Disclaimer: See first chapter.
AN:
This is the first of five chapters that all take place during the same time frame. Locations, some characters, and some situations in this chapter are drawn from the Everquest II game. The dialog is not from the game, however. If anyone feels the rating should be bumped up, please let me know.
Beta:
Me, Myself, and I still. There are bound to be mistakes, especially dropped final letters and suffixes. If you spot plot holes or other mistakes, feel free to let me know.
[New Halas Docks, Erollis Isle]
The group spent one last night in New Halas discussing what their approach should be. It was decided to break the group into five two person teams. Four of the teams would consist of a mage and either a fighter or a scout. The last team would be Kasumi and Luna. That team would head to Qeynos to set up a base of operations for the group. The rest of the teams would each take one of Swornlove's problem areas. Harry and Ranma would investigate the undead in the south part of the the Thundering Steppes while Hermione and Shampoo would look into what the Gnolls were up to in that area. Winky and Ukyo would check out the Nektulos Forest. Finally, Daphne and Nabiki would look for problems in the Butcherblock Mountains.
"Well, this seems simple enough.", Harry stated. "Just touch the world bell and you get a map showing the available destinations. Touch the destination you want, confirm and away you go."
"Why don't I travel to Butcherblock to confirm how it works.", Ranma suggested. "Since it is the furthest destination, that way I can make sure we can mind talk over that distance and I'll slide back if I can. Otherwise, I'll return using the bell."
"Sounds like a plan.", Harry agreed. With that, Ranma activated the bell, selected the Butcherblock Mountains, and disappeared.
"Girls, can you hear me?", Ranma asked.
"Yes we can, Ranma.", Kasumi replied. "Did you make it there alright?"
"Just fine! Now I'm going to see if I can slide back!", Ranma informed her.
"I heard Ranma as if he were standing here!", Kasumi said aloud for the benefit of Harry and his girls. "He is attempting to slide back now!" A second later, Ranma appeared next to Kasumi.
"It seems it have worked so off we go!", Harry exclaimed. "Everyone be careful and keep everybody posted. Daphne, you and Nabiki lead off."
Each of the teams selected their destinations and vanished from the New Halas docks.
[The Butcherblock Mountains]
Daphne and Nabiki arrived at the end of the dock and looked around. What they saw were huge cliffs with a narrow beach at the base surrounding a bay. In the bay were a number of rocky islands with a few small structures on them. The port was at the west end of the beach and seemed to be constructed mostly of stone. They saw a number of beings that their study of the races of Norrath told them were Sarnak as well as dwarves, barbarians, humans, elves, and fey. Dwarves seemed to be the most predominate race present and were different than the coldain dwarves they had met before. One dwarf looked to be an official so the girls walked over to speak with him.
"Hello, good sir!", Nabiki said. "This is Daphne and I am Nabiki. We are looking for some information on the Aviaks in the area. Would you know anyone who could help us?"
"Greetings, ladies! I'm Dockmaster Waulon.", the dwarf replied. "I figure the best person to ask would be Gherrana Cobbleblork up at the Highland Outpost. She has been studying them for a while. She is the gnomish woman near the base of the griffin station."
"How would we get up there?", Nabiki asked.
"Well, you could ride the griffin to the station up there or you could take the path up the side of the cliff. It starts at the top of the those stairs over there.", Dockmaster Waulon told them. "My opinion is that the path is faster 'cause I swear those griffins can't fly in a straight line. Griffin are faster to the other stations, though, 'cause it takes a couple of days to ride there and only an hour or two to fly."(1)
"Thank you for the information!", Nabiki said.
"Say, if you ladies are looking to earn some extra coin, I've got a bunch of jobs I need to hire someone to do!", the Dockmaster said in a pleading tone.
"Maybe later.", Nabiki said with a smile.
Even though Daphne thought it would be easier that riding a broom, the girls decided to take the path up the cliff. The path was a bit steep but not so steep that it gave the horses problems. At the top of the path, they saw two camps, one set up around the base of the griffin station tower and the other off to the north a bit. Heading toward the tower, they eventually spotted a gnomish woman standing next to a table in front of a tent.
