Chapter 7: Emptiness and Fullness
In the dark city, far from the light of day, the sounds of battle can be heard. Two of the dwarves have fallen but the remaining eight manage to keep up a steady stream of projectiles. They are just holding back the tide of chattering beasts and howling ghosts but by your estimate they will last maybe another fifteen minutes at best.
You have never really considered yourself a hero, the word rings falsely in your ears and you have no desire to rush to your death. However, you will not just leave these people to their deaths. You want to help and so you give the order.
"We are going to help them," all present understand that this order is not open to negotiation. There will be no arguing this and so they quickly move to discussing the best ways to neutralize the enemy.
"Well why don't we just charge their rear?" asks the Beserk, perhaps more willing to wade into battle than to consider the consequences.
"Not with those explosives being thrown about," Gareth steps forward, "We would be best to attack from a distance to be honest."
That sounds like a fair plan but you think you can do one better, "Doctor Miosguinn, can you and your apprentice draw out some of the attackers with your illusions?"
Miosguinn immediately grasps your strategy, "Yes, Miss Derryth, we can trick the ghosts and probably scare off the spiders as well if it comes to that."
You give the word and the old wizard starts casting, glad to finally have an opportunity to really cut loose. He turns his attention to the ghosts while his apprentice focuses on the spiders.
While the Children cast Gareth offers further advice, "It would be best to concentrate on each splinter group, one at a time, if the eight of us can bring overwhelming force to bear against each group we will be able to minimize the risk of casualties."
The apprentice is finished with her spell, a wall of flame erupts from the ground between the dwarves and the spiders, an obvious illusion but enough to scare off the animals. Out of instinct the arachnids pull back and turn their attention to the deathless horde assaulting them. The dwarves, quite confused by this stroke of good luck, quickly adapt and concentrate their fire on the ghosts still assaulting their position.
As the eight of you move into place for your first ambush, you watch as Miosguinn casts his spells. Behind the horde of ghosts and to either side dance wisps of blue-grey smoke which slowly take on human shape. Gradually colour bleeds into them and after a few moments they seem almost genuine, at a quick glance they would fool you and you are sure the ghosts will take the bait.
Sure enough the ghosts see these new targets and they turn. The horde fractures, torn into four ragged pieces by the dispersing ghosts as each races off in pursuit of these new targets. Miosguinn must be having fun with all of this as he puts on a little show for your enemies. The illusions turn to see the ghosts charging towards them, they begin to scream without a voice, horror expressed in pantomime. The group closest to your position begins to gesture wildly and turn to run. One of them, a little elderly man trips and his daughter attempts to pull him along. The doctor has really outdone himself, even against an actual living opponent these illusions would prove difficult to detect, against the ghosts they work perfectly.
The ghosts crash into the illusions and are met with empty air, you do not know if a ghost can be confused but they come to an immediate stop and turn to rejoin the horde. At that moment you spring your attack.
You reach deep into your mind for a memory, excitement would do, maybe love but the best for a firebolt spell would be a fragment of anger, betrayal or rage. Something powerful and with a desire to hurt another. You remember a stable boy that used to mock you as a child, who used to beat and bully you... good enough.
That ember sparks a flame, and this flame jumps from your hand to your target. The crimson dart dives through the air and strikes your first victim, the bent and scarred ghost of a ghôl. The flames turn green as they snake around the ghost devouring its form, it screams and fades away. Meanwhile, the combined assault of your seven companions easily overwhelms your ghostly prey and you quickly move on to your next target.
You cast and you fight, with whip and knife when needed, and after ten minutes of terror and battle your group has destroyed the last of the ghosts. As you battle the last of these foul spectres, Miosguinn turns his attentions to the spiders. He slowly bottles them up with illusionary fire, driving them further back, before he rejoins your group with his apprentice and the wagon. The dwarves give the crawling masses a parting volley of cocktails to see them on their way before they turn their attention and their weapons towards you.
Now that you are closer you can see that they are not all outfitted with the normal dwarven kit. Five of them look as you would expect; woollen clothes and strange caps, backpacks filled with their explosive concoctions and odd inventions, and short, well groomed beards. Two more match that description save for a lack of beards, fitting given that they are women. The last three however are covered from head to toe in thick plate armour of a make you have rarely seen before, the smaller two have simple but well made equipment while the largest one has an ornate weapon and armour. Four of the lightly armed dwarves lay on the ground injured or unconscious, you can not tell from this distance whether or not their wounds are fatal.
It seems that the large dwarf is in charge and it is also clear that he can not or will not speak Bruig. They eye your group suspiciously. Talking, or rather arguing, amongst themselves. It seems that a few of the younger ones are trying to convince the armoured dwarf to do or say something.
You turn and call back to your group stationed outside of the dwarves' range of fire, "Just great, does anyone speak Dwarven?"
The unanimous answer you receive is no and you are about to try and communicate through a pathetic sort of sign language when two of the dwarves approach you.
It is two of the dwarves that were arguing with their leader, one male and one female, young, probably about the same age if you had to take a guess.
They stop about ten feet from you and bow, when they begin speaking you are surprised that it is in accented yet fluent Bruig, he begins "Greetings and thanks to you for your aid against the creatures of this place."
They are stiff, formal, and a little worried; she picks up where he left off, "We did not think that we would encounter an imperial patrol this far into the old city. Your Emperor Alric must be great indeed if he seeks to claim so much of the city in such little time."
