Chapter 7
We appeared back at the broken bridge, with no Raphael in sight. So, a devil knows about the tadpoles and is offering up a solution, likely with the price being my soul. But he also seemed to know things about me, that hellfire comment couldn't have been a random quip. He knows about my time with Lashiel. If he knows something like that, he must know my soul isn't something that's mine to sell anymore. What else could he want in exchange for helping us? Not that I plan to deal with him but, anything a devil offering to cure all's wants us, is something I need to know about. I looked to my companions, best to find out what they think of Rapheal's offer.
"Bloody hells-literally. Just when I think I've got a grasp on our dilemma, a devil shows up. No matter. We've dealt with every other oddity thrown at us lately-we can handle this too." Shadowheart said annoyed acceptance in her tone.
"Now as for this Raphael, he knows our secret, he claims he can help… what do you think of him?" Shadowheart asked
"Personally, I think his offer reeked of desperation. Talks of him being our only hope, inviting us to look for other avenues without giving a clear price for his own help. Raphael wants something from us, in that knowledge lies our opportunity." Gale said cutting into the conversation.
"All the more reason to stay away from his offer. If he wants something big and undefined, it means it's something more valuable to us than we know. A devil in possession of something like that can only be trouble." I said firmly.
"Harry's right. We can't lose hope. If we do, the devil will take what we least want to give, and everything else besides." Wyll said with indignation.
"That's what I wanted to hear. He's clever, my order uses the same tactic when dealing with enemies of Shar. You don't need a scrouge or rack to break people. Fear and self-doubt are sufficient. When real pain begins the victim has already done the heavy lifting. There were no right answers with that devil he was playing with his food- us." Shadowheart said smiling at me.
I tried to push the questions about her order and their tactics to the back of my mind. They could wait until our talk. Thankfully Gale cut in again, "All valid points, but allow me to play devil's advocate- the man is too eager. Do not dismiss his offer out of hand. Raphael is a cambion which makes him half-human. And what is human is fallible."
"As much as I like the idea of beating Lord Catsmile at his own game. I don't see how we can do it without falling into a trap that is impossible to escape." I responded.
"By figuring out his true intentions. Fact one: there's something very strange and very powerful about our tadpoles. Fact two: a devil offers to take it away. What if the tadpole is what he wants instead of the customary price of our souls? If I'm right, there's a mighty bargain to be made." Gale said, accentuating each point with a tap of his finger to his palm.
"All of this is still conjecture. We are all just as fallible. Devil bargains never end with the devil getting nothing. We should leave the fancy bastard to stew." Wyll replied.
"Enough of this pointless bickering! We all saw the red dragons slaying infernals above the Hell's fires. Next to a dragon, the devil's a gnat. So, we should be getting to your devil 'Blade of Frontiers' so we can slay it and resume our search for the creche. Our only path to a cure." Lae'zel said putting a sneer into the mention of Wyll's title and emphasis on her goal.
Wyll looked like he was about to run at the gith when I stepped in front of him, "She's right we have more immediate problems. If we let Karlach run free, she'll kill god knows how many innocents. We have to get moving." I said directing the last comment to Wyll.
He calmed down and moved to beside me. Lae'zel rolled her eyes, and we moved forward to where the heat signature was on the map. We were able to jump over the gap in the bridge and walk to a crossroads. We went to the right and found a group of hyenas blocking the road. They weren't attacking though, they were huddled by two pregnant hyenas that were both convulsing on the ground in pain. I cautiously stepped forward and looked at the downed hyenas. They had light brown fur with darker spots of fur covering their coat. Their muscles seemed to be contracting and pulsing, like the bones underneath were being re-shaped. I turned to Shadowheart, "Can you do something?"
Shadowheart waved glowing palms over the hyenas, "I don't think so. Whatever's happening to the poor thing is beyond my skills." Shadowheart said with real concern and pity in her voice. An animal lover. Good to know.
As I went over that thought, I heard Wyll mutter something, "Hyenas? Pregnant? No pack defence? Oh shit! Harry! Shadowheart! Get away from them!"
Before I could process what Wyll had said I was splashed with warm blood. Wiping it from my eyes I saw that in the pregnant hyena's place were two eight-foot anthropomorphic hyena creatures. They were covered in blood, and drool dripped from their maws as their wild eyes looked at us hungrily. The other regular hyenas had similar expressions and were readying themselves for a fight.
