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Back to the previous chapter: Hats
First Draft
As the party returned to their inn from the meeting with Father Gillifin, they discussed ideas for how they were going to get Rhongomyant away from the Baroness Eilservs.
Bilbus started the discussion: "Getting to Erelhei Cinlu is easy. Getting into the city is easy. Getting to the ball, that's easy, too. Getting the spear. Now there is where it gets less easy. Here's my plan: we grab the spear and run. After that, the plan gets a little hazy."
Adria looked at her husband, but refrained from making a comment about the plan. She didn't need to. Sturm did: "Idiot."
Adria pretended like she did not hear Sturm's comment. "What if we make a ringer for the spear, like you've done for some necklaces."
Bilbus nodded. "We could make a real spear that looks right, one we can disassemble so that we can smuggle it into the ball. I still remember what it looks like. If I have to, I might be able to enhance it with some Heka."
"What if we disguise ourselves as orcs?" Eric suggested.
Adria shook her head. "That was not fun."
"Yes it was," Kasey disagreed. "I liked being an orc." He belched for emphasis, then blushed when he glanced at the two ladies with whom he walked.
"What about a disguise as drow?" Eric offered.
"That may be worse than being an orc," Bilbus replied. "Especially if we get it wrong."
Bilbus veered towards a blacksmith's shop. "I am going to get us a spearhead that looks right. I'll catch up at the inn."
The party left early the following morning. After a quiet and uneventful ride, followed by a night at a small inn in a village, they reached Tagellin, the city that marked the edge of Eiresudian interests. The party was once more planning.
"When we get to Arabel Cinlu, why don't we look for a drow bow?" Bilbus suggested. "You can buy anything there. Maybe we can find one. I would love to see what Adria could do with one."
"If we can buy anything," Eric retorted calmly, "why not but the spear?"
"It would be expensive," Bilbus replied nonchalantly. "It would cost us Sturm." The mountebank laughed to himself. "Maybe it's a costume ball. We could dress up as Church Knights."
Adria snorted. "If it's a costume ball, maybe we should alter our appearance so we look like drow, then wear makeup to make us look like humans. We can play really stupid. They would be less likely to notice problems with our appearance..."
She stared into the distance for a moment. "If we have to, we can take hostages."
"Hey, guys," Kasey said as the party passed a carpenter's shop. "I'm going to get a cart. We're going to need supplies to get to this town, and it's going to be too heavy for all of us to carry everything. Farran can pull the cart."
The warhorse-kelpie lowered its ears flat against its head.
Kasey turned Farran back towards the shop as the party rode on into Tagellin.
Bilbus looked at another shop up ahead. He smiled. "We can go to the party disguised as Sigurd's pirates. If it's a costume party, we can say that's our costume. If it's not, we're Sigurd's associates, dressed normally."
"I've been studying a book about sailing, in case anyone asks questions," Sturm said.
Bilbus stopped his horse in front of the tailor's shop. "We gotta get everyone disguised as Sigurd's pirates. And we're not going to find anywhere else before Erelhei Cinlu that has bright sailor's clothing." He hopped off the horse and tied it to a post outside the shop.
"Arrr," Adria said as she slipped off of her horse. "I want a head scarf!"
The party tied their horses off and went into the shop. They quickly found colorful outfits that would pass for typical sailors' garb.
As party members were fitted, a repeating cracking and thumping noise loudly rolled into the shop from out front. Bilbus, already in his disguise, went outside to investigate.
Kasey held a lead rope attached to Farran. Farran was hitched to a small two-wheeled cart. The large warhorse kept kicking the front of the cart with his rear hooves, cracking and chipping the wooden frame.
Kasey looked at Bilbus. "Is that your disguise?"
"Yes," Bilbus said, posing for the knight. He wore a black puffy shirt, black pantalons, and a black scarf tied on his head like a cap. His adamantine sword was now at his hip instead of on his back.
"Oh," Kasey said. "It's not really that different from what you usually wear." Farran kicked the cart again, knocking a fist-sized piece of wood from the frame. "Maybe I need to get a metal plate to protect the front of the cart."
The rest of the party came out of the shop. Rishala wore a pirate's costume -- puffy bloomers and shirt, an eye patch, and no kilt.
Adria had large gold hoop earrings on, and another, smaller, ring that appeared to be punched through her nose. "Didn't I tell you a couple days ago, we should go as pirates?"
"Great," Sturm groaned. "We're following Adria's plan."
Adria cheered triumphantly. "Wait..." she said when she thought about it.
Bilbus chuckled, then outright laughed when he looked at Breanna. The noblewoman was wearing a blousy dress that left her shoulders and upper arms bare, exposing the tattoo that she had earned from the centaurs six months ago.
"I'm a pirate, right?" Breanna said defensively. "Why wouldn't a pirate have a tattoo?"
Bilbus looked at Sturm's disguise. "We need to get you a dagger and cutlass. Something blackened and sinister. I wonder if we can find anything like that here."
"I want one, too," Adria called out as Bilbus started walking along the road, looking for a blacksmith's shop.
He found one that made weapons with a little effort. By a stroke of luck, it had a cutlass and a pair of daggers that the smith was willing to sell. With a little extra coin, the smith blackened the blades, until they were a dark gray-black.
Armed with his purchase, Bilbus rejoined the party. He noticed that there was now a metal plate attached to the lower front of the cart.
With their shopping spree complete, the party continued up the road towards Arabel Cinlu.
Kasey stopped the cart outside the small shack at the edge of the city. Bilbus walked towards the shack. Like a similar shack on the other end of town, where the party stopped last time they visited Arabel Cinlu, this one had a sign that read, "Point of Entry, Arabel Cinlu. Departure Bonds, 10 Crowns".
CLANG!
