Sapphire:Sessions:20051119
[November 19, 2005]
Long Days 22: “We’re going to go outside and strike the flame.”
Josh unbars the door. After impaling Alondo’s head onto the end of Runis’s axe, Aliana hands the other three bales’ heads (Belinn, Calber, Selpran) to Chalker, who swings them against each other like some macabre child’s toy. Aliana arranges the group with Tunteki the goblin in front, followed by Chalker and Runis, then Rory and Josh, then herself and Jinto. Though he has retrieved his sword and knife, and does as he is told, Tunteki is still unhappy about this whole situation. Aliana, figuring he’s looking for an out, determines to keep a close watch on him.
Chalker taps Tunteki with his sword. “Where is the first place Solari would go?” “She’ll go for help, to see if any of the other lords are in the castle.” “You’re the captain of the guard. Are there any more?” “I think there’s one other. Oh, she’ll also gather as many of the zombies to her as she can.” “Do you know how she controls zombies?” “I’ve always heard them controlled by spoken command.” “Will any zombie follow any lord? That doesn’t make any sense.” “They have some hierarchy that they follow. I don’t know what it is. I’ve seen various lords order around different combinations of the zombies in the castle.” “Will they follow your orders?” “Oh, no. They won’t. They’ll only follow the orders of a lord.” Rory offers, “There are some big centaur zombies by the gate. I don’t know if you saw them.” Chalker: “Yes, I saw them. Zombies burn well, don’t they?” “As well as anything. The older they are, the better they burn. The ones in the castle are kept fairly fresh, however.” “So if they’re told to attack you, they’ll attack you?” “Yes. I’ve no special protection, other than the lords never had a reason to order them to attack me.” “Well, that’s changed.”
Aliana says, “Let’s move. Let’s get out of here.” Tunteki, she realizes, would have been happier just to stand around and talk, but he turns, pulls the door open, and moves out, sword drawn. The corridor is empty. Tunteki asks, “Where is it you wanted to head again? To the gate and out across the river, right?” Chalker: “Yes. You can bring back the bridge again, can’t you?” “Yes, I can.”
Chalker continually checks for ambush points. Aliana listens for guards coming up from behind. Rory figures out that Tunteki is moving toward the southern gate, but not as directly as he could; the current route will lead the group through an open courtyard where they could be trapped. Hearing sounds of movement from all around them, Aliana urges, “Hurry.” “We need to go west a couple of corridors,” Rory says. “I think it’ll be faster.” Chalker: “Sounds good.” Tunteki says “Okay” and starts shifting over (but Aliana can tell by his body language he’s thinking “Oh, s***, that didn’t work, what next?”).
Sounds of shouted orders and tramping feet echo along the hallways. Half of the voices are speaking common, the other half orc. The amount of confusion indicates a high degree of disorganization, suggesting that the guards have not trained very much to handle this sort of situation. As the group reaches a cross-corridor, a lone orc darts in front of them. Without breaking stride, Tunteki cuts the orc down. Runis takes a few seconds to finish the orc off. Aliana: “It’s sounding like we’re not going to clear the front gate before they’re on us, so let’s look for a place where we can defend ourselves.” Chalker thinks, “If we go out into the courtyard, they can attack us from six directions. We’re coming to a weak defensive position.” Arriving at a decision point, Chalker orders “Go straight” and watches for Tunteki’s reaction (which is mixed – he likes the way Chalker decided to go, but doesn’t like being in front). “Well, that’s the plan,” Chalker thinks, “’Get ‘em.’”
Chalker somehow senses that as they go by a set of closed doors, there are guards behind them waiting for them to go past. He whispers to Josh, “Did you pick up those people behind the doors?” “No…” and Josh passes the word back.
Tunteki pushes open the doors to the outside and dashes through. Chalker asks Josh to block the doors closed behind them, and Josh grabs up a metal torch-holder and rams it through the handles. Chalker calls to Tunteki to hold up, and the goblin skids to a stop.
Chalker raises his cluster of bale heads, swinging them by their hair. Runis brandishes his axe, Alondo’s head impaled upon it. Aliana moves to Chalker’s left, Jinto to the right, and Rory readies his bow and moves right to cover Josh.
