Savior
Chapter 10
In the morning, they filled their waterskins with water from the pond. It looked fresh and clean. Then they counted the coin that they got from the Orcs. Roy shook his head, dejected. "It's barely worth counting." He shrugged. "You can't have everything, I suppose."
"I'm going to see what they have to eat. They were cooking something last night," Rick said and went to find the tents.
Rick eventually walked over and stopped next to him. "Forget that. It all looks moldy."
"It figures. While we stay here, the animals will all keep away; catching something is out." Roy shook his head. "I guess we move on."
After relieving themselves, taking down the tent, and eating trail rations for breakfast, they moved onward.
They traveled for half the day, came up over a dune, and saw something. "There's another dead Dragon with buildings all around it!" Roy exclaimed.
"I don't think anyone lives there." Rick pointed to the sand dunes. "Look at those dunes; they've just about overtaken the buildings and almost buried the Dragon bones."
"Just so long as there aren't any of those things with the Dragon heads. I don't ever want to see them again," Gina said, shuddering.
"Don't worry. The Dragon head's mouth is closed this time," Rick told her.
"I count 31 buildings with the two largest ones over there." Roy pointed to them.
"We can start with them, but I doubt we'll make it inside. Those dunes have piled up pretty high." Rick turned and went down, starting toward them while Roy and the others followed him. It took time, but they made it.
"There could be a back entrance," Roy proposed. He moved around to look for it and located it. Roy took out his weapon but entered the room and realized it was a storeroom full of broken boxes and empty crates. He opened the door and saw a wide-open space with stairs going up, and then he saw something else. "MUMMY!" Roy charged at it while it still had its back to him.
Roy swung and hit it, doing damage to it. Rick, who was right behind him, drew his bow, firing four arrows, hitting and damaging it. Lanie was next. Taking a deep breath, she charged it, swung, hitting and killing it. She looked at Roy. "A mummy. What kind of town is this?"
"It's an Undead town," Roy replied. "And I'm not sure I want to stay here. I'll take the Yuan-Ti any day over the Undead."
Gina and Kate joined them. "A mummy?" Gina sounded a touch skeptical.
Roy nodded. "Yes, and I think we want to leave this town; let the Undead have it."
Kate relaxed a little. "Works for me,"
"Me too." Lanie would fight a Dragon before she fought the Undead. So they left the way they came in and put distance between them and the town.
oo0O0oo
Later that day, they came up over another rise in the dunes. The rocks and the Spires were gone, leaving nothing but sand now. "WOW, would you look at that!" Roy exclaimed.
"Amazing!" Rick agreed. "A city in the desert, an actual walled city. Just look at those dunes blown up against the wall."
"That's quite a city," Kate observed.
"I'll say so." Lanie looked at Roy. "I thought you said there were no cities in the desert?"
"There aren't, or there weren't. Nothing is showing it on the map. We must really be lost." Roy shook his head as he went down toward the gate.
"Get ready to pay a copper piece," Roy told them, just as he saw guards who let him walk right past them without a challenge or demand for payment. The guards paid no attention to any of them.
"Strange," Roy muttered. He began walking and went up a set of stairs. When he reached the top, he saw the central building surrounded by a moat, and what a moat it was. It was deep, and water cascaded from several places.
Then they watched someone come out of a castle in the city center, but he looked different from the guards, who looked human. The male didn't look like an Elf, a Half-Elf, a Half-Orc, or anything they had ever seen, for that matter. They watched him walk right past them without even looking at them.
Roy frowned. "Something is going on, but I don't know what."
"It's as though he didn't even see us," Kate added.
"There are six major buildings, not including the castle. There's even a ship in the harbor, a harbor of sand. I don't get it. That main gate was huge, thick, and well-guarded, yet they let us walk in. Come on, I feel like getting answers, assuming we can get them." Roy headed for the castle, went through the open door, and saw more people, just like the first one.
"Excuse me. …I said excuse me." Roy tried to talk to someone but to no avail.
"Hey, wait up." Rick reached out to grab his arm but grabbed air. "Did you see that? My hand went straight through him!"
"Hang on a second." He went to the front door, closed it, then reopened it. "So we can touch things, but we can't touch them, and they don't see us," Roy told them. "Ghosts, maybe?"
"Maybe," Gina slowly replied.
A man, a human man dressed in royal-looking robes, walked up to them. "Greetings, may I help you?"
Roy blinked in surprise at the man. "You can see us?"
"Of course, I can see you," he replied. "May I help you?"
"Why can you see us if no one else can?" Roy asked warily.
"About that. You may visit the city, go anywhere, and take anything you wish. But know this: whatever you take from this city will vanish once you leave it. And, if you want to leave the city, you must do so before nightfall, or you will never leave the city again.
