Disclaimer: See first chapter.
AN:
This is the fourth 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, unless otherwise noted. If anyone feels the rating should be bumped up, please let me know. This chapter took awhile because I was, um, doing more research. It also borrows the locales and characters from the Splitpaw Saga but not the storyline.
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.
Created: August 21, 2013
[First Day, The Thundering Steppes, Gnoll Problem]
Harry, Ranma, Hermione, and Shampoo arrived on the docks in the Thundering Steppes together. Looking around, they saw a ship loading at the end of the dock, a building of some kind on piers and anchored to a rock that jutted up out of the water. In towards shore, the saw piles of cargo waiting shipment, a couple of what appeared to be shops, and a number of people either working or standing around. The shore seemed to be sand surrounded by rocky slopes except where a canyon opened up directly across from the dock and a trail that followed a smaller canyon to the northwest. The shore area was in the shape of a triangle with the beach forming the base and the larger canyon the apex. A number of rocks sticking out of the sand formed a spine that roughly divided the area in half running from the apex to the beach.
Harry decided to approach two men who were discussing some planned activity.
"Excuse me, gentlemen,", Harry said in greeting. "We are new to the area and were wondering if you could give us some information. I'm Harry Potter, this is Ranma Saotome, Hermione Granger, and Xian Pu."
"Greetings!", one of the men replied. "My name is Coy Baomar and this is my associate, Soril Isaran. Welcome to the Dead River Docks! What kind of information are you looking for?"
"We are here to investigate the activities of the gnolls and to see what may have stirred up the walking dead in the south part of the Thundering Steppes.", Harry explaned.
"Damn, I was hoping you were here to hunt centaurs!", Coy exclaimed. "The foul creatures killed my brother while he was delivering supplies to Thundermist Village. Soril and I are here to enact vengeance. But that's our problem. As for yours, I don't know much but for the gnolls, you should seek out someone in Thundermist Village as the village is fairly close to the places the gnolls are infesting. As far as the undead, probably your best bet is to talk to Reinkor McCollin who is down by the General Store."
"Where is the Thundermist Village located?", Hermione inquired.
"Well, the easiest way to it is to take the griffin at the end of the docks.", Coy answered. "It flies you over the same route you would travel on foot but is a lot faster and safer. No young bears, gnolls, centaurs, or other hostiles can get to you on griffin back."
"Thank you, sir.", Hermione said with a slight shudder which nobody but Harry picked up on.
"Yes, thank you very much.", Harry added. "We best be off. Good luck with your hunt."
After they walked out of earshot of the two men, Harry said, "Don't worry, Hermione. It will be like riding Buckbeak. You should have no problem."
"With Buckbeak, I had you to hold on to which made all the difference.", Hermione said with a smile.
"Well, I know it won't be as good but you can hold on to me.", Shampoo grinned,
"I'll just have to charge up with a Harry kiss before we go!", Hermione said and grabbed Harry, pulling him into a long, passionate kiss."
"Too, too good idea!", Shampoo smirked and did the same to Ranma.
After several minutes where people just looked at them and walked around, the kisses ended.
"If we keep that up, we will have to get a room before we even get off the docks!", Harry exclaimed. Ranma just smiled a goofy smile.
"Well, girls, be careful. We will want more of that later!", Harry said with a smirk.
"You boys be careful as well so we can give it to you.", Hermione commanded as she and Shampoo set off down the docks. The guys stood watching them for a moment before shaking themselves and going in search of their contact.
As the girls reached the end of the pier, off to the right they saw a creature that seemed to be half eagle in front, half lion in back and the size of a large horse. Correctly assuming this was the griffin, they walked over to speak to the man standing next to it.
"Hello, sir!", Shampoo said. "Can the griffin take us to Thundermist Village? And can we both ride the same griffin?"
"Yes to both.", the man said smiling. "There is a griffin station at the village and she is able to carry a barbarian in plate armor with no trouble. You two are much smaller and lighter."
"Is there much chance of falling off?", Hermione asked nervously.
"Not unless you jump.", the station keeper assured her. "Sometimes people do if the flight passes over where they want to go but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a feather fall spell active on yourself. But since you are going station to station, you shouldn't need to do that."
"Ok, I guess we are ready.", Hermione said. "How much is the ride?"
"The service is sponsored by the Far Seas Trading Company and the Qeynos government.", the station keeper said. "Climb on, I'll let her know where you are going, and you will be one your way."
The girls mounted the winged creature and the station keeper gave her a command. With a leap, they were airborne and climbing. Shortly after takeoff, the griffin veered right into a narrow pass with a trail at the bottom. They were low enough to see antelope, some very large beetles, some hawks, and an occasional traveler.
As they exited the pass, they flew into a broad area that had obviously once been farmland but that was before some thing had created huge craters in the fields, craters large enough to hold a dozen sports stadiums. The girls figured they were impact craters from the cataclysm that occurred when Lucien broke up. Because of some kind of fog, they were not able to see what was in the craters but they could see some dog like bipeds and some centaurs as well as bears, beetles, antelope, and an occasional lion.
Their flight was now following a paved road headed west and passed over an apparent guard tower where another similar road headed south. Still heading west, the griffin and the road below entered a narrower valley. Following this for a while lead them past another large crater where the impact had been on a mountain. This crater now held a lake with more animals, dog men, and centaurs around it.
The road, valley, and griffin took a left turn and headed south where the girls could see a small village up ahead. As they began the descent to the griffin station, the main road turned back west following a somewhat wider valley. The griffin touched down and the girls climbed off her back. With the permission of the station keeper, they petted her a bit before climbing down the tower.
After asking a guard at the edge of the village who to talk to, the girls were directed to Tobias Vreldig, one of the village council members. Locating him next to one of the shops, they introduced themselves.
