AN: The world of Exile/Avernum (in particular the cave with the new Nephilim fort, and the prisoner Daniel) belongs to Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb Software. Persons and places belonging to the game will be put back unharmed when I'm done.
Drawing closer to the cave that Jynx had noticed, the group made one startling realization--the figures moving about near the mouth of the cave were not human at all.
"Cat heads!" said Duncan, his breath in a near hiss.
"That's not all," said Ansel, motioning for the others to join behind the stalagmites. "Goblins, too."
"That's not very surprising," said Jynx. "From my studies before, I know that the larger creature frequently enslaves the smaller. No doubt, they're building, and have the goblins along to do all the grunt work."
"If that's the case," said Ansel, "why don't we bring an end to their efforts. Seems like the least we could do."
"You're right," said Duncan. "The approach doesn't look like it offers much concealment, though."
"That's all right," said Brother Theo, "they're going back in. Must have been dumping some of their rock or some such."
"Who knows," said Ansel, with a shrug. "But we might as well go. We'll just keep at it until we're sure we've been everywhere and there's no more of them nasty critters."
"You're starting to sound like Captain Johnson," said Brynja.
"Don't insult me," said Ansel, "if you'd rather just let them be, so they can get stronger and start terrorizing the people even more than they have been . . ."
"Sorry," she said, sounding a little sulky. "You're just getting that 'let none of them live' attitude he had."
"It's not like I live to do it," said Ansel. Then with a shake of his head, he started toward the opening, and said, "C'mon."
They had just barely crossed the threshold of the cave entrance, blinking their eyes to adjust to the dimmer light, when an arrow whizzed past Ansel's shoulder.
"Shit!" he said, "welcoming committee."
A fire blazed in the large chamber they had just entered, and in the firelight, Jynx could see three of the nephilim, a fourth with a bow in the shadows just on the edge of the firelight. A dark passage to the right caught her eye, but it seemed they needed to deal with these four nephilim first.
"Lumina!" said Jynx, and the chamber they were in filled with light, revealing the fourth nephilim more clearly. Thankfully, she thought, there were no more behind him.
Duncan and Ansel rushed forward, meeting the other nephilim as Brynja started pulling darts from her case. Jynx was unsure what Rudel and Brother Theo might be doing behind her, but that hardly mattered at the moment.
The unmistakable clang of weapons, sign that a fight had begun, sounded through the air, another thwpp! of an arrow being released, and howls of pain from feline throats and Duncan's grunt acknowledging pain. Flashes of blue light arced through the air as it seemed Rudel and Brother Theo had both decided to concentrate on the archer, who might otherwise retreat and give warning throughout the fort. In the distance, though, clang of metal on stone sounded, suggesting that there were some still at work at enlarging this cavern, and for a brief moment, Jynx hoped that would prevent anyone from noticing the fight at the cave entrance.
Clashing weapons, hisses from felinoid throats, and Ansel hurriedly calling out instructions as one of the nephilim lunged at Duncan, only to have the sword it held slip from its hands, holding fast in the stone. The movement was a blaze of fury, far too quick to see anything, and Jynx concentrated on the now-weaponless nephilim, sending a blast of flame to envelop him, the air filled with the odor of singed fur. Brynja's darts flew home this time, and a moment later, Rudel and Brother Theo, still working in tandem sent the arcs of blue at the archer, who fell to the ground, unmoving--though not before releasing an arrow which grazed Duncan's shoulder. Swords clashed again, and the singed cat struggled to retrieve his sword while blood rose in arcs from the front-line combatants.
And still they fought on, and this time, swords, darts and magic brought all three of the remaining nephilim to lie still upon the floor.
"This way," said Jynx urgently, gesturing to the passageway on their right.
In the distance, the sounds of labor could still be heard, but Jynx was no longer sure that they were still as loud as they had been before the fight.
"I don't want us getting trapped in a dead end, though," said Ansel, looking a little doubtfully at the dark passageway.
"We don't know anything about the layout here," said Brynja. "Let's try this way--I'd rather finesse the way around than just go charging in blind."
"OK," said Ansel grinning, "you've convinced me."
Jynx's light began fading, leaving the light from the fire, and she took a torch and said, "We'll still need some way of seeing where we're going."
Moving cautiously, they made their way down the passage, finding to their relief that there were no hordes of nephilim waiting for them there.
"Everyone ok?" said Brother Theo, once it was clear that they weren't going to face another battle immediately.
