Rashemen IV

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Nakia finished applying the liquid to Kongol. She sat quietly and then looked up at Jex, "Aye Jex, twas not anger I had but the berserker's rage. To feel nothing but the desire to kill. I am glad she was a vampire for then it was not Kongol's Miranda who betrayed but a vile, unnatural creature. Wonder how she became one.

Well, cousin, at least one good thing has come from this evil. That armor suits you well."

She stroked Kongol's head gently then got up and walked around the large room. She stopped at the dragon and picked up a few loose scales stowing them away. Finally returning to the others she said, "There seems no way out but the way we came in."

 

Sepp got Jex to help him carve into the dragon's lung and extract his Staff. He borrowed someone's extra belt and adjusted the new armor, stowing the dagger in the belt too. Something caught his eye against a wall. It was the elf's skull. He went over to it and picked it up.

"Thank you for the armor and dagger. I bet you would have an interesting story to tell."

He tried again to shift back to flesh, and once again couldn't find the place in his mind to make the change. It was disconcerting. To get his mind off it, he put his senses out to see if Nakia was correct.

"You're right, Nakia, there don't seem to be any other exits. Maybe that portal scroll is what we need right now. Who's got it?"

 

"Hadn't we better find the others first or are we just going to leave them?"

 

"They will have to catch up when they can. We've been delayed too long already, I fear." Sepp said with a worried look on his face.

 

Nakia dug around in her bag and pulled out a carefully wrapped package. "This what you want, Sepp? But we don't know what it will do or where we will go. Think we should wait til Kongol comes to. If he can travel we can go back to the cave were met that monster and try to figure out how to get to the others."

Rather breathlessly Nakia sits down by Kongol.

 

"Yes, that's what I was talking about," Sepp said. He took it in his hands and tried to read it. Then, to his utter dismay, it turned brittle and began to crack and crumble. Then it turned to dust and fell in a small pile at his feet.

He looked up in horror at the others.

"I didn't do anything! I just touched it! Maybe we can piece it back together!" he said in desperation, though that was quite silly, it now being just a pile of dust, that was somehow turning around in a small wind that had suddenly sprung up.

In three breaths it was a six foot tall whirlwind, sweeping the dust of the scroll and the sand in the cavern around and around, pulling at Sepp.

The whistling it made seemed to whisper to him, "Will you die to guard the Eye?"

Through the wind and its whispering, Sepp could hear the clash of arms and sounds of halflings crying out in pain. Many in the group were still winded and wounded from their running battles, but this would not wait. He would no longer be a pawn of the gods, he would be a servant of his god.

"Yes," he whispered back to the wind, with his whole heart and whole soul. As soon as the word was out of his mouth, his stone body also turned to dust, and was pulled in to the center of the whirlwind.

He came back out of the whirlwind on top of a huge granite boulder in a grove of ancient oaks, ringed by several smaller, but still large boulders, twelve of them.

A middle aged halfling woman was kneeling before him, chanting.

"Mother be praised!" she gasped, breaking her chant and kissing Sepp's stony face. "Great-gramma Chrys said you would come, but I must admit my faith had been faltering."

A halfling man, wearing bloody chainmail and with several cuts on his face and body, appeared over the edge of the boulder and looked at the woman and Sepp. "Praise to the Mother, and to you, Mistress Bess, you've called Him. I don't think we could hold out much longer without him."

"The main orc army has taken the bait, but they've run us over anyway. Good thing we got the whole of the burrow into the hidden caves. We're holding off the goblins at the south hedge allright, and the hobgoblins along the river, but we can't go on forever." He looked into Sepp's grey eyes, "I hope the legends are true."

A loud screaming came from a small hill to the south, several halfling women and children pouring out of a concealed earth door. A woman with blood streaming down her face looked up to the halfling in chainmail and yelled, "Drow! Drow have broken through to the secret chambers!"

Sepp felt the life force of this grove, so vibrant and powerful compared to the desert, and the life force of his kin, many being cut off this very instant. He knew what to do.

Raising the Staff of the Tree with both hands above his head he called out, "COME TO ME! COME TO ME, MY PEOPLE!"

Back in the cavern in the desert, the whirlwind now filled the whole cave, currents of air even passing through the cracks of stone in the cavedin tunnel and out to the desert. Its whisperings changed slightly, yet it still pulled on the people there. Now it seemed to ask them, "Would you die for him?"

