Draul had to fight back his rage at seeing Kennick collapse from the arrow. He wasn't sure if his friend was dead or not but was grateful that he wasn't bleeding much. It may be possible to save Kennick if he still drew breath but Draul wasn't sure if it was safe enough with his attacker waiting for them in the next room. From a glance, he could tell that the arrow Kennick took was too large to have come from a goblin and he hadn't seen the goblins use bows as of yet. There was something else aside from the goblins waiting for them inside.
It was possible that they had cornered the goblins' leader.
"With me!" Draul commanded. "We're going in!"
"What about Kennick?" Corita asked, still looking at her fallen friend.
"If we try to heal him now, that archer will shoot the healer down," Draul explained. "We fight now then we save his life if he's still alive."
"Let's do this," Razvan nodded back.
Draul led the way into the room with Corita and Razvan flanking him and Mariel coming in behind the trio. They found their enemies in a small office with a desk and chair covered in dust. The paladin thought that with part of the basement being hidden that this room went untouched for years. In addition to the three goblins that fled from battle upstairs along with another goblin that wore armor similar to the commando that Kennick fought when the group first fought together.
Along with the goblins was a half-elf man holding onto a bow with a shocked expression. His brown hair was cut short at the front and fell to his shoulders behind his head. Aside from his bow and quiver of arrows, he didn't appear to be equipped for battle and wore plain clothes instead of armor: a dark vest over an unbuttoned white tunic and a pair of trousers. His hazel eyes were narrowed as he glared at the group of adventurers. Even without Kennick to confirm his identity, the archer's identity was clear to the group.
"Tsuto, stand down now!" Draul ordered. "There's nowhere left to run!"
"I don't think so," Tsuto said with a scowl. "Get them!"
The goblins stood between Tsuto and the adventurers, and at the archer's command, they charged into battle. Razvan tried to stab one of the goblins but yelped when his foe slashed at him with his sharp blade. Draul faced the commando in battle, fending off the warrior's horsechopper with his club. Corita faced the other two goblins but she was able to kill one of her foes with a swing of her longsword. Mariel stood by the door, away from melee, and launched a magical dart towards Tsuto, striking him across the shoulder. He grimaced in pain, and much to Draul's surprise, ran toward the battle.
Draul's eyes went wide when Tsuto ran past him, and although he tried to swing his greatclub at the archer, the half-elf rolled underneath the attack. Tsuto was now behind Draul, and with his momentum keeping him going, ran towards Mariel. Although he still held onto his bow, which was useless in melee combat, he threw a punch towards the wizard with his free hand. Mariel was shocked by the display but composed enough to move out of the fist's way. She held her hands up in front of her, casting a protective spell between her and Tsuto, but Draul knew that the wizard wouldn't last long against the half-elf, who he could tell was trained in hand-to-hand combat.
Unfortunately, the goblin commando wasn't going to give Draul a chance to help Mariel as he struck a blow against his calf when the paladin tried to run after Tsuto. Corita and Razvan were occupied with their respective goblins and there was little they could do to help Mariel.
"Stall him!" Draul shouted over his shoulder before turning back to the commando. "We'll help you when we can!"
"Do hurry!" Mariel called back with a flicker of panic in her voice as Tsuto jabbed at her again. Her magic held against the attack but it was only a matter of time before her opponent broke through her magical defenses.
Draul struck the commando across the warrior's skull but the goblin was tougher than a typical goblin. He braced himself for the goblin's next attack only for Corita to slash at the commando from behind. The paladin had missed Corita taking down her foe and had done the same for the commando. He nodded toward the bard who smiled at her success. To his other side, Razvan, bleeding from another wound, stabbed his foe through the goblin's throat.
With the goblins defeated, the three adventurers turned toward Tsuto and Mariel. The wizard did her best and even blasted Tsuto with another burst of magical energy at his chest but it wasn't enough. Tsuto finally broke through Mariel's defenses with a high kick that caught the wizard under her chin. She fell back, striking her head against the wooden door frame before she collapsed onto the ground. They were too late to stop Tsuto from defeating Mariel but it was three against one.
"This ends now, Tsuto!" Draul declared and charged toward the archer.
Tsuto backed through the door, making it so that only one of the adventurers could charge at him. Draul didn't wait for Razvan or Corita, thinking that he could defeat the goblins' leader by himself. Tsuto had proven himself to be a capable marksman and martial artist but his skills couldn't compare to the divine might of a paladin. Draul swung his greatclub only for Tsuto to lean away from the paladin's swing and toward the wall. Tsuto then pushed off against the wall and thrusted the palm of his free hand toward Draul's face.
Draul gasped in pain, feeling that Tsuto's attack had broken his nose. He felt warm blood fall down from his nose to his mouth, and with a violent grunt, he tried to charge Tsuto into the wall. However, Tsuto was too swift for him and he rolled out of the way. Draul slammed into the stone wall and fell down to the ground. He tilted his head to the side to see his opponent open the closed door that the adventurers went past before the paladin fell unconscious.
"After him!" Corita exclaimed.