"Hells bells!" I squawked as the hyena creature slashed me in the chest, throwing me back. I hit the ground with a numb thunk, the pain in my chest and back being replaced with winter cold. I got up and readied my blasting rod. Shadowheart had apparently heard Wyll in time and was away from the creature's grasp and firing a bolt of light at the thing that hit me. The bolt hit the creature, scorching its skin and making it let out a yelp of pain and the smell of burnt flesh. The burnt creature let out a bellow of challenge and ran at Shadowheart. I pointed my blasting rod at it and screamed "Forzare!" A wave of force hit the creature like a speeding truck and flung it towards the four regular hyenas.
They all dodged the flying monster and ran at our group. Gale made short work of the attackers. Speaking a word, four spheres of red energy rammed through the hyenas with bone-crushing force. They flew backwards and hit the ground, dead on impact. The other hyena thing was fighting Wyll and Lae'zel. The githyanki dodged under the swipe of the monster's claws while Wyll slashed the creature's belly with his rapier. I didn't have time to help, as my assailant got up, left arm broken but still ready to rip me to pieces. It jumped into the air with more force and grace than I thought possible and landed on top of me. The wind got knocked out of me as the creature put its good arm down on my chest to hold me down. As the monster tried to rip out my throat with its teeth, I grabbed my staff and shoved it into the creature's jaws. It gnashed at the spell-weaved wood; it wouldn't hold out long. So, positioned my blasting rod to just below the creature's chin and snarled a defiant "Artis!" A shard of ice about the size of a machete burst out of my blasting rod and pierced the hyena thing through to the back of its neck. More blood sprayed onto me from the creature's open mouth and it fell on top of me dead.
Because the heavy creature was now on top of me, I could only watch the rest of the battle. Wyll and Lae'zel both dodged and slashed at the remaining monster. Wyll slid under the creature's legs and cut the back of both of its knees with a quick arch. The hyena creature fell to its knees as Lae'zel swung her greatsword, decapitating the monster in a single slash.
"Ok, can someone please get Hardy Har Har off me before the smell burns all the feeling in my nose?" I groaned deadpan into the silence. The group snapped out of the shock of battle and came to my side, all of them pushing the creature off me. I rolled to my side and coughed out blood that was half mine and half the monsters. As Shadowheart started to heal me I asked, "What the hell were those things?"
"Gnolls. From the looks of it born from the Yeenoghu demonic ritual. Nasty stuff. They come out fully grown and ready to fight, rather than being naturally born and needing years to develop." Gale said helpfully.
"Sorry I didn't clock the bastards sooner Harry. I haven't been to this part of the Sword Coast in a long time. Forgot that gnolls did the ritual here." Wyll said wiping the blood from his sabre.
"It's alright bud. We got 'em and were all still alive." I said giving Wyll a quick smirk.
After Shadowheart was done healing me, the blood from the dead gnoll flaked away and the slash mark in my shirt had knitted itself back together. I looked at Shadowheart impressed.
She gave me a smirk, "I added some repairing charms to your clothing. I don't need to be smelling dead gnoll for the rest of the trip."
"You should open up a dry cleaner. You'd make a killing." I said patting her on the shoulder.
"Thankyou… I think? Nice to be appreciated." Shadowheart said giving me a confused grin.
After that painful interruption, we continued down the path and it was littered with gnoll corpses. Following the trail of dead, we found an old wooden building.
"Whoever's in there had a hell of a time up the trail," I said gesturing to the gnoll dead.
"They could be wounded and in need of help," Gale said.
"Or could have seen the demon," Wyll added.
"Or, they could be hostile and waiting for an ambush of gnolls. Be ready for a fight. Kanyanks." Lae'zel spat with an amount of sarcasm I didn't think she was capable of. I would have been impressed if it wasn't pointed at me. She wasn't wrong though. We walked through the door of the cabin slowly, hands only an inch from our weapons.
Inside we found a group of armour-clad men and women of varying sizes, all dressed in shades of grey and red. The man that I assumed was the leader by the crest on his armour and the large sword he wielded as we came in, spoke, "Who are you, you are welcome to shelter here but keep your distance we've grave injuries to tend to." Looking away from the blonde man I saw that some of the band were bandaged up and lying down, blood seeping through some of the makeshift implements.
