Chapter 50
The assassin ducked out of the way, avoiding the arrows being sent his way. He glared at Botan, as well as the others on the ground level.
"I fucking knew it," he stated loudly as he reloaded his crossbow, "Figured you were going to try some bullshit like this. Luckily, I got some help. Get 'em!"
Three other people suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. Two were armed with a rapier and a dagger each and clad in darkened leather armor. They attacked Aloe and Nene, striking and stabbing with their weapons. The third had a quarterstaff and wore a simple dark blue robe. He chanted a spell and rained bolts of energy on Polka. They started fighting back; the bard and the succubus taking on their opponents while the monk took on the wizard.
"Hurry, Botan," called out the lore bard as she continued to parry the rest of the attacks, the archer sounding a confirmation as she continued peppering the assassin with arrows.
"Damn archer," he growled out, shooting Aloe in the shoulder, while said person shouted in pain.
With a loud warcry, the captain charged forward and ravaged Nene's attacker, who then whimpered and retreated with his tail between his legs.
"Do you see me?" the wizard taunted after chanting and gesturing outward. Three other mirror images appeared next to him. All four were now shimmering slightly, the duplicates being indistinguishable from the real one.
"Fuck!" shouted the assassin as his arm got sliced open by a spectral sword while the other dual-wielding attacker got her legs frosted over by the cleric.
"Take this!" Nene shouted as she popped up into being next to the surprised man. She had run over to the building and stepped through the mist and reappeared on the roof next to him. She tried stabbing him with her rapier but he tossed his crossbow at her. Grunting in pain as one of Botan's arrows gashed the bridge of his nose open, he drew his dual shortswords and made like a whirling dervish.
"Try this on for size, stupid broad," he shouted as he wounded her in the arm. She followed with a cry of pain as the fast-acting poison on his blades took effect.
"Guh," she grunted out as she got a hold of herself and parried away the rest of his attacks.
Meanwhile, the captain went over to the other dual-wielder and went to town on her as well. As that one ran away, the illusions continued to hamper Polka and stop her from taking down the wizard. The smirking illusionist and his duplicates moved to the side of the road and cast more magic darts at her.
"Argh," groaned the assassin as the spectral sword stabbed him in the shoulder. He was looking quite worn down and yelled as he got stabbed in the other shoulder.
"I suggest you surrender," she offered to him, making sure to maintain her guard as she did so.
"Fuck this, I'm leaving," he muttered as he got an arrow in the leg.
However, as he turned to run, the lore bard reached out and hooked his leg with her foot. He crashed down hard on the tiles and she quickly went up and kicked him in the head, knocking him out. Nene let out a sigh of relief and looked down to see what was happening.
The captain had gone over to the illusionist and commanded, "Surrender. You are surrounded. If you surrender, you will be treated fairly."
After some thought, the remaining duplicate disappeared with a puff of smoke and he held his hands up, "Fine, I surrender… I hope you let me keep my money."
The captain scoffed as the monk held his hands behind him. He then looked to the rooftops. Nene waved sheepishly while Botan was now scaling down the wall. Lamy had run over to heal Aloe, who was now flying to the roof to help carry the assassin down.
He nodded and ordered, "Well done. Follow me to the barracks. We have rooms for them. Then, get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."
The next day, they met up at the captain's office. His bandaged shoulder and neck visible under his dress uniform, he sat at his desk deep in thought. The rest were either standing or seated on the chairs in front of the desk.
"I think after our stunt last night, they probably know we're spies," spoke up Botan.
"Yeah, Nislak did mention they had spies in the city," agreed Polka.
"If that is the case, it will be difficult for you to return to their base," stated Quin as he stared at them, "And we are already planning on attacking them today."
"...The prisoners are still here, right?" asked Aloe. Getting a nod from him, she continued, "Well, maybe that wizard can help us. He might be able to make us invisible."
"Even after locking him up, you believe he will help us?" asked Lamy in surprise.
