14th Day of Goodmonth, 565 CY
Drachensgrab Hills, The Pomarj
"It's so beautiful," Elrohir whispered.
It was like being inside a rainbow. Captivating hues swirled around the group like gentle breezes, always in motion. They called to the eye, enticing it to follow their winding streams; moving, merging, diverging.
Although he really didn't want to, Elrohir forced himself to look around for his friends. He knew that they had just been involved in deadly combat, and that it might not yet be over.
His gaze soon found them. He could see Nesco's eyes were following the pattern of colors, but the others- his wife, Argo, Aslan and the two wizards- were looking around just as he was. The ranger decided to reassure them.
"It's all right." The team leader had expected his voice to be louder than it was, but everyone seemed to be able to hear him anyway. "It doesn't seem to be harmful, whatever it is…. Someone let me know if they see anything dangerous."
And with that, Elrohir let his eyes return where they wanted to go. To the colors.
"What?"
"Don't bother, Argo. Both Elrohir and Nesco seem to be under some kind of hypnotic effect." Aslan peered at Tojo, who alone among the group was outside the pattern effect, an area the paladin estimated at about sixty feet wide.
The samurai was frowning. "Awe of you- reave area!" he called out.
Aslan was already heading towards Elrohir. "Argo! Talass! Snap Nesco out of it! I'll take care of Elrohir- the rest of you, move forward- get away from these colors!"
Elrohir was forced to return his gaze to Aslan after the paladin stepped directly in front of him.
"It's amazing, isn't it Aslan?" he asked quietly.
The paladin nodded soberly in response.
"If you think a rainbow is amazing, try stars."
And with that, Aslan slapped Elrohir across the face with his gauntlet.
The ranger's cry of pain and surprise quickly gave way to shock, and then a silent, stunned embarrassment. Fully aware of what had transpired, the ranger cupped his stinging cheek with his palm as he looked towards the far end of the room.
The blurred figure of the tall gnoll seemed to be waving its flail around, although it was hard to tell for sure. To Elrohir however, it was all the confirmation he needed. A wordless snarl erupted from his throat, and with Gokasillion raised high, he began to charge towards that distant figure. However, the gnoll hiding behind the pillar twenty feet in front of Elrohir suddenly peered around to check on the group. The ranger altered his trajectory. The gnoll dropped its crossbow, grabbed its wooden shield and tried to retreat behind the column, but Elrohir followed him around. The others heard a yowl of pain, and then the gnoll reappeared on their side of the pillar, one hand pressed over its leather tunic in front, from which a dark liquid was seeping.
"I'll take care of it." Talass shouldered her way past Bigfellow en route to Nesco. "No telling what lascivious idea you'd come up with, Argo."
The big ranger's eyes shot up as he assumed a hurt look. "Lascivious? Me? You wound me, my good lady."
"Is that a prophecy or a request?" muttered the cleric as she reached Cynewine. Not even waiting for a response, Talass grabbed Nesco by both shoulders and shook her roughly. "Nesco! Come on, snap out of it! Don't look at the colors; look at me!"
She had no slapped cheek to contend with, but Nesco's hazel-green eyes eventually showed the same shock and shame that Elrohir's had. That suddenly vanished however; the ranger suddenly refitted her arrow onto her bow, sidestepped around Talass and let the missile fly while crying out a warning.
"The ruster! It's getting back up!"
The ranger's arrow jammed its way between the plates on the creature's back. The shaft then fell out, its metal arrowhead rusted away to nothingness. The creature squealed again, but still managed to regain its footing. Its antennae waved around wildly. The ruster seemed to be torn between Argo and Aslan, who were both at identical ten-foot distances from the monster.
The former let his arrow fly, and more rust-red fluid spurted, this time out of the monster's right front leg. Argo jogged forward about twenty feet to put some distance between him and Talass. He and Aslan were now flanking the creature.
-Talass cast, holding her holy symbol of a bearded face out towards the far end of the room. There was no visible reaction, and the priestess uttered a short but virulent string of curses in Fruz loud enough to cause Aslan to blush.
Cygnus moved up to stand right behind Argo. "The gnolls are no problem, and I'm of no interest to the ruster, but I'd still appreciate a meat shield between me and Hyena-Head up there."
