Sapphire:Sessions:20051203
[December 3, 2005]
Long Days 22: Chalker, seated on Lord Barshar’s throne, ponders what is to be done next. The human and goblin generals stand on either side of him, waiting for him to utter words of wisdom and instruction.
Aliana starts back toward the throne room, a small group of townspeople trailing along behind her. Echoing through the hallways come the sounds of fighting, and Aliana detours toward the sound of Talina’s voice.
Rory locates the map room, which is unlocked and lit with lanterns. After searching for a few minutes he turns up several detailed city maps. He examines a layout of the castle with the rooms labeled, including the quarters of various bale individuals.
Indicating the tapestry behind which Alondo’s son Calber had been hiding when the group was first escorted into Alondo’s presence, Chalker gets the goblin general to ascertain that there is a hidden door there. The door is barred from the other side. With a grin on his face Chalker hops off the throne (thinking “King Chalker – that felt pretty good”) and takes a look through the door. The bar is a length of solid oak with bands of metal, so it is no problem for Chalker to exert his power and slide the bar aside. This door leads into a small chamber, and across the chamber is another closed door. “Want me to send some men into it?” asks the goblin general, Dundedor. After a moment’s thought, Chalker replies, “Let’s try this.” He raises his voice, addressing the other men milling about the throne room. “Men, which of you are brave? I need three volunteers.” One human guard steps away from a window. He stands 5’5” with a wiry build; a shortsword is in his left hand, and another stuck through his belt. Chalker says, “Okay, lieutenant, come here.” The man trots over. “I want you to take that goblin, that human, and that human. Get some torches and go down there. Be ready for zombies, but if you see zombies, fall back. Bring them to us, then we’ll chop-chop. Okay?” “You got it, sir.” The man beckons to the three indicated by Chalker, calling each by name. “And general, you did understand I said ‘lieutenant’?” “I’ll remember it,” says the human general. Chalker looks at the goblin general and says, “We’ll wait for one of yours to step up, okay?” The new lieutenant tells one of his men, “Okay, you’re point,” and they head off down the passage. (“Brave but not stupid,” Chalker thinks approvingly.)
Chalker tells the human general, “You need to take a contingent of men and hook up with Talina and help secure the rest of the castle. There are no more bales in the castle.” General: “Sir, the fighting was still going on in town when we came across. I’m not sure how that’s going.” Chalker: “After we secure the castle, we will go secure another area.” The general replies, “Yes, sir,” and goes to carry out Chalker’s orders. Chalker then instructs General Dundedor to search the balconies and other areas within the castle where bowmen might be hiding.
As he looks around the throne room for “anything unusual” it strikes Chalker that four ornamental stone blocks are missing from the dais.
Aliana finds herself in the northern part of the castle, close to where it opens out toward Orctown. Talina’s troops are battling a cluster of guards (five orcs, a couple of goblins) and zombies (ten, assorted). Talina seems to be a natural tactician, barking orders to cut off the other side’s retreat. Cutting over one corridor and up another, Aliana comes up from behind. In the middle of the pack, one goblin appears to be carrying some kind of artifact. Aliana whistles sharply to get the fighters’ attention, then raises up her left fist with the two bales’ heads dangling by their hair. The goblin with the artifact mutters, “Oh, s***,” then starts chanting. Two of the orcs charge Aliana, and two of her followers move up beside her. Aliana quickly works her way to the goblin, who looks up from the artifact in surprise. In the next instant her sword slashes his throat; blood pours out, drenching the artifact. Aliana picks up the thing, which looks like a decorative stone and weighs about five pounds. By this time, the skirmish is over. Aliana quietly instructs some of her followers to tend to the wounded, and when they can be moved, take them to the front part of the castle; the others are to join up with Talina. There are still two humans, however, that seem intent on staying with Aliana. She turns and stares at them; they shift uncomfortably in her silent regard. After several moments she shrugs and heads for the throne room. She doesn’t hear any sounds of serious combat along the way.
After studying the map for four or five minutes, Rory feels he knows the castle’s layout quite well. He heads for the throne room (suddenly remembering, “Hey, there are zombies around here!”), avoiding the occasional shouts and ringing of swords.
General Dundedor sends back word to Chalker that they have located several niches containing crossbows and bolts. Chalker gives orders for those to be collected. “If the bowmen come back, they’ll either have to bring their own crossbows or throw rocks.”
While Chalker relaxes on the throne, considering changing the name of Barshar City to Chalktown, a slight, almost electric chill disturbs his sense of well-being. The sensation lingers only briefly, however. Chalker quickly rises and looks around at his bottom, making sure he hasn’t sprouted a tail, then at the throne, which looks no different than before. He settles back down to wait. He thinks, “Barshar’s coming back, and when he does, there’s a good chance we won’t be in this castle.”
As various troops report back to the throne room, Chalker takes time to ask their names and get acquainted with them; they respond well to his attention, and morale is high, but there’s an undercurrent of “when’s the other shoe going to drop?” So Chalker asks them, “What are you going to do when you encounter a bale, and me or one of my comrades are not around? What is your first instinct?” “Kill it!” “Kill it? No, that’s not your first instinct. My first instinct would be to run, but that’s not one of your options. Come on, think about it. You, a bale…” “’Bale’ is ‘lord’, right? Is that what you call the lords?” “Yes. Let me back up. You come face-to-face with a lord, what’s your first instinct?” “To bow in subservience, actually.” “Very good. Now, we must get out of that mindset. If there’s just you, then I would run. If there are two or three of you, then you should probably attack immediately. Don’t give it a chance, because it’s strong, it’s smart, but it can be killed.” “You’ve shown us that, for sure.” “But you must act quickly, because they do have magic, and if you give them time to work it, then they will have the advantage. I’m telling you this because somebody’s going to have to hold the castle. Well, maybe not; I’ll have to ask my friends. But if somebody holds this castle, you can believe that they’re going to come back and try to get it. And they’re not going to come back when we’re here. So I’m telling you what you must do. If you see one, attack in groups, the larger the group the better.” “And the faster the better.” “The faster, the better.” “And it’s even better if they’re facing the other direction.” “There’s nothing to be ashamed about, being afraid, but you’re going to have to get past that. Oh, and they do have fear spells, too.” “We’re aware of that.” “So if you become terrified, and you can’t figure out why, then say, ‘I’m terrified, but I’m still going to kill you.’” About half of Chalker’s audience looks confused, so he goes over the basics again. “Okay, look. One of them, a bunch of you – kill. If it’s one or two of you, and you don’t have the advantage, run. You can talk about it, laugh about it, later. But if you just stay there and get killed, you’re just zombie food. Okay?”
