The Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #238a] Beating Him Down

Feln eyed the enshrouded giant approvingly for a moment before he ducked around it and directed his attention to Morier. "Step to the side, elf," he urged as he gestured toward both Windstryder and Ledare with his staff. "These marksmen see bulls-eyes on us." One of the giant's claws groped blindly out of the darkness, slashing the air more than a foot above Feln's head. "You don't look so good, elf," the monk assessed. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," Morier replied, allowing himself to be moved backwards, away from the thrashing monster. As he went, he popped one of the vials out of his potion belt, thumbed off the stopper and downed the draught. A pleasant tingling sensation flowed through his body, followed by a strong healing itch as his wounds began to close.

Vade appeared suddenly on the opposite side of Morier from Feln. This time, he had a jar of green healing salve in his little hands. "I will protect you," he told the albino as he looked flinchingly at the injury to Morier's face. "Kitten told me about this cleric named Soriah once that... ouch that had to hurt." He offered up the salve, but Morier stayed his hand.

"Thank you for your offer of assistance, Little One, but I am well enough equipped," he told Vade with a wane smile on his pale lips.

"Okay," the halfling replied. "I will tell you the story later."

Feln looked ready to say something, but the words died on his lips as Windstryder's flaming arrow finally found its mark amidst the shadows. With a rush of air, the giant went up in flames. It roared in pain and panic and tried madly to get away. It blindly ran into the standing stone, its skull contacting stone with a hollow crack.
Ledare's quarrel sailed off into the trees.

"Are we staying to fight?" Ixin asked, uncertain of what they were doing now that their fortunes had turned. She cradled a jug of oil in her hands.

"Since it seems we are able," Ledare said, "we should finish the creature here and now." Ixin nodded her understanding and stood ready with the oil.

The flaming giant was flailing about crazily in its pain and confusion. Feln stepped up and bellowed, "HAH, YOU PUTRID BEAST, COME DANCE WITH FELN!!!" With a roar the putrid beast obliged. Despite the shadows that nearly blinded it, the giant managed to backhand Feln as it came at him. Blood sprayed from his ruined nose, and he went reeling backward from the impact, recovering gracefully before he was thrust into the flames licking up around the nearest standing stone.

Windstryder had finally found her mark and she sent another flaming arrow into the shadows prompting another cry of pain from the benighted giant. Unfortunately, her tiny pot of bladefire had burned itself out, and she would have no more flaming arrows to use against the monster.

Morier leveled his greatsword at his shadow-cloaked opponent and charged forward with all the might of his wiry frame. The sword slid through the shadows and bit deeply into the giant's flesh beneath. In response, the creature roared and slashed outward with a claw, catching Morier solidly in the chest. The elf sailed through the air for a half dozen feet before landing hard on the ground where he lay unconscious.

"Vade, get him out of there!" Ledare shouted as she fired off another miss with her crossbow. Disgusted, she slipped the weapon back into its holster and drew Ruze's twin scimitars from the sheaths criss-crossed over her back.

"My spell won't last much longer!" Ixin warned. "Get ready!"

"I appreciate you trying to protecting me, but maybe I should be protecting you," Vade muttered as he grabbed Morier and began dragging him away from the combat. To the halfling's relief, the elf was a good deal lighter than either Ledare or Ruze had been.

Feln darted around behind the standing stone, careful to avoid the flames and shouted, "You got lucky with that blow, foul beast, but your time in this realm has almost ended!" The towering mass of shadows turned toward the sound of his taunting voice and a smoldering claw slashed outward, missing Feln and slamming instead into the stone plinth. "That's right, beast!" Feln continued to taunt as he took a swing at the shadows with his staff. "I am right here... CAN YOU SMELL THAT?"

Windstryder trotted closer and fired off another shot with her bow. The arrow slipped into the darkness but this time it lacked the giant's accompanying wail of pain. Ledare changed that as she moved up to the shadows opposite Feln and slashed Ruze's scimitar into the darkness. It struck flesh amidst the shadows and came away slick with the giant's blood. The creature bellowed a cry of pain and frustration at the wound, but it dwindled as Ixin's spell ran its course and the lingering shadows fell away.

Two of Windstryder's arrows were lodged in the creature's left leg and it had a fresh greatsword wound to its gut, but the savage injury Morier had dealt to its right thigh had begun to close somewhat. The giant looked down at Ledare and Ledare stared back at it.

"Remember me?" she asked.

Ixin heaved her jug of oil at the revealed giant, but the grenade went wide, shattering at Feln's feet and splashing the monk with its contents. Feln cursed and raised his quarterstaff to fend off one of the rat-headed creature's claws. Ledare deflected away the giant's other claw, but left herself open for a minor bite to her right forearm.

"Perhaps we should run now," he suggested.

"Perhaps not!" Windstryder offered and she fired a white-shafted arrow into the creature's shoulder. The arrowhead was blunt and it seemed to do no immediate damage although it released a burst of energy as it struck. The giant, however, resisted the effects of the Sleep Arrow.

"Let me!" Vade said and heaved a tanglefoot bag at the creature. He missed, unfortunately, and the bag ruptured on the ground, spilling its alchemical goo harmlessly. Morier stepped easily around the sticky puddle, his wounds smeared still with Rherram's healing paste. His greatsword licked in and cut a groove in the giant's side, causing the creature to turn back toward him. Ledare's swords whistled through the air, but failed to land a blow.

"Vuthasjach!" Ixin shouted, and raised her hands to the giant. The Net of Shadows once again whirled up from beneath the creature's feet and settled over its struggling form.

Feln swung his quarterstaff at the giant, but connected with only darkness. "Elf, can you fight on?" he shouted, sparing Morier a single look that almost cost the monk his head. He managed to bend backwards and narrowly avoid a sweeping claw, but he felt the wind from its passing on his cheek.

"Don't worry about me," Morier shot back. "Keep your head on the task at hand."

"Everybody back up!" Vade shouted. "I'm going to try something!"

Windstryder fired an arrow into the darkness and it sailed out the other side, clattering off the standing stone. Morier and Ledare backed up from the darkness and Vade produced a thunderstone from his pack. He lobbed it into the darkness and heard it strike the creature hidden within a moment before it exploded with a deafening bang.

"Yes!" Vade exclaimed happily. "Good one!"

Ixin tossed another clay jar, but it shattered on the ground halfway to the darkness, soaking the ground with lamp oil.

Feln took another swing with his quarterstaff but missed. "If this thing breaks from this web we run... agreed?" he asked the others as he dodged the giant's blind attacks.

"NOOO!" Vade pleaded. "WE CAN KILL IT!"

Windstryder fired another arrow and missed. Ledare moved back in and slashed with the scimitar in her right hand, connecting solidly with the concealed giant. Morier drank another potion of Cure Light Wounds. Ixin fumbled her last jug of oil, sending it onto the ground behind and several feet beyond Ledare.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Feln cursed, missing again with his quarterstaff.

"I agree," Windstryder muttered, as she sent another arrow off into the surrounding woods.

"I still think we can take him!" Vade argued and tossed his last vial of alchemist's fire into the darkness. It shattered and whoomped into flames, eliciting another shriek from the hidden giant.

"I think you're being overly optimistic, Vade!" Ledare said and laid into the darkness with Ruze's swords. The first blade found nothing, but the second sliced wetly through the giant's flesh, drawing forth a squeal of pain from the monster.

