Chapter 18: Fools and Sticky Situations
While Violet recovered, the rest of her party explored the chamber. Easily large enough for the farm cottage to fit inside, though the ceiling was only inches over Jael's head, it was obviously being used as a waypoint. The crates held more supplies like those under the farmhouse and a rough table with chairs was pushed against a wall. Opposite the entrance, the goblins had been chipping away at the continuation of the tunnel, still going east towards Highmoon.
"It seems odd that there were only three working on the tunnel," Milya commented.
"Perhaps the group we met earlier was reinforcement?" Jael suggested.
"Or maybe they've all been pulled back north to Myth Dranor," Vorn added.
"That's a good possibility," Milya nodded. "In fact, that could work to our advantage."
"What are you thinking?" Jael asked.
"If we push north, maybe we can find a way to collapse the tunnel closer to its origin while they're distracted. If nothing else, it will slow them down and give Highmoon a chance to prepare and fortify."
"Sounds good in theory, but there's only four of us and only you and Vorn are experienced fighters."
"True," she nodded, "but if Ada was successful catching up with the Harpers, we will have plenty of reinforcements. You and Violet won't even have to come with us."
"If she caught up with them," Jael stressed. "Speaking of, shouldn't we return to the farmhouse in case they do show up?"
"You're right," she nodded. "Violet, are you alright now?"
Violet nodded, flushing with embarrassment, "yeah, I'm good."
"Don't beat yourself up over it," Jael told her, giving her a hand up. "You did good to hold up as long as you did considering your lack of experience."
Violet dusted off her skirts, "Well, I've been quickly gaining experience since I've been here in your world."
Milya frowned, "it's not always like this, you know. Most people go their entire lives without encountering orcs and goblins."
Violet managed a weak smile, "maybe, when this is all over, you can point me in the direction of these people?"
"Maybe, when this is all over, you won't want to live such a boring life," Milya grinned at her. "I know I wouldn't."
"I wouldn't hold my breath, if I were you," Violet answered dubiously.
Back at the farmhouse, the group waited outside in the shade. Before long, they heard the pounding of hooves approaching.
Milya frowned, "that doesn't sound like many horses."
Her assessment proved true when four horses came into view. Violet had been in Highmoon long enough to recognize the city watchmen's uniforms on their riders. They pulled up short of the group on the ground.
"Priest Jael?" their leader addressed the priest. "We were sent to assist you."
"Welcome Sergeant," Jael nodded at them. "The girl, Ada, delivered the message?"
The guardsman dismounted before answering. "Yes, but it was too late to stop the Harpers and turn them back. The captain doesn't want to send a rider until he had a full report of the situation."
"A full report!" Vorn spat on the ground. "That fool! He'll get his full report when an army from Myth Dranor pops up in the middle of his bleeding city!"
The three guardsmen behind him exchanged looks.
"He's right," Jael stepped back in. "there's a tunnel coming from the north that ends just short of the city walls. We've already encountered goblins, orcs, and other foul creatures. It will only take them a few more days before they've dug beneath the city's walls."
The sergeant pointed to one of his men, "ride back and tell the captain what Priest Jael just said. Tell him we need more men here and the city needs to go on alert."
The man brought his fist to his chest in a smart salute before remounting and riding away.
"Now," the Sergeant turned back to Jael, "what do you need?"
Jael and Vorn escorted the Sergeant and his two remaining men into the farmhouse and down to the basement and tunnel. Milya stayed outside with Violet.
"What are your plans," Milya asked her, "for the long term?"
"Right now, the only plan I have it to find Elminster and ask him to help me get back home. Beyond that, I don't know."
"What happens if you can't get back?"
Violet shrugged, "I honestly haven't thought about the possibility. Since I've been here, I've just gone from one disaster to another."
"It must be hard to be cut off from all you know."
"You don't know the half of it," Violet sighed. "This world is nothing like mine at all. "
"How so?" Milya pressed.
"Well, to begin with, there's very little magic there. And the few of us that use it spend our lives hiding from those that don't. Witches have been prosecuted repeatedly throughout the ages there as agents of evil."
"Wow," Milya breathed. "That's horrible."
"Yeah," Violet agreed. "It can be a lonely life if the witch doesn't have family around."
"Is that what you have? Family?"
"No," Violet shook her head, "not anymore. I lived with my mother and grandmother until they were both killed in an accident a few years ago. Since then, I've been on my own."
"So, you have no one to go back to?"
"No. My only companions from there, my familiar and my cat, are here with me."
"Let me see if I have this right," Milya cocked her head at Violet, "if you go back, you'll be alone and you'll have to hide your magic?"
"Now that you put it that way, it doesn't sound so good," Violet chuckled.
"Not to me, no. But you have to do what your heart wants."
Before Violet could answer, the guardsman rode up, his horse winded from the run.
"Well," Milya asked him. "When can we expect more men?"
"The captain won't send any more. He says that if it's as bad as you say, then he needs everyone he has to defend the city."
