As Rina drove the wagon towards Ramsford, Jimmy stared once more at the large slowly swaying legs jutting out of the ground.
What could have done this without the aid of magic?
The Vinraji were out of the question. While their shaitains and mystics were noted for their battle magic, their interference could be ruled out due to the anti magical nature of the golem. Besides, from his brief experience with them in Vinraj, Jimmy knew that surprise attacks were not a part of their culture, everything they did there were rules too, if they wanted to attack Grom they would have declared it first.
He could definitively rule out lower planar interference. Demons were strong but most lacked the raw muscle power to slam an iron golem head first into the ground. While Balors, Pitfiends, Nycadaemons, Goristos and most Demon Princes could easily accomplish this feat of strength, Jimmy highly doubt they were responsible. Given his knack for literally sniffing out demons, the lack of a strong odor from such creatures was absent. Only the faint shadow demon smell emanating from his drunken master Martinez was detectable, and he highly doubt those wispy creatures could do such a thing.
Perhaps a dragon? Maybe but unlikely. Though the great scaled beasts were sufficiently powerful, they mostly kept to themselves in the Wyrmsteeth range, or further north in the Polar Wastelands. Also, while smaller dragons could be coerced or even paid to work for humanoids, an ancient specimen like the one that would be required to flip an iron golem, would never willing work for anyone but themselves. He heard that his good friend Keeta had took a few dragon whelps, or most likely pseudo dragons or mountain drakes, under her wing, but he doubt anyone could have something like an ancient dragon under their sway.
A giant? Possibly, but it was definitely wasn't one of the 'smaller' ones like an ogre, verbeeg, or even a hill giant. Fire or frost giants did not have the physical strength to scoop up a golem and slam it head first into the bedrock but a tribe of them might be able to, but even then how did such a mob run away so fast? Jimmy had little experience with stone giants, but heard they were very strong for their size. Maybe one dug a bit pit and and the golem flipped over into it before the giant buried him. Thad made sense, but didn't explain the great shadow that Lieutenant Hartley saw. Cloud or storm giants definitely have the strength and they might have ascended to the skies after the deed with their magic. While a golem was immune to most magic, that didn't mean it could stop others from using it.
Maybe it was something more exotic like a demigod. A titan in human form. One of those legendary heroes that walked the earth amongst mortals. The Mighty Zug, Sampson, Kirk McDunn, the Dancer of the Dragon Flames, and even old King Alphonso were said to be demigods. A being that transcended being a normal hero, though in the case of King Alphonso most considered him closer to a villain than a hero. Jimmy didn't know any personally but he was told tales of them by the Baroness. While their powers were extensive, iron-golem-lifting-strength was definitely one of them. He also heard that most of them were given the powers by a deity of some sort, or in some cases were tied to the mortal realms by an artifact. The Dancer's powers were said to be tied to her always hungry blade, while Sampson's was said to have his tied to the mystic Bright Mace. They were more the artifact's slaves than their owners, but Jimmy wasn't about to say that to one of their faces if he the pleasure of meeting one of them.
No, the demigod idea was interesting, but Jimmy thought the giant hypothesis was better. Given the mountains along the coast, a big ole cloud giant could easily descend from the sky, body slam the golem before retreating back into them. Yes, that must be it. The Vinraj ships that arrived at Ramsford in large numbers, attracted the attention of the giants. When the saw the golems, they decided to drive them into the stone to prove a point. And while Cloud Giants weren't known for the benevolent natures, they weren't overly aggressive like other giants, so when they saw nothing important was going on they must have retreated to their mountain hideaways.
"What are you thinking?" asked Rina, interrupting Jimmy's long and bizarre thought process.
"Oh nothing important, just guessing what could have done that to the golem."
"It was probably a dragon. One of the more powerful varieties, like a red or gold," said Rina after a brief pause.
Jimmy chuckled. It was adorable how this mine guard that had fallen for his old drunken master thought it was a dragon. He simply nodded and pointed to the town. "We're going to town to look for Chloe. We'll be posing as merchants, possibly as husband and wife since even the guards seem to think that." With that he shuffled closer to Rina, and gave her a mock hug.