"Have a pleasant day." And he left them.
"Wait! What do you mean by leave by nightfall or never leave here ever again?" Roy called after him, but the man turned a corner and was gone. Roy tried again. "What kind of city is this?" The man didn't come back.
Kate had made up her mind. "We leave now and don't wait for nightfall."
"But nightfall isn't for hours yet. We still have time," Roy argued.
"Stay if you wish, Roy, but I'm leaving now. You heard what the man said. Anything we take with us will vanish when we leave. So there's no reason to stay." Having said her piece, Kate walked toward the front gate.
"I'm with her," Rick said and followed Kate. Lanie and Gina hurried after them, leaving Roy standing there.
"Fine." Roy looked around. He had never seen a city like this. The buildings were magnificent. There was green grass everywhere when outside, there was nothing but sand.
Roy followed them out the front gate and set up the tent at the top of the ridge. He sat there in the sand and watched the beautiful city. As the sun went down, that city began to fade away until it was gone. All gone.
"I'll be damned," Roy said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Rick touched his shoulder. "I'm with you there, buddy."
"We would be gone had we stayed," Kate murmured.
"I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it," Gina told them. "What kind of city was it?"
It was Lanie who answered. "The city of the dead." That got all of them to look at her. They tended to agree with her.
One by one, they got up, went into the tent, and got ready for bed, leaving Roy and Rick sitting there looking at the sand. "And you wanted to stay." Rick patted his arm, got up, and left him sitting there.
oo0O0oo
They broke camp after going out to relieve themselves. Then they put on their armor, picked up their weapons, and put the tent away. "Lead on, my friend," Rick told him. "Come on, Flame, we're going."
The sand dunes quickly gave way to those of rock. They started small but grew to progressively bigger and bigger rocks. Now, they were boulders that they had to go around.
They came to one and stopped dead in their tracks. A little ways away, they saw an oasis with a heart-shaped pond they thought must be made by man. But that wasn't what got them to stop. It was what was feeding the pond that did.
It was an enormous coiled snake with a massive head and water coming out of it and splashing into the pond.
"Yuan-Ti? Here? In the desert?" Kate was stunned. She thought she had seen the last of the Yuan-Ti. She had had enough them to last a lifetime.
As Kate thought that, she saw two Abominations come out of a tent and go to the pond to collect water. Kate wasted little time in casting Fireball. They all saw a little red ball leave her hands, fly toward the Yuan-Ti, and explode. When it cleared, they could see that her spell did no damage. The Abominations quickly retreated into their tent.
Kate could scarcely believe what she saw. "My spell did no damage to them at all! Damn it!" she swore. "They must have immunity or something."
"Then we do this the old-fashioned way." Roy drew his sword, getting the others to do the same, and approached cautiously. Rick and Roy took one side, and Lanie and Gina took the other, with Kate in the middle on the other side of the pond.
When the Abominations came out, they wore armor and carried what were likely magical Scimitars. They stood there at the ready; stood being a loose word since they had snake bodies.
Roy charged the one on the left while Rick fired four arrows. Only two of his arrows hit, causing damage. Roy missed his swing. That had never happened before, telling him that this fight was going to be a tough one.
It swung back but missed him. Meanwhile, the other Abomination stood at the ready, waiting for them to attack it. But Lanie and Gina were in no hurry to do that.
Kate cast Magic Missile and saw it hit but did no damage. Somehow, it had immunity to all her spells, which was bad, very, very bad.
Roy swung, and this time, he hit the Abomination, damaging it. Rick fired four arrows and saw only two hit it.
It swung and struck him. Roy cried out in pain because that hurt something fierce.
The other Abomination was tired of waiting and slithered forward to attack them. It swung and hit Lanie but thankfully, did very little damage.
Rick fired off four more arrows, but again, only two hit it. Roy managed to swing and hit it, doing damage to it.
Lanie and Gina swung their weapons at it, and they both missed. That had never happened to either of them, telling them this fight would be different.
It swung at Roy and struck him, doing only slight damage this time, for which he was thankful.
He swung his sword and hit it while Rick fired four more arrows and saw that only two had hit it. Roy's next swing hit and killed it. Or at least it fell to the ground. So Rick changed targets, fired four arrows at the other one, and hit it all four times for a change.
Lanie and Gina swung, and this time, they both hit it, causing very little damage despite Lanie using a two-handed Greatsword.
Roy charged the other one and struck it, causing severe damage.
It swung at Lanie and hit her. Lanie screamed because that hit hurt her a great deal. Still, she and Gina swung their weapons at it, but only Lanie struck it, causing damage.
Roy swung his sword and hit it, causing damage to it. It was finally looking a little worse for wear.
