Xanthus saddled a horse from the stables of the farm and rode for Darlune as fast as the faithful steed would take him. He fearlessly cut across fields and through wooded areas, eschewing the road to cut corners and save time.
Hypatia stepped out of the farmhouse just minutes behind Xanthus. Valen at her side, Gabriel, Icarus, Elrithradia and Deekin right behind them. Hypatia looked at the rough map that showed where Farquhar had built his stronghold and shook her head. "Even with horses we're at least a day away."
"Horses are too slow," the nephilim stated. With a downsweep of her oversized pinions she leaped into the air. "We must fly."
"Only two of us can fly," I pointed out. "I can carry one adult or two children but no more and certainly not an adult wearing full armor for any large distance at speed." True I had carried the pretty aloft fully armored but it was not for very long, not at speed and for an adult she was on the small side.
The nephilim's wing tips began to move in an intricate pattern, as did her hands and within moments a whirling ball of magical energies shot away from her and engulfed the four members of the party who could not fly. "Now," she spoke sternly, "You must concentrate upon flying and follow along. The spell will carry you. Focus on me. Follow me."
Valen didn't have to be told twice. He leaped into the air, concentrating on following the little nephilim. While he didn't trust magic, he knew its power.
Hypatia and Deekin followed Valen's lead, both jumping into the air. Deekin flapped his wings and turned loops around the nephilim.
"Boss! Deekin is flying!" The kobold swooped and looped.
Gabriel scowled. It took him several tries to get into the air. He didn't like it one bit. He'd much prefer horses.
Once everyone was effectively utilizing the spell she'd cast, Elrithradia turned to Icarus. The huge Tiefling stood on the ground watching everyone.
"Icarus," Radia spoke to him gently, "Would you kindly lead the way to Farquhar's lair, and make haste. The fate of the world is in our hands."
I looked down at her tiny hands and then back up to her eyes. She was determined. The pretty who had hired me looked equally determined. A sense of hope filled me and I scowled. It was impossible. What they were trying to do, with the numbers they had was impossible. We were five. Antonius and his master Farquhar had many priests and other creatures. Yet they fully intended to put a stop to his plan.
I unfolded my wings, larger even than hers, although unlike hers they were proportional to my body. I flexed them for a minute, enjoying the movement of muscle and sinew over bone. Then with a powerful downsweep I shot into the air. Pumping my wings mightily I led them towards the base where the treacherous berks no doubt waited for us to mount an attack.
"They will be expecting us," I told the pretty who soared along behind the blood and the celestial born. The wind snatched the words away and I doubt she heard me. She was no fool, I reassured myself. She had to know they would be expecting us.
I knew where we needed to go and I knew the defenses Antonius had put in place before the cutter had betrayed me. I kept the group close to the treetops in the hope that we would not be spotted before we closed with our enemies. I pushed myself, my wing strokes cutting through the air like blades.
Even with the celestial born's spell it took several hours of hard flight to cover the distance. I was exhausted. I'm sure the rest were too. Spells took concentration and sustained focus like that was brutal. To be honest I was surprised they managed it. Drawing near our destination I began to look for a place to set down. I needed to select a landing spot hidden by trees but with enough open space for novices at flight to land without crashing and injuring themselves.
The celestial born's spell lasted until we were almost upon the rotting and falling down house underneath which the insane cleric had built his fortress. With a twist of my wings I began a downward spiral well outside the rang of bows and crossbows. Nearing the ground I righted myself with a powerful backsweep of my wings and settled to the earth, ready for battle.
The celestial born followed me, her wings backsweeping in a similar fashion to mine. Her multicolored feathers made her wingstrokes almost silent whereas my wings sounded like the snapping of a sail. She fascinated me and I cast my eyes downward so she would not catch me staring.
The blood landed poorly but rolled smoothly to his feet, ready for battle. The pretty did a bit better, managing to keep her feet under her. The idiot paladin crashed to earth with a resounding clatter of armor. I just about gave up on sneaking up on the treacherous berks we were hunting. The Kobold settled to the ground with surprising grace, flapping his stunted wings and using them to right himself in the air and settle on his feet. His tail acted like a rudder and he used it effortlessly to keep himself oriented and on course.
Once everyone was on the ground and ready to move I spoke, "There are several natural chimneys that at as vents directly into the cavern where they have encamped. If we are careful we may be able to see where they have their forces arrayed before we drop in on them."
"Whatever we do will have to be quick," Elrithradia reminded them.
Valen spoke, "If we can get our enemies locations that will save us a lot of time later on. We won't have to fight our way through the entirety of their forces. We can plan our entrance."
"This way," I began to lead them towards a low hill in the middle of a copse of trees. On the top if the hill was a well and looking down I could see movement in the cavern below. I stepped back and the blood stepped up to take a look.
Stepping back he offered quietly, "There's not a very good range of vision here. I can't see what's there or not."
"There is another place," I offered. I turned and carefully led the way through the trees to another place, a place where the opening was larger than the well. "This place will not be unguarded," I warned them as we crept carefully through the forest.
Coming around a little knoll I saw a handful of undead wandering around a desecrated graveyard. "In there is an open grave that leads almost straight down into the cavern system. They will be able to see us as well, " I warned them.
The little celestial born cast another spell and vanished from sight. I shook my head. If there were other bloods summoned by the priesthood they would be able to feel her presence even if they couldn't see her. Their blood would sing in their veins in response to her proximity and compel them into a murderous frenzy.