"We can offer to let him go?" added the succubus with a sheepish smile.
"We can offer to let him go and pay him for it," suggested Nene with a grin, "Give him something he won't be able to refuse."
"I suppose… who will pay him?" asked the half-snow elf.
"Me."
"Alright, let him hear our offer," she quickly stood up and headed to the lock-up.
Snickering and grinning, the other four quickly got up and followed after her. Shaking his head, the guard captain got up and did the same. They headed straight for the lock-up, where they found the illusionist and the assassin in separate cells. They went to the wizard's cell, who stood up and grabbed the bars.
"So… can I go now?" he asked hesitantly.
"Perhaps," Quin said sternly and then gestured to the party, "However, they have an offer to you."
"You turned those guys invisible, right?" asked Nene as the captain stepped aside.
"Yes… why?"
"Can you make us invisible too?" she asked as she gestured to the rest of the party, "We need to sneak into the assassin's employer's base and… make sure they don't know the royal guards are coming."
He looked at each of them, uncertainty very obvious on his face. Then, he replied and explained, "Look, I can't put invisibility on so many people. I can make three people invisible at the most. Any more and it gets too taxing to keep it up."
"Hmm, then how about just make three of us invisible?" she suggested with a frown, "Though, that means you'll have to come along with us to keep the invisibility. But you'll get paid for it after the captain's mission is done."
"I don't mind doing that. Beats staying in here," he agreed.
"Right… so, Aloe can do that shape-shifting thing, right?" she asked her friend. Getting a nod from her, she continued, "That leaves one of us needing to sneak inside without magic help..."
"You know… why not you?" asked the succubus with a grin, getting everyone's attention. She then continued, "I could always morph into one of those bandits we met before and take you in as my captive."
"That is… not such a bad idea," admitted Lamy in surprise.
"Cool. That could really work," cheered Polka.
"That's risky. In this case, I think we need to take this kind of risk," agreed Botan with a nod.
"Very well. If your planning is done, we can commence with the operation," stated the captain as he motioned the guard over. Pointing at the illusionist, he ordered as he pointed at the cell, "Release him. We will have need for his magic."
Outside the barracks, they joined up with a few squads of armored swordsmen led by a sergeant. She saluted to the captain as everyone stood at attention.
"At ease," he ordered before addressing them, "Sergeant Karin, I place you in charge of this mission. This group will lead you there." Gesturing to the party and the illusionist, he continued, "Then, they will enter first to make sure all are unaware. Then, you will commence the assault regardless of whether they report back or not. Round up and capture who you can. Anyone who responds with violence will have to be put down. Go now and complete your orders."
"Yes, sir!" she shouted as she saluted. Turning around and facing the squads, "About turn!"
She hurried to the front, the group following her after the captain nodded to them. She then gave the order to march and everyone moved out and headed out of the city. They moved in the direction of the cultist base. However, the further they went from the city, the misgivings in Nene's mind grew louder. How the cult would probably see them coming. How they were not making any effort to hide anything. How they were out in the open for all to see.
"Sergeant Karin? Is it possible to let us go ahead?" she asked, "I'm just worried that we will be spotted earlier than expected."
"I suppose it makes sense," the guard stated after considering it, "Very well, you still need to make sure to send the wizard back to us."
"You got it," she agreed.
The lore bard then got the party and the illusionist together to go on ahead. They kept to the treeline and once they were suitably far ahead, the wizard cast Invisibility over Lamy, Polka, and Botan. Then, Aloe transformed into a random bandit she had seen before and tied Nene up with the monk's rope. And after sending the illusionist back to the marching column, they headed straight for the cultist base. They encountered a bandit patrol but they were ignored after the polymorphed succubus said she was bringing a prisoner to the base. And then, she casually mentioned that she saw a merchant party around northwest of here. This drew the patrol's interest and they actually thanked her for it.
"Nice, Aloe, very nice," said the lore bard with a grin.