"Oh," frowned Rina as she cringed at his embrace. She then glanced at the back of the wagon."And what are we supposed to be selling? Empty bottles, dirty blankets?"
Jimmy shook his head. While all the elaborate scams were more Chloe's thing, he did learn a thing or two from his time with the Dwarven Teamsters. "No, we're here to pick up goods from a …errmm…Master Under…err…coast. Master Undercoast. If someone asks about him, say you don't know where he is but he should be arriving soon."
Rina suppressed a laugh."Undercoast? Okay, whatever. You're in charge."
Jimmy ignored her as she steered the wagon down the mountain trail. He expected the place to be crowded full of merchants when they arrived, but they were spaced quite sparsely around the town's surrounding fields and beaches.
"I need you to act busy, do some cleaning or something, while I scout out the town."
"Umm, who should I say I am if anyone asks?"
Jimmy shrugged. He took one last look at the unconscious form of Martinez, before hopping off the cart. "It doesn't matter, make up a name, but be sure its common enough to not raise their suspicions."
"Aren't they foreigners? How would they know what's common or not?"
Jimmy scratched his head.
Rina didn't seem to please with his response, but Jimmy ignored her as he made his way into town. His goal was to find Chloe, and if he had a chance, do some scouting for Hartley, before packing up and finally heading to Grom City. Given his ability to hide in shadows, and even hide in plain sight if he wanted to, it shouldn't be a problem, but there was no telling what sort of trouble his partner had gotten herself into.
As Jimmy entered the town, he noticed several merchants had set up stalls and were hawking their goods. Everything from pottery, jewelry, and even local crafts were being sold to the foreigners. What was surprising were that these 'invaders' were not the standard Vinraji one expected to encounter. They weren't Nashputtians, Ghatians, or even Emeriates from one of the Sultanates. They were Khanians. Savages, akin to the Orcs in Grom. During his brief stay in Vinraj he heard of how these horse warriors had devastated the east and were barely stopped by a coalition of several nations. What were they doing on boats so far west?
The Khanians were attired in their lammelar armor, typically adorned with plumes of hair off horses or more exotic beasts. They were a short, swarthy people, often walking bow legged. Each was attired with one of their infamous great bows and either a saber or a riding spear. To the Khanian's credit, Jimmy expected them to literally bully and grab what they wanted, but the Horselords seem to que up in an orderly fashion to buy their wares. Jimmy noted that they didn't seem impressed with the jewelry and other high end goods, and went for the novelty items and locally crafted wares. And of course the ales, and wines. Jimmy saw there was a large line up of them near one of the wine merchants, and his business seemed nonstop.
Jimmy also noted that almost none of the Khanians spoke the Common tongue of the west, but they seem adept at haggling through finger pointing though most carried a small abacus to perform their transactions. Most likely a skill learned from all the foreign lands they had conquered.
The Khanians were not the savages that he expected, but that still didn't explain their presence here. Were they mercenaries? Did someone else procure this small army? Though they seemed more suited to an open plains battle than one at sea. The last he heard, they had made peace with the rest of Vinraj after a single loss. He wasn't sure about the politics of the situation but he guessed they might have bought these warships from their new allies, with all their plunder.
Though Jimmy's comprehension of the Vedic tongue was passable at best, he listened in to the Khanians to try to make sense of the situation.
"This wine is not bad Khatuk."
"The women here are ugly and fat. I'm missing those painted whores back in Rokogan."
"It's good to stretch my legs."
"Where's Prince Vleda?"
Jimmy tried to act casually as he wandered the market filtering through the conversations. Prince Vleda? He never heard of him, but assumed that he was important. He scanned around the make shift common square for another ten minutes, and saw no sign of anyone that looked like said Prince. While some of the Khanians looked more impressive and battle hardened than others, few exhibited any properties that would designate them as a prince.
When he was certain that this Prince or Chloe wasn't anywhere near the market stalls, Jimmy decided to head for the harbor. Before he got there, he was distracted by several horses, local nags and draft horses actually, that were being raced through the streets, much to the cheers and hollers of the Khanians watching. Though these animals were ill suited to race, their Horselord riders drove and whipped them relentlessly to provide a competitive although silly race. Beyond that, there seemed to be another crowd, shooting arrows at a piece of hide stuck on a pole.
