Standing under the dull rays of the late afternoon sun, Dall looked out over the vast landscape of lush green forest on the top of the ox cart. he listened vigilantly for the ever familiar sound of rasping breath. Much to his delight he only heard the melodies of wild birds, as well as their own doves and oxen.
From beneath Dall's lookout, a half-elf wove through the bustling crowd of people and towards an unlit fireplace. She wore a plain white blouse and tight-fitting trousers. In her hand she carried a crude basket swaying to the half-elf's careless movement of the arms.
Lorelai looked up from the fire to see Amee walking towards her. She had to stop herself for sighing loudly with relief.
"Any luck?" she asked her.
Amee reached into the basket and pulled out a handful of field mushrooms from the forest. She dropped them in the metal bowl Lorelai held up.
"How do we know if they're poison?"
"Uh..." Lorelai searched for the answer to whatever Amee just asked. She did hear something, but couldn't focus at the moment. She had other things on her mind. "There's only one way to be certain that I know of."
Amee smiled knowingly. "Ask Shaan when he gets back?"
Lorelai placed the bowl on the ground, almost throwing it. "Yes. You have it."
She would've tried to be more polite and social, but her mind was racing. She grabbed the bucket from Amee's hand and forced herself not to run. She was then aware at her rather aggressive retrieval of the bucket.
"Thank you." She said quickly, and made her way to the ox cart.
"Dall." She called out. "I'm going into the forest." She turned her head to see her son playing with small horses and ships carved out of wood.
"My dear," Chorrol looked up. "I want you to stay here where Dall can see you, ok?"
"Yes, mother." Chorrol muttered and continued his miniature warfare.
"You too." Dall called out. "Don't wander too far. Stay within shouting distance. And if you see anything, yell. I'll come running."
She turned away. "Yes, mother." She muttered under her breath.
Lorelai strolled along the dimly lit path illuminated only by the rays of sun penetrating the cracks in the canopy of leaves above. The chirping of insects accompanied her as she walked. Her heart was pounding with anticipation.
She spotted a berry bush ahead of her and moved towards it. She knelt down and began to fill the basket. Behind her, a twig snapped, followed later by a flock of birds flapping away from the direction of the sound.
Lorelai stood dead still. She scanned the forest behind her carefully. After a few long minutes, she returned her attention to the bush, moving faster this time.
When she was finished, she rose to her feet and continued down the path.
Another snap of a branch. Lorelai her darted her gaze around her. Wings of fleeing birds resonated overhead. With every step she felt fear seep in. Her breathing became heavy and jagged. Branches snapped behind her, getting closer each time.
Lorelai was just about to drop the basket and run when a hand shot out from the side and wrapped around her mouth. She tried to scream in terror, but it was muffled. She felt herself being launched onto the grass. She looked up she looked up to see her attacker, and she let herself relax.
Shaan stood over her with a lop-sided grin on his face. He removed his hand over her mouth.
She tried to refrain from laughing and punched his arm. He flinched from the strike.
"You scared me." She growled through a relieved grin spread across her face.
"I would think." He laughed, clearly finding pleasure in Lorelai's distress. "That's what you get for keeping me waiting. Where have you been?"
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Amee the mushroom queen, I had to wait for her to get back."
Shaan pinned her arms above her, pressed his lips into hers and they kissed passionately. Lorelai pushed herself up into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around him.
Shaan broke away. "How much time do we have?"
"Enough." Lorelai worked the knot of his belt as fast as she could.
Shaan undid his tunic and tore it off his body as Lorelai pulled off his trousers. He lifted her dress above her waist and ran his tongue along her navel. She moaned in anticipation and writhed from the touch. She pulled the dress over her head and threw it to the side.
He stopped and sat up. His eyes fell onto a golden heart-shaped locket that hung around her neck. He shifted uncomfortably on top of her and looked into her eyes. The necklace was a gift from Rillick on their wedding day.
Reluctantly, Lorelai forced her hands onto the necklace and slipped it off. She threw it on the ground and wrapped her arms around him, trying to shake the guilt she felt.
Shaan ripped himself away, grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. She gasped as she felt Shaan enter her. She dug her hands into the dirt until her knuckles grew white.
In between her panting, she thought of her late husband, then quickly dispelled it. Rillick would want her to move on, she considered. She was not betraying him...
"Hey, you alright in there!?"
Rillick stood in the center of his magical sanctuary as the walkers pushed relentlessly into its surface, staggered back by its shock. He caressed his head, still throbbing from his encounter with the guard. Above him, the distant form of an elf called from the roof of the nearest house. He squinted against the sun and looked up.
"Ow. Hey!"
"That's a relief! You had me wondering!"
"Who are you!? What are you doing up there!?"
The stranger knelt down precariously at the corner. "That's not important! You're surrounded by gluttons! That's the bad news!"
Rillick frowned. "There's good news!?"
"Nope!"
He let out an annoyed sigh. A part of him hoped there was, though he knew that was foolish.
"Listen," Rillick said carefully, "whoever you are, I don't mind telling you I'm a little concerned here!" he gestured toward the walkers surrounding him.
The stranger stood up and scanned his surroundings. "Oh, hells! You should see it from up here! You'd be having a right downer!"
"Have any advice for me!?"
Rillick could faintly see the elf nod his head. "Aye, I'd say make a run for it!"
There was a pause. Rillick waited for him to continue, to correct himself or explain further, but he just continued to stare down at him. Realization came to him.
"That's it!?" he asked, bewildered at the insane idea. "Make a run for it!?"
"My way is not as idiotic as it sounds!" the elf spoke again. "I happen to know how that staff of yours works! Point the gem in front of you to create a burst! That'll create an opening through the gluttons! Most have joined the feeding frenzy where the horse man went down! You with me so far!?"
"Alenn!" he clarified. Rillick's stomach caved at the memory of his friend's violent end. With all that happened, he did not have time to acknowledge it.
"What!?"
"His name was Alenn!"
The stranger didn't respond. Although Rillick was insulted, he thought it best to mourn the loss later and deal with the pressing matters in the present. "Yes! Yes, I'm with you so far!"
"Ok!" at first, his voice sounded forced, and slightly awkward. He swiftly continued. "See the street on the side that's less crowded!? Use the staff in that direction! If you move now, you stand a chance! You have weapons!?"
Rillick placed his hand to the swords at his belt. "A shortsword and a longsword!" he looked over and pointed to the alleyway he emerged from. "I have others in the blanket I dropped over there but I don't think that's an option!" something occurred to him. "Hold on!"
Looking back towards the dead guard, he remembered grabbing hold of something when the walker tried to crawl on top of him. Lying a short way from the guard was a round metal shield. He marched over to it and picked it up. He rose it skyward to show the elf.
"Okay, good!" the elf continued. "Once you use the burst, the staff will be useless so don't bother keeping it! Just keep going in that direction!" he extended his arm in the direction behind Rillick. "There's another alleyway up the street maybe fifty yards! Be there!"
With that, he disappeared from view.
"Hey, what's your name!?" Rillick called out, but no answer.
He turned to face the direction he was told to head. "Right."
He unclipped his cloak and let it fall. He wouldn't be needing it anymore, and it would just be a burden. He tied the leather buckles on the shield around his left arm, drew his longsword and picked up the staff. He took some time to slow his breathing, then inhaled quickly and thrust it forward. The barrier immediately dissipated and a burst of transparent energy erupted out of the gem. The walkers were thrown back, creating a clear path ahead of him.