"Just a little nicked up," said Ansel, a little dismissively. "How 'bout you, Dunc?"
"Little more than a nick," he said, his voice sounding pained. "But I'll live."
"Let me see," said Rudel, his tone anxious. He began muttering a prayer, hands running over the wounds Duncan had received, culminating in a passionate kiss between the two.
"Jeez, could you get a room or something?" said Brynja.
Ignoring Brynja, Rudel said, "You're still wounded."
"Leave it," said Duncan. "Don't know how many more of 'em we gotta fight, and might as well save it for when I'm more in need. Feels a lot better."
"You sure you're ok?" said Jynx, looking at Ansel.
"I'll be fine," said Ansel. "Well, let's see where this leads to."
The passage narrowed a little, with a few twisting turns, and then continued straight, though another passage loomed off to their right.
"My advice would be to check this out," said Brother Theo, gesturing to the side passage. "Better than backtracking later, or having something come up behind us."
"True," said Ansel, "even if it does smell like a trash heap."
The passageway started sloping downward sharply, and then they came into a small chamber, filled with the smell of trash and rotting corpses and a few hisses.
"I think we got company," said Duncan, preparing for a fight.
Jynx held up her torch, trying to shine into corners, and finally spotting another narrow passage and a sign.
"Can't make out a thing except this red x," said Rudel, moving over to the sign that Jynx's torch illuminated. "But I'm sure it's got something to do with... Shit!"
Ansel wheeled around, drawing his sword as he moved, as a hissing lizard--more than waist high to him-- came lumbering out of the passage that Jynx had just spotted.
Terrible claws and teeth reached for Ansel, and his sword bit into the hide of the beast as Duncan moved to help. Brynja's darts, however, bounced harmlessly off the tough hide of the creature. Clash of metal, arcs of fire and blue, and a terrible amount of hissing, and soon the lizard lay dead on the floor. It might have seemed time to cheer, except that there was an ominous lack of hammering sounds that had been heard before, as well as another lizard slipping out of the passage.
"Damn!" said Rudel, as his spell fizzled when an arrow struck him.
Duncan said, "I'll get 'em!" and went toward the nephilim massing at the entrance to the chamber, while Ansel continued his fight against the giant lizard.
Attention divided now, it took longer to slay the second giant lizard, and several nephilim were making use of the time to arrive at the chamber, leaving Duncan quite thoroughly bloodied by the time the others were able to all join in the fight against the nephilim. And then at long last, it was quiet--six nephilim bodies in the passageway, two dead giant lizards, and the group of companions.
Brother Theo said, "Well, let's try and get everyone patched up again."
"Sounds like a good idea," said Rudel, giving Duncan a very worried look as he moved over to tend him.
"Oh, gods," said Jynx, as she tripped over a human corpse. "I think he's been dead quite awhile, though," she added, her voice shaking.
"I believe you're right," said Brother Theo, taking a quick look before he began tending the gashes the lizards had left in Ansel.
"Told you I might need it more later," said Duncan with a weary smile.
"Just be quiet and let me work," said Rudel, a tension in his voice reflecting his worry.
Brynja and Jynx stood a little awkwardly, waiting for Brother Theo and Rudel to finish tending to Ansel and Duncan. The sounds of laboring were still absent, suggesting that this not-quite-fort was now on full alert
"I think," said Brother Theo, "that we should continue this way, and make sure that there isn't anything else going to come out at us."
"The only thing that worries me is that we might find ourselves in a dead end," said Ansel.
"Any different from our current position?" said Jynx. "I think Brother Theo's right--and if it's a dead end, then we can just retrace our steps. The good thing is that passage is narrow, so they're not able to swamp us too badly."
"Oh, all right," said Ansel, giving Jynx a grin. "C'mon." He led the others then through the narrow passageway from which the lizards had emerged. After a few feet it widened to a chamber filled with fungal light and mushrooms.
"Odd," said Brynja, making a circuit of the perimeter, and pausing at almost the most distant point from the chamber entrance. "Seems there's . . ." She pushed on the wall a bit, and suddenly a section began to turn, revealing an opening.
"Wait for us," said Ansel, and he urged the others to follow Brynja while he glanced over his shoulder against possible nephilim tracking them. Finding none, he followed the rest of the group into the tiny hidden chamber.
"There's more!" said Brynja, as she pushed against the wall again, and after a few moments prodding, a small section flipped upward.