While the crossbow was his forte, Jimmy was impressed at the range and accuracy of the great recurve bows that the nomads used. They easily hit the target squarely from two hundred yards, and were now backing up another fifty. One group began marching towards the new point, but another group seemed to linger at the first shooting spot.
Jimmy was about to dismiss them, when he noticed a young man in silver lammelar armor, arguing with an old wizard looking fellow in golden robes amongst the second group. While his hearing was superb, he wasn't sure what they were saying over the crowd of Khanians gathered around him. Jimmy easily slipped past the crowd and placed himself near the pair.
"Leave me to my contests," said the younger man. "I need a break from chasing that Ghatian dog. I care not for your fanciful tales of titans stalking the earth."
"But Prince Vleda," protested the older man in a Khitian accent. "It has been centuries since I last encountered one, but I sense one now. An immortal is nearby, and it might bear us ill will."
Centuries? Immortal? Was this old man an elf of some sort? But more importantly, was there an actual demigod stalking this town? Could this being be the one that flipped the golem?
"If there is an immortal, deal with him," commanded Prince Vleda as he tested his bow while marching towards the new shooting point. "I trust your magic Aurumgar."
"I sense his presence, but I cannot pinpoint his exact location," said Aurumgar as he shook his head. When the Prince waved his hand at him dismissively the old man lowered his shoulders and sighed. "Very well, I'll take a troop of men and patrol this town while you…entertain yourself."
"Hey you girls gonna take all day or are we gonna shoot," shouted a high feminine voice in the western common tongue from the first crowd. "My boy Martinez is ready to take your gold."
Chloe? Martinez? Jimmy blinked and scanned the other crowd, and sure enough, hidden behind a crowd of cheering Khanians, were his missing partner, his drunken master, and a very worried and annoyed looking Rina.
"What the hell Chloe?" shouted Jimmy as he marched towards her. "We have to get to Grom City, and I find you ….errr what in Nonak are you doing?"
The young girl grinned ear to ear, and responded with a large jingling bag. Then she pointed at the staggering form of Martinez who swayed back and forth while barely holding on to his crossbow. A Khanian tossed him a cheap bottle of wine, which Martinez quickly snatched out of the air and began to chug, much to the cheers of the surrounding Khanians.
"I've heard of Drunken Boxing, but not Drunken Archery!" laughed the wine tossing Horselord.
"I tried to stop her, but she was really insistent," protested a very distressed looking Rina.
"Oh hey Juimmmmy, hic, I haven't seen you in a while," said Martinez as he staggered in a circle before snapping his crossbow up and shooting. The bolt wizzed straight through the second group, narrowly missing the Prince before striking the hide staked to the pole roughly two hundred and fifty yards away.
The Khanians from both groups cheered. Jimmy expected the Prince to be furious at the near miss, but the young man took it in good humor and tapped his head with two of his fingers before twisting around in lightning speed and shooting his own arrow in a thunderous shot, piercing Martinez's bolt in the process.
"Wow, you're good, hic. I bet yerr as good as my boy Jimmmiuz here," said Martinez as he patted Jimmy's back."He's good with the Xbow, prolly ..hic…better than me." The old man then swayed a little too much to the side and toppled over like a dead fish. Rina attempted to grab him, but he was too far away. Jimmy's old master landed unceremoniously on the street to the cheers of the Khanians.
"Looks, like Prince Vleda wins due to forfeit," sighed Chloe as she began exchanging coins from the crowd for what seemed like tokens of some sort, while Rina fretted over Martinez in the background.
"No," said the Prince as he pointed at Jimmy. "The Drunkard said this man is his son and is a worthy challenge. We shall continue this contest at fifty more paces."
"Err wait," protested Jimmy. "I'm just a simple merchant, Mister…err….Undercoast, my wife here will confirm this." He said while hugging Rina.
"Master Undercoast is supposed to be our boss," whispered Rina. "You're mister Beercoast."
"Beercoast?"
"You said I could pick our name."