Razvan admired Corita's spirit, but as he followed her out of the room after Tsuto, he didn't feel as optimistic as she did. Over the course of a minute, Tsuto had taken down Kennick, Mariel, and Draul in rapid succession. He wanted to take down the archer but he had to be realistic about their odds. There were two of them against Tsuto but Razvan struggled against the goblins and had sustained minor cuts across his legs so he wasn't in the best of shape. The fact that he struggled against goblins likely meant that he didn't stand much of a chance against Tsuto.
The pair of adventurers made it out of the room, stepping over their fallen companions, in time to see Tsuto flee into the room that they went by in favor of the room with the opened door. They peeked into the room to see Tsuto flee through a tunnel dug into the side of the room. Razvan heard that there were smuggler tunnels built under Sandpoint and even had a chance to see them for himself but didn't hear of any of them connecting to the Glassworks. Corita stepped into the room only for Razvan to grab her by the shoulder and pull her out of the room.
"That's far enough, Corita."
"No it isn't!" Corita shook her head furiously. "We have him on the run! We can stop him for good!"
"He has a head start, a bow with plenty of arrows, and there's no telling what's waiting for us in that tunnel," Razvan pointed out. "Let's be smart about this."
Corita paused to think over Razvan's words and sighed. "Fine. What do you think we should do?"
"Let's make sure our friends are alright," Razvan said, looking over to where they had fallen. "You haven't used any of your magic so you can heal them, right?"
"I can heal two of them," Corita nodded.
"Focus on Draul and Kennick. They took the brunt of the damage. I have a feeling that Mariel will live even if she wakes up with a nasty headache."
"I'm on it!"
Razvan closed the door that Tsuto went through in case the archer thought to come back and ambush them and left Corita to her healing. With her bardic magic, Corita was able to bring Draul back up with his nose arranging itself back to where it was before. While the paladin recovered, Corita checked on Kennick, and after confirming he had a pulse, pulled the arrow out of his chest and quickly healed him. Kennick gasped when he regained consciousness and Razvan noted that the wound where the arrow struck him closed. Razvan could feel the sting of the injuries upon his leg but was glad that he wasn't bleeding badly. He could go without healing for now.
Draul and Kennick sat up against the wall, recovering from their brush with death. Razvan helped Corita move Mariel out of the door's way and placed her upon the desk in the office. The wizard was breathing steadily and the rogue was thankful that the group survived the fight. Slowly, Draul stood up from the ground to get back to their work.
"Tsuto got away, didn't he?" Draul asked.
"He did," Razvan answered with a nod. "The room he ran into had a tunnel. We don't know where it leads."
"We'll need to find out where Tsuto went," Draul said, turning to look at Corita. "Razvan's injured and you're not. Do you feel comfortable scouting the tunnel?"
"Of course," Corita nodded.
"If you spot Tsuto, don't fight him," Razvan told Corita. "If he tries to attack you, fall back."
"I'm calmed down now, Razvan," Corita said, smiling in an assuring manner. "You made the right call to keep me from chasing him. I'll think twice if I do see any kind of trouble."
Razvan watched Corita leave to follow after Tsuto and turned back to Draul as the paladin continued thinking of a plan. "I think that we cleared the Glassworks of goblins but Ameiko's still missing. Kennick, do you feel like you can help search for her."
"I can," Kennick grunted and slowly stood up.
Draul helped Kennick onto his feet by grabbing hold of his hand. "We'll have to talk about Tsuto…"
"Not now," Kennick interrupted.
"Of course," Draul nodded in agreement. "It'll be later when we've had time to think it over."
"Do you need my help searching for Ameiko?" Razvan asked.
"I want you to stay by Mariel's side in case I'm wrong," Draul told Razvan. "Take the time to search the room. We didn't give Tsuto much time to plan an escape. If we're fortunate, he might have left something behind that we can use."
"Good thinking," Razvan nodded in agreement. "I'll be close by if you run into any trouble."
Draul and Kennick made their way further down the hall, heading to the torn down part of the wall that leads back to the Glasswork's basement. Razvan went back into the hidden office and looked around the room after putting his daggers away. Like Draul suspected, Tsuto left behind a backpack in his hurry to escape from the Glassworks. Razvan looked through the backpack to find several pouches of gold and silver grinded into dust. While it would be valuable to the right merchant, he was more interested in the small journal he found. Although it only had about two dozen pages, it could provide insight into what Tsuto was up to.
Razvan flipped through the first couple of pages, thinking that the answers would be in the back of the journal. He stopped on a page when he saw that in addition to what he wrote, Tsuto scribbled a map that took up most of the page. It took Razvan several seconds to recognize that it was a map of Sandpoint. There was an arrow pointed toward the northern gate, a faint X marked in front of the cathedral, and a bolder X behind the cathedral in the Boneyard. Razvan looked up from the map to focus on what Tsuto wrote down.
The raid went about as planned. Few goblins perished and we were able to secure Tobyn's remains with ease while the guards were distracted. I can't wait until the real raid. This town deserves a burning, that's for sure.