"Believing in your ability to win is the first step toward victory," Morier countered, driving his sword into the darkness. He thrust up and in with his hands braced on the crossbar of the weapon and felt the blade slide into and through the monster's flesh. There was a crunching sound coupled with a gurgling shriek and Morier felt the sword jerk suddenly out of his hands. The darkness shifted and a moment later, the giant struck the ground with a jarring thud that sent both Ledare and Ixin off their feet.

By the time they regained their footing, the Net of Shadows had evaporated revealing a badly-mangled giant with a greatsword piercing is rat head.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #239] On the Banks of the River Drewett

There was silence for a moment, broken only by the group's adrenaline-fueled breathing, and then Vade jumped into the air. "Yahoo!" he cried. "We did it! We did it! I knew we could do it! I just knew it!"

Ledare nodded and stepped closer to look at the giant's injuries. "Yes, Vade," she said with a wry grin. "Your persistence paid off, thanks to Morier's sword."

"Yeah!" Vade said, patting the albino appreciatively on the back of the thigh. "That was some good sword-swinging!"

"Truly," the Janissary agreed. "Well done. We are fortunate to have you with us. Are you badly hurt?" Morier ignored the question and wetly wrestled his sword free of the giant's skull.

"I'm not convinced this thing's dead," the elf said grimly. "Off with its head, I say!"

"Aiyah!" Vade exclaimed, pointing to one of the giant's sword wounds. "It's still healing! We need to burn it!"

"If someone will soak it in oil, I'll light it with a spell," Ixin offered, stepping forward with her hands at the ready. "Morier, will you do the honor of cutting off its head?"

"I will," he said. And he did.

As soon as Vade started splashing oil over the creature's headless body Feln backed away. "I was splashed twice with oil," the monk said. "I have no wish to be near open flames just now." Ledare nodded and gestured toward the marshy area at the east end of the clearing.

"Why don't you have a look through its lair to see if there is anything interesting there," she suggested and Feln nodded.

"I intend to," he said and started to turn and Vade's head popped up.

"Oooh! Someone is looking for treasure... and without me?" He handed off his oil to Ledare and trotted over to Feln's side. "You might need my help," he told the monk.

Feln shrugged. "I'm looking for anything that might aid our quest," he said as they walked across the clearing. "As for treasure hunting, I am only interested in any special weapons I am trained to use... monk weapons."

"Oh! MONK weapons!" Vade said, nodding sagely. He had no idea what a monk weapon was.



"Return to the foul place from which you came and plague this world no more," Ledare said gravely as she watched the flames Ixin had conjured burn the meat off the giant's bones. It's furry head lay nearby; the ragged neck wound showed no signs of regenerating.

"Must we bury the head in hallowed ground or burn it or something?" Ixin asked and Windstryder laughed derisively. The mage was undaunted by the ranger's mocking attitude. "Let's be thorough," she said. "I don't want this thing coming back to haunt us physically or spiritually."

"We don't have time to hunt for hallowed ground," Windstryder grumbled as she stuffed the three arrows she had been able to recover back into her quiver. "It's dead and we're wasting time here."

"Do you have time to minister to Morier's wounds?" Ledare asked archly. "He took quite a few heavy blows."

The ranger looked at the eldritch warrior's face wounds and reached for her healing kit. "Hmm, I'd say it's a bit of an improvement," she laughed. No one laughed with her.



"Look what we found! Look what we found!" Vade exclaimed as he and Feln returned from the giant's noisome lair. The halfling had a large book in his arms and his pack was jingling more than usual. Feln was similarly laden, carrying a pair of brown furry shoes, a battered gold candlestick and a large saw-toothed sword that Ledare and Ixin both recognized as being Draelond's weapon, Ravager. The monk had a gnarled black wand stuffed into the thong of his barbarian's loincloth.

"The halfling wouldn't let me leave any of it behind," Feln said apologetically as if he weren't quite sure how Vade had managed to talk him into lugging away so much stuff.

"It could be magical," the halfling explained.

"Only the sword and the wand," Ixin reported, her eyes glowing crimson as she Detected Magic.

"Well, anyway I thought you'd want this, Kitten," Vade said grunting as he offered the large black book to Ledare. It was made of leather stretched over a metal frame. The cover was stamped with the symbol of Aphyx - a rat's skull surrounded by a snake eating its own tail and the hundred or so parchment pages inside were filled with tightly-packed writing. As far as Ledare could tell it was written in the common tongue by a single author. There were several disturbing illustrations interspersed within the text and the first page bore the title: 'The Trials of Decay'.

"Come on, group let us go," Windstryder urged and Ledare looked up from the book.

"This is a very good find, Vade," the Janissary said. "You're sure there was nothing else back there worth our while?"

"We both went over it," Feln interjected. "There's nothing else there."

"I have already fallen behind schedule with the trip to the cave mouth, the trip to your healers, and now this," Windstryder snapped angrily. "I do admit the portal should keep me on time. I just won't let Huile's group beat me to the girl." The last sentence she muttered more to herself than the group.

"Then let's be off," Ledare said, snapping the large book closed. "But first, Windstryder, tell me; what do you know about administering belladonna?"



The answer to that question turned out to be: not enough. Both Ledare and Morier were struck with severe cramping after taking the dose of belladonna that Windstryder prescribed. The abdominal pain was accompanied by weakness, so much so that after a few minutes, Morier could barely move in his armor. They sweated and shivered as they walked through the woods toward town, their jaws clenching and teeth grinding involuntarily as the poison worked on their muscles.

Ledare called Vade over and placed a trembling hand on his slim shoulder. "I have an important job for you," she managed to get out through clenched teeth. "Since you are closest to the ground, watch it carefully for spiders as we move. Remember, it may be our only warning against a chagmat attack."

In a very serious, but reassuring voice, Vade said, "I will keep an eye out for them... Don't worry, I will protect you, Kitten." He reached up and patted her gauntlet with his four-fingered hand.

"See that you do, Little One," Morier added. "I am in no shape to battle spider folk today." Vade shot him an annoyed glance.

"I do have a name," the halfling told him. "It is Vade not 'little one'."

"I meant no-" the albino started to say and Vade cut him off with an upbeat note in his little voice.

"Although my Papa used to call me little one when I was a baby... He called all babies that though," the halfling mused, any annoyance completely forgotten. "Are you a daddy? I love little kids. I like looking people straight in the eye, you know what I mean?" As he said this, he looked Morier straight in the bellybutton. "I hope that baby is okay at Rherram's. I would like to play with her when we get back."



And so it went all through the morning and on into the afternoon. Neither Ledare's nor Morier's condition worsened any during the trip, but neither did it improve and both of them were out of breath by the time they reached the banks of the River Drewett that cut north-to-south through town. During all this time, Feln and Windstryder ranged ahead of the others, occasionally waiting for the group to catch up to them. At one point, Feln appeared with a bloodied bandage on his shoulder, but he brushed off any questions, saying it was nothing.

"Marty says that Windstryder shot him," Ixin told Ledare, Morier and Vade once the other two were out of earshot. The owl had been flying free all day and had just resettled on the mage's shoulder to convey what he'd observed. "She's been sniping at him all day and he's been knocking the arrows out of the air with his hands. Maybe it's some kind of game. I guess that Feln missed one."

"That's a pretty scary game!" Vade shuddered.