Rillick dropped the staff and surged forward, barrelling into two with his shield. He deflected one to the side and cut its legs and brought his sword into the head of another in front of him. The crowd in front started to grow in size as Rillick raced towards them. To his left he saw the Alleyway the elf spoke of. He rounded the corner when a walker lunged into view. He rose his sword to strike.
"Woah! Not dead! Come on! Come on!"
The elf grabbed Rillick's arm and dragged him through. He let go and they sprinted down the narrow corridor. The walkers began to gain speed as they chased them.
"Faster! Come on! Come on!"
They stopped at a trellis reaching up along the side of the house, with vines long since dried up. Rillick sheathed his sword and began to follow the elf up the wall. The shield fastened on his arm made it difficult. He struggled to keep up with his new companion who scrambled up with practised speed.
He turned and looked down towards Rillick. "What are you doing? Come on!"
Reluctantly, he pulled at the shield's straps with his teeth and let it fall, engulfed by the growling carpet of fleshy arms. Unburdened, he scrambled up to a balcony where the stranger heaved him up and over the railings.
The two leant on the railing, breathing heavily. Rillick's heart shook his entire body with every beat, out of both exhaustion and fear. They stared at the mass below them. The stranger turned his head.
"Nice moves there, Lady Aribeth." He said through gasps of breath. "You the new paladin come to protect us townsfolk?"
Rillick shook his head with bemusement. "It wasn't my intention."
The stranger's skin was a pale yellow with piercing eyes of silver and short ashen black hair. He wore simple commoners clothing, a half-full backpack that he was constantly adjusting, and a white shoulder-cloak with a blue stripe draped over his left shoulder. He rolled his eyes and walked towards the trellis.
"Yeah, whatever. Have at the." He looked back at him. "You're still an orcwit."
Rillick smiled slightly and held out his hand. "Rillick. You have my thanks."
The elf merely stared and blinked at the outstretched hand greeting him. As if no one had done that in a long time. Finally, he accepted and they grasped each other's wrists.
"Gelnen." He replied. "You're welcome. Oh no."
There was a loud crack and the trellis below broke away and plummeted to the ground. The walkers howled below them as they clawed at the now empty wall. Gelnen looked up. Fortunately there was still more trellis left that lead to the roof. He gave Rillick a wry grin.
"The bright side?" he said. "I'll be the fall that kills us." He jumped onto the railing and let out an amused breath at Rillick's confused expression. "I'm a glass-half-full kind of elf."
The two climbed up the trellis and onto the roof away from the walkers that howled below them.
Rillick followed Gelnen across the rooftops over wide planks of wood placed between houses overlooking the crowded streets below.
"You're the one who barricaded the docks district?" Rillick finally cut the silence between them.
Gelnen vaulted over the parapet wall that extended around the building's edge. Rillick followed close behind.
"Somebody did, I guess when the city got overrun. Whoever did it was thinking not many gluttons would get through."
"Back there," Rillick swiftly changed the subject, "why did you risk your life to help me?"
Gelnen stopped at a metal plate and pulled it back to reveal a carefully made hole in the roof.
"Call it foolish, naive hope," his voice strained at the effort of lifting the heavy slab of steel, "that if I'm ever that far up in shit creek, somebody might do the same to me." He knelt down and pulled up a knotted rope and lowered himself down into the darkness. He stopped and looked up at him.
"Guess I'm an even bigger orcwit than you."
He disappeared down the hole.
Rillick climbed in after him, sliding the plate back over them. Gelnen hurried through the rooms of the dishevelled house, down the stairs and towards a back door, all the while Rillick struggled to keep up.
Gelnen pulled the door open and they stepped out. Into the path of two walkers who turned their heads towards them. he gasped and stood paralysed, unsure of what to do. As the walkers closed in on them, Rillick stepped forward and prepared to fight, but before he could draw his blade, the door on the opposite side swung open and two small people burst out wearing splint armor and full helmets. They charged at the creatures and knocked them over with their maces and caved in their skulls. They looked up.
"I'm back." Gelnen told them with urgency in his voice. "Got a guest."
The armoured soldiers nodded and Gelnen grabbed Rillick by the arm and pulled him towards the doorway. "Ever wanted to visit Moonstone Mask?" Gelnen asked.
"I... suppose." Rillick answered.
Behind them, two more undead shuffled from around the corner.
He smirked. "Welcome."
"Morralees, let's go!" Rillick heard one of them say, and they followed Rillick and Gelnen inside.
When he emerged into the warmly lit room, there was no time to even get his bearings before Rillick was shoved into a pile of crates and felt the cold steel of a blade held up to his throat. He fought all his urges to attack out of reflex.
"Son of a whore. We should kill you."
As his initial panic began to die down, he was able to register his attacker was a half-elf woman in crude leather armor and blonde hair messily tied behind her. Her eyes were burning with anger, and fear.
"Simmer down, Anderea. Yield." The smaller one of the two armoured warriors strode towards her and pulled off his helmet. Underneath was a halfling with tanned skin and curly black hair.
A dark-skinned human woman sidled up to Anderea. "Come now, restrain yourself."
Anderea shot a glare at her and laughed mockingly. "Restrain myself? You're pulling my leg, right?" she turned back to Rillick. "We're dead because of this stupid whelp."
"Simmer down, Anderea." The halfling rose his voice slightly.
Everyone fell silent as they awaited what would happen next. Anderea burned into Rillick with her glare, who kept his breathing level as he studied her.
"Well," Morralees crossed his arms and sneered, "cut him down."
Anderea pressed the blade further into his throat and stopped. Rillick could see her knuckles grow white. Tears began to emerge in her eyes and she stepped back, lowering her blade. He could feel the tension lift from the room.
Anderea stared at him in defeat. "We're dead, all of us, because of you."
He frowned and looked around at the strangers before him. "I don't understand."
Morralees grabbed his wrist and roughly dragged him through the open door into a hallway. He was quite strong for a halfling. "Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. Do ye know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving. You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, stealth. Not lighting up the streets with your bloody magic show like it's the festival of Midsummer."
"Every glutton for miles followed ye here." A dwarf, the second armoured warrior, spoke from behind him.
When they emerged into a large room with dirty red carpets, Morralees let go and faced him.
Anderea stopped at Rillick's side, staring straight ahead. "You lead them right to a banquet."
He gestured towards the front doors. "Get it now?"
Rillick stared ahead over Morralees to the barricaded double-doors at the front. The windows on either side were eclipsed by the dozens of writhing hands scratching and clawing on the stained glass. He could hear the scraping of wood from the doors barricaded by an armoir lying on it's side in front of the doors. It sounded like there were thousands of them. Perhaps even more.
They stood silent, waiting for the shattering of the glass. The sign for them to make a break for it. Finally, Anderea turned her head to Rillick.
"What were you doing out there?" she snapped in a harsh whisper.
Rillick cleared his dry throat. "Trying to alert the wyvern."
The dwarf shot him a confused glare. "Wyvern? That's a dung-pile. Aren't any sodding wyvern."
"You were imagining things." The dark-skinned human pitched into the conversation. "It happens."
"I saw it." He snapped.
Morralees heaved an exasperated sigh. He had climbed up onto the counter and now stood level with the rest of the group.
"Hey, Ty-Varaz," he addressed the dwarf, not veering his gaze from the front, "see if ye can find some paper and ink so we can write the others."
As the dwarf shuffled out the room, Rillick's eyes lightened up. "You have doves? Here?" a glimmer of hope arose from inside him.