"Are you Gherrana Cobbleblork?", Nabiki asked the woman.
"Yes, I am.", the woman replied. "May I ask who you are?"
"This is Daphne Greengrass and I'm Nabiki Tendo.", she was informed. "Dockmaster Waulon said you might be able to answer some questions about the local Aviaks."
"I suppose I do know a bit since my husband and I have been studying them to see how they fly so we can build a flying machine.", Gherrana replied. "What do you want to know?"
"What are they like?", Daphne wanted to know.
"Most of the ones around here are Kragploom Aviaks.", Gherrana informed them. "They look like bald eagles and are hostile to just about everyone and everything. The Kragplooms are the local tribe but they are all hostile. Well, except for the Owl Aviaks which are friendly. There aren't any Owl Aviaks in Butcherblock though."
"Have there been any changes in their attitude lately?", Daphne wanted to know.
"Yes, they have become a lot more agitated lately.", Gherrana said. "It could just be that Torin Hammerborn over in West Fort Irontoe keeps trying to get people to steal their eggs for him to eat, though."
"How do we find them?", Nabiki inquired.
"Just head north along the cliffs past the gorillas and you will come to a ramp that climbs to west.", Gherrana instructed them. "The other ramp there leads to the bugbear camp which you want to avoid if possible. On second thought, let me draw you a map which will help you avoid the gorillas and most of the other nasties. You will need to keep your eye out for Kragploom chicks and Kobolds that wander near here."
"Thank you for your help, Gherrana.", Nabiki said with a smile.
"You are welcome! Oh, by the way, if you should acquire some Kragploom feathers, I'll buy them from you!", Gherrana responded. "Good luck and be safe!"
The girls headed north along the route Gherrana had mapped out for them. About thirty minutes later, they encountered a creature that looked like a feathered man with wings, an eagle head, and claws for feet. The apparently young Aviak saw them and charged! Daphne cast a root spell while Nabiki fired a spread of three arrows into him (or her, they weren't sure). Daphne cast Hemorrhage followed by Brainshock. Meanwhile, Nabiki fired a burning arrow and moved in with her sword. One slash to the neck and the Aviak died.
"They are aggressive, aren't they?!", Daphne commented as she searched the body and gathered the feathers.
"They seem to be that way so I guess we need to be proactive and take them out first, if they come close.", Nabiki agreed.
They resumed their journey, keeping an eye out for and Aviaks that were getting too close. Those that seemed to be headed their way were dispatched quickly. After several hours, they reached a canyon between two mesas which their map indicated was about the halfway point and decided to rest, feed and water the horses, and have some lunch.
"I wonder what the students at Hogwarts would think about the Ice Queen being married to Harry Potter and in a plural marriage.", Daphne mused. "That and wandering around another world trying to save Earth would probably blow their minds."
"You were the Ice Queen of Hogwarts?!", Nabiki exclaimed. I was the Ice Queen of Furinkan High! I wonder if Ranma and Harry knew when they put us together?"
"Well, it didn't come up in our discussion last night so probably not.", Daphne considered. "Harry of course, knew about me but everybody seemed to think we would get along and our skills would complement each other."
"I was called the Ice Queen because I scammed everyone for money and showed no mercy.", Nabiki said. "Since daddy wasn't bringing in any money and Kasumi was having to take care of Akane, daddy, and myself, it fell to me to bring in the money. I blackmailed, schemed, conned, and generally was a lousy person. When Ranma and his father showed up, I saw them as a drain on us and Gemma basically was. However, Ranma helped out where he could and even though I originally pushed him off on Akane, I fell in love with him. And now I'm married to him, at least according to magic."(2)
"I was the Ice Queen to survive in Slytherin, which was the house I was sorted into. A lot of the males in that house would try to take advantage of any female third year of above unless you were careful and fast with a hex.", Daphne informed her. "I fell for Harry because he was nice to me and anybody who at least was not hostile to him."