"Mr. Vreldig, we are here to investigate some reports that the gnolls are causing more problems than normal.", Hermione informed him. "We would appreciate it if you could fill us in on anything you know."
"I'd like you to investigate them out of existence!", the councilor replied. "They have been nothing but trouble since they moved into the area. Here lately, they have been abducting travelers along the Thundermist Road using some kind of teleport spell."
"What do they do to the captives?", Hermione asked.
"We don't know!", Tobias said in a distressed tone. "Only one person has managed to escape and she was so incoherent that we couldn't get anything out of her. Her sister came to fetch her and it was all we could do to get her on the griffin to the docks so her sister could get her back to Qeynos. Something frightened her badly!"
"Where are they doing the captures?", Hermione wanted to know.
"Closest place is north of here next to the Mirror.", Tobias replied. "There are reports of them doing it a ways west of the guard tower at the road to Bridge Keep and just inside Thundermist Valley." Seeing the puzzled looks on the girls faces, he continued. "The Mirror is the crater with the lake in it you flew by just before the griffin turned south toward our station. You flew over the guard tower and road a while before that. Thundermist Valley is due west of the station although a bit of a ride."
"Thank you, sir.", Hermione said gratefully. "We are new to the area and the information is most helpful. Is there anything else you can tell us about what we might encounter?"
"I'm afraid I don't have time right now.", Tobias answered. "But it is getting late so let me see if Holly Rowan can put you up for the night. Her husband is a patroller and is often gone. She may appreciate the company and she knows the area as well as anyone."
Tobias lead them to a house near the north edge of the village where he introduced them to Holly and confirmed they could stay the night. Holly soon had them sitting in her kitchen with a cup of the local tea.
"Tobias tells me that you two are investigating what the gnolls are up to and would like to be briefed on what you may encounter in the area.", Holly said and at the girls nod, continued. "First, I guess, the gnolls. There are three clans in the Steppes, the Sabertooth, the Skindancer, and the Splitpaw. The first two will attack you on sight, the third is more peaceful and will not bother you unless you bother them first. We have even done some trading with them although they haven't been seen in the Steppes lately. The Sabertooth clan is in the northern part of the Steppes and are the ones doing the kidnapping. The Skindancers are down around Coldwind Cove. The Splitpaw had a den in that same area but like I said, they haven't been seen in a while."
"As for other things you need to watch out for, most of the animals won't bother you but look out for the young bears in the northern Steppes, most wolves anywhere, lions everywhere, and the wild griffins in Thundermist Valley. Along the Dead River Basin and southeast of the Southeast Griffin Station, you will find skeletons and zombies all of which attack on sight. In the water along the coasts, there are sirens that will attack you. A tribe of giants lives south of the Thundermist Valley and north of the Skindancers. They do not like 'little' people."
"The centaurs will probably leave you alone even though they have been trying drive us out since they arrived. There are two tribes, the Steelhoof and the Amazon. All the males belong to the Steelhoof tribe, the females belong to the Amazon. Both tribes are part of what they call the Great Herd and are fierce in combat. The centaurs have two camps: one in the southwest corner of Thundermist Valley and the other down by Coldwind Station."
Hermione dug out her maps and Holly spent a few minutes marking the areas she had discussed. She also searched around and found a language tome for the gnoll language so the girls would be able to understand them. After that, they settled down into a discussion of husbands, life in the Steppes and at home, names for children, and other wonders of the universe.
[Second Day, The Thundering Steppes, Gnoll Problem]
The next morning, after breakfast with Holly and her family, sans husband, the girls set off to check out the area around the Mirror. Not five minutes past the Griffin Station, they discovered that the young bears were indeed a royal P.I.T.A. After killing several that attacked, they started taking them out at range. This usually only required one shot by Shampoo and one spell from Hermione.
About mid-morning, they caught sight of a gnoll encampment and decided to check it out invisibly. After Hermione cast Invisible on them and Silence on their feet with her wand, the girls held hands and entered the camp. After a quick but through look, they retreated back to their hiding spot.
"I saw no prisoners and nothing special in the camp.", Hermione said.
"Neither did I.", Shampoo agreed. "Let's go a bit further down the road to the east."
"Ok. We also need to stay away from any gnolls.", Hermione returned. "I saw a few of them sniffing the air and I don't know any spells to hide our scent."
"Good thing I'm not cat-girl at the moment!", Shampoo replied. "Probably really set dog-men off."
Awhile later, near the eastern edge of the crater that contained the Mirror, they found another camp. This one was different in that it had a structure formed of what looked like dragon rib bones planted tip up in a semicircle with the curve of the rib to the center. As the girls watched, a gnoll walked up to the structure, touched a glowing stone, and vanished. A few minutes later, he or another dressed just like him, reappeared next to the structure.
"A teleporter of some kind then.", Hermione commented. "Do we let ourselves get captured or sneak in?"
"Sneak. Too too much risk in letting them capture us.", Shampoo stated. "A good warrior takes as few risks as possible."
Hermione nodded and summoned Jane. She used her wand to disillusion and muffle the three of them. She and Shampoo grabbed each other's hands so they would stay together without having to make any sounds. Jane could sense Hermione and follow without contact being needed. Being careful to stay away from any gnolls, the girls crept to the teleporter and touched the glowing stone.
Suddenly they were in a big cavern next to an identical teleporter set on a raised portion of the floor. Fortunately, there were no gnolls near them although they could see them around the edges of the room, all busy with something or another. The girls carefully moved down the ramp to the main floor towards the only apparent exit from the room, trying to stay as far as possible from the dog-men as possible.
As they were about to leave the room, a gnoll entered carrying a bucket, tripped, and splashed water all over them. Not only did Shampoo transform to her cat-girl form, but the liquid outlined their forms, making them visible.