Morralees smiled with amusement. "But of course."
"So there are others? From the refugee centre?"
He heard a laugh behind him.
"Yeah, the refugee centre." The dark-skinned woman's voice was smothered in sarcasm. "They've got sweet-cakes waiting in the oven for us."
The dwarf 'Ty-Varaz' returned with a dove on his shoulder covered in dirt and grime.
"Cannae find any." He said. "Maybe upstairs."
A loud gravelly cry of laughter reached them, muffled from the walls. Everyone pivoted their heads to the sound.
"C'mon, you bastards! That all you got!? C'mon!"
"Oh, no." Anderea muttered. "Is that Dixxiun?"
The dark-skinned woman put her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose. "What is that madman doing?"
They all seemed satisfied the windows would hold and all shoved their way down the hall.
Gelnen, who was staying quiet the entire time, pushed himself off the counter. "Come on, lets go."
Rillick followed them through the corridor and out the back door to a weed-ridden hedge-garden with a dry fountain in the center. They stopped just beyond the wide open metal gate. Out on the street, surrounded by a circle of dead undead bodies, stood the biggest half-orc Rillick had ever seen. Large, muscles like barrels, with light brown leather-like skin. He wore an open sleeveless vest over his bare chest, leather greaves and thick hide boots. He held a halberd in his hand, blood from recent kills dripping off the blade.
"Hey, Dixxiun, are ye crazy!?" Morralees called out in panicked anger.
"Oh, seven hells." Sighed Anderea behind him.
The creature burst into a low booming laugh, punched an approaching walker onto the ground and turned around. This allowed Rillick to better look at Dixxiun. He looked more orc than human sporting a flat nose and two thick tusks that protruded up from the bottom of his mouth.
He stopped at the gate and pointed the tip of the halberd towards them. "Hey, one should be more polite to a man with a blade! Only common sense."
The half-orc swaggered into the garden. Anderea and Gelnen hastily closed the gate behind him. As he strode towards them, he towered over the group, Rillick came up to at least chest hight on him and poor Morralees was eclipsed.
"Ye putt'n yerself in danger for no reason!" Ty-Varaz walked forwards, his face red. "And ya bring 'em down on our arses with yer screamin'! Just simmer!"
Dixxiun glared flaming daggers at the dwarf and stalked towards him. "Hey, bad enough I've got this knee-high runt on me all day." He pointed towards Morralees. "Now I take orders from you? I don't think so, friend. That'll be the day.
Ty-Varaz fought back his nervousness as Dixxiun approached and met him with his own steely glare. "Tha'll be tha day? Ye got som'n ye want ta tell me?" in hindsight, Ty-Varaz knew this was a bad idea, but he couldn't show weakness around people like this. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder.
"Ty-Varaz, just leave it." Morralees said carefully. "It isn't worth it." He looked up at the towering half-orc and rose his voice but kept up his gentle tone. "Now, Mrrl, just relax, OK? We've got enough trouble."
Rillick stood silent as the whole affair took place. He started towards Mrrl to quell the conflict, but Gelnen reached for his arm to stop him and shook his head.
"You want to know the day?" Mrrl edged closer to Ty-Varaz.
"Aye."
He sneered at the dwarf and leant over him. "I'll tell you my 'wee li'le laddie'." He lowered his voice to a rumble. "It's the day I take orders from a caveman."
Without thinking, Ty-Varaz shot his fist out to club Mrrl in the jaw. It sailed past him and his face connected with the bottom of a boot. He crashed onto the intricate stonework floor.
The garden was instantly filled with a chorus of panicked, pleading voices. The brutish half-orc grabbed Ty-Varaz by the shirt and pounded his fist into him over and over again. No one dared to move in to stop him, lest they suffer the same fate.
"Hey, come on, Mrrl! That's enough!"
"Come on! Dixxiun! Dixxiun!"
As everyone spouted meaningless words Mrrl's way, Rillick rushed forward on instinct, but as he closed in on him, Mrrl looked behind him and threw a punch at Rillick. Caught unaware, and not counting for the power behind a blow from such a creature, he stumbled backwards and over a hedge, disappearing behind it.
"Dixxiun! Stop it!"
"Yield!"
"Dixxiun, get off him!"
Mrrl turned his rage back on the groaning, bruised figure before him. He smashed his foot into his victim's ribs. Ty-Varaz keeled over, his head connected with the broken marble fountain. He dropped a knee into his chest and drove his fist again and again into the dwarf's face.
"Dixxiun! You're going to hurt him!"
"Mrrl, yield!"
The world spun in a hazy blur. The voices continued, muffled by a high-pitched ringing. Rillick staggered to his feet and gripped his head to support it. As everything slowly came to focus, he blinked and stared in front to see a small guard outpost overlooking the streets beyond the fence. He stumbled towards it, gaining speed and balance with each step.
The group surrounded the two, unsure of how to proceed. Morralees cursed himself for his inaction and rushed forward to stop him. That proved to be a bad idea as the halfling acquired a face full of elbow was launched back, sprawling on the cracked ornate path. He groaned in pain and as he picked himself up, he gasped in shock as Mrrl halted his relentless assault and pulled a dagger from his boot.
The two were breathing heavily, Mrrl's breaths sounded like beastly growls. He pressed his crude curved dagger onto Ty-Varaz's throat.
"No, no, no, please. Please!"
Ty-Varaz no longer tried to hide his fear. He whimpered underneath the orc's hulking form. Everyone took a step back.
As Mrrl began to return to reality, he remained where he was, taking in where he was and what just happened. He gathered a collection of saliva and mucus and spat into Ty-Varaz's clothes. He rose to his feet and jumped out of the fountain.
"Yeah! All right!" he announced. "We'll have ourselves a little butting of heads, talk about who's in charge."
The three cautiously moved forward and dragged Ty-Varaz away.
"I vote me. Anybody else?" he brandished his dagger. "Show of hands? All in favour? Come now. Lets see 'em."
"Oh, come now." Anderea groaned.
Everyone stared at him, terrified. Mrrl loved every second of it.
"All in favour? Yes."
Knowing full well what might occur if they refused, They all reluctantly rose their hands.
"That's good." Mrrl grinned triumphantly. "Now that means I'm the boss, right? Yes. Anybody else?" he stretched his hands out. "Anybody?"
"Aye."
Mrrl turned to the unfamiliar voice, only to see a flash of wood and something strike the side of his head. He crumpled over into the fountain, his back against the pedestal in the center of the fountain's base. He heard the clink of metal and felt something press against his chest.
Rillick dropped the halberd back on the ground and pushed the long chain from his shoulder. He jogged around to the back of Mrrl and wrapped the chain around him several times then secured it with a brass padlock. He wandered around again and knelt down to his level. His face millimetres away from Mrrl's.
"Who in the seven hells are you?" he growled in confused frustration.
"A friend." Sneered Rillick, then snatched the curved dagger and threw it to the side where it disappeared in the grass. "Look here, Mrrl, things are different now. There are no 'cavemen' anymore. Only flesh. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together not apart."
"Pike off, berk." Mrrl snarled.
Rillick looked at the ground beside him and let out a short, frustrated breath. This man was really testing his patience.
"I can see you make a habit of missing the point."
The orc made no effort to change his demeanour. ""Yeah? Well, pike off twice. Berk."
At that moment, Rillick snapped. He stood up, drew his longsword and rested the edge on Mrrl's neck.
"Ought to be polite to a man with a blade." He mimicked the orc's words. "Only common sense."