“Oh, that I understand,” responds General Dundedor. Chalker tells him, “We need to get more of your people involved. Do you have any kind of pull there? Can you rally any of your people?” “Maybe. Nowhere near the reputation of Tunteki, but I have some that might do as I say.” “Tell them that Tunteki’s under our thumb, and if he messes up, we’ll squeeze.” “I just wonder what’s going on in the goblin town.” “Just as the humans are wondering what’s going on in the human part. I’ll tell you, there are four lords in the goblin town. We’ll see about either letting you go and help, or one of your lieutenants, when we find one. It won’t be much longer.” “The thing is, I’m not sure how many goblin warriors will follow you in this… thing. Only about half of us did, here.” “You’re not looking at the big picture. If we get a hundred of you, well, there are just four lords in your part of town. I’m not going to bore you with the math, but isn’t that twenty-five to one?” “Yeah, but there’s also a total of around four hundred goblin guardsmen. If three hundred stay with the lords, that’s three to one.” “You don’t understand. If you kill the lords, who are they going to follow?” “I get your point. Concentrate on the lords, don’t worry about the other guardsmen.” “That is correct. And don’t worry about the other part with the orcs. We have an orc-killing machine with us. He’s pretty happy to go and kill all of them. It might take him a while.” “There’s over a thousand orc guardsmen.” “Oh, well, it might take him a day or two.” “Are dwarves really that powerful? He’s the first one I’ve ever seen.” “No, they’re not. He’s exceptional. And really believes his own hype.” [John: “He’s one of the puny ones.” Tom: “This one’s not even a warrior, he’s just a stinkin’ bard!”] “He’s been touched, really, by a couple of the First Chosen.”
The lieutenant and his squad return from the hidden passage. “It seems to be empty, sir. We encountered no resistance.” They had had to get past a couple of barricades and spring a couple of traps, but none of them was hurt. It’s a fairly extensive system of tunnels and passages that snakes around the castle.
It’s quite evident to Runis that some things have been removed from the treasure room, though quite a bit of gold, jewels, and other valuables remain. He figures the missing items are “the magical stuff.” Runis tells Tunteki to pick two guards (a human and a goblin) and two townspeople to remain in the treasure room and not let anything else be taken. The dwarf heads back to the throne room.
Runis arrives at the throne room. Jinto and Josh enter, the latter having somehow persuaded the former to leave the alchemy lab. Next to arrive is Rory. Aliana walks in carrying a couple of heads with her left hand, stares at Chalker seated on Barshar’s throne, shakes her head, turns around, and leaves, setting the heads down just outside the throne room. Chalker calls out, “Hey, Aliana, where are you going?” but she doesn’t respond. Rory follows Aliana. Chalker remarks, “You know, you just can’t get good subjects these days.”
Runis says to the diamond, “Hey, rock, do you see what I’m seein’?” {Yes. You might want to tell him that they used the throne as a conduit for an attack on him about twenty minutes ago. We were able to beat it off without any problem.} “Who’s we?” {Chalker and I.}
Aliana asks Rory, “Where’s the armory? We’ve got people here fighting with kitchen knives and sticks.” Rory starts to give her precise directions, but Aliana interrupts him, “As long as you know where it is. We have to empty it out before the bales come back.” Rory leads the way.
Runis asks Chalker, “Did you know you were attacked twenty minutes ago?” “Is that what that was? It was like someone poured cold water on me.” “Did you know they attacked you because you’re sitting on the throne?” “Nooo… but I figured they would. I didn’t know if they would have to be close to attack me. Obviously not.” “It depends on what you consider ‘close’.” “Within the castle?” “There aren’t any of them in here anymore.” “Well, then… it was comfortable, but I guess I’ll get up, okay? I was trying to make them come to me, but I forgot they were cowards. Long live Chalker the First. And the last, if I keep on acting like this.” “Yeah, no kiddin’. You really don’t wanna get these townspeople to thinking you’re going to stay and lead them.” Chalker, lowering his voice: “They can think whatever they want.” Runis: “No. You really don’t want them to think that.” “If there was a road leading straight out of here, I’d be out of here so fast… Okay. Well, I’m not letting them think that. I’m actually putting them in charge of things.” “While you’re sitting on their throne.” “It’s not their throne. If I had my way, I’d burn this thing to the ground.” “That would be the better option.” “That’s my option.”
Jinto speaks up, “I found one of the bales’ main alchemy and magic areas.” Chalker: “Did you take everything?” Runis: “Did you put some wards up so they can’t come back to it, or at least so we’ll know if they come back?” Jinto says he did put up some spells. Chalker repeats, “Did you take everything?” and Jinto mumbles that he “took some stuff.” Josh: “There was too much to carry.” Runis: “Well, the treasury is basically still intact. There are some magic items missing out of there.”
Chalker: “Do we need to go into the human or goblin area and see about the bales? Though I’m really not sure what to do, since they can teleport all around. How do we stop them?” Josh: “I don’t think all of them can teleport, can they?” Chalker: “Well, one of them can.” Josh: “If the others could have done that, I think they would’ve, instead of just running from us.” Chalker: “Okay, so we need to wait here.” Runis: “Somebody needs to start organizing the people out in the town, if not to get the bales out of the way, at least to get rid of the zombies.” Chalker: “Okay, that works for me.”