The day was heading toward evening with several hours of light remaining when they finally passed out of Spiderwood and spotted the hamlet of Hillville Junction nestled among some low hills to the south. A little-used logging road followed the banks of the rocky Drewett and they hastened along it, making much better time in the open country than they had in the dense woodland. Gorlan Wood lay across the river to the west, and Ledare glanced at its treeline warily as they traveled.

After another half hour's march, they could see see the carefully cultivated fields that supported the townsfolk but Ledare and Morier both scowled and looked nervously at one another.

"Shouldn't they be plowing field two?" Ledare asked and the albino nodded.

"I don't see any sheep in the pasture either," he added, panting from the prolonged exertion.

"Somebody's coming!" Vade said pointing at a fast-moving man running northward on the road.

"There's trouble in the village!" Feln shouted as he trotted up to them from the direction of the Junction. If they hadn't recognized his voice, they would never have known him. He now looked the part of the warrior lord, dressed in finery with a gleaning sword strapped across his back. His heroically-square jaw had a cleft in it that you could have used to hide an olive. The expression of apprehension looked terribly out-of-place on that strikingly handsome face. "Looks like a raid! Couple of burned roofs and such. Probably happened last night or late yesterday."

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #240] Up the Junction

"We obviously need to go in and ask questions," Vade said and began rummaging through his pack. "Could this be the work of that other party?"

"Which other party?" Morier asked, his breath still coming in ragged gasps.

"The one she keeps talking about," the halfling said, gesturing absently at Windstryder. The elf arched her eyebrow and shook her head.

"Huile's group are fellow Wardens," she said curtly. "They wouldn't attack the village just to get the girl."

"Perhaps there's something more going on here," Feln grunted. He looked at Windstryder and made a series of gestures with his hands. The ranger nodded.

"Lord Jannissary," she said, to Ledare in elvish. "Ugly One and I will scout the area and once it is secure we will watch and cover you from any danger. Have Vade signal us by scratching his ear if the danger is not visible. Once the package is secure signal us to come in."

"If the problem is not readily apparent, I think it would be good to do some poking about in the local taverns and shops asking the villagers," the Janissary suggested, squinting at the distant village. She couldn't shake the terrible feeling of deja-vu.

"If there are any children around, I can talk to them," Vade said, wrestling his disguise kit out onto the path. "Sometimes they see things without being noticed and they might talk to someone their own size. I had you guys fooled last time!" He giggled and slapped on his blonde wig.

"Vade has a good idea to ask the children," Ledare agreed with a nod. "I can go to the manor and find out what I can there. If we need shelter and food, that might be a safe haven for a bit."

"Should we agree to meet at the belltower at sundown?" Morier suggested and the others nodded.

"That'll give us an hour or two to find out what we can," Windstryder informed them before she gave Feln a gesture and darted off eastward. As she moved, she hunched low to the ground and soon disappeared completely into the tall grass.

While Ledare and Morier watched the elf go and conferred with one another about the apparent state of the village, Feln drew Ixin discreetly aside.

"Would you prefer to go in a little less noticeable?" he asked and drew off the polished steel helmet that kept his perfectly coifed locks in place. As he did so, the image of the handsome knight flickered and dissolved, revealing a coarse and weather-worn figure beneath. Feln now wore simple breeches and a loose shirt with fine-made calf-high boots. Sashes of fabric were knotted around his limbs at various points, and one kept a quarterstaff strapped to his back. His face was brutish in aspect with an underslung jaw, jutting brow ridge and sloping forehead. Purple eyes stared out at Ixin from beneath bristling strawberry blonde eyebrows. Small tusks protruded from behind his bottom lip.

Ixin took a surprised step back. "You're trolborn?" she said, using a term from her own world.

"Half-orc," Feln replied sullenly. "Is that a problem for you?"

"N-no," Ixin admitted with a shrug. "I knew many of your blood back in Highgate. In fact, Kruumeesh, one of Drake Thuulsias's daughters, was both trolborn and a monk!" Feln snorted and offered his hat to her.

"You would be remembered and easy to recognize and that may not be what we want," he told the mage. "Just concentrate on an image and that is what you will appear to be. Don't forget the clothes, Ixin. That might be easily remembered as well."

"Thank you, Feln," Ixin said. "I was worried about the same thing!" She placed the hat atop her head and her figure wavered and flowed until she appeared to be a rather average-looking commoner. In many ways she resembled a younger, taller Den Lant dressed in a rough supertunic and cap. "How's this?" she asked and Feln nodded.

"Just don't speak," he told her before approaching Vade.

"Vade, I would like you to keep your eyes open for some fine artisan's tools." Feln asked. "I have an interest in creating fine weapons but my make shift tools make it quite difficult."

"How do you keep changing your appearance?" the halfling asked as he looked over Feln's half-orcish features. "WOW! I thought I was good at disguise, but you are the best! Can you make yourself a halfling next time?" Feln chuckled.

Perhaps," he grinned. " If you see such tools let me know. If they are inexpensive enough, you could just buy them, and I will pay you back. Whatever price you name fair."

"Oooh I can find some for you I will bet!" the little rogue winked as he applied some rouge to his cheeks.

Feln nodded and sprinted down the path toward the bridge further down which spanned a series of rapids in the river. He hunkered down and soon vanished into the grass with nearly the same skill as Windstryder.



As the main group made its way down the forest path, past the millpond and down into the wattle and daub village itself, they could see the effects of the raid. As Feln had reported, Hillville Junction had obviously been raided, and not very long ago. Some buildings along the main road through town were missing their thatched roofs, and others showed signs of the torch as well. There was no shortage of villagers about, many of whom they recognized, but all were engaged in various repairs and offered the foursome little more than an odd glance as they went about their business. The market area around the belltower in the center of town had suffered the worst, and the shrine to Sato bordering the market had borne the brunt of the assault. The flowering plants growing up around the foundation of the modest shrine were trampled and front door was smashed from its hinges. Many of the shutters had been wrenched off and the wooden shingles on the roof were charred in several places.

“Welcome to Hillville Junction!” a voice called out in a friendly, if a little slurred, manner. “I’m afraid you’ve not caught us at our best, strangers. But you’re welcome to share with us what still remains of the town!" A thin, weather-weary figure lay prone in the dirt, his head propped against the wooden belltower, a clay jug propped against his side. He laughed drunkenly and grinned up at the four with bloodshot eyes hazel eyes. His unkempt grey hair and the red blossoms on his cheeks and nose indicated that he'd spent many years at the bottle.

"By the look of you, I’d guess you’re adventurers!" the man went on, pointing a wavering finger at either Ledare or Morier - it was difficult to tell which. "You could find plenty of wrongs to right around here, if you’re of such a mind."

"Leoric," Morier said, approaching the man with a look of pity on his pale face.

"Do I know you?" the drunkard asked, not even bothering to sit up as the elf came near.

It pained Morier to see the man who had valiantly fought at his side fifteen years before reduced to such a pathetic shell of his former self. The horrors that Leoric had seen on that rescue mission had shattered the man's nerve and plagued him with nightmare memories that he could only drown with cider. It was sad, truly, but Morier could not find it in his heart to scorn the man; Leoric hadn't had the childhood that Morier had after all.

"It is I, Leoric," the elf said. "Morier Tulien." The drunk squinted up into the warrior's face and a glimmer of recognition appeared beneath the apple-scented haze of alcohol.

