the middle of the floor, going through her things.

“Qin-Chu’s toes! Who are you? What are you doing in here?”

“Searching for evidence,” he said nonchalantly, tossing a handful of her unmentionables aside.

Autumn came into the room, responding to Lanara’s outcry. “What business do you have here?”

He jerked a thumb at Lanara. “Ask her.”

“He’s going through my things!” she cried, her face turning red.

“On what authority?” Autumn demanded. In response, the dwarf produced a folded sheet of parchment. “Search warrant,” he said. Autumn opened the document and scanned it. “This says you’re authorized to look for the missing relic,” she said.

“Does it look like I have a thighbone in here?” Lanara shouted.

“Dunno yet,” he said. “So far no, but I’ve only checked this room and the one across the hall so far.”

“Wait a minute,” said Autumn, “you’ve been going through our possessions as well?”

“Can’t be too careful.”

By this time Osborn had wandered by, and saw the commotion. “What’s going on?”

“This man has been searching our rooms,” said Autumn, glowering. “He claims to have a warrant.” She handed Osborn the parchment. The hin looked at the document carefully. It seemed legitimate, but something about it was off. “I’m going to go check this out,” he said.

“Knock yourself out, little man,” the dwarf said, as he opened up a few jars in Lanara’s pack and began sniffing them.

Osborn whistled for Rupert who loped into Lanara’s room. Despite the dog’s massive size, the intrusive dwarf seemed to pay it no heed. Jumping onto the dog’s back, Osborn ran straight to the security station, and dashed into the detective’s station in the back.

“Detective Estagond!” he cried, leaping off Rupert. “There’s a man in our rooms searching through our belongings. He says he has a warrant!”

The detective took the paper Osborn was holding, and studied it. “Well, this is a legitimate search warrant, but not issued by the city.”

“I don’t understand,” Osborn said.

“Well, the truth is that the church of Estranë controls about half the legal system here in town. They have the authority to dispense their own justice through their priests, which includes searching suspect’s belongings, making arrests, and bringing suspects to trial in front of a church tribunal instead of the city courts.” Estagond looked as Osborn. “It’s basically whoever gets to them first has legal rights to them. Your friend is lucky we found her first.”

“Can he really go through all our stuff?”

Estagond sighed. “Not really. We’ve had this kind of trouble before. I’ll come around with a couple of my boys and settle this.”

Moments later, Osborn returned to the Uncut Emerald with Detective Estagond and two watchmen in tow. Lanara had worked herself into a lather watching her belongings scattered everywhere. Autumn continued to argue with the dwarf, who largely ignored her.

“Ah, Borendor,” said Detective Estagond, stepping into the room. “I thought it might be you.”

“I have a warrant from the temple, Estagond,” said Borendor, who nonetheless looked nervous for the first time.

“I can see that.” Estagond unfolded the paper and glanced at it. “Tell me, have you found the stolen item among the suspect’s personal effects?”

“No,” Borendor sulked.

“Then you’re finished here. Watchman Hedros, kindly escort Master Borendor out.”

As one of the guards watched Borendor stomp out, Estagond turned to Autumn. “I’d check your things if I were you,” he said, “and keep a close eye on them from now on. The people who work for Estranë are known to sometimes accept unsolicited contributions, if you get my drift.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do to stop it?” Autumn asked.

Estagond shook his head. “My hands are tied. They have the legal power to do this. If you’d like I can assign a watchman to accompany you, Miss Rahila, in order to make sure everything stays above-board.”

Lanara sighed. “Whatever, fine. I just want this nightmare over with.”

Estagond nodded. “Watchman Erron, you are to stand watch over the suspect.” The second watchman saluted, though the look in his eyes said he was no more excited about the assignment than Lanara.

“Detective,” said the bard, “I’m telling you that I didn’t steal that relic.”

Estagond looked around, then spoke in a hushed tone. “For what it’s worth, I believe you. But the evidence points to you, and that’s what I have to base my decisions on.” He stepped closer, and put a hand on her shoulder. “If I were you, I’d start thinking about who might be trying to frame you, and why.”

* * *​

The group spent much of the afternoon discussing the question of who might have wanted to frame Lanara for the theft of the reliquary from the Temple of Estranë. Several figures were named; Sauroth, the necromancer they’d defeated in Tlaxan; the church of Estranë themselves, as part of some elaborate cover-up, or some other minor enemy they’d made. Tolly returned from his research into Laeshiri law that afternoon, and briefed the group on the finer points.

“Most notable is the fact that the accused is permitted to investigate their own case to produce evidence that will establish their innocence, as long as such investigations are supervised by an officer of the accusing organization.”

“That’d be me,” said Watchman Erron, raising his hand.

“The accused may also recruit assistants for their investigation,” added Tolly.

“That’d be us,” said Kyle.

They continued to discuss the possible suspects. Tolly and Arrie got into a heated debate over whether the culprit had followed them into the city from Tlaxan, or if they were based here in Laeshir and had backtracked the party’s route into the city in order to obtain Lanara’s old dancing outfit.

“Hey, guys?” interrupted Kyle. “Maybe we should focus on where that thighbone is rather than who the thief is.” He turned to Erron. “Can we investigate where the theft occurred?”

