The Dark Fellowship
The Company of the Black Moon
Chapter Two
They called her Oathbreaker. Traitor. Yet she always knew they had been the ones to betray her. All her life Ellis had looked up to their so-called holy order, followed their rituals, obeyed their edicts. It was in her striving to better herself to serve that order that another paladin had introduced her to the teachings of Lornalhan the Blademaster- a warrior whose skill helped him ascend over other humans to grab divinity for himself.
Lornalhan's wisdom had seen Ellis win battles and survive quests her fellows did not, she had become a champion of the order thanks to his teachings. Yet when the stodgy old farts who led the order learned of her secret devotion they chastised her for looking up to a heretic, an alleged war criminal. She argued she could not change the sins of his past but she used what she learned from the Blademaster for what she then thought a noble cause- was that not what was important?
The fools denounced her, she'd fled for her life, eventually came to hide in possibly the one place on the world for some strange reason their clerics could not divine her location. Here she nursed her grudges, here she meditated on revenge.
These memories intruded on Ellis as she practiced her devotions. Unlike other, softer gods one did not pray to the Blademaster by grovelling on one's knees, but by keeping one's body strong and skills sharp. Realizing how distracted she was Ellis sheathed her sword of life stealing- and suddenly noticed the smell of decaying flesh.
Stepping into the hall Ellis pondered the ever-burning torches that lined the corridors. The tower above that housed the wizard who built this place was nothing but ruins; strange the vault beneath would hold out so much better, though more than a few of the creatures bound to the dungeon had been slain over time, including whatever once inhabited the room she now claimed for herself. The enduring magic of this place kept her neighbours unable to tread far from their cells; the only other to walk the halls was a doppelganger whose derangements left him unable to hold the same face for more than a few seconds- and, she just realized, she had not seen or heard for several days now.
The smell led to Hlyddyhth's chamber. Strange, the illithid was not above calling a goblin from the tunnels below for the occasional snack but he always somehow disposed of the body before it could putrefy, unless…
"Well, hello there," Ellis mused on seeing Hlyddyhth's corpse. The mind flayer lay flat on his back and had been dead for some time. Coming closer to examine the body she noticed tiny feathered bolts sticking out of each eye on his tentacle face. Beside him lay an empty scroll tube but nothing else was taken that she could see.
Plucking a bolt out of one of the illithid's eye Ellis examined it more closely. She recalled once, when part of the order, she'd slain a dark elf assassin who shot such missiles from a tiny, one-handed crossbow- he'd also possessed the sword she now wore; at the time the order had trusted her to 'keep it out of the wrong hands'.
Ellis left the room to search for more signs of drow intrusion. If the dark elves had come in any number either they'd passed her by or come and gone while she was on one of her needed supply runs. Sure enough, a breach showed itself in the floor of a former broom closet near Garadon's chamber. For a moment she wondered if the drow had slain Garadon as well but if so they'd taken pains to hide the body- which seemed unlikely as they'd left Hlyddyhth to rot.
She sought out the other beasts confined to this vault; that the beholder, mimic, troll and medusa still lived and their charges remained were evidence enough the dark elves had missed or ignored them. The hag Ydora, however, admitted to seeing the shapeshifter lead several drow toward the chamber originally assigned to beasts known as cloakers. Her earlier explorations had shown Ellis that chamber to have been looted long before her arrival, yet beyond it was a massive, heavy steel door- which had now been breached, a section of it seeming to have corroded overnight.
As little light got past the breach Ellis went back to retrieve her lantern. Light source in one hand, sword in the other she advanced carefully. Just inside the chamber on the floor lay the dead forms of thirty small 'things', possibly the product of some wizardly experiment. Further inside lay the grisly remains of seven dark elves, a pile of dust, and two pools of slime, possibly the residue of two slain demons. Garadon's corpse was nowhere in sight; the only other bodies were those of eight creatures- the least strange of them a cat- that appeared to have died defending a now empty chest. Near that chest lay the two sections of a mace, it's haft broken in two, both pieces discarded like trash.
What had happened here? Where was Garadon and had any drow left with him? For the first in a long time Ellis felt the stirrings of curiosity.
Months later…
Within the wall surrounding Stoneruin, formerly known as Steelward Keep, the drow wizard Shoutanei watched as his companions tested their recently altered weapons. In anticipation of going up against a company of werewolves Garadon had taken his sword, Kezreck's mace and Path-Chak's polearm to the local smith to have them silver plated. Kezreck had complained about how much the procedure would set them back but Shoutanei pointed out they would be effective against other enemies as well.
Looking at the bone staff in Shoutanei's hand Kezreck asked, "How come that oversized tibia doesn't need silver plating?"
