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With Shen in the lead, the party advanced towards the back of the cavern.
As they passed the front edge of the temple, Hedge moved to more closely examine the structure. Rising high into the darkness beyond the range of his vision, the black stone walls showed no sign of being worked. He ran his hand along the wall as they advanced and was surprised to find it as smooth as polished glass. He turned to relay this information to his friends when he heard a soft scuffing noise behind him.
As one, the party turned around and Shen pushed his way to the front. A figure approached from the darkness, turning the corner around the barracks where they had passed moments before. A human woman, somewhere past her fiftieth year with long dark hair and wearing a plain cloth dress.
“Hold where you stand!”
The woman halted and, after a moment, spoke. “Do you not recognize me?” She took a tentative step.
“I said hold! I– ” Shen hesitated. “Ashton, light please.”
The Mornmaster stepped forward and held his mace aloft. Although its radiance was greatly reduced, it provided enough light to show her face.
Silence echoed while the woman and monk starred at each other. Ten heartbeats passed before he shook his head. “This…this is not possible.”
Tipwill moved up beside Shen. “Who is this woman friend?”
“I’m– I don’t know how to explain it…this…is my mother.”
“What? How did she get here?” The Archmage raised his hand. Tiny sparks danced among his fingers as he narrowed his eyes.
“She’s– she…”
Like so many times before, exhaustion threatened to overcome the young woman. The year-long flight from Mulhorand had drained her will, and instinct took over where reason had fled. Numbingly placing one foot in front of the other, she no longer thought of rest. Such a luxury would be costly. She looked down at the soft bundle held close to her chest. The last link to my husband. How I miss you. The babe’s eyes, wide with awareness, stared back at her.
Nepris looked up to see the Nether Mountains piercing through the misty clouds high above. The temple of the Old Order was still a small speck in the distance. She wrapped the edge of her shirt around her son and followed the wagon. They wouldn’t allow her to ride with the caravan any more. The last attack had seemed directed solely against Nepris and the child. It was obvious that they was scrying her. Although the frequency of the attacks had lessened, their intensity had not and she knew that the remaining guards would not stand in the way if her life was threatened again.
She almost ran into the wagon before she realized it had stopped. Fearing another attack, she spun around in a panic before spotting the group of monks on the road ahead. She clutched her bundle close as she ran forward, nearly tripping on the loose stones and scree that scattered the mountain trail.
You will be safe here Shen. Soon I will be dead, and you will be safe.
“Mother?”
The old woman nodded and smiled softly. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this day Shen.”
“I don’t understand…why are you here?”
“Shen. Are you certain she is who she claims?” Tipwill took a step and held his staff forward. “Something is wrong here, this doesn’t make sense.”
Arnold and Hedge spread out to the far sides of the party. The halfling slipped a large, flat stone from a pouch, while the Hedge released the safety catch on his crossbow.
Ashton, studying the old woman before him, whispered from the side of his mouth. “Ask her something.”
“What is wrong my son? Come here, embrace your mother.”
Shen nodded. “If you are truly my mother, you will remember the message you gave the old monk.”
“Of course I remember my treasure!” The old woman beamed and opened her arms out to her son. “I told him that you should die!”
In a blink, the old woman leaped forward and cleared the twenty paces between them. Her form wavered and transformed as she landed, revealing black fur and a feline face. Sharp claws raked out to the sides, slashing across Tipwill and Ashton while a booted foot planted itself squarely in Shen’s gut and propelled him backwards.
The creature spun and launched itself after the mage, drawing two short-bladed swords from its belt. It was then that Hedge noticed the creature’s hands were backwards, the palms facing outwards. With little time to consider the revelation, he raised his crossbow and tried to line up the creature in his scope. The target proved difficult; shadows swam over her form as she sliced and stabbed at Tipwill, who barely managed to deflect some of the blows with his staff. The dim light of the cavern, combined with the proximity of his wounded friend made any shot at this point a risky proposition.