"Idiot," the Harper fumed.
"Well, at least we have four more people to help us," Violet said, trying to look on the bright side.
"Um, about that, Miss," the guard cleared his throat, "I'm to report back immediately after relaying this message."
"Well, that's just great," Milya threw her hands in the air. "May the gods save us from fools!"
"I'm just following orders," he said with a scowl.
"That's what the Nazis said," Violet muttered.
He gave her a questioning look.
"Never mind." She waved him away, "go on then. We'll let the others know."
When he hesitated, Milya spun away from him, pulling Violet with her. Together they marched to the farmhouse. With them ignoring him, the guardsman finally turned his mount and rode away, looking back at them several times before he rode out of sight.
Vorn swore loud and long when they told him the news. Some of his curses didn't even make sense to Violet.
"Worthless scrawny pox-marked pignut," he ranted, stomping back and forth in the basement.
Violet had to clap her hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles.
"Vorn," Jael said calmly, "this isn't helping."
"You're gods-damned right!" Vorn fumed, "I should ride back to Highmoon and put my boot up that sorry puss-sucking maggot's arse!"
"Still not helping," Milya snickered.
Vorn spun around to confront her, but Jael stepped between them, "alright, that's enough! We have a job to do here!"
The dwarf growled, "damn right we do. Nobody else is going to do it."
"Are you suggesting we continue with just the people we have here? Even Violet?" Milya asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes," Jael said. "It still needs to be done, or Highmoon is vulnerable." He looked across the space at Violet, "if you're willing?"
She nodded, "you're right. The only thing that's changed is how many people we have. And, really, only so many people can fight side-by-side in the tunnels."
"You make a good point," Jael smiled at her. "Thank you."
They worked out the order they would proceed, putting Vorn and Corporal Reed at the head of the group, followed by Private Lief and Sergeant Winthrop. Violet was put in the middle with Jael and Milya last to protect their rear. They passed the branch leading to the east and continued north until they reached another fork. Neither branch went north.
"What now?" Winthrop asked.
"Myth Dranor is north and east, so I think this one," Jael indicated the branch that went to the right.
"I don't like leaving our rear exposed," Winthrop hedged.
"That will be the case no matter which way we go," Jael pointed out.
"Not if we create the cave-in here."
That was the plan they had devised. They would collapse the tunnel and cut the monsters coming from Myth Dranor off from Highmoon. It wouldn't hold them off indefinitely, but it would slow them down until more reinforcements could be summoned to protect the city. While digging through the crates under the farmhouse, they had discovered one packed carefully with clay pots sealed with wax that turned out to be crude bombs.
Jael shook his head, "no, this is too close to the city. They could dig through this too quickly. We need to be closer to Myth Dranor and bring down several sections along the way."
"It'll be all for nothing if this is an alternate tunnel."
"What are you suggesting then? I don't want to split us up. There's already few enough of us as it is."
"Then, let's collapse this branch," Winthrop pointed to the left. "Then we don't have to worry about being flanked."
Jael considered the suggestion.
Milya stepped forward, "I don't think that's a good idea. We have two advantages right now. One, they're distracted by what's going on up north and, two, they have no idea we're here. If we start cave-ins before we get close, we will lose that advantage."
Winthrop started to argue, but she cut him off.
"Do you really want the full strength of Myth Dranor descending on the seven of us down here?"
"You don't even know for sure it is Myth Dranor," he responded smugly. "This could just be a handful of creatures bent on mischief."
"A handful of creatures?" Vorn snorted. "Are you using your eyes, man! Look around you. Does this look like the handiwork of just a few?"
"There's no telling how long these tunnels have been here. For all you know, the basement of that farmhouse collapsed suddenly into the tunnels and started all this. This is probably just the work of opportunists."
"You're daft!"
"You're just looking for a fight."
The sergeant and dwarf glared at each other.
"You idiots are letting everything in these tunnels know we're here," Milya pinched the bridge of her nose.
As soon as the words left her lips, Violet was plunged into utter blackness.
"Drow!" Milya yelled.
"Run!" Winthrop shrieked.
Violet panicked and stumbled back down the tunnel. Behind her, Vorn bellowed his battle cry, and she heard the clash of weapons followed by the squeal of a giant rat. Something whistled past her head, making her stumble to the side and into another person.
"Careful," Reed, or maybe Lief, said quietly in her ear, grabbing her by the upper arm to steady her.
Nearby, she heard Jael chant a word she didn't understand, and the tunnel came back into focus as light flared from his staff. Of course, he used his magic. Violet mentally kicked herself for panicking so easily.
As she turned her focus back down the tunnel, a giant rat leapt at her, with Jaels glowing staff reflecting like twin flames in its creepy red eyes. Violet instinctively brought up her arms to hold the rat back and stumbled into Reed on her other side. The rat bit into the bracer on her arm, not piercing the sturdy leather, but pinching painfully and wrenching the arm awkwardly as it twisted away from Reed as he jabbed his short sword at it.
