Three Hundred Years - updated 09.02.2003

[carpedavid]

Session 5, Part 3

Pushing the frightened janitor in front of her, Quara leads the party to the stairs. "Take us to the warden," she commands, "Now!"

Sean the janitor tries not to wet himself as he forces himself to place one foot in front of the other. With every step, he hopes for an arrow in the back from the intruders, because he is truly scared of what the warden will do if they don't kill her.

The next floor is comprised of cellblocks, like the floors far below: four long corridors radiating from the central shaft, with an iron catwalk connecting them. Quara looks for signs of activity, and seeing none, urges the janitor to continue up. Just as they begin moving again, Shoji hears the sounds of hurried footsteps coming from above. He taps Quara on the shoulder, and points upward, "Movement up ahead."

Quara lets go of the janitor who promptly collapses against the wall. She draws her bow, and says, "Let's meet them halfway." Erendil and Laurel fall in behind her, while Shoji takes the lead. They move about ten feet up the stairs when several robe-clad figures appear in front of them. Quara looses an arrow over Shoji's shoulder, and strikes the lead figure square in the chest.

Shoji attempts to follow up Quara's attack with a punch to the chest, but the arrow's impact knocks the man back far enough that Shoji's fist only makes contact with the hem of his robe. Erendil already has his bow drawn by the time that Shoji's strike misses, and as the monk's body moves with the momentum of his punch, he sees an opening. His arrow flies over Quara's shoulder, past Shoji's ear, missing by a fraction of an inch, over the head of the first robed figure, under the upraised arm of the second, and hits the third robed figure in the stomach.

Laurel nocks an arrow in her seldom-used bow, and manages an expert shot of her own. She fires past her three companions and hits the second robed figure.

"Hello!" quips Wrayce as he pokes his head around the corner and fires his wand of magic missiles at the same figure that Laurel hit.

The man that Shoji missed recovers from the impact of Quara's arrow, pulls a mace from under his robes, and slams the flanged metal head into Shoji's ribs. He smiles smugly as the cracking sound of bones being broken echoes up the stairs.
The second figure pulls a silver amulet in the shape of a coiled whip from beneath his magic-missile-charred robes, holds it aloft, and invokes the power of his goddess. "Lady of Pain, grant my prayer and hold him fast!" he says while pointing at Erendil. The elven archer feels his muscles begin to go numb, and struggles to free himself of the magic. He manages to shake off the effects, and the cleric of Dominique looks crestfallen.

The third cleric, who was the victim of Erendil's marksmanship attempts to take advantage of the archer's distraction and pulls a crossbow from under his robes. A sharp pain distracts him as he lifts his arms, though, and he fires wildly, the bolt splintering against a wall.

"Oh s---!" exclaims Wrayce as he sees, from his vantage point at the bottom of the stairs, two more clerics walk out onto the catwalk above. "There are more out here!" he yells to his companions.

Erendil hears Wrayce's warning and fires one last arrow into the crossbow-wielding cleric before moving back down the stairs and out onto the catwalk. Wrayce fires two more golden bolts at the second cleric, and smiles in satisfaction as the man clutches his chest and drops. He then joins Erendil on the catwalk. With her original target out of the way, Laurel drops the third cleric with a well placed arrow, and then moves out onto the catwalk as well.

Shoji takes another blow from the remaining cleric's mace, which distracts him enough that he misses with a counter punch. "I'm on it," Quara says to Shoji as she fires three arrows over his shoulder in rapid succession, piercing the cleric's abdomen.

On the catwalk, Erendil is too busy trying to figure out what the two other clerics are doing to notice the warden fly down from above. She lashes at Erendil with her whip as she flies to the center of the shaft, where she can reach anyone on the catwalk. "You will all die here!" she exclaims, as Erendil's shoulder in filled with a burning pain.

He growls and fires three arrows in retaliation, each landing with deadly accuracy. Wrayce follows suit with more golden bolts from his wand, and is pleased to see the warden wince in pain.

Meanwhile, Shoji blocks another attack from the cleric and tries to land a kick to his head. He slips, though, and stumbles back into Quara as she fires, knocking her shot wide.

"When I kill you, I'm going to resurrect you, just so I can torture you and kill you again!" the warden screams as she sends the end of her black leather whip flying through the air, bridging the gap between villain and hero, and hits Laurel in the face. All consuming pain wracks Laurel's body; she feels like her nerves have caught fire and her blood has turned to acid. It takes all of her concentration just to keep herself breathing, and she collapses on the catwalk, convulsing.

