Once Friends, Now Foes

Vorsand, Tarlanor, 9th August 1655

North Tower, Second Floor (Kin Quarters)

Some instinct - perhaps connected with safety in numbers - suggested to Eloy that he'd be better off reunited with his companions. He'd noticed a bridge joining the towers as he descended to the level he was now on, so he returned to it and crossed rapidly to the south tower. The bridge had windows in it, and in happier times had commanded a fine view of the city and the valley around. Now, in the midst of the shattering storm and whirling, deadly aerial battle, with gaping holes smashed in several places and the whole structure shaking and shifting, it was an exercise in terror. Below, the city was a bowl of flame, dotted with jagged crags of steaming ice and misted with poisonous chlorine gas mixed with acid fumes.

South Tower, Second Floor (Throne Hall)

Once across the bridge, he soon located the others, and together they pondered their next move. Comparing notes, they realized that both groups had seen Dragonarmy troops in the Tower from two different units; garrison troops from Vorsand, and others from somewhere else. Eloy's memory stirred, and delivered up an image of soldiers in these insignia; standing either side of a familiar and beauttiful face - Rinlan Myrrlnor. The unfamiliar troops were from Koulashi castle. By the looks of things, Skufruss had bolstered his physical defences and stripped out his magical ones.

South Tower, Second Floor (Elite Quarters)

Reunited, the three began to search the level, and what they found reinforced their conclusions. Room after empty classroom, laboratory and study, with the occasional dropped book or paper all that remained of their resources. Crossing another of the shaking bridges, they passed into a floor of forsaken apartments, richly furnished, likely those of Skuffrus' most-trusted Kin and master wizards, likewise hastily emptied. Every so often, they found great gaping holes where dragons had smashed in looking for defenders and left again. Wind and rain lashed in through these rents.

As they passed one door, Eloy's sword discerned significant magic coming from within. He halted their search and suggested Lynien check it for traps. As she studied it, both became aware that the door radiated intense cold. Her face puzzled, Lynien reported the door was guarded by a very nasty magical trap... which was completely disarmed and harmless. "Someone get here first?" asked Eloy. "More likely emptied and abandoned," said Gorfang. "There's magic", said Eloy, and led the way in.

The apartment within was similar to the others, though fitted out with a necromancer's disquieting equipment, but the air was bitterly, unnaturally cold, and everything was overlaid with a subtle decay and air of morbidity. Where a bedchamber should have been was instead a room like a small throne hall, dominated by a black basalt chair, the back of which was studded with three gems radiating an unnatural green light. Eloy Identified it as a Chair of Longevity, a device which used negative energy to extend the time for which the flesh of an undead creature such as a lich was retained, despite the end of life processes, before rotting away. For a living being, the consequences of sitting on the chair would be extreme.

These, then were probably Ohmdalz' quarters. "If we can bag this, we can probably use it as leverage to get our shirts and books back," said Gorfang to Lynien - for there was so far no sign of these items and he was doubtful they'd find them. She regarded it dubiously. "Won't go in a Bag of Holding," she commented. They thought for a bit. "Can we Teleport it out?" asked Eloy. "Yes", said Gorfang, his eyes lighting up, "slowly..." He dug out his Slow Teleport ring, and scrawled a hasty warning note for Shufghoth before putting it on the seat. The three companions stood and watched as the massive chair faded slowly from Vorsand to Gadûhvrás and was gone.

South Tower, First Floor (Academy)

DM Note: A great moment to use Nebekheshut's Luck power to re-roll a 1 to 19 on finding traps!

That done, they headed down again through the shaking stairwells, and found themselves in the Academy proper. Their attention was immediately caught by a heavy, massive set of doors at the eastern end. Lynien checked them over and was just about to give the all-clear when something caught her eye. Slowly, it dawned on her that she had misread the door completely. The magnitude of the danger grew on her as she reviewed it and she realized that it was in fact massively and terribly trapped. This one was going to take some time, and Lynien unpacked her full kit of tools. While she worked, Gorfang and Eloy explored the rest of the Academy level.

Centre Tower, First Floor (Academy)

They came on a huge, circular, domed room the shape and size of the tower it was in - the famed Library of the Dark Tower. In all of North Alair, only those of the order of Wisdom's Edge in Cyrn Sharresh and Prince Cuitech in Reital came even close to it in size or scope. Once, this high, bright chamber had held thousands of books on every subject... but most especially on the Art Magic. Now, it was empty.

The echoing space brought home to the two just how thorough the evacuation had been. "We're not going to get anything out of this place, are we?" asked Eloy rhetorically. Gorfang bent, and picked up from where it had been kicked under a shelf and forgotten a coarse linen bag containing a few hundred in gold and a spell book. The cover read 'Varjan', and Gorfang remembered him; not a bad type for a man in a dress, he thought. He passed the book to Eloy, who could trigger the spells if he was feeling reckless enough. "No, this looks about it," he grunted, and they went back to see how Lynien was doing.

South Tower, First Floor (Academy)

The slender tiefling had succeeded in safely opening the heavy doors, and was just exploring the room beyond when Gorfang and Eloy returned. The space inside the doors was roughly semicircular and windowless. The only light came from the floor - but the room was not dim. In the centre was a large summoner's pentagram, and surrounding it half-a-dozen smaller magic circles similar to the ones used by Thykon in Lossal, Khabra and Gadûhvrás - Teleport Circles.

Eloy looked pleased. "Here's where we can get your stuff back!" he said. Lynien shook her head. "One in six chance," she said, "who knows where they all go? Also, the other ends could be trapped." Gorfang nodded in agreement. "We should tell the dragons though," he said. "They might be a possible source of counterattack; or of use to the dragons." A deep impact shook the Tower, and a cow-sized section of floor came loose from just outside the room and plunged into the floor below with a rumbling crash. "For about an hour, perhaps," commented Lynien dryly. She closed the door and relocked it quickly.