It swung at Lanie and hit her again, doing minor damage, for which she was thankful.
Rick fired four more arrows and saw all four bounce off its armor.
Lanie and Gina swung, but only Lanie hit it, causing severe enough damage to kill it, or at least it fell to the ground.
Gina cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Lanie and repaired some of the damage. She did the same to Roy and got the same result.
They searched the tent and came away with a small amount of gold, some silver, but many copper pieces. It was obvious that the two Abominations were dirt poor. Kate cast Detect Magic on them and learned their swords were Magical.
"I only have four pearls left," Kate told them as she poured them into her hand.
"Save them for later, Kate. We can't use the Scimitars, anyway, and will sell them in town. If we ever reach a town." Rick glared at his buddy, Roy.
Meanwhile, Flame went over to them, thinking they might be food, sniffed them, decided not to take a bite, and walked away.
They came across moldy meat and some fruit, but that was all.
No one went up a level after this encounter.
They decided to travel on after filling their waterskins from the fountain, which still worked for some reason that they chose not to investigate.
oo0O0oo
They finally exited the desert, not knowing exactly where they were. The sun was setting, so they decided to go west since they knew the town was coastal.
It took them two days to reach it, and they arrived near nightfall. They paid one copper piece to enter the city, searched for a general store first, and everyone purchased two weeks of trail rations. Then, they checked into an inn and rented three rooms this time since someone else rented the one big room.
They ordered dinner, paying seven gold for it, and found out it was fresh fish. They learned by asking questions that this was a trade city. It housed about 310,000 people, mostly humans with a few half-Orcs and even fewer Elves, but no Dwarves.
A little tired, they went to their rooms. Rick and Kate took one room, Roy and Lanie another, and Gina had a room all to herself, which was all right with her.
Rick stood there, uncertain just what to do. They had gotten their wish and had their own room. Kate decided to take the initiative, so she slipped her arms around his neck and began kissing him. It soon turned into a needful kiss. Kate so wanted this and got her wish. Rick ate her pussy then he fucked her. Then he ate her pussy again, followed by her giving him a blow job.
But they weren't the only ones having sex. Roy and Lanie were busy, too. Lots of sounds of lovemaking came from both rooms since none of them were all that quiet.
oo0O0oo
Come the morning, after using the bathroom, they each paid seven silver for a nice hot bath, another seven silver to have their clothes laundered, and five silver for breakfast.
Roy went looking for answers to a few questions. Since having turned in their keys to their rooms, the others stood outside the inn looking at all the people.
"Any idea what do we do now that we made it finally," Kate asked them.
"Well, for one thing, we have magical Scimitars to sell. After that, I don't know," Rick replied.
oo0O0oo
Roy returned with a map and unrolled it. "We are here," he pointed, leaning over it. "The next closest town, Myratma, is here, but I know nothing about it. The rivers Agis, Ith, and Suldunskoon are here. These are the Marching Mountains, and here is the Forest of Mir.
"Up the coast is the Castle Tethyr in the land of Tethyr. Farther up is the town of Zazesspur and the Starspire Mountains. I know nothing regarding the Castle or town. But the coast road continues up to Waterdeep and beyond."
Roy straightened up and rolled up the map. "That's it, that's everything I know. It'll take about two days to reach the next town, three more days to reach the Castle, and two more days to reach the next town. It will take us weeks, maybe months, to reach Waterdeep, with many stops along the way."
"I think we should go to the Marching Mountains. There may be Dwarves there," Gina told them.
"And Orcs, and Ogres, and others," Roy countered.
Gina shrugged. "So, it'll be an adventure. That's what we are, aren't we? Adventurers?"
"It will take us three days just to reach the westernmost tip of the mountains," Roy told them.
"Then we could go to the Forest of Mir," Kate said.
"Fine, we'll go to both, but not starting until tomorrow. I want to rest for another day. First jungle, then sand." Roy sighed. "I only want to rest for a bit." And maybe make love to Lanie again.
"It works for me," Rick agreed, "right after we sell those magical Scimitars."
oo0O0oo
Rick got four thousand gold for the two Scimitars, making it 800 gold apiece. Then they got their rooms at the inn for one more day.
Rick didn't waste any time. He kissed Kate and kept on kissing her, making love to her. In another room, Roy did the same with Lanie.
Both women were glowing as they took a hot bath for seven silver each, had their second outfit laundered for seven silver each, then ate breakfast for five silver each.
After that, they went to a general store and bought trail rations for another week since they didn't want to run out. Though, Rick could go hunting and likely find something this time.
Flame got lots of looks, but no one said anything. Rick fed him some raw meat, though he was content to lay there and gnaw on his bone.