"Making things easier to take the cult down through underhanded means. That's all," she stated with a grin.
Moving past the second treeline, they headed straight for the lone building. Strangely, nobody was there. Nonetheless, they headed straight for the side room and with some difficulty, Aloe and Nene moved the desk after untying the bard. The others couldn't as they were scared that the spell would break if they did anything strenuous. They headed down and much to their surprise, nobody was in the common area. It was all quiet except for the crackling fire in the kitchen, which didn't have anything cooking at that time. Peering into the left door turned up nothing.
"Where could they be?" wondered the lore bard in confusion.
"Hmm, maybe you can wait here while we scout out the place," suggested Botan, "We are still invisible after all."
"Oh, good idea," agreed the succubus, "We can sit here and make sure nobody else passes by."
With that, they split off.
Polka went down the left side as she went south. The flight of stairs down led to an armory of sorts with armor racks, shelves for weapons, a target dummy, and a wooden target on one side for target practice. Two side rooms revealed a weapon storage and shield storage. Then, a set of double doors. She could hear a lot of voices coming from the next room. Pushing the door open a crack, what she heard chilled her to the bone.
"They have betrayed us!" declared Adrina at a stone table. She was surrounded by the bandits and cultists that probably were staying here, who were cheering and jeering.
"Thus, our high priest says they must be punished," she continued to shout over the din.
The monk looked around, wondering what she could do. Since the door opens outwards…
"Her informants say that they will be heading back here eventually. So, I say this."
She strained as she pulled the targets over in front of the door.
"We shall capture them and sacrifice them to Talos."
This exhausted her a little but she persisted. She then pulled over the armor racks and pushed them against the targets. She did the same with the target dummy.
"The high priest shall lead us up the hill and present them to him."
She then emptied out both storerooms, tossing all manner of weapons and shields at the doorway to complete her makeshift barricade. Feeling quite tired, she took a quick swig from her cask and headed back to the common area. As she went up the stairs, there was a din as the double doors started shaking and loud banging was heard coming from the room.
"Who blocked this door!?"
Botan and Lamy moved quickly, making cursory looks through the doors they spotted. All of the rooms were empty; the dorms, the holding room, a personal room, a library, another drinking room, and a long passageway that they didn't know where it went.
"I guess they are gathering somewhere," stated Botan as they hurried back to the main common room.
"I wonder… they must be down the other branch," mused Lamy worriedly, "I hope Polka is alright."
As they reached the room, they found their friends; two on guard and one invisible monk breathing heavily. Aloe had transformed back to her true form in the meantime.
"Polka, are you alright?" asked the lion girl.
"Yeah, hah, yeah. I trapped, hah, them in, hah, down there," she replied in between breaths.
"Good idea, Polka," praised Nene, "Did you see everyone there?"
"Hah, yeah, hah, but, I didn't, hah, see Nislak."
"Hmm, where could she be?" muttered the half-snow elf in confusion.
Suddenly, a spectral wolf came walking down the stairs. It had a bluish tinge to it and it crackled with electricity. It went past them and straight towards the grand hall to the right, phasing through the door like it was nothing. The party looked at each other for a moment before running after the wolf. Throwing the doors open they went down the stairs and into the grand hall. There, they found High Priest Nislak standing at the center surrounded by four spectral wolves. She was armed with a spear that also crackled with electricity.
"I see only two of you came," she stated aloud as the wolves started growling at them, "What happened to the others?"
"They're… around," said Nene, keeping her answer short before whispering to Aloe, "Can you help protect me while I sing?"
"Sure," she whispered back while quietly motioning the others to spread out and get ready, "As long as you stop her from banishing me. She can do that."
"I was sorely disappointed that you decided to betray the cause," the high priest said casually as if talking about the weather, "A pity. From what Adrina told me, you were quite strong and worthy of Talos' blessing. But it seems you are lacking."