"First of all it's an oversized femur," Shoutanei corrected, "Second it is a powerful magic weapon in its own right, as befitting an inheritance from the greatest teacher of wizardry I could ever have hoped for."
"Your teacher?" Garadon interjected, "Didn't you say you stabbed another student's dagger through his eye while he slept?"
"Ours was a complicated relationship," Shoutanei answered.
"Yeah but our relationship is fairly simple right?" Kezreck asked, "Right?"
Shoutanei looked to Path-Chak, "You have prepared the proper spells? We set out tomorrow and I would see this done as soon as possible."
The thri-kreen confirmed he had prepared at least one remove curse spell and retained several more in scroll form that they'd stolen form the giant priestess/mage Vahnabi.
Shoutanei nodded, as he turned to go inside the keep Kezreck shouted, "Hey, you still haven't answered my question!"
The following morning the four rode out, following the king's map to Elderwood. They were a short distance from the trial into the forest when Kezreck stopped his croltorm mount; the others headed back to him and Garadon asked what was wrong.
"Um- hello?" Kezreck pointed to Shoutanei, "Dark elf," then to himself, Bugbear," then Path-Chak, "Bug man? We go in there without warning we'll be shot so full of arrows we'll all look like big-ass pincushions."
"Under most circumstances the goblinoid would be right," a feminine voice sounded seemingly from nowhere; out of the brush stepped a she-elf clutching a wooden staff, "However the humans warned me to anticipate your arrival and informed me of its purpose. I am the druid Thornstaff.
"The Company of the Black Moon prowls these entire woods, however you'll find a cabin about a mile northeast of the forest's heart; they repaired the place and use it as their lair- I suggest you first check the surrounding area for traps."
She saw the human stare at her briefly before nodding to his companions, as if she'd passed some silent test. They rode down the path leading into the wood; once they were out of sight she overturned the ring on her finger. A gift from the wizard among the Company of the Black Moon, he'd altered a 'ring of mind shielding' in such a way as it not only hid one's thoughts from mind readers, it actually fed any with whatever misleading information she desired- a voice in the back of her head told her this gift had just now come in very handy…
Crouching low, Garadon observed the cabin. Like the druid said it was recently repaired. Also like she said there were many nasty surprises left for any intruders, he'd found several but left them undisturbed to avoid giving himself away.
Completing a circuit around the structure yet seeing no signs of life inside he doubled back to his companions and briefed them on his reconnaissance.
"I knew it wouldn't be this easy," Kezreck muttered, "Guess we'll have to hunt the buggers down."
Path-Chak telepathically reminded him they were offered more pay for curing the werewolves, then Kezreck asked, "Yeah, but what if they don't want to be cured?"
"What do you mean?" Shoutanei asked.
"These werewolf types only turn against their will during the full moon, right?" Kezreck started, "That happens around once a month but, "He pointed to the pocket in Shoutanei's robe carrying the scroll tube provided them, "The info the king gave us says they've been making trouble a lot more often than that."
The others gasped as they realized he was right; Shoutanei turned to ask Garadon, "That druid we spoke to- you're certain she was on the level?"
"Not anymore," Garadon could not recall someone ever fooling his psychic talents, limited though they may be- but now he wondered if this was one of those proverbial first times for everything.
They huddled, and decided the cabin warranted further exploration. Rather then bring their mounts into potential danger they led the reptiles off the forest trail and into the brush, trusting the animals were smart enough not to follow and could look after themselves. Garadon led the other three toward the cabin.
Someone would need to stand guard without; normally this responsibility would fall to Garadon however Shoutanei felt the infiltrator's skills would be needed inside. Kezreck laughed when Path-Chak volunteered; rather than take offence the thri-kreen merely turned his shell the same color as the foliage of a nearby tree. Once climbing that tree, he was indistinguishable from the leaves surrounding him.
"I didn't know he could do that," Kezreck then turned to Garadon and Shoutanei, "Did either of you know he could do that?"
Garadon shrugged, "He never seemed to think of it until now," He turned and set about disabling traps, clearing a path for the other two to follow.
Once they reached the cabin proper Garadon jimmied open a window and climbed inside; a moment later he unlocked and opened the door and let the other two in.
Aside from a space set aside to cook meals and another set for the latrine the cabin was basically one room. Against the walls were five beds, three for human-sized occupants, one low and short enough for a Halfling, the last reinforced to support the bulky frame of a dwarf- all consistent with the king's information. Before each bed rested a footlocker; Garadon opened all five to find out they were empty.
"This isn't right," Shoutanei muttered, "Feels like were sitting flumphs."
Kezreck looked down at the rug beneath their feet, "Maybe there's a trapdoor – "
"If there is we've no time to open it," Garadon said, "I can sense them- they're here, and they've got us surrounded…"