Arrayed before them in the courtyard are at least forty zombies, orc and human. Near the main gate stand three centaur zombies armed with spears and three humanoid zombies. Scattered around the courtyard are over two dozen guards of different races. In the sky Chalker spies a Winged Folk zombie, a javelin in each hand and several more in a belt quiver. On the battlements he spots two crossbowmen. No bales are visible.
The sight of the severed bale heads has stunned the living guards; the zombies aren’t moving. Aliana urges, “Chalker, Runis – start talking.” Chalker calls out, “Who’s in charge?” Runis booms, “Looks like we’re in charge!” Looking over at Tunteki Runis adds, “Don’t you agree?” The goblin responds, “Yes, totally.” A human guard, who Aliana had guessed earlier was associated with Talina, cries, “Friends, the day has arrived!” He steps forward, draws his sword, and forms ranks with the group. At this, all but one of the remaining human guards start forward, and eight of the goblins move up to join with Tunteki. None of the orcs make any move, however, and Rory takes aim at their leader, Strum. Chalker, still swinging the bale heads, shouts, “Orcs, run for your lives!” and Runis just grins.
Strum yells “Attack!” Runis yells back, “Thank you!” Rory releases his arrow, which imbeds itself in Strum’s leather armor. The “good” guards rush to intercept the “bad” guards.
Runis, starting to sing, heads straight for Strum. Chalker gains control of both the winged zombie’s javelins, takes an on-guard position, and looks around for a bale. The guards clash. Strum starts running toward Runis. From the area of the gate a male voice shouts, “Attack intruders!” Aliana, with her sword in one hand and her knife in the other, darts forward and hamstrings a zombie. Runis judges from the zombie’s attempt to parry that it was once a trained fighter. Rory nocks another arrow.
Jinto hurls a lightning bolt clear across the courtyard and strikes one of the centaur zombies. Tunteki charges forward and chops down a human zombie. Chalker sees that the winged zombie is aiming its javelins at Runis. Josh rushes forward and attacks an orc zombie. Strum swings wildly at Runis, who blocks with his shield. The voice from the gate says something the group can’t make out. Aliana slashes two zombies in their necks, and one of them collapses. Rory kneels, draws back his bowstring, and targets a crossbowman… who is aiming back at him. Chalker swings and beheads a zombie. Runis strikes Strum heavily, driving the orc a step or two back (and sending Alondo’s head flying).
Jinto concentrates on his next lightning bolt. Tunteki attacks another goblin zombie, lopping off its head. With his shield Runis bashes Strum in the face. Aliana attacks two more zombies, lopping off one’s head; the other parries. Josh beheads a human zombie. Rory fires; his arrow flies off to the side (barely missing Josh) and his bowstring stings his arm. A zombie hits Aliana but doesn’t get through her armor. The winged zombie throws his javelins; Chalker deflects one of them straight to the ground, and the other thunks into the gate.
Aliana slashes two more zombies in the neck; one collapses. Runis swings at Strum who barely parries. Chalker steps to his right and beheads a zombie. Tunteki beheads an orc zombie. Josh chops off a zombie’s head.
Chalker attacks a zombie, which parries. (“He’s messing up my groove!”) Jinto zaps the same centaur zombie, which collapses. Aliana decapitates a zombie; another parries. Runis bashes Strum. Strum swings at Runis but misses; Runis laughs, “Is that all you’ve got?” Josh beheads an orc zombie. Josh parries a zombie, and another zombie throws away his sword. Chalker parries a zombie. An orc zombie strikes Runis but doesn’t hurt him. A zombie strikes Aliana. The winged zombie, pulling out another javelin, dives toward Jinto. Jinto concentrates.
Runis swings at Strum but misses. Chalker steps and concentrates. Tunteki beheads a human zombie. Aliana hits with her knife and a zombie’s head goes bouncing away. Strum swings and hits Runis. Josh swings and flings his sword away. Chalker parries a zombie nicely. A zombie hits Josh. As he starts to nock an arrow, Rory, realizing the group is in trouble, thinks, “Mr or Mrs Diamond, we could use some help about now!”