Aliana picks the lock on the armory door. The armory is well-stocked, though she sees no magical weapons. There’s one corner that’s obviously been emptied. The people that followed Rory and Aliana select weapons for themselves, and Aliana sends one of the two guards that’s been following her to inform the generals of the armory’s location.
Aliana and Rory step outside of the armory. Aliana: “Why in the world is Chalker sitting on the throne?” “I don’t know. I’d just gotten there. I think he’s trying to make them mad.” “Make who mad?” “Make the throne people mad.” “I got a message in my head that there are no more bales in the castle. Was I just imagining that?” “No, I got that too. I think he’s making them mad so they’ll come back, so he won’t have to chase them.” “He had only a handful of people in that throne room… Sure, I guess he can take the bales all on by himself. Maybe you and I need to head for a different part of the city.” “What are we going to do, though? Try to get rid of them all?” “I don’t know, Rory. I don’t know. If Talina’s the only example of what they have for leadership, they won’t be able to hold this city if we leave. On the other hand, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life liberating this country.” Aliana begins walking slowly back toward the throne room, Rory falling in beside her. She pulls out the stone she took from the goblin and starts scraping the dried blood off of it. “Ever seen anything like this?” Rory recognizes it has having adorned the dais in the throne room. Aliana: “It’s something magical.” Rory: “Maybe it’s a… zombie controller. Where’d you find it?” “Found it on a dead goblin.” “Then it must not be very magical – it didn’t help him.” “Yes, well… at least it didn’t help him against my sword.” “It’s probably not a teleport stone, then.” “He was mumbling something over it.” “Maybe it was a protection stone, and he just didn’t get a chance to use it. Since it was around the throne room, it may have been some kind of protection, or maybe it was something to talk to the other bales.” “I guess maybe Jinto could tell us.”
Runis sends someone to summon Talina to the throne room. Jinto wants to go back to the magic room, and sidles toward an exit. Chalker: “Why?” Jinto: “Well, uh, I didn’t have time to look at it thoroughly…” Runis: “And you still don’t. Research is best done during times of peace. Have you noticed that we’re not at peace at this point?” While Jinto ponders this, Chalker asks, “Can you do your magic flying carpet trick and get us back to town?” Jinto: “Yes, there’s a lot of material around here that would suffice for a magic carpet.” Chalker: “But do you have enough power to get us from here to town?” Jinto: “Yes.” Runis: “And did you ever locate the teleport spot?” Jinto: “Yes, I found it.”
A few minutes after Runis had sent out the runner, Talina and her entourage enter the throne room. She quickly crosses the room to Chalker, Runis, Jinto, and Josh. “I’ve got some groups out still doing sweeps, but the majority of the castle is clear. We’re just confirming it and making a second sweep in case any avoided us.” Chalker: “Don’t sit on that throne. They can attack you if you sit on the throne.” Talina: “Well then, I shan’t.” Runis: “We need some information about how much resistance you can cause.” Talina: “Well, a general uprising is in progress in the human town…” Runis: “And there’s four bales out there putting it down.” Talina: “That’s true. I don’t know how it’s going, but it is in process.” Chalker: “Will the people follow you?” Runis: “Do you have guardsmen on your side as part of the uprising, or is it just the townsfolk?” Talina: “As I was encountering them, I hadn’t found any human guards who hadn’t come over to us, but I’m sure there were some. I think we’ve got at least 70-80% of the human guards.” Runis: “But in the human city there are orc guards, there are goblin guards, and most of them are with a human guard. They came in threes.” Talina: “That’s not their standard practice. That was executed just for you as visitors.” Runis: “They standardly stay together, humans in one group?” Talina: “They mix, but not necessarily one for one. And most of the human guards are assigned out to other parts of the city.” Runis: “Not in the human part?” Talina: “Correct. There are some, but a lot of those are off-duty, so it was mostly the off-duty guards who were coming over. Of course some of the on-duty ones too, but as you point out, they’re in the middle of patrols with others. So whether they can survive that, who knows.” Runis: “Or whether the others, if they’re goblins, would come over to our side as well. I wouldn’t count on very many of the orcs being on your side.” Talina: “Neither would I. They have the most to lose. Not that the lords treated them that much better than us, but they did. What I’m hoping happens that with what you have accomplished here, maybe some of the bales are fighting among themselves to see who gets to run the suppression, and maybe they’ll kill off a couple of themselves. I’m hoping… praying… that that occurs. As you know, the lords don’t get along very well, generally.” Chalker: “But I wouldn’t count on that. Since it’s their collective butt in danger, they’re not going to be fighting among themselves right now. In times of peace they might do that.” Talina: “Yes, but do they realize the war’s on yet?” Runis: “They’ve got to realize something’s going on. Where’s the temple of the Mother of Night at?” Talina: “The main one is in the heart of the orc part of the city. There are shrines in human and goblin towns, also.” Runis: “Is there a particular bale that is the high priest?” Talina: “Absolutely.” Runis: “Who would that be?” Talina: “Actually, he just goes by ‘high priest’. I’ve never heard his name.” Runis: “Does he have a twin?” Talina: “No, not that I’ve seen or heard of. What I do allows me to travel the entire country – I’m a merchant of sorts – so I have excuses to visit the other cities and towns, and I have never encountered the high priest’s twin. I have noticed over the years that those lords – excuse me, bales – who do not have a twin seem to be even more warped than the usual lord… er, bale.” Runis: “Also more powerful.” Talina: “Yes. The more insanely they act, the more powerful they are.” Runis: “Is Barshar a single?” Talina: “Yes.”