The others hung back, clearly nervous of the newcomer.
Mrrl looked up at him. Rillick could finally see a hint of worry in his eyes.
"You wouldn't." Said Mrrl with a smirk, trying to hide his concern. "You're a guard."
"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son." He explained. "Anybody that gets in the way of that will lose." He let his words linger in the air, then sheathed his sword. "I'll give you a moment to think about that."
He knelt back down and began to rifle through Mrrl's pockets, in case there were any concealed weapons or any other hidden surprises. His hand landed on a small object wrapped in paper. When he lifted it into view he saw what it was.
"Silkroot?" he asked mockingly and flicked the triangular stub that was his nose. "Looks like you've got some on your nose there."
Rillick had dealt with the plant a few times before. A nasty drug that can give the user heightened senses and temporary euphoria, but too much would cause one's stomach to get eaten away.
""What are you to do? Arrest me?" Mrrl laughed, but his smug grin quickly vanished as Rillick stood up and wandered over to a drain to the side of the path. "Hey! What are you doing?" he struggled against his binds, with no avail.
Rillick half-heartedly tossed the small parcel into the open drain and strolled back to the door of the outpost. The four glanced at each other. They heard the sound of rolling thunder.
"That was my stuff!" Mrrl shouted after them. "Hey! If I get loose, you'd better pray! You hear me, cur? You hear me?"
"Indeed," Rillick muttered to himself, "your voice carries."
"Do you hear me, filthy cur?" his cries continued, muffled as Rillick strolled into the outpost he retrieved the chains from.
He turned and leant back on the wall next to the window. He looked down at his hands and saw they were quivering furiously. Now that he was away from Mrrl and the others he could at last admit to how terrified he was during that encounter, for a reason he could not understand. He dealt with orcs before, he was practically no different. Perhaps because it was orcs that almost killed him, it brought up uncomfortable memories. He closed his eyes and sighed a shaky breath to calm his nerves.
"You're not from Neverwinter City Watch." A voice rang out. "Where ye from?"
When Rillick opened his eyes, he saw Morralees leaning against the wall opposite him.
Rillick smiled politely. "Up the road a ways."
Morralees chuckled and shook his head. "Well, ser 'friend from up the road a ways', welcome to the big city." His words were given a more dramatic touch from the thunder that struck in the distance.
Rillick turned his head and glanced sideways out the window. Only now did he notice the groaning from the vast quantities of undead roaming the streets beyond their sanctuary. He looked forward again at Morralees who motioned his head towards the door and walked out. Rillick followed suit.
"Gods, it's like the Docks District when the trade ships anchor." Rillick heard Anderea exclaim to the second human in the group. She was looking through the bars and the few walkers pressed against them.
"You sure there are no paper around?" Morralees asked Ty-Varaz as the two rejoined the group.
Ty-Varaz was sitting with his back against the building, sporting a black eye and cut lip. Dwarves were tough at least, thought Rillick, any other race would've gotten a serious concussion at the very least.
"Like Dixxiun's intelligence," the dwarf growled, glaring at Mrrl, "nowhere ta be found."
This caused a threatening snort from the chained half-orc.
"When ye've rested, keep searching."
Anderea called out behind them. "Why? There's nothing they can do." She turned her head front again. "Not a blighted thing."
Morralees looked up at Rillick. "Got some people outside the city is all." He explained. "There's no refugee centre."
Rillick cleared his throat. "Then she's right. We're on our own." He turned and addressed the entire group. "It's up to us to find a way out." He heard a low, rumbling, amused sigh.
"Good luck with that." Mrrl spoke, shifting himself inside his confines. "The streets aren't safe in this part of town from what I hear." He turned his gaze to Anderea as she slumped onto the ground, and grinned. "Isn't that right, sugerpuss?" when she continued to ignore her he leaned as far as he could in her direction. "Hey, what say you get me out of these chains, we go off somewhere quiet? Gonna die anyway."
"I'd rather." Muttered Anderea, making sure she never met his gaze. She rose to her feet and joined her human friend Ja'qi
"Rug muncher." She heard him say under his breath. "Figured as much."
"'The streets aren't safe'!" Morralees sighed, amused at the comment. "Now there's an understatement."
An idea struck Rillick. "What about under the streets? The sewers?"
"Oh, gods." Morralees' eyes widened and his mouth twitched into a hopeful smile, then turned to face the elf. "Hey, Gelnen, can ye see the aqueducts from here?"
He nodded and leapt onto a ladder that Rillick only now noticed. When he reached the roof he disappeared from view for a few seconds, then returned.
"No, must be further up the street where the gluttons are!" he called down to them.
"Maybe not." Rillick and Morralees turned around to see Anderea and Ja'qi walking up to them. Ja'qi continued. "Not many people know this, but wells near big structures like the Moonstone Mask often connect to drainage tunnels leading into the sewers." She pointed to the well at the far corner.
Morralees wore a confused frown. "How do ye know this?"
She looked down at him, then back to Rillick. "It's my job. Was. I made maps of the city."
"This is it? Are you sure?" Morralees' asked, sceptical.
Everyone surrounded the well and peered down the circular chasm.
"I searched this place the other times I was here." Gelnen lowered a lit lantern. It's light revealed a ladder fixed to the wall. "It's the only thing in the building that goes down that far. But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?" He gave a wry grin, but when he looked up, his smile quickly vanished to see a collection of expectant stares. He looked back down and sighed. "Oh. Great."
Anderea lay a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be right behind you."
Gelnen frowned shook his head, urgency in his voice. "No, you won't. Not you."
Upon hearing this, Anderea glared at him. "Why not me?" she snapped. "You think I can't?" it became quite clear to Rillick that Anderea had quite a temper.
"I wasn't..." Gelnen shifted uncomfortably. Nervousness, fear and frustration among other things surfaced in him.
"Speak your mind." Rillick said softly, giving Anderea a warning stare only a guard could give.
Gelnen remained silent for a few minutes, searching in his mind, tapping on the lantern with his free hand. Finally he took a deep breath and looked up at the waiting eyes before him.
"Look, until now I always came here myself. In and out, grab a few things. No problem." He began, choosing his words carefully. "The first time I bring a group, no disrespect, everything goes pear-shaped." He circled around the chasm, and lowered the lantern slightly more. "If you want me to go down this well, fine. But only if we do it my way." He looked back up at the group and paused. Gelnen took the silence as permission, and continued. "It's tight down there. If I run into something, I don't want you lodged up behind me, getting me killed. I'll take one person."
Rillick took one step forward but was stopped almost immediately. "Not you either. I've seen you handle a sword. I'd feel better if you were in the main room, covering our bottles." He looked at Anderea again, who was still fuming slightly. "You've got the only other weapon, so you should go with him." That seemed to calm her down. He pointed to Morralees. "You watch my back." He looked back up at Rillick. "Ja'qi stays here. Maybe you could let her borrow one of your swords. Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry."
After a collection of sporadic "OK's", Rillick joined his side and clapped his hand on Gelnen's shoulder. "OK, everybody knows their jobs." He announced.
As everyone dispersed to carry out their orders, Gelnen swung his legs over the outside wall and climbed down into the foreboding darkness below. Morralees then followed shortly after.
Rillick made his way into the main room. Anderea joined his side and smiled. The walkers still haven't let up, continuing to pound on the doors.
"Sorry for the sword on your throat." She said.
Rillick smiled back with relief. Finally we can leave this behind. "Folk do things when they're afraid."