"Hey!" Kasey shouted at Farran. The kelpie had been kicking the metal plate Kasey had affixed to the front of the cart regularly ever since the party left Tagellin. The metal plate was battered and dented with horseshoe-shaped marks and scratches all over it, but the cart had required only minor work to keep it intact.
"I'm going to make sure the Departure Bond didn't change price while we were gone," Bilbus said. He jumped down from his horse and led it to a hitching post. After quickly tying the horse's reins to the post, Bilbus went inside.
Adria looked at Sturm. The Sun Knight was scowling and looking into the distance. When he eventually realized that Adria was staring at him, he met her gaze.
"You know," Adria said. "These disguises are not particularly good. You're supposed to be a pirate, right? Bruises make a man look tougher."
Sturm blinked dismissively.
"You think so?" Eric asked, genuinely interested.
"Sure!" Adria exclaimed.
"Allow me to demonstrate," Sturm growled. He slipped off of his horse and walked up to Eric. Eric dropped out of his saddle to face Sturm.
Sturm shrugged, then punched Eric. Adria barked a laugh. Eric punched Sturm, laughing.
"Do you boys need help?" Breanna shouted. She giggled as she jumped down from her horse. She walked up to Sturm, who towered above her, and punched him in the face. The knight looked at her, a bemused expression on his face.
"Would you like a bruise, too?" he offered.
Farran snorted and kicked a rear hoof out again, hitting the metal plate with another metallic CLANG.
"What's the matter, Farran?" Adria asked in a mocking voice. "Is the cart pony testy?"
Breanna hissed. "Adria! Don't taunt him..."
"What?" Adria asked. "I can out run him while he's pulling the cart."
Bilbus came out of the shack to see Eric and Sturm facing off for another round of punches, both laughing.
Sturm turned to the mountebank. "He doesn't have a bruise," the Sun Knight pointed out to Eric.
The Azirian turned to face Bilbus, the flesh around one of his eyes already discolored from a bruise forming. "Hey..." Eric punched one fist into the other palm as he took a threatening step towards Bilbus.
"Whatever," Bilbus said dismissively. He untied Acquisition 2's reins and climbed back into the saddle. "We need to get some supplies before we head into the caves."
"Oh, I'll get supplies," Kasey offered. "How much do we need?"
"I don't know," Bilbus said. "Maybe a week."
"Okay." Kasey looked at the buildings along the main road through town, searching for a caravanserai.
Bilbus called after the Church Knight. "And Kasey? We need lanterns, torches, that sort of thing, too."
"Okay!"
Remembering the large insect he had seen in the Erelhei Cinlu cave, he added, "And bug repellant! Big bug repellant!"
Breanna pointed at a nearby building. "There's an apothecary. I want to make sure I have enough herbs and supplies before we go."
Bilbus looked at a group of commoners standing at a street corner. He put on a smile. "Good day! Who is the leader of this city?"
One of the men looked at Bilbus and Bilbus's entourage. "There is a council."
"Where does this council live?"
"In the Citadel." The man pointed towards the dark granite walls of the castle on the eastern slope of the valley, above the city.
"When do they conduct business?"
"I don't know. That's Council business, not mine."
Bilbus lowered his voice as he addressed his companions. "I will bet the council is a front for someone else. I think the people we're going to go visit run things around here."
The party stopped in front of the Hoary Man Inn, where they had stayed last time. Breanna soon caught up with her friends; they had to wait a while longer before Kasey caught up. Farran's cart now had a fair amount of supplies on it.
"If we have to escape through the Portals," Bilbus said, "we'll have at least a couple of days with no food or water."
"I'll get more," Kasey said.
"I'll go with him," Sturm added. The Sun Knight took a copper pin from one of his belt pouches and attached it to the collar of his pirate shirt. He had been carrying the pin for months, ever since he recovered it from Captain Sigurd's body. He did not know what it signified, but it was a good bet that it meant something.
Breanna considered for a moment. "Maybe I need to get some more herbs..."
"Me, too," Adria said. The two walked back towards the apothecary's shop.
"I'm going to check with the inn to see if they can stable our horses," Rishala said. "If we really are going to need to carry two weeks of supplies, we don't want to carry food for the horses, too."
As the Caledonian wandered away, Bilbus sighed quietly. There was not much going on in Arabel Cinlu. It would be at least another month before the merchants began to arrive in force. Bored, the mountebank slipped his adamantine dagger from its scabbard and tossed it lightly into the air. He caught it with the same hand, then tossed it again.
"Not bad," Eric said. "Can you do two?"
Bilbus snorted. "Of course."
Eric tossed Bilbus one of his own daggers. The mountebank caught it with his free hand and tossed it into the air. He juggled the two daggers lazily, a bored expression on his face.
"How about three?" Eric asked as he tossed another dagger to Bilbus.
Bilbus took it in stride and adjusted his throwing to handle the third dagger.
"Now juggle four!" Eric prompted before tossing another dagger at Bilbus.
"These are sharp," Bilbus reminded his Azirian friend.
"And you're great, right?" Eric tossed the fifth dagger at Bilbus.
A small crowd had formed to watch the impromptu performance. Two small children in the front of the crowd squealed in delight at the flashing blades of the four steel daggers and the dark adamantine dagger.
Bilbus's demeanor changed. Glancing at Eric, he noticed that the bruise on Eric's eye had darkened. "Come on, Panda! Toss me another dagger!"
"Panda?" Eric asked.
"Another dagger!" Bilbus repeated in a grand stage voice.
Eric tossed another dagger to Bilbus. The mountebank caught it and added it to the mix. Six daggers whirled above his head in a mesmerizing pattern.
Bilbus took a quick glance at the crowd. They were transfixed on his juggling exhibition. The mountebank felt a brief flash of wistfulness at the numerous easy-to-steal coin purses he could see.
