Kitahria waited patiently amongst the mountain brush. This was the place that the gnomes had described. A deep crevice sheltered by the cliffs of a mountain. A suitable enough base she thought, since its location made it difficult to spot by even airborne druids or dragons.
"So anything going on?" asked a familiar soft voice. Though Kit recognized it immediately as her dear friend Maid, the squire frowned. First off she felt a bit of her professional pride crestfallen since not only had her friend snuck up to her unseen, but somehow she had spotted Kit's seemingly clever hiding spot. Kit always considered herself a master at stealth and perception but Maid had the frustrating knack of outdoing her in both. Kit also felt annoyed that she was relieved from duty so soon. Under her former dark lord Mogombo she prided herself on the ability to observe a target for days without flinching. Patience was as important to an assassin as much as a complete disregard for life. While Kit thought herself over her lack of morality, she was still conscientious about her ability to wait. She sensed that Maid was here to relieve her, and she felt a bit insulted.
"Nothing ," replied Kit finally. Though she could not see her, Kit knew she was close.
"So…do you think those little guys led us astray? ", asked Maid as she suddenly appeared seemingly from thin air.
Kit sighed indifferently. "They have no reason to lie to us. They are mercenaries, and this contract had ceased to be profitable a long time ago. Buckles said they were way over their head, and he was all too happy to take his brother and their clockworks back to Gnome land. "
Maid cracked a grin. "Yes, I'm sure Buckles would never lie to you."
Kit narrowed her eyes at the Innkeeper. "What do you mean by that?"
"Oh don't give me that. Even if you can't summon enchantment magic…yet, you had that little gnome wrapped around your pretty little fingers," giggled Maid.
Kit considered yelling at her friend, but upon reflection she gave a slight laugh herself. "Yeah, I suppose I did," agreed the squire. "Though I prefer my men taller, …less hair …smaller noses…with handsome features."
Maid smiled, " Oh please girl. Don't try acting ….so worldly."
Kit did not like her tone, and thought her friend was talking down to her. "I'm sure you've been around the castle a few times haven't you?" she shot back.
"Too many I know," Maid sighed and nodded. Kit expected her to rant in anger but instead saw wetness in her friend's eye. Kit saw that her comment had hit a bit closer to home than she thought. It was not her intention to evoke such a reaction.
"I know I know , I'm almost a spinster now. Maybe I set my standards too high, "admitted Maid with a forced smile.
Kit smirked. "Oh really? Tell me what you're looking for."
Maid stopped and remained silent and assumed a spotter's position. Kit regretted posing the question and was about to return back to camp when the Innkeeper finally spoke.
"Brave…. Intelligent… loyal…dependable…. competent," replied Maid in a small voice as she stared at the short blade she slowly twirled in her hand.
Kit recognized the weapon and who it was from and blinked in comprehension." Trent?"
Maid shrugged in defeat. "It's another one of life's great jokes. I wait all my life for a knight in shining armor, and when he finally arrives, he's three feet tall," she lamented. " Oh and don't give me that love conquers all crap, it would be both physically impossible and frustrating for both of us in the long run, " she added with a sad hiss.
Kit was stunned at this revelation, she was about to offer her friend support when suddenly a commotion came from further down the mountain. The squire watched intently as what appeared to be a column of the taller goblins, the one called hobgoblins, marching towards the crevice. Kit guessed there were close to forty of them, and they had several pack wolves reluctantly carrying crates.
"I'll tell Sir Jose", whispered Maid as she vanished once again.
Kit nodded and watched the procession carefully. She needed to find the entrance, and to find an alternate way to get in. Perhaps another air duct, or maybe ….
An arrow suddenly embedded itself mere inches in front of Kit.
"Oh….and you better not tell anyone of this little conversation," whispered Maid with her bow drawn.
"Perish the thought," smiled Kit.
Kit and Maid followed the hobgoblin platoon closely. While the humanoid's were more organized and alert then their goblin and bugbear cousins, the Squire and the Innkeeper easily slipped their notice. Kit was well practiced at trailing from the shadows, and hopping back and forth out of their line of vision was easily accomplished. Maid on the other hand was practically invisible, to the point that Kit would have suspected her friend using magic if she hadn't watch her vanish from plain sight herself.
Sir Jose and the others were waiting far in the distance. They would attack in one hour's time, regardless if they recovered Madeline's eggs or not. It was a tight time frame, but both the Knight and the Dragon agreed that if Kit and Maid could not recover the eggs by that time, a direct attack would either serve as a distraction or would be their last hope to recover them.
As Kit shadowed the hobgoblins, she was surprised to see Maid suddenly sitting astride one of the overladen pack wolves. The Innkeeper waved slightly at Kit, even though she somehow remained unseen by the hobgoblins. Maid then began lightly rummaging through their packs and brought forth what appeared to be some jerky and a small sack of dried fruit. She displayed them quickly to Kit, before placing them back and disappearing out of sight again.