Her smile disappeared. "Not that it was entirely unjustified. You did get us into this."
Rillick had to stifle a groan of frustration. "If I get us out," he said as calmly as he could, "would that make up for it?"
Anderea looked over at the writhing arms in the windows. "No, but it would be a start."
Rillick stealthily grit his teeth. This half-elf girl was unforgiving. What would she have him do, just sit there and let them devour him as they did Alenn? He quickly pushed that memory back. Not now, he thought. Then he remembered something, and smiled slyly to himself.
"Next time though, widen your stance and don't keep your arms so exposed." He said casually. "I could've easily grabbed your arm and tripped you over." He tried to hide the enjoyment in her expression.
"What are you talking about?" she snapped, and stared at him defiantly.
"Is that your sword?" he asked.
She placed a protective hand over the sheath. "It was a gift. Why?"
"Watch me." He drew his own shortsword and entered a fighting stance. "keep your legs apart and your body at an angle." He explained. "sword in front, arm bent slightly."
Anderea merely stared at him, acting like she was not listening, while secretly making mental notes. Rillick knew her kind all too well.
He sheathed his blade and returned to his casual stance. "This gives you balance, and protects your arms and legs." To him this was as easy as breathing.
"Good to know." Anderea mumbled.
"Blast! Eh, maybe that outpost."
Ty-Varaz shuffled back out the back garden and toward the oupost at the far corner, a dove swayed precariously on his shoulder, gurgling impatiently.
"The sooner you accept there's not a scrap of paper here," Mrrl called out, "the better for both of us." The dove set off cooing incessently. "Why don't you shut that bird up? It's giving me a headache."
Ty-Varaz shot him a tired glare. "Ray's done nott'n to ye. Pull yer 'ead out yer arse, maybe yer 'eadache'll go away. Try some positivity fer a change." He turned and began to walk away. "Bloody'ell."
"I'll tell you what," Mrrl called again, "you get me out of these chains and I'll be all Grimjaws positive for you." When Ty-Varaz turned to face him, he motioned his head towards a pile of various tools. "Hey, see that saw over there in that pile of tools? Get it for me, hm? Make it worth your while." He gave him a friendly grin. Or what he considered to be one, and reached up and yanked down on his binds. "What do you say? Come on. Get this thing off me."
Ty-Varaz stared at him and scoffed, bewieldered. "So ye can pummel me again? Or call me 'caveman' some more?" he did remember that, right?
Mrrl sighed loudly and rolled his head. "Come now. It wasn't personal. It's just that your kind and my kind aren't meant to mix. That's all." The smugness in his voice made Ty-Varaz want to deck him. "Hells, all the so called 'civil' races shouldn't. That doesn't mean we can't work together, as long as there's some kind of mutual gain involved." Ty-Varaz wasn't convinced in the slightest. Being beaten to a pulp does create some trust issues.
He though for a moment before looking at something lying on the ground. "I guess ye want me ta git that halberd over thar too so ye can cut up that guard when he come back 'ere, right?"
Mrrl stared defeated at him.
In the middle of almost pitch black darkness was the orange light of a lantern. Morralees and Gelnen stood in front of a metal grate fastened to the tunnel, barring their way.
"Aye, we got ourselves a sewer tunnel. Ja'qi was right." Morralees stated.
Gelnen shook the rusted metal squares. "Can we cut through it?"
"If we had a strong chisel or some acid and half a day. Sure. Dall's saw sure won't do it."
They heard something crunch on the other side of the grate. Gelnen extended the light closer to reveal a walker munching on a rat. He gasped and it turned. They locked eyes for a second, then it started to snarl at him. Without warning it let out an ear-shattering scream and lunged into the grate.
Rillick kept an eye on the flames of countless undead hands stroking the tinted windows on the side of the doors. He was also watching as Anderea held a sparkling emerald necklace in her hands. Her smile was gentle. Nostalgic, even. Rillick slowly approached her.
"See something you like?" he asked.
"Not me, but I know someone who would." she answered, then looked up from the necklace. "My sister. She's still such a child in some ways. She likes gems. Her favourite are emeralds."
Rillick shrugged his shoulders. "Why not take it?"
She gave him an amused smile. "There's a guard staring at me." Her tone shifted quickly as she looked down at the jewel. "Would it be considered stealing?" she asked, barely audible.
Rillick looked up and to the window. "I don't think those rules apply anymore, do you?"
She looked up at him with a thankful smile and pocketed the necklace.
Without warning, the windows smashed open and the once muffled moans from the outside grew much louder. Rillick rushed forward and drew his longsword. Anderea stayed behind him with her shortsword and Ja'qi ran into the room and to the other side of him with his own shortsword in hand. He heard two more sets of footsteps enter the room, and he could guess who they belonged to.
"What did you find down there?" he called behind him, raising his voice to be heard over the hoard's growling.
"Not a way out." Morralees answered.
The armoire moved ever so slightly forward, enough that a collection of withered hands slid through the crack between the doors. Rillick, Anderea and Gelnen raced forward to try to shove it back in place, but the thing didn't budge. The walkers were too strong and too many.
"It's no use!" Gelnen's voice began to grow panicked.
"We need to find another way out." So did Anderea's. "Soon."
Rillick tried to remain calm, and lead them all out to the garden and up the ladder. There were a few more walkers pressing against the fence below. Luckily the main force was out at the front.
Ja'qi handed him a telescope she found in another room, and he looked through the lens and out onto the street. His sights landed on exactly what he was searching for.
He passed the telescope to Morralees, standing on the bench. "That construction site, those carts," he explained, hope in his voice, "there should be some equipment nearby to tether a horse to."
"If we had one." Ja'qi commented.
Rillick couldn't help but smile slightly. "I do. I arrived here on one. She should be outside still. I just need to get there."
Morralees pointed the telescope in the direction Rillick was pointing. Sure enough, right in front of an unfinished two story shop were three battered and weathered, but intact, wooden four-wheel horse-carts standing seemingly abandoned. Just one was large enough to fit everyone and more. There was just one small problem.
"You'll never get past the walkers."
As they climbed back to ground level, Rillick turned to Gelnen. "You got me away from the hoard when I was in the barrier."
Gelnen crossed his arms in contemplation. "They were feeding then. They were distracted."
"Can we distract them again?"
They heard an audible grunt.
"Listen to him." Mrrl called out. "He on to something."
Rillick couldn't figure out if he was sincere or not. He thought it best to ignore him. He began to run scenarios in his head.
"They're drawn to sound, yes?"
Gelnen nodded. "Aye, like dogs. They hear a sound, they come."
"What else?"
"Aside from they hear ye?" Morralees added. "They hear ye, smell ye and if they catch ye, they eat ye."
"They can tell us by smell?"
"Can't you?" Gelnen scoffed.
Anderea added to the conversation. "They smell, we don't. It's pretty distinct."
Rillick began muttering something under his breath, his brow deep in thought. Everyone, including Mrrl, stared at him as he paced in a circle. He stopped when he finally concluded he knew how to get past them. Problem is, they were most certainly not going to like it.
"If bad ideas were a recognised sport, you just won an audience with the king."
Everyone had followed Rillick into the building's washroom where he began to hand out dirty bathrobes. He ignored Gelnen's protests.
"He's Right. Just stop OK?" Morralees pleaded. "Take some time to think this through."
From the outside, everyone heard a scraping of wood as the armoir inched further away from the doors.
"How much time?" asked Rillick. "How long do you think that bit of furniture will last? It won't hold forever."