He spotted three people in unusual garb. His eyes passed over them once, but came back quickly when what he had seen had registered. Three people, somewhat short and obscured by the crowd, were watching him. They were dressed in pastel silks, robes on the body and a turban and veil that left only the eyes exposed. The heads were a little too wide. The eyes were orangish-brown, with slits like a cat's. Except that these eyes had horizontal slits instead of vertical slits.
Bilbus recognized the merchants from the Black Galleys. But the merchants the party had encountered were in the Dreamlands, not the Waking World.
Bilbus realized that he had not tossed the last dagger hard enough. It was going to punch right through his hand. Instead, he pulled his hands back and let the daggers fall to the ground in a clatter. The crowd laughed uproariously.
"Panda," Bilbus said in a low, deliberate voice. "Tell the crowd a story."
"What sort of story?" Eric asked, puzzled.
Bilbus kneeled to collect the daggers. "A story about the city we visited recently, where you became a dragon. Remember the funny men we saw?" Bilbus nodded towards where the merchants were.
Eric glanced towards the crowd. He caught a glimpse of the three beings in their pastel robes as they slinked into the crowd.
"Like those men?" Eric asked. "The ones who are sneaking away?"
Bilbus charged towards the crowd. Eric quickly caught his shoulder.
"Bilbus, do you really want to chase them right now? What if they brought friends?"
Bilbus struggled for a moment, but stopped. The crowd was already leaving, but there was no sign of the merchants.
Rishala returned from the inn. "The innkeeper remembers me. We can board the horses here. It's not too expensive, all things considered." He looked at Eric and Bilbus. "What's the matter?"
Breanna and Adria approached the three men.
"Remember the odd-looking men in the colorful robes? The ones who attacked us with spears?" Bilbus asked. "I just saw three of them. Here. In the crowd while I was juggling daggers."
"Is that possible?" Adria asked.
Rishala shrugged uncertainly. "It is possible to go into the Dreamlands, but I am not sure about coming out all the way."
"What did they want?" Breanna asked, worried.
"I'm sure we'll find out," Bilbus said darkly. He walked towards the inn. "I'm going to get Acquisition settled in. I think two weeks will be enough."
When the mountebank returned, Sturm and Kasey had returned from collecting provisions. The cart Farran pulled was now heavily loaded with food and drink, as well as torches, lanterns, and small flasks of lamp oil.
The rest of the party took care of boarding their own horses at the inn. They then proceeded towards the Arabel Cinlu Citadel, on the closer valley wall. It was a short walk up the increasingly steep road to reach the citadel.
The dark walls of the castle loomed ahead. The citadel itself was not too large, but its placement on a ledge on the valley wall gave it a commanding view of the city and its environs. Each corner of the wall had a tower, but the towers were no taller than the walls, and looked to be nothing more than extended archer's nests on the corners of the walls.
The doors at the gatehouse were open, and a few guards stood around. No other traffic approached the citadel, and none had left, either.
The party stopped in front of the guards. Bilbus took note that none of them wore the green sash that indicated they were corrupt.
"State your business," one of the guards barked gruffly.
"We're here for a visit," Bilbus said.
"The council are not receiving visitors."
"We're not really here to visit the castle," Bilbus said. He pulled the adamantine medallion from inside his shirt. "We're only passing through the castle."
The guard inspected the black disc with its hideous tentacle-mouthed face in bas relief on one side. "Follow me," he said.
The party followed the guard into the castle compound. There was the castle proper ahead, stables to the left, and a third building to the right. The guard was leading them towards this third building, which had two large doors, more like barn doors than anything. The far side of the building merged with the mountainside, as if it were built out from the mountain.
The guard slid one of the doors aside to let the party in. Bilbus walked through, followed by the rest of the party.
The interior of the windowless building was lit by a number of torches. There was no far wall to the building -- the barren rock of the mountainside and the large mouth of a cave entrance was all there was. The entrance was large, nearly fifteen paces wide and eight tall. Torches placed in sconces cut into the cave walls every ten paces provided light for a distance, but the last pair of torches was a hundred paces into the mountain, and the cave tunnel continued past that.
Bilbus stopped and looked at his comrades. Behind them, the guard had pushed the door closed. "Bree, Sigurd has a reputation as a womanizer. You really should hang off of him like one of his mistresses. Adria can be his wife."
Breanna scowled at Bilbus, trying to figure out if he was teasing her.
Bilbus chuckled and turned back to the tunnel. He walked forward, feeling a cool breeze blowing up from the endless depth of the tunnel. The air smelled old, far older than anything he had been around. Behind him, Rishala climbed onto the driver's bench of the cart; Kasey continued to lead Farran. Sturm grabbed a pair of torches off of the cart and lit them using one of the lit torches.
The walls were mostly smooth, but there were irregularities every now and again that suggested that part of the tunnel, at least, was natural. The stone of the floor was worn down towards the middle, and Bilbus was sure he saw the beginnings of ruts.
The tunnel slowly descended into the mountain. A hundred paces in, the last pair of torches flickered morosely, the end of any signs of civilization. Ahead lay only darkness.
The darkness ahead slowly changes as the party's eyes adjusted to the darkness. Patches of light, faint but present nonetheless, slowly became visible. Bilbus walked up to one of the greenish patches and drew his dagger. He scraped the blade carefully along the patch. The glowing material scraped off onto the blade. Bilbus took his sample to Eric.
"What do you make of this?"
Eric held a torch close to the blade. "I think it is a lichen. Some sort of lichen that glows."
Bilbus rubbed his thumb along the flat of the dagger, pushing the lichen off. He quickly walked ahead of the party, to the edge of their torchlight. As his eyes once more adjusted, he realized he had enough light to navigate. It was dark, like a moonless night, but he could still see.