 

Nakia heard the call, felt the pain of her kin, with tears flooding her face she raised her arms and whispered, "I will, I will." Then yelled through the wind, "We come!"

The whirlwind swept her up as she blended with it. She landed next to Sepp. Her mouth fell open as gazed out on a familiar and beloved site. She heard the cries and saw her bloody people. For a moment she felt the berserk rage she had with Miranda. It threatened to overwhelm her, then she hear Jex's voice in her mind, "Use the anger, do not make mistakes."

Seeing the halfling man she cried, "Da, order me. Others come."

Perim was now beside her and her father and chief spoke, "To cave, drow, Gruumsh sends his slaves. The Eye."

Nakia and Perim dashed to the cave and down a tunnel to a large cavern. Horror met their eyes as they saw drow ruthlessly slaughtering women and children.

Perim began his dance of death whirling around the drow with deadly aim. Nakia's sling was in hand and bullets fell with precise aim both felling and distracting the enemy. There were so many, too many. But the distraction of the two small dynamos gave the others a chance to escape.

Nakia and Perim knew there was little hope for them but their word was given.

 

To the whispered voice Jex smiled. "You already know that." He said and felt and odd sensation as the whirlwind gathered him into it's midsts.

It felt as if he was being torn apart at the seems but in a gentle way. Coming to his feet in the same grove as Sepp, he stood, the halflings backed away thinking that another drow had come to kill them all. Seeing the panic and the fear he smiled at them all and did not reach to his weapons.

Looking to the halfling Nakia had called Da he said "Point me to the river. The hobgoblins will not cross, not with enough numbers to do harm."

The halfling reluctantly pointed in to the east. Nodding to him and placing a hand on Sepps shoulder he smiled and took off in a sprint.

 

Kelvados leaped out of the whirlwind, angry cries awaited his appearance. Kelvados came out of his fighter's stance, and lowered his swords.

"My brother and I come to help. please we mean you no harm. Let us aid you against our brethren."

"You can speak Common, but with a foul accent. Why should we allow our attackers to be our friends. Why should we allow the foe of all surfacers to sulk behind our backs?"

"Why? Because to prove that Halfings are a far better race then the Drow, and that you are the most understanding of all races. Also that you value any friendship, oblivious to skin and stature." Kelvados whispered the last words. "I used to be a monster, I am no longer the monster that was me. We are the Brothers DeVir, we come to save you."

The halfings shuffled their feet, they did not know what to do. The Drow showed them no hostility, some began voicing up their oppinons. Some believed, others didn't, the chief raised a hand.

"We do not have time to argue, but if you're our friends, then prove it. You shall go to the front lines against your people, so there are no halfing backs you can stab."

"With pleasure." Kelvados' monster smiled evily, he raced into the caverns, outdistancing his fellows. He ran with bloodlust, only red could be seen. Red, and the dark skin of his race, the dark skin that labeled him evil. The dark skin that cursed him, death will not fix it. But it will make him fell a lot better. The monster roared, and Kelvados was no more, the monster destroyed and ploughed through the elves, his blades a blurr as his lust raged on, and on. Kelvados, was trapped in his self concious praying he wouldn't kill a friend.

 

Ciana came out of the whirlwind into the grove, looking round she realised it was time to use her gift. She stood next to Sepp and began to sing, the notes were crystal clear and grew in strength. They heard it in the caves, by the river and the southern hedge, it lifted the spirits of the halflings and their allies, they all attacked with renewed vigour and courage, the lines held...

As the bodies fell in great numbers, still sha sang giving them all the heart to carry on.

 

The lines held but the foe seemed infinite. No matter how many fell more came forward to fight, kill and be killed. The ground ran red with the blood of the halflings. The druids wove their magic disabling orc shamons. Shapeshifters raged through the enemy. The halflings fought to protect their homes, their loved ones and, yes, even Faerun itself. They fought as long ago they had been charged to do. They fought to keep The Eye from being used for evil.

This was their duty and their curse and they would die every man, woman and child if need be. Clouds gathered in the sky and the heavens wept to see the carnage. Rain poured down, the ground made slippery by blood and gore drank in the pure water. The Hin raised their faces and laughed because this was to their advantage. They were one with the earth they came from, one with nature and the shadows only hid them from the beasts Gruumsh sent against them.

The battle went on and on. How much could even halflings endure?

 

Sepp had been standing on the large central standing stone, sending out healing energy to wounded halflings, and using the Staff to encourage the grass and weeds to entangle the enemy. It seemed a better use of his energy right now than being in the front lines.

