Alair - Holy Wars |
 DM Note: Poor Derek managed to make it long enough to leave biscuits (nice ones - thanks!) and then got called away to work. . |
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As the day progressed, the investigators began to assemble a picture of the disappearances. There seemed to be two areas where the majority had happened - within a quarter-mile of the central square (and the Tower), and in the northern edges of the village. Frequency was definitely increasing, to the point that they could be reasonably confident of an attack tonight.
Passing the square again, their attention returned to the Tower. "If it has no doors or windows, why's it called a tower?" asked Egia of no-one in particular. "Isn't it an obelisk?" Ghlaads tried a Stone Shape on the wall, but no-one was very surprised when it didn't work.
Returning to the checkpoint on the Eastway, they questioned the guardsman Yatrog once more. "I know Deacon Calagond won't admit to the presence of monsters," said Egia, "but you said you knew someone who'd seen one. Who was it and where do I find him?" Yatrog was eager to help. "Calim," he said, "he saw it - it killed his friend N'jal. His patrol should be in the south-western quarter by now," he finished, glancing at the sun. "Describe him," said Egia, and once he was done they set out for the part of town indicated.
A few minutes later, they met the patrol they were looking for, ten soldiers tramping along the street behind a heavy-set sergeant with a beard. The men looked alert, eyes constantly flicking to the buildings and alleys they passed, not at all the normal dull inattention of a town watch. The sergeant nodded to Egia as they prepared to pass, word having evidently spread of the new arrivals and their place in the heirachy, but she lifted a hand and gestured to him to stop. "I need to speak to one of your men," she said crisply, "Calim?" The sergeant's eyebrowss rose, but he called the soldier forward. "You may move along, sergeant," said Egia crisply. Looking a little grumpy, the man got his patrol moving again, and they flowed around the four stationary figures in the middle of the road until they were gone.
"Now, soldier," said the paladin, "I want you to tell me the truth, please." The soldier straightned sharply; "As the One is my witness I will!" he said, clearly a little awed at the attention of a paladin. "Talk to me, boy," she said, "tell me about the monster."
As he recalled, Calim's eyes widened and a look of remembered fear came over his face. "It was three weeks ago," he said quietly. "Daliyth and I were coming back to barracks after an evening off." Hougaard took a stab in the dark. "Were you drunk?" he asked sharply. Calim blanched; but he'd sworn to be honest. "Not drunk, but, er, relaxed," he said shamefacedly. "We know this widow, see, and she's happy to let us have a glass or two. Please... you don't have to tell anyone do you?" Egia managed to convey reassurance without actually promising to let him go unreported, while Hougaard filed the fact away: it's a dry religion, but not everyone plays by the rules on this. It's a weakness. Calim continued. "We were heading back, and Daliyth had just turned to laugh at something I'd said - and there it was. Man-shaped.. sort of, but huge, a foot taller than him at least. Covered in hair or fur or something, the face of a beast ... fangs .... eyes ... " he shook himself. "It just grabbed his neck in one hand - went right around - and snapped it, then folded him up like paper and was off into the darkness with him. I couldn't do anything. I tried - I threw my dagger at it," he tapped it where it hung at his belt, "but it just bounced off."
They gave him a moment to recover, then asked if he knew any other soldiers with similar stories to tell. He mentioned four or five names, adding that most attacks had come when the victims were alone or in small groups. The largest was four, and they'd managed to get back-to-back and fend it off with fire. Egia thanked him and let him return to his patrol.
"We've got enough to go back to Calagond and ask for some support, I think," said Hougaard. Egia nodded, then grinned. "I expect you'd like another look at that map, too?" she asked archly, and the Unfettered smiled. He turned to Ghlaads. "Do you have a spell to improve my memory - help me remember it better?" he asked. Ghlaads rocked a hand. "Not straight off," she said. "There's one in Severi's spell book, but it'll take me a day or so to learn it. I could scrollcast it but then it'd be gone." Hougaard shook his head. "We don't want to wait that long," he said.
 DM Note: Both Allan and Aimo threw Criticals for Listen after asking if they could hear anything - as good as drilling a hole in the wall, really.... |
The desk-clerk priest in the once-town hall seemed unsurprised at their returning to speak to the Warlord-Deacon again, but apologetic. "He's meeting with the architect priests and his lieutenants," he said, "you can wait over there." The three took seats in an alcove near the door to the meeting room, but as Egia and Hougaard leaned back against the wall they realized they could hear, faintly but clearly, what was being discussed in the room beyond...