Chalker ‘grabs’ four of the winged zombie’s remaining javelins and spills them out of the quiver. Aliana deactivates another zombie. Jinto hits the diving winged zombie with his lightning bolt. In Rory’s mind he hears a clear voice, {Suggestions?} Tunteki hits another orc zombie; Chalker notes that the goblin will soon be past the main bunch of zombies (which are still not attacking Tunteki). A blow from Strum glances off of Runis’s armor. Runis bashes Strum. Josh runs at full speed toward his sword (instead of picking up a sword from a fallen zombie). Jinto phases and the winged zombie flies straight into a wall.
Jinto dives out of the way of the backsplash. Tunteki charges toward the gate. Josh retrieves his sword. Two zombies hit Chalker, one getting through his armor. Strum falls unconscious just as a zombie strikes Runis – dink. Aliana takes another zombie hit. She swings and beheads a human zombie. Chalker revenges himself on the zombie that hurt him. Runis scans for live orc guards, spotting one five yards away fighting a human. Runis clasps the Diamond, starts running for the gate, and shouts “Tunteki!” Runis finds himself moving about double his expected speed, and the voice in Rory’s mind says, {Will this do?} “Well, I was going to say ‘teleport us and our friends to your nearest temple.’”
Jinto stands up. A zombie manages to parry Chalker’s blow. Runis shouts, “I’m on my way!” Tunteki looks over his shoulder and skids to a halt. Aliana slashes a zombie. One of the centaur zombies, leveling its spear, charges toward Runis. Runis notices that all the orc guards are dead; only three guards are alive (including the human who had shouted “the day has arrived”), all wounded. Rory aims at a centaur zombie.
Jinto starts building up another lightning bolt. Chalker beheads a zombie. Out of the corner of his eye, Rory sees a male bale materialize behind Jinto and strike the elf with a longsword. Josh beheads a zombie. The three remaining guards start hacking three charging zombies (which don’t recognize them as intruders). A zombie strikes Aliana. Josh parries one zombie and is struck by another. Rory thinks, “How about if you make my arrow fly straight?” as he turns and fires at the eye of the bale. The arrow flies true and the bale screams. Rory murmurs, “Thank you!” Aliana slashes a zombie. Runis sees Tunteki facing an orc zombie, and he also sees that the two crossbowmen are aiming at him, and that the charging centaur zombie will reach him in another second. Runis changes course slightly, going straight for the centaur.
Chalker is parried by a zombie. Tunteki steps forward, then turns side-by-side with the zombie, to face the group. Jinto turns around and feeds the lightning bolt to the still-screaming bale. Josh beheads a zombie, parries another, and fails to dodge another. A zombie strikes Chalker. The guards dispatch their three zombies. Aliana beheads a zombie. The centaur zombie misses Runis, plants his spear which breaks under his weight, and lands hard on its side. Runis keeps charging toward Tunteki and shouts, “Time to choose!” A strange look comes over Tunteki’s face. Rory stands, draws his sword, charges the bale, and calls “Neck!” as he swings, but misses.
Tunteki turns and rushes for the gate. Runis can see him swing at a female bale, who vanishes and reappears a few yards away. From the family resemblance, Chalker figures this is the twin of the male with the arrow in his eye. Runis rushes past the remaining zombies. The female bale shouts at the centaur zombie, “Kill Tunteki!” Aliana runs toward the female bale. Chalker swings, the zombie parries. The zombie swings, Chalker parries. Josh parries, dodges, and finishes off a zombie. A zombie that was chasing Runis trips over Alondo’s head and falls down. The three guards rush to finish off the zombies. Rory shouts “Wrist!” and lops off the hand of the male bale, whose screams increase in pitch.
Tunteki swings wildly and misses the female bale, who vanishes a split-second later. Josh damages one of the two zombies still attacking him. Chalker parries. The centaur zombie spears Tunteki. Aliana gazes wildly around but the female is nowhere in sight, so she runs toward the centaur zombie. One crossbow bolt misses Runis, and he deflects the other with his shield. Rory yells “Neck!” and swings, but misses. Runis swings wildly at the centaur zombie’s withers, hitting solidly.