A lull in the battle occurred on all fronts, as the enemies regrouped and prepared for another attack. Sepp took the opportunity to sit down on the stone for a brief respite. He was sitting on a small crack, and curiously followed it into the stone. To his surprise, it went a yard or two into the stone, then opened up in a cavity that was shaped almost exactly like a halfling standing with arms and legs spread in an X.

Before he knew he was considering it, he had phased himself to be able to move through the stone, and was inside the cavity. He fit into it like a hand in glove. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, it was not the eyes on his small body that opened, but the eyes of the stone. He stood up, and the stone did too.

He was now about twenty feet tall, made of massive granite. He looked around the grove with his new eyes, and was amazed at what he had missed before. The twelve standing stones on the perimeter of the grove were all cleary earth elementals of one form or another. They had been waiting here for many centuries, waiting to be awoken.

He called them by name. "North, East, South, West, stand up and fight. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, wake from your sleep. Air, Fire, Water, Earth, your time is at hand, the hour is now."

The earth elementals, all made from different types of stone that reflected their names, strode forward to stand in front of The Guardian. "What is your will?" they asked as one.

"North, Spring, Air, go and help guard the river. East, Summer, Fire, protect the hedgerow. South, Fall, Water, go fight the drow in the caves." They all moved off in their assigned directions. Sepp looked to the north, where black clouds were quicky rolling in, thunder and lighting tearing up the sky. "West, Winter, and Earth, stay here with me, something wicked this way comes."

 

And through it all Ciana's voice could be heard, making them brave, through it all she sang...

 

The air coming from the whirlwind rushed into Kongol's face as he came about. He was confused; it took him a while to realize what had happen, but as he did tears started to flow over his face.

He looked around in amazement, vestiges of a pile of dust, a bloody body of a blue dragon and nobody in sight. He tried to get up, stiff at best, his right thigh aching and so was his back.

"Miranda", What had happened in that hall... Kongol's pain was more that a scarred and tored body, it had affected his state of mind and his soul. She had delivered a blow no harder than a body could withstand, however the insides of men, what made him ‘tic’… it had given a much bigger wound, one that no magic or set of potions could cure.

Kongol slowly picked up his axe and approached what little was left of the dust from Miranda, picking a small amount while tears lifted thru the wind. He heard a faint voice, it was Sepp’s resonating on the hall; the hand holding the dust tightly closed as he walked towards the whirlwind…

[ February 15, 2007, 02:33: Message edited by: Maurolava ]

 

Delphinae sat apart from Daie and Maron, her hands covered in dried blood from futilely tearing at the rocks that had fallen between them and the rest of the group. The dragon's roars had reassured her that Jex and the others were still alive, so she waited, knowing they'd find a way out without her.

Now, a crack, and Del looked at the mouth of the cave in time to see a chunk of the arch break off and disappear. It was only then that she heard the wind whistling by the opening, whipping up the sand outside so fast it was scouring the rock. "Something must be happening in there," Del said as she turned to Maron. "Something big."

 

Delinos ran after Kelvados quickly and silently, and decapitated a drow as he ran. He sheathed his swords in mid jump as he flipped over the head of a drow, then turned and stabbed the sides of the attacker with two boot knives. He heard a sleek warrior running at him from behind. He stabbed his sheaths into the ground, and kicked backwards, into the neck of the silent attacker. The body of the attacker fell, and Delinos spun and sliced down another of his kin. "They will pay," He muttered to himself.

Several drow crowded around the rogue, circling him, eyeing him. One came at his left as another two raged at his right, aiming to kill. He grabbed the wrist of one assailant and twisted, then got a hold on the jaw and jerked it to the left. Dead, he fell. The other two were in mid slash when the drow they were attacking fell back into a bridge like pose, opening his stomach, legs and chest for attack. While slashing downward simultaneously, Delinos' feet kicked upwards, knocking their blades into the air. His foot flashed to their knees and a loud crack sounded as their caps were smashed. Back on his feet, Delinos stabbed each in the back.

Splashed and splattered with blood, Delinos quickly cast an edited version of haste on himself, his brother and his halfling allies. His blades spun back into the fray, murdering his former kin with vengeance.

 

As Kelvados and Delinos entered into the fight Nakia felt his rage flow into her and for a moment it threatened to overcome the balance she had achieved but then Ciana's song floated to her, calming and strengthening her. She moved easily and quickly. The thought passed through her mind that Delinos might have something to do with.

