Continuing from Here come the orcs
Battle in the Temple
"Da, comrade. Am seeing." Del grimaced as the arrow fell harmlessly away from the orc's armor. "Am thinking there are powerful enchantments on that armor. Come. We will do little good here."
Having witnessed Aedhan's impressive climb previously, it was less difficult for the pair of archers to follow suit, the heavy statues providing more than ample leverage for the two to spring above the melee. Once there, however, both needed to shield their eyes from a sudden shaft of light emanating from a sharp break in the clouds above.
"Stop doing that!" Buck yelled.
"Is not me this time, am promising!"
***
Seeing the two heavies breaking for the others, Ferryll slung his battle-axe over his back. Black blood from one of the orcs dripped from his maw, which was bared open in a snarl. Raff, too, felt the blood-lust coming over him; the brutal assault taxing their significant strength was calling forth a deeper savagery. He similarly holstered his weapon, just in time for both to see Buck's arrow deflect away from its target.
There were no spoken words, only a simple growl, but it was clear enough - that one. Both gnolls took off at a run, dropping to all fours to make better speed, barreling forward at more than double a man's best pace. As they closed on their quarry, Ferryll let loose a bestial howl, and as the orc turned it was struck at different angles by more than six hundred pounds of combined gnollish fury.
Slamming into the ground hard, there was an audible crack as the helm hit the stone floor of the temple... then a spray of black as the gnolls found weak points in the armor and rent with tooth and claw.
***
"The world. She is changing, comrade." Bearrach looked thoughtful. "For many generations, we have tried to preserve ways of ancestors - but our tribe is no longer numerous, and our lands are fewer than before. Elders sometimes say, is because we are not devoted enough to Ea, or because we make not enough sacrifices... others say that if Ea herself is vulnerable, maybe Hoarde is just too strong. Do we hold fast to tradition and die, or try to find ways to merge old with new, and live? Which is right?" He shook his head. "Questions for minds wiser than mine. Am only knowing that I want to learn more. Perhaps with more knowledge, more options may occur. Who can say?" Another long pause. "Am wondering, comrade - perhaps, when this is all over - might I return with you and your Count, to see the lands of Headwaters, or wherever else you may be traveling?"
***
It was dark in the temple. So dark. Where were the others?
Morphran stepped forward cautiously; there should be a din of battle all around, but he heard nothing. Not even his footfalls were making a sound; it was unnatural. There was only a faint light somewhere up ahead, like flickering candles, and he moved toward it swiftly.
As he drew closer, however, he stopped short, his breath catching in his throat. For the light comes from a series of candles held by mourners in black robes, gathered around what could only be a grave.
"How is this possible?"
***
"Comrades!"
Aedhan's shout brought the other two out of their momentary daze, Buck and Del rapidly approaching where the other tribesman stood with bow at the ready. At varying intervals on the roof are delicate panes of stained glass, cut into unwholesome shapes of writhing figures and occult star patterns. For his part, Aedhan had already smashed the pane over which he was positioned, loosing an arrow down into the temple below.
"They're coming up from the floor, comrades!" he shouts. "Is like there are tunnels below; bastards keep popping out everywhere. We need to take them down or the others will be overrun!"
"Harasho!" Del sprinted to one of the other panes several yards north, making a motion for Buck to flank him. Smashing his own pane, he spotted another goblin readying a dart to hurl at the whirling madman that was Hauk. "Not so fast, comrade." The arrow took the goblin through the skull, and the dart flew wide, embedding itself harmlessly in the wall. "Covering fire, comrades! Aim carefully, so we do not hit our friends!"
Kell felt sick and disoriented. Shadows raced in and out of his limited field of vision. He kept telling himself, "Just keep swinging." And swing he did. CRACK. One of the shadows flew away from him, sprawled on the floor. CRACK. His hammer smashed into a column, sending shards of stone flying everywhere. WOOSH. CRACK. Soon the shadows learned to keep their distance. He felt encouraged until he saw a much large figure approach him directly, sword in hand. He felt an urge to do something he'd never dreamed of doing before - turn and run. But he planted his feet firmly. "Just keep swinging." From behind he felt a stab in his back. He swept his hammer around in a big sweep. CRACK. Some four legged beast's head slammed into the wall. Then vanished into vapor.
He wanted to throw up. "Just keep swinging."
* * *
Buck shattered the decorative glass with the heel of his boot with pleasure.Dell and Aedhan were causing enough confusion that he chanced a good look inside. Black smoke was billowing out of torches lining the outer half of the opening below. Hauk cut through the crowd below with ease. He peered towards the entrance to see Morphran standing wide eyes, and he heard the crack of Kell's hammer, but he could not spot him.
Buck landed several shots down into the crowd below until a huge plume of smoke swirled into the center of the room and out of the glass, sending the three roof-dwellers leering back. When there was a powerful warm red glow in the entrance, and around it the smoke seemed to be dissipating. At the center were Rowe and Dalivune. Rowe was fending off attackers with ease, while Dalivune crept forward. But Hauk was nowhere to be seen