16th Day of Fireseek, 565 CY
The Brass Dragon Inn, Furyondy
The rain had stopped. Although still windy, the afternoon skies were beginning to clear. Elrohir the ranger, resplendent in his newly cleaned plate mail, drew Gokasillion from its scabbard and held it aloft. The sword's white light washed over him as he turned to address his companions.
"Are we ready, my friends?" he shouted out.
They all looked at each other. Caroline, shifting under her huge load, spoke first.
"We're burning down a patch of corn, Elrohir. Are you expecting it to put up that much of a fight?"
Talass, similarly burdened, shook her head at her husband. "You really haven't gotten comfortable with the fact that we've retired, have you?"
Aslan gave his friend a wry look. "Who knew farming was so exciting?"
Sighing, the ranger glanced over at the samurai. "Well, that's three snide comments. Anything to add, Tojo?"
The Nipponese warrior shook his head slowly, just a hint of an innocent smile upon his face.
Elrohir resheathed his sword. "Fine. Just trying to drum up a little team spirit, that's all", he grumbled as he walked back towards them. "We certainly don't seem to have any problem when it comes to fighting each other. I just thought we could channel a little of that energy against an external threat for once."
"I'm with you, Elrohir!"
The ranger looked over at the elf and smiled. "Thank you, Tad. It's nice to know someone's with me here."
The child beamed with pride.
Aslan placed his hand on Elrohir's shoulder. "We're all with you, my friend. I think that what we're all just trying to say is that this situation doesn't demand a man-the-battlements mentality. We most certainly do have those," he added, giving a stern look to the two women, "but I think our corn problem here can be handled best by a logical, straightforward approach."
Elrohir nodded, then turned to regard the corn patch again. The black stalks had reached a height of just over six feet, and were now sporting black ears and black, bushy tassels on top. They blew gently in the breeze. Other than their color, the plants seemed as normal as any other. Elrohir could feel the taste of corn in his mouth; that wonderful flavor. He hadn't had it in years.
The ranger dismissed those thoughts from his head. "All right then, everybody. Oil flasks out, please."
Aslan began walking back towards the stalks. "Get them ready to light, but hold off a second," he called out over his shoulder. The others, while readying oil flasks (each rigged with a cloth fuse) looked on curiously as the paladin walked over and into the approximate center of the patch. He looked down at his feet for a moment, then back at the others. "I thought I saw-"
The ground below him began to move.
With a low rumble, the earth beneath the corn patch began, very slowly, to rise. Aslan jogged out of the patch without incident, then stopped at its edge to watch, along with his companions, who maintained their positions about ten yards further back.
After about a minute, the ground stopped rising. A mound of earth, about fifty feet in diameter and five feet high in the center, now lay before them. The corn stalks, seemingly unaffected, had risen with the earth.
Elrohir turned to his wife. "Talass, detect magic, please?"
The priestess concentrated, clutching her holy symbol. "The stalks are the same as before," she stated. "I get a moderate aura from them." She frowned, continuing to process the information being provided to her by the spell. "I'm getting a stronger reading now, coming from that mound." Talass looked at her husband, then at Aslan. "I think it's actually coming from underneath the mound, although I can't be certain." She shook her head. "Nothing else I can tell."
The paladin had been staring at the ground. Now he looked back up at the rest of them, an uncertain expression on his face.
"Evil, Aslan?" asked Elrohir.
Aslan was seemingly at a loss for words as he regarded his companion. "I...don't know, Elrohir. It's like I almost sense something, but not quite." He shrugged. "I've never experienced that before." He dropped down to his knees and began digging in the dirt with his gauntlets as the others silently watched.
The paladin got down to a depth of about six inches before he hit something that looked and felt like packed earth. He could go no further. He got back up to his feet, drew his sword, and stabbed it down into the earth.
It couldn't make a dent.
Aslan frowned and resheathed his weapon. "I don't know what this is, but I don't like it." He announced to his compatriots. "Let me check one more thing, and then we'll fire all of this up". He reached out and wrested one of the ears off a stalk.
It was somewhat clumsy with his gauntlets, but Aslan managed to shuck the ear. He looked at the cob resting in his hand. It was as black as the rest of the plant. He ran his thumb over the kernels, not sure what he was looking for. He glanced back up at the others. They were waiting patiently for him, Talass and Caroline constantly shifting their positions to better manage their burdens. A small pang of guilt went through the paladin. He shouldn't be wasting time here.
"All right," he said, tossing the ear aside. "Light your flasks and-"
"Aslan, look out!" five voices screamed simultaneously.
Aslan turned just as a griffon that hadn't been there a moment before buried its beak in his left shoulder, the sharp appendage piercing his armor. Blood spurted from the wound as he cried out. He drew his sword and fought back, but the beast's massive bulk bore down on him, its beating wings buffeting and hampering the paladin's efforts to strike a decisive blow.