"Well, we better get a move on. It should be about sundown when we get to a safe campsite.", Daphne commented. "Assuming we don't get into to many battles."
After cleaning up their debris, they mounted the horses and continued on. Hours later, the sun had dropped below the cliffs when they reached the site the map suggested camping. It was some ruins under an overhang that provided some protection from the elements as well as attacks.
"I thought gorillas weren't supposed to be aggressive!", Nabiki said as she helped set up their two person tent.
"Maybe the ones on Earth aren't but these certainly were!", Daphne replied. "I wonder if there is a market for gorilla skins?"
"Probably or we can find a use for them.", Nabiki noted. "Although, if we were to take them back home, we would probably get in trouble with the conservation groups and hunting laws. I wonder what they would make of this tent since it is made of bearskins. Not to mention the sleeping bags!"
"Well, it was something to do with all the bearskins we collected. Harry and Ranma made sure this tent would be comfortable enough but I'm going to miss the tent that Kasumi and Luna took with them. Even more, I'm going to miss sleeping with Harry.", Daphne said.
"I agree, well except I'd rather sleep with Ranma. But there is only the one magic tent and Kasumi and Luna need it to set up a base of operations. If we could slide back here after sliding to the guys, it would be nice but we can't. So here we are.", Nabiki said wistfully.
"So tell me about life in Japan..."
They talked for several hours until time to check in with their bond-mates and go to sleep.
[Second Day in Butcherblock]
Early the next morning after checking in again with their group, Nabiki and Daphne were looking a the path to the Aviaks nesting area. The path seemed to be a naturally sloping ledge with a drop off on one side and a cliff face on the other that curved to the north about three quarters the way up the cliff. Using a telescope Nabiki had acquired in New Halas, they were getting a pretty good view of how the path was patrolled.
"I wonder why they put their homes where their enemies could get to them?", Daphne said, puzzled. "I mean, after all they can fly!"
"Don't know. Maybe they needed to be able to bring things in that are too heavy to fly with?", Nabiki pondered. "Also see how some of the patrols are walking while others fly around?"(3)
"Do you think we can just slip by them under stealth?", Daphne asked.
"Maybe. However, some of them may be able to see through my stealth and if they do, stealth will drop.", Nabiki said considering. "We can give it a shot anyway. It will probably be better if we stay close to the cliff wall."
"Good idea!"
As the girls approached the ramp, Nabiki used her stealth technique to make them almost impossible to see and they started up the path. As they began to climb, Daphne noticed the flying ones seemed to be outlined in red while the walking ones did not.(4) When they were not close to a walking Aviak, she whispered to Nabiki, "I think the flying ones can see us if they get too close."
"I think you are right!", Nabiki whispered back. "They don't seen to come up close to the cliff so let's try to hug it!"
This worked until they had almost reached the curve in the path when one of them kicked a small rock and attracted the attention of one of the fliers. As soon as he got close, he spotted them and dove to attack. Unfortunately, one of the walking Aviaks was nearby and moved to join him.
"Bummer!", Daphne said as she cast the Charm spell on the walker. As soon as it took hold, she directed him to attack his flying buddy. This allowed Nabiki to back off a bit and use her ranged attacks to destroy the original attacker. The fight attracted the attention of another flier who then attacked. Daphne's charmed pet moved to protect her and allowed Nabiki to unleash her arrows on the new target and quickly downed him. The fight had severely damaged Daphne's pet so she had him face her while Nabiki got behind him. Daphne broke the charm and Nabiki drove a sword through his heart.
Since no other Aviaks seemed to notice the fight, Nabiki re-invoked stealth and they continued up the path. After another hour or so, they came to a rock face that looked to have had things dragged up it. Since the path ended at that point, it was either go up the wall or give up.
Nabiki turned to Daphne and asked, "How are you at rock wall climbing?"
"I don't even want to think about it!", Daphne answered. "Besides, I have another idea. Do you have a rope in your pack?"
"That would be no."
"Oh well, I can conjure one that will last long enough." Daphne cast a spell using her wand and handed one end to Nabiki. "I'm going to levitate you to the top and then levitate myself so you can pull me in."