Rinlan Myrrlnor

Convinced now that they would not find Skufruss in the Dark Tower, the companions headed down once more towards the last and ground floor. As they rounded the last curve of the stairs, Eloy halted them. He'd heard voices echoing up from the room below - the awesome entrance hall of the Dark Tower. One of them he recognized as Rinlan Myrrlnor's. He squared his shoulders, drew the Murderblade, and descended the last of the stairs.

Sure enough, there in the forehall was Rinlan herself, surrounded by Dragonarmy troops to whom she was crisply issuing orders. Gathered near her were the five warrior-maids who formed her personal guard. Eloy called her name, and she turned quickly to face him, her face lighting up with love and hope at the sight of her man and what appeared to be more help in this desperate hour. "How did you get here?" she asked softly. Then she saw two sights to change her mind. Gorfang and Lynien followed down the stairs, talking loudly - though Lynien was still invisible. "There's more down here, let's get them." "The dragons said we had to kill them all!" - and she noticed that both Gorfang and Eloy were soaked in rainwater and splashed with blood; not black dragonblood but red human blood.

The happiness and trust in Rinlan's face crumbled away, and her expression closed up, only her eyes revealing the pain and anger building within. Eloy and Gorfang stepped slowly away from the stairwell, spreading out as well as allowing Lynien room to slip through. Bow drawn, she selected a good spot from which she could cover the defenders and awaited developments. Gorfang allowed Rinlan a chance as a former ally. "Leave now and you will live," he offered, "our fight is not with you."

She shifted her balance. "It's with my Lord - and yours, 'governor'," she said in a lorn, hollow voice. "What did you do with the Sceptre? What are you doing here?" Eloy looked deep into her suffering eyes, and with all the sincerity he could muster, backed up with the vocal tones invoking the intimacy they had once shared, he lied to her. "We never found it," he said earnestly, "we came back to aid in the siege." This last of course was true.. although he hadn't specified on which side. For a moment, she wavered, wanting so much to believe him.

While this was happening, Gorfang had moved slowly away from the central stairwell and was able to see the rest of the forehall. Behind them were more Kolaushi troops, and two kin; Shados Slyrryn - the Boggart - and the strategic genius Zanjalla. The Boggart nodded at Gorfang grimly, hefting his insanely huge greatsword ready for whatever might happen. "Skufruss is a fool, abandoning his tower - he could have held it if he'd stayed." said Gorfang conversationally. The Boggart shook his head. "Not everyone fights whatever the odds," he said sadly.

After Rinlan - click it for larger image!

Eloy had been moving slowly forwards, all this time, until he was nearly within reach of his lover. Suddenly she raised her blade. "Stop there!" she cried in an aching voice. "How can I trust you?" she continued, and for an instant her green eyes, wet with tears, begged him, show me; give me some reason to believe you! In that instant of weakness, Eloy sprang, striking with the Murderblade. All this time he'd been eying her with his assassin's skills, seeking out her weaknesses. Now he used all that information to guide his strike with the axe - and struck true. The silver blade sheared down between her shoulder-plates and her unprotected neck and cut into her spinal cord. Rinlan Myrrlnor fell bonelessly, killed instantly. She landed on her back, and for an instant Eloy met her tear-filled green eyes as they stared emptily upwards. Then he slipped between the weave of reality into nullity. "Consider that a divorce," he commented silently, slipping on his Ring of Flying and soaring up out of everyone's reach. The fight was kicked off; time to leave it to the specialists.

Gorfang was talking to the Boggart, to give Lynien time to get into position. "Where has Skufruss gone?" he asked conversationally. "Dispersal," he said bluntly. "The library, the resources and the most important personnel of the Dark Tower have been scattered to a variety of different safe places. There was nothing we could do for the city." His attention was siezed by something beyond Gorfang and his eyes widened. "My Gods! What's happened over there?" he cried, hurrying past Gorfang. The orc turned, to see Rinlan sprawled in a pool of blood and her bodyguard looking wildly in all directions for the perpetrator. The Boggart glanced back at Gorfang for a moment, but it was obvious that the orc had been thirty feet away and facing in the other direction. He bent over Rinlan and closed her staring eyes. Nice sneak attack, Lynien, thought Gorfang, unaware for the moment that Eloy Brackensen had ever existed, but when did you start using an axe? He moved over to join Zanjalla in 'searching for the killer'. A couple of moments later, Eloy tried a second assassination, on the Boggart this time, but his blow was millimetres out and it didn't kill the Kin straight off.

Hostilities opened, Lynien loosed a flight of arrows at the Boggart, just missing Eloy (though she didn't know he existed), wounding him further and draining his strength with the poison. Gorfang lashed out at Zanjalla, catching him completely off guard, and sending the blade of his khopesh tearing through helmet and head. The greatest Kin strategist since Gozan Vraspan tumbled to the floor in a spray of blood and brains. Gorfang turned and commenced hacking his way through the hapless Dragonarmy soldiers towards the Boggart. Eight soldiers and two warrior-maids fell before he reached the Kin, and the Boggart could see his fate written in Gorfang's red eyes even before they matched blades. The deadly khopesh curled around the giant greatsword and flicked it aside before crunching through the Kin's ribs to split his heart. The remaining soldiers fled, and Lynien reappeared. Gorfang's complement about her axe-work was greeted with puzzlement, and both were soon hunting for the 'invisible enemy' they thought was in with them. Eloy very wisely remained 25' up in the air until his nullity wore off....