Uh-oh, Erendil thinks as he watches Laurel collapse. He turns his attention back to the flying warden and lets loose three arrows. She screams in frustration and swings her whip in retaliation. This time, it connects with his bare flesh, and he feels the full pain that the whip in capable of inflicting as he, too, falls prone, spasms wracking his body. Wrayce pats his trusty wand and sends more missiles at the flying warden, raising bright red welts where they hit her milky-white skin.

Shoji and the cleric continue to exchange ineffectual blows, so Quara decides to aid her friends on the catwalk. As soon as she turns away, Shoji finally lands a punch, which hits with enough force to break the cleric's sternum. He stumbles back and collapses on the corpses of his fellow clerics.

Quara emerges from the stairway just as Wrayce points his wand at the bruised and battered warden. He lets loose with another volley of missiles, and his target slumps over. Now unconscious, the warden looses control of the magic that she was relying on to keep her aloft, and begins to fall. Quara steps up to the edge of the catwalk and places three more arrows in her as she falls fifteen stories. "Just to make sure," she tells Wrayce, as a sickening wet thud echoes up from below.

Quara and Wrayce help Laurel and Erendil up, and they rejoin Shoji. "There are more on the next floor up," Erendil reminds them, and they turn their attention to the two acolytes who had been, until now, quietly trying not to get killed. "Don’t hurt us," they both say in unison.

The five heroes ascend to the next level and confront the two priests, who have raised their hands and are trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. "We'll do anything you want," one says, "just please don't kill us."

"We're here to find a prisoner," Quara says menacingly, "You're going to help us find him."

The two clerics lead the heroes to the remaining living prisoners, where they find the Terrelian spy, Edmon of Willoughby. He is naked, emaciated, bruised and beaten, bound and gagged, and lying in a pool of refuse, but he is alive.

"We're here to rescue you," Wrayce says to the man as he mentally negotiates with the spirits of nature, and then, striking a deal, cures his wounds.

"Thank the gods," Willoughby croaks hoarsely as Wrayce and Quara help him up.

"We need to get going before reinforcements show up," Shoji says.

"What about the other prisoners?" Laurel questions.

"What do you mean, what about the other prisoners?" Quara responds.

"I mean that we can't just let them stay here and die."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not right!"

"We could leave them for the ghouls," Erendil suggests, drawing a shudder from the rest of his companions.

"They're here for a reason," Quara says shaking her head.

"Yes, the reason is that they're enemies of Avengard," Laurel says emphatically.

"That's true," Wrayce says, "they could have information valuable to the war."

Quara considers this for a moment, and then nods her assent. "Where are we going to put them?" she asks.

"They're probably going to have to go in the cargo hold," says Shoji.

"That's not very humane," says Laurel.

"Yes, but it's better then where they are now," Shoji retorts.

"True."

"We're going to need to go back through the ghoul caves to get to our ship," Erendil reminds his companions.

"Well, we'll go get the ship, and then bring it around to the front door," Laurel suggests.

The rest of the group agrees to the plan, and within twenty minutes, the five heroes, their bounty, all of the gold in the prison's treasury, and as many prisoners as they could fit are aboard the Displacer Beast and sailing back toward Terrel.

Now back on board the ship, the group relaxes somewhat. Erendil pulls out a large sack and removes what is obviously the gear of the warden and her brother, sorting it out on the deck.

"How did you get that?" Laurel asks.

"From the ghouls," he replies, matter-of-factly, "I told them that if they gave us this stuff, they could have whoever we left behind."

Edit: I forgot they grabbed the gold as well as the prisoners. Oops.

Session 6 coming soon... including a knighting, roughing up merchants, and a wild goose chase.

 

[carpedavid]

Session 6, Part 1

Despite having just broken into the most feared prison in Avengard, killing all of the guards, and releasing all of the prisoners, the heroes encounter little resistance on their return trip. The five heroes spend most of the return trip tending to and conversing with the rescued prisoners. Edmon of Willoughby, the spy they were sent to retrieve, says little, spending most of the journey being sick over the railing of the airship.

"It reminds me of Nym," Laurel remarks to Wrayce.

"Yeah, poor Nym," he says sadly.