"Morier?" Leoric chuckled. "I heard tell that you'd finally left the Junction." He brought the jug unsteadily to his lips and took a long pull.

"I've returned," Morier told him matter-of-factly. "What happened here?"

"Chagmat!" Leoric said before spitting messily.

Ledare felt an icicle of fear touch the base of her spine. Her hand was on the hilt of her longsword before she fully realized what she was doing.

"It wasn't chagmat, Leoric!" a woman's voice chided from behind them. "Stop trying to scare everyone."

They turned and saw a woman coming toward them from the direction of the shrine. She was dressed in well-made and well-worn robes of brown, red, and gold hues. The large square holy symbol of Sato hung about her neck and her head was completely shaved, as was the fashion of Orderbringers from one end of the Realms to the other. Her left arm was missing from just above the elbow, and the voluminous sleeve of her robe was pinned up at her shoulder. Her face was kind and creased with a homey, lived-in quality that put the group at ease. Her name, both Ledare and Morier knew was Maerwynn.

She introduced herself to farmer Ixin and little-boy Vade after favoring the others with a hug. "It is good to see you again, Ledare," she told the Janissary. "I just wish it could be under better circumstances."

"What happened?" Ledare asked and Maerwynn sighed.

"We were raided last night," she said. "It was like the last time, only... different."

"They was chagmat!" Leoric asserted again, finally pushing himself to a sitting position so that he could point a finger at the cleric.

"These were not chagmat! Chagmat do not fly!" Maerwynn argued before turning back to Ledare. "Like the chagmat, last night's attackers looked like some kind of weird cross between men and bugs, but they were different. Some of them flew like huge wasps, others scuttled about on four legs, and the largest - the leader, I think - looked like a big grasshopper man!"

"Bah, woman!" Leoric scoffed. "You wouldn't know a chagmat if it bit you in the arse!" Maerwynn shot him a scathing glance.

"I most certainly would, Leoric!" she exclaimed, cradling the stump of an arm she'd lost defending a child during the last attack of the spider folk. "These things last night took supplies and valuables, which the chagmat didn't ever bother with, and they only carried off one person— Ilea. Our gift of the star." The Orderbringer got a wistful look on her face and mention of the name and frowned. "The girl’s been the light of the village ever since she came. She has been staying with me since her arrival and the attackers focused on breaching the shrine to get her. I don’t know what we’ll do now that she’s gone. She’s a good girl.”

"Who is she?" farmer Ixin asked and the cleric gave her a strange look as the voice and the face did not match in the slightest.

"I don't know," Maerwynn said, blinking at Ixin curiously before turning back to Ledare. "None of us knows. Nine days ago, Ilea fell through a brilliant white hole in the sky on a night that seemed filled with magic."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Vade sighed.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #242] The Latest Buzz!

Feln made his way east and then south rapidly covering the distance around the bottom of village. Years of training had left him preternaturally quick and his legs devoured the distance in great chunks as he passed through fields of peas, oats, barley, vetch, beans, and winter wheat. All the while, he encountered no one, and while he was no farmer it seemed clear even to him that there was work to be done. He could clearly hear the sounds of hammering and sawing coming from town, leaving little doubt where the laborers had gone.

As he crept westward through a field of half-cut hay, Windstryder stepped silently from behind a stalk of grass - or so it seemed for all the suddenness of her arrival. Feln had slipped into the Fighting Cobra stance out of habit, but he relaxed and endured her smug grin. Even Anta seemed to mock the half-orc from her perch on Windstryder's shoulder.

"I found an obvious trail leading to the village from the hills in the southwest and back again," the elf said, pointing off in that direction. "I don't recognize the track type, but they total about twenty in all."

"Raiders?" Feln asked and Windstryder nodded once.

"Likely," she replied as she reached up and coaxed Anta from her shoulder onto her right hand. She pointed the bird southwesterly and tossed her in the air. "Seek!" she commanded and the hawk squawked its reply as it gained altitude.

"Let's move closer and wait for Vade's signal," Feln suggested and without a word, Windstryder crouched low and hustled off in the direction of the village.



"Is that a problem, little boy?" Maerwynn asked, bending down to smile at the disguised Vade.

"No," the halfling said with a shrug. He scratched his ear conspicuously. "It's pretty much what I expected. Have you any news of where these raiders come from?" Maerwynn stood up with a confused look on her face.

"He's very precocious for a child his age," she said, looking at farmer Ixin. "Is he your son?" Ixin started to open her mouth in response but settled instead on shaking her head no. Ledare quickly changed the subject.

"Tell us more about the night Ilea appeared," the Janissary pressed. "What made it magical?"

"Well, it's hard to say. It was in the air. You know... like right before a big storm," the cleric explained. "Only the sky was clear and seemed to have twice as many stars as was normal."

Ledare looked at Ixin, but the mage just shrugged her broad farmer's shoulders and gave a slight shake of her head.
"And what of the girl?" Ledare asked. "She is human?"

"No!" Maerwynn said quickly before amending herself. "I can't really say for certain what she is. Though she resembled an elf, there was an almost unearthly beauty about her."

Again Ledare looked at Ixin and again the mage shook her farmer's head and shrugged her farmer's shoulders.

"How did she arrive in town, exactly?" Morier asked, a quizzical look on his pale features.

"It was hard to sleep with that charge in the air that I mentioned, so many of us were up to see her arrival," she explained. "It started with a bright light that appeared in the sky above the village. Those of us who were awake came out to marvel at the new "star" in the sky - a star whose light seemed to bring feelings of peace and well being to all who gazed upon it. It was truly wonderful to behold, and I wish that I could keep that feeling in my heart always."

"Fah!" Leoric spit before upending the jug of hard cider into his mouth.

"Well, right out here in the village common," she went on, ignoring the drunkard completely, "we found a young girl, barely more than a child, lying naked and shivering on the ground. We asked her who she was, but her reply came in a musical tongue that I nor any of the others had never heard before."

Just then Ixin pointed behind the Janissary to where Feln and Windstryder were jogging into the village square. For a moment, the Orderbringer looked worried, but Ledare raised a hand and said, "They're with me."

"Janissary," Feln began with a slight bow, "Windstryder and I have found tracks of nearly twenty beasts."

"That fits with what we've just heard here," Ledare said, gesturing to Orderbringer Maerwynn. "This woman was present when the girl was taken by the raiders."

"Taken!" Windstryder growled and took a step toward the cleric. The one-armed woman quickly gave ground to the physically smaller, but none-the-less fierce elf. "Why were you unable to protect the girl?"

"It happened so quickly..." the cleric began.

"Were you overpowered?" the ranger pressed, crowding into Maerwynn's personal space. "Did it occur in the night?"

"Yes! It occurred at night. I was asleep when it started," the priestess sputtered. "And I'm not much of a fighter. At least not anymore." She flapped the stump of her arm for emphasis and Windstryder scowled but backed off.

"Perhaps you should let her tell what happened again," Ledare suggested and the ranger nodded, her eyes askance. After Maerwynn had brought Feln and Windstryder up to date on the raid, the half orc grunted noncommittally.

"You are all tired and I see you enjoy your rest," Feln observed, noting the way that Ledare and Morier's armor sagged on their respective frames. "We don't know what they are doing with this girl - the only salvation to the plight of Barnacus. We need to plan and we need to move, quickly."