Argo gave him his pained smile. "Why Cygnus, I didn't know you cared."
The wizard returned it as best he could. "Here's the proof."
And with that, he cast.
Argo could not see, but could almost feel the arcane power flowing along Cygnus' arm as the tall mage finished the spell by pointing down the chamber.
The blur effect stopped. The group once again saw the tall gnoll, who was now clearly moving his hands in a way that suggested a link between it and the hypnotic pattern of colors that Talass, Nesco, Aslan and Zantac were still inside of.
Cygnus yelled back. "I know it's a tall order, Zantac, but carry your weight for once! Take out that damn gnoll!"
"Well, someone has to!" yelled the Willip wizard in reply. And with that, he dashed out from behind his pillar, darted between Aslan and the rust monster, and wound up out of the colors, about twenty feet west of the pillar which Elrohir was still chasing his gnoll around.
"Watch and learn, Stick!"
The echo of the lightning bolt rebounded off the stone walls long after the brilliant flash has disappeared. When everyone could see again, the tall gnoll lay sprawled out on the floor.
The gnoll that had already wounded Tojo turned back from the sight of its unmoving master. It didn't matter. It already knew that it would fight to the death, and-
The humanoid blinked in surprise. Only a moment again, the almond-eyed human had been holding a bow and arrow. Now it was holding an unfamiliar type of longsword in both hands, and it was much closer than it had been before.
Too close.
The gnoll pulled back around the pillar, but not before having its shield cleaved from its hand- along with two fingers from that same hand. The creature howled with pain and counterattacked with a wooden club it held in its other hand.
His attacker moving more from pain and fury than from anything else now, Tojo easily avoided the club swing. The samurai did not counter immediately but settled for parrying the gnoll's succeeding swings. Each one that came his way was less energetic than the last.
The two gnolls who had hit Cygnus earlier with their bolts fired again, to the exact same effect.
"Didn't believe me the first time?" the magic-user called out to them. Behind his smile though, Cygnus was starting to worry.
I hope they give up on this soon. A couple more like that, and the spell's all used up.
The third gnoll switched targets. The bolt ricocheted off Argo Bigfellow's helm hard enough to make the big ranger double over for a moment and hold his gauntleted hands to his head to try and stop the ringing in his ears.
"Damn," he gasped to the sandstone floor. "It's only funny until…"
Elrohir's gnoll, perhaps sensing its futile situation, suddenly turned around and swung its club right at the ranger's head.
The wooden shaft met Gokasillion's blade. It only stuck for a moment, but by the time the gnoll had pulled it free, The ranger's sword had pierced the humanoid's leather armor twice and drawn blood, first on its shield arm, and then in the stomach.
Elrohir was ready to deliver the final strike when his back felt like an ogre had kicked him there. The loud clang was all he needed to know that another crossbow bolt had hit him there. It hadn't penetrated, but the back of his breastplate was bent so far inward the ranger could feel it scraping across his back when he breathed or moved.
Amazingly, the gnoll in front of him was still on the attack. Elrohir didn't like this. Gnolls in his experience didn't have the stock military training that say, hobgoblins did. He couldn't predict their tactics so easily. The ranger's own combat experience normally compensated, but these gnolls had trained in their own way. They weren't sword fodder.
All Elrohir could do was hope that there would be no more surprises.
The swirling colors vanished.
That's more like it, Aslan thought. Now to take care of things. Since we have no more illusions to worry about-
The paladin backed up about twenty feet and let another arrow fly at the rust monster. It burrowed through the creature's tail. The head rusted away, but the wooden shaft remained in the flesh. The ruster slammed its tail against the floor again and again in a vain attempt to dislodge the painful thorn.
By the time Argo had straightened up again, Elrohir's bow was over his shoulder, Harve was in his hands and the big ranger was heading towards the gnoll nearest him.
"Sweet Lord of Swords! Is that a rust monster I'm hearing?" the sword squealed.
"That's what I like about you, Harve. Your sense of self-sacrifice for the greater good."
There was a pause, and then the weapon spoke in slow, serious tones.
"I've never told you this before Bigfellow, but I feel like you're a father to me."