"Stupid water attraction curse!", Shampoo muttered.
"Intruders! Get them!", the gnoll that had just splashed them shouted. A group of nearby dog-men looked around and charged.
"Oh bloody hell!", Hermione thought as she began casting her AE spells. "Language, Hermione!", Harry said with a mental smirk. "Oh hush you, I'm busy!", she returned with a huff.
Shampoo leaped forward with dual swords flashing while Jane began casting crowd control spells.(1) Hermione assisted Shampoo with targeted spells and the occasional dagger strike if an enemy got too close to her. With Jane assisting when she wasn't busy with Mesmerizing the enemy, the attacker were soon destroyed.
"That looks to be the last of them, Mistress.", Jane said shocking Hermione.
"I didn't know you could speak!", Hermione said with a gasp.
"I couldn't until just a while ago.", Jane informed her. "Each time you have called me forth, I have gotten stronger and have been better able to analyze situations. The longer I'm out the better it gets."
"Then I won't dismiss you anymore!", Hermione gushed. "It will be like having the sister I've always wanted! And call me Hermione, not Mistress. If you are becoming more independent, I don't want you to be a slave!"
"Very well, Hermione.", Jane said with a curtsey. Shampoo giggled.
Deciding that since Shampoo was now a cat and the gnolls could probably smell her easily, the girls cautiously entered the passage out of the chamber. After a while, it opened up into a larger chamber with another teleporter, this one without the glowing stones.
"This appears to be a mine!", Hermione said in a low voice. "Although this part seems to be played out and used for storage."
"Why don't you cast the spell to check for the dark crystals?", Shampoo asked. Pulling her wand, Hermione did so.
"There seems to be dark crystal all over the place to the south of us!", she said with excitement. "I bet that is what they are mining! The dark crystals are supposed to be from Lucien and the craters are from impacts of pieces of it. These tunnels are probably under the Mirror!"
"Could be.", Shampoo said. "Though it looks like we will have to fight our way across to find out." She nodded at the gnolls in the distance.
"It is going to be a long day", Hermione said with a sigh.
After fighting their way to the south side of the large chamber, the girls discovered the passage there blocked by magic resistant dragon bones so they had to fight to the west side of the chamber to find an exit. This lead to a twisty, uneven, up and down tunnel which had to be frequently be cleared of gnolls before they could proceed. Thankfully, the gnolls had the tunnel well lit.
Late in the afternoon, the passage opened out into a larger space. After clearing out a few gnolls, the girls found an out of the way spot at the end of a short dead-end tunnel and set up their tent. After setting some wards and protective spells, they chatted for awhile, checked in with the others, duplicated a sleeping bag for Jane, and retired for the night.
[Third Day, The Thundering Steppes, Gnoll Problem]
After a peaceful night, undisturbed until the alarm woke them, the girls woke and began their day. Although they longed for the facilities of the Tent, they made do with a little magical help and set out to continue their explorations.
The space they had entered the night before was a lobe of an even larger space. Heading south, they eventually came to a side chamber that was closed off with dragon ribs. Inside they discovered a halfling man.
"Hail might adventurers!", the halfling said. "Could you please free me before the gnolls work me to death or I go crazy!"
"How did you end up in here?", Hermione said as she levitated him over the wall.
"I was on my way from Bridge Keep with a message when a gnoll grabbed me!", he said. "The next thing I know, I'm here being forced to mine this crystal. Something keeps me from recalling home while in here and the crystal is either going to kill me or drive me nuts. That or the gnolls will if I break too many pieces. Names Buggo by the way, ranger by trade."
"Well, Buggo, I'm Hermione and this is Xian.", Hermione told him. "If you still can't recall, there is a teleporter north of here. "I can give you a sword I picked up but if would probably be best if you used stealth to get to it." She handed him a sword she had taken off a gnoll.
"Thank you, ladies!", Buggo said. "If you ever need anything, look me up in Qeynos or at the Bridge Keep. Now lets see if the recall will work out here!" He began casting a spell. "Hooray, it works." With that, he faded from view.
The cavern turned to the east after Buggo's prison and the girls began to notice water dripping from the ceiling.
"Purrfect!", Shampoo growled. "I'm already cat-girl but cats hate being wet!"
"This would seem to indicate that we are under the Mirror or at least some ground water.", Hermione commented. "I wonder if we could flood this place?"
"Be fun getting out then.", Shampoo said.
"I could side-along apparate you back to Thundermist Village", Hermione explained. "I couldn't take Jane, though."
"Hermione, if you are there, I can move to you.", Jane informed her.
"We'll keep that as an option then.", Hermione said.
The cavern turned back to the north and the girls noticed large chunks of dark crystal in the ceiling with some in the walls. A group of gnolls seemed to be working carving a chunk of the crystal at the north end of the chamber.
"We seem to have discovered where at least some of the crystal comes from.", Hermione whispered. "We need to take care of those gnolls and then see if we can destroy the mine."
"I think so too.", Shampoo whispered back. "Those crystals make too too much trouble."
The girls crept as close as they could with out risking being smelled. As the gnolls appeared to finish their carving, Hermione and Jane began casting area effect (AE) spells as Shampoo fired her bow at the apparent leader of the five dog-men. The gnolls spun around, briefly surprised.
"Intruders! Get them! We need more slaves!", the leader barked.
Shampoo leaped forward with her swords spinning and engaged the leader as the other two began crowd control and casting a spell to support Shampoo as they could. The leader attempted to stab Shampoo but she parried it and slashed his forearm causing him to drop the blade. He dropped back and pulled a knife from his belt and began casting a spell. Shampoo moved in on him, attempting to behead him. He managed to dodge although his spell was interrupted. A back slash took his arm off costing him the knife. Before he could recover, Shampoo ripped through his throat and he would cast no more spells.