There was murmured agreement from around the small band, until Maerwynn cleared her throat. "Excuse me, but you said 'plight of Barnacus'. What's wrong in Elcaden?" Ledare quickly explained and the Orderbringer's face fell. "Oh dear," she moaned, a stricken look on her face. "Lady Clebrylla and Master Robin left for Barnacus two week's ago to visit her sister in the city. I pray that nothing ill befalls them. Milord Arundel can bare little more tragedy in his life."



"I did really want to check out that neat shop," Vade sighed as they trudged southwestward into the night. He still wore his disguise although his blonde wig had come slightly askew as they traveled.

"It is not the best time to shop," Ixin soothed. She had doffed Feln's had and returned to her natural form. "We really need to move with haste. We don't want the trail to grow cold."

"Ixin's right," Ledare huffed. "The valuables and supplies taken in the Junction give no indication where the beasts were headed with the girl. The trail is our only solid clue. We need to follow the trail while it is fresh."

"I know," the halfling sulked. " But I bet I could have gotten some information out of her without paying. For most folks, telling wondrous stories about our adventures would be fair trade. People are always telling me all sorts of things if it'll get me to go off and have some more fun adventures." He paused for a moment and thought.

"But maybe it's a good idea that I didn't go. Merchants do have a habit of accusing me of taking things when I am only just looking," he explained. "Boy! They really are pesky at the fruit stand in Strenchburg Junction. For a while, I thought my name was 'Shoe Boy'! When I told them I was not selling shoes I just was admiring their fruit, they got all mad at me and chased me away with a broom. Wow! That fat guy wields one mean broom." He rubbed his bottom with both hands at the memory.

"Listen for once, humble warrior," Feln whispered into Vade's ear. "I am going to give you the chance at greatness."

"Hey!" Vade hissed back. "I listen plenty!" The monk ignored him and walked quietly up to Ledare.

"Janissary," Feln began. "Twenty of these transmogrified bugs - if such they are - may be more then we can handle if we raid their lair. Many of Ixin's spells are depleted and both you and Morier are weakened from the medicine Windstryder gave you."

"I know," Ledare said with a note of annoyance in her voice. "What's your point?"

"I think Vade and I should sneak into the lair and rescue the girl," Feln said matter-of-factly and both Ixin and Morier looked at him with surprised expressions. Ledare just looked over at Vade as they walked. The halfling looked back and shrugged.

"Stealth is obviously on our side with me and Feln," Vade mused. "And I will be sure to be quiet!" the others looked at him dubiously. He hadn't stopped talking since they left the village. "Hey! I can be quiet... when I want to be."

Windstryder appeared suddenly out of the darkness, her hand extended, palm down. At the signal, Feln immediately dropped to his haunches. Seeing Feln's reaction, the others did the same. "Just over the rise there's a cave opening. The trail leads inside," Windstryder explained. "There are two flying things buzzing around the entrance. As big as the halfling. Hard shell. Two arms. Two legs. Big stinger in back."

Vade swallowed audibly and then whispered. "Monsters around is a good time for being quiet."

 

[Jon Potter]

[Draelond #1] Purgatorium

Draelond awoke slowly, his senses returning to him only reluctantly.

He was laying face down on a rocky plain.

And he was cold.

Beyond that, he could tell little at first and it was only with great effort that he pushed himself up to his knees, shook himself free of snow and looked around.

That didn't help.

He stood up and blinked. The light was a dim, silvery radiance that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. Draelond's shadow splayed outwards across the snow, surrounding his feet like spokes on a wheel. The sky above was a misty, violet glow in whose depths he could see faint motes of color - metallic greenish-blue and rusty orange-brown, mostly - but everywhere else all the color seemed leeched from the landscape. The soil on which he stood was a flat lusterless black, dusted with a thin crust of pale snow. Here and there he could see some wiry clumps of grass struggling up through the effluvium; the sickly blades were a strange gray non-color.

A flurry of snow fell all around him like chill dust, already obscuring the imprint his body had left on the ground, but seeming to accumulate little.

An expectant hush predominated, seeming almost to press against his ears.

At his back swirled a bank of frigid mist that seemed to be the source of the cold. Ice crystals spun lazily through the air, borne on air currents that he couldn't feel. A thick layer of frost covered the ground before the fog bank.

Abruptly, the fog spit out a figure that landed unceremoniously on the glaze of frost a half-dozen paces to Draelond's left. The figure was larger and bulkier than the warrior and dressed in skins and furs. It lay still for a moment and then it scrambled stiffly to its feet and Draelond saw that it was a bugbear. It turned to regard him and he saw its squashed nose sample the air as it hefted an enormous, pitted double-axe. Draelond took a step back, his hand going up to Ravager's handle as he did so. He was grimly surprised that he was going to have to do battle so soon after fighting the rat-headed... giant...

He paused, blinking again.

What had happened to the giant?

And where were the others?

The bugbear snorted at him non-committally and holding its axe easily in one hand it loped off into the snow where it was swallowed up by the gloom.

Draelond forced his mind to remember what had happened before and he was surprised at how little memory there was. He clearly recalled charging at the giant's flank and stabbing half of his bastard sword into its back with all of the strength Ruze's spell had granted him. He also remembered feeling somewhat surprised when the thing turned on him, grabbed his arms in its barrel-sized fists and...

He put a hand to his shoulder, half-expecting to find his arm hanging by thread of gristle, but he appeared to be uninjured. His divinely enhanced musculature had returned to its normal size, but there was no pain. His armor wasn't even dirty.

The giant's huge claws came down, grabbed him savagely and... and then he was here. And he had a sinking suspicion that he knew where 'here' was.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Draelond #2] Ruze

Draelond turned in a circle, surveying the open plain on which he stood, absorbing the dull, slate-tinged scenery of the snowy landscape. He knew he should be feeling tremendous pain. He knew he should be clinging to life by a thread, but here he stood... the question was... where was 'here'?

As strange as everything around him seemed, it also carried with it a certain air of familiarity. Something about it made the strangeness in everything around him somewhat... okay.

He again surveyed the landscape and had his first sense of true unease. From somewhere deep inside, through the chill that pervaded his bones, a flicker of warmth grabbed his attention. Before he was consciously aware of what it was, he heard himself utter the name, "Ibrahil."

Equally without measure, he began to walk into the grayness, leaving behind the frosted ground upon which he had landed in this strange place. Not knowing exactly why he was doing so, but understanding that it was where he should go. Gnawing at the back of his mind was the reality of his situation. There were so many things that "should be", that simply defied logic by their absence, but he refused to allow his mind to confront them at the present.

He hadn't gone far when he began to hear the sounds of battle ahead and to his left. An awful cacophony of chains assaulted his ears, defiling the stillness with its clanking. For a moment, Draelond was transported back to Barnacus by the sound; he was standing outside the gates of Grey House with Badriembor guarding it against the Hand of Four...

But that was impossible, of course.

Badriembor was dead.

And so were the members of the Hand of Four - three of them by his own hand.

A blood-curdling shriek of fear clawed at Draelond's ears and before he knew what he was doing he'd moved away from his path and taken a few long strides toward the sound. It didn't take long for him to locate the source of the disturbance.

The sound of clanking chains came from a gaunt figure. It was black, so black that it seemed to absorb the meager light, corrupting Draelond's vision as his eyes tried to define a shape that made no sense to his rational mind. It seemed composed more of chains than flesh and its eyes and mouth blazed with turquoise fire. The air around it was alive with animated chains whose links bore terrible spikes and dripped with black wetness.