Argo stopped, eyed his longsword and paused an identical length of time before responding.
"Well, I'm not a smith of any kind Harve, so that's just plain creepy."
Talass was frustrated. She wanted to head over to where the tall gnoll was lying to make sure he was dead, but that would take her right past the ruster. The cleric had no non-metal weapons on her, but was wearing nice, juicy chainmail. Her warhammer would make a tasty dessert for the thing, she was sure.
The priestess glanced over to her left and then ran to the nearest pillar and took cover behind it. Another pillar, twenty feet further on, was only dimly lit by this column's magical flame, but Talass knew there was a gnoll lurking behind it.
She took a deep breath and prepared to rush it.
Streaks of white light tore into the ruster. It let out a final squeal, turned around once, and then collapsed to the floor. It took over thirty seconds to stop moving completely, but no one in the party gave it another glance.
Zantac looked irritatingly at Cygnus' smug expression.
"Well, fine!"
The Willip wizard hustled towards the far end of the chamber, but after about thirty feet suddenly whirled and fired off three magic missiles at a gnoll peeking out behind a pillar near the east side of the room. It screamed and ducked back out of sight.
Zantac scowled. He'd hope to drop the gnoll with one volley, and he had no more missiles left.
Tojo's gnoll finally made a swing that was bad enough. One sweep and one thrust of the samurai's katana left the creature's corpse pinned against the pillar. Tojo drew his sword back, and the gnoll's body slumped to the floor.
Tojo didn't look back. He was already on his way towards the gnoll Zantac had just wounded.
Elrohir saw Cynewine racing towards him.
"Nesco!" he shouted. "I've got him! There's at least three more unengaged- take one!"
His fellow ranger stopped short, the frustration showing on her face again. In Nesco's mind, she'd been of little use this entire fight. Pursing her lips, she took in the field in battle, then turned and headed back towards the west. She passed Cygnus en route.
"Hello, there. Come here often?" the mage queried with a smile, but Nesco didn't respond. Her attention was locked on a pillar about forty feet away.
Nesco was angry and looking for a furry face to take it out on.
Two of those furry faces suddenly altered their crossbow sights from Cygnus to her and let fly. Nesco got her shield up just in time. She would have sworn the impact of the bolts broke her left hand. Certainly, her shield now bore some very impressive dents.
"Is that the best you can do?" Argo complained after parrying his gnoll's club.
With a sudden yell, Argo feinted with a slashing move to the right. The gnoll moved as he expected, and Harve was already thrusting forward. Blood spurted all over Bigfellow's face as he twisted the blade around in the creature's chest and then pulled it out with a flourish.
"That's gnolls for you," he wryly told Harve while trying to wipe the worst of the fluid out of his eyes. "They seem tough in combat at first, but in the end their heart's not in it."
"Funny, Bigfellow. You mind pulling that particular organ off my point now?" the sword complained.
Elrohir's gnoll died with little more than a whimper and a death rattle. The team leader looked around. Things were definitely going in their favor now.
Of course, that was usually when things tended to turn.
"Talass!" Aslan yelled. "Do you-"
"I've got him!" the cleric yelled back, the annoyance in her voice evident.
The paladin shrugged, and then started to lumber forward again. He didn't expect to find any targets, but then he saw that the gnoll Zantac had wounded was hiding on the opposite side of its pillar from the mage.
That put him very nicely in Aslan's view.
The paladin's arrow did not deliver a mortal wound, but the humanoid still cried out. It seemed to be staying upright by sheer force of will now.
The gnoll's eyes widened with surprise, if not outright fear as Talass suddenly charged it, shrieking out battle oaths in Fruz. The creature dropped its crossbow, but was too slow in drawing its own weapon, and was rewarded with a glancing hammer strike to the side of its head. It roared, rage only guiding its actions now. It didn't even bother trying to grab its shield but grasped its club with both hands and swung at Talass.
Actually, it began to swing at Talass. Four white streaks of energy from Cygnus' hand struck first.
Magic missiles never drew blood directly; they caused internal injuries. In this case though, those were severe enough to cause blood to spurt out of the humanoid's mouth even as its swing continued on wildly. Talass normally would have dodged or blocked the blow without a problem, but she was so distracted by the unexpected aid that she had completely taken her eyes off her opponent for a second.
