"There's no point in running. Surely this fact has not managed to slip past even your myopic understanding of this world." A multifaceted voice murmured in Gnoll's mind. "I understand why you run, but be assured, I, we, will find you." The voice faded into a trailing whisper.
Suddenly, Gnoll found himself back in his home just outside Threefalls. A faint breeze wafted in from the open window of his family's small abode. "Hello?" He called out, yet no reply came. Looking down he was wearing the simple ropes of an archivist, his former occupation at the local temple to Gilean. With a growing sense of unease he walked outside and began walking into town. While the road was never particularly busy it was rare for Gnoll to not see a single soul while entering Threefalls. As he crossed the bridge over the Emberflow river to enter the town proper he finally saw someone. Excitedly he called out and raised a hand in greeting while quickening his pace. However, as he grew closer Gnoll saw more and more people, many of whom he recognized as friends, but instead of returning his greeting they all remained anchored in place. Heads bowed as if in prayer, all facing the path towards the temple. Gnoll stopped in front of one of the figures, a local fruit merchant, who frequently gave Gnoll spare produce during his time at the temple. The man's eyes were void of life and unfocused, as if he was trying to stare through the ground beneath him to see the far side of the world. A shiver ran down Gnoll's spine as his mind raced, thinking of what kind of being may be powerful enough to affect this amount of change on an entire town. Regardless, he steeled his nerves and approached the temple in which he first devoted himself to the pursuit of knowledge and the service of Gilean.
The doors to the temple stood open and inviting, as they always did on pleasant summer days. As he stepped over the threshold Gnoll felt a pang of sadness as the normally bustling first floor of the temple was completely deserted. The tables where students worked on group projects, the rows and rows of shelves normally filled with researching clerics, even the small stage where travelling bards would perform to archive their legacy were empty and quiet. Exploring further Gnoll ascended one of the paired staircases that led to the upper levels. Meandering through the archive he found himself in front of the fountain that provided a calming background noise in the otherwise silent temple. Here he was also surprised to find Cassamir, his former mentor, knelt on the edge of the fountain, head bowed with hands splayed open in front of him like an ancient tome.
"Hello Gnoll Edge." Cassamir said, startling Gnoll. He opened his eyes and turned to look at Gnoll. Gnoll's breath caught for a moment as his mentor's normally kind, slate gray eyes instead appeared as a striking crystalline blue. "It is good to see you." Cassamir continued, "You must have many questions, alas we have not the time. I appear before you with a warning: we are being deceived, nothing is as it seems. You cannot trust in your senses, you must trust only in your faith. Allow the Knowing One to guide your path and you will emerge victorious."
"Yes master."
"Now come, pray with me so that you do not stray." Cassamir closed his eyes and returned to his prayer, with Gnoll following suit. The familiar sense of calm washed over Gnoll as he slipped into a well practiced state of meditation.
"Gnoll! Wake up!" said Charles, shaking Gnoll awake. "You okay there big guy?" Gnoll blinked rapidly, and reached up to his forehead which was drenched in a cold sweat. "There we go, you must have had some crazy dreams. Come on, Akash just made some goodberries for breakfast and Naivara is inspecting that tablet we found."
"It's quite interesting, you should come take a look." Commented Naivara from a makeshift table of crates. She, Hal and Akash were huddled around the tablet and jewelry snacking on large vibrant blue berries. As Gnoll stood and approached, Naivara continued, "It's made of some kind of wood, but nothing like anything any of us have seen before. It also appears to be mainly used for communication. You see these pages keep appearing on it with messages, probably from a different, paired tablet."
"What do the notes say?" Gnoll asked, leaning in to get a closer look.
"Most of it is regarding the invasion, plans to attack the wall, troop movements, stuff like that. However, there is one thing that is pretty creepy, Hal?" Naivara turned to her compatriot.
"Some of the notes are in the same handwriting as the script on my sword." He said, drawing the blade halfway out of the scabbard to reveal a line of script carved into the flat of the blade, just above the crossguard. "I wasn't sure where it came from, but apparently my father had some dealings with demons."
"Yikes, sorry to hear that."
"Yeah, just one more thing to ask him about if I ever see him again." Said Hal, and an uncomfortable silence descended upon the cellar.