"Errr…I mean, Mister Beercoast. I couldn't possibly challenge you," said Jimmy as his eyes darted around for an escape.
The Prince sighed with a disappointed look on his face. "I suppose you are right. No one in this barbaric land could challenge I, Prince Vleda of the Iron Horde. Even in my homeland, only that idiot Bey from Ghata could be said to my equal."
Jimmy paused his ears burned. "Prince Javindar? That fool?"
Vleda laughed. "Oh a traveler I see? I see that you've heard of him."
Jimmy should have walked away at this point, but it was too much. To be compared with that bastard who stole Sammy from him, turn her against him, he couldn't take it. Subterfuge be damned, he flicked his wrist and a crossbow leaped to his hands. He snapped a shot, and nailed the post. Though his bolt didn't split Vleda's arrow, it was almost parallel with his. "Let's make it a hundred more paces," he said to the cheering crowd.
The contest did not go as long as Jimmy anticipated. Vleda missed one of his shots at three hundred and fifty yards, and it was called at that. Jimmy expected the man to rant or rave, or complain about the sudden change in the wind, but the Prince was unexpectedly good nature about it, and even invited their group to the local inn to dine with him.
Knowing that one doesn't simply refuse a Prince's dinner invitation, even a foreign one, Jimmy agreed. Much to the prodding and then delight of Chloe.
"Ooohh…I've never dined with a head of state before," beamed his very happy and now very rich partner as she rudely counted her coins at the table.
"I see you bet on me," noted Jimmy. "Shouldn't I get a split of the coin?"
"Bet on you? Pfffttt…as if. I made a side bet on Prince Vleda. I watched him earlier, and I'm sure he would have you beat. If anything, you owe me for that lost bet," sniffed Chloe.
Jimmy was puzzled. "If you bet on him, then what's with the bag of coin?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Like five years with the Teamsters and you still don't know what a Grom book is? That's when the odds maker, me, manipulates the payouts to the bets so that it doesn't matter who wins, I still make money. It's not easy, and the margins are small, but it's a volume game. The more money is put down, the more I make. It's practically like banking."
Jimmy shrugged, and turned his attention to Martinez and Rina. The young guard girl was doting on his old master, carefully keeping him in a lightly inebriated state, but not so much he would fall unconscious. Jimmy thought she took the news about the shadow demons, and his master's unique method of handling them well.
"That's quite the interesting group you have there, Mister Beercoast. I didn't think polygamy was allowed in your barbaric nation," commented Vleda as he took a big bite out of what appeared to be a lamb haunch.
"Mister Beercoast? Oh..you mean me. Err yeah…what? Polygamy?" Jimmy turned and saw Chloe bat her eyelashes at him, before returning back to her coins. He then looked at Rina, who sheepishly shrugged before returning back to Martinez.
"It must be hard to keep two young wives fed. Especially as a merchant with no wares," said the Prince. Jimmy noted Vleda understood common quite well, probably better than he did Vedic.
"Err, I'm not sure what you're getting at," said Jimmy. His hands were on the table, but he could easily reach his blades if things turned south. There were a dozen Khanians in the room, but he guessed between the four of them they could easily break out if pressed.
"Let me get to the point," said the Prince. "I'm in a foreign land, carefully watched by the Grommish fleet. I'm not blind, I see their boats beyond the harbor, and I know there's a detachment of them in the mountains nearby. They won't let me, fulfill my duty."
"Which is?" asked Jimmy, his interest piqued.
"It is a matter of honor. My father's honor was trampled on during the last Rahu's day."
"Rahu day?" asked Chloe, chiming in.
"Yes…you call it..an eclipse. Yes that's it. During the last Rahu day, a great horde of Asuras, or demons in your tongue, invaded the mortal realms, and the combined forces of Vinraj did battle with them. My father, Vaidya Khan faced the bulk of the enemy on the flank, but somehow that walking worm Bey Javindar took credit for the victory," said Prince Vleda, spitting out the Ghatian name. "I was incensed at this outrage when I found out a few days later, and I…"
"wait…where were you during the battle if you found out a few days later?" interrupted Jimmy.