"Gnolls give you trouble on the roads too. I saw the mess outside. How badly are you hurt?" I asked.
"Gnolls? No friend, they were mere child's play compared to the devil that attacked us. We are paladins of Tyr, Lord of Justice. He sent us after that infernal being, straight out of the Nine Hells, hiding in the form of a one-horned tiefling."
"One-horn? Then you mean Karlach. Archdevil's bootlicker." Wyll responded with a disgusted leer
"You know her. Which means you know what the find is capable of. She's slaughtered countless refugees fleeing the Absolute. Yesterday, she butchered an entire family without mercy." The paladin said weariness and pain in his voice.
My blood boiled at the thought of this Karlach devil hurting innocents on the run, I saw a similar reaction in Wyll's stance as he leaned over to the paladin and said, "By my blade, she will not harm another. Where is she? My companions and I will send her rancid soul back to her dreadmaster!"
"She ran down the hill when she saw we were merely wounded- not dead. Down the hill from here. She must pay for her crimes. If you capture her you will have served Tyr where we could not." The paladin said.
"We'll bring you the devil's head," I said with a quiet fury.
With that, we all walked out of the cabin and down the hill next to the trail behind us. Following the river, I saw the devil. She was hunched over, I could only see her back which was red and bumpy like the other tieflings I'd seen. She was wearing what looked like leather pants that had straps attached to them that covered her torso and I could see that her hair was black with some red highlights and shaved on one side. Oh yeah, and she was on fire. The flames seemed to gather around her as she breathed. She was moaning a pained and small shout which made the flames arch higher.
"One-horn. The stink of Avernus. Advocatus diaboli." Wyll announced as he got closer to the devil.
As the devil heard Wyll she got up. She was a fully red tiefling, with the before advertised one broken horn. Where the horn was broken the hair was shaved off. Looking further down the bumps on her skin weren't just tiefling marks, they were burn scars. She also had tattoos in a script I didn't recognise and small metal rings on each shoulder which almost resembled air holes. I was… also correct in my assumption that the straps were the only thing she was wearing on her chest. Goddammit Harry, not the time. Demon to fight. Her fire-yellow eyes blazed as she said, "Well I'll be godsdamned- The Blade of Frontiers. Thought I'd shaken you for good. That'll teach me to underestimate you."
"So, you're the devil we've been hunting, Karlach was it?" I asked with a sneer.
"Bloody right. An honour to be chased by the Blade of Frontiers. But-argh" As the devil spoke the pain in my head returned. A heat roared through me. Her heat, was fiery as hell itself. Then visions of bloodshed appeared, me fighting through demonic armies through fire and blood. The Blood War. What I saw from the nautiloid. This woman was on the front lines. As always I got a pocket of information mainly that the Blood War was an ancient conflict that raged between the demons of the Abyss and the devils of the Nine Hells.
"What was that?!" Karlach yelped with genuine fear in her voice.
"Evidence. Proof that you're a devil, a gladiator in the archdevil Zariel's army." Wyll said drawing his blade.
"I can explain. But it's a whole situation. If you'd just hear me out-"And again the mindmelding split my head in two. Another vision came, Karlach's blade raised, slicing through devils- Zariel's servants- as her eyes dart around, seeking escape. I feel her rage and desperation pour into me. She's a victim of the Blood War, not an agent of it.
"She's trying to trick us. Don't believe her lies." Wyll said desperation mixing with rage in his voice.
"You saw the truth. I never wanted to serve Zariel. I was enlisted in her army against my will. Forced to fight and fight I did. When I saw an opportunity to get away, I took it. I'm finally home-or near it anyway." Karlach said weariness mixed with delight in her voice.
"You served her that's enough to damn you!" Wyll yelled pointing his blade at Karlach.
I looked at the supposed devil gladiator of Zariel. She was big, had the muscles of a professional bodybuilder and was about my height at 6'9. She had one and a half of two scary horns that curled to the right. Her ensemble looked like it was out of the infernal version of Mad Max. But her eyes, fiery as they were, didn't have any cruelty in them. She could fight. Probably enjoyed a good brawl when she wasn't forced into one. But she didn't have the careless malice I saw in the eyes of true monsters Wyll seemed to categorise her as.