"Really? I doubt that telling the people that the only way to take control of their lives is to kill the guards," she shot back.
"How else do you expect to show your power?" the bear-folk replied as she took out an eyepatch and wore it on her face, "Still, I do not expect you to understand true power. Come. I will have to show it to you personally."
"Under pressure, walls closing down on me, surrounding my life, looking down on me..."
"A simple song won't stop the might of Talos," boasted the high priest as she pointed her spear at them, the singing drawing the growling wolves ire.
"What about this!?" shouted Polka as she punched her in the face.
"Enough!" the bear-folk shouted as she blocked another punch but got smacked in the face with a foot as the monk cartwheeled away, moving between the snapping jaws of the wolves.
"I am blessed by Talos!" she declared as a faint green glow bathed her body before she moved in to attack the fennec fox girl, thrusting forward her spear with both hands.
The wolves followed suit as she struck the monk in the side. Then, the drunken monk ducked out of the way of the first wolf, but the second bit her in the lower leg and zapped her at the same time. She shook it off just in time to grab the third and threw it into the high priest, who got bitten in the hand as she shoved it off her. The monk then avoided the fourth's snapping jaws by pushing it away with her hands. The other two then broke their invisibility; Lamy called out for her goddess' blessing of guidance while Botan peppered the wolves with arrows.
"Let's go, Aloe," encouraged Nene. The succubus nodded and they went in to take out the wolves, hoping to take them out before going after the high priest.
Polka had the same idea, punching furiously in a flurry of blows, taking one out. However, she was interrupted by another stabbing by the high priest. Nislak then summoned a spectral spear which shot at Lamy, getting her in the leg.
"Now suffer within the swirling tempest!" she declared as she slammed the butt of her spear on the ground before jabbing it skyward. Spectral demonic-looking spirits suddenly appeared and swirled around her that reached out to claw at the bard, the succubus, and the monk.
"Raging storm of snow and ice, rain your hail down on my enemies!"
Snowballs rained down on her and the wolves next to her, disrupting her concentration, causing the specters to disappear. This allowed them to kill off more wolves, each one falling over and fizzing out when they died.
"It seems I must dig deeper," the high priest growled as she reached for the sky and chanted, "Great Talos, grant me your favor and show these fools your might."
The party was suddenly swarmed with loud buzzing spectral locusts that started gnawing on their exposed flesh.
AN: Hello again, readers. It is close to the climax.
So, sneaky, sneaky. Time to turn the tables on the assassin. Things are done easily, though things came very close to going south. They successfully captured the assassin as well as the illusionist. After some simple persuasion the next day, the wizard is ready to help them. Then, they lead the group of royal guards to the cultist base. Holo5 goes on ahead, all according to plan so far. Aloe has a persuasive moment here. Then, Polka. Good idea, future ringmaster! Fancy a barricade? Then again, moving heavy objects still give her some consequences. I hit her with two exhaustion levels. Then, the boss of this story arc.
For Nislak, I took the war priest stat block from Volo's Guide to Monsters, took out all the War Domain stuff like the given spells and features, and replaced them with the Tempest Domain spells and features. Except for the Channel Divinity option. Also included 3 legendary actions since boss monster. I mean, without the legendary actions, it's just another high priest. The one-cost is Discharge, AOE lightning damage effect needing a Dex saving throw. The two-cost is Thunderstruck, a move and attack option. The three-cost is just a self-heal like a unicorn's self-heal.
For the wolves, I named them spectral storm wolves. you can change -storm to other effects to signify different elemental properties. Yes, this is an elemental monster. Just for this fight and just for Talos. I took the worg stat block and added several things; increased hit die, telepathy to the summoner, elemental immunities to lightning and thunder, extra lightning damage to the bite attack, and the AOE lightning effect without the Dex save. Only this time, it's called Static Burst and it stops affected characters from using their reactions until the start of their next turn. And made the elemental wolves CR 2.
Next chapter, we finish this battle. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.