The screams were coming from the thing's victim.

She was a human woman of indeterminate age wearing intricately tooled plate mail. She bore a shattered sword in a locking gauntlet and carried a large steel shield. Both the emblazoning on shield and a tattoo on her face bore the mark of Bane, the Tyrant God. She was bleeding from dozens - maybe hundreds - of slash wounds and struggled mightily against the chains that bound her limbs, but it did no good. A heartbeat after Draelond arrived, she was wrapped in a cocoon of barbed links.

The black corruption turned its flickering blue-green eyes on Draelond and smiled. No sooner had it taken a step toward the warrior than a glowing silvery light manifested out of the falling snow to Draelond's right. The black figure recoiled from the light as if it had been splashed with acid and hissed impotently. An instant later it darted off into the gloom, dragging its burden as it went.

Draelond turned toward the light and raised an arm to shield his eyes. It was a woman - or something like a woman. She was easily 8 feet tall, bald and green-skinned. A scowl of determination was on her face. She carried an enormous silvery falchion in one muscular hand and a great pair of feathery white pinions rose up from her back. She extended her empty hand in Draelond's direction.

"I was sent for you," she said in a voice that was dripping with goodness and purity.

Draelond extended his hand to her, but she raised her falchion and kept him at bay with the flat of the blade. He saw then that she was reaching passed him at another figure that came staggering out of the falling snow.

Ruze came forward and took her hand in his, a look of ecstasy on his face. Tears streamed down his pudgy cheeks as he looked up at the glowing winged figure. "You're beautiful," he said, his voice cracked with emotion.

"So are you," she said and smiled back at him. "We're all beautiful in Her glory. Come. You have earned your reward."

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #242] Alone in the Dark

"Monsters around is a good time for carrying a big sword," Morier muttered and unsheathed his glittering silver greatsword. Vade looked at the huge blade and shook his head.

"Sheesh!" he grinned. "What are you compensating for with that thing?" The albino gave him a scathing look, but Feln interrupted before the two could really start going at it.

"Morier, your blade is most powerful, but I do not think a direct assault will save the girl," the half-orc said. "I doubt if we could even defeat them all. What do you think of having a distraction at the cave door? Ixin, Ledare, Windstryder and yourself would need to handle whatever comes out."

"While you sneak in with the halfling?" Morier asked and Feln nodded. "I don't know if the two of you can sneak in and rescue the girl, but a little recon could certainly go a long way toward helping the fact that we're drastically outnumbered. I suggest that you go ahead and scout out what's up, but if things go south..."

"I know these are unaccustomed tactics to you, sneaking and soft footing around," the monk replied. "If things go poorly for me, you must decide what is best. I will fight my way back to the cave entrance but... in any case, I don't expect you to dive in after me. Things will be bad enough as is."

"We're not leaving you," Ledare said flatly. "Let's make a direct assault our last option, but I'll take it before I leave you in the clutches of Andamacles' creations."

Feln nodded and said, "I volunteer to enter first - Vade behind me a short distance - and see if we can locate the girl."

"I can't see in the dark," Vade said in a small, small voice. " Everyone turned to look at him and the halfling realized for the first time that with both Ruze and Draelond gone, he was suddenly the only one in the party who didn't have some form of night vision.

"I did not realize you could not see in the dark," the half-orc admitted. "I think that is a pretty major drawback but I have no problem going in on my own. I think I can handle it."

"Wait! Here is an idea," Vade said quickly, trying desperately to circumvent his... ahem... shortcoming. "You wear the invisibility ring and carry me to the cave entrance. If you are carrying me perhaps we both can be invisible. This way I do not need to see. If it is lit, I will go in with you. If not I will hide by the entrance and observe and wait. You can take the ring." The halfling pulled off the plain band and held it out to the monk.

"I will take your ring, Vade, if you can stand to lose it," Feln said. "I make no guarantee of its safe return."

"Well, the ring is not really mine," Vade admitted and pressed the magic item into Feln's rough palm. "I am protecting it for Kitten." Ledare snorted.

"Yeah, right," she said. "I don't remember the last time I wore it. And please stop calling me that."

"Enough talking, for Brogine's sake," Windstryder growled, her eyes constantly surveying the surrounding trees for any sign of ambush. Feln nodded his agreement and quickly explained his plan.

"Ixin, you go a short distance - say 100 feet - and light a fire," the monk offered. "Maybe it will distract these... things."

"I will cast Dancing Lights as a distraction instead of a fire-substituted Acid splash," Ixin told him. "It offers me more options as I can control the lights from a distance. And we don't run the risk of starting a forest fire."

"The dizzying lights may let the bugs know there are adventurers nearby," Feln warned. "Do you think that is too risky?"

"Ixin knows her spells better than we do," Ledare defended and the monk nodded.

"Windstryder, I think you might be best to cover the entrance with your bow... if you agree," he went on. The ranger nodded silently and drew an arrow from her quiver. "Ledare and Morier, you two stay in reserve. If there's trouble, you know what to do. Vade, leave behind everything non-essential."

Then Feln stood and stripped off most of his gear, leaving it in a pile at his feet. Vade did the same, although the halfling's pockets were still bulging with supplies. Feln crouched again and Vade hopped lightly onto his broad back. Feln winked once at the party before activating the Ring of Invisibility and vanishing from sight.



"Wee," Vade whispered into Feln's ear as they eased toward the top of the hill. "This kind of reminds me of piggy back rides my Papa used to give me!"

Feln stopped abruptly and whispered in his gravest voice, "Hold your stories, Vade. I will listen to them over breakfast... if we live 'til breakfast."

"Okay," the halfling replied glumly and settled into waiting for Ixin's distraction to come.

While they waited, Feln edged closer and closer to the narrow cleft in the hillside. His gaze moved constantly from the ground at his feet to the trees to the air above and back again, following a pattern that had been drilled into him from an early age. Despite the persistence of his training, his gaze kept being drawn to the things floating lazily in the air around the cave entrance. They were, as Windstryder had said, the same size as Vade, but there the similarities ended. They were skeletally thin with heads shaped rather like a dog's. Covered with a segmented exoskeleton and buzzing about on translucent wings their insectile origins were indisputable, but apart from bulging, multi-facetted eyes, the rest of their appearance spoke of a goblinoid heritage. Ledare's belief that these creatures were the result of magical crossbreeding - what she had called transmogrification - seemed to be correct. At this close range, Feln could see that what Windstryder had identified as stingers were actually light crossbows secured to the creature's belts.

It didn't take long before Ixin began her distraction. Feln and Vade spotted four glowing balls of light whizzing through the trees about 40 paces to the south. The two transmogrified things flying near the entrance also saw the multi-colored lights and let out a chittering bark of alarm. Another pair buzzed out of the cave mouth and the four of them took wing off into the trees.

Feln crept closer and peered into the opening. It was dark inside... too dark for Vade to see anything. Without a word, Vade let go of the half-orc's neck and scuttled into the shadows around the cave mouth. Despite the fact that he knew the halfling was there, the half-orc couldn't see him at all... even with his darkvision. The rogue was good, Feln thought, hoping silently that he would be able to say the same about himself when this was all over.

Taking a breath he eased inside.