"Stand down Wyll. You saw she's no monster, same as me." I said directing my hand towards the desperate tiefling.
"You don't know what you're saying. You're asking me to trust a devil!"
"Stars and stones, you are stubborn. She isn't a devil and you know it." I said staring at Wyll intently.
"You know monsters, right? Better than anyone. Look into my eyes. Can't you see I'm not what you think?" Karlach pleaded.
Wyll looked into her eyes, and saw what I saw, "Shit! You really are no devil, are you? I've… I've been deceived." Wyll said horror gripping his tone.
"Thank the gods. Thought I was going to have to take your head." Karlach said with relief.
"You'd have died in the attempt. But- there have been enough threats for today." Wyll said a bit of humour piercing through his conflicted face. "Truce?"
"Do you one better, allies," Karlach said a true smile forming on her lips.
The burly tiefling turned to me and asked, "I'm Karlach-but you already knew that. And you are?"
"Harry Dresden, you already met Wyll here. Behind us are Shadowheart and Lae'zel."
"Well met, soldier. Nice to meet a friendly around here- it's been tough going so far. I may not be a devil, but I can put the Blades' reputation to work. How would you feel helping me kill some evil bastards?" Karlach asked a jolly sneer coating her voice.
"A little background, if your moral compass needs something to point at… You already know I fought in the Blood War. I was good. Really good. Turns out I've got a knack for killing demons. That made me a valuable asset. Zariel-the archdevil herself- made me her personal attack dog. I played along until I could get the fuck out of there, but devils don't like to lose their assets. Zariel liked it so little, that she sent a bunch of goons, so-called 'Paladins of Tyr', to take me back. Problem is, I'm not going."
"Well, luckily enough killing evil bastards is a hobby of mine. Let's send those sons of bitches back to hell." I said with a smile.
"Fuck yes. They cornered me outside the toll house, just up the hill. Doubt they've gone far after the scorching I gave 'em. Then we take work on evicting this parasite and take Faerûn by the short hairs. Sound good?"
"Sounds like a plan fire girl. Let's roll." I said as we ventured back towards the cabin and the bogus paladins.
Karlach kicked the door to the toll house open, greataxe ready for battle, with us armed in kind behind her. The 'paladins' looked at us in shock, "You brought her here?! We won't survive another assault. Leave us be, and we shall leave you in kind." The blonde paladin said.
"Oh, cup the crap Anders. I know what you are." Karlach said annoyed.
"Don't let her harm us- please, we just want to go home." Now that I had a moment to really look at the group I realized I couldn't feel the humming power of faith radiating from them like true paladins like the Knights of the Cross or clerics like Shadowheart. Karlach was right about these guys.
"Oh, we're sending you home. A first-class ticket to Avernus." I snarled at the charlatan.
"Very well, I'll not play pretend any longer. Karlach, you're going home in pieces if needs must. And you- you'll soon learn soon learn what it means to ally yourself with the likes of this garbage." Anders spat, mock fear dropping from his tone.
"Avernus was never my home. It was my prison. I'm free now. AND I'M NEVER GOING BACK!" Karlach bellowed as her everlasting flames built to a roar and she swung her greataxe towards Anders' head.
Anders blocked the blow with his sword and the two went to battle. As they did the four other demons got up, apparently not that injured. Two were on the ground while the others were on the second floor landing aiming bow and spell at us. The two on the landing fired at us and I put up my shield to protect the group. The two on the ground rushed us, meeting Lae'zel and Wylls blades as they did. Lae'zel blocked the mace of one of the attackers with the hilt of her greatsword, while Wyll clashed his rapier with the shortsword of the other. I turned my attention to the two above, I fired a stream of fire at the one on the left, while Gale threw a bolt of lightning at the one on the right. The one on the right went down spasming on the floor, while the one on the left merely shrugged off my flames. Demons Harry, fire isn't that effective here.