While Shampoo was busy with the leader, Hermione picked his goons off one by one while Jane maintained Root and Mesmerize on the them so they couldn't effectively counter attack. As soon as Shampoo finished the boss, she joined Hermione in dispatching the remainder of the gnolls.
"That will teach him to try and make a slave of me!", Shampoo said as she cleaned her swords. "Now what do we do about all this crystal?"
"First we destroy this runed piece the gnolls were working on." Hermione replied as she searched the dead gnolls, finding a few coins and some papers in Gnollish.
"Easily done!", Shampoo said as she took out a mace and did so.
"Wow, dusty!", Hermione exclaimed. "I better cast some bubble head charms before I blast the crystal in the ceiling! Too bad I can't cast shields while I'm doing that."
"I can cast the shields, Hermione.", Jane said as she pulled a wand identical to Hermione's from her clothes. "Mine should hold well enough."
"You even have my Earth magic?!", Hermione said gaping.
"Yes, Hermione.", Jane replied. "Just not as powerful although I'm getting stronger."
"That's fantastic!", Hermione gushed. "We need to talk to Daphne and Luna about this!"
"So what are we going to do?", Shampoo wanted to know.
"If you would use your mace to bash those crystals you can reach, after I cast the Bubble Head charm on you, I'll use the blasting curse on the higher ones on the wall.", Hermione replied. "Jane will shield you from any debris. After we are done with the walls, come back here and take a firm hold of my belt just in case we have to apparate out quickly."
Hermione cast the breathing charm on the three of them and they began executing the plan Hermione had outlined. It took about an hour to do the walls with the occasional interruption from a wandering gnoll. When Shampoo rejoined them, they took a short break to eat and rest a bit, then Hermione started in on the smaller deposits in the ceiling. As she began to work her way to the larger ones, water started to stream from the holes. The girls looked at each other and climbed on top of a rock that was taller than they were.(2) Hermione resumed her blasting until only two large crystals remained. Making sure Jane was holding the shields for them, she destroyed the smaller of the two. Immediately, a large torrent of water began poring into the mine. She quickly blasted the last one, grabbed hold of Shampoo, turned on her heel, and disappeared.
She and Shampoo reappeared at the base of the griffin tower in Thundermist Village.
"That was too, too unpleasant!", Shampoo growled. "I much prefer sliding. It doesn't feel like I'm being forced through a small hole!"
"I agree!", Hermione replied. "But sliding wouldn't get us we needed to be. Where's Jane? She said she could follow me!"
Before Hermione could get too worried, Jane popped up next to them. "I stayed behind for a few seconds to see what was happening.", she told them. "It looks like the mine will be totally flooded. It take them a lot of work to get it back in operation, if they ever do."
"That's good to know but please don't take chances you don't have to!", Hermione said. "Even though I can bring you back, I don't want you hurt.!" She reached in her pack and pulled out the papers she had taken off the gnoll. "Let's set up camp and see what these say."
Deciding not to impose on Holly, the girls set up camp near the tower and prepared their meal. After eating, they went over the papers.
"These are instructions for carving the runes to attract undead and bind them to the area around the dark crystals.", Hermione noted. "There are also orders to set one in place to finish sealing the 'traitorous' Splitpaw in their den and cut them off from the outside."
"So tomorrow, we go check up on the Splitpaw clan?", Shampoo asked.
"The crystals already placed need to be destroyed anyway.", Jane replied. "Helping the Splitpaws is an added benefit."
After reporting in, the girls spent the time until bedtime talking about life and what they wanted out of it. Ranma would have been surprised.
[Fourth Day, The Thundering Steppes, Gnoll Problem]
The next morning, the girls took the griffin to Coldwind Cove Station which was the nearest station to the entrance to the Splitpaw den. The griffin first headed west toward the Thundermist Valley that they had been told about. As they flew out over the valley, they could see a great many lions, centaurs, beetles, antelope, and various other creatures. In the sky over the valley were wild griffins including one that seemed to be twice the size of the rest. Their griffin flew past them unmolested and Hermione wondered if the griffins didn't bother other griffins or there was some kind of notice-me-not spell in play. The valley also showed scars of the cataclysm in the form of several impact craters, some with water, some dry. In the distance to the west, they could barely make out a sea shore.
The griffin headed south toward a pass in the wall of the valley. The girls gasped as they saw the giants guarding it. Standing next to one of them, the girls would have barely come up to the ankle. Fortunately, the giants too paid them no mind as the griffin exited the pass into another valley, this one cut in several places by dry river beds. The first 'island' they flew over contained the giants' village and another crater. The second contained a gnoll camp that the girls assumed to belong to the Skindancer clan. As they were approaching the griffin tower, there was a centaur camp off to the east. Based on the information Holly had given them, the girls figured if they didn't bother them, the centaurs would leave them alone.
The Skindancer gnolls were a different story. Although, Hermione, Shampoo, and Jane were cloaked from sight and sound, an occasional wandering gnoll would get whiff of them and attack fiercely. They saw some kind of alter surrounded by gnolls in the distance but since there was no indication of the crystal trace, the girls stayed well away from it.
It was late afternoon when the girls reached the entrance to the den and managed to slip inside. The largish room was apparently where the runed crystal was to be placed but that wasn't going to happen now. They decided to take advantage of the fact that there were no monsters or anything else in the room to set up camp. It had been a long flight followed by almost constant fights and the girls were pooped. After placing the wards, eating a meal, and talking a bit, they retired for the night.
[Fifth Day, The Thundering Steppes, Gnoll Problem]
Climbing out of their bedrolls the next morning, the girls breakfasted and broke camp. The entrance chamber had only one passage leading out of it, other than the exit to the outside, so they followed it north. As they got further from the entrance, they began to hear rather unnerving sounds. They could just see what appeared to be an open space ahead when a ghostly spider the size of a large dog came around the corner ahead, seemed to notice them, and attacked!