"Why bother with the rope if you can levitate yourself?"
"Because although I can control where you go when I levitate you, when I levitate myself, I just go up."
"Ok, let's do it!"
Dismissing the horses, they proceeded as Daphne outlined and reached the top of the rock wall where they found the Aviak village. Daphne cast a spell Luna had taught her that might detect the dark crystal. The trace seemed to indicate a location to the northeast. Under stealth and moving carefully, they explored the area. Even when they climbed the rickety walkways to the huts they found nothing. They did discover another rock wall that lead to a higher part of the village. Casting Luna's spell indicate a trace to the east, even at the eastern most part of the upper village. but had no luck there either. Finally, they headed back down to where they had camped the night before, arriving as darkness was falling. Quickly setting their camp back up and dismissing the horses, they sat down to relax and think about the situation.
"Nabiki, do you have a copy of those maps that Hermione obtained?"
"They're in my pack. Let me dig them out."
Daphne took the maps and looked at the one for the Butcherblock Mountains. After a few minutes, she motioned Nabiki to look at the map.
"This is about where we were when I cast the locator spell the first time when it pointed basically northeast. Later, in the upper village, I was about here when it pointed east. If you draw lines from those points in the direction indicated, they cross somewhere in the area that Gherrana said the bugbears have a camp which looks to be north northwest of where we are now.", Daphne said and cast the locator spell again. The trace pointed north northwest.
"It's in the bugbear camp!", Nabiki sighed.
[Third Day in Butcherblock]
The next morning, the girls once again used the telescope to check out patrols and guards. The ramp up to the bugbear camp was guarded by what seemed to be scouts and fighters. They had also located another path that appeared to lead to the camp that was patrolled by dogs and their handlers. Occasionally, they would spot bugbears in ceremonial robes that was probably shamans and some that appeared to be officers. Deciding that the ramp had a lower density of patrollers, they proceeded that way under stealth.
They soon discovered that the bugbears they thought were scouts could see through stealth and when attacking would call every bugbear within earshot. After this, Nabiki just picked them off as soon as they got in her range, usually killing them quickly enough that they didn't raise any alarm. However, if they did manage to alert their fellows and mob the girls, Daphne would charm one and do crowd control on the rest using Ego Shock and Mesmerize until Nabiki could deal with them. Having a lot of Kasumi provided healing potions was a good thing.
After an hour or so, they reached the top of the ramp and hid behind a large rock to spy on the camp. It was located on a plateau that was surrounded on all sides by cliff walls except for the southeast corner where the two paths entered the camp. The girls could see a flurry of activity and constant patrols. Nabiki spotted several groups of fighters training and what appeared to be stockpiled supplies.
"Looks like they are planning a way!", she whispered.
"Yes. Do you think we could throw a spanner in the works while we are searching for the dark signal?", Daphne whispered back.
"Might as well, could be fun!", Nabiki grinned.
Reapplying stealth, staying behind rocks, and away from the bugbear troops, they edged along the cliff wall to the west. About half an hour later, they came to a pen with a flock of mountain sheep.
"What do you bet these are to be used for food supplies?", Daphne queried.
"That would be a sucker bet!", Nabiki returned. "They are wild sheep so if we just break down the fence they will scatter. An army can't fight well on an empty stomach."
"Good idea!", Daphne said and banished a section of the fence with her wand.
"What does the dark trace show now?"
"Let me see." Daphne cast the spell. "North and a little west from here."
A few minutes later, they came upon a group of fighters being drilled in combat maneuvers. Since there were more of the soldiers than they felt they could deal with, the girls carefully slipped by, still headed north along the cliff wall which began to curve slightly to the west. Once they were out of sight of the troops, Daphne cast the dark trace spell again.
"Still north but a little more west."
An hour of so later, the trace pointed west into an alcove in the cliff. The girls carefully approached the recess but were not able to see anything that the trace was pointing to. As they neared the back wall, Daphne stubbed her toe on what was apparently thin air.