“You can,” the dwarf replied. “It’s an official investigation. Of course, the crime scene’s in the Temple of Estranë, and they have the right to block access to their grounds for religious reasons – ‘we’re purifying the site today’ and such.”

“I think we should go talk to the guards at the main gate,” said Arrie. “Maybe they saw someone come into town last night that caught their eye.”

“Arrie, hundreds of people come through that gate every day,” Kavan said.

“Yes, but mostly dwarves. We already know the culprit wasn’t a dwarf because of the boot prints. And if they were trying to pretend to be Lanara – well, she’s rather distinctive, isn’t she?”

“What are you saying?” Lanara said, running her fingers through her wild pink hair and staring at Arrie with her mismatched eyes. She then flashed a smile at the warrior.

“Very well, perhaps we should split up,” offered Tolly. “Kyle, Kavan, and I can go to the Temple of Estranë to examine the scene.” Tolly looked over at Osborn. “I’d appreciate if you would accompany us, Osborn. You may spot something there the rest of us miss.”

“Happy to come along!” the hin said.

“The rest of us will go to the gate,” said Autumn. “Perhaps we should send the watchman with you in case the church gives you trouble.”

“Sorry,” said Erron. “I have to stay with her.” He pointed a stubby finger at Lanara. “But stop by the station on your way and they’ll send someone with you.”

The group separated, agreeing to meet back in a few hours. The four women, with Erron in tow, went out to the main gate and struck up a conversation with the watchmen on duty. Luck was with them; the shift had just changed, and thus the guards on duty had also been on the previous night. After some casual questioning, one of the watchmen looked at Lanara, then back to Arrie.

“Well, I can’t say as I noticed anyone odd coming into the gate, but I swear I saw your friend there in the streets late last night.”

“Really? Where?” asked Arrie.

“I saw her walk across the street there,” he said pointing a short way down the main trade road. “From that alley across to that one. Couldn’t miss her; pink hair and everything.”

“Interesting,” said Arrie. “Thank you.”

They decided to check at the other town gates to see if there had been other sightings. “So, we know that whoever this is can look like you,” said Autumn. “We could be dealing with a magic user.”

“True,” said Xu, “but it could also be a doppelganger, or someone skilled in the art of disguise. Or even another cansin with similar features.”

“Whatever the reason,” chimed in Arrie, “it’s obvious that they wanted to be noticed, so that they could establish that Lanara was out in the streets at the time of the crime. It seems that this was targeted against her from the start.”

“I still don’t get it,” Lanara complained. “I don’t have any enemies! At least, none that would go to this length to get to me.”

Their check of the other gates did not produce any more sightings of ‘Lanara’. The group returned home to see the four men sitting in the inn’s common room, looking glum.

“What happened?” asked Autumn.

“Well, let’s put it this way,” said Kyle. “Things probably would have gone a lot better if I’d been in charge of the diplomatic exchange.”

Autumn winced. She’d been giving Kyle lessons in etiquette recently, but his tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time was well known to all of them. If he would have done a better job…

“Tell us what happened,” said Arrie, sitting down at the table.

“We got into the Temple just fine,” said Kavan. “Big, impressive building, built to look like a fortress, though Osborn says it’s mostly for show. We get to look around at the scene of the theft. There’s a stone dais where the relic once sat. It used to be covered by a glass dome, but the thief apparently broke it. The priests had already cleaned up the glass. The priest there said that the boot print was found just outside the temple, and that the scrap of clothing was found on the floor next to another display case. They’re guessing that the thief caught it on the case on their way out.”

“Have they done any divinations?” asked Autumn.

“They had, but the priest we were talking to said the results were church business, not ours. That’s when Tolly demanded to speak with the high priest.”

The four men glanced at Tolly, who sat impassively listening to the story unfold. Osborn picked up the tale. “So we get into High Priest Valuchar’s chambers after waiting a while, and Tolly demands that the church hand over the divination results to the city. The High Priest refuses, though we do find out that their attempts to locate the reliquary itself have failed. Then Tolly tries to pull rank on this guy.”

“You did what?” gasped Lanara.

“Estranë is one of the servitors of Ardara,” stated Tolly. “I reminded High Priest Valuchar of that relationship.”

“And Valuchar reminded him that Estranë may serve Ardara, but that doesn’t mean her church does,” Osborn continued. “Things got ugly from there. I distinctly remember Tolly shouting at Valuchar – ‘Your weakness shall be your downfall’. That’s when we got thrown out of the Temple.”

Lanara groaned. “Well, so much for that. We’re never getting into there now.”

Kavan laid a hand over Lanara’s. “Perhaps we could try again tomorrow. I plan to send a letter to High Priest Valuchar in hopes he might reconsider.”

“I don’t think we’ll need to go back,” said Osborn.

They all looked at the hin. “Why not?” asked Kyle.

“Because I have this.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small shard of glass. “I found it on the ground near the dais where the thighbone used to be. I think they missed it when they cleaned up.”

Tolly looked at the glass, then at Osborn. “Why didn’t you share this with us before?”

“Because I wanted to tell everybody at the same time,” he said. “Besides, I couldn’t let you get off the hook so easily for being a stubborn jackass.”

Tolly fixed Osborn with a stare, then slowly broke into a smile. “I knew I asked you to come along for a reason.”


----------------------------

* Estranë is the goddess of tyranny and rule by might.