Shampoo jumped ahead and pulled her swords, slashing at the eerie arachnid. Although she connected, the strikes did no visible damage. Hermione and Jane cast Brain Burst at it and it staggered back. Jane followed up with a root which seem to hold it while Hermione cast Ultraviolet Beam which also seemed to hurt it.
"How am I suppose to fight ghost spider when my weapons go through it!?", Shampoo growled as she dodged it and it knocked a few rocks off the wall.
"Well, it can hit us so you should be able to hit it!", Hermione returned. "Maybe as it is attacking?"
"Can you fire an energy blast like I've seen Ranma do?", Jane asked as she began casting Nightmare.
"No, I'm not that good but I can charge my weapons with ki!", Shampoo replied. Her weapons began to glow slightly and she lunged at the specter. This time her hits were much more effective and with two more slashes, she finished the wraith.(3)
"I would have never expected a spider to form a ghost when it died.", Hermione commented. "Then again, there weren't spiders that big on Earth either."
"For which I an too too thankful!", Shampoo said shaking her head.
The passage the girls were following entered a large chamber with a deep chasm in front of them and two possible paths along the side they were standing on. After doing battle with a trio of ghost bats, they decided to take the left path which headed mostly west as there was a strong trace in that direction.
In a little while, they came to a crevice that had two wide boards placed across it with a wooden crate at the other end to allow stepping up the higher side. Hermione looked at the makeshift bridge and shivered. She took out her wand and transfigured it into a nice wooden footbridge with guard rails and steps at the high end.(4)
"How long will this last?", Shampoo inquired.
"A while because I didn't change the material, just restructured it.", Hermione replied. "And anchored the ends to the stone.", she added as an afterthought.
The path entered a tunnel which they followed for a short while until it opened out into a large cavern. As they entered the cavern, they were attacked by two mushroom men which they quickly defeated. Determining that being more stealthy was a good idea, Hermione applied the Disillusion and Sound charms to allow them to hopefully sneak past anymore mushroom people.
The three began exploring the cave keeping physical contact and avoiding getting to close to the mushroom people they encountered. The large room appeared to contain a village of the mobile fungi but nothing that the trio were interested in. When they could in hidden or out of the way spots, Hermione cast the trace which was now pointing more north than west. Finally they came to the end of the cavern without finding any other exits. After a whispered conference, they crept back to Hermione's bridge, canceled the charms, and returned to the entrance tunnel.
"Well, the only path left is the eastern one,", Shampoo commented. "Unless we want to jump down into the crevice."
"Not a good idea since we don't know how deep it is or what would be waiting for us.", Hermione replied. "While east is the direction that ghost spider came from, we don't really have a better choice."
"Let's go then!"
The path on the ledge soon entered a downward sloping tunnel infested with a number of ghost spiders which the girls dispatched with little trouble. At the end of the tunnel, the entered another cave room containing more ghost spiders and bats, some dead Splitpaw gnolls, and some hostile gnolls that were not from one of the clans that Holly described. The live gnolls were up on a ledge doing something the trio couldn't see and had not yet noticed the newcomers. Occasionally, a ghost of what appeared to be a Splitpaw gnoll drifted through but these were not hostile.
The spider and bat wraiths were though and began attacking when they noticed the girls. Shampoo now had her ghost fighting techniques down now and with Jane doing crowd control, she and Hermione destroyed all of the attacking ghosts in the room. Strangely, the gnolls didn't seem to pay any attention until the trio had eliminated the phantoms and moved toward them. Then they began using ranged attacks which Jane shielded against allowing the other two girls to return fire. A combination of targeted attacks and area effect spells soon had the gnolls defeated.
Jane transfigured some nearby crates into a ladder allowing Shampoo to climb up and investigate.
"There is one of those dark crystals with runes carved into it up here!", she called down. "Nothing else except some barrels with what appear to be fuses sticking out of them."
"Smash the crystal, of course!", Hermione replied. "I would leave the barrels. I don't think we want to be carrying around explosives! We don't know how safe they are and I don't want to find out the hard way!"
"I agree.", Jane added. "Besides, our wands can do any blasting we need."
"Fine with me.", Shampoo said as she powdered the crystal with her mace.
After Shampoo climbed back down, the girls looked around the room for an exit other than the one they entered by. There were none visible but a flat section of wall drew Hermione's attention.
"This wall does not appeared to be natural.", she observed. "Maybe a passage has been walled over?"
"So, you want to try blasting it?", Shampoo asked.
"Yes. If Jane will shield us from flying debris, I'll see if I can knock it down.", Hermione answered.
Jane cast her shield and Hermione let loose with a Blasting spell. The wall dissolved into shards leave a hole large enough for the three of them to walk through side by side. As soon as the dust settled, Jane Vanished the rubble.
The opening lead to a twisty passageway with a floor that sloped down then up again before entering yet another large room. The girls used their stealth spells to enter the room quietly and observe, hopefully with out being noticed themselves. While there were some of the ever present ghosts, most of the rooms occupants were living gnolls of an unknown (to the girls) clan who seemed to be conducting mining operations plus another batch up on a ledge. There were also Splitpaw bodies in several locations.
Unfortunately for the trio's planned reconnaissance, some of the gnolls could see them, judging by the red aura they had so they ducked back into the passageway to discuss tactics.
"There are too too many for us to fight head on.", Shampoo observed. "Even with you both doing Mesmerize and Root, we would be overwhelmed."
"I agree!", Hermione said with a grimace. "What we need is a way to limit the number that can come at us at once. Any ideas?"