As soon as the section of wall had opened, the unpleasant odor of semi-recently dead filled the small chamber.
"Close it!" said Ansel.
"He's human," said Brynja, surprised.
"Well, we can't do anything for him, but that smell!" said Jynx.
"No, but this might be something," said Brynja, pulling a small silver band from the floor where it seemed to have fallen from the dead man's hand.
"OK, take that and close it," said Ansel.
Brynja pushed the section of wall back in place, the stench lingering in the room, and looked at the small band she'd picked up.
"What is it?" said Rudel.
"Looks like a ring to me," said Brynja. "Maybe we can get someone to look at it next town we're in, see if there's anything of note about it. Meantime," she added, as she dropped it into a belt pouch, "I'll just store it."
"Well, looks like it's a dead end," said Ansel, grimacing at the pun. "Let's go back and keep exploring."
Retracing their steps, they returned to the main passage, still without finding anyone who seemed intent on killing their small band. Seeming somewhat reassured by this, Ansel led the group off to the right, continuing along the side passage they had discovered.
Almost immediately, the whole passage turned, and within a very short span of time, they found themselves standing in a large cavern, furnished with several odiferous sleeping mats, and a dozen goblins being driven toward them by two nephilim.
Goblin skulls cracked easily as the combat continued, Jynx and Rudel concentrating on the nephilim behind the melee line. Soon enough, all their foes were dead, while only Duncan seemed to have incurred any injury, and even his injury was mild enough that he was waving off Rudel's concern.
Another chamber leading away from this one smelled so horribly--apparently a combination of trash pit and latrine--that they continued no further in that direction. Brother Theo marked a parchment he carried, and they decided to go through the passage opposite the one they had entered by, passing by another one that seemed likely to lead into the chamber they had first entered. This passage forked off, and further explorations revealed another tiny side passage with another secret passage--and another human corpse.
Turning back from the grisly scene, Ansel said, "Guess we're not the first to get in here. Probably better try and make sure we're the last who have this kind of trouble."
Moving back along what seemed a main passage, they came to another broad chamber--another passage seeming to lead back to where they had first started, and to the right, a wall of worked stone with a door.
"Let's see what's here," said Ansel, checking the door over and pushing it open.
Inside was what seemed to be a chief's room--a fine comfortable bed unlike the mats on the floor of the cavern they'd seen before. Another door was in one wall.
"Locked," said Ansel, stepping back as though he meant to put shoulder to it.
"Let me try," said Brynja, unabashedly pulling out a pick and stepping up to the lock. Her efforts, however, were fruitless, and she stepped back, trying to straighten the bent pick.
"One last try," said Jynx, and she muttered a few arcane words, gesturing with one hand, and a click sounded from the lock.
Ansel turned the knob, and said, "It's open. Good job."
The room turned out to be little more than a closet, but a locked chest was within.
"Damn, it's trapped good," said Brynja, as she worked. Soon enough, though, she had managed to by-pass trap and lock, and opened the chest to reveal a nice pile of coins.
"Good job," said Ansel, and he lifted the coins out, placing them into the sack that had been used as the community purse.
"We better get going," said Duncan, who'd been busily watching the door. "Don't know how long we've got."
As they stepped back out of the worked stone room, there were still no hordes of creatures coming to stop them.
"Let's go this way," said Brother Theo. "Should take us to the entrance again, but we can make sure there's no side passages, and then come back here and continue our search."
"Very well," said Ansel.
They did so, feeling a sense of increasing tension as they still failed to encounter anyone. Brother Theo's supposition proved correct--the passage did lead directly to the large chamber that they had first entered. One side chamber had an overwhelming odor that spoke of use as a trash pit and latrine, and just as they were about to return to their prior explorations, a very large snake--some twenty feet in length--came slithering out of the trash. Ansel and Duncan managed to slay the snake, but not before Jynx had inadvertently gone through another secret door, finding herself in another chamber with a bloated human corpse.
"You all right?" said Brynja, holding the secret door open and peering in.
"I'll be all right," said Jynx, her face rather green as she made her way back out. "Another dead body back there. Didn't see anything else, though."
"OK," said Brother Theo, "let's go back. I believe that whatever is on this side," and he gestured toward the as yet unexplored portion, "will link back to this passage," and he pointed to his map that showed another side passage leading off from the one they had first entered.