"Deekin, Gabriel, Icarus, wait here." The pretty darted towards the graveyard. The undead turned to her, tracking her movement and shambling to attack her. More of them came out of the low mausoleum, attracted by the movement. Soon there were a score or better of the vile undead moving to attack. She stopped, well away from the grave that was open and waited for them to close on her.
The blood, Valen, charged in behind her and began laying waste to the undead. These were lower level undead and couldn't withstand even a single hit of his massive flail. Given a little time he would have cleared the graveyard of them but the pretty spoke a powerful word and a pulse of light spread out from her in a circle that cleared the entire graveyard of undead, returning them to the dust they had come from.
The pretty waived me over and I hurried to her side. She was paying me good jink. I would obey her commands. The kobold and clanking paladin followed me.
We stood at the edge of the open tomb that provided a skylight into the cavern below. There, almost directly below us sat an enormous machine made of cold iron. A veritable army of clerics and slaves worked on every level of the multi-story machine. The slaves were easy to tell by the shackles they wore. I glanced at the pretty, she had told me to spare the slaves but in a setting like this it was likely they'd be used as human shields and I wouldn't be slowed down by them. She could endanger her life by trying to save them but no amount of jink was worth throwing my life away over nothing.
I felt the presence of the celestial born beside me and the surge of magic as she cast a spell. She became visible in the casting, her invisibility being dispelled by the action. Magic is unreliable at best.
Below us the stairs and scaffolding that surrounded the machine filled up with a great multitude of moving black things. Slaves ran while priests began to swat at them and dance around.
"Hmm," Elrithradia looked down at her handiwork. "Beetles this time. That'll clear that machine and buy us a little time."
She looked over to Hypatia who simply nodded. With that she flexed her wings and swooped over, picking up the cleric under her arms and with a flap and twist of her wings spiraled them down into the cavern below.
Valen gave a shout of surprise and scrambled to follow them.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the blood in a similar fashion as the celestial had taken the pretty. I could carry him for a short time and down was far easier than up. I twisted my wings and drew them in close to my body as we angled down into the cavern below.
Deekin yelped and jumped after them. He couldn't quite fly with his wings but he could glide down to the battle that was just getting started below.
Gabriel swore in disgust and looked for a quick way down that wouldn't involve him falling five or more stories. He sprinted into the mausoleum and down the stairs, cutting down any lingering undead as he raced through the corridors and then tunnels to catch up with the rest of the party.
Hypatia was casting even before Elrithradia cleared the wide chimney they had come down. She dropped a pillar of fire into a cluster of clerics standing at what appeared to be a control table of some kind.
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Once everyone had left and Cimmera was alone with the children she took a look around the huge farmhouse with an eye for what was defensible. They had, naturally, locked the doors behind everyone as they had left but the High Priestess of Sune knew that doors would not long stop a determined foe, even door as sturdy as the one's on this house.
If it had been just her, she would have sneaked out and begun her journey back to town. Shadow melding would see her safely away long before anyone could find her. With three children to protect that was out of the question.
Her instincts said she should choose a room with a good back exit that she could slip out if things got really bad. But she knew the children would never be able to keep up with her and they'd never be fast enough to escape if they were attacked. That meant she needed a room with one entrance that she could absolutely defend. Although it wouldn't hurt if it had a little trap door in the floor somewhere just in case.
Bessura, noticing the beautiful priestess searching for something hesitantly asked, "What are you looking for High Priestess?"
"I need a room that has one door but with a trapdoor or window that we could get out but is defensible. Like one on the second story with a way to get to a ladder to climb down if we had to."
"The cheese room has a trap door that goes down into father's wine cellar. The wine cellar has another door that opens up in the shed near the barn. Father liked to unload the wine into the cellar from the wagon but he didn't like to walk all that way to get a bottle for dinner."
Cimmera was fairly certain that's not why the wise farmer had made an escape tunnel through his wine cellar but she didn't want to disillusion the child. "Your father is helping us even when he is not here."
The children smiled sadly at her. Jacob, the younger boy began to cry quietly. His brother, Sebastian and sister Bessura comforted him, both near to tears themselves.
Cimmera gave them each a hug then began to barricade the house, beginning with the massive front door. She laid false trails and barricaded doors on the upper level. While she was busy making the house unwelcoming for anyone whom she didn't want in she had the children filling up vessels with water and putting them in the cheese room along with any foods they wanted to eat besides cheese. They could last in there as long as the water lasted and if they needed to they could sneak out through the wind cellar. She wanted to lay some traps and had just set the first one in the hallway when she heard the unmistakable sound of a spell outside the front door.
She stepped into the shadows and appeared near the children, who were carrying water into the cheese room. "Now, little ones." She whispered. "We must lock ourselves in."
She quietly closed the kitchen door and bolted it, pushing the large table in front of it and they hurried into the cheese room. The children huddled near the trap door and remained quiet and still. Cimmera prepared for battle. She had her daggers and she had her divine spells and while she had not told Hypatia specifically what had happened nor how she gained the abilities, she had her Shadow Dancer skills too. Teaching her how to use them had been part of her bargain with the head of the Thieve's Guild.
The sound of the massive main door being blasted to bits by spell fire and weapons echoed through the house. Though muffled by all the doors, Cimmera and the children heard it and knew what it meant. "Be still little ones," She told them, "I will return."
She stepped into a shadow and jumped to another outside the door. It was a useful ability but the training had been intense.. She needed to see who was going where and what they were up to. She had to be careful too because she could only maintain the form at this level of potency for a short time and she had to get back to the children unseen.