"Let's try not to get eaten by any more dragons, ok?"

"Yeah. Ok."

When they get within a few hours of the front, though, they begin to get nervous, speculating on what they'll find. What if the front has moved? What if Avengard has broken through? Will they even have a country to return to?

Fortunately, the front is more or less where they left it, though more airships have joined the line on both sides. They all hold their breath and hang on to something stable as the pilot plunges them back into the middle of the maelstrom. Ballistae bolts fly over their heads and fireballs explode in the air around them, as the Displacer Beast dodges broken and blackened hulls. Everyone is nearly knocked off of his or her feet as the pilot makes a hard left to avoid ramming an Avengardan flagship, but no one is lost overboard.

As they approach the Terrelian side of the front, the crew gets ready to change flags. The five heroes all look at each other, waiting for another to make a decision. After a few minutes of inaction, someone yells, "Now!" and the Avengardan standard is quickly lowered and the Terrelian flag is raised.

A few Terrelian ships break off from their own battles and dive after the Displacer Beast. "I don't think they're buying it," Shoji says as a lightning bolt flies over the deck of the ship.

"They're only firing warning shots," Quara says as she checks her hair to see if it's been singed.

"Yeah, well, can we get them to stop that?" Laurel asks as she ducks a second bolt.

Quara grabs a white sheet and begins waving it in the air. The other ships seem to recognize the international sign of "please don't shoot," and no more shots are fired. They do, however, accompany the Displacer Beast to the airship docks in New Charleston, and only break off after the heroes have landed and moored the ship.

The gangplanks are lowered and the five heroes emerge, looking far more grizzled than when they left. A contingent of soldiers greets them, relieves them of the spy, and informs them that they're needed in the general's tent at once.

As the group hurries through the crowded and chaotic streets of New Charleston, Laurel notices that Quara looks quite nervous. She starts to say something, but thinks better of it and holds her tongue.

When they reach the command tent, they are quickly escorted in. Waiting for them are the general, who is hunched over his battle plans, and an elderly lizardman, who is draped in noble's robes. "Welcome back," the general says wearily as he looks up from his plans. "I heard that you were successful in your mission. Congratulations," he says, smiling, "You have done the empire a great favor."

"Allow me to introduce Qatsaketh, Grand Duke of Gryphalia," he says, motioning to the lizardman.

"Kneel," the noble lizardman commands. The heroes looks at each other with uncertainty, but each kneels before the Duke. He motions to Gen. Talvyn, who hands him his sword, and then approaches Shoji, who winces inwardly, sure that his head's about to be cut off. "State your name," the Duke commands.

"Shoji," the monk replies nervously. The Duke unsteadily taps him on both shoulders with the sword, then moves to Erendil.

"State your name."

"Erendil, your Grace," he says nervously, fearing for the safety of his ears. He inwardly sighs in relief when the Duke moves to Laurel.

"Name."

"Laurel Sylvan Oakenblade," she says as the sword lightly touches her shoulders.

"Name."

"Wrayce," he replies, and receives the same treatment as the other heroes. Everyone expects a repeat of the procedure with Quara, but the lizardman stops and smiles at her.

"Ah, Quara, my dear. Your father told me about the bravery of you and your companions," he says, casting a glance back at the general. The other four heroes look at Quara in confusion, and she blushes. "By the sovereign power granted me by our glorious Emperor and by Dominus himself, I hereby dub thee Masters of the Most Noble and Sacred Order of the Griffin," he says as he touches Quara's shoulders with the sword. "You may all rise." He turns back to the general and hands back the sword.

The group rises. Each of them has heard of the Order of the Griffin through legend and reputation: it is the most prestigious knightly order in Terrel, the Grand Master of which is the Emperor himself. Each of the newly dubbed Griffiners feels a warm sensation on his or her chest. When they look down, they see that they are now wearing small golden brooches in the shape of griffins.

"Ooh, shiny!" thinks Laurel.

The Duke continues before the heroes have much time to comprehend their new knighthood, "I'll be leaving for Devonshire in three days time. The Emperor has summoned all the nobles to court, and since I'm leaving all of my troops here, the Lord General has been kind enough to assign you to accompany me." He hobbles back to his chair, and then eases himself down as he grimaces in pain.