The club slammed into her right arm. Talass was pretty sure she felt something snap, but adrenaline kept the pain away for now as she again refocused her attention on the gnoll.
Thanks, Cygnus. Thanks a lot.
Zantac saw Tojo was heading for his gnoll, and Aslan was firing at it as well. He resumed heading towards the front and soon pulled up next to the supine form of the tall gnoll.
It wasn't dead yet, but it was clearly getting ready to breathe its last.
Something's not right here, the wizard thought. Guess I'm not done casting just yet.
Tojo ran up to the gnoll but pulled up just inches short of where the creature expected him to stop. The club whooshed by the samurai's face.
His katana sliced the humanoid's jugular open. It was back in the samurai's sheath before the gnoll hit the floor.
Nesco was breathing hard.
Dammit, she cursed to herself. Why did I ever choose chainmail? Sir Damascene warned me against it. I feel like I've got lead weights attached all over my body, and I've done less than anybody!
She was about halfway to her target, which responded by firing off a crossbow bolt at her. The ranger brought up her shield again, but just a fraction of a section too late. The projectile snuck underneath and slammed against her stomach. Nesco cried out and stopped.
"Nesco!" someone shouted. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine- shut up!" she shrieked back, her agony fueling her anger even more.
Aslan blinked in surprise. First Talass, and now Nesco.
"Was it something I said?" the paladin asked, too softly for Nesco to hear.
This wasn't good. Nesco had a tendency to let her emotions get the better of her sometimes, and this was very definitely one of those times. Argo suffered from the same affliction, but Cynewine's skill with a blade just wasn't on a par with Bigfellow's.
Aslan debated for a moment, and then began to move towards Nesco.
Nesco saw Argo also heading towards the gnoll now.
Her gnoll.
"I've got him- back off!" she screamed at him, causing the big ranger to pull up short. Argo glanced back at the paladin.
"Was it something he said?" the big ranger asked Aslan, jerking his thumb back at the humanoid.
Talass' next hammer strike was not a glancing one. The cleric actually had to put her foot down on the dead gnoll's head and yank the head of her weapon out of the creature's caved-in skull. She then also began to head towards Nesco.
Cygnus wanted no part of this. He headed to join up with Zantac. The Aardian wizard arrived just as Zantac knelt down over their fallen adversary. Cygnus watched in amazement as his fellow mage poured out the contents of his waterskin over the humanoid's burns, and then took a thin strip of cloth from his spell component pouch and began to bandage up one of its wounds.
"Get Talass over here. I don't think I can save him by myself." Zantac spoke without looking up.
Cygnus didn't even try to hide his puzzlement. "And why exactly do we want to do that?"
"Because the illusions aren't over yet."
With a scream of rage, Nesco tore into her gnoll. Sundancer cut a gash across the creature's tunic. The humanoid responded by dropping its crossbow, pulling its club out from its belt and grabbing its shield, but by then Nesco had stabbed the gnoll again, this time deep in its left shoulder. The creature dropped its shield in agony, but the club still came around. Nesco caught the blow on her shield just in time. Her anger erased the fatigue from the ranger's mind as she pierced the gnoll's defenses again and again.
Nesco Cynewine, once again conscious of her heavy breathing, looked up from the dead body at her feet.
Argo, Aslan, Talass, Elrohir and Tojo were all standing nearby, looking at her questioningly.
She flushed red, her recent utterances coming back to mind. "Let's see what's going on," was all she could come up as she began to walk briskly towards the two wizards.
The others followed.
After Aslan had stabilized the gnoll, everyone stood around waiting, as per Cygnus' instructions, though not without some impatience.
"Why are we waiting? Can't you just remove whatever spells he's cast?" asked Nesco.
"He's got so many active spells on him, Nesco; he's wrapped up like an onion," replied Cygnus. "Odds are, it'd take more dispels than I've got to get rid of them all. Besides, I'm saving it for one particular spell."
Nesco nodded in glum acquiescenceand then whirled around in surprise.