“Okay,” Chalker says to Talina, “So what’s your plan?” Talina: “My plan is to go back and help secure the human side of the city, block off or destroy the bridges into the orc side so they can’t bring in reinforcements that way, and then evaluate what the goblin part of the town is doing, and see what we need to do on that front.” Chalker: “If you are declared leader, will the town rally around you? Do you have that sense?” Talina: “I’ve been working it for several years, but I’m not sure that they would follow me.” Chalker: “What would they do?” Runis: “The current leaders of the human town obviously wouldn’t follow. Didn’t you guys meet some of the human leaders?” Talina: “We had discussions with some of those leaders.” Chalker: “About what?” Talina: “Nothing in general.” Chalker: “Were they measuring you for a suit?” Talina: “I got the impression they didn’t expect me to last very long.” Runis: “Do the human leaders get preferential treatment?” Talina: “Some. Actually, I’ve been grooming the blacksmith for that role. I’m fairly sure that I couldn’t fill it.” Chalker: “And why not?” Talina: “Resistance to a woman.” (Chalker: “Resistance is futile! I couldn’t help it.”) Talina: “The blacksmith is well-known and fairly well respected in the human portions.” Chalker: “But would he follow you?” Talina: “He has come to accept me as an advisor.” Chalker: “That’s not the point.” Runis: “I don’t think she wants to lead.” Chalker: “Once again, that’s not the point. Somebody has to be the leader.” Jinto: “No, I think she wants to learn the magic.” Chalker: “Well, she can do both. Hey, I want to learn magic, too.” Runis: “Yeah, but you can’t.” Chalker: “I know…” Talina: “My desire is not to rule the people, but to free them. Who they choose to rule is not something I’d really… other than I’d want somebody who can handle it…” Runis: “Yeah, but if they choose to follow the people who are going to turn it right back over to the bales as soon as they get their act back together, it kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?” Talina: “Well…” Runis: “The point I’m making is, do we need to take out the human leaders?” As Talina hesistates, Runis adds, “Make them understand they’re no longer the leaders?” Chalker: “Or they’re second-tier leaders.” Talina: “You need to make Boss Craven understand that. He’s the headman of the human part of the city.” Runis: “I think Tunteki should talk to him. They’ve got a lot in common… don’t they?” Tunteki: “It could be arranged.” Chalker, with an evil grin: “No. I should talk to Boss Craven. I am very thorough and convincing when I want to be.” Runis: “Once again, we don’t want to still be here when it’s all over.” Chalker: “Yes, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to leave before any of this discussion with Craven Boss or Boss Craven or whatever.” Talina, smiling ruefully: “I agree that it would not be good for you to stay around too long.” Chalker: “Don’t worry! We agree with you!” Runis: “But she really, really wants us to.” Chalker: “What I’m trying to do is speed up this process…”
At this point Rory and Aliana enter the throne room. On her way in, Aliana picks up the bale heads. For some reason, nobody else has claimed them.
Runis concentrates on the Diamond. “Are you still overwrought? Overworked? Out of energy? Not able to help?” {I am helping in places where I can.} “I know. All I need is some advice.” {Of course.} “The strongest bale left in town – the one that ran from us, or the high priest?” The Diamond cogitates for several moments. {She is the strongest bale mind I detect in the orc part of the city. I cannot say for sure whether any of the remaining ones are the high priest, however. And I am still blocking prayers to the Mother of Night.} “Well, if you’re blocking prayers to the Mother of Night, then if we went in and took care of the high priest, the Mother of Night wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell until after the fact, when it was all over?” {Probably not. It’s always hard to tell with the First Chosen.} “The Mother of Night’s not the First Chosen.” {No, but she’s second tier. That’s why I’m having any success at all in blocking.} “Am I reading this whole thing correctly, that this is probably her strongest single area of influence?” {I think so. I agree. She is not one of the most popular deities.} “But if she manifested here, she would have great power.” {Yes.} “Which is why we need her not to find out until after the fact.” {Yes.} “The high priest being dead and all of the followers finding out that the high priest is dead would lose some faith in her and therefore weaken her.”
Aloud, Runis says, “Chalker, I think our next move should be to go take out the high priest of the temple of the Mother of Night.” Chalker: “Well, I was kind of thinking that what we should do is to have Talina lead a force into the human area and kill all the zombies they can, distract or kill the lords there, while we go into orc town and kill the high priest.”
Rory sidles over next to Runis and asks in a low voice, “How’s Mr or Mrs Rock doing?” Runis: “She’s doing okay.” Rory: “Does she need rest?” Runis: “We all do. But there’s no time for that.” Rory: “Okay.” Runis: “You know, if a deity can’t figure out to store a little power and have it in reserve isn’t much of a deity, don’t you think?”
Aliana approaches Jinto, nudges him to get his attention, then shows him the stone. “What is this?” His eyes widen. “It’s a very powerful magical artifact. I need to do a little bit of study…” He turns to block the stone from the sight of the others in the room. After a moment he says, “I can’t quite tell. They have masked it under several layers. Rory points at the dais and states, “It belongs over there.” Chalker comes over to have a look at the stone and sees that there’s still some dried blood on it. “Weren’t there four of those?” he asks; “Where are the other three?” Jinto replies, “I don’t know.”
Chalker: “If there was magic in here looking at us, could you see it?” Jinto: “I can check.” Rory: “You mean we may have just told them what we’re going to do?” Chalker: “Right.” Jinto casts a spell, turns and looks at the throne, then returns his gaze to the stone. “Hmm. Yes, there’s definitely some magic in here. Would you like me to do something to take care of it?” Chalker: “No… that’s okay.” Jinto: “It would take a little longer to determine what exactly it does.” Chalker: “I know they can detect people who sit on the throne. I don’t know what else they can do from it.”
Talina looks at Runis. “So that’s your recommendation? Do you know that he’s there?” Runis: “No. But I’ll bet that if I started trashing the temple, he’d show up.” Chalker: “Would she show up?” Runis: “That’s why we need to do it now. The Rock is blocking all prayers out of this area. As long as the Rock still has enough strength to do that, we should be able to take out…” Chalker: “So she won’t be able to manifest.” Runis: “Well, maybe. But if we can take out the priest and cause doubts in the followers, desecrate the altar, any manifestation becomes weaker and weaker.” Aliana, from where she’s been holding up a wall, sighs: “Okay, which way is it?” Runis: “Right in the middle of orc town.” Rory pulls out a map and points out the temple.