General Talvyn waits until Qatsaketh has settled himself, and then says, "In the meantime, I've got an assignment for you. A large number of our supplies have gone missing. We think that some of the hijacked goods are being sold to the refugees on the black market, and perhaps even to the town merchants, who are short on supplies themselves." He picks up a sheaf of parchment off of his desk, and hands it to Shoji. "Additionally, the merchants are using the war as an excuse to raise their prices to unfair levels. The Emperor has drawn up a list of customary prices," he points to the sheaf of parchment, "on many essential goods, and the merchants are to be made to understand that they are to abide by the Emperor's prices."

"What if they refuse to comply?" Quara asks.

"They are to be made to understand," he says. The heroes look at each other, trying to suppress smiles. They'll finally have a chance to rough up someone who won't fight back.

"Can we take a few soldiers as backups?" she asks.

"Certainly, choose who you wish," he nods to the group, "You're dismissed."

The five heroes salute the general, and then turn to leave the tent. "Quara," the general says, just before they exit, "I need a word with you."

The archer turns to look at her father as the rest of the group exits, "Yes sir?"

"I have something for you," he says as he points to a large, cloth-wrapped package on a table.

"What is this?" she asks as she walks over to the table. Her father simply motions to her to unwrap it. After a few seconds, she reveals a beautifully carved compound bow.

"It was originally your great grandfather's," Talvyn says, "he used when he defended Arios from an orcish army. Then it passed to your grandfather, and then I used it during my days in the field. Now it's yours."

"Why are you giving this to me?" Quara asks, her confusion evident by the expression on her face.

"Well," Talvyn begins, sternly, "I'm sure you must know that I've never been happy with your decision to enlist, instead of accepting an officer's commission, which is your birthright, and the legacy of your family." Quara sighs inwardly, having heard this sentiment expressed hundreds of times in various ways. The general stops himself, takes a deep breath, and his countenance softens, "But you've proven your dedication to the Empire. You've done very well, and I'm proud of you."

Quara looks at her feet. This is the first time in years that her father has expressed any approval of her actions, and she isn't quite sure how to feel about it. "Thank you, sir," she finally says after a moment.

An uncomfortable silence settles between them as they look at each other, uncertain of what to say. Finally, after a minute of silence, her father manages, "Err, yes. Dismissed."

Quara salutes the Lord General, takes her new ancestral bow, and leaves the tent to find her companions.

Session 6, Part 2 coming soon...

 

[carpedavid]

Session 6, Part 2

Laurel, Shoji, Erendil, and Wrayce all give Quara funny looks when she exits the tent. "Would it have made any difference if I had told you?" she asks.

The other four Griffiners exchange glances for a moment, then, "No."

"I guess not."

"Not really."

"I suppose it wouldn't have."

"Ok, then," Quara says as she motions toward the town, "Let's go kick some ass."

The five heroes make two stops on the way to the merchant quarter. First, they select the five most intimidating soldiers they can find to accompany them. Second, they stop to visit the Avengardan prisoners that they brought back to enlist their services in watching out for black marketeers. All of the prisoners are more than happy to assist their rescuers, and promise to send word if they ever have contact with them.

"Ok, so where do we go first?" Quara asks eagerly.

Shoji looks at the sheaf of parchment he was given earlier, and notices that some pages have names written in across the top. "Huh. Looks like..." he struggles to read the faint and nearly illegible writing, "...Redfern Talltrees. Sounds elven."

Laurel winces at the implication that all names related to plants must be elven, then thinks about her own name, and realizes that he's probably right. They wander through the crowded streets for a few minutes until they spot a sign above a door that reads "Talltrees' Sundries."

Shoji reaches for the door handle, but Quara stops him. "Wait," she says eagerly, "let me go first." Shoji looks at Laurel and rolls his eyes, but steps back to let the young archer move past. She puffs her chest, lifts her head up, and then tosses open the door and barges into the store.

"Redfern Talltrees?" she bellows.

A slight, middle-aged wood elf stands behind the counter. He looks around in bewilderment, then hesitantly answers, "Yes?"

"You have been accused of exploiting the war by raising your prices on essential items to unreasonable levels."

"Well," he clears his throat and looks around nervously, "I realize that some of my prices may seem rather high, but items are in very short supply." He points to a wicker basket on the counter that is nearly empty, save three white, waxy lumps, "As you can see, I only have three lumps of soap left."

"That may be, but the Emperor himself has set price limits on certain items," she pulls out the sheaf of parchment with his name on it, "Let me go over this price list with you."