Morralees faltered slightly, then continued. "We can all try to move it up to the doors again. Problem solved."
Rillick looked down at the robe in his hands, annoyed. Not at at what the halfling was trying to avoid, but that he was wrong. Rillick wanted more than anything for there to be another way.
"That would prove futile." He explained. "Just one of those things are stronger than two of us combined, and there are hundreds out there." He looked back up at the eyes before him laden with dread and anger. It mirrored his own. "It's simply not possible."
He pulled his own robe on and they made towards the side entrance. Gelnen cautiously pulled the door open and glanced around. Rillick stepped out past Gelnen with his longsword drawn, as Ja'qi and Ty-Varaz quickly grabbed the dead walker's limbs and shuffled back into the building as Rillick backed up from in front.
They carried the corpse through the halls and into the washroom and hurled it into one of the large empty baths.
They stared down at the corpse lying on the marble floor. Rillick joined them after acquiring a hand-towel and tied it around his face. He stood among the rest, unable to move and waited, waited for someone, anyone to come up with a better idea. Gods, he did not want to do this. But it was either that or be torn to shreds.
When no-one spoke up, he forced himself into the bath next to the body and unsheathed his longsword. He held it loosely in his hand.
He raised the sword and prepared to strike, then dropped his arm, pulled the towel down to around his neck and knelt down next to the lifeless form. He studied him carefully, occasionally standing up and walking around him, before kneeling back down. He rifled through his pockets, lifted his hands and parts of his clothes. When he was satisfied, he cleared his throat.
"I do not know this man's name." He began, keeping his gaze squarely on the dead body. "Clothes indicate he did not come from Neverwinter originally. Early forties, has two silver and eight copper pieces in his purse, the ring on his finger shows he was married. A necklace of wooden beads around his neck. The amateurish craftsmanship suggests it was made by a child. It doesn't seem to have any value, so if he is wearing it, it must have sentimental value. Perhaps it was made by his son or daughter."
He pulled the towel over his mouth again and looked up at the now sombre faces watching him. "He used to be like us, worrying about taxes or trade or the festivals." He rose and gripped his sword tightly and took a deep breath. "If I ever find my family," he announced, "I am going to tell them about this man."
With a yell, he swung his sword down hard into the man. The blade struck with a sickening squelch and the man's arm dropped from his torso. The people behind him cried out in disgust as Rillick staggered back. Rillick took a moment gather his strength, then stepped forward and hacked into him again and again, dismembering all his limbs and spilling his guts on the cracked marble. Rillick had to summon every ounce of willpower to keep down what little food he had. His arm began to ache and he gripped the sword with both hands as he continued to work, all the while a constant chorus of groans and gagging filled the room.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Gelnen moaned as he heard a crunch.
"Later." Rillick said between breaths.
He wiped the very visible beads of sweat from his brow and shuffled back. His sword caked to the hilt in rancid blood.
"Are there any gloves around here?" he asked the unhappy crowd.
"There should be some... in the kitchen." Morralees coughed, looking pale.
Anderea didn't look much better. She hurried out the door. "I know where they are. I'll get them." She hardly finished her sentence before she was gone.
Moments later, and much to everyone's grief, Anderea returned with a collection of leather gloves. They all slipped them on and waited as Rillick lowered down to the mangled mess, and scooped out an indescribable chunk of meat from its torso.
"Make sure the robe is covering you completely." He instructed. "Don't get any on your skin or eyes."
Everyone forced themselves to follow Rillick and pick up their own handfuls of sloppy goo. Juices dripped through the cracks in their fingers. The agonising moans grew louder and more desperate.
"Oh, gods!"
"Ilmater preserve us."
"This is bad. Really bad."
Rillick felt his stomach lurch uncontrollably, but he forced himself on.
"Think of something positive." He said, to himself moreso than the others. "Kittens and puppies."
"Dead kittens and puppies." Rillick heard Ty-Varaz mutter to himself.
He pressed the contents of his hands onto his body, and smeared it all over his robe. He turned to Gelnen who did the same. It only took a few wipes before Gelnen could not handle it any longer. He staggered over to a bath in the corner of the room and hurled the contents of his stomach into the bath. This resulted in a verbal assault on Rillick.
"You suck."
"That is just evil. What is wrong with you?"
"Next time, let the gluttons kick his arse."
"My apologies." Rillick said half-heartedly. He was on their side. He too hated himself for this.
As soon as Rillick was confident he and Gelnen were thoroughly lathered up, he swallowed down the tenth rising gag. "Do we smell like them?"
"Oh, yeah. Gelnen." Anderea stepped forward with Rillick's shortsword he gave to Ja'qi. She walked over to Gelnen, gingerly pulled back the robe with her fingertip, and pushed the shortsword into his belt. "Just in case."
"If we make it back, be ready." Rillick ordered.
"Wha' about Mrrl Dixxiun?" asked Ty-Varaz.
Rillick made a small gasp. With everything else going on he forgot about Mrrl's predicament. He carefully pulled a dripping glove off and pulled a small brass key from his pocket and tossed it to him.
He looked at his soaking bathrobe he wore, then back at the dismembered pile of meat on the floor. He felt a trickle of dread rise from inside of him. He didn't want to. Every part of him screamed at him not to. It was truly awful. But would he risk his own life and the lives of the people in the room that he himself put in danger?
The answer was very clear.
He picked up his bloodsoaked sword and walked over to the pile.
"We need more guts." He stated defeated.
Once again, the room was filled with angry voices as Rillick continued to chop away.
Rillick lead Gelnen out the side door and into the streets. Their bathrobes were a thick dark red and various severed body parts dangled from their necks. Rillick looked at Gelnen and could plainly see the fear written on his pale yellow face. He wondered if it mirrored his own.
Morralees closed the door behind them, and they heard a click from the other side. Side by side they walked onward toward the distant growling. They did their best to try and mimic the walkers' walking patterns, but kept a ready grip on their swords.
The alley opened up to the main street and the two shuffled carefully into the middle of the vast hoard. All around them the walking corpses bounced off their shoulder. Occasionally one would sidle up to them and sniff the air around them before moving on. Gelnen grit his teeth in fear.
Morralees ran out into the back garden, followed closely behind by Anderea and Ja'qi. When they emerged, he turned his head immediately to Ty-Varaz.
"Ty-Varaz, get the dove." He held up a stiff, torn sheet of paper.
The dwarf's eyes shot open. It seemed like he was going to say something, then grabbed the paper from Morralees and rushed over to the outpost.
"Hey, what's happening?" Mrrl shouted. "Hey, come now! Talk to me, you lot!"
The three ignored the half-orc's cries and scrambled up the ladder. When they reached the top, Anderea pulled out the telescope from her pack and handed it to him.
"That whoreson is out on the street with the key to these chains?!" Mrrl cried out, as Ty-Varaz dropped in front of the hedge directly opposite him.
Ty-Varaz glared at him for a time, then reached into his pocket and slowly pulled out the brass key. He felt a great rush watching Mrrl's twisted expression and the low beastly growls he omitted.
"There." Said Morralees, peering through the telescope fixed on the two men walking amongst the walkers. He jumped when a loud thunderclap struck overhead.
"Looks pretty severe, doesn't it?"
"Yes, sir."
As Dall removed the bloody bandage from around the ox's leg, it started to groan and snort, threatening to attack in a wave of panic. The human man behind Dall stood up and stroked the animal's neck.
"Hush now." He whispered smoothly. "You'll feel better in no time."