Quietly Chalker tells Jinto to leave the room and “go get us some transportation. And don’t go near that alchemy lab.” Josh speaks up, “I’ll watch his back,” and follows the elf. “Watch his front, too,” Chalker calls after him.
Two soldiers report to Talina that the sweep has been completed and the castle still appears to be clear. Chalker: “But there’s at least one bale who can teleport. So as soon as we leave, she’s going to teleport here. What do you suggest?” Talina: “If you know where she’s going to teleport in, set a trap.” Chalker: “We already have people assigned to guard the treasure room.” Runis: “Not enough to take out a bale.” Chalker: “Surely not. Do you have anybody brave of heart enough to take her out if she comes?” Talina: “I don’t know if I’ve got anybody brave enough, but I’ve got a lot that are desperate enough.” Chalker: “I’m not sure if that translates into the same thing, but I won’t quibble about that.” Talina: “It might or it might not. Until you set the example, I didn’t have anybody brave enough. Now they’re so far along in it, a lot of it’s desperation that they know they’re committed, they’ve got to make it succeed.” Chalker: “Can you get twenty people who will stay together? Who when they see the bale, they won’t scatter? If twenty stay together, you have a chance of taking the bale.” Talina: “If you want twenty to remain, I probably need to have at least forty there.” Runis chuckles softly. Chalker: “Okay, forty people. At least ten to fifteen together.” Rory: “May I suggest more guards, who are more organized, better at fighting together?” Talina: “I don’t have that many. That would take most of the guards I’ve got, and we need them reinforcing other places.” Chalker: “Maybe, maybe not. But I’ll just accept that you have forty people you can leave here. If they fail, that makes forty new zombies. We need your decision quickly.” Talina: “Oh, I’ve got the people. I can get that many to do their duty.” Chalker: “Then you need to give them instructions to kill everyone that’s not on your side. And don’t faint dead away when the bale appears.” Talina: “Do you want them left – do you think she’s going to appear in the treasure room? Or do you think it will be here?” Chalker: “I think… I don’t know.” Aliana mutters, “It wouldn’t be the throne room. There’s nothing left up here.” Chalker agrees, “There’s no reason for her to appear here.” Rory: “I would think they’d appear somewhere they thought safe, like their room.” Chalker: “The treasure room would probably be it, but you couldn’t have forty people down there, could you?” Runis: “You could get forty people strung out in there. You could pack ‘em in so that the first ten couldn’t run, they’d have to fight.” Rory pulls out a map and points out Salret’s suite and the alchemy lab. Chalker: “How about instead of figuring out where she’s going to appear, have one big pack of forty sweep the castle?” Talina: “But she can teleport, she can be in and gone quickly.” Chalker: “That’s fine, we simply don’t want her here.” Talina: “Ah, I understand.” Runis: “As long as she’s gone again, that’s okay.” Rory: “Why would she come back?” Chalker: “I don’t know. But just because we don’t know, that doesn’t mean she’s not coming back.” Aliana: “If there’s an artifact she hasn’t yet stolen out of the treasure room, she might come back. But she’s had plenty of time to do that.” Rory: “Would there be any artifacts in the dead guys’ rooms?” Runis: “That she would have access to?” Chalker: “Probably not.” Rory: “Not normally.” Runis: “Barshar would have taken everything of his with him.”
Chalker: “What I’m trying to do is, I know there’s safety in numbers…” Talina, interrupting: “You don’t want her to retake the castle.” Runis: “From the inside.” Chalker: “That’s correct. So can that be done? A patrol of forty, they don’t need runners or anything, we don’t care if they hear them coming, I want them to know it’s big groups.” Talina: “One that even a bale would not necessarily be able to take.” Chalker: “That’s correct.” (There is no indication that Salret can teleport others along with herself.) Runis: “We’ve cleaned out all the zombies as well as all the guards, right?” Talina says yes to both; her people are counting the zombie bodies to tally against the two hundred or so known to be stationed in the castle, and being sure to behead and/or dismember each body.
Soon after Aliana wonders aloud what is taking Jinto so long, Josh pops his head in the door. Chalker asks, “Are we ready?” and Josh replies, “He’s got it set.” Talina declares she will start the roving group of forty going, then she will lead the others back to human town to assist where needed. Chalker says to the goblin general, Dundedor, “You need to take whatever people you have and head toward your part of the city and see what you can do.” Dundedor: “Only seven of us came across.” Chalker: “Seven is a start. And Tunteki, what is your plan?” Tunteki, glancing at Runis: “My plan is to help you kill as many lords as possible as fast as possible.” Chalker: “Well then, you need to go into goblin town and…” Runis: “What? Bring him with us!” Chalker, after staring at Runis for a few seconds, to Tunteki: “Since Master Dwarf trusts you more than I do…” Runis: “No I don’t! That’s why I want him with us.” Tunteki: “He doesn’t want to give me a chance to change my mind again.” Aliana: “Tunteki attacked a lord. There’s no turning back for him.” Chalker: “Okay, okay…” Tunteki: “Your friend has called it exactly.” Aliana: “Of course, it’s more load on Jinto… Let’s get moving!” Chalker warns Tunteki: “Don’t make Master Dwarf regret this.” Tunteki: “Oh, I shan’t.”
Aliana: “Someone should remind Jinto to beware of invisible barriers.” Chalker: “Put Rory in front, he’s the one that can see them.” Runis: “Rory can see invisible barriers?” Rory: “I can’t make it stop, though!”