Aslan, holding onto the ranger's arm, had just healed her. The paladin's light blue eyes bore into her own.
It was what Nesco had always wanted, but not with that expression.
"What I said to Argo before this fight started was meant for everyone, Nesco," the paladin rumbled. "We're all warriors. I expect us to act as such. Not as a mindless horde and not as if we were engaged in some kind of childish killing contest."
Nesco's heart caught in her throat. She knew Aslan was right, but she just couldn't bear to hear that tone of voice from him, coming at her.
"There's no point in having me along if I can't do my fair share."
"We've discussed this before, Nesco. You are an equal member of this team; no more or no less than anyone else. We wouldn't have you along otherwise."
Nesco dropped her gaze, unsure of what to say or what she was feeling.
By the time she looked up again, Aslan was healing up Tojo and Talass. She saw the paladin glance back at her for a moment with a curt smile, and then return his attention to the figure lying on the floor. She slowly rejoined the group, staying to the rear.
Minute after minute rolled by. Aslan saw Zantac and Cygnus look at each other and then nod. The latter cast, and suddenly the gnoll became an image, peeling up and away before breaking into fragments and disappearing…
Leaving a man.
He was elderly; perhaps in his seventies, with wizened features. He couldn't have been more than four inches over five feet tall, if his rounded back were to be straightened up. Burns now covered most of his body. He was garbed only in a loincloth and the scorched and tattered remnants of an old robe.
Cygnus caught his breath. The old man's hair and eyebrows had been completely burned away, leaving hideous scars. The memory of it brought phantom pain to Cygnus' own face and head, and the wizard had to close his eyes and concentrate on his breathing in order to will the sensation to go away.
"Someone bind his hands," Zantac said softly. Tojo pulled a length of hemp rope from his backpack and silently complied.
As he was doing this, the old man opened his eyes.
Groans of pain were all that came from his mouth. Seeing his enemies all around him, he apparently made a feeble effort to struggle, but even that was enough to cause the searing heat from his injuries to flare up again. He moaned louder and made no more resistance. Aslan gave him a tiny fraction of additional healing, and soon had him sitting upright; his hands now bound and in his lap.
Everyone looked at each other, and then at Elrohir. Their team leader sighed and then walked up to their prisoner. He considered kneeling down, but he wanted to maintain his position of superiority, so he didn't. "Who are you?" he asked.
The captive eyed him back but didn't answer.
Elrohir narrowed his eyes. "Silence is a poor way to repay the gift of having your life spared. We want information, but we have no intention of slaying you after we receive it. We are men and women of morals, even if you are not."
Still, the old man said nothing.
An idea suddenly dawned upon Argo. "Did those gnolls even know you were a man?" the ranger asked disbelievingly while indicated the back of the chamber with a nod of his head.
A bitter smile crossed the man's lips. "I'm very good at what I do," he replied, his voice sore and cracked from a burnt throat.
"And what is it you do?" asked Elrohir.
The prisoner hesitated. Talass took a step forward. "You don't have to worry- you have nothing to fear from us," she said calmly. "Let's start at the beginning. What is your name?"
The haughtiness returned to the old man's bearing. "Frump. Wimpell Frump."
There was a short pause.
"You can start worrying again," quipped Argo, shaking his head in pity.
The man's eyes blazed. "The Frump name is one of the most distinguished in all Suderham! You have no-"
"Suderham?"
Nesco suddenly pushed to the front, her other concerns forgotten. "Did you say you're from Suderham? Did they rebuild the entire city?"
Frump seemed to size up the ranger, or more accurately, her questions. He eventually answered with one of his own. "If you are so ignorant, why are you here?"
"We'll ask the questions," Elrohir snarled. He did kneel down now, but it was only to clamp his gauntleted hand down on Frump's shoulder. The pain this caused him was more than enough to get the ranger's point across.
"Your life is secure only with your cooperation, and my patience grows short. What was your purpose here?"
Some of Wimpell's arrogance faded. "I secured the cooperation of the gnoll tribe by pretending to be an emissary from Yeenoghu, their demon lord. Anyone other than slavers who used this route into Suderham was slain by them."
"You were set up here by the Slave Lords, then?"
Frump hesitated again but seemed to determine this was a point best conceded. He nodded.