"There is a lot of mining debris just outside of this passage.", Jane noted. "Could we use that somehow?"
"Brilliant! I can transfigure it into a wall with a small gap!", Hermione exclaimed. "That will allow us to deal with one or two at a time."
"What if they have some of those explosive barrels?", Shampoo wondered. "Or if they have something they can throw over it? We also need room to fight."
"I can make it out of thick granite with a roof.", Hermione answered. "Something like half an igloo but bigger and stone. It won't stop ghosts so we would have to deal with them if they came through but nothings perfect."
"We can send out our limited avatars outside the wall to attack the gnolls.", Jane suggested. "That would make sure they don't just ignore us and maybe we won't have to deal with as many."
"Hmm. Maybe we should have some arrow slots so we can cast spells through the wall as well.", Hermione pondered. "High enough that they can't be used to attack us."
"It sounds like we have a plan!", Shampoo said. "Let's do it!"
The girls crept out of the passage and Hermione began casting with a firm picture in her mind of what she wanted. A few of the gnolls saw her and started moving toward her, yelling for their fellows. However, before they could get close enough to attack, a half dome sealed up against the rock around the passage formed. Inside was a walkway to reach the firing ports and Hermione had included the tunnel entrance characteristic of igloos. Shampoo took a position to the side of the dome's entrance and readied her swords. The other two girls climbed onto the walkway and peered through the slots.
Outside, the gnolls had halted, concerned about the sudden appearance of the structure. After a brief conversation, a couple of them headed off to the side. A few minutes later they returned with two barrels. Jane saw this and cast Fireball at the barrels, causing them to explode. The gnolls became very ticked off and rushed the dome.
Jane thought for a second and began transfiguring some of the loose rocks around the dome into lions and tigers. Hermione saw this and began doing the same although slower as the dome had taken a lot out of her. Shampoo fired a few arrows through the entrance and braced herself for the income dog-men. The two mages added their avatars to the mix.
It was a slaughter. The gnolls were having to attack a fortified position with an enemy at their back. Even though they were able to kill the big cats, the girls replaced them faster than they died and the gnolls had no such replacements. In the end, the cats chased down the last few gnolls as they tried to run and it was over. The few ghost in the area didn't factor into the battle except for one bat that came through the dome wall and was rooted and mezzed until the girls had time to deal with it.
The trio was exhausted and the mages were a bit drained. Hermione passed out Pepper Up potions which helped but they decided to rest a bit and eat before continuing.
"How long is this going to last?", Shampoo asked, waving at the dome.
"I don't know.", Hermione answered. "I put a lot of power into it and the source was already rock. Months, years maybe? Unless I dispel it of course."
"Let's leave it for now.", Jane said. "We might need a place to retreat to."
"Sounds like a plan."
After recovering their strength and eating, they exited the dome and began exploring. Shampoo leaped up to the ledge where some of the gnolls had been and found another crystal, which she destroyed. Hermione and Jane destroyed two bat wraiths while searching for another exit. They found two possible: another apparently unnatural wall and a hole in the floor with steps leading down.
Deciding to check out the hole first, the girls climbed down the steps to find a crooked passageway that alternated between sloping down and up. In it the encountered a few gnolls that appeared to be mining something. The gnolls objected to their presence and were quickly killed. Finally reaching what seemed to be the bottom, they entered a large room with a large skeleton ribcage, probably from a dragon.
Fighting through the room with the skeleton, they eventually came to another artificial wall. Blasting through it, the trio found a short tunnel into a room filled with zombie like gnolls.
"Jane, could you conjure a stonewall about head height big enough for all of us to hide behind?", Hermione requested. "I'm going to try a spell that I may loose control of and that will buy us time to retreat out of range."
"Sure, Hermione.", Jane replied and created the wall.
"If I tell you to run, run back past the last wall we broke through.", Hermione instructed. "Get behind the wall and be ready!"
When the other two had complied, Hermione stepped from behind the wall and yelled, "Fiend Fire" The living flame leaped from her wand and began seeking targets among the undead creatures in front of the wall, leaping from zombie to zombie until all were in flames and quickly reduced to ash. She then canceled the spell and looked to make sure it hadn't escaped her bonds. Seeing only normal flames, she sagged to the floor against the conjured wall, breathing hard.
"That takes a lot out of you, doesn't it.", Shampoo noted.
"Yes, and it can attack the caster if you are not careful.", Hermione replied. "Still it beats fighting all those creepy monsters one by one." She downed a Pepper Up potions. "Let's get with it."
Searching the room, they found a ledge at the far end with some dead snake like creatures that seemed to be made of stone that apparently the fire had killed. Creating a ladder, the girls climbed up on to the ledge and found another dark crystal which Shampoo quickly destroyed.
Since it was late in the afternoon and Hermione was still very tired, it was decided to camp there for the night and continue in the morning.
[Sixth Day, The Thundering Steppes, Gnoll Problem]
In order for Hermione to recover fully, the girls got a late start the next morning. On the trip back to where they entered the lower area, they only encountered a few wandering ghost which were easily dealt with. Reaching the artificial wall they had found the day before, they blasted through it and entered the tunnel behind it. Following the tunnel to its end, they found yet another created wall which was blasted in turn.
Behind this was was what appeared to be a gnoll command post and supply depot. Deciding quickly that the fort up tactic they had used the previous day was the best choice, Hermione created the igloo fort and she and Jane sent out their furry minions except that Jane added a few bears for variety. Shampoo had no trouble keeping up with the few that managed to get through the entrance. When attacks ceased and the animals were just wandering around, the trio left their fort to look around. Being certified adventurers, they promptly looted anything of value from the camp.
On the far side of the camp, there was a crevice which board had been place so the space could be spanned at need although the boards had been withdrawn. Zooming in and out of the crevice were some kind of elemental beings that glowed red with hostility.