The others dropped their flasks and, drawing weapons, charged the beast, not wishing to risk striking their friend with an errant arrow. Soon they were all engaged in battle with the monster but Talass and Caroline, as predicted, were having a particularly hard time with their extra encumbrance. Elrohir and Tojo however, quickly scored telling blows on the griffon, causing it to shriek out with pain. It was still fighting though and showed every inclination of being in a beserk rage. Nothing short of death was going to stop it.
His initial shock at the surprise attack over, Aslan was now holding his own. With everyone engaging the griffon, he fought defensively, swatting away a massive swipe of the monster's lion-like claws while waiting for the best moment to strike. What he saw now of the beast, even in the heat of battle, was enough to give him pause.
The griffon seemed diseased. Whole patches of its fur were gone, with raw, red skin underneath. Its eyes were surrounded by a pale yellow-mucus, and its ribs showed on its underside. Before the paladin could make sense of this, the griffon roared in agony as Gokasillion, and then Tojo's katana, found their marks. The beast toppled over on its side.
And vanished.
A quick glance around at his friends showed Aslan that none of them were seriously wounded. He healed himself, then offered healing to the others. As he predicted, they all refused, saying they had little more than bruises and scratches.
"I know that," he said, looking grim. "But I'm not done picking corn yet."
The others stared at him. He told them about his observations about the griffon, which they corroborated. "I have some unanswered questions here," the paladin began.
"One such question- who scrying on us during this batter?" Asked Tojo.
Now it was the samurai who was the object of everyone's astonished gaze. He looked around, and a contrite look came into his face. "Aporogies for not saying so during fight," he said, bowing slightly. "Was somewhat... distracted at time."
"Not enough that you didn't spot the sensor," Aslan added, shaking his head with a wry smile. "You continually amaze me, my friend." His face turned serious again. "Did it disappear when we killed the griffon?"
Tojo nodded and pointed towards the cornfield. "First appear then, then come over here to watch batter."
"All the more reason for us to get to the bottom of this," Aslan stated. "Something tells me either Nodyath, this Emerald Serpent that Jinella talked about, or both, are involved with this."
Elrohir shook his head slowly at his friend. "As long as you apologize Aslan, I'm on board with whatever you suggest."
The paladin frowned at him. "Apologize? For what?"
The ranger smiled back. "For telling me farming wasn't exciting."
Ten minutes later, the party was again ready for combat. Talass and Caroline, refusing any advice to the contrary, had shed most of their excess weight. Bows were drawn and nocked. This time, it was Elrohir who picked an ear off a stalk. He didn't even bother to shuck it, he just hurled it away and watched as it tumbled end over end, landing about thirty yards away.
Instantly there was a tree there, rising up nearly forty feet into the air.
Everyone's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Slowly, with weapons aimed, they approached the tree.
It was bizarre looking, to say the least. Both bark and leaves were a brilliant orange color. The trunk of the tree seemed to be covered with a kind of waxy resin, perhaps some kind of sap, that imparted a glossy sheen to the wood, making it appear almost metallic. Numerous branches struck out horizontally from the trunk as normal, but sub-branches nearly as long as the primary ones jutted horizontally off from them, all at a 90 degree angle. There were large welts on both the trunk and the branches, appearing as ragged slits inside ovoid growths.
Everyone looked at each other. No one saw any hint of recognition, although Tadoa looked like he might hurt his facial muscles, he was concentrating so hard.
Elrohir, with both sword and shield in hand, motioned for the others to stay back, then walked around the trunk. He peered up into the orange foliage, then back at his allies. He shrugged.
"I'm at a loss here. What do you people think?"
With no sound whatsover, one of the horizontal sub-branches above Elrohir suddenly swung down, headed in a pendulum arc straight towards the ranger's back. As it descended, what looked like a blade of some kind popped out of a welt on the limb. Elrohir, alerted by the looks on the faces he was gazing at, swung around just in time to take the blow square on the shield. The impact nearly knocked him off of his feet, but he stood his ground. The blade-like object that scraped along his shield was, he could see now, a giant thorn of some kind.
Arrows fired from readied bows. Those that struck the trunk of the tree bounced off.
Weapons were drawn, and again the entire party was soon engaged in combat. Although the trunk itself seemed to have no obvious attacks, the branches above were surprisingly mobile, and the group constantly had to dodge or deflect swinging branches from above, all equipped with razor-sharp thorns. Aslan settled into his usual supporting mode, keeping an eye out for anyone who got hurt bad enough to require emergency healing. When he had the time, he would try to drive his sword into the trunk, but it was slippery from the resin. Most attacks simply bounced off.