The party walked along for fifteen minutes in near-silence. Farran's steel shoes hitting the stone underfoot provided the only source of noise. The path ahead turned sharply to one side and became steeper. It still was not a substantial slope, but Rishala pulled the brake lever on the cart anyway. The path continued a distance, then sharply turned back. A while later, it turned again, still descending -- switchbacks underground.
During a stretch of the tunnel where it was mostly level, Eric wondered aloud, "Where do people rest along this way. I haven't seen any side tunnels, or any signs of camps."
Ahead, at the edge of the torchlight, Bilbus called back, "I found one."
As the rest of the party got closer, the site was revealed. There was a ring of stones with ash in the middle. A number of paces from the fire ring, along the side of the tunnel, was signs of animal and human waste.
"Hey, Rishala! Tell us a story," Bilbus demanded. "Something about caves."
Rishala grumbled to himself. "Once upon a time, there were some people trying to save the world. They let themselves get caught by the evil men, and they got thrown into a cave to die."
"Boooo!" Bilbus shouted derisively. "I know how this one goes. They find a way out of the caves. Then the handsome and heroic thief uses his magickal skills to steal some clothes so the party can escape. Been there."
"Actually, I was going to tell about the bumbling and egomaniacal thief who managed to help the party escape despite his foolhardiness using magick to fly an enemy city full of archers."
"They missed!" Bilbus protested. "Well, most of them did. The rest couldn't touch me thanks to the magickal protections I had."
The mountebank got silent. "Hold up!" he hissed back to his comrades.
Adria strung her bow and quietly ran up to her husband. The two walked into the near-darkness ahead and disappeared around a bend in the tunnel. The rest of the party waited quietly until Adria returned several minutes later.
"There's a wagon up ahead, working its way around a switchback. They're headed the same direction we are. They have four outriders on horseback and two men on the wagon. Bilbus thinks we should approach them -- since they are in these tunnels, they probably know the way to where we're headed."
"That's a good idea," Eric said after mulling over the suggestion. "If worse comes to worst, we can probably surprise them and eliminate them."
The party got underway. They overtook Bilbus at the bend in the tunnel. The mountebank walked with the rest of the party, instead of remaining ahead of them.
After rounding the bend, the party could see the wagon. It was about a hundred paces ahead, part way around a sharp turn in the cave. It was a two-axle wagon with a pair of horses drawing it. The bed of the wagon had a canvas cover over it, but the back was exposed, showing small wooden crates. There were poles at both of the front corners of the wagon, with lensed lanterns hanging on both. Four horsemen escorted the wagon. In the light from the wagon's lanterns, the men looked like typical merchant escorts.
The noise of Farran drawing the cart got the attention of the merchants. When the men were looking at the party, still eighty paces away, Bilbus raised his hand in greeting.
"Hallo!" one of the men on the wagon called out.
Bilbus recognized the Fronchan accent -- he had heard it from Captain de Peltier when the party had been captured by the Anlor Balsil Agralem. It was also the accent with which the people of the hidden city of Suderpol spoke.
"Hallo!" Bilbus shouted back to them, mimicking the accent. "We are headed to Erelhei Cinlu! Are you going there as well?"
"Of course we are! There are not any other places where we would be welcome down here!"
"May we travel with you?"
"But of course! We are all friends within these tunnels, yes?"
The party quickly overtook the merchants. The guards looked relaxed, casually interested in the party, but not showing any signs of wariness. The two men on the wagon were both friendly and smiling.
One of them winked at Adria. "Such a beautiful and dangerous woman, carrying such a large bow."
Adria smiled back at him. Likewise mimicking their accent, she replied, "Why, thank you, kind sirs."
Sturm also joined in with a Fronchan accent. "Where do you travel from?"
The merchant who had winked at Adria answered. "We are from Suderpol, of course. We have had to travel the long way for our delivery, for the Sun Knights have captured the Portal in Camelough."
"No!" Bilbus gasped. "How did this happen?"
"I do not know," the merchant replied. "It is a shame, for it means our delivery has to go clear to Londoun, and through the customs agents there. This would normally not be so much of a problem, but Franz Stalgraf Imports seems to be out of business. We do not know what has happened to him."
"So, you must travel over land to Arabel Cinlu, then," Bilbus concluded.
"In the dead of winter!" the merchant added. "A week extra of travel, in the cold, to make our delivery." He paused a moment. "Where are you from?"
"We are from Saltcliffs," Bilbus replied nonchalantly. "Captain Sigurd," Bilbus jerked a thumb towards Sturm, "has been helping to smuggle supplies to our orcish allies in the Dales." Bilbus was now walking alongside the driver's bench on the Fronchan wagon. "We were invited to the ball, you see."
"Oh! We are honored to have you ride with us! We did not realize you were so important to the cause. Would you care for some wine? We have a fine Fronchan vintage with us."
"I have not had a Fronchan wine in I don't know how long!" Bilbus exclaimed. "Would you like some of our spiced rum? It is our own special blend of spices."
"We would love to try this rum!"
"I will get it," Bilbus said. He turned back to join the rest of the party.
Sturm spoke in a low voice. "They are carrying crates under that canvas. The crates are about the right size to hold a sword, or maybe a couple."
"Huh. Want to bet what sort of swords they are?" Bilbus asked. He felt a slight twinge in the leg, where a Shadow Kindred's darkblade had cut him weeks ago.
Sturm rubbed his shoulder. "I don't think we need to be."
Adria offered Bilbus a small cask. After the mountebank took the cask, Adria signed to him in the Thieves' Sign, Don't drink any.
Bilbus nodded, then jogged back to the wagon.
The merchants on the wagon offered Bilbus a hand to help him up. Bilbus took the hand and climbed onto the canvas-covered wooden crates. Once Bilbus had settled, one merchants gave him a metal flask.
"This is the strongest and finest Suderpol wine," the merchant said. "It is called Angry Knight."