"I've got something here that is invisible!", she informed Nabiki. "Let me see if I can dispel the magic so we can see it." After several attempts with different spells, she dispersed the invisibility and revealed a familiar dark crystal.
"I don't think the bugbears put it here.", Daphne said. "It may be here to adsorb the aggression of the bugbears while riling them up a bit although I don't think they need much. The Aviaks are right above so it might affect them as well."
"What ever it is doing, let's just destroy it and get out of here!"
With that statement, Nabiki brought the hilt of her sword on the crystal hard and it shattered into powder.
"Harry, we found another crystal and Nabiki just destroyed it!", Daphne thought to Harry.
"That's good to hear. I'll let Ranma know if Nabiki doesn't.", Harry replied. "Take very good care of yourselves! I love and miss you!"
"I love you too and can't wait until we are all back together!", Daphne returned. "Talk to you tonight!"
Nabiki had noticed the slight glazed look of mind speech and waited until Daphne was finished. She then sent her own thoughts to Ranma, promising him to make up for their time apart when they got back together.
As they exited the alcove, they spotted a group of tents some distance in front of them. Nabiki used her telescope to check them out and discovered they were filled with crates and barrels labeled with either 'Property of the Far Seas Trading Company' or 'Property of the Irontoe Brigade'. The tents were guarded by two shamans and what appeared to be two of a higher ranking fighter.
"Since Irontoe is the local dwarven clan and they are constantly fighting with the bugbears, it is not likely that the bugbears came by this stuff honestly.", Nabiki observed. "If we take out the guards, we can load some of it in our packs and take it to the fort we heard about. We need to go there for information, anyway. What we can't carry, we should destroy."
"Sounds like a plan. Concentrate on the shamans first?"
"Yep! Let's go!"
With that, Nabiki began to fire arrows into the guards. Daphne charmed a fighter and had him attack one of the shamans while attempting to hold Mesmerize on the other guards. The shaman Daphne's pet was attacking went down and she switched it to the other shaman. Meanwhile, Nabiki finished off the uncharmed fighter and attacked the shaman as well. Once he was finished, Daphne set her pet up for Nabiki to backstab him and released the charm. He fell from a single blow.
The girls quickly loaded up as much as their packs had room for, concentrating on the ones marked as property of the Irontoe Brigade. When they finished, Daphne vanished the remainder.
"Now let's get out of here!"
It was after dark when the girls got back to the campsite of the night before. After setting camp back up, they checked the map and found that West Fort Irontoe was about a days ride to the west. After checking with their bond-mates, two very tired girls went to bed.
[Fourth Day in Butcherblock]
The next morning, the girls set out for West Fort Irontoe, hoping to reach there by sunset. The ride was mostly uneventful as they were careful to skirt the gorillas and the mountain sheep were not aggressive. They did have a bit of a run-in with some creatures that looked like a cross between a giant mosquito and a humming bird with the mosquito part being dominate. Having managed to get rid of the few that they encountered, they rode into the fort about an hour before sunset. They asked the guard at the gate to see an officer and he pointed them toward Jonedom Kilnkor. They approached the indicated dwarf man.
"Jonedom Kilnkor?", Nabiki inquired.
"That 'd be me.", Jonedom replied. "What can I do for ye?"
"We spent yesterday sneaking around the bugbear camp where we saw what looked like preparations for war.", Nabiki informed him. "We also 'liberated' a few supplies that were marked as your property. We couldn't carry them all so we destroyed the rest."
"Preparations for war, ye say?", Jonedom said with a frown. "That 'd not be good news but it's best to know these things. You say you recovered some of our supplies? What 'd ye be wanting for them?"
"Just some information if you have it and we can fill you in on what we saw in the camp.", Nabiki told him.
"That 'd be right nice of ye!", Jonedom exclaimed. "Just put the stuff down by the tent and 'll have Verung come fetch it in a bit."
After unloading the reclaimed supplies, the girls filled Jonedom in on what they had seen in the bugbear camp. To say the least, he wasn't pleased with what the bugbears were up to but he seemed to feel that forewarned is forearmed.
