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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3523039" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 166THE SHATTERED CITY“What happened here?” Allera said quietly. “It would appear that the cult of Orcus is extending its reach,” Varo replied.  The seven companions moved through the great cavern, which loomed sepulchral and empty round them, like a tomb.  The place that had once been the central market of the goblin city of Grezneck was now a shattered marker of a great catastrophe.  “Violence was wrought here,” Shay said.  It was obvious, even beyond the wreckage of market stalls and the broken bits of gear scattered about.  This place just felt like suffering and destruction. “There are no bodies,” Baraka noted.  The ranger was still a little pale, but he held his bow tightly, an arrow held loose against the string.  “Just like at the deserted guardpost at the city entrance; hints of struggle, but no remains.”The companions kept close together as they pressed onward, deeper into the cavern.  Varo’s daylight spell pushed back the darkness, but the reassuring warmth of the divine illumination did little to dispel the cold chill that each of them felt.  Grezneck bore constant signs and reminders of the large population that had thrived here until recently, but in its current state, each of them could not help but feel like interlopers, intruding upon the uneasy rest of the dead.  Or, as it may be, the undead. There was a small flutter of movement under an overturned booth as they walked past.  Sword and arrows were turned upon the wreckage at once, but the source was revealed a moment later as a small, scrawny rat, which darted away, vanishing into a crack in the cavern wall. “Well, at least something lives here,” Baraka said.  The ranger shuddered, and stopped, rubbing his head. “Are you all right?” Allera asked him.  “We can stop to rest, if you need to.”  While Allera had both healed him and purged his body with a restoration spell, the mountain ranger still showed the lingering effects of his injury.  He’d fallen into a deep coma after Allera had stabilized him during the battle with the dragon, and no mere cure wounds spells had been able to improve his condition.  Talen had looked to be facing a very difficult decision, when the ranger had suddenly woken shortly after the return of Varo and the others from their confrontation with the female dragon in its lair.  He’d been dazed, with little memory of the battle, or for that matter anything that they’d done thus far in Rappan Athuk.  But after some more healing Allera had pronounced him fit, and he accepted his weapons and his place in the van without complaint. “Not here,” Talen said, but Baraka shook his head.  “I am all right, healer,” he said, moving ahead to join Shay in scouting out their path.  “Which way?” Talen asked, turning to Varo.  The cleric focused on his active find the path spell.  “There,” he said, pointing to the far side of the cavern. “Let’s get moving then,” the knight said.  “I don’t want to spend a minute longer in this place than is necessary.”Varo’s directions led them to a pair of double doors, now hanging open, on the far side of the cavern.  The doors accessed a broad tunnel, easily twenty feet wide, that continued deeper into the goblin city.  They moved quickly but cautiously, their own treads muffled on the worn stone.  Their care was born in part of a renewed awareness of the challenges of Rappan Athuk, and in part from what had happened in their camp after the dragon hunters had returned from the shadow dragons’ nest.  With two new bodies added to their tally, Allera had insisted on using the blue diamond she’d found to try to raise one of their fallen.  Pella’s dismemberment placed her beyond that spell’s power, so she had attempted to bring back Bullo from beyond the veil. The spell had failed; Allera had been unable to contact the legionary’s soul.  Talen and Shay had looked up at Varo, who had not looked surprised at the result. The corridor straightened and continued onward for as far as they could see with Varo’s light.  “This must have been a main thoroughfare,” Kalend said.  “It’s bigger than any goblin warren I’ve ever seen.”“These are not typical goblins,” Talen said.  He held Beatus Incendia bare in his hand, but the sword was inert; the knight had not called upon its holy flames. “Damned gobbos can all go to the Pit,” Dar growled.  Up ahead, at the edge of their light, Shay gestured back to them.  “Quiet,” Talen said to the others.  “Varo, mask the light.”The cleric nodded, covering the head of his mace with a sack.  The brilliant illumination instantly faded to a weak aura that shone through the dense wool fibers, and the companions had to grasp onto the left wall to guide them while their eyes adjusted to the sudden change.  Shay came back to join them as they approached.  “What is it?” Talen whispered.“There’s a side tunnel to the left up ahead,” the scout reported.  “I thought I heard something... might have been sounds of battle.” “Thought you heard?” Dar hissed. Shay shot him a dark look, but Talen said, “All right, let’s check it out.  But slowly, and as quietly as possible; we don’t know what’s out there.” Quiet was a relative thing, with Dar and Talen clad in heavy armor, but they made their way up to the side passage that Shay had indicated without incident.  The opening was far narrower than the main tunnel, and led into a tunnel that was utterly black.  They stood there for a few moments, listening, but heard nothing but silence. “I think you’re hearing things...” Dar began, but Shay cut him off with a raised hand.  “Something’s coming,” she whispered.  Talen gestured to Varo, and the two of them moved to flank the opening.  The cleric put his mace under his cloak, completely muting the light.  Behind the knight, Dar drew Valor from its sheath, while the others prepared spells or missile weapons for battle. They listened, but the darkness continued its silence unabated.  Then, finally, they heard a faint sound, almost like a whisper.  It could have been the soft sound of feet padding on bare stone... getting closer...Shay prodded Talen, and the knight stepped into the opening, invoking the power of his sword as he did so.  Behind him, Varo drew out his mace, and tore off the sack from its head, flooding the area with daylight.  The bright glow revealed a single goblin, who drew up in startlement, shielding its eyes in pain from the sudden intensity of light.  “All right, gobbo, on your knees, hands on your head,” Dar said, stepping into the tunnel opening, at the same time that Allera said, “It’s all right, we’re not here to hurt you.”The goblin recovered surprisingly quickly.  It darted forward, easily avoiding Dar’s clumsy grab, diving into a roll that took it past Talen before the knight could react. “What the—” Dar exclaimed, spinning around in confusion before he located the rapidly-moving goblin.  “Come back here, you little bastard!”The goblin came up from its roll and sprang forward again, leaping past Allera and Shay.  The scout was fast enough to get in an attack; she shot out a foot, trying to trip up the creature, but the goblin was able to shift and take the blow on its hip.  It grunted, but did not stop.  Kalend had lifted his blow, but Serah stopped him.  “No, hold your fire!  We’re supposed to parlay with them...”But it looked like the goblin was not interested in conversation, and as he made it past Shay, it looked like it was going to make a clean escape.  But as it turned toward the tunnel that led back to the great market cavern, it had one more foe to get past; Licinius Varo.  Varo made no move to intercept the creature.  He merely presented his divine focus, and invoked the power of Dagos. The goblin froze and fell, paralyzed by a hold person spell.  “I would suggest that you secure it quickly; the spell will not hold it long,” Varo said. Shay and Baraka moved to capture the goblin, but before they could bind it, a dark, nauseating storm of energy engulfed them.</blockquote>

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