The fissure sloped steeply downward, opening into a roughly circular chamber that had obviously been hewn from the rock of the hill deliberately. Looking closely, Feln could tell that the hands that did the hewing were less than skilled. The floor was damp and sandy underfoot, and the walls were rough limestone. The ceiling was high, at least 20 feet above the floor, and mostly hidden in shadows, although Feln's darkvision easily picked out the strange, papery nest that filled the vault overhead. It looked like a wasp's nest of colossal size, and the monk spotted two more of the humanoid insects sleeping in the circular entrances.

Feln's breath caught in his throat and he listened intently. A distant dripping sound was audible, as if water were filtering through the limestone roof and making its way down the walls. But he could hear no sound of the girl; if she were in the nest, she was either unconscious or dead.

The monk licked his lips and headed for the tunnel opening on the opposite wall. It was of the same construction as the chamber and continued on straight-ahead, terminating in a T-intersection at the limits of his darkvision. He crept silently down the roughly cylindrical tunnel, his feet making less than a whisper on the wet sandy floor. At the intersection, he paused, looking both ways. He saw no movement, although the tunnel continued on past the 60-ft. range of his vision in both directions. There were two openings leading deeper into the hillside and one that went back the way he had come leading off of the intersecting corridor. One of the openings was across the hall, ten feet to his right. He stepped gracefully across and listened.

Apart from the ever-present dripping of water, he could hear the furtive clicking sound of insectile armor coming from somewhere down the corridor. A quick glance revealed a passageway leading off to the right about twenty feet down as well as the fact that the corridor elbowed off to the left at a point thirty or so feet beyond that. It sounded like the chitinous clicking sounds were coming from the nearer opening. He was about to head back - the complex was simply too expansive for him to search on his own - when he heard something else. As he turned, the sound of crying briefly reached his ears by some acoustical trick of the caves. It seemed to be coming from further down the passage, beyond where it elbowed off to the left.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Draelond #3] Claimed and Unclaimed

Draelond saw the blissful look sweep across Ruze's face and suddenly felt as though he understood many things. A surprising pang of jealousy tugged at his heart and he pushed it aside, his sense of duty overpowering his longing. He approached and began his appeal, hesitantly at first, but growing quickly in urgency. "If we are... where I think we are, Ruze, we have unfinished business... elsewhere."

Ruze turned slowly to look at Draelond, drawing his gaze away from the celestial with difficulty. He clearly did not want to turn his face from his spirit guide, but felt the bonds of brotherhood pull his eyes toward Draelond.

"I think I know how strongly you believe in the fates, but maybe we have the opportunity to finish our work in the material world," Draelond urged and Ruze grinned back him, his cheeks still wet with tears of joy.

"Can you not see her?" Ruze asked, dreamily. "She is so beautiful. Look how she comes for me!"

"I see nothing, Ruze," Draelond replied and that distant sense of longing stirred again in his chest. He forced it down; there was still work for him to do. "Think of the good that could be... Think of the evil that we were so close to destroying."

"I did not know until this moment, how much I have coveted to stand next to my Queen as her personal retinue," the cleric answered, his eyes glazing over in rapture. "Me, a son of a poor dirt clod farmer, will stand at the ready for Shaharizod."

"I am sure that I am not ready," Draelond admitted, taking the Battleguard's hand as he spoke as if to keep Ruze from drifting away into the falling non-snow. As he took the cleric's hand, Draelond saw the green-skinned woman flinch as if she were ready to raise her falchion at the Battleguard's defense.

"I know not what faith you follow, Draelond, but my Goddess is pure and true and I can entreat her to have you stand at her foot as well," Ruze said. He gave Draelond's hand a reassuring squeeze and then slipped free of the man's grip.

"I have left too much above," the big warrior answered. He looked up at the stern-faced woman... angel... whatever.... and pressed his mouth into a resolute line. "I am willing to fight the fates to leave this place and return to the others. Will you come with me?"

"No," Ruze said flatly. "We have fought and died well! This is our reward. You can be part of those that believe - the uninitiated warrior!"

"You must first renounce the two who already lay claim to you," the bald figure told Draelond in a voice that sounded almost like wind chimes. "Only then can the Silver Queen take you as her own."

"Come, Draelond. Come follow me," Ruze said as he and the winged woman turned into the storm. "Come."

"Beware this place, warrior," the woman added, her voice clearly reaching Draelond's ears even as Ruze's began to fade. "There are dangers aplenty for the unclaimed."

"Come follow me. Draelond Come with me to my Queen," Ruze continued to call, his voice now barely audible from the swirling snowstorm. "Come."

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #242a] Angels & Insects

Ixin was crafty with her Dancing Lights. The four colorful globes of radiance were easily three times as fast as their transmogrified pursuers and they changed direction at her whim, zipping over and under limbs and speeding around the trunks of trees. Still, she was hard-pressed to keep the insect creatures from getting close enough to recognize her ruse for what it was. Firstly, she was constrained by the limitations of her spell: no single light could move further than 10 feet from any other. Secondly, she was limited by the fact that she was trying to avoid sending the flying humanoids too near to where Ledare, Morier and Windstryder were hiding. And thirdly, the insects were using clever tactics, initiating flanking maneuvers and setting the moving lights up for sudden crossbow attacks.

It was really just a matter of time...

The globes of light orbited each other as they careened amidst the trees and Ixin directed them around the trunk of an oak tree of considerable size. Too late, she noticed one of the four insect men buzz down from above with its crossbow drawn. It fired a shot into the midst of the lights, not managing to score a hit on any of them. However, Ixin couldn't prevent one of the insubstantial glowing balls from slamming into the thing's chitin-plated chest. Of course, it caused no harm, but contact with the disbelieving creature disrupted the spell and the globe that had struck him dissipated at once, leaving Ixin with only three circling balls of light.

The flying creature alighted on a nearby branch and barked to its fellows. Hanging at her hip, Arivexoth immediately translated the thing's words to Ixin. "Lights a trick!" the creature yipped. "We tricked! Braath be mad we chase lights! Mad we tricked!"
"Braath be mad we not guard!" one of the others countered but the first shook its horned head.

"Guard we do. Not chase lights," the first asserted, pointing at its bulging multi-facetted eyes. "Look we do. Find light maker. Chase light maker. Kill light maker!" Its four fellows barked their approval and Ixin let her spell lapse. The three remaining light globes drifted lazily to a halt and dropped to the ground where they burst like soap bubbles.

"Saltatus iubar... arthonath!" she chanted softly and pointed her finger. At the spot she'd indicated in the distance appeared the glowing figure of a man. The figure moved furtively through the trees, appearing and disappearing eerily as it passed behind the trunks of oaks and ash and pines.

"There! Guard there! Chase there!" one of the bug men yapped, pointing a clawed hand at the figure. "That light maker!"

"Kill!" a second bug man yipped and the other two took up the battle cry. "KILL!!!"

They launched themselves from the branches and buzzed toward the shimmering figure at full speed.



It didn't take Feln more than a moment to reach a decision. He took a breath and moved down the passage, as silent as a shadow. The bug-like clicking and clacking grew louder as he neared the side passage, and as he drew breast of it a foul midden pit stench assaulted his nostrils. Venturing a peek down the connecting passage, he spotted something large and multi-legged moving about in the chamber beyond. His darkvision could reveal little about the thing apart from the fact that it was both enormous and some type of vermin - most likely a giant spider or scorpion.