You consider their words before you respond. It seems likely that these dwarves are testing your motives. Surely they must know that you are not Imperials as they would have to sneak past the Imperials just to get down here and well one of you is a Maul.
They want to see if you will lie to them so you take a slight gamble and tell them the truth. They are in your debt at the moment and from what little you know of the dwarves they do not take such things lightly
"I am afraid that as great as Alric is, we are not here as his representatives today. We seek the passages from the Dwarven quarters to the old offices of the Smiths of Muirthemne."
At the mention of the Smiths, the two representatives relax a little. It seems that they were concerned you would try to arrest them or plunder the Dwarven Quarter itself. While you had admittedly planned to do so, you can always do it latter when the dwarves are not around.
The male dwarf coninues, "My name is Bari and this is my wife Ari, we serve as scouts and protectors for our Lord Jari," he gestures back to the armoured dwarf.
Ari cuts in, it seems the two of them have a habit of finishing each others thoughts, "We have come in search of an artefact important to our people, its last known location was within the workshops of the Smiths, it is a-" Ari pauses for a moment and looks at Bari, unsure if she should tell you.
After a moment Bari continues, "I am afraid we can not tell you what it is, it is a matter of personal and communal shame and we must leave it at that."
Jari calls out to the two dwarves in Dwarven and they quickly answer before turning back to you, "My Lord wishes to know if he could purchase your services to escort us to our target, we would of course pay you for your time and any supplies we may require."
You look them over, they are hopeful but you also still sense an undercurrent of fear, they are worried. Shifting your gaze from the dwarves to their equipment it looks like they have next to no supplies with them, perhaps they did not prepare properly or more likely they lost their supplies to the denizens of this place. With almost half their number wounded and the rest worn out they are not likely to survive without further help. Serpent could probably even save most or all of their wounded if you let him. It also looks like they do not have much in the way of riches on them, any payment you would receive will only come if they live to reach the surface.
They could be an asset or a liability, but the choice is yours. You take a deep breath and give them your answer.
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It took a couple hours to get into the main complex and properly secure the building. It looks like the place was once a warehouse and there are an assortment of weapons and supplies strewn about in boxes, and chests. Most of it is useless to you but a more detailed search may turn up useful resources.
Once the building is fully under your control, you enter the basement storage down a long and very wide ramp. Seems everything in this city was built big. You find more dust and boxes but at least there are no monsters.
A little voice in the back of your mind suggests that they are merely hiding, waiting for you to slip up but you quickly chase such thoughts away. Serpent notices a very narrow side tunnel and says he recognizes the smell of mandrake roots coming from the darkness, it may be worth checking out.
Finally there is the great door leading into the old tunnels, you would easily be able to drive two wagons through it so space should not be a large problem as long as you stick to the main road. It looks like the tunnels are still intact as best as you can tell, it would speed up your trip tremendously but part of you wonders what new horrors will be waiting in those tunnels.
Brigit also has her first report for you. She has been watching the Children and so far they have done nothing suspicious, well nothing more suspicious than normal. She has not seen either of them in possession of a black tome like you described to her. They are however very protective of a warded blue-grey metal chest but that is not too odd for a pair of mages. She also noticed that each wears a small amulet around their necks which they try to always keep concealed. It is odd but when you ask her for more details on the amulets she has trouble remembering anything.
An interesting mystery but for now you have more pressing concerns:
1. The Dwarves, do you help them?
A)Yes - You agree to escort them since you are all headed to the same place anyway. (If you pick this then choose an option for choice 2)
B)No - You do not need an extra burden, you tell them to return to the surface. You will not help them.
C) Maybe - If they can give you some sort of partial payment up front then you will help, otherwise they are on their own
D)Other - Free form
2. If you choose to help them then do you use your supplies to help them, if so how much?
A) No - they can survive off what they can find.
B) Yes - but basic supplies and mundane medicine only.
C) Yes - you tell Serpent to use any resources needed to save as many lives as possible. Including Mandrake Roots. (You currently have four Mandrake Roots left in total)
D) Yes - you tell Serpent to only use your mundane supplies for now, if you find more Mandrake Roots you can then use some on the Dwarves. They may be upset if they find out you risked their lives so you will probably have to lie a little.
E) Other - free form
3. You have a bit of time to look around the building if you want, though this will spread your group out a bit. Do you?
A) Yes - might as well look for supplies.
B) No - you just want to move on quickly before you run into something else.
C) Other - free form
4. Serpent thinks there are Mandrake Roots down the side tunnel in the basement. Do you let him investigate?
A) Yes - We could use more Mandrake Roots
B) No - Who knows what is down there and it is too narrow a tunnel to send the fighters.
C) Yes - But not alone. Derryth will go with him as will _______ (if you vote for this option then list the third party member that you want to take, the most popular one will go. Tyrvard and Ithapi can not fit and Gareth will have to leave his shield behind to fit)
D) Yes - But send alot of people; Derryth, Gareth, Serpent, Amena, Miosguinn, the apprentice and some of the dwarves, if they complain tell them that in this way we can treat better their wounded comrades. With such a larger group you should be able to handle any challenge. Of course you will get in the way of each other and you will leave the main camp understaffed...
E) Other - free form
5. Then there is the question of the tunnels themselves. Do you want to use them or would you rather go back to the tower and travel through the city and upper tunnels?
A) Use the lower tunnels, it is quicker.
B) Go back to the tower, who knows what is down there.
C) Other - free form