His words seemed to work, and soon the ox calmed. He breathed a sigh of relief and handed a fresh bandage to the old man, who was deep in thought.
"Where in the hells are we to find a replacement?" he muttered to himself.
The man shot him a hurt glare. "Don't talk like that."
"I don't want him to die." He returned, taking the clean bandage. "But we have to prepare for the worst."
"He will live-"
A voice rung out behind them, one Dall instantly recognized to be Amee. "It's late. They should've been back now."
"Worrying won't make it better."
Dall focused his attention back on the injured animal and set to work covering the wound with the replacement bandage.
"And three, two, one, pull it. Yes. Start it over."
Lorelai looked up over the damp clothes billowing in the breeze and let a smile creep across her face. Shaan and Chorrol sat on a log with Shaan teaching Chorrol on tying a knot. Ever since they escaped Balder's Gate, him and Chorrol have gotten along wonderfully. Shaan almost seemed like a father to him...
"A dove!" Amee shrieked in victory.
With a short pat on the shoulder, Shaan rushed over to Dall who hastily untied the roll of paper from its leg. Lorelai and other people gathered him as he unrolled it. The bottom edge was jagged, as though someone had torn at it. Dall began to read aloud.
"Greetings to base camp. Apologies for not getting to you sooner as we ran out of paper."
"Is that them?" Asked Lorelai.
Dall continued. "I need to be brief to spare what little we have left. We are in a predicament. We're currently trapped in the Moonstone Mask surrounded by gluttons by the hundreds. Ty-Varaz."
Silence rippled through the crowd as everyone were deep in thought. Finally Shaan spoke.
"They say they're trapped?"
"At the Moonstone Mask?" Lorelai added shortly after.
Dall nodded, quickly scanning the letter once more. "Aye, That is what it says."
"Shaan?"
Shaan flinched at Lorelai's expectant tone. "No way. We do not go after them. We do not risk the rest of the party, you all know that." He felt awful saying those words, but it was the bitter truth. He looked over at Amee and prepared to meet her wrath.
"So, we just leave her there?" her voice sounded threatening.
Shaan shifted uncomfortably on the spot. He racked his brains to find the right words. Every angle ended badly.
"Look, Amee. I know it's not easy-"
"She volunteered to go help the rest of us!"
"I know, and she knew the risks, right?" Shaan choked. "See, if she's trapped, she's gone. So, we just have to deal with that. There's nothing we could do."
"She's my sister, you son of a whore."
Without another word, she ran past him and disappeared. Well, he thought, that went as well as expected. He then felt Lorelai's raging glare burn into him, and prepared for yet another assault, but she merely walked past him and chased after her, calling her name.
The sound of Gelnen's heart pounding in his chest felt louder than the low growls of the undead around him. He was worried that they would hear it. As they inched closer to the front of the parade, he looked around in wonder.
"It's going to work." He breathed. "I cannot believe it."
"Don't draw attention." Rillick hissed.
Thunder continued to rumble overhead as the two pressed on. It was getting closer. Gelnen was trembling in fear and visible beads of sweat emerged from his brow. Two walkers sandwiched him on either side and occasionally stared at him, as if debating weather he is, in fact, one of them.
Rillick looked over to see Gelnen darting his eyes left and right and making exaggerated moaning sounds. It seemed to work surprisingly as the two buzzing around him moved away.
Without so much as an inkling of warning, rain fell and hit them all at once soaking them in seconds. The rain felt more like a waterfall. Droplets ran down their face and into their eyes. The elf's moaning stopped and changed to a frightened whimper. They broke out in front of the crowd and towards a much smaller, but still imposing, group a few feet away. Rillick could see the construction site behind them.
Morralees lowered his telescope and looked up at Anderea.
"It's just a cloudburst. It'll pass right quick." He said, consoling himself more than her.
The growling intensified and Rillick tightened his grip on his sword. They only needed a few more minutes.
"The smell's washing off." Whispered Gelnen. "Isn't it? Is it washing off?"
"No, it's not." Rillick answered unconvincingly, as an elven walker lumbered straight towards him, glaring at him with its clouded dead eyes. "Well, maybe."
It roared and charged at him. It didn't get far as Rillick's sword sliced off the top of its head.
"Run!"
The two broke into a sprint and the crowd behind them began pursuit. They ran through the group in front, Rillick cut diagonally downward on a walker on the right, and followed it up by beheading another one on the left. Gelnen swung his shortsword and cut down one on front of him and quickly sidestepped and sliced down the middle of the head of a dwarf and jumped over it.
They bolted out the other side and dashed towards the construction side ahead of them and shed their now useless bathrobes as they ran. Their shoulders smashed into the metal gate erected in their path. Wasting no time to react to the pain, they threw their swords over the top and clambered over, following by only seconds as the gate lunged forward as their attackers rammed into it. It held strong, but Rillick knew that it would not last for long.
A single halfling managed to reach the top of the gate using the other walkers as a staircase. It tumbled clumsily onto the ground on their side. Rillick picked up his sword and moved over to dispatch it by driving the blade through its head.
He looked up and staggered back as more walkers began to tumble over the fence. He sliced and stabbed at them, but there was no letting up and he found himself moving further away at risk of being overwhelmed.
"Rillick!" Gelnen shouted. He was inside the open cart and held up some kind of tethering gear.
He looked back and cleaved three heads in one swing. There was no way he could fight them all. He felt his muscles burning under the cooling sensation of the pouring rain. He glanced around desperately, then something occurred to him. It's possible. Could he be close enough?
He brought his thumb and forefinger to his mouth, and blew as hard as he could. The sky filled by a loud, high-pitched whistling.
A head spun in the air into his view and bounced onto the ground, all the while gnashing his teeth. He looked over to see the elf joined the fight, and he shoved his sword through the head of a gnome.
Then he heard it, and grinned in relief, as the thunder of hooves grew closer. He grabbed Gelnen's arm and dragged him to the cart. The tethering gear were lying on the soaked stone.
Fjord charged into view through the open fence on the opposite side. Though he would've cheered victoriously, Rillick merely rushed to grab the reins, and quickly guided over to Gelnen's gormless expression.
"I... What?" he stammered.
"No time. Help me!"
Rillick seized the tethering gear and set to work fastening Fjord to the cart. Gelnen looked back over to the dozen walkers that made it over the fence, and readied his sword.
"Gelnen!" He heard Rillick shout, and turned around as he threw his longsword his direction.
Gelnen deftly caught it by the hilt and turned back to the walkers lumbering towards him. He inverted the shortsword in his left hand and brought it down into the closest one's head, and swung the longsword in his left upward through the neck of another.
As soon as Rillick fastened the cart onto Fjord, he didn't bother to double check, and hurled himself up to the driver's seat.
Gelnen's heaved and gasped than normal breathing, as he yanked the shortsword down and out of the elf walker's chin. Ahead of him, a few more walkers had jumped the gate and was lurching onward.
The growing hoard's growling had escalated to deafening howls. The gate creaked and groaned as the walkers pushed against it.
"Gelnen! Get on!" Gelnen ran towards Rillick with what little energy he had and launched himself into the cart. "Go, Fjord! Hyah!" Rillick whipped the reins the moment his hands grabbed felt wood.
Gelnen scrambled to a sitting position within the slightly flooded container to witness the gate snap from its hinges and crash onto the ground. A tidal wave of walkers poured through the new opening.
"Go, go, go, go!" Gelnen screamed.
Fjord cried out as she began gaining speed each turn of the wheel. They burst through the opening and along a wide street. The lumbering force that pursued them grew smaller and smaller.