“Help!” The Archmage’s plea was desperate as the shadowed assassin slipped past his defenses again and again, drawing blood from numerous wounds. Shen, having landed and rolled back up to his feet a moment before, rushed the creature and leaped through the air in a flying kick that knocked its head back. The feline attacker gave off a bestial howl as it fell back then rolled with the blow and stood up, its back to the barracks wall.
Tipwill staggered towards Ashton who rushed to meet him, hands glowing blue with healing energy.
Hedge pulled loose one of the flaps on his bandoleer and drew out a small flask. He pried out the cork with his thumb while out of the corner of his eye he saw a salvo of skip-rocks appear out of thin air and streak towards the cornered creature. Two of the stones smashed harmlessly against the wall behind it, but the third landed squarely in her ribs, provoking another howl.
Hedge tilted back the glass tube and drank down the potion in one gulp. As he tossed the flask behind him, the pounding of booted feet echoed from the back of the cavern. At least four pairs. “Incoming!” The treasure hunter turned to the temple wall next to him and immediately began climbing it - his hands and boots sticking to the mirror-smooth surface like a spider’s web.
Shen growled and slowly advanced on the creature, its back pressed up against the brick wall of the barracks. “Yield! You are surrounded.”
A voice like sand on stone hissed back. “That’s what you think.” The creature’s form shimmered as she stepped back into the wall behind her. Shen leaped forward but his fists met stone as the creature reappeared behind him, rising from the shadows on the cavern floor and planting her foot in his lower back, sending Shen to his knees. She raised both of her swords and turned the blades downward, ready to stab them into the monk’s neck.
A scorching ray of fire slammed into the assassin’s back and sent it spinning off to the side, trailing smoke as it went. Tipwill lowered his arm and turned towards the back of the cavern where six shadowvaar warriors, each wielding long-handled axes of black iron rushed from the shadows. “Ashton!”
The Mornmaster spun, drawing his mace and charged the shadowvaar head-on. “For the Light!”
The armored cleric’s charge slammed into the shadowvaar, knocking their axes aside with this shield and their heads with his mace. Hedge, perched twenty feet up on the temple wall peppered them with crossbow bolts while Arnold launched a volley of stones at their shins, knocking two to the floor and caving in the unprotected skull of a third.
Shen climbed to his feet and stalked towards the prone, smoking form of the assassin who now struggled to push itself off the floor. “This. Ends. Now.” Planting his knee in its back, he wrapped grabbed the feline head in both hands and twisted with all his might. The creature’s neck gave a satisfying snap…and fell limp.
Four shadowvaar lay crumpled around Ashton as the remaining two swung their axes at his chest and legs. The cleric deflected one blow with his shield and slammed his mace into the arm of the second, sending the axe clattering to the floor. A pair of wooden bolts blossomed from the warrior’s chest a moment later and he slumped to the ground.
The final warrior, guessing its fate, dropped his blade and turned to run. Another volley of stones from Arnold shattered a kneecap and sent it toppling as a final bolt pierced its ribs from behind. Silence once again filled the cavern.
Hedge slid down the temple wall and landed lightly at his feet.
“That’s a neat trick.”
“Spider Climb potion.”
The Archmage smiled and nodded, then moved up to join Ashton and Shen who were dragging the shadowvaar off to the side. Hedge walked over to Arnold who was tentatively poking the corpse of the assassin. “Where do you suppose she came from?”
“How do you know its a she?”
Hedge shrugged and knelt down helped Arnold turn over the body. “Is that mithril?”
Arnold nodded. “Aye, it looks undamaged too. Help me get it off?” The two slipped the chain shirt over the creature’s head. “Grab the swords also.”
Hedge gathered up the short-bladed swords and noticed that one’s blade was as black as night, while the other’s was a creamy white. Just like my own. “I’ll hold on to these for now…”
Arnold gave him a curious look, but nodded and headed back to the group.
Posted by Aaron on January 18, 2008, 11:48 am permalink top | general
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