"How far are we from the city?" Elrohir pressed.
"About half a league."
Elrohir was surprised. "Still that far?"
"I think he's telling the truth, Elrohir."
The party leader looked up. Argo and Tojo were standing about twenty feet back now, the big ranger looking at something on the ceiling that Tojo had apparently pointed out to him. All Elrohir could see from his position were a few dark spots.
"What are they, Argo?"
"Ventilation holes; only a few inches across, that lead to the surface. I can feel the breeze. It's probably the main fresh air source for this complex."
"That suggests a sealed door leading out of here, if the passage continues," Cygnus mused.
"It does indeed, "Aslan agreed.
All eyes returned to Frump, who seemed to consider.
"If I show you the way to the city, my life will be spared?"
"First things first. Show us the door," Elrohir replied tersely.
"There is a wooden panel in the back of the throne, painted to look like stone. Slide it back."
"No need," Zantac reported from the stone chair. The fireball blew it away." The mage was blowing on a slightly charred book. "Always keen to learn some new spells," he smiled and then looked back at the others. "It's just a compartment inside- not a passage."
Wimpell sighed in exasperation. "Open the front cover."
Zantac stared at him for a moment, frowned, and then cast a spell and stared at the book in his hands for several seconds before complying. He reached inside and pulled out a key.
Frump indicated the far northeastern corner of the room with a glance. The secret passage is there- but you won't get far without me. The way is riddled with magical traps that even your mages won't be able to detect. I can disarm them. I will escort you though to the end safely, but only in your sworn word that you will release me then. A bargain any moral man would agree to." He finished with another haughty look at Elrohir.
Elrohir hesitated a moment, and the rose to his feet, taking the key that Zantac offered him. "Opinions, people?"
Argo shrugged. "He's probably a lying scumbag, but since when has that ever stopped us? Into the dragon's maw, I say!"
"I suggest we go over this room ourselves, first," Aslan put in.
"Do so if you wish," Wimpell called out, but do not touch the secret door unless it's with the key. A magical lightning trap will slay you otherwise."
Aslan frowned, and then glanced over at their magical contingent. "Can you confirm that?"
Cygnus and Zantac both shook their heads. "We're out of detects," Zantac confessed.
"I've got one," Talass offered. The priestess walked over to the indicated spot and cast. After a short time, she returned to the others. "There is a strong aura of evocation. I can't be certain, but it does match up with what he said."
"He seems helpful enough, Elrohir," Aslan decided. "And with his hands bound, he's no longer a threat. I say we accept."
I'm curious to find out what exactly is going on in Suderham." Nesco spoke only when Elrohir asked her. ""Let's search this room first as Aslan suggested, but if we don't find anything, let's do it."
The group leader asked the mages next. "What do you two think?"
Cygnus seemed the more skeptical of the two. "We'll probably have to unbind his hands for him to disarm those traps."
Frump apparently had hearing on a par with Tojo's for he called out. "No. I can disarm them with but a word."
"That makes it work for me," was Zantac's opinion. Cygnus still looked cynical, but said nothing as Elrohir moved on to the samurai.
"You not want my opinion, Errohir-san," Tojo spoke up even before Elrohir could open his mouth.
The ranger looked at his friend, surprised. "Why would you say that, Tojo? I don't care if you dissent, but it would not be proper to exclude you from this. You know how we work."
Tojo's violet eyes danced around in discomfort before settling on their prisoner.
"To be captured is disonoraber, Errohir-san. To bargain for one's rife is more dishonoraber stirr."
His eyes flashed back to Elrohir.
"Cannot trust such a man."
Elrohir considered. "Thank you, Tojo-sama," he said softly, while giving a small bow.
Like Tojo, Talass spoke up first.
"We do it."
Elrohir was even more surprised. His wife stood in her confrontational stance; arms folded across her chest, and her light blue eyes radiating a cold disdain. Questions were not to be welcomed, and her husband couldn't even figure out why.
The others, including Wimpell, watched the ranger in silence as he stared at the flames dancing along the pillars. Eventually, he turned back to his friends.
"Get him up. We're not going to spend any more time here than we need to, either. We leave now."