"Now what did ye ladies need to know?", Jonedom asked. "If'n I don't know, me'haps 'll know someone who does."
"We are looking for any unusual activity, especially concerning the undead. We have already investigated the Aviaks and were hoping you might know of anything in the area.", Nabiki said.
"Well 's far as undead go, there's always the Estate of Unrest down south o' here. Can't say 's it changes 'cause it has been that way since before Luclin(5) was destroyed.", Jonedom informed them. "The skellies over by the Chessboard been acting a bit more frisky o' late with more of them bein' about."
"That sound like what we are looking for.", Nabiki said, nodding. "How would we get there?"
"Best way riding would be ta go back to the Highland Outpost an' take th' griffin to the Lesser Faydark station. Southwest o' there 'd be Unrest an' east would be the Chessboard.", he told them. "Course, bein' a scout, you could recall back to the dock and take th' griffin from there."
"Thank you for your help, sir.", Nabiki said. "We should get started."
"Before ye go, it'd be a shame for ye ladies to carry all those supplies and get no reward!", Jonedom said as he handed Nabiki a bag of coin. "It's worth this an' more to us to get them back. An' call me Jonedom!"
"Very well!", Nabiki said with a laugh. "Thank you again and especially for the coin! Now, we should get moving."
After they moved out of earshot, Daphne turned to Nabiki and said, "You charmed him so he would feel favorably towards us and still give us money!"
"That I did!", Nabiki grinned. "There is quite a few coins in the bag and a lot of them are gold!"
"On a different subject, why don't we see if any of the other teams is near a world bell." Daphne suggested. "If they are, we can slide there, spend the night with them, and return to the Butcherblock docks tomorrow."
"Sounds good to me!", Nabiki agreed. "Is anyone near a world bell? Daphne would like to slide to you if you are to avoid a bit of a ride."
"Luna and I are, Nabiki.", Kasumi replied. "The inn where we have the tent set up has one behind it. We are in the tent now."
"Kasumi says there is one close to where she and Luna are at! What do you say we slide there, have a nice hot soak and a nice dinner, and start at the docks tomorrow?"
Daphne agreed so after dismissing the horses, that is what they did.
[Fifth Day in Butcherblock]
After spending the night in the group's tent with Kasumi and Luna where Kasumi taught them how to recall to a preset location and setting that location for the inn that Kasumi and Luna had set up in, Nabiki and Daphne took the bell back to Butcherblock, arriving early in the morning. Once again taking the cliff path to the Highland Outpost, where Gherrana gladly bought all the feathers they had acquired. Climbing the griffin tower, they asked the griffin trainer to travel to the Lesser Faydark station. She put them on a griffin and sent them on their way. After a four hour surprisingly comfortable ride, they arrived at the Lesser Faydark tower. Descending from the tower, they summoned their horses and took a look around. Seeing a gnome talking to some travelers, they approached him.
"Greetings, good sir.", Nabiki said to the man. "I'm Nabiki Tendo and this is Daphne Greengrass. We were wondering if we could ask you for some information about the area."
"Greetings, ladies. Acton Cogwidget at your service.", the man replied. "As that is my job here at Three Roads Outpost, I'd be more than happy to."
"We are investigating some possible trouble spots in the area.", Nabiki informed him. "One is the Estate of Unrest which we were told is southwest of here. The other location is the Chessboard which our informant said was to the east."
"Oh, those are both trouble spots!", Acton replied. "Unrest is indeed the southwest but the only path is through a Kobold encampment. It will take you at least a day to get through the passage in the cliffs, if you don't spend too much time having to fight off attackers. The Chessboard is actually more to the northeast from here but to reach it you would take the east road. The road passes close to another Kobold village but generally they leave you alone if you stay on the road. On horseback, you should reach there well before sundown, if you left now."
"The Estate has been has been a place of the undead for as long as anyone can remember.", he continued. "If you go there it is best to go in a group and make sure your skills are top notch. The Chessboard has always had a few skeletons about but lately people have reported more of the them and stronger ones."