Aliana keeps running. Chalker uses his power to grab the zombie’s sword and jerk it downward, then beheads the zombie. Rory again yells “Neck!” but misses. Runis smacks the centaur zombie in the back of the head with his shield, and the zombie collapses. Jinto touches the male bale with a stunning jolt of electricity. Josh swings and is parried.
Jinto turns around, looking for a target as he concentrates. Josh swings and cuts down a zombie. Rory thinks, “A little help here!” He shouts “Neck!” and lops the male bale’s head off. “Thank you!” Chalker surveys the field – the two crossbowmen are running away; there is one zombie still attacking Josh; the three guards are finishing off the downed zombies; something is pounding on the doors. Chalker heads toward Josh. Aliana goes out the gate, looking for the female bale.
The remaining zombies are cut down. Rory positions the bale’s head so that it’s facing the doors, then says to Jinto, “We need to go!” and heads for the gate. Chalker picks up the bale’s head, then takes the rings from the body. Runis retrieves Alondo’s head and sticks it back on the end of his axe. Tunteki binds his wounds. Aliana sees a group of fifteen or twenty people watching the other side of the river, and many others staring out from buildings. Circling above the castle she sees a female Winged Folk zombie. There is a patrol of human soldiers approaching, Talina walking among them.
Aliana cries out, “People of Barshar City, Lord Alondo is dead!” The crowd cheers.
Runis stops next to Tunteki, takes the Diamond, and sets it on the goblin’s wound. In the dwarf’s mind he hears, {You sure?} “Yes,” Runis says aloud. The wound closes. “You are most convincing, Master Bard,” Tunteki says. “Yeah,” replies Runis, “but now I need a way across that bridge so we can be more convincing.” “I think your partner’s already begun the process. Got a good voice, doesn’t she?” Tunteki turns and walks out the gate. Runis follows. Chalker emerges, swinging four heads in his left hand. Josh drinks a healing draught. With help from the three guards, Rory closes the inside gate. (One of the guards, Rory notices, is the one who distracted the others when he was up in the tower.)
Tunteki walks onto the platform. “I assume we want to go on across?” he asks, even as he starts the motions to summon the bridge. On the other side of the river, Talina and her escorts break into a trot. As the rest of the group emerges, Aliana fades back behind them into the shadow of the outer gate. Rory nocks an arrow. Chalker scans the battlements, thinking “One of those bales has to be where they can see us.” Aliana pulls out a healing potion, fumbles and drops it, then slumps against the wall, cursing silently. Jinto glances around and moves back behind the gate. Picking up the vial he hands it to Aliana, saying politely, “I think you dropped something.” “Dump it in,” Aliana says, opening her mouth. The potion heals most of her wounds. After a few moments she straightens up, thanks Jinto, and re-emerges to stand at the back of the group.
“Chalker, these people are going to need some kind of plan,” states Aliana. “They have no plan.” Chalker replies, “Well, I can give them a simple plan, especially since if they take out those zombies…” Aliana: “They’ll want to bury their dead.” Chalker: “They can bury their dead; just bury them without their heads.”
Tunteki completes his ritual and once again the bridge spans the river. The group stands watching, but none of the people on the other side make any move to cross until Chalker raises his hand and beckons. Hesitantly Talina steps forward and calls out, “Are you sure?” “You see, Chalker? They’re going to be helpless,” complains Aliana. Chalker calls back, “Yes, I am sure.” Talina starts across with seven human soldiers following her. Aliana turns and slips back inside the gate, thinking, “I’ve got to find those bales.”