"Well, I suppose now might be a good time to mention the voice I heard last night." Said Gnoll sheepishly after the moment of silence passed. The collective heads of the cohort slowly turned to stare at him. "Well I wasn't sure if you guys heard it too…" After seeing their blank stares Gnoll continued, "There was a voice that told me we could run, but not hide, and then I had a vision of Threefalls." Gnoll then proceeded to share his experience from the night's rest and the message he received from Cassamir.
Just as Gnoll finished relaying the contents of the vision the screams of Vrocks which maintained a constant background buzz suddenly grew in volume. The cohort all shared a knowing look and scrambled to re-assemble their gear and make their way out of the cellar to avoid being boxed in.
As they burst out of the cellar back to street level they found themselves on the edge of a rotting marketplace. Numerous stalls were arranged in near rows, with colorful, yet decaying banners and flags hanging limply upon their lines. The scent of rotting fruit and meats hung heavy in the air. Akash looked up to see the cloud of wheeling vrocks rapidly descending upon their position.
"We need to run!" Akash yelled, pointing to the sky.
"Oh shit!" Said Charles, "The edge of the city is that way!" He continued pointing across the market where a parapet could just be seen peeking over the buildings of the city. Dashing across the market they ran for the distant wall and the cover of the waiting forest. As the far side of the market came into view a large red-backed balgura emerged from the alley cutting off their path. Before they could change direction the beast slammed its oversized fists into the ground sending a shockwave rippling through the cobblestones knocking Akash and Halimedes off their feet.
Recouping the cohort formed a circle, weapons bristling outwards like an alarmed porcupine. The cloud of vrock began alighting upon the roof lines surrounding the market as if they were a murder of crows waiting for a predator to finish its prey. Packs of dretch began to emerge from the streets as well, sealing any paths of escape. The army of demons slowly closed tighter and tighter, Naivara, and the casters fired off a couple volleys but the overwhelming wave of demons could not be diminished. Eventually a ring of dretch with interspersed balgura held formation just beyond the reach of the cohort's melee weapons. Akash felt a sense of dread drape over him for the second time in as many days. He turned to his companions only to see Gnoll's face contorted with pain and a hand raised to his head.
"The lord…he's inviting us to talk with him." Gnoll grunted through gritted teeth.
"I don't think we have much of a choice." Said Hal, keeping a sharp eye on the demons.
"I agree." Said Akash, releasing a trickle of rejuvenating energy into Gnoll to alleviate some of the mental strain from the forced communication.
"So do we just start walking towards the keep?" Asked Charles.
"I think so." Said Gnoll, "I didn't get a whole lot of directions, but we should be safe as long as we don't attack anything else."
Charles ever so carefully nudged Buck forward to the line of dretch before him. Just before he made contact with them the dretch parted like rats before a torch. Charles and Buck led on through the winding, abandoned streets of Velling. Following the directions of Gnoll the cohort found themselves at the gates to the throne room of Velling. Gnoll stepped out from behind Charles and Buck to take the lead and raised his hand to push open the iron-bound doors, only to have them swing inward by their own volition.
Immediately, the cohort was drenched with a wave of intense heat and humidity as a thin fog rolled across the floor from beyond the open doors. The throne room they beheld was unlike any other they had seen or heard of before, the roots of a thousand vines burst through the tile floor, while the stalks choked the light that once streamed through stained glass windows. A sourceless monkey howl echoed through the chamber. In the center lay the throne, a towering spectacle of carved wood with velvet green steps. Atop the throne sat the Lord of Velling, it was indeed the elderly man that Akash and Hal saw from the abandoned tavern, he was draped in silken finery befitting his station, as well as a masterfully wrought golden breastplate upon his chest. Although, even with his adornments the Lord's most striking feature were his hands, instead of his thumb being adjacent to his index finger, it was instead adjacent to his pinky finger.
"I'm glad to see you accepted my invitation." Greeted the Lord from his throne. "I must admit, you are much more of a nuisance than I was expecting, given that you are in fact mortal. As a small token of acknowledgement I will allow you to choose the first city to be razed by our grand army." He paused, waiting for a reply.
"Why are you even here? What did the common people of this world do to deserve such an invasion?" Gnoll asked, stepping further to the base of the stairs that led to the throne.