Bilbus took a sip of the wine. The familiar, bitter bite of Sturm's Scowling Knight wines filled his palate. "Mmmmmm. Bitter."
"Yes, but it is good for hangovers."
"Angry Knight," Bilbus said pensively. "I am not familiar with that label. Where is the vineyard?"
"It is at a hidden place outside the Suderpol valley. Even the fermenting technique is a secret. The wine tastes like it has been fermented and casked in willowbark, yes? But, of course, no one would use willowbark for creating wine."
"It is still a unique wine," Bilbus admitted. "But, I would like for you to try this rum." He offered the cask to the merchant.
The merchant took a long draw from the cask. "This is a good rum." To the wagon driver, he said, "Here, try this."
The two merchants passed the rum back and forth as Bilbus continued to sip from the Scowling Knight wine. The mountebank glanced back at his friends. Adria had strung her bow, but she still walked along a short distance behind the merchant wagon. Sturm looked like a coiled spring. Breanna was hurrying towards one of the two guards riding next to the wagon. Rishala still drove the cart, and Kasey led Farran. Eric walked next to the cart, his bow in hand.
When Breanna was alongside the mounted guard to the left of the wagon, she called up to him (without a Fronchan accent), "Would you like a Rum in the Valley?"
The guard glanced down at her. His eyes widened at the view he had of her cleavage and the small glass that was nestled in it.
The wagon driver slumped to one side. His companion grabbed on to him clumsily, trying to keep the driver from falling off.
Bilbus heard the twang of an arrow being loosed, and the guard on the horse to Bilbus's right fell off, an arrow through the base of his skull and poking out his mouth. The guard fell off his horse, already dead. The horse startled and stopped walking.
The men on the wagon both collapsed. The driver fell off of the wagon, hitting the stone floor of the cave limply. The two riders ahead of the wagon turned around to see what the noise was. One of them spotted Adria behind the wagon with her long bow drawn. He started to shout, but the shout was quickly interrupted by another of Adria's arrows.
The noble/assassin pulled a third arrow from her quiver. In a fluid motion, she set it against the bow string, drew the string taut, and let the arrow fly. The arrow punched through the head of the other guard in front of the wagon.
Sturm was charging the last guard, the one who had been distracted by Breanna's performance. The Sun Knight had Gretorixmar drawn, and, before the guard could react, Sturm had cut downwards with a deadly overhead swing. The guard's right leg was nearly severed, and his horse reared in surprise. The guard fell to the ground, landing on his head and neck at an awkward angle. The horse ran down the tunnel. The other three loose horses likewise started to run, and the two pulling the wagon raced ahead.
Bilbus dived over the driver's bench to grab the reins. He pulled them back sharply, as if he were going to try and pull the horses back over the wagon. They both stopped quickly, confused. The other horses stopped running just a few tens of paces down the tunnel.
The knights collected the bodies and dumped them on the wagon. Eric and Breanna collected the other horses.
Once the party was had gathered at the wagon, Bilbus yawned loudly. Still speaking in the Fronchan accent, he said, "I am thinking we will want to make camp soon, yes?"
Adria scowled at Bilbus. "Would you like some spiced rum?"
Bilbus laughed nasally. "Of course I would not, for I am Fronchan. I drink the wine."
"Bilbus," Sturm said threateningly.
Eric pointed into the darkness ahead. "When Bree and I were getting the other horses, we saw a fairly large cave off to one side of the tunnel. We can dump the bodies in there."
"That would be good," Bilbus said. "We don't want to carry the bodies, and we don't want to leave them in the middle of this tunnel. We don't need someone to come along and recognize the bodies, then recognize this wagon as well."
Rishala climbed onto the wagon to drive it. Kasey led Farran. The party went down the tunnel until they spotted the cave Eric had found. The cave was natural -- it showed no signs of enlargement or alteration. The knights took the bodies and dumped them unceremoniously in the cave. Bilbus quickly checked the bodies. Only one carried an adamantine medallion necklace. He removed it from the body.
"Here's another one," the mountebank said. "One of you should take it. I already have one, and so does Sturm and Bree."
Eric took the medallion.
Sturm went back to the wagon. He threw the canvas aside and picked up one of the boxes. It was just over a pace long, almost a foot wide, and about four inches deep. Sturm glanced around for something he could use to pry the box open.
"Need this?" Bilbus asked. He held a prybar out to the Sun Knight. "I borrowed this from Kasey's dad when we visited. I forgot to give it back."
Sturm took the bar and pried open the case. There was a black sword inside, with a blade that was straight for a distance from the hilt, then curved. It was a Shadow Kindred darkblade.
Sturm put the board he had removed back in place and tapped the nails back down. He looked at the crates stacked in the wagon. "It looks like fifty boxes. One sword per box. Fifty darkblades. They don't need to receive this shipment. As soon as we can find a crevice, we're dumping all of these swords."
"What if someone finds them?" Breanna asked.
"We'll dump them in different crevices, so they are not all together," Sturm replied.
The party moved along the cave tunnel. After a while, they found a fissure across the floor. It was narrow, little more than a hand's width across in the middle of the tunnel, but it widened sharply on one side of the tunnel, where a small, round room had formed. The fissure widened to over a pace wide, and the bottom was not visible, even when Bilbus shined a lensed lantern down it.
"I think this will do for a start," the noble-mountebank said.
Sturm dropped a couple of the crates into the crevice. The party moved slowly down the tunnel, looking for places to dump the accursed blades. Once the last had been disposed of down an opening, Kasey suggested, "Let's move the provisions over to the wagon."
The party emptied Farran's cart, stacking the food and barrels of water onto the now-empty wagon bed.
"We should make camp," Eric suggested. "We've been traveling for a long time."
"We could use the cart as firewood," Kasey suggested. "There's not much sense in keeping it, now that it's empty."