While Quara chastises the merchant, Shoji takes the opportunity to look around the store. He sifts through a basket of hardtack, jiggles a box full of nails, and pokes at a stuffed badger that sits on one shelf. When he lifts a woolen blanket to see what is stacked underneath, he smiles, and clears his throat.

Quara pauses in her chastisement and both she and the merchant turn to look at Shoji. "Only three lumps of soap left, huh?" Shoji says, holding up a large basket filled to the brim with soap.

Talltrees looks stricken, "I...uh..."

Quara doesn't give him time to explain. She takes a deep breath, leans forward over the counter until her face is inches from his, and yells, as loudly as she possibly can, "You. Are. In. Deep. Trouble! What else do you have a surplus of that you're overcharging for? Show me your storeroom right this instant!"

Too frightened to do anything but comply, the merchant points toward a heavy wooden door next to the counter. Quara thinks about kicking the door in for effect, but decides to open it in a more conventional manner. Shoji follows her inside and both spend a few minutes poking around. Again, it is Shoji that finds something interesting - a wooden crate with the phrase "Property of the Northern Army" stamped on the lid. Quara takes one look and storms back toward Talltrees.

Shoji listens as Quara berates, threatens, and harangues the merchant into telling her where he got the crate (of razorblades, as Shoji discovers when he peers inside). He fingers a Randall Weaver, and points them in the right direction. On the way out of the shop, Quara grabs one of the hammers that happen to be for sale, some nails from a basket next to it, and nails the price list to Talltrees' front door.

"Traitor," she mutters as the party walks down the dusty dirt street, "he should be hung."

After a few minutes, they stop in front of a row of buildings, each of which has a weaver's sign hanging above its door. Laurel sighs inwardly and decides that she's annoyed by being relegated to handing out fliers, and would like to be done as soon as possible. "Well," she says curtly, "let's try door number one."

The jingling of a bell signals the opening of the door, and a young human man sitting next to a weaver's loom looks up at the party. "Welcome," he says brightly, "how can I help you?"

"Are you Randall?" Shoji inquires.

"That's my name," he says with a smile.

"Randal Weaver, we have a few questions to ask you," Quara says menacingly, as she cracks her knuckles.

The man's smile drops fades slightly, but his tone is still light as he replies, "Ah, no. I'm Randall Thatcher. My wife is the weaver. There is a Randall Weaver, though. His shop is next door."

Quara eyes the man suspiciously, but decides that he's telling the truth. "Sorry to bother you," she says as they turn to leave, but then gives the man a stern look just before she walks out the door, "If we can't find him, though, we'll be back."

Laurel rolls her eyes, but opens the next door. An older human man is piling bolts of cloth upon a table "I'll be with you in just a minute," he says distractedly as he juggles multiple bolts. About thirty seconds later, the precariously constructed pile collapses, and the man swears in frustration. He turns to the party and grumbles, "What can I do for you?"

"Are you Randall Weaver?" Laurel asks.

"Nope, I'm Ben Weaver. Randall's my brother," he says curtly.

Quara sighs in frustration, "Can we talk to him?"

"Nope, he's not here." Upon hearing this, an audible groan emerges from the group.

"Well, where did he go?" she says, the urge to pound her fist into his face growing exponentially with each word out of his mouth.

Ben looks at her quizzically, but then replies, "I think he went down to Ben-Ben the Tobacconist's shop."

Quara decides to look at her feet, since looking at the man makes her want to draw her bow and start firing. "And where is Ben-Ben's?"

"Well, you go down the street until you get to Old Ma Baker's. Then you turn right and go past Myrtle the Apothecary. His shop's on the left, and if you pass Kargan the Stonecutter, you've gone too far."

"Right. Good. Thank you." Quara snaps as she pushes her way past the other heroes and out of the store. Shoji and Laurel share another eye roll, and Erendil simply shakes his head. Humans are always in such a hurry, he thinks.

The weaver's directions prove to be accurate, and within a few minutes, Laurel, Erendil, Wrayce, and the troops have taken up positions outside the tobacconist's shop, while Quara and Shoji begin questioning Ben-Ben inside.

"Do you know the whereabouts of Randall Weaver?" Quara asks the stocky, dwarven tobacconist.

"No, ah 'aven't seen 'im in more than a week," he answers in a thick Avengardan brogue.