With the contents of the small caravan revealed, Kit's mind began wander. While Goblins delight in stuffing themselves with meat, they don't normally eat fruit. The bulk of these supplies were definitely for the Githyanki, but was it just a normal run or were they getting ready to leave? The squire considered these factors even as the column descended into the crevice. She noticed they were switching to single file as they descended down an obscured path. She also noticed several large landings built along the cliff. They looked like steps, but they were too far apart for even giants to use. She wondered if perhaps they were used by the clockworks.
As she speculated on the steps, a heavy grinding noise echoed around her. Up ahead the wall seemed to slide open , making way for the hobgoblins to march inside. Kit's heart raced as she realized this would be the most difficult part. While she could easily trail the hobgoblins unseen from the outside, that feat might be impossible when she entered their lair. While Buckles had told them the location of the area, he wasn't too sure about the specific details of it. She gauged she could easily slip inside the sliding wall, but needed some place to hide quick. Some crates, or maybe an access tunnel would be nice. Even if such a hiding spot existed she needed to find it and get there fast before the guards spotted her, otherwise she would have to fight or flee.
"Weapon rack twenty feet to the right, we only have an hour so we'll split up and cover more ground," whispered a familiar voice.
Kit nodded and smiled. While she was jealous of her friend's superior stealth skills , it certainly came in handy this time.
Kitahria half expected a maze of tunnels, similar to the ones in the forge complex; instead she found the area fairly well lain out. While not a stone mason, the squire quickly noted that this base was different than the others. There were clear signs that this area was hastily constructed, but despite the haste in its construction, ornate arches and baroque pillars still dotted it's halls.
As she sneaked through the tunnels she could hear a harsh barking voice speaking in a language she could not understand. Even though it was muffled she thought it sounded similar to a wizard casting spells.; rough arcane sounding notes and weird syllables that twisted the tongue. As she crept closer and could make out the speaker's voice more clearly, she realized it was one of the Githyanki. Her contact with them had been brief, but she immediately recognized the creature's distinct speech.
Kit crept closer to the voice, and found the creature in a nearby room. It was barking in its bizarre language at some cowering goblins, which she noted seemed to be as confused as she was. The diminutive creatures were busy loading crates onto a trolley of some sort, and their Githyanki taskmaster was literally whipping them into a great haste.
From Madeline's description, the boxes were too small to conceal her eggs. Kit wondered if she should follow where the cart was going or perhaps trace where the goblins were retrieving the crates from. She knew she had to do so quickly since Sir Jose would literally unleash hell on this area in under an hour. While the Knight himself was formidable, the squire shuddered at the thought of Madeline unleashed onto these creatures.
No…she corrected herself. Not Madeline. Madeline was the noble matronly woman that Kit had befriended that was fiercely protective of her children. That woman would not be attacking this complex, instead Magda the dragon would be set loose for vengeance. While they were the same person/creature, the squire's mind made a clear separation between them. Kit could well imagine the devastation and destruction Magda would inflict upon this area. The squire saw first hand on a few occasions the primal fury the dragon could unleash. If Maid or herself did not recover the eggs in time, that would mean Magda's children were no longer there, could not be found, or they needed extraction. It was a short time frame, but they all agreed to it. Too short of a wait was insufficient time, while too long added to their risk to discovery. This was all based on the rough descriptions that Buckles had given them. The best case scenario of course was that Kit found and secured the eggs, then assisted the attack from within. She could easily negate the area's impressive defenses, long enough for Sir Jose and Magda to breach the underground fortress. The worse case scenario was that she would be found and killed long before that , or even worse the eggs would be gone.
Kit found it odd that she somehow valued a dragon's eggs more than her own life. Was it because she was honoring her vow , or maybe her sense of duty to some abstract greater good? If it was for some greater good, it probably would have been better if the eggs were destroyed. Red Dragons were known to be much more violent and evil than the little known Githyanki. Even after their failed attempt to conqueror this dimension a century ago, the astral warrior's deeds paled compared to those committed by Red Dragons. Dalton the Red almost destroyed the dwarves of Khazag Narg by stealing their great forge, the beast known as Old Smokeynose slew hundreds of adventurers in Norwold, and Brazzemal the Bright was the personal assassin of King Snurre, the dreaded Fire Giant King. The world might have been better off without a few dragon whelps, but Kit did not see it that way. Regardless of what these creature's collective past were, Kit had a belief that they should be given a chance to live their own lives. It seemed kind of silly but she rather deal with a fully grown rampaging dragon than to crack helpless eggs. It might have been simple naivety on her part, but she felt their fates mirrored her own.
As Kit contemplated her most likely flawed decision making process, she caught a scent of a familiar ash scent. While she found it tough to admit that Maid was better at most roguish skills than herself, she was sure her sense of smell was unparalleled amongst her companions. She could smell red dragons in the area but also noted a distinct smell nearby.
When she first met Madeline, she was at first confused by her smell because of the relatively small Red Dragon that had attacked her in the forge room. Kit had now learned to differentiate her smell from others of her kin. Madeline had less of a sulfur smell and more of a charcoal or ash scent, with a distinct musk. She guessed that some of that unique aroma had rubbed off on her eggs, and she was determined now to find them.