The rat was too close to Violet for him to get a good swing in and avoid hitting her, so the guardsman grabbed the creature by the scruff of its neck and pulled it off Violet. The rat released its grip on her arm to turn in his grasp and snap at him but didn't release its grip on her with its claws.
Violet used the distraction to pull out her daggers. Her left arm that the rat had bitten was still numb from the violent twisting and her grip on the dagger in that hand was tenuous at best. Using her right hand, she stabbed at the rat's exposed underbelly, but Reed succeeded in pulling it off her before she connected and tossed the rat away from her. It landed on its side with a grunt a few feet away.
As Reed raised his sword to attack the downed rat, Violet saw a gnoll coming up behind him with its spear ready to jab the guardsman.
"Look out!" she yelled and pointed.
He spun away from the rat as the gnoll darted forward, barely avoiding the rusted tip of the spear and deflecting it away with his shield. His move, however, left Violet to face the giant rat on her own as it scrambled to its feet.
"Okay, I can do this," she assured herself quietly. "It's just a large rat."
The rat in question snarled at her, spittle dripping from its yellowed teeth.
"A very large rat," she corrected.
It charged at her and she held her daggers at the ready, bracing herself. Trying to repeat its first attack on her, it jumped with its mouth open exposing all its sharp teeth.
"Get down!" Reed commanded from behind her, and she dropped to the ground without hesitation.
Violet watched, wide-eyed, as the rat tried unsuccessfully to change direction in mid-air, twisting its body to miss the guardsman who stood with his sword raised. It shrieked in pain and fear as it impaled itself on the blade, twitched once, and then went limp.
From her position knee level with Reed, Violet saw the gnoll come at his back for another attack. With the rat weighing down his sword, the man who just defended her would not be able to turn and block the strike on time. All the spells she knew were ranged and if she missed, she could hit any one of her companions locked in combat behind him. She couldn't risk that. If she could touch it, she might possibly stop its attack, but with the spear she wouldn't be able to get close enough. This would be a great time for the monster to trip over its own feet, she thought to herself crossly. Why didn't she have a spell like that?
The goddess must have heard her because that's exactly what happened. The gnoll stumbled and went down, throwing its weapon aside to keep from falling on it. The thrown spear tripped one of its comrades currently attacking Jael and it also stumbled and went down. Its spear tumbled across the rough floor of the tunnel and tangled in the legs of a giant spider that was harrying Milya, causing it to miss an attack on the Harper and squirt out a stream of thick webbing from its bum. The webbing flew across the intersection, barely missing Vorn and struck the black-skinned humanoid he was battling, sticking it firmly to the wall behind it.
Taking advantage of the bad luck that just inundated their attackers, Violet's companions quickly dispatched the downed adversaries and attacked the two remaining gnolls and rat. Soon only their group remained standing in the tunnel.
Reed gave her a hand up from where she had stayed when she dropped to the ground. She used the time while the others finished up to regain her composure and check herself for injuries. Apart from her bruised arm that throbbed where the rat had bit, she didn't seem to have been injured. Breathing a prayer of thanks to the goddess, she stood and prepared to give aid to anyone that might need it.
Vorn appeared to be the most injured, with blood dripping from a break in his chainmail on his arm and a vicious gash across his brow. Ignoring the odd look Reed gave her, she headed towards the dwarf.
And promptly tripped over her skirts.
Reed reached out and kept her from falling on her face and stared at her oddly. Frowning, she looked down at herself and gasped. Her skirts were pooled on the ground around her. In fact, all her clothes hung off her like she had just dropped several dress sizes.
"What on earth?" she asked out loud.
"Good job on that last spell, Vi…," Milya stopped in her tracks, her mouth dropping open in shock.
"Yes," Winthrop said coming up beside the Harper. "That was a stroke of genius, Miss Violet." He stopped when his eyes fell on her. "Oh, you shrunk."
"You think?" Violet snapped.
From the look of her clothes and the fact that the top of her head barely reached Reed's chest, she must have lost nearly a foot of height.
"Um, Violet," Milya said before Winthrop could reply, "what did you do?"
"Nothing," Violet told her. "At least, don't think I did."
"You DID cast that last spell, didn't you?"
She shook her head, "no. I didn't cast a spell. I thought about it, when the g-gnoll was about to stab Reed in the back because he had turned to protect me. But none of my spells were safe to use in this close a space. But I did think it would be great if it tripped."
Milya blew out a breath. "And it tripped."
Another nod, "and caused the chain reaction that ended with that," she pointed at the dead humanoid stuck to the wall.
Milya exchanged a look with Winthrop.
"What's going on here?" Vorn pushed his way past Winthrop, ignoring the glare from the Sergeant.
He was no longer bleeding, but his chain mail was still split and bloody. Someone, probably Jael, had wiped the blood off his face somewhat, but there were still streaks left behind like bizarre tribal markings. He stopped in front of Violet. Now, he was a couple inches taller than her.
"Rust and ruin! What have you done now, lass?"