"Thank you for the information and your time.", Nabiki said with a smile. "We'd best be on our way!"
"So the Chessboard first, then?", Daphne asked as they turned away from Acton.
"That would be my thought since we can get there today.", Nabiki agreed. "We can camp near there tonight and deal with any problems tomorrow. What does the trace show?"
"There is a faint trace to the northeast so the east road it is.", Daphne replied.
As they headed down the road, they noticed another colony of gorillas that they decided to carefully avoid. The road ran through a large, mostly flat valley that was surrounded on most sides by vertical cliffs. The mountains all seemed to be table mountains or what the Americans called mesas. The land was dry but not parched so they figured that although the mountains blocked a lot of the rainfall, enough got through for grass, bushes, and the occasional tree to survive.
After a while, they left the gorilla colony behind and began to see a few young Kobolds off to the side of the road. Since they felt no need to engage in meaningless fights, they stayed well away from them. Soon they noticed what appeared to be large stone chess pieces in the distance. As they drew closer, they could make out a broken chessboard composed of two meter (a little over six feet) black and white stone squares. Nabiki's telescope spotted a number of skeletons on and around the board.
"I think we need to use the rest of the day to find someplace safe to spend the night and deal with the animated bones tomorrow.", Nabiki said.
Daphne agreed and they found an out of the way overhang with room to set up their camp. After Daphne cast 'Notice Me Not' and some protection wards, they settled in for the evening. They checked in with their bond-mates, shook their heads about what the others were up to, and spent the evening telling each other about their childhoods.
[Sixth Day in Butcherblock]
The next morning, Daphne cast the trace and they headed out in that direction. As they got closer to the Chessboard, they began encountering skeletons that would attack at once. At first this was no problem as they were easily dispatched. Before long, Daphne noticed the most of the ones they 'killed' were getting back up after a few minutes and following after them.
"Bloody hell!", Daphne growled. "Only the ones you hit with your flame attacks are staying down! Time to for me to switch tactics!" She took out her wand and yelled, "Fireball!". (6)
The resulting ball of fire hit a group of about six skeletons, burning them to ashes.
"Right, Lightning Strike and Searing Shot only!", Nabiki said. "Anyway to enchant my melee weapons to do fire damage?"
"I don't know of one right now!", Daphne replied as she cast Flame Spear at another skeleton. "Hermione, Luna, and I will have to work on it. Perhaps runes or something!"
"That would be good sooner than later!", Nabiki said as she fired Triple Shot followed by Searing Shot to take out another foe. "Maybe ice and lightning enchantments too just in case we need them!"
"That is a good idea!", Daphne agreed as she cast Flame Spear again to finish of the current set of attackers. "There are various elementals and golems that enchanted weapons should work better against! Whew!"
"Now that we have a bit of a lull, let me cast the trace again.", she said and did so. "It appears to be pointing to that stone rook or past it."
"Then let's head in that direction."
As they got closer to the rook, the number of skeletons began to increase. Most were like the one they had already fought but a few were 'clothed' differently, like the two that had helmets with tops shaped like a rook and one wearing a bishops hat.
"Undead chessmen, you think?", Nabiki asked as she dealt with the 'bishop'.
"Maybe.", Daphne returned. "If so, it must have been like wizard's chess."
As they rounded the stone rook, they ran into an army of undead chessmen including a 'king', a 'queen', a couple of 'knights', and a lot of 'pawns'.
"Uh oh! Get ready to pop us out of here if I pass out or lose control of my spell", Daphne said quickly and then shouted, "Fire Storm". A wall of fire erupted from her wand and surrounded the two of them, turning the arrayed skeletons into pyres. As she finished the spell, she sank to her knees and gasped, "Did I get all of them?"
"Just a few in the back that I can take care of. Rest a minute.", Nabiki informed her, quickly destroying the stragglers.
"Merlin, that took a lot out of me!", Daphne exclaimed. "I would not have even been able to do it before I bonded with Harry. I really hope I don't have to do it again today."