She sniffed the room carefully, and determined that it originated from where the goblin's were retrieving their crates. The Squire was told that the eggs needed to be on the prime material plane to hatch correctly, and figured that they would be the last item to be moved, if the Githyanki were indeed evacuating the area. She timed the march of the laboring goblins and darted through them , hiding in shadow, beam, and crate in the process.
As she neared the source of the scent she reached a large supply room , with isles upon isles of organized crates. She saw empty crates stacked neatly on one side, and a small loading area where she guessed future crates would be loaded and stacked into their respective isles. This operation was obviously too complex for goblins, and she saw some odd runic lettering that confirmed her guess.
As Kit skirted through this warehouse, she quickly discovered the eggs in question. However, instead of the three that Madeline claimed to be missing, Kit found roughly two dozen of them , sitting neatly on some crates , half buried by coins . While it was a shock to find so many , it shouldn't have really surprised her. Mayor Gregor, and others like him would have plundered much smaller dragon's then Magda to steal her eggs. The Githyanki were rebuilding their forces, and it went to reason they would also rebuild their infamous Red Dragon Cavalry. While Madeline was obviously outside seeking her egg's return, Kit guessed that other much less powerful dragons were slain in an effort to retrieve their eggs. The squire could easily spot the ones that were Madeline's but wondered what to do with the rest. She knew her time was short, but she couldn't just leave them here.
Each egg was roughly a foot length and shaped like a globe. Madeline told her that the egg's shells were very hard and would require a sledge hammer to crack under normal circumstances; after all they could support a monstrous beast such as Magda sitting on them. Kit noted that while this room was busy with goblins, this particular area saw only light traffic. She scanned the immediate area to see if there were any traps, and when confident there weren't any she scooped them all up in large sack.
While it would have been much easier to throw them into her bag of holding, she heard that living creatures were affected adversely in the extra dimensional space. Kit did not want to take that risk and instead jammed them into a strong leather sack. The bag when full was unwieldy but thankfully not too heavy. The eggs scraped and grinded against each other, but luckily they did not seem to break.
Having secured her objective, she knew she still had to exit. Sneaking in was one thing, but sneaking out was quite another. With the large overflowing bag on her shoulders, she knew darting from shadow to shadow would be difficult. Concealing a thin werefox was one thing, but currently she looked like an anorexic version of the jolly Grommer winter festival half elf. Kit chuckled at the thought, and noted while she wasn't bursting at the belly, she was wearing red.
Kit considered waiting for the attack to start, but thought it might be too risky. While the purpose of the attack was to give them an opportune time to escape, she felt the eggs were at too much risk here. With so many eggs the Githyanki were sure to send someone to check up or to move them immediately during an attack. Even though the astral plane was not the best area to incubate them, Kit guessed their foe would rather have them there then to lose them entirely.
As Kit puzzled over her next course of action, a goblin began chattering nearby. While Kit's goblin was far from perfect, even she could understand that it had spotted the missing eggs. While the creature hadn't spotted herself yet, Kit knew she had to move now.
She threw a kukri at the alert goblin's head, and the blade sank deeply into its throat. Kit hoped the creature would simply die quietly but it unleashed a horrible sound.
"Breegurg….Yargugr…." it gurgled before expiring on the ground.
The nearby goblins stopped their tasks and drew their weapons. Meat cutters, dog slicers, and crude hand axes were drawn as the almost comical creatures swarmed seemingly in a random pattern around the room. Kit bolted from her hiding spot, with one hand holding her prized cargo while the other onto her kukri. The squire cut down any goblin that got in her way as she attempted to find either an alternative hiding spot or better yet to retrace her way back to the entrance.
One goblin seemed to guard the door she entered from, but she easily stabbed him before it was aware of her presence.
Another goblin attempted to jump her on one side, which she easily dispatched with her a slash across the belly with her blade, while yet another came at her from the other side. To Kit's horror she instinctively batted the creature with the bag of eggs, and noted it smashed into the small beast like a bag of heavy rocks, sending the critter down for the count. The squire half expected them to make cracking noises, but to her relief no such sound was made, and no yolk or whatever were in the eggs leaked from the bag.
Buoyed by her success the squire raced past an ornate rune covered arch, and into the trolley room. Only a few goblins remained here. Kit guessed they scattered when they heard the initial alarm, and were now combing the tunnels looking for her. She wondered why they didn't simply proceed to where they heard the alarm, but she admitted that they were not only dumb but also very cowardly. It probably occurred to some of them that their lifespans would be greatly increased if they began searching away from where their enemies actually were.
Kit liked her chances to escape, and turned towards the corridors that lead to the weapon racks. As she took a few steps the bag she carried suddenly grew light and was yanked from her grasp. Kit looked up in despair as she saw the sack hovering above her, outside her reach. She then felt the hairs on her head stand up, and she quickly dived and evade a bolt of lightning.
She heard that terrible barking arcane voice once again, and turned to see a Githyanki warrior bearing down on her with a glowing silver sword.
"Great….," hissed Kit as she drew another blade so that a kukri was in each hand. "The two things that I'm vulnerable to, magic and silver."