Runis retrieves the spear with which the centaur zombie had attacked Tunteki, pulls Alondo’s head off his axe, and impales it on the spear. Chalker murmurs, “I’m going to make some leaders now. Talina can’t be the only leader. And while it’s been fun, I’m tired of carrying these heads around.” Runis replies, “I’d say there are three here that qualify ahead of anybody coming across the bridge.” He indicates the three guards remaining from the courtyard fight (two humans, one goblin). Chalker calls to the goblin, who comes on over. “Well, since you survived, you are now the new goblin leader. How do you feel about that?” The goblin glances over at Tunteki. Chalker goes on, “And that’s your general. Right, Tunteki?” Tunteki looks from the other goblin to Chalker and says, “You’re on a roll. Go with it.” Indicating Tunteki, Runis says, “This one’s no use to the movement.” “Master Bard Dwarf is correct,” agrees Tunteki. Chalker starts, “Much as I hate to disagree with you two…” Runis repeats, “He’s no use to the movement. Not as any kind of leader, not as any kind of public figure. Maybe as a spymaster, or as an advisor, but he can’t be a leader.” Chalker: “Okay, then you’re going to be his advisor, to help him take care of the lords. You know their weaknesses, you know where they’re going to hide, and you know if they get back in power, you’re so dead.” Tunteki (with a wicked grin): “Dundedor, you’re it.” Chalker: “Can you handle that?” Dundedor: “I made my decision several minutes ago.” Chalker: “Well, then, the price is right! One lord head for you.”
Next, Chalker calls the two human guards over. They approach slowly, and Chalker adds, “Come on, I’m not gonna bite. Yet.” He tells them, “I assume your leader is headed across the bridge. But she’s going to need some generals, okay?” The first human says, “I’m already her lieutenant.” Chalker: “Good! Now you’re a general.” Runis: “How widely known is that?” Human: “Not very.” Runis: “It’s about to be.” Chalker hands one of the bale heads to the human, who accepts it gingerly. To the other human Chalker says, “You see the way this is going, right?” “I do see a trend.” Chalker gives him another of the heads. “Now, before they get over here, I’m going to give you a chance to pick out who’ll be number three. Who should it be?” When they don’t answer right away, Chalker adds, “Don’t make me wait, now. You don’t want me to stick around. I’ve got people looking for me already, and you don’t want them coming here. You think the bales are bad?” One human asks, “What chasing you that’s worse than a lord?” Runis: “These weren’t very difficult.” The other human says, “Well, there’s another dozen or more lords in town, another couple of hundred zombies in the human section, about an equal number in the goblin section, and the orc section. Plus the orcs outnumber us by about two to one...” Runis: “Okay, so you still got ‘em outnumbered.” Human: “It’s not going to be easy.” Chalker: “Well, of course it’s not going to be easy.” Human: “It’s going to take a while.” Runis: “Did you think it was going to be ‘easy’ when you did this?” Human: “No, but it seemed the thing to do at the time, and I sort of got caught up in it.” Chalker: “What does that have to do with picking a third? I’ve already given you your assignment. Deal with it. Now, who’s the third?” Runis: “Can I make a suggestion for the third? Is there somebody in your organization who’s not in the military? If he’s a trustworthy person, a merchant would be the better choice to be a third leader in this. That way it’s not a military coup, it’s everyone involved.” Chalker: “The dwarf seems to have a keen sense of politics… which I will have to talk to him about. But it sounds reasonable.” Josh steps up and says, “Yeah, I think Runis has got it right. If we pull it right, you might get most of the humans in the human town to come with you, if you do what he says. So they don’t see it as just being all the guardsmen.” Chalker: “Okay. We’ll find somebody.” Runis: “But the suggestion needs to come from them.” Chalker: “I agree. Since I don’t know any merchants besides the innkeeper, and I wouldn’t suggest him.” Runis laughs.
Still looking for bales, Aliana has worked her way up to the top of the battlements. The door that Josh had barred bursts open, and Solari emerges with a dozen guards. From behind them, zombies pour out into the courtyard. The other female (Salret) materializes next to Solari, and they start talking with each other. Aliana calls down to the rest of the group “They’re coming.” Just as she turns back around, Salret disappears again. Two more centaur zombies emerge from the coach house area. A winged zombie starts circling overhead.
Rory heads back through the gatehouse and climbs the steps to the battlements. He collects the two crossbows that had been left up there when the crossbowmen fled earlier. He moves to a location where he can look down inside the courtyard.