Quara stares at Ben-Ben intently, trying to sense whether he's being deceptive. Shoji, meanwhile, takes a look around the store. An oddly placed pedestal table catches his eye, and he takes a closer look at the small rug that it's sitting on.

He's lying, she decides. She places her hands on the tobacconist's counter and leans in menacingly close. "Tell me where he is," she growls.

Ben-Ben fixes Quara with a steely dwarven gaze and growls back, "Ah told ya. Ah 'aven't seen 'im."

Shoji surreptitiously brushes aside the rug with his foot and recognizes the outline of a trap door. "Really? He wouldn't happen to be down here, would he?" he asks as he moves the table and rug to reveal the door.

"Open the trap door," Quara commands Ben-Ben.

"No. Ah don' think ah will," he says firmly.

"I said, open the door!" she yells as she draws her bow and nocks an arrow.

"Ah said no!" the dwarf yells back.

While Quara and Ben-Ben yell at each other inside the store, Erendil notices a group of four Terrelian soldiers pulling a cart toward the store. As he looks up, he notices that they give him a sidelong glance and immediately change direction.

"Laurel, Wrayce," he whispers, motioning toward the soldiers, "these soldiers look fishy."

Wrayce nods, then steps out in front of the cart. Adjusting his cloak so that his Order of the Griffin crest is obviously visible, he orders them to stop. Stop they do, but then immediately draw their swords and attack Wrayce and Laurel.

Wrayce manages to dodge two of the men, and Laurel almost manages to dodge both of her attackers. As she backs away, though, one of the men manages to catch her arm with the edge of his blade, sending blood splattering into the dirt.

"I don't think so," Wrayce says in annoyance as he steps back and casts web. All four of the attacking soldiers become entangled in the giant mass of sticky webbing that now blocks off the road. The soldier that caught Laurel is near enough to the edge of the webbing that he is able to hang out and slash at her. He catches her once with a desperate lunge, but Laurel uses her flaming sword, Oakenblade, to cut him down.

After a barrage of magic missiles from Wrayce, the rest of the attackers surrender and are put into shackles after the web is dispelled. The three heroes turn their attention to what's going on inside the store, and enter to find Quara standing over Ben-Ben the tobacconist, bow drawn, holding the tip of the arrow inches from the dwarf's eye.

"You are under arrest," she spits, and orders the troops to shackle the dwarf.

"Take his haggis-eating ass to jail," Shoji says in annoyance as he throws open the trap door. "I'm going to see what's down here." He climbs down the ladder and finds himself in a large basement, where he is immediately assaulted with missile fire.

Seeing their friend under attack, the other four Griffiners descend the ladder and begin a counterattack. Quara quickly spots one of the culprits hiding behind a stack of grain sacks and launches three arrows into the man's head and neck, causing him to slump forward over the sacks, his lifeblood pooling on the floor around him.

Erendil targets a second archer with missile fire of his own, and Laurel follows up by jumping over the crate that the man was using as cover and plunging her sword into his chest. Magic missiles from Wrayce find a third archer, and Shoji follows with blows from his kama. The combination of attacks is quick and lethal - both archers join their companion in the afterlife.

Quara, who is always in a hurry, tosses open a door on the west wall, and dashes down the hallway, narrowly avoiding a fall as a section of the hallway collapses under her feet. "Trap!" she yells behind her, as she tosses open the door at the end of the hallway and steps through.

"I wish she'd wait for us," Erendil comments to the others.

Upon seeing what awaits her in the passageway on the other side of the door, Quara, too, wishes that she had waited. Two men in leather armor are attempting to hold back massive beasts at the ends of iron chains. The creatures look like the enlarged result of some mad wizard's attempt to cross a rottweiler with a shark: a large, powerful, canine body supports a thick head that is dominated by a gigantic maw of razor sharp teeth.

The creatures growl and gnash their fangs, drooling greedily as they eye Quara. The two men holding back the beasts grin at her, and then release the chains.

Up next: Session 6, Part 3 - in which Quara finds out just how sharp those teeth are.

 

[carpedavid]

Session 6, Part 3

Oh no, is all she can manage to think before the two beasts slam into her, knocking her to the ground. All she can see are teeth everywhere - and then that's all she can feel, too, as one of the creatures locks it's jaws around her leg and shakes its head violently. That's odd, she thinks as her flesh is literally shredded, it doesn't hurt at all. A second later the pain hits her at all at once, and she screams in terror.