One of the priests was speaking, and his tone was angry. ".. care what your thugs say. Someone's been getting onto the build site of Our Lord's temple and sabotaging it. Three pegs missing from the south gable joint - missing and covered over with broken-off ends to conceal their abscence. Two beams at the west transept sawn almost through; once the roof had gone on it would have come in on us, and I doubt we'd have been lucky enough to only have locals underneath. Though how anyone got up there without the ladders I really don't know. You've got to do something!"
A different voice cut in, sounding somehow more military - one of the subcommanders, probably. "Maybe it was the monster...." the man's voice trailed off and Hougaard could envision the Warlord's daggerlike stare. "Monster?" he snapped, voice dripping scorn. "Even if such a beast existed, do you really imagine it can bring its' own ladder, or use a saw? You stupid boy!" The lieutenant's voice wasn't heard again for the rest of the meeting, in which Calagond promised more guards on the site and lanterns at night.
As the meeting broke up, Calagond noticed the three of them sitting outside his office and waved them in. "Come in, my friends," he said, "how's your investigation going?" There was a slight humour to his question as if he didn't really expect an answer, but his expression changed as the account of the afternoon's work was related. A lesser man might have stonewalled, or blustered, or disbelieved; but for all his heretical faith and enemy status, Calagond was a competent commander. "What do you want to do next?" he asked levelly.
"We want a curfew," said Egia, who had done all the talking so far. She'd spun the tale and discussion out as far as she dared to give Hougaard, sitting quietly slightly to her side, plenty of time to study the tactical map and burn it into his memory. "Especially in the northern quarter. No citizens on the streets, and no soldiers. No guard posts. No patrols." Calagond tapped a finger on his desk. "I'd not mind that, it'll help with the pacification," he said. "Two problems though. First, it'll leave us wide open to the rebels. If I'm going to accept the theory that there is a monster, you are going to have to agree that there are rebels and they're an equal danger. Yes? Secondly, how are you going to channel this thing - if it comes - to where you can get at it. I don't want civilians butchered; if we've withdrawn our forces from the streets, we'd have a village full of rebels by morning."
Egia considered, as slowly as she dared. "Strong patrols only," she said finally, "around the build site, and to the south. No off-duty men in the village. No-one to the north. We'll set up some bait for the thing that it can't resist." Calagond nodded slowly, thinking it through. "What will you use as bait?" he asked.
Egia grinned ferally. "Us..." she said.
An hour later, Hougaard straightened in his chair and stretched his back. The map laid out on the table in front of him, now much amended, was as close to a copy of the one on Calagond's wall as it was possible to get. It had been decided to send it back to Stryre with Ravin, as the most effective contribution to the war effort any of them could make. Bundling it into some other papers to conceal it, they headed out into the forest to the west, passing the guards without problems, and returned to the campsite where they'd left the young priest.
Which was empty.
Ravin, his horse, his tent and all his possessions and equipment were gone. Scouting around, Hougaard found the signs of where his tent had been struck, but no evidence of any sort of struggle or fight. Firewood was stacked neatly under the trees nearby. A little further out, he found tracks of five people coming out of the forest to the north-west, and then six people leaving in much the same direction. Gathering their gear and leading their horses, the three set out in pursuit.
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They had been following the tracks through the forest for two hours when Egia stopped walking abruptly. She had seen a movement in the trees ahead of them, light glinting off an arrowhead. At her hissed warning, Hougaard and Clauch tried to slip into the undergrowth and out to the flanks, but a call from ahead of "Stop right there, you in the robe!" revealed that their ambushers had someone with them at least as skilled in woodland lore as Hougaard himself. "Identify yourselves!" barked the same voice, followed by a second, familiar voice - Ravin's - adding "You can - it's safe, these are friends!"
Hougaard, frustrated by being out-rangered, let rip with a barrage of invective that rang through the trees. There was a pause and then the first voice resumed. "No Priest of the One uses language like that! I guess you're who Ravin here says you are. Come on over." People started emerging from the trees on the other side of the clearing, the priest among them. Ravin made some introductions as the rebels gathered around the three adventurers. A druid called Daneel seemed to be in charge, though a weathered-looking bard named Kiyuni also had some importance. A couple of apprentice bards, an elderly priest of Belisama and some villagers completed the group.
Once the rebels had been brought up-to-date on what was happening, Egia handed the wrapped map to Ravin and explained what he was to do with it. His agreement was accompanied by a quick glance at the old priest - Thorlberg - who reached for the map and opened it. His eyes widened. "Blessings of Our Lady, this is good!" he exclaimed fervently. "I shall lay some spells on young Ravin here for his trip back." Kiyuni nodded. "I'll pick out some escorts for him, too," he said. Egia turned back to the plan for the evening.