Chalker shouts to the people crossing the bridge, “Hurry up! It’s showtime!” Talina and her escort come up to him. “This is all that were willing to follow us right now. They’ve started uprisings around the city. We’re going for the ones that haven’t declared. Fighting is beginning to break out.” Runis: “You might want to help kill zombies before the lords come in and start giving orders for them to fight back.” Talina: “There are at least four lords active in the human part of the city, giving orders. I don’t know what they’ve done, because this all started just after we realized something was going on in the courtyard. I took a chance based on what you said, and so far it’s paid off.” Runis hands her the spear topped by Alondo’s head. Then the dwarf turns and looks at Tunteki. “Well, instead of me chasing you around, are you ready to fight beside me now?” “I’m ready,” the goblin grins. Chalker says to Talina, “Twelve is all you have? Then that’s what we’re going to have to start with.”
Aliana descends the wall. Screaming “Solari, come get me!” she charges toward the bale. Rory loads the two crossbows and sets them down where he can reach them. He mutters “Arrow, do your stuff!” as he readies his bow with the arrow that had earlier taken out the bale’s eye. Hearing Aliana’s voice, Runis heads for the gate. After a gesture from their general, a couple of soldiers hurry to open the gate, but Runis orders them aside with a single word, “Move,” and starts hauling on the gate-opening mechanism. Chalker concentrates, then grabs the javelins from the winged zombie’s quiver, bringing six of them down to him. Talina runs back to the end of the bridge and calls, “Everybody! Trained or not, over here now!”
As soon as the gate is open wide enough, Runis squeezes through. Solari orders her guards and zombies to hold the gate, then she turns and charges toward Aliana. Rory aims at Solari. Aliana slices Solari’s forearm.
Solari steps back and says something, and her arm heals. Rory thinks, “One eye deserves another – please find your target” as he lets fly the arrow. Just as Aliana strikes Solari in the head, Rory’s arrow pierces the bale’s eye. Rory ducks (just in case Solari had a missile reflection spell on her). About a hundred people stream across the bridge, heading for the open gate. Runis shouts “Attack the zombies and live! The lords are finished here!”
Rory pops back up with one of the crossbows, covering Aliana. Chalker, with six javelins circling him, walks through the gate. He thinks, “Diamond, I don’t ask much. Well… yes I do, but I don’t ask often. Right now I need my power about tenfold, just for a little while. We need to end this quickly.” Raising Solari’s severed head in her left hand and brandishing her bloody sword in her right, Aliana charges the enemy guards. Of those, all the humans and about half the goblins are switching sides, turning against the orcs and zombies. Josh, Jinto, Tunteki, and the new generals enter the courtyard. Suddenly Rory, Chalker, Runis, Aliana, Jinto, and Josh start to glow as if with brilliant sunlight. Each of Chalker’s javelins turns into a ray of light. “What the heck did you ask for?” Runis queries, and Chalker replies, “Obviously I need to work on my verbalization skills.” Runis gets down to the business of orc-slaying. Aliana halts, raises her arms and throws back her head, crying “Freedom!”
Chalker notices the two centaur zombies preparing to charge, and sends one of his light-javelins blasting right through one centaur’s body. Aliana’s cry brings an answering roar from the dozens crossing the bridge and entering the gate. Rory shouts Chalker’s name and points upward, indicating the winged zombie who’s trying to target Chalker. Chalker sends a radiant javelin skyward, destroying the zombie. Runis hacks his way through orcs toward the remaining centaur zombie. The other fighters rally around Runis, Chalker, Aliana, Jinto, and Josh and plunge into melee.