Erendil and Shoji vault the pit trap and emerge into the corridor. Quickly sizing up the situation, Erendil sends an arrow into one of the men, while Shoji jumps on top of the beast that has Quara in its jaws and slams his fist into its ribs.

Laurel and Wrayce emerge from the doorway as Erendil sends another volley of arrows into the man he hit previously, dropping him where he stands. Shoji continues his assault while Laurel and Wrayce team up on the other creature.

Quara struggles to keep the beast's jaws from closing around her head while Shoji continues to break the creature's bones. The five Griffiners manage to dispatch both creatures and the remaining beast handler, but not before Quara takes a significant amount of additional damage.

Blood covers the floor around her, but she manages to struggle up to her feet once the beast on top of her is finally dispatched. "I'm ok, really," she says between gasps for air, then takes a few unsteady steps down the hallway before the sounds of clapping echoes out from the darkness ahead.

"Well done," a handsome young elven man says as he steps from the shadows. He chuckles quietly to himself as he walks toward the group, "I've never seen anyone take a bite from a mauler and survive." He looks directly at Quara and smiles, "Well done. Too bad I still have to kill you."

Before anyone can react, he pulls a blue steel rapier from his belt and slides the tip between Quara's ribs. She gasps, gurgles briefly, and collapses.

"F---!" Laurel yells, and then lunges toward the elf, slicing him across the chest with the Oakenblade. Wrayce follows up with several magic missiles, while both Erendil and Shoji miss with attacks of their own. The elf frowns and steps back, pulling what appears to be a potion out of a pouch on his belt. He quickly gulps down the contents then smiles again, "There, that's much better."

Shoji senses movement behind him and dodges to the side just as the tip of another rapier flashes by. He can feel the heat being drawn from his skin as the steel blade passes less than an inch from his ribs, and he turns to see a severe-looking half-elven woman standing behind him. Where in the sea of fire did she come from? he wonders.

Laurel, Erendil, and Wrayce press their attack on the man, leaving cuts, scorch marks, and puncture wounds in his armor, while Shoji advances on the newly arrived woman, landing a powerful roundhouse kick to her jaw.

The elven man tumbles past Laurel to flank Shoji, and the monk feels the painful bite of frozen steel as it punctures his torso. The pain is so severe that Shoji's legs buckle, sending him toppling forward, directly into the thrusting rapier of the half-elven woman.

Erendil, Laurel, and Wrayce stare in horror as the tip of the rapier emerges from Shoji's back. He continues to slide forward until his chest reaches the hilt of the sword, at which point the woman lowers the blade and Shoji falls, silent and lifeless, to the ground.

Upon seeing his companion fall, Erendil lets out an uncharacteristic yell and shoots a single arrow into the male rogue's chest, knocking him off of his feet. The man lands on the back of his neck and goes limp. With a look of shock on her face, the half-elven woman reaches into a belt pouch and pulls out a vial of liquid. She drops to one knee next to her fallen friend's body and takes a brutal blow from Laurel's sword just as she dumps the liquid into his mouth. The woman rolls forward over the man's body and he springs to his feet - bloodied, bruised, and battered, but alive.

Wrayce takes advantage of the lack of offense from the two rogues to pull out the wand of cure wounds that Laurel had given to him in the prison and use it on Quara, who rolls up to one knee, spots the female rogue guarding the man who attacked her, and sends three arrows into the half-elf's chest. It's the male rogue's turn to gasp as his companion slumps to the ground in front of him.

"B----!" he screams and lunges forward, tumbling past Laurel and Wrayce. He uses his momentum to summersault to his feet, and then jabs at Quara. Unfortunately, he misjudges the distance, and ends his thrust with the point of his rapier a foot from her already drawn bow.

"Crap," he says in resignation an instant before Quara releases the bowstring. The arrow penetrates his leather armor, the padding beneath, his flesh, a layer of muscle, and the viscera inside before perforating his aorta. An overwhelming feeling of cold sweeps through his body as his blood escapes its bonds, and once again he falls into an overwhelming darkness.

"Shoji!" Quara screams, leaping to her feet and dashing over to the fallen monk. She drops to her knees beside him and looks at his lifeless frame. Wrayce looks at her sadly and shakes his head, and Laurel simply puts her hand on the young archer's shoulder. Quara closes her eyes and quietly sobs.