"You mustn't attack the village tonight, even if it looks unguarded," she said. "It'd be a trap, though it's not set for you. We have to put this thing out of the way before it kills any more civilians." A thought occurred to her. "Have you been sabotaging the build site?" Kiyuni shook his head. "We'd never get near it," he said regretfully, "it's too well guarded." Egia grimaced; this was a new piece of the puzzle, or possibly a completely different puzzle. "Have you been attacked by the Beast?" she asked. Daneel shook his head. "No," he said, "we don't move in small groups and from what we hear it attacks vulnerable or exposed targets." He didn't say anything about the forest, but all three adventurers - particularly Hougaard with his links to the natural world so beloved of Lyr - had picked up the feel of this part of the woods. It seemed somehow more than the rest; the trees seemed taller and healthier, the grass thicker, the small animals more numerous and larger. Something, or someone, cared for this place, and an unnatural creature such as what they hunted might not find it very comfortable here.
Returning to the village, the three spent the rest of the afternoon scouting the northern part of the village. In the mud near a communal well surrounded by houses, they found something which confirmed all their suspicions. It was the print of an enormous hound. Egia pulled a shingle off the well-head and casually covered it before sending a soldier to fetch Calagond. Her request for his presence was worded with great diplomacy but some urgency.
By the time the Warlord and his guard had arrived ("I'm something of a target," he explained wryly, little suspecting how much the people he spoke to desired to strike that target), Hougaard had found two more prints in the mud between two buildings, along with scrape-marks - probably from claws - on the wooden walls at either side. The tall unfettered stood midway and stretched his own arms out; his fingertips were nearly a foot from the walls. The prints were widely spaced; either the creature had been running, or it was very big...
"Well, well, well," he said, "even if I hadn't already agreed, this would get you your curfew. I don't envy whichever of you is to be the bait!"
By nightfall, Egia was in position, rags covering her light armour, a tattered cloak over her shoulders and Sunrazor's scabbard covered in a shapeless and grubby bundle. A cheap lantern burned next to her as she sat under a tree in the small square they'd selected to lay the trap. Glancing up, she saw both moons riding high and nearly full; the square was nearly as lit to her Aasimar eyes as it was in the day.
The owners of the surrounding houses had been warned to allow their buildings to be used, and so Ghlaads crouched inside an upper-floor window to the south. Hougaard lay full-length on a roof to the east, the effects of Greater Mage Armour, Bull's Strength and the newly-learned Darkvision settled into place on him. Egia also had a True Strike poised and ready.
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Hours passed. The slow sounds of night surrounded them, sleep teased and tempted them, but their vigilance did not slacken. When the attack came, though, it was so swift that less prepared targets would have had no chance. Bounding into the square from the south - almost directly under Ghlaads' position - the monster crossed the square in a flash of lithe movement. The stories and accounts they'd heard had allowed them to piece together a mental picture of this creature, but nothing had prepared them for the speed and power of its' onset.
As she'd planned, Egia rose from her beggar's huddle at the last moment, the faint flames of Sunrazor fluttering as she whipped it free of the scabbard. Huge and feral, the Beast loomed over her, slaver dripping from its' jaws, and she struck twice, backing up to evade the terrible claws as they lashed out at her. Her first blow was enhanced by the True Strike and blood splashed, the wounds seeming to drive the creature into an even greater fury.
Almost at the same moment, Hougaard dropped like a falling hammer from his roof, all his weight and the momentum of the fall behind his first two-fisted punch to the beast's face. Half-stunned, it reeled back, unable for the moment to retaliate. Above, Ghlaads cast a Magic Missile, her first for a while. Her powers had increased with study, and four bolts of energy blasted into the ravening creature. To her horror, though, they were deflected without doing any damage.
Egia and Hougaard were now flanking the monster as they fought, Sunrazor flickering as it carved another wound into the beast, accompanied by a smell of burning hair. This intensified as Hougaard attacked, his martial arts lore causing his very fists to blaze with the holy fire of Lyr. Shaking off the stunning effects of Hougaard's first attack, the beast attacked Egia again, but Ghlaads' magical protection combined with her own armour defeated the assault and its' claws scraped across the metal in a shower of sparks.
Egia lifted Sunrazor and called on its' holy power. A Searing Light spell blasted from the weapon and struck the monster squarely in the face, incinerating most of its' head. It staggered backwards, trailing flames and burning fur, and crashed down onto its' back. Its' form seemed to shift as it fell, and Egia and Hougaard approached, curiously. As they reached the still shape, they discovered not a bestial monster, but the naked corpse of a skinny human. With most of his head gone, it was impossible to tell who he might have been.
"A werewolf," said Egia "I thought it was."
Hougaard glanced up. Something large and batlike swept across the moons and was gone. From several places across the village, chilling howls arose to greet it....
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Session Date: 13th Feb 2013 |
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