The smile on the Lord's face tightened. "You mortals never do anything, and that is precisely why you do not deserve the Prime Material." He sneered, "In the Abyss each and every demon must fight tooth and nail to make something of themselves. From the Fields of Consumption, to the Black Blizzard, and even my home of the Drooling Jungle, we live in a perpetual struggle for survival. Meanwhile, mankind lazes about here in the Prime. Even the weakest among you without a single drop of arcane potential can live in comfort and peace. All because their soul was lucky enough to be placed here by the gods." The Lord's features began changing, his face pulling forward to form a short feline snout, and a short layer of silky black hair began to emerge across his body. "Can you tell me, Follower of Gilean, that you would not seize a library full of all the knowledge in the world if it was infested with ants to be crushed under your boot? We only aspire to rule this land that you so ignorantly squander. That is what you have done to deserve this, that is why you must be exterminated, and that is why I ask of you, which city first?" By the end of his speech the Lord of Velling had completed his transformation, he now appeared before the cohort as a humanoid black panther, any sensibility of a frail old man replaced by the proud, strong presence of a warrior who had lived more lifetimes than they could imagine.
"You think you are owed this plane and that we are merely ants. How about you come and find out just how strong an ant colony can be when it stands together." Gnoll declared, shouldering his shield and raising his mace with a burst of radiance a swarm of spectral books appeared out of thin air and began whipping around Gnoll like a miniature personal cyclone as he led the charge against the Lord of Velling.
Just before Gnoll and the Lord clashed, Akash fired a bolt of divine energy that landed squarely in the Lord's chest, however to Akash's surprise the energy seemed to simply flow around the Lord and dissipate harmlessly. Before he could cry a warning the Lord closed the gap to Gnoll and sunk his clawed hands up under Gnolls's chestplate. Acting quickly, Naivara sidestepped to get a clear shot and fired two rounds at the Lord, one missed high, but the other passed clean through the upper arm. The Lord's face contorted with rage and agony as the bullet passed through him, more so than Naivara was expecting. Charles and Hal both made their round of attacks to round out the initial contact.
The Lord snarled, deep red blood oozing from his wounds. He dashed into the cover of the surrounding foliage, his black fur melding seamlessly into the shadows. Akash jettisoned himself into the air, an enchanted air current held him above his companions as he searched the vines for the Lord of Velling. The rest of the cohort began slowly advancing towards the thicket of vines. Suddenly a figure darted out from the shadows, Charles struck at it, alas, his mace passed through it as if it were made of mist. From his now exposed flank the Lord attacked, landing one clean claw strike, the other skating off Charles' armor. Gnoll jumped in to defend his comrade, mace glowing with divine light, but just as Akash's spell before the energy faltered and failed to mark its target. From his vantage point Akash expelled a burst of healing to Gnoll and Charles while Hal and Naivara pressed the advantage. Once again, Naivara's shots rang true, ripping into the Lord, and in a strange way they seemed to diminish his presence.
Now limping badly the Lord began retreating, his face full of pain and fear. From his pocket he produced a thin cylinder of metallic green material intertwined with a small vine. He raised it above his head and began chanting. "No! Stop him! He's getting away!" Yelled Gnoll. Charles replied by throwing a javelin from his back, but just before it could land the Lord disappeared in a flash of purple energy.
"Damn! Almost had him." Said Charles. The sound of approaching guards echoed through the hall leading to the throne room.
"No time to stick around sulking. Follow me!" Said Akash, landing in a three-point landing then dashing to a sliver of uncovered window.
"What's the plan here Akash?" Yelled Hal as he turned to follow.
"Just trust me on this!" Akash dove forward, shattering the glass, and tumbling into a freefall.
"Awww hells." Groaned Hal as he dove through the opening, the wind snatching any further comments.
As the wind whipped by Akash took a moment to revel in the freedom of the air before he flipped on his back in order to see his companions flailing above him. Chuckling to himself at their absurdity he reached within himself for the flow of magic. Using the magic he wove a net of air that brought them to a cushioned halt just above the cobblestones. Akash then released the flow of magic to bring them to a small heap on the street.
"I'll admit, that worked much better than I expected." Commented Charles, looking up to the tower from which they had just fallen. "Let's finish our escape before they catch up."
The cohort completed their escape from the demon infested city of Velling the way they came, through the sewers, even encountering another Slaad before breaking back into the wild forests of Woodernia. As night fell they set a watch and waited for the morning to come once more so they could make their way back to the cave of Kobolds and the former citizens of Nestrin.