With the coming of the Brothers there were only a few drow still left to fight when suddenly a priestess teleported into the room with reinforcements. In one hand a halfling child hung held by her hair.

The priestess shook the child at Nakia, "The Eye, tell me where the eye is or this beast child dies in agony." She smiled, "Give up the Eye we will leave. Gruumsh thinks us his servitors but Lloth will not be denied. She demands the Eye."

Nakia stared in horror at the woman. Coldness wrapped around her as she heard the cries of the child. "I know not where lies the Eye. Centuries ago was it well hidden and few know where."

The woman screamed at her, "Then go run find one who does know or know the wrath of Lloth."

Perim was trying to move into a spot to attack unseen but the woman whirled, "Back obscenity, your death will pleasure me, male." The knife she held in one hand moved towards the child but slowly teasingly.

Nakia glanced at Perim and he nodded. They would try at least but as their muscles tighten for attack there was the sound of heavy footsteps from the outside tunnel. A look of rage passed over the woman's face as she saw what approached. Nakia and Perim sprang. Nakia grabbed the child as Perim's sword sliced into the drows side.

Nakia turned with the child and saw a marvelous sight. Three earth elementals entered the room. A soft breeze and the scent of tropical flowers flowed from one, a hint of frost, the smell of roasting charnuts from another, the sound of a babbling brook, the smell of the ocean from the third.

The newly arrived drow yelled and headed towards them and the elementals changed, the wind grew harsh, the frost stronger, the babbling brook became a thundering waterfall as the elementals smashed into the drow.

 

The first of the hobgoblins had reached the bank but were bombarded my stones and arrows. The halflings had a great advantage they were posted in a thick wood that gave them an advantage in close combat as well as from a distance. They could lob stones will the hobgoblins fought trees.

Nearly all the halfings were surprised when an black and gray blur blazed by them. Jex had called upon the amulet and was upon the hobgoblins in a spray of blood. Many of the halflings stopped and stared as Jex destroyed a group of hobgoblins in a matter of seconds.

With a shout more stoned rained upon the hobgoblins. The only problem was that there was a steady stream of the beasts. Jex realized thus and broke from the melee. Falling back into the trees he searched for the commanders and found him situated in the middle the force.

He was a ogre who wielded a giant axe. Many called him Bane, but his name Gruntak. He drove his army without mercy. Jex new he needed to kill him but he need something to cause problems for the army and the halfings weren't enough.

Suddenly the ground shook and Jex became concerned. Was magic at foot here. He ducked as four giant earth elementals smashed through the trees the through the ranks. Many hobgoblins fell back or were crushed.

Following the elementals Jex arrived in the middle of the army. Gruntak stared and shouted at his force. He hadn't noticed Jex.

"Now you die" was all Jex said as he launched himself through the air at the ogre.

 

The monster struck out at everything, his swords slashed and cut ebony skin. He was surrounded by it, the dark figures falling to his blades. His legs gave way to a final wound, he landed on his knees but fought on. His blades sang their deadly song, and he roared. It echoed throughout the cavern, and the hostile figures were gone. Just a ring of bodies, the monster needed to kill to keep hold of the body. The red was starting to fade, and Kelvados appeared. The adreneline was gone and he collapsed into a pile of his kin. He blended in with pile, and was just another Drow that fell to the monster. The monster he swore to banish, hopefully no innocents fell to his blades. To weak to rise, and to sore to yell for help, he merely lay there. His blood leaving him, and his kin's blood soaking him.

Kelvados KIN SLAYER! A horrible voice echoed into his head. Matron Gabeza, the slayer of his beloved Viconia. She wielded a vicious mace, Kelvados scrambled to find a weapon, he found something sharp and hoisted it up into the Matron's face. She screamed in agony and dropped her mace, right on her killer's head. She as well fell, on the unconcious kinslayer. Completely covering him, with her multitude of robes. Kelvados' head was filled with bursting light. And a dream took him.

An elf stepped out of the shadowed woods, and raised a hand.

"Kelvados Kin Slayer, you are still a monster. Until you master him, you have no place among peace. Kelvados Kin Slayer, conquer yourself and rely on your own abilities."

The elf faded back into the darkness.

 

Ciana was concentrating on her singing, knowing that in midst of this chaos it was helping her friends and allies. Someone amongst the Orcs had spotted her and arrows were coming in her direction. One struck in her in her upper arm, causing a stinging pain, but still she sang...