Deciding to reduce the number of the hostile creatures before trying to cross the crevice, the girls began attacking them with ranged attacks. It turned out, except for a nasty energy attack, the elementals were not two difficult to deal with. After they destroyed those elementals that were close by, Hermione transfigured the boards and crates laying about into another footbridge with steps and proper guardrails.
Once across, they found yet another artificial wall and were beginning to wonder who was so obsessed with walling things up. Blasting through this wall got them attacked by a gnoll and two collie sized spiders which Shampoo dealt with almost as soon as they attacked.
Through the wall was another room in which there was another ledge with some of the stone snakes, living this time, guarding it. The mages cast roots and area effect spells while Shampoo used her bow to good effect. After the short battle, Shampoo jumped up to the ledge and found another crystal. She threw it off the ledge to destroy it.
At the far end of the room, they found a tunnel leading down. After a brief discussion, they followed it to where it opened up into another large cavern. Immediately, they were accosted but not attacked by two guards.
"What humans doing in home of Splitpaw clan!", the larger of the two.
"We are searching for some evil crystals to destroy them.", Hermione replied. "We mean no harm to the Splitpaws."
"Grungepaw know of these crystals!", the gnoll said. "Cause Splitpaws to be trapped in den! You must see Chief Whitesnout at once! Follow Grungepaw!"(5)
With that, he turned and walked away. The girls shrugged and followed him.
He lead them through several tunnels into another large cavern and to a platform at the far end. Climbing the steps, he saluted a graying gnoll.
"Chief Whitesnout, these humans have come from upper tunnels and are seeking to find and destroy the evil crystals."
"Thank you, Grungepaw. You did well to bring them to me.", the chief told the guard. "You may return to your post now." Grungepaw saluted again and left.
"Even though he does not speak common well, Grungepaw is a smart pup.", the chief said turning to the girls. "Come, you must tell me of your mission!"
Hermione gave him an overview of why they were searching for the crystals. He scratched his chin and said, "This agrees with the signs our Shaman has read. He has warned us of a coming disaster that will befall us unless steps are taken to prevent it and that it would take help from beyond our world. Are you that help?"
"We are part of it.", Hermione told him. "We are part of a larger group and we were told that other groups would helping as well."
"Did you find any of the evil crystals in the upper tunnels?", the chief inquired.
"We found and destroyed four of them.", Hermione replied.
"Excellent!", the chief exclaimed. "We have been blocked in here for many months because of the undead in the upper tunnels, even before some of the tunnels were sealed off. Many of our scouts and messengers never returned."
"We saw several Splitpaw dead in the upper tunnels.", Shampoo told him. "That may have been some of the ones you sent out. If others got out, it is likely they would not have been able to return."
"I will morn for our deceased kinsmen.", the chief said solemnly. "Since you have opened the way to the surface up, I will send an armed party to recover their bodies."
"Do you know of any other locations that may have a crystal?", Hermione wanted to know.
"I am not sure but the area where the crawlers nest has been agitated in recent months.", the chief told her. They provide some of our food but of late they have been too aggressive for our hunters. Do you have a way of detecting the evil stones?"
"Yes, we have tracing spell.", Hermione informed him.
"Then I will show you the entrance to the crawler caverns.", the chief said. "If you find no trace, there is obligation for you to risk yourselves but you would do us a great service if you could kill the large female we call Queen Zkchriy."
"We will see what we can do.", Shampoo promised.
After leading them to the entrance, the chief turned to them and said, "I regret that I cannot spare anyone to accompany you but I no longer have any seasoned hunters that would have a chance of survive. I would go myself but at my age I fear that I would be more hindrance than help."
Hermione cast the trace. "There appears to be at least one crystal in that direction.", she informed the group. "So I guess we go crawler hunting."
"Be most careful, young humans!", the chief extolled them. "The crawlers have a vicious, poisonous bite and can ensnare you so you can not move! I ask that when you are done, you come see me so that I know of your success."
"We will be pleased to do so, Chief Whitesnout.", Shampoo assured him. "Thank you for your help."
The tunnel the girls entered varied in width, height, slope, and direction, curving around from a westerly heading to northerly to southeasterly. A the point the cave took a sharp turn to due south and back east, they encountered a large spider with a body about the size of a St Bernard dog. The spider was of course, hostile and attacked with a speed that belied its size. It tried several times to hit them with webbing but the trio managed to dodge. Shampoo killed it by leaping on its back and putting a sword through its head.
"Well, we know what a 'crawler' is now.", Shampoo said.
"Yeah, good thing Ron's not with us.", Hermione replied. "He'd be half way to the docks by now."
"Who is Ron?", Shampoo wanted to know. "Old boyfriend?"
"Sort of.", Hermione grimaced. "Ron Weasley is a wizard Harry and I thought was a friend. To be fair, I'm not sure if he was giving me the love potions keyed to him or not but someone was. He has been a fair weather friend in the past and is deathly afraid of spiders."
"Sound like you and your 'sisters' need to have a talk with him when you get back!", Shampoo said. Jane nodded her head.
"Well, that's for the future.", Hermione said. "Now we have a crystal to find and destroy, not to mention, spiders to kill."
The girls continued following the cave to the east, encountering and killing a few of the giant spiders as they went. At the end of a wider section of the cave, the passage forked with one branch going south and the other northeast. Since the trace showed a crystal to the north, they followed the northeasterly one. Shortly after that, they came upon a spider that saw them and scurried off as if it wanted nothing to do with them. The girls looked at one another and shrugged.
Beyond the cowardly spider was another fork with northerly and northeasterly branches. Following the north tunnel soon had them headed back west into a larger section. After clearing out the spiders, they continued on until the passage ended. Hermione sighed and they returned to the last fork and took the other branch. That passage went on for a while with the trio performing the usual mayhem on the spiders. Another split gave them a choice of north or south which because the trace now pointed northwest, they choose north.