As I chastised myself, I saw Anders jump up sword glowing and hit Karlach with a great crash of radiant energy. Karlach staggered but before she could fall, Shadowheart waved her hand, said a word, and a golden shield appeared in front of Karlach. This had invigorated the blazing tiefling and she slammed Anders with her greataxe again hitting his left arm. He grunted in pain but continued the fight. I saw Wyll direct Lae'zel to back up Karlach. As she moved out of the way, Wyll raised his arms, bellowed a phrase and two tentacles of necrotic energy burst out of him and slammed the two demons to the ground. Anders was now getting attacked on two sides blocking blows with sword and magic, but getting weaker and getting hit more. I saw a glow in his eyes as he gathered energy for one last blow aiming it at the floor below him. As he was preparing his attack both the demons from above were firing at me and Gale, the left one having survived the lightning. An idea struck me. "Everyone behind me!" I yelled. Everyone quickly jumped somewhere out of my way as I aimed my staff at the landing above us and screamed "Gravitus!" The gravity around the wood and metal of landing tripled and it came falling down on top of Anders as his spell went off. The wood flew outwards and I had to shield those who were near me.
Karlach, splitters from the wood burning off her, walked towards Anders' twitching but still breathing form. "Never again!" She roared bringing her axe down to lop off his head. She turned to us fire blazing hotter and higher with each raging breath.
"Fuck them. Fuck Zariel. I won't go back. I'm never going back. And if any of mummy's little friends want to pick up where the others left off… they'll find nothing but a pile of ash." Karlach said a manic rage coating her voice.
"Cool down Karlach. You're safe. Keep going and you'll burn the place down." I said in a tone you use for rampaging animals.
"Gooood!" Karlach roared as she lifted her greataxe again. I took this as a sign to leave her to it and ran out of the building.
The others joined me, and we watched Karlach rage and blaze leaving flame and destruction in her wake. As watched the carnage felt a strange combination of sympathy and amused realization. I knew what it was like to be taken by monsters, the fear and rage that instils in a person doesn't go away. No amount of smashing and burning will make the pain stop, but it is exceptionally satisfying to destroy something the bad guys seem to care about. The amused realization came from the fact I wasn't the madman burning down buildings this time around. I was almost jealous. I chuckled at the thought while the others stared at me with confusion.
After the fireworks show was over, Karlach came back out. Fires back down to usual levels, "Phew. Had to let off a little steam after facing those ignots. Granted the fires lasting a bit longer than it should. How do I look?" Karlach asked gesturing at her fiery vestige
"Like you should have been a big and tall charcoal statue long ago. How do you stand the flames." I asked fascinated by the control of such unstable heat.
"Hear that, an infernal engine for a heart. Courtesy of Zariel, keeps me burning hot." Karlach replied punching her chest, which I had only just noticed was glowing so hot I could see the shadow of her ribcage.
"An infernal engine for a heart!" Gale said with fascinated delight, "How did you end up with that?"
"High pain tolerance. And a combination of truly shitty bosses. But let's leave the scar show for later. I was supposed to see my machinic a while back but that seems unlikely to happen now, so until we can cool me down don't touch me or you'll end up fried." Karlach replied.
"The tieflings back at the grove have a blacksmith there and they were in Elturel. He might be able to help you." Wyll added.
"Great let's go right now," Karlach said with pep.
"Not so fast, we still have to go and see my kin. Once that is over and we are cleansed we can deal with the tiefling's heart." Lae'zel cut in.
"It would be probably best to fix Karlach's heart first. The last thing we need is for an infernal engine to overload and blow us all to hell." I said trying to placate the impatient gith.
"The walk back alone will take too long, my kin will not be in this plane for much longer." Lae'zel spat as she walked closer to me.
Gale got between us and looked to Lae'zel, "I believe I have a solution to this little issue. I have perfected the teleportation spell I used to get off the nautiloid. I can teleport us all back to the grove, we can check out this blacksmith and them I'll pop us back to the broken village quick as lightning."
"That could be a very useful trick if we get in a snag," Shadowheart commented
"It won't work during battle I'm afraid. I need a lot of concentration to pull it off so only in between fights." Gale said firmly.
"Awesome. That seem fair Lae'zel? You can always see them on your own." I said staring at her.
She chk'd at me but didn't continue arguing. I looked at Gale and gave a nod. He raised his arms, hands glowing with purple energy and the world suddenly went bright and cold.
And with that, we have our permanent trio of companions. I'm planning on having the main three tagging along with Dresden be Shadowheart,Karlach and Gale. Others will also be there but they'll switch between based on either random or story related reasons.