"Sounds good to me," said Ansel. "Stay on your toes, everyone. I get the feeling that they're waiting for us or something."
They returned, finding another dead end side passage, which fortunately contained no corpses, and then into a very large chamber--almost as big as the one they had first entered, with a number of smelly mats on the floor, and several goblins and nephilim who leaped into the attack as the group emerged into the chamber.
Even worse, as the battle continued, three more nephilim came into the large room from the door in the finished stone wall, and they seemed to have some magical ability, for jets of blue arced toward the companions, and Jynx felt invisible knives seem to slice through her. No visible injury, and she continued on with the fight.
When at last these were all dead, the rather bloodied companions listened for a moment, but no more footsteps or harsh voices could be heard, and the entire place had become quite silent. Rudel and Brother Theo quickly began patching up their comrades.
"Certainly hope we're not going to come into a whole lot more trouble," said Brother Theo, "I won't be much good after another fight like that one."
"Have to see what we can do," said Ansel. "But let's see what's in here."
He opened the door that the three spell-casting nephilim had come from, and they found themselves within a room which was much better appointed than the other rooms they had been in thus far, and in the center of it was an altar with blood dripping off its surface, twisted black candles burning on each corner.
Brother Theo immediately made a gesture at the sight of this, and said, "Don't touch anything."
"How about that door there?" said Ansel.
Brynja edged over to the door, and opened it. Inside, another fine chamber--this one a sleeping chamber, like the one they had been in before.
"Here's another secret door," she announced, locating the catch and opening it.
The tiny chamber was crammed with two chests and a pedestal upon which sat a bronze key.
"I'm sure this will turn out to be useful," said Ansel, as he pocketed the key. "Why else would a key be hidden away like that?"
"I think you're right," said Brother Theo as Brynja began checking the chests for traps and then unlocking them. Taking the treasures within, they left the rooms, and continued on their journey of exploration, finding themselves with one last corner to explore--a hallway with two locked doors on their right, and an open door to the left.
"Let's take the easy one first," said Ansel, and he led the way into the door that was on their left. "Looks like where they trained for combat."
"You're right," said Duncan, looking at the crude weapons scattered about the floor.
Brynja stepped out of the room and across the hall to one of the locked doors. Within a minute, she had it unlocked as the rest of the group joined her in the hallway. Within the room was an emaciated man in tattered clothing.
"Thank the gods!" he said, "it's so good to see a human face!"
"Who are you?" said Ansel, surprised to find a human here who wasn't a bloated corpse.
"Name's Daniel," he said. "Was with a party that came up here--started exploring, but they ambushed us by the big pool. Everyone split up, but they captured me and one of the other guys."
"We think we've killed them all," said Ansel, "so I guess you're free now."
"I can't thank you enough," said Daniel.
Meanwhile, Brynja had moved on to the next door.
"I haven't heard from him in the last couple days," said Daniel. "We used to tap on the walls, try and keep our spirits up."
Brynja got the door open and the somewhat familiar smell of death filled the air. "Guess we were too late for him," she said, shutting the door.
"OK, so where you from?" said Ansel. "You don't mind the observation, you don't look like you'd get too far on your own."
"I know," said Daniel, shaking his head. "I worked out of Fort Duvno."
"We were planning to go up to Formello," said Ansel. "Want to come with us there, and you can go down there after you've had a chance to recover?"
"No, I should go back," said Daniel. "Need to report."
"Fine," said Duncan. "We'll go back with you."
"Yeah," said Ansel, "not like we're in a rush to go anywheres. Just heard that there was some work we might get up Formello way, but it can wait."
Leaving the fort with Daniel, the group made their way back to Fort Duvno, this time uneventfully.
"Thanks for everything," said Daniel, and he headed into the barracks in search of his commanding officer.
"So long as we're here, let's see if that captain has anything for us," said Ansel, grimacing.
Returning to the captain's office, Ansel told them about their experience in the new nephilim fort, and the captain grinned in a rather disturbing manner, thanking them profusely, and he gave them a small sack of coin.
Moving to the inn after they had finished with their business with the captain, Ansel said, "And after we get a good meal and a night's rest, let's get on to Formello, right?"
"Sounds good to me," said Jynx.
As the others started for their rooms, Ansel stopped Jynx, and said, "You wanna come with me?"
"Why not?" she said, grinning at Ansel. "A real bed, right?"
"Yeah," he said as he walked with her to the room. "And you might even get to sleep in it."