After a brief fight in a pool which transformed Shampoo into a cat-girl again, they entered a large room shaped vaguely like a swashbuckler's boot with the toe pointed north. When they had cleared out enough spiders to have some breathing room, the girls sat down and rested.
"I wasn't fond of spiders before but now I'm sick of them!", Shampoo said looking at her spattered armor with disgust.
"I can see your point.", Hermione said with a tired giggle. "We can clean up after we are done. Won't do any good to do it now. Do you want some hot water to change back?"
"No point for now.", she was told. "Probably just get splashed again. We can do it just before we see the chief again. Where is the trace pointing now?"
Jane cast the spell and said, "Mostly west. Are we ready to go?"
"Let me get something to drink first.", Hermione said. "Anybody need a Pepper Up potion?"
Receiving negative responses, Hermione downed her drink and stood up. The other two followed her example.
"What should we do about those?", Jane asked, pointing to what looked like large eggs in the toe of the 'boot'"
"Hmm. There are hundreds of eggs there.", Hermione noted. If we just leave them, they will hatch and possibly overwhelm the Splitpaws. I say we lob some Fireballs in that direction and reduce the number significantly. I'm sure the few spiders we've missed can make more."
"Sounds like too too good idea.", Shampoo grinned.
Hermione and Jane cast several Fireball spells at the eggs which left that part of the cave in flames. That done, the girls headed west. The top of the 'boot' narrowed down into a tunnel. In a while, the tunnel narrowed sharply, then opened into a huge room filled with giant spiders and egg sacs.
Without pausing, Hermione created her domed fort except with no door.
"I think we should stick with a ranged approach for a while!", she said with a grimace. "There are so many of them that we are going to have to rest at some point and the door is a weak point."
"I agree!", Shampoo said. "I've got plenty of arrows and we have the rest of the afternoon. We should take turns resting so that there is always someone attacking."
"That makes sense.", Hermione agreed. "Jane, you rest first and you can relieve Shampoo when she tires."
"No, Hermione.", Jane responded. "You just cast a large transfiguration and need to recover. You rest first."
"You're right, Jane.", Hermione conceded. "Change out every fifteen minutes or so?
"That will do at first.", Shampoo said. "Depending on how the battle goes, we may have to have two resting while the other maintains the offense."
Jane and Shampoo took their places at the arrow slots and began the battle. They first had to clear the spiders off that were trying to come through the narrow openings. That done, Jane transfigured any thing she could see into lions, tigers, wolves, and bears. Shampoo loosed arrow after arrow until she couldn't target any spiders. Hermione replaced her at the slot and began transfiguring spider bodies into attack animals.
Hours later, the attack animals were no longer finding anything to attack so the girls all set down to rest. Hermione passed around Pepper Up potions and they all downed them. After another thirty minutes with no sounds of battle, she opened up a door in the dome and Shampoo cautiously stuck her head out. She waved the others forward and stepped into a scene of major carnage.
There were bodies everywhere. Mostly spiders but also some of the animals that had not yet reverted to their original state. Following the trace, they came to the body of a spider that was as big as a compact car. Nearby was a dark crystal with runes carved in it. Shampoo sighed and bashed it with a mace turning it into powder.
"That's it then.", she said. "Time to report back to the chief."
"I guess we can clean up now.", Hermione said as she pulled her wand.
"Wait!", Shampoo commanded. "Is best to let chief see evidence of battle first!"
"I suppose you are right.", Hermione said, thinking. "Let me revert the dome and I'll apparate us back to the entrance. We can walk back to where he is at from there. No point in startling the chief or his guards. Here let me get you some hot water."
As they walked up to the chief, his eyes widened. "You show the signs of many battles. I am glad to see you well. How fared you mission?"
"We found the crystal and destroyed it.", Shampoo said tiredly. "It was next to a large spider which may have been the Queen you mentioned. Her body was wider than my arms will reach. We believe we killed most of the crawlers but we didn't enter every passage. We also destroyed a lot of egg sacs."
"You have done us a great service!", he exclaimed. He rummaged around in his pack for a minute and handed each of the girls an amulet. "These will identify you as friends of the Splitpaw clan. Here is also some coin as thanks to you. You are welcome to stay with us as long as you like. Feel free to look around. I must organize a party to see if we can recover some of the crawlers for our stores."
"Thank you, Chief Whitesnout, but we must be going.", Hermione said taking the coin. "We wish you and your clan well."
The trio bowed slightly and turned in the direction of the upper tunnels but when they got out of sight, Hermione cast a Cleaning charm. They then contacted Luna and Kasumi to confirm their location and slid to them.
TBC (6)
Footnotes:
(1) Some professions, especially Illusionists and Coercers, have special spells that stun or mesmerize enemies, taking them temporarily out of the fight.
(2) These rocks exist in game so I'm not just making them up for the convenience of the story although I would if I needed them. (grin)
(3) In the Everquest II game, ghosts are just like any other monster and can be hit with a sword or whatever. I do seem to recall when the game first launched, ghosts and other undead took only partial damage from physical attacks but, if so, that has changed. In this story's version of Norrath, ghosts are hard to hit.
(4) When I started this story, it had been years since one of my characters visited this zone and I had forgotten how annoying it is with weak crates you have to stack, boards you have to move, walls you destroy with explosive barrels you have to climb up to get. Hermione and/or Jane will just use their Earth magic to overcome these obstacles. Also, for this story, I may change the makeup of the monsters found in various locations.
(5) For my story, Semren Whitesnout is a chief of the Splitpaw clan.
(6) Yeah! I finished before August was over!