For his magic carpet Jinto has selected a large tapestry. In his left hand he clutches seven small stones. Rory points out the temple on his map. The group discusses their landing point, deciding on an internal courtyard. Runis: “I say our best plan of attack is just like we took out the last temple we attacked. We come in the door and head for the altar.” Aliana: “Does that mean I should take the Diamond and sneak in the back way?” Runis: “You’d get there quicker than me.” Aliana: “From what people have been saying, the Diamond’s not going to be a lot of help. We’ll have to desecrate the old-fashioned way.” Runis: “The Diamond’s already been helping.” Aliana: “I know, but somebody said something about energy drain.” Runis: “Aw, the Diamond’s just whinin’. Tryin’ to make us feel bad.” Aliana: “If it’s trying to make me feel bad, it isn’t working.”
Jinto flies up to the northernmost tower of the castle, which gives a good view down into orc town. Several hundred orc troops are being gathered north of the temple, and a couple of hundred orcs led by a male bale are setting up right outside the castle gates leading to orc town. Around the temple itself there is comparatively little activity. As the carpet rises from the tower, Chalker, Runis, and Rory experience a moment where their minds are focused and concentrated. Less than a minute later, the carpet sets down. The courtyard is vacant. Aliana keeps pace with Runis; Rory and Chalker split off to the side doors.
Runis grabs one of the main doors and yanks it open. As soon as there’s enough of a gap, Aliana slips inside and starts running. Within the temple, fifty yards away, a male bale is kneeling in front of the altar. Something lies upon the altar; from his angle, Rory identifies it as a young, unconscious orc. The bale has just sliced the orc’s throat. Raising his bow Rory takes aim at the bale’s head, thinking, “Please fly straight this time!” With his power Chalker reaches out for the sacrificial knife in the bale’s hand.
Aliana has covered half the distance to the altar when the priest turns around, his eyes sliding past Aliana to Runis. Rory lets the arrow fly, thinking, “Mr or Mrs Stone, please hit the eye!” The arrow grazes the bale’s left temple, leaving a bleeding furrow.
Aliana keeps running. Rory pulls out another arrow. The priest says something inaudible. Chalker jerks the knife upward, missing the bale’s right eye but drawing a furrow similar to the one Rory made. Runis calls out to the bale, taunting him. Josh and Tunteki start running.
Aliana sees the orc child’s corpse start to change form. Runis concentrates on the Diamond. The priest turns to face the group fully, still mumbling. Chalker maintains his hold on the knife but does not force it against the bale’s resistance. Aliana keeps running. Rory draws back his bowstring.
The corpse begins to grow larger. With his left hand, the priest draws another knife from beneath his robes. Chalker releases the right-hand knife and grabs the left-hand one, then jerks it up toward the bale’s eye; the bale smiles and lets go of the knife, which flies slowly toward Chalker. (A look of surprise crosses the bale’s face, as though that’s not the direction he expected the knife to go.) Runis thinks to the Diamond, “Guide her hand.” Rory, thinking “Don’t hit Aliana!” fires his bow; the arrow thuds into the altar.
The thing on the altar stands up. The bale flings the other knife away and prepares to defend himself. Aliana thrusts her sword just below the bale’s sternum, scraping against bone, driving the bale back toward the altar. Rory draws another arrow. Chalker grasps Aliana’s sword and twists it. Runis trundles along the aisle.
The thing continues to grow; it’s now ten feet tall. The priest mumbles something and goes limp. Aliana fast-draws her knife and stabs the bale in the throat, and an impressive amount of blood gushes out. Chalker turns the flying knife around and sends it back toward the altar. Rory aims at the monster.
The monster leaps toward Josh and Tunteki. Chalker sprints down the side aisle. Aliana puts her boot against the bale’s belly and yanks her sword out of the priest’s body. Josh’s blow glances off the monster’s hide, and the monster dodges Tunteki.
Aliana cuts the priest’s head off. The monster swats Josh and Tunteki backward into the pews. Rory continues aiming.
Aliana turns around, facing the monster’s backside. The monster closes with Runis and swings its huge fists; Runis deflects one fist with his shield, but the other strikes the dwarf in the side. Chalker redirects the flying knife toward the back of the monster’s head. Josh and Tunteki regain their feet. Rory yells “Hey!” to get the monster’s attention, thinks, “Please let me hit the eye” and fires, hitting the monster in the eye. (Rory feels a surge of well-being that translates into +6 DX.) Runis swings, cleaves through the monster’s tough skin, and strikes it in the vitals.
The monster swings at Runis again, missing entirely with one fist; Runis deflects the other. Josh hits but does no damage. Runis readies his axe. Chalker steers the knife around to the monster’s face. Aliana stabs at the monster’s spine. Rory grabs an arrow.
There’s a snapping sound from the altar, and Jinto starts running forward. The monster kicks back at Aliana and misses, and hits Runis with a fist. Chalker maneuvers the knife into the monster’s ear. Aliana tries to hamstring the monster but doesn’t get through its hide. Rory aims. Runis smites the monster in the vitals again. Josh and Tunteki both hit but do no damage.
Runis easily blocks the monster’s blow with his shield. Aliana sets the point of her sword in the back wound, then brings her boot up and kicks the sword deeper into the monster’s body. The monster staggers a half-step forward and seems to be slowing. Chalker jabs the knife into the monster’s right ear. Rory fires his arrow into the monster’s left ear. Runis drops his axe, grabs the staggering monster, and slams it to the ground. (“Now he’s down to my level!”) The arrow in its ear snaps off. Josh hits and does minor damage. Jinto’s lightning bolt strikes the altar.
The monster struggles up to one knee. Runis grabs the Diamond and thrusts it into the monster’s chest. Chalker shoves the knife further into the monster’s ear. Aliana puts both hands on her sword’s hilt and pulls hard to one side. Rory grabs another arrow. Josh nicks the monster again. Another of Jinto’s lightning bolts hits the altar.
The monster reaches up and pulls the knife out of its ear… and collapses, Runis riding it down. Runis thinks to the Diamond, “Cleanse this abomination!” Light blazes up and incinerates the monster’s corpse. (All Runis feels is a warm, gentle heat.) Jinto climbs upon the altar and starts chanting. As Rory’s arrows burn up, Runis says to him, “I owe you one. Or two.” Aliana tosses the high priest’s head onto the burning monster, then searches the body and adds a couple of holy symbols to the pyre. Chalker takes the bale’s rings.