The party made camp to one side of the tunnel. Kasey let Farran loose of the cart, much to the kelpie's delight. The knight busied himself dismantling the cart, using the prybar Bilbus had taken from his father. After a while, the party had a modest camp fire burning, and the wagon had a stack of wooden planks in its bed, along with a pair of wheels and a badly dented plate of metal.
As Sturm dozed off, he concentrated on two questions he had. The trickle of Heka passing through him was subtle, but it prepared him for receiving the answers he needed.
The dream began as a battle. Around Sturm were hundreds of men, and orcs, fighting against orcs and Shadow Kindred. Just a few paces from Sturm, everything was hazy and indistinct. The sounds of battle were unclear, as well, as if there was something muffling his ears.
After a time -- Sturm was unsure whether it was a few minutes or a few days -- the battle had changed. There were far fewer people fighting. And the bright bluish and yellowish haze of distance was now dark. Underfoot was stone. The fight was inside a building. A palace.
And the fight changed again. The sounds of fighting -- the shouts, the clash of metal, the screams of the wounded -- were farther away, less distinct. Voices called out, familiar voices. The words were unclear, but the meaning was not: We can't hold them for long. They were fighting to buy Sturm the time he needed. The time he needed to defeat the Dark One.
Ahead of the Sun Knight was a single bronze portal, a massive door darkened with age. Ancient runes were carved into the door, and Sturm could feel the energies of the magicks that filled those runes. Sturm took a few steps forward, closer to the door. He could see that the door was pitted and scarred, as if an acid had been splashed across it. Some of the runes had been marred, and a few had been obliterated. The Dark One's prison had weakened.
Sturm hefted the short spear Gas Bulg, ignoring the chilling sensations that coursed up his arms. This spear was the key to defeating the Dark One, if only Sturm could know how.
Abruptly, in front of the bronze door, a man appeared. He was slightly shorter than Sturm, with dark hair and a close-cropped beard. He wore the robes that Sturm had come to recognize as the garb of royalty in al-Rhayidh. The al-Rhayidhian's face was familiar, as was the voice.
The Dark One spoke: "So, blood of Uther. You have finally come to my prison to die. You realize that you won't defeat me."
Sturm growled. He lunged forward, driving Gas Bulg through the Dark One's abdomen, but there was no resistance. This Dark One was a phantasm.
The phantasm laughed. "You still don't understand, do you?"
Sturm stepped back, spear still at the ready.
Everything stopped. The sounds of battle had ceased, and the Dark One no longer moved.
"You won't defeat him," a woman's voice said behind Sturm.
The Sun Knight whirled about. Facing him, three paces away, was a short woman. Her hair was too light to be brown, but too dark to be blonde. It was tied back in a tail. She wore a brown dress that had a sheen almost like silk, close fitting above the waist and flaring below.
"What?" Sturm asked.
"You won't defeat him, Sturm. You aren't meant to. Against magicks of his strength, you would last but moments."
"Then what am I doing here?"
She walked towards him. "Osmail Cunnick led the thirteen mages and the hundred warriors here to imprison the Dark One, to keep him from completing his plan. The mages invoked Uther Paendroeg's name in the magicks they weaved, placing a curse on the Dark One as well as imprisoning him. They knew the magicks could weaken over time, as the dweomer sapped the life from the lands. But, they also knew that Uther's blood would always affect the prison, breathe new life into it. You have Uther's blood in you, Sturm. More of his blood than anyone in generations. You aren't meant to use Gas Bulg on the Dark One. You are meant to use it on yourself. It's the only way to keep the Dark One's prison from failing before the one who can defeat the Dark One is ready."
Sturm maintained his stoic expression as he digested what the petite woman had told him.
"What of my friends? What's to become of them once I have died?"
"They face a difficult journey home. The Dark One's presence will be contained, and he will no longer be able to control the Shadow Kindred. They will leave, to return to the Evening Star, and the discipline of the orcs will break down. But your friends will still have to fight their way home. The battle will be much easier, but it will be a battle, no less. They will get the chance to live, to see the beginning of not only a new Era, but a new Epoch, one that will surely never start if you do not sacrifice yourself. It is your choice whether this is the end of the last Epoch of Oerth, or but the beginning of a new one."
Sturm nodded to himself. He had expected most of her answer, but he had not anticipated all of what she had said.
"It is your decision to make, Sturm Sunblade, of the blood of Paendroeg."
The woman faded into indistinctness, accompanied by the distant sound of galloping horses. Soon after, the dream itself faded away, leaving Sturm in a deep slumber.
Some time later -- it was hard to say how long, with no sun or stars overhead -- the party was sufficiently rested to continue. As the party broke camp, Rishala filled the two lanterns on the wagon with lamp oil that the merchants had been carrying.
Rishala and Adria climbed onto the wagon bench. The Caledonian gathered the traces and started the two horses pulling the wagon down the tunnel. Kasey walked alongside the wagon. Sturm, Eric, Bilbus, and Breanna rode the captured horses of the merchants. Farran walked along behind the wagon, his eyes glowing faintly red in the darkness.
The lenses of the lanterns on the wagon focused the lamplight forward, but the tunnel extended well past the light of the flames. The dim greenish phosphorescence of the lichens on the walls could just be seen in the darkness beyond the lantern light.
The party rode in silence for some time, the only sounds the echoing of the horses' steel shoes on the stone floor and the creaks and groans of the wagon as it rolled along.
"Is it getting brighter ahead?" Adria asked abruptly.
Rishala squinted at the darkness. "I can't tell."
"It is," Adria assured the story teller. "Something's up there."
A few minutes later, Rishala could see that it was indeed brighter ahead. The glowing lichens were denser, and, perhaps, brighter. It was a dark green, about as bright as a bright, starry night. Rishala also realized that the left side of the tunnel opened up abruptly.
