Starday, 1st of Needfest
On the flight back, Vek was behind Chatrilon. “Who sent you to kill us?” he asked. Chatrilon made a very rude suggestion in reply. Vek grabbed the rogue and tilted him to the side, to overlook the mile-high drop. “Give me a straight answer, or it’s time to see how funny a man looks trying to flap his arms when they’re tied up.”
Chatrilon began to laugh. “Either way, I’m dead or imprisoned for life, right? Why don’t I just take that secret to my GRAVE!” He pitched himself over the side. Vek hadn’t expected this, and couldn’t find a grip on him in time. Chatrilon fell to his death, laughing all the way down.
The eagle began descending. In the night gloom they saw a thick black shape, several miles to the south. It was the Temple. They landed at the farmhouse Elmo had spoken of and dismounted.
Vek stepped off the eagle angrily. He removed his gloves and threw them into the crook of a tree. He dropped his pack there and gestured to the prisoner Jettok had taken. “Jettok. Place him at the base of the stump.” The dwarf shoved the gibbering would-be assassin into place. Vek whispered something to Kyla, who whispered to Katya. Vek walked forward.
“You’ll talk to us,” Vek said. “You’ll tell us everything you know, and you’ll wish you knew more.”
“I don’t know anything, I swear!” The man was horribly frightened. His appointments didn’t ever wind up this way.
“Oh… you know something.” Vek slowly drew a very dull looking serrated dagger from his glove and began heating it over the campfire Rafflorn had built. “And you’re going to tell me.”
The man began spasming, kicking, and screaming. “I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING, I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! I TAKE THE JOBS AND I DO THEM! OH, NO! PLEASE!! YOU’VE GOTTA BELIEVE ME!”
Vek frowned. “I believe you.” He put the dagger away. “He’s not lying- he really doesn’t know anything. Kyla, do you detect evil in this man?”
She concentrated, then reopened her eyes. “Yes.”
“You know what must be done.”
She nodded grimly and took Katya by the shoulder, leading her away. “Make it quick and painless.”
Vek turned. Dartan and Jettok stood and watched. "Do you have any last words?" Vek drew the sword slowly, letting it scrape from its scabbard as the man's terrified eyes beheld it.
"PLEASE OH NO PLEASE GAHH NO NO NO HELP..." The man collapsed into mutterings.
"Those are awful last words," Vek smiled. He killed the man. It was quick and painless.
Later, Rafflorn walked up to the others, with Jettok at his side. “Jettok and I have been talking,” he said. “We would like to use a teleportation spell to bring us back to the weapons shop, where he can pick up his wares from Mr. Ohanna. Then, we can spend the night in comfortable beds in the tower of a gnomish friend of mine.”
“Well, it beats camping,” Kyla said. Raff concentrated on the farmhouse and teleported them all back to the magic shop. Once Jettok had picked up his items in the darkened shop, he left a note of thanks and they went to the tower, where they spent the night beneath feather comforters.
Come morning, they all teleported back to the farmhouse. They looked over the well’s edge, and as Elmo had said, a column of stone rungs descended into the darkness. “Before we go down,” Vek said, “We should probably attempt to gain every advantage we can.”
“What do you mean?” Raff asked. Vek answered his question by taking an ornately carved ivory box from his pack and opening it. It was the Deck of Many Things.
“Vek, no,” Katya said.
“We’ve all drawn from the Deck, save you two, and we’ve all gained more than we’ve lost. Wee Jas smiles upon us.”
“Luck runs out. Raff, don’t.”
Rafflorn looked down at the polished vellum cards. They gleamed in the morning sunlight. Vek’s smile was inviting and comforting. Yes… why shouldn’t he take a draw a card, or… “Two. I’ll take two.”
Vek began shuffling the cards. “Wise choice. Cut the Deck.” Rafflorn cut the deck carefully. Vek spread the cards in his hand and Raff reached out for one.
Rogue
Vek frowned. “One of your friends will turn against you.”
“Dammit.” He was silent for some moments. ”I have to draw the other card, don’t I?”
“Yes.”
Rafflorn reached for his last card. “Wait,” Katya said. She stepped between them and kissed the young wizard lightly, briefly. “For luck,” she added, before stepping back. Raff’s ears blazed bright pink and his eyes glazed over in wonder. A dazed Rafflorn reached for the card.
Throne
Vek looked at the card in astonishment. “For luck, indeed! You’ve just become the owner of your very own castle! In addition to this, you are now a natural leader of men. My word. Where do you want your castle to be?”
Rafflorn looked at Katya. His eyes were harder now, kinder, and nobler. He spoke with a voice that commanded respect. “I want my castle just outside Verbobonc.” The meaning of his eyes read clearly to Katya.
“So it is done,” Vek said, reshuffling the cards. He looked at Jettok. “We now have a base of operations.” The dwarf regarded this prospect with glee. Vek turned back to Katya. “Hmm, looks like everyone’s had good luck, all around. Seems a shame to throw away such an opportunity.”
Katya broke her gaze with Rafflorn and looked at Vek. “Damn you, I’ll not draw a card. That thing is going to kill one of us. I’ll not be the one whose luck runs out.” Vek shrugged and put the cards away.
They went down the well. At the bottom, Katya cast a spell to make invisible everyone around her. Dartan was left visible- as bait. He walked first through the old wooden door. A dank, narrow tunnel extended before them, far into the south. They walked. Dartan began saying things like “Any bad guys? I’m all alone here…” Despite his best efforts they went unmolested.
The tunnel came to an end, and they were once again in the Temple of Elemental Evil. They walked quietly with weapons drawn. They heard something up ahead- breathing; a deep, rumbling snuffling sound. “Big things,” Jettok said. “Several of them, in fact.”
They found two doors in a short tunnel, facing each other, both partly ajar. The noises came from each door. Dartan looked for guidance from the others, and when he found none, he kicked one of the doors down and rushed in swinging. Four surprised ogres stood there, then launched into frenzied battle. Katya snarled “Ogres!? This won’t be any kind of challenge.”
Jettok swung his axe in a path that should have cut an ogre in half. The thing took the damage and swung at him as though it hadn’t felt the blow. The dwarf barely managed to duck the strike, then said “Uh… I don’t think these are your everyday ogres.”
Rafflorn, at the rear, remained invisible. He guided Surge from his position. Behind him, the other door opened and four more ogres ran out, brandishing huge weapons! They slammed into the young wizard, knocking him over. Then, in confusion, they stood around where he lay and began to swing at the empty air. He may have been invisible, but they’d hit him…and soon. He shrieked and cast a modified lightning spell. Each of the four ogres roared as they fried within its blue-white arcs. Surge then made it back and began stunning the ogres. “Help, four more ogres over here!” Rafflorn yelled.
Jettok and Dartan had each taken one ogre down by now, so Jettok lunged over Rafflorn’s now-visible form and began chopping ogre cutlets with his mighty axe swings. With a little time, the Knights had taken control of the battle and defeated the ogres.
Jettok leaned on his axe-haft, breathing heavily. “Well,” he smiled, “that’s one encounter down! How much harder could Tharizdun be than that?”
Next: Deeper, Darker, Deadlier