Rory thinks to the Diamond, “Map a path of light to the bales.” He sees tendrils of light start to form, but soon they fizzle out. “I guess I didn’t phrase that right, or something…”
Chalker strides toward the main doors, Aliana falling in behind him and slightly to his left. “Diamond,” Chalker thinks, “can you bring the other four bales that are in town to the castle now?” {There are actually seventeen more bales in town.} “Let me rephrase that. Can you bring all seventeen here to the castle?” {No,} comes the flat reply. “How many can you bring?” {None.} “Will they come?” {I don’t know. I may be busy, because I sense prayers going up to the Mother of Night, and I don’t think you want those to connect.} “That’s true. Hmm… can you send us to them?” {Transport of that type is not within my abilities.} “Are the seventeen at the Mother of Night temple?” {No. Four of them are in the human part of the city, three are in the castle, six are in the orc village, and four are in the goblin village.} “There are three in the castle? Is Lord Barshar one of them?” {I am not aware who Barshar is, so I can’t tell.}
Runis attacks the centaur zombie, which has drawn a sword. Chalker has stopped walking, and Aliana, not knowing why, moves around to where she can see his face. Chalker asks the Diamond, “What is the gender of those three?” After a lengthy pause, {Two female, one male.} “I’ll get back to you,” Chalker concludes, then starts walking again. Noticing Aliana looking at him, he tells her, “There are three bales in the castle.” “Where?” “It didn’t tell me where. It just said ‘in the castle.’ There’s a male and two females. There are seventeen bales in town, total.” “Will it tell you where in the castle those three are?” Aliana asks urgently. “If it’s not too busy, I’ll give it another try.”
Mentally he speaks, “Diamond.” {Yes, Chalker.} “That’s scary,” he murmurs, “It knows my name.” “Of course it does,” Aliana whispers back. Chalker thinks, “Could you tell me the locations of the three bales within the castle?” {That’s sort of what Rory wanted. Maybe if you…} Then in Rory’s mind he hears, {Which one did you want to find?} Rory responds, “The nearest one. I don’t care.” To Chalker, {Which ones do you want to find? Just the ones in the castle?} “For now.” (Rory thinks, “I don’t want to find any of them…”) Both Chalker and Rory hear, {Well, this might work. Both of you concentrate very hard on the one you want to find.} Rory thinks of the twin of the male that he shot in the eye. Chalker thinks of the male bale, since he hasn’t seen him yet.
Runis blocks the zombie’s sword, and his return stroke slices clean through the centaur’s body… which vaporizes. This inspires the other fighters to redouble their efforts against the rest of the zombies. Rory and Chalker receive the information that the bales they are thinking of are right on the other side of the main castle doors. Rory starts moving down the battlements. Chalker walks right up to the closed doors and stares through them. Runis figures Chalker’s got something going on, so the dwarf heads in his direction. Chalker can see the teleporting female (Salret) standing beside a male bale. It appears to him that they have just finished casting a spell, and they step back with satisfied expressions. Chalker takes one of his glowing javelins and hurls it straight through the door. Through the small smoldering hole Salret is nowhere in sight, and Chalker sees the male fleeing down the hallway and into a side corridor.
As Aliana moves toward the door Chalker warns, “They were doing a spell. Do you see any magic?” Aliana says “Yes” and Jinto affirms it. “Can you get rid of it, Jinto?” Chalker asks. Runis comes trotting up and asks Chalker, “What were you aiming at?” “The female bale.” “Did you get her?” “I don’t know. I saw there was another one behind the door, the guy.” “What male? I thought there was only the one female left?” Aliana says, “Chalker said the Diamond said there are three bales in the castle.” “Hey, rock,” says Runis, “how many bales are still in the castle?” {Three.} “You didn’t get her.” “It said there were seventeen alive in the city,” offers Aliana.
Jinto indicates that he has dispelled the magic, so Runis steps up and wrenches the doors open. Chalker points to the corridor down which the male ran, and Aliana charges in. Runis notices the hole in the opposite wall caused by the flying javelin and comments, “Yeah, you missed her.” “That’s why I tried to get her from behind the door,” says Chalker. “I tried to surprise her.”
In the courtyard the fighting is over, and some of the survivors are patching up the wounded while the more able-bodied gather behind the group. Runis turns and asks Tunteki, “Best guess – is that all the zombies?” “I think there are a few more. She probably left a token force at each gate.” “Where would the bales be? And who are these other two that are within the castle?” “The one I tried to kill?” “I know that one.” “You do? You’ve met –“ “I know she’s here. There’s also two more.” “Yeah, but she’s probably the brains of the ones remaining.” “Well, I want ‘em all.” “I don’t blame you. That was Salret. That was her brother you killed with the arrow through the eye. They were next in line after Alondo and his children.” Chalker: “They came to claim their spot, huh? Well, we got a spot for them.” Runis: “Where would they be?” Tunteki: “If she thinks she’s lost the castle, she’s probably in the process of getting out as much of the castle’s treasures as she can. And I don’t mean the artwork. Some of the gold and some of the magic stuff and such. She’ll have put out her forces and distractions to slow you down. With this light trick you just did, you probably scared the s*** out of her.” Runis: “Where’s she at? Where do we go?” Chalker: “Where is the magic stuff that you’re talking about? Cut to the chase.” Tunteki: “It’s kept down on the dungeon level in a secure… I can take you down there. It’s easier than trying to tell you.” Chalker: “Good.”