Vleda scowled as Jimmy inched his hands closer to his side, but the Prince relented and sighed. "I was on a deep scouting mission with my elite guard. To make sure the Asuras were not up to any tricks, but it seems that the magical wards weaved by Holy Sampada held, except at the entry point to Abaddon, the Asura's realm. "
Jimmy's heart skipped at the mention of Sammy. He wanted to ask how she was doing, but remained silent.
"Hey, is that Sampada person the same as your Princess Sammy? "asked Chloe. "The Banana grove gal?"
Jimmy grew red but did not answer, he didn't even correct her to about it being a mango grove. He saw Prince Vleda and Rina both give him a curious stare.
"Same one. Tall gal, good heart, pretty decent with the spear," said Martinez in his one lucid moment before falling back to his drink.
"Err…don't listen to him," laughed Jimmy uneasily. "He's obviously drunk."
Vleda nodded and continued. "As I was saying, I was furious when I found out about Javindar's act, and I sent a challenge to him. A duel. The little desert snake ignored my summons, and decided to flee the country, taking his fastest warship with him. All on the pretex of some grand quest. Could you imagine? Unfortunately for him, my people had been purchasing their old…what's the term…moth balled ships, and I set out to corner my prey and force him to battle me. "
Jimmy wasn't surprised at the Prince's narrative. He had heard the Steppe people were very big on honor. Well, they were big on honor now. They were sort of a chameleon race with little culture of their own outside their warrior traditions. They did have a knack of absorbing traditions and ideas from their conquered peoples, which made integration much smoother. He guessed that some of the ultra-honorable traditions of the Warlords of Wa must have rubbed off on him.
"It was not an easy journey to get here. My people are not a sea faring race, and we ran out of supplies and rowers a few times. Fortunately, we were able to resupply on some of the islands along the way, but even then we were beset by armies of island savages and frog men. We cornered the Prince once, during our chase, but he gave us the slip, though not before we found out that he employed demons amongst his ranks."
"Prince Javindar uses demons? " asked Jimmy in shock. While he did not like the man, he found it hard to believe that the pride of Vedic nobility would stoop to employing demons.
Vleda nodded. "Aye, shape changed ones that took the shape of his crew members. We captured one when we clashed with his ship the Golden Eagle and my man Aurumgar shackled her to contain her power as we interrogated her. She escaped during a frogman raid but we were able to retain some of her effects."
Jimmy was curious about the validity of the Prince's statement. He was still unsure if Bey Javindar would consort with demons willingly. Given his profession, he knew that there were many creatures that looked like demons, and because of the Prince's description of shapechangers, it might have simply be a doppelganger or some polymorphing fey spirit similar to Chloe. "Demons are a bit of my specialty, may I examine some of the demon's items if you still have them? Or even anything it touched. It's bed sheets, utensils it used, anything it made contact with."
Vleda raised an eyebrow, before summoning one his guards to retrieve said items. "You have many skills for a merchant Mister Beercoast."
"Well, we are in the lands of the Demon King. It's best to be prepared."
"While my guard returns, let me continue with my offer. I'm not entirely certain of your profession, but I'm a stranger in a very strange land. I do not sense hostility in you. Instead, I sense a sort of kinship. My people place a very high honor on skilled archers and given your skill you seem like one that can be depended on, a person of quality, and our mutual hatred for Bey Javindar means that I can trust you. I am not sure of how he wronged you, but I will give you a chance to make amends for it."
"You think this guy is in Grom, and since your movements are restricted here and you have no idea where to look, you want us to find him and whack him?" asked Chloe, almost jumping out of her seat. "That's our specialty."
"Your first wife seems very enthusiastic," smiled Vleda.
"Let me discuss this with my …err wife first," said Jimmy as he waved Chloe down.
As the two retreated to a different table, Chloe grabbed Jimmy and dragged him down to her level with a strength that surprised him. "What's your problem. This guy is a Prince, and he's loaded. Just look at the coin his troops are throwing around. Also, Hoaglie has always wanted to get a foot into Vedic, and what better opportunity than doing a favor for a Prince. That's win win right there."