Razvan's eyes went wide at the mention of another raid. If the last one was a distraction to steal some bones, a larger raid could do a lot more damage to Sandpoint. He flipped to the next page and continued to read Tsuto's writings.
Ripnugget seems to favor an overwhelming land approach but I don't think it's the best plan. We should get the quasit's aid and send her freaks up from below through the smuggler tunnels in my father's Glassworks, and invade from the river and from the Glassworks in smaller but more focused strikes. The rest except Bruthazmus agree, and I'm pretty sure the bugbear's being contrary to annoy me. My love's too distracted with the lower chambers to make a decision. She says that once Malfeshnekor's released and under her command, we won't need to worry about being subtle. I hope she's right.
That was a lot of information for Razvan to process. Ripnugget and Bruthazmus sounded familiar to him but he couldn't remember who they were. He felt that Ripnugget was a name meant for a goblin while Tsuto identified Bruthazmus as a bugbear. The archer made mention of others in the group, showing that he wasn't alone, and from what was written, it seemed that Tsuto's love was responsible for making final decisions. Razvan had no clue what Malfeshnekor was, and even though he didn't know what a quasit was, he was uncomfortable with the idea that there was one beneath Sandpoint.
Razvan glanced at the door, and seeing that his companions hadn't returned, he flipped to the next page to continue reading.
My love bent on going through it. Nothing I say convinces her of her beauty. She remains obsessed with removing what she calls her "celestial taint" and replacing it with her Mother's Grace. Burning her father's remains at the Thistletop shrine seems to have started the transformation but I can't say her new hand is pleasing to me. Hopefully when she offers Sandpoint to Lamashtu's fires, her new body won't be as hideous. Maybe I'll luck out. Succubi are demons too, aren't they?"
Although Razvan started to think about what he had learned, he quickly became distracted with another of Tsuto's drawings. He let out a whistle, appreciative of the archer's talent. At the bottom right corner of the page was a woman without any clothes with her hands on her hips. Her face was angelic yet she had a pair of bat wings and a forked tail behind her. The woman might be the one behind the attacks but that didn't stop Razvan from admiring her depiction in the journal.
Razvan was so caught up in the lustful drawing that he hadn't noticed Draul enter the room until the paladin spoke.
"I see you found a journal. Good work. Have you found-"
"Nothing!" Razvan slammed the journal shut.
Draul blinked in confusion. "Is something the matter?"
"Uh, sorry," Razvan coughed into his arm. "Where's Kennick?"
"Taking Ameiko back to the Rusty Dragon," Draul answered. "We found her unconscious and tied up in a closet."
"I'm glad she's alive," Razvan sighed in relief.
"As am I. Now, about the journal."
"Right," Razvan offered the journal to Draul. "Tsuto was behind the theft of the priest's bones and there's a larger raid planned. To be honest, a lot of the information went over my head. You might want to try taking a look for yourself."
Draul took the journal and flipped through the pages, skimming through the contents with a frown. Razvan took a seat by the free chair and looked at the ground with a whistle when the paladin turned on him, likely having found the page that distracted him. When he found the courage to look up from the journal, he noticed Draul was looking at Mariel, who remained unconscious, with a thoughtful expression. Razvan couldn't tell what was on Draul's mind but he likely knew more about the journal's contents than the rogue did.
Before they could talk about their findings, Corita stepped into the room with a smile. Razvan was relieved to see that she appeared uninjured and stood up from his chair to greet her. Draul closed the journal and turned to face the bard.
"I'm back," Corita said with a wave. "So, I followed the tunnel until I found a split in the path. I'm not much of a tracker so I'm afraid I'm not sure which of the three tunnels Tsuto took."
"One of the tunnels must lead to the quasit and the monsters it keeps," Draul noted.
"What's a quasit?" Razvan questioned.
"A demon, although not a powerful one," Draul answered. "There's much we need to talk about but now isn't the time when we're scattered like this. We'll have a meeting tonight to discuss details and come up with a plan. The two of you can get Mariel back to the Rusty Dragon while I report to the mayor about what happened. The proper authorities will handle the bodies."
"We can handle that," Corita said with a nod.
Razvan picked up Tsuto's backpack. "Tsuto also had several pouches of gold and silver as dust. I'm going to see if I can find someone willing to buy them."
"Good thinking," Corita grinned. "We haven't made a lot of gold as heroes so at least this isn't a complete failure."
Draul raised no objections at the idea and stepped out of the room. Together, Razvan and Corita grabbed Mariel by an arm and started to carry her out of the Glassworks. She was light enough that the two didn't have a lot of problems carrying the wizard. Although Razvan was thankful that they managed to stay alive, he couldn't help but worry for Sandpoint. Tsuto had escaped despite their best efforts and he wasn't working alone. There were more dangers waiting for Sandpoint, and with Sheriff Hemlock away, there was only one group that posed a chance to keep the town safe.
A/N: So, again, this was actually finished yesterday, but I forgot to upload it then. Here it is now. I'm excited to keep writing the story as the plot is starting to pick up.
Until next time.