Feln's breath caught in his throat as he darted across the mouth of the corridor. He could here a rustling now accompanying the clicking and clacking as if the huge arachnid had sensed his passing and was maneuvering itself into attack position. But no attack came and the half-orc slowly let out his breath and padded toward the far end of the corridor.

Where the passage turned off to the left, Feln paused because he could now see faint light coming from that direction. He pressed himself against the passage wall and glanced around the corner. It continued passed the corner for only aouther 15 feet or so before emptying into a much larger chamber. The sound of dripping water was more pronounced and now Feln was certain that he could hear a girl crying.

He moved forward and glanced out into the "chamber". What it really was, he saw now, was a central passageway twice as wide as the others that he'd moved through were. It extended away to his right as far as his eyes could see, and other smaller tunnels fed into it on both sides. The rugged limestone walls streamed with water and the floor was damp and mucky. He could see no tracks in the mud, however. To his left, the passage let into a squarish chamber illuminated my strange silver light. It was the girl, however, that immediately drew his attention. A beautiful, forlorn-looking young elf girl was chained to the floor of the chamber. Numerous bloody stripes across her chest and back indicated that she had been flogged. She was crying, but her eyes were clear, green, and full of an anger that could only be described as righteous.

Sighing with relief that he'd found the object of his quest, Feln mentally willed his Hat to trigger his elf disguise and his features ran invisibly into their new shapes as he stepped out into the passageway.

His only warning was the mud shifting beneath his feet before the trap went off and the ceiling collapsed on his head.



Outside Vade heard the muffled crunch of falling rock echoing up from inside the cave. "Uh oh," he said.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #243] What's Bugging You?

The halfling swallowed nervously and squinted into the dark cave. He could see nothing within beyond a few feet, but that falling rock sounds was too ominous to ignore. He edged through the shadows, moving away from the cleft and back up toward where Ledare and Morier had stationed themselves in the underbrush. He froze in his tracks as the quartet of bug men roared passed in pursuit of Ixin's glowing deception. They noticed him not at all, and Vade was able to creep right up between Ledare and Morier before those two noticed him either.

"I heard a really loud noise coming from inside the cave," Vade explained in a hushed whisper. "Like rocks falling. We need to go in and help Feln."

"Good!" Morier said, gripping his sword eagerly. "I've had enough of skulking about like a thug!" He struggled to his feet, and it was plain that despite his bravado, he was still feeling weak from the belladonna.

"Wait a moment," Ledare urged, laying her hand on the elf's forearm. "Vade, can you move quickly and find Feln? You are small and have been able to hold your tongue long enough to be silent."

"What's the point?" Morier asked. "If Feln's made enough noise so that we heard it, then the bugs heard it too. There's no secret that we're here and trying to gain access at this point, I'd guess. And unlike the halfling, I can see perfectly well in the dark."

"So can I," Ixin said as she trotted across from her own hiding place. The others looked at her questioningly. "It'll take those things a few moments to realize that my illusion was just that. And I saw you guys arguing..."

"Swords ready," Morier told her. "We're heading in."

"Not necessarily!" Ledare countered and Vade quickly told the mage about what he'd heard.

"I think it makes sense for Vade to stay outside with Ledare while Morier, Windstryder and I to go in for Feln," Ixin said. "I have darkvision and the ability to understand the bugs."

"I want to go and help Feln," Vade whined. "He is nice."

"You'll be blind," Morier reminded the halfling. The albino's hands moved over the vials in his potion belt and checked the wands he kept in his wrist sheaths. Everything was where it should be. Battle awaited!

"There are lots of big nasties in there... you need me! I knew I should have gone with him." The halfling looked genuinely remorseful. "Besides, some boring philosopher man once told me: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

The others looked down at him with surprised expressions on their faces. The little rogue clucked his tongue in exasperation. "It means don't separate Vade alone in the dark," he explained and wrapped his tiny arms half-way around Ixin's knees. Sighing heavily, she reached down and pried the halfling's arms off her legs.

"Let's not waste time arguing," she said. "We are needed in the cave so let's stay together as Vade suggests and get moving." As she turned, the sunrod she'd been carrying in her belt plinked onto the ground. Her eyes flicked between it and the too-innocent-looking Vade and she smiled. "If you wanted the sunrod, you need but ask little friend."

He stooped to pick it up. "I was thinking that someone could just carry me on their back and I would only have to break open the sunrod when we need it," he said, grinning sheepishly at her. "They already know that we are here anyway."

"While we stand here, Feln might be fighting for his life," Morier asserted. "I'm going in."

"Go now and find out what has happened," Ledare told them as they hustled down the slope toward the cave. "I will keep those bugs from following you. You have my word."

Ledare glanced around and saw the transmogrified insects still flying off in the distance. Of Windstryder there was no sign.



Feln dodged the first piece of falling debris, his body moving into Flowing Water Style automatically. The second bit clipped his arm as he wove his body between the third and fourth. The impact threw off his balance and sent him tumbling awkwardly to the ground. After that, it was all he could do to keep from being pinned beneath the wet rubble. When the deadly rain of stone finally stopped, his legs were buried beneath the collapse and his arms and head were bleeding freely from half-a-dozen wounds. Dust choked his airway and he sputtered to catch his breath as he extricated himself from the cave-in.

"You're not like the others," the girl spoke. Her voice was like music in the damp dark.

"We are here to rescue you," Feln groaned and coughed as he got to his feet. "Hold on. My friends are coming to save you." He brought one of his two remaining elixirs to his lips and felt the pleasant warmth of healing spread through his body. When it had passed, of his many injuries only an insignificant bruise on his temple remained.

"Are you hurt?" the girl asked and Feln shook his head. He activated the Ring of Invisibility and vanished a few moments before another voice issued from behind him in the passageway, ringing off the limestone walls.

“Petty creatures!” it shouted. “You have incurred the inestimable anger of Brath the Lesser. Prepare to be destroyed!” Feln heard a few muttered words of spell casting and then found himself shrouded in a darkness so deep that even his darkvision couldn't penetrate it.



"I hear something," Vade warned as they passed through the entrance chamber. "Up above." Ixin and Morier trained their eyes on the ceiling and saw the papery nest that Feln had noted earlier. There were transmogrified bug men visible in many of the entrances and egresses of the nest, but they weren't sleeping any more. And they weren't happy about finding three intruders in their home. A shower of crossbow bolts descended on the trio.

Two arrows pierced Morier's scalemail, one striking a glancing blow to his chest while the other cut a bloody groove in his right knee. A shaft found its home in Ixin's right thigh, piercing her armor as if it were silk and not leather. Vade, clinging blindly to Ixin's back faired less well than she. Two quarrels struck him, one in the right shoulder, the other in the right foot.

Of the first salvo, only three bolts had failed to find their mark and the three companions could hear the creak of levers rachetting crossbows back into firing position.



Outside, ignorant of the troubles within the cave, Windstryder moved through the underbrush as noisily as a ghost. If there was a back door to this cave, she would find it and retrieve the package herself. She could not sit idly by while Mud-Face secured the package that she had been assigned by order of the King himself to obtain. And what if he failed? The package was too crucial to the fate of Barnacus to allow her to be relocated or killed if Ugly wasn't up to the task.

And so she hunted on the other side of the hill for another way in with her bow at the ready.