"Back off, everyone! Use the oil flasks! Burn it!" yelled Elrohir. Just as the party had retreated beyond the reach of the tree's branches however, it disappeared.
Everyone regrouped, Aslan healing here and there. Elrohir noticed Tadoa had an especially grim expression on his face. "What's wrong, Tad?" He asked.
The child looked up at the ranger. "I'm sorry, Elrohir. I should have recognized it earlier. The orange color threw me. I've never seen an orange one before. I could have warned everyone if I knew."
By now, everyone was listening. "You know what kind of tree that was, Tad?" Talass asked quietly.
The elf nodded. "It was a scythe tree. I remember seeing a copse of them back home, on Rolex. It was near Invertown."
Now it was Aslan's turn to look grim. "Did anyone see another scrying sensor this time?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Hmmm. I've got a seed of an idea people, but I'm not sure yet. I want to pick one more ear."
Aslan held the ear of corn in his hand. "Ready, people?"
"Would it matter if we weren't?" Asked Caroline with her best imitation of her husband's pained smile.
The paladin gave her a sour look, but the ends of his mouth went up just a little. He threw the ear about thirty yards.
When it landed, it was instantly replaced by a bird.
Once again, with bows drawn, the group examined the new arrival. The bird resembled a stork or crane of some kind, standing about five feet tall. It was a brilliant copper in color, it's feathers reflecting the afternoon sun. It regarded the party silently as they moved slowly towards it, making no sudden moves.
Aslan, the only one with a melee weapon drawn, motioned the others to hold at about ten yards distance while he slowly moved in closer. As he approached, it almost seemed like there were wisps of fog around the creature's head. It eyed Aslan steadily, tilting its head, as the paladin continued to move in.
This time, it was Elrohir who cried out. "Aslan! Look out for its-"
Just as Aslan realized that what he was seeing was not fog, it was steam- and it was rising out of the creature's beak, it shot a thin stream of superheated water at him, striking the paladin squarely in the face. He cried out in pain and backed up as the others fired. The bird swung its wings in front of its body. When arrows struck them, there was a metallic clang, and they bounced off, but one arrow, possibly Tojo's, drove right through the creature's neck. With a loud squawk, it flew at them.
It took about thirty seconds to dispatch the bird, after which it too disappeared. For the third time, that day, the party regrouped.
Aslan ran his hands over his face, satisfied that his healing had done its job. He looked at Elrohir. "So, you recognized it, did you? What was it?'
Elrohir looked thoughtful. "I've never seen one myself, but I'm pretty sure that was a Hellasian Stork."
Aslan folded his arms across his chest. "From Hellas? On Rolex? How do you know?"
"Do you remember Tlan, the ranger we met during our stay on Rolex? The one who trained me up?" The ranger asked. Aslan nodded.
"He told me about Hellasian Storks. Said he'd battled them before."
The paladin pointed to the scenes of their last two battles. "A bird and a tree, that as far as we know, are native to Rolex alone."
"But griffons are found on all three worlds," put in Caroline.
Aslan nodded. "Yes, but that particular griffon was suffering under some kind of horrible wasting disease. I'm willing to bet it was caused by the Devastation" He said, looking back at Elrohir, who nodded assent.
"So," the ranger said. "Everything we fought today was summoned from Rolex." He took a deep breath. "Nodyath."
"It would seem so," replied the paladin. "Yet it seems like a less than totally efficient weapon to use against us."
"He may be using what he has," said Elrohir, who shrugged. "Besides, he could attack while we were distracted," he added, looking sternly at his wife now. Talass however, made no move to pick up her additional baggage.
"Enough of this," she said, stepping forward and pulling out her oil flask. "It's time for some scorched earth."
That night, the party ate in the common room together.
Elrohir looked at his friends, who were all picking at their food listlessly.
"We shouldn't really be surprised that burning the stalks didn't work," he said. "We should have known they'd grow back."
"Trolls don't" Caroline replied. "Hey, you never know until you try."
The ranger smiled weakly but said nothing.
"We need to break through that mound."
The others looked at Aslan. The paladin had hardly spoken a word in the past half-hour. He regarded them soberly.
"Tomorrow I'll be at full strength again, " he continued. "I have a strong suspicion there's an empty space underneath that mound. I'll try teleporting."
"If space there, probabry not empty, Asran-san", Tojo told him, his eyes locking with the paladin's.
Aslan rose up. "Well," he said with an grim smile, "If you people will excuse me, I'm not very hungry. I think I'll turn in early. The one bright spot is, if something goes wrong tomorrow, at least I'll have saved you all the cost of a burial."
Talass shook her head. She hated gallows humor.
"Not funny, Aslan."
"Not untrue either, Talass," replied the paladin as he left the inn.