Morralees felt every muscle relax as he watched the two race further away from the immediate danger. His relief was quickly diminished and his stomach knotted as he noticed they were also moving further away from them.
"They're leaving us. Where are they going?"
"No, no, come back."
It seems he wasn't the only one who noticed.
Rillick and Gelnen rode atop the cart. Fjord now slowed to a trot and The rain had subsided and leftover drops fell from the jutted roofs of dishevelled houses and shops either side of them.
"By the gods, I'm glad you came, Fjord." He sighed heavily. "But we cannot rest as of this moment."
"Oh, gods. They're all over that place." Gelnen cried over his shoulder.
Rillick thought for a moment, then turned his shoulders to the elf. "You need to draw them away. Those doors at the front of the Mask. That area, that's what I need cleared. I will drop you near the building. Tell your friends to get down there."
Gelnen stared at him. "I'm drawing the gluttons away how? I... I missed that part."
Rillick looked ahead again as he neared a bell-tower.
"Noise."
The bell chimed and echoed through to the city's horizon. Gelnen looked around as distant specks of walking corpses headed their way. Rillick burst out through the doorway, leapt onto the cart and drove Fjord forward.
"This is too far out." Gelnen observed. "They won't follow it."
"Take this." Rillick handed over a small horn. "Lead them to the bell-tower by blowing into this."
Gelnen took the horn, impressed. This stranger thought of everything.
Soon, Rillick drove Fjord to a halt, jumped off and detached her from the cart. The Mask's sign displayed overhead behind a swarm of walkers.
"You know how to ride?" Rillick asked.
Gelnen nodded.
"Good. I take it you'll take care of my horse?"
He hesitated a moment, then met him with a determined gaze. "I swear."
Rillick gave a single nod, and helped him onto her back.
Gelnen drove Fjord to a gallop and circled the building to the garden. A small line of walkers pressed against the bars. Mrrl looked up wide-eyed with surprise.
"Hey! Can you hear me!?" he called. The line turned to his voice. He knew couldn't linger for long. He backed Fjord up and readied her to move.
The small frame of Morralees emerged from the rooftop. "I thought you-"
"The doors facing the street!" he shouted, before Morralees could finish. "Wait for us there and be ready!" he spurred his mount forward and disappeared around the corner.
Morralees stared dumbstruck at the empty space Gelnen stood seconds ago. On horseback. The walkers against the gate pushed off and followed him around the corner. Ty-Varaz, Ja'qi and Anderea stood over him with feared expressions on their faces. Morralees thought it best to follow Gelnen's demands.
"Let's go!" he ordered, and the four swung down the ladder to grab their belongings.
"What's going on?" Mrrl demanded as he struggled against the chains.
Everyone scooped up as much as they could carry and shoved them in their packs. Mrrl's face shifted to that of terror as he began to realise.
"Hey, you can't leave me here!" he cried. Everyone continued to ignore him. "I'm not jesting! Morralees! Hey! Don't do this! Hey, that's my halberd. You can't leave me. Don't leave me here."
Everyone knew they had no time. Mrrl's continued pleads fell on deaf ears. Except one.
Ty-Varaz brought up the rear and a strong internal force halted and held him at the doorway. Though his back was turned, he could feel the half-orc's relieved grin.
"Hey, Ty-Varaz! You can't leave me! You can't leave me here, not like this!" Ty-Varaz's ears were filled with frightened pleading as he wavered in the doorway. "You can't! It's not civil! Come on, don't do this! Come on, Ty!"
Mrrl was right. He couldn't willingly let someone die, no matter how hated they were. He growled loudly in frustration, and made a dash toward the fountain and pulled out the key.
"Come on! Come on, yeah! Yeah! Come on! That's it! Yes!"
Just as he neared the bound half-orc, something on the ground caught his foot, and he felt gravity sweep the feet from under him. All he could do was watch hopelessly in horror as the key flung from his hand, bounced once on the ground, and skidded underneath the gate.
Everything stood still, as if the world held its breath. The two stared into nothing, as their minds tried to comprehend what had just transpired. Then, the air was filled by a roar of rage.
"Son of a whore! You did that on purpose!"
Ty-Varaz scrambled up to the gate and reached out through the bars to grab the key.
"I dinae mean to!" He yelled, his voice straining against the bars. "It was an accident!"
Mrrl thrashed wildly against the chains. "You lie! You did it on purpose! You liar!"
Ty-Varaz stretched his arm out as far it could possibly go, and then some. his fingers were mere millimetres from the key. Just a bit further...
A walker growled and lunged at his arm, forcing him to yank his arm back. The halfling walker dragged himself along the ground after him and kicked the key way out of arm's reach.
More walkers rammed up against the fence and blocked the view to the key. He looked in despair at Mrrl, who continued to kick and scream.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Ty-Varaz cried, and ran towards the door.
"Damn you all! You're going to rot in hell!" Mrrl roared. "You'll rot in the ninth circle of hell! Come back!"
Again, Ty-Varaz stopped at the doorway. Again, he cried out in anguish. He turned around and saw something glint in the sunlight. Dixxiun's dagger! He dove for it and tossed it into the fountain which held the screaming orc, who didn't seem to notice him. It's not much, but if there's a chance. Any chance. It's worth it. He ran inside, closed the door, placed himself behind a table and heaved it forward with all his strength up against it.
"Hold a moment!" he called down the hallway. "Here I come! Don't leave me! Don't leave!"
The snarls filled the building's interior. Morralees and his group opened the side door and stepped outside. Just in time to see Rillick round the corner, weapon drawn.
Fjord reared up as an attempt to halt her momentum. Gelnen looked out over the wall of bodies scrunched up against the front doors. The Moonstone Mask's sign was displayed above. He brought the horn to his lips, and blew as hard as he could. the low bellow resonated throughout the city, and the hoard turned and shambled towards him.
"Come on. Come on." He sounded the horn again for good measure. "Get closer. Come on! Come on!"
Fjord snorted nervously as the walkers snarled and grew closer. More began to emerge from side alleys behind him. Just as they were almost on top of them, he drove Fjord forward through the thin line. He sounded the horn a third time and took off towards the bell-tower.
Ty-Varaz leapt over the counter into the main foyer. He gasped as the armoir subsided and a wave of walkers poured in through the open doorway. He ran through the side entrance and out the door where the group was following Rillick. In the nearby distance, a horn bellowed multiple times, each one quieter than the last.
"This way!" Rillick ordered as he ran down the alleyway and out onto the main street. Five stragglers lumbered up to them, but were quickly dispatched by his longsword.
"Ty-Varaz!" called Morralees. "Where's-
"I dropped tha blasted key!"
He lead them across the street, through another alleyway and stopped at the horse-cart.
"What now?" asked Anderea, after everyone caught their breaths.
"Now? We wait for Gelnen to return."
Anderea frowned. "Okay. Where is he?"
Walkers by the hundreds crowded around the deafening clangs of the bell. Gelnen brought Fjord to a gallop and rode around the edge of the vast swarm and back down the path he came from.
The steed tore down the streets at blinding speed. The buildings were a blur as he passed them.
Gelnen felt elated. He did it. He herded over a hundred walkers and survived. He couldn't help himself. He rose his arm into the air and cheered.
When I was a little lad
At the age of five,
I had something in the folds of my clothes
Kept a lot of folk alive.
You know, my love,
We can have a lot of fun.
A page from Lorelai's Book of Poetry.