The tunnel emptied into one corner of a large, square room. Rishala guessed the room was about forty paces wide and forty long. It may have been about that high, too. The tunnel they had been following resumed ahead, on the other end of one side of the square. What squatted in the middle of the cube-shaped room, however, caught Rishala's attention. He stopped the wagon.
There was a gargantuan statue in the middle of the room. The pedestal itself was easily half as wide as the room, twenty paces on a side. It was seven paces tall. On it squatted a horrific thing that one would never mistake for human. It had bulging, powerful arms, and legs every bit as muscular. The clawed talons of its toes curled over the edge of its pedestal. Its body was oddly round, but hard to see clearly from the front, since its legs blocked the view. The head, however, was easy to see in the eerie green glow of the phosphorescent lighting. Two large, almond shaped eyes oozed pure malevolence, glaring at the party over a tangle of tentacles that hid its mouth. Squatting, it was over twenty-five paces tall.
The party had seen that face before. It was the face on the adamantine medallions that Bilbus, Breanna, and Sturm wore. It was the face on the gold Klal coins that the party had taken from Cadell last spring. It was the face of pure hatred.
The thing on the pedestal was motionless, but it looked ready to strike.
"Incredible," Eric breathed. "I wonder how it was made." He slid down from his horse, tying its reins to the wagon.
Eric climbed onto the wagon to take one of the lensed lanterns, unmindful of the frozen expressions of his friends. They were all staring apprehensively at the statue that stared back at them. Eric hopped down from the wagon and walked towards the statue, shining his light at it. He studied the pedestal from close, then pointed the lantern up at the clawed feet that hung over the edge of it. The Azirian circled around the statue, taking a few minutes behind it, out of sight of the party.
"There's a tunnel back here," he called out. "I saw something in it. Come here!"
The two knights, Rishala, and Breanna hurried around to the side of the statue. Adria stayed on the wagon, and Bilbus stayed on his horse.
Eric shined his lantern towards a tunnel on the far side of the statue. "There was something there. It ran away when I shined the lantern on it."
"What did it look like?" Rishala asked.
"It looked a lot like a man-sized frog. The head was definitely a frog's head." Eric swept the lantern back and forth across the opening.
"I've read stories of evil things called 'Deep Ones' that live deep in the ocean. They look like frog-human crossbreeds, if that's even possible. I think most people dismiss them as myths, but, then again, most people dismiss kelpies as myths." The Caledonian glanced back towards Farran.
The party peered into the tunnel. There was no creatures anywhere that the lantern light touched.
"Maybe we should try to find it," Kasey suggested.
"I think that would be a bad idea," Eric replied. "We need to get to Erelhei Cinlu still, and find the baroness's ball."
They went back to the wagon and horses. Bilbus and Adria were sitting on the bench, watching as the rest returned.
"I was telling Adria that we should paint that statue," Bilbus said when the others were closer. "Or chip some of its toes off."
"No," Eric said. "Whoever carved that statue places great importance on it. Defacing it could cause us problems."
Breanna looked up at the statue again. She shrieked. "The tentacle moved!"
"What?" Bilbus asked. He looked at the enormous head in the darkness above.
"One of the tentacles over its mouth moved! I saw it! It's watching us!"
"Okay, Bree, calm down. It's a statue. Carved out of stone. Eric checked it out."
"But I saw the tentacle move!"
Bilbus jumped off of the driver's bench. "Kase, help her onto the wagon. I think we need to move along." He glanced once more at the ominous statue overhead.
Kasey lifted Breanna onto the wagon. She did not resist the knight; her attention was still transfixed on the statue looming above.
Rishala climbed onto the bench and started the wagon moving. Adria kept a close eye on Breanna as the wagon rolled towards the far tunnel. The rest of the party was on horseback, riding along.
Once the party was past the statue's cave, Breanna would occasion a glance back behind the party.
"Bree," Adria said reasonably, "even if it did move, it couldn't fit in this tunnel."
"But... But... I saw it move!" Breanna pointed back behind the wagon.
"And it will never fit into the tunnel. Even if it did, we would hear it long before it caught up with us."
Breanna nodded uncertainly. She forced herself to face forward, trying to ignore the creeping sensations she felt on the back of her neck.
A couple of hours later, Adria once more reported, "It's getting brighter ahead."
"Aye," Rishala agreed. "But it's a different color of light. It looks like torchlight." He glanced over at Bilbus, who rode alongside the wagon. "Bilbus, ride ahead and see what we're getting into."
Bilbus sighed to himself and kicked at his horse. It sped to a brisk trot, and quickly passed beyond the lanternlight of the wagon. Ahead, a few hundred paces away, the tunnel was brightly lit. Bilbus slowed his horse again, unwilling to trust an unfamiliar mount's footing in near-darkness.
A few minutes later, Bilbus was able to see what lie ahead. There was a cave full of buildings, with lanterns providing ample illumination. On the far side of the cave were a pair of bronze doors. Arrow slits in the wall above and to the sides of the doors gave the impression of the front gate of a castle, or perhaps a walled city.
The mountebank rode closer, until he was on the edge of the cave. He stopped and surveyed the sights from saddleback. There were, indeed, buildings here. Many of them had signs on them in Kelltic as well as the script Bilbus recognized as Drow. There were a few people about, milling around or waiting in one of several taverns. A quartet of orcs sat in front of one shop, passing a flexible tube around. The tube was connected to a covered, large glass bowl that had some sort of bubbling liquid. The orcs were sucking on the tube, then exhaling a smoke.
Four other orcs walked out from a side road. All four wore armor, and had the hand-and-a-half sword that was the preferred weapon of the orc. All four also carried large bows that dwarfed the Dalesian long bow that Sturm, Eric, and Adria carried. Strung, the bows were every bit as tall as the eight-foot-tall orcs.