Chalker hears a rising tide of noise from outside the front of the temple. “I hear them coming. Do we want to stand and fight, or run back to the carpet and leave?” Aliana answers, “It depends on whether Jinto has finished desecrating the altar yet.” Chalker asks the elf, “Have you desecrated it enough yet?” Jinto replies, “Yes. Something else was rising from it; I don’t know what it was, and I don’t want to find out.” Chalker: “Do you have enough power to get that flying carpet out of here and take us someplace else?” Jinto glances at his hand, then responds, “Yes.” “Let us make haste,” says Chalker, “as fast as Master Dwarf can go.” As the group starts toward the door, the carpet flies in to meet them, and everyone piles on.
The carpet rises rapidly. Tunteki drops his sword. Looking back, Runis sees about thirty orcs entering the temple from one direction, and another two hundred orcs led by three bales approaching quickly. Crossbow bolts whiz past the carpet. “The Mother of Night holds no sway here any longer!” Runis shouts, his voice reverberating. Rory directs Jinto to the area where the group’s horses and wagon await them.
There’s fighting going on in the city. A bunch of citizens and guards hold the bridges leading into orc town. Several buildings are on fire. Chalker sees fighting going on near where Jinto had told him earlier the Venettian platform is located. Jinto lands near the wagon; Rory observes that the two stableboys he had paid to bring it here are nowhere to be seen. Aliana digs out a healing potion and gives it to Runis, but due to the dwarf’s innate magic resistance, the potion has no effect. Josh comes over and starts first-aiding Runis.
“Let’s go to the platform,” suggests Chalker. “There seemed to be some fighting around there. It’ll make the dwarf feel better.” “As long it’s not some ten-foot dude that’s gonna stomp me,” Runis retorts. Rory takes the reins and Aliana climbs up to sit beside him. Runis checks his armor to make sure nothing got hurt besides him. Along the way the group sees many corpses strewn about, orcs and humans and goblins, almost all of them adult males (but Aliana notices the body of a young boy of about ten). There’s even one dead and beheaded bale; Chalker dismounts briefly and retrieves the head (the body has already been looted). “None of the bales’ clothes are magic, are they?” Chalker asks Jinto. “None I’ve seen yet,” the elf replies tiredly.
Emerging from a building on a side street, Talina comes up and swings herself onto the moving wagon. She’s wearing poorly fitting leather armor over her peasant garb. “Are we winning?” inquires Chalker, while she asks, “How did it go?” Chalker: “We’re here, which means he’s not alive.” Runis: “Saw that you guys got one, too.” Talina: “Yes… The First Chosen must have smiled upon us. Two of the bales killed each other for some reason, and we managed to take down another with heavy losses. Another one, and I don’t know how many orcs and guardsmen, is holed up in one of those buildings. We hold both bridges, but if they come across in force we don’t stand much chance. We received a runner from the goblin side; the fight continues there, but they’re not faring as well.” Chalker: “How many did you lose to take down that one bale?” Talina: “Around forty or fifty, but the bale also had four guards.” Chalker: “I don’t feel that comfortable anymore with forty at the castle. So, there’s a bale in that building?” Talina: “Yes, and an undetermined amount of orcs.” Chalker: “Have you set it on fire yet?” Talina: “No, I’m afraid the whole town will go up if we do that. We could lose this entire part of town.” Aliana: “Why don’t you make a firebreak? Knock down the buildings around it, then torch the building.” Talina: “I’ll get some people started on that.” As she slides off the wagon she asks, “Anything else?” Runis: “Yeah. When you say ‘an undetermined amount of orcs’ are you talking about five, are you talking about fifty?” Talina: “Well, when this all started there were only a total of about fifty orc guards in the human part of the town. We’ve killed at least fifteen or twenty. So there could be as many as thirty or as few as ten.” Runis: “That’s not bad.” Aliana: “We have one dwarf. That’s enough.” Chalker: “Yes… they’d need more orcs to make it fair, but it’s okay.” Talina: “I don’t know how many crossbow bolts they have, but they’ve been firing at us with recklessness.” Chalker: “I like crossbow bolts. They’re fun.” Talina looks at him funny, then says, “I’ll go start making the firebreak.” Runis: “Well, maybe we won’t need it, if that’s all the orcs there are.” Talina: “I have plenty of people that will follow y’all in. You’re already becoming a legend.”
Rory asks, “Are they holed up near the portal?” Jinto: “It’s somewhere in that building they’re at, yet.” Chalker: “So we have to go through the building to get to the portal?” Jinto makes a couple of mystic gestures then replies, “That’s odd. It’s actually some fifty feet below the building.” Runis: “That’s not odd. It just means the town’s built up around where it used to be.” Rory: “They obviously know it’s there, right?” Runis: “Maybe. They may not know what it is, but the bale can feel the power point. What’s the bale’s name who’s in there?” Talina: “To be honest, I don’t know.”
The building, about a half-block away now, is about one-and-a-half stories tall. Crossbows are being fired both from ground level and from the roof. Aliana hops off the wagon, heads for an adjoining building, climbs, and leaps to the roof of the target building. There are four orcs on the roof, but they don’t see her at first. She kills the first orc quickly and silently.