Jimmy brushed her hand aside with an unexpectedly strong twist of his own at her wrists.
"Oww"
"Butting into foreign affairs is always risky business. I don't like this Javindar guy, but that's no reason to ….whack …him. That's something more the Black Hand or the White Lotus' alley, not the Dwarven Teamsters."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "If there's coin invovled the Teamsters are involved. Also, when did you start getting morals. We're Dwarven Teamsters, the most feared mob in Grom. We don't need outside contractors to do this. I don't know where this Bay asshole is, but when we get to Grom City, I'll spread the word to our little network, and we'll bag him in no time. Besides, you heard the man, he's consorting with demons. He probably has your woman under some sort of demon magic. What better reason to take him out?"
Jimmy pondered this. Shaking down guys behind on their gambling debts, or running out some rival gang members from town was one thing, but he's never done full on assassination before. He knew the Dwarven Teamsters were certainly capable of such a thing, but he wondered if he was up to the task. Also, he was not fully convinced that Javindar was employing demons. His doppelganger theory still held, and if the Prince still have some of the creature's items, then he could narrow the species down. His nose was that good. For all he knew, it might have been simply a tiefling that tried to hide his heritage. The creature unfortunately got captured, and the word demon was tossed around.
"Ahh, my servant arrives," said Prince Vleda as one of his soldiers returned with a crude sack.
Both Jimmy recoiled from the stench as the bag was opened and several items were poured onto the table. A pin, a small glass bottle, and some scraps of clothing that looked Ghatian in design.
Both Jimmy and Martinez, now surprisingly lucid once again, examined the items carefully.
"The scent is recent and stong, a couple weeks most likely," said Martinez.
"I smell Succubus on the pin, Marilith on the rags, and…and Rakshasa on the bottle...as well as some Vedic perfumes though I'm not sure. "spat Jimmy. While he could identify demons easily, other creatures and scents he could detect but he had trouble with identifying. He had fought several Succubus and at least two Mariliths in the past, but had only encountered a Rakshasa once. Still, even that lone encounter, seared the scent of those vile shapeshifting creatures into his memory forever.
"The Succubus smell is very raw and strong, and the Marilith's is overpowering, perhaps an augmented one, or even a general or a greater specimen," noted Martinez. While his master's nose for demons was quite acute, it wasn't as strong as Jimmy's. Jimmy took the time to examine them again and nodded in agreement with his old master.
As Jimmy examined the items, it dawned on him that Chloe might be right. Was Bey Javindar actually working with demons? It seemed unlikely, but he detected no deception from Vleda. In fact, if this was a ploy to trick him, it was a very elaborate and impromptu trick. They would have no way of knowing his ability to smell demons. Would they? Also, while the Prince seemed like a man that could mask a lie, he doubt his men had the same ability. If he questioned them, he was sure he could find the truth, but given how they've agreed with the Prince's statements he found that hardly necessary. Also, the thought that Sammy might have left him through no fault of his own seemed to make more and more sense. His ability to detect demons wasn't as refined back then as it was now, could it be he missed the smell of enchantment on her. Did he fail her? Would he fail her again?
"So, can I count on you to bring Javindar to justice?" asked Vleda.
"If we see him, we'll send you his demon worshipping head," said Jimmy grimly. Chloe seemed shocked at his answer but slapped his back in approval.
"As you can imagine, I need a degree of discretion on your part. Would you mind if I summon Aurumgar from his immortal hunting to place a …what do you call it…a geas spell on you?" asked the Prince.
Martinez let out a loud burp and then shrugged. "You can if you want, but it won't work on me and the boy," he then eyed Rina who cringed at the mention of the Prince's servant and his spells, and chuckled. "I'm not even sure if it'll work on Rina, but you can try. That leaves the wood girl, but that's a waste of a spell. She's prolly the most discrete amongst us."
"Excellent, I'll make arrangements with your first wife on terms of payment," smiled Vleda. "You can keep the Asura's items to better track her, and do with them as you wish afterwards. My reward to you for besting me at archery. Until then, good hunting to you."
Jimmy nodded. He wasn't sure if he was to shake his hand but that didn't matter. Finally there was something to get him excited about.