Bilbus took note of the two inns and the taverns he could see, as well as the caravanserai that was the first shop on the right. No one had made any indication of even noticing him, so he turned around and rode back to his companions.
"There's a small town ahead, with inns and taverns. I saw a few people, and some orcs, including orcs on patrol with really big bows. There is a gatehouse on the other side of the cave. The doors are closed."
"I guess we should ride into town and wait," Eric said.
The party rode into town. As Rishala climbed down from the wagon, someone tapped his shoulder.
"They won't like that," a creaking voice said.
Rishala turned to face an old, stooped man. His face was pasty, and his hair was turning silver. "What was that?" the Caledonian asked.
The man pointed at a bundle on the wagon. It had come partially unwrapped, revealing the purple wood of the drow bow Rishala used. "They don't let people have their bows. Or orcs. They will kill a human who has one of their bows."
"Thanks," Rishala said. He climbed back onto the wagon and retied the wraps around the bow. For good measure, he put it between and beneath some of the provisions, so it would not be immediately noticed.
Rishala's friends were heading into the Closed Door Tavern. The Caledonian drove the wagon out in front of the tavern and went inside.
Bilbus ordered a pitcher of ale. When the barkeeper handed it to the mountebank, Bilbus asked, "When does the door open?"
"About two hours," the man said dully. Bilbus gave him some coins, then passed the pitcher around. The knights each grabbed glasses and filled them.
After some time, a single bell rang. The party went outside to see people and orcs lining up outside the doors. They were just swinging open, slowly. Rishala got on the wagon and steered it around to the line. Breanna sauntered over to the line, swaying her hips deliberately, a mischievous smile on her face. Eric watched her, slackjawed and confused.
Bilbus chuckled at both of them, then got in line ahead of his companions. He watched the doors open. A drow man pushed each of the doors open. Both wore black breastplates and black leather armor pants. Each had a rapier on one hip. Their silver hair was short, with some sort of styling that made the top look flat. Once the doors were open, they jogged back into the tunnel and disappeared into a side door.
Bilbus studied the cave wall around the door. At this distance, he could barely see the cracks between large stone bricks. This tunnel had been closed off to make what had to be a gatehouse, complete with archer's positions in the walls above and a long tunnel ahead that had more murder holes.
In the gatehouse was a large wagon with a lizard pulling it. The lizard was bigger than any draft horses Bilbus had ever seen, easily a foot taller than Farran at the shoulder. Its head moved slowly, looking back and forth as it pulled the wagon out of the gatehouse and past the line of people waiting to enter. A pair of drow on the wagon looked disdainfully at the humans and orcs in the line. Once the wagon had cleared the gatehouse, there were two drow left in the passage, one at a table twenty paces in, the other guarding the entry.
The lone drow guard in the entry was a woman, six inches shorter than Bilbus. She had her silver hair tied back in a pony tail. She wore black leather pants and a form-fitting black metal breastplate that her bosom amply filled, showing plenty of the pitch-black flesh above the metal. She had fierce purple eyes that glared at Bilbus as he approached. Despite her non-human coloring, she was breathtakingly attractive. Bilbus involuntarily gasped when her eyes met his.
On the wagon, Rishala noticed Adria bristle slightly as Bilbus approached the drow. "Dinna worry, Adria," Rishala said quietly. "She's using glamors on him. It's something all elves and fay folk can do."
The drow glared at the party, her eyes sweeping from one to the next, assessing all of them. "Who has a pass?" She paused for a heartbeat. "You are wasting my time! Passes! Do any of you humans have them? It's been a long time since I've had fresh human flesh."
Bilbus fished the adamantine medallion out of his shirt. He held it up, smiling at the drow guard. Behind him, Breanna and Sturm both produced theirs.
"Pity," the drow said. "What about visas? You will all need visas. Three Shekal for the visas. And those of you without passes will need those, as well. Another Shekal."
Bilbus pulled out paper. "Do you accept Hellenic scrip?"
The drow sneered at him. Bilbus smiled, then reached into his coin purse again. "Surface coin?"
Without a warning, the drow brought her knee sharply into Bilbus's groin. He doubled over, barely keeping his feet under him.
The drow leaned close to Bilbus's ear. He could feel her hot breath as she growled, "You pay the sergeant, meat." She pointed at the drow at the table. "There."
Bilbus straightened and staggered to the table. The drow sitting behind it looked at him impassively. "Name?" he stated.
"Lord Hogain," Bilbus replied. He coughed a couple of times.
"Purpose of visit?"
"Attending a party. Captain Sigurd was invited."
The drow filled in blanks on a form, using a stylus and a dark violet ink. He blotted the ink and gave the paper to Bilbus. "Do not lose it. Otherwise, you will not be able to leave."
The drow took names from the rest of the party -- Rishala "Elwen McEwen", Breanna "Kaylen Lithy", Adria "Irin del Boren", Eric "Alain Erwin", and Sturm "Captain Sigurd".
When Kasey approached the table, the drow asked for his name, as well. "Kasey, Lord B...."
Sturm stomped on Kasey's foot, interrupting him.
"Kasey Lorb," the drow stated as he wrote. He glanced at the surprised look on Kasey's face. "Servant."
Kasey took his pass. The party walked on through the gatehouse, a hundred paces of murder holes above and no protection for anyone in the tunnel.
Bilbus staggered along, grumbling about not wearing armor for the first time, and paying for it. He refused offers of a ride on the wagon, preferring to walk until the pain subsided.
The gatehouse emptied into a cavern that was truly enormous. The party stopped for a few minutes to grasp just how large the cave was.
Back to the previous chapter: Hats
Continue to the next chapter: Caverns
Back to the Book IV Index.
Back to the Dark Mysteries Campaign Chapter Index.
Original Draft 11 March 2003
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