From one of Talina’s fighters Runis learns that the range on the enemy’s crossbows is fifty to seventy yards. Chalker dismounts and positions himself about eighty yards away where he can see one side of the building. From the roof comes the shouted word “Intruder!” (The second orc heard Aliana coming, turned, shouted, and was quickly silenced by a swing of her sword.) Rory: “Somebody must have seen Aliana.” Runis: “Get me to the front door.” Rory snaps the reins and the wagon surges forward. Chalker sees an orc rise from its hiding place and start running across the roof; Chalker grabs the orc’s crossbow. Two orcs charge Aliana from different corners of the roof; she rushes at the one nearer the back of the building. Chalker snatches the crossbow away, and that orc turns and slashes at empty air. Rory slides under the driver’s seat just before a bolt thuds into it; another bolt hits the side of the wagon. Aliana strikes the orc in the throat, killing it. Two crossbow bolts hit the remaining orc, leaving Aliana alone on the roof. Chalker turns his attention to the lower windows, and he sees several crossbowmen preparing to fire again at the wagon. Runis stands in the back of the wagon singing about dead orcs. Rory calls out to Jinto, who is lying in the bed of the wagon, “Do you have a missile shield?” Chalker snatches a crossbow away.
Rory slows the wagon near the front door of the building, and Runis jumps down. Jinto stands up and follows Runis. Rory drives the wagon forward, keeping close to the building. One by one, Chalker snatches and discards the other crossbows. Aliana opens the trapdoor in the roof and descends the ladder. Runis first pounds the wall with his shield (which witnesses swear shifted the building on its foundation), then shatters the door with a kick and hollers “Come on out and play, orcs!” Aliana hears footsteps running toward the sound of the big crash. Certain that there are no more crossbows that would fire at him, Chalker runs toward the building; as if they had been awaiting a signal, several dozen people start following him. As Aliana opens a door, someone runs into the other side of it with enough force shatter the door and knock himself out at her feet. Aliana draws her sword and leaps toward the other four orcs approaching her. Runis hears several orcs rushing toward him, and there’s plenty of room in this foyer to swing his axe. Knowing the horses won’t run too far, Rory bails out of the wagon, bouncing and acquiring a few bruises in the process.
A few seconds after throwing a lightning bolt at an orc, Jinto drops to the floor. Aliana decapitates an orc that’s threatening the fallen elf. Then when she goes over to check on Jinto, Aliana suddenly keels over. When Runis trundles further into the house in search of more orcs, Chalker notices an indistinct, blurry form trailing the dwarf. Chalker takes hold of the rings on the figure’s right hand, then tackles the figure, sending it over his shoulder. Runis whirls around, dives over Chalker, and lands with crushing force on the figure. Chalker bounds to his feet and draws his sword… then collapses. Rory climbs in through a window. Runis slams the figure’s head into the floor once, twice, and after the second time he feels the figure go limp. For good measure Runis head-butts the figure, who then starts to stir again. Runis punches the figure in the nose. Rory moves to where he can see Runis fighting something; he fires his bow at the figure but misses. Runis feels momentarily drowsy but recovers rapidly. The dwarf rises up, then body-slams the figure; several of the figure’s ribs crack, and the figure goes limp again. Ten seconds later the figure becomes visible as a male bale.
Talina and a crowd of people swarm into the building. Josh comes through another door. Runis points at the big, burly man accompanying Talina and orders, “You – come here.” When the blacksmith walks up to the dwarf, Runis hands him his axe, then nods toward the unconscious bale. The blacksmith hefts the axe, then swings it over and down, severing the bale’s head. Runis announces, “Well, that’s one more.” “That’s good,” replies Talina. Runis taps Chalker’s head lightly, but Chalker doesn’t stir. Aliana wakes up to Josh waving a bottle of something acrid under her nose. Josh awakens Jinto similarly. Rory sits Chalker up against a wall.
Runis addresses the blacksmith. “Ready to start working on race relations?” “Yeah, I think we probably need to.” “The goblins need your help.” “We hold human town right now, but we lost about a fourth of the population doing it.” “That’s why the goblins will need your help. You’re going to need every one of them to help you hold off the orcs after you get rid of the bales.” The blacksmith hands Runis back the axe, picks up his own hammer. “Then we’d better get to work,” he says, then strides out of the room. Talina follows.
With Rory shaking him, Chalker finally wakes up. “Good, no bites on the neck,” he thinks. Chalker stands. Runis: “You okay?” Chalker: “Yeah. You were moving too slow. Why didn’t you crush him the first time?” Runis: “Couldn’t see him.” Chalker: “Well, I rolled him over so you could find him.” Rory: “He hasn’t eaten in six hours. Lost a lot of weight.” Aliana: “So what’s our next move?” Runis: “Well, they’re going to help the goblins.” Chalker: “Are we going to go downstairs now?” Rory: “We need to find a way to get the wagon down there.” Chalker: “First things first. We need to get down there, then we can figure out the wagon. Right?” Runis: “I thought that’s why we came here.” Chalker: “Okay. Jinto, is it directly below us?” Jinto: “Yes.” Everyone starts searching for a way down. Using his clairvoyance to look beneath the floorboards, Chalker sees in the center of the building’s foundation a 5’x5’ area that is denser than the surrounding material. Chalker: “Runis, can you chop the floor in this area here?” Aliana: “Chalker, you don’t use a battleaxe to chop wood. You know that.” Chalker: “We need to make a hole in this floor right here. I wonder, if you jump up and down here, would you make a hole?” Runis (with a laugh): “Is it hollow?” Chalker: “No, not particularly.” Runis borrows a pry bar and pries up the floorboards. Aliana and Jinto can see that beneath is a slab of magical dark stone. Jinto: “I think it’s transport down to the main platform.” Chalker: “Okay, now do we get our horses down there?” Runis: “Take out the wall. I’ve got a pry bar.” Rory: “The wagon won’t fit on the stone.” Chalker: “Maybe we should go down there and take a look at it, and then figure out what to do.” Josh: “Works for me.” Chalker: “Do you know how to activate it, Jinto?” Jinto: “Let me see.” The elf jumps down on top of the stone to examine it in more detail. Chalker: “You need to stop doing that.” Jinto (after a few moments): “Well, that wasn’t that hard. I saw something like that in one of the books. Anybody coming down with me?” Chalker and Runis step onto the stone. Jinto: “Good. This should be interesting.” He touches a couple of spots on the stone, says a single word, and the three of them disappear.