"I don't see or detect anything nearby so you shouldn't have too.", Nabiki assured her. "Rest a while so you can cast the trace again while I go plunder the remains. Those crowns should be worth something even if you melted them down. I'll stay in sight."
The remains yielded quite a bit of coin plus several pieces of jewelery that had survived the fire and a few bits of armor. After Daphne recovered enough, she cast the trace which still pointed to the rook.
"Well, we can guess why the skeletons seem to be gathered here.", Nabiki commented. Searching around the small tower for some kind of opening and finding none, she finally climbed on top where she found a trapdoor. Carefully checking it for traps and finding none, she slowly opened it. Inside were two skeletons of the 'pawn' variety, which she quickly destroyed, and at the bottom another dark crystal. Taking a loose big rock from the ruins of the rook, she dropped it on the crystal and it shattered into dust.
"What does the trace say now, Daphne?"
"The trace is gone!", Daphne answered her. "You destroyed it!"
"It was a team effort.", Nabiki said with a grin. "If you are up to traveling, we can get back to Three Roads Outpost today and start fresh for Unrest in the morning. Or do you need to rest here tonight and travel tomorrow?"
"The rest I need I can get in the saddle now so let us head back.", Daphne replied. "You know, I think this may have destroyed any desire I had to play chess of any kind!"
The girls mounted their horses and set off on a thankfully boring ride to the Three Roads Station where they camped for the night.
[Seventh Day in Butcherblock]
The next morning, the trace spell did not show a trace but they felt they might be out of range so they set off to find the Estate of Unrest. The Gnolls were where Anton said they were but didn't seem to be able to detect them under stealth so they were able to creep by. It turned out there was another path that Anton had not told them about. However, it went through elementals, fire drakes, and Gnolls plus would have taken longer so they forgave him for not mentioning it.
The passage to the Estate of Unrest was a canyon with vertical cliff walls as seemed to be everywhere in the Butcherblock Mountains. As they moved south along the passage, they were attacked more and more frequently by things out of your nightmares and that got progressively more difficult to destroy even with Daphne's fire spells. Checking for the dark trace frequently, there was still no sigh of it by the time they reached the Estate gates and it was getting close to nightfall.
"So now what do we do?", Daphne inquired. "I think entering here is going to be a bit difficult for just the two of us and I still get no trace on a dark crystal."
"With the monsters I can sense beyond the gates, I agree that tackling this place with just the two of us would be foolhardy.", Nabiki replied. "I vote we recall back to Qeynos and call Butcherblock finished for now. If we need to come back here, we will need to bring a larger team. Plus, I'd hate to have to camp here and no way am I going in there at night without a lot more firepower!"
"So, back to Qeynos, then?"
"I think so. If any of the others need us, which they haven't so far, we can slide from there. Also, you and Luna can start researching what enchantments we can place on our weapons."
"Let's go then!"
So the girls dismissed their horses and recalled back to the inn in Qeynos.
TBC
Updated: August 21, 2013 (Minor change to AN section)
Footnotes:
(1) While, in my opinion, Everquest II has a large game world, most zones you can cross in fifteen minutes or less. For this story, I'm stretching it out a bit. The bit about the path being quicker is true because the griffin flies around a bit to gain height and give you a tour of the landscape.
(2) This is more of a fanon version of Nabiki as some people have the opinion that canon does not support this version of Nabs. My story though so my take on Nabiki.
(3) In Everquest II, the mobs (mobile objects) have floating labels that tell you what they are. Our folks don't have the floating labels and so will not know this unless someone tells them or the mobs are wearing something to identify what they are. The walking Aviaks are Kragploom Predators and the flying ones are Kragploom Scavengers but for our story you don't need to know this so it will usually not be mentioned.
(4) This is a special ability granted the group by Mithaniel Marr way back at the beginning.
(5) The moon of Norrath. Its destruction was the cause of the catastrophic event that occurred about five hundred years ago.
(6) Did I mention I'm lazy? Instead of trying to find the pseudo Latin for a spell, I'm just going to underline the name to indicate a different language.