Aliana continues following the fleeing male, tracking him by sound. Three soldiers and a few villagers, bloodied from the courtyard fight, are keeping pace with her. Chalker continues toward the throne room. Tunteki leads Runis toward the dungeon. Rory wanders around (sans entourage) thinking, “I know they’re in here somewhere,” so he heads toward the bales’ quarters. “Where would the big guy keep his most precious powerful magic that he couldn’t take with him?” Chalker wonders.
Realizing he cannot outrun Aliana, the male finally turns at bay, a shortsword and a knife in his hands and a resigned expression on his face. As soon as he turns, Aliana slings Solari’s head at him; he ducks, and Aliana is upon him in a flash. Aliana swings and he dodges. She swings and misses; he steps back. She swings again and he retreats a few more yards. Aliana tries to leap at him… and her feet are rooted to the floor. So she throws her sword at him just as he turns to run. The sword sinks deep into his back and he stumbles. She draws her knife and hurls that also, striking him again. However, he keeps moving jerkily forward. Realizing that it’s her boots that are stuck, not her feet, Aliana steps out of her footwear. Just then the male drops unconscious. Her entourage arrives as Aliana retrieves her weapons, and they watch as she beheads the bale and removes his jewelry.
Rory finds the bales’ living quarters. He calls, “Anybody here?” From behind some draperies a female voice answers meekly, “Just me.” He imagines the dancing lights that people have told him appear over his head when he sleeps, and sends them to light up the drapes. A pretty young human woman emerges, sees the dancing lights, looks at glowing Rory, breathes “Oh my gosh,” and faints. Rory pulls a pillow off the bed and places it beneath her head.
Chalker arrives at the throne room (along with his entourage of twenty or so). He examines the throne (“I figure they’re not sitting there for another reason, not just that they’re scared”), finding a couple of what he considers mundane traps. One of them he fails at disarming, but luck is with him and he is not himself disarmed (or unhanded). With his special vision he stares into the throne, finding several hidden compartments that are presently empty. Similarly, he examines the late Alondo’s chair and turns up several different powders and potions. He wonders, “Diamond, where’s the teleporter?”
Tunteki suggested to Talina and her generals to send some of their people to spread through the castle and secure it. The dungeon level to which he leads Runis seems to be unoccupied. Tunteki indicates a false wall and says, “We need to open this up, but I’ve never been beyond this point.” Runis slings his shield upon his back, removes the Diamond from around his neck and grasps it in his hand with the chain wrapped around his arm, and asks it, “Can we get through this door?” [Probably, but… three of your group have been drawing on me continually for the past half-hour.} “And?” {I’m just getting a little tired.} “Me, too.” {Well, let’s give it a try. After all, I’m sure the temple of Zeph could regrow your hand if it doesn’t work.} A tad impatient with the Diamond’s snarkiness, Runis points out, “I didn’t ask to get rid of this ‘threat to the Calventine Empire.’” Running the Diamond over the wall, Runis can clearly see the weak points in the stone. With the Diamond in his fist Runis punches the wall; a myriad of tiny cracks radiate out from the point where he struck the stone, and the wall crumbles. “Is that how they got through?” Runis asks Tunteki. “N-n-not quite, no.”
Runis trundles through the gap (still at double speed) into a series of treasure rooms. Several items are obviously gone, and there are no bales here, but Runis’s eyes light up at seeing the many valuables that remain.
In answer to Chalker’s question, a beam of light springs forth from Chalker, Runis, Rory, Jinto, Aliana, and Josh and flashes away to the north. They each hear, {She’s in the north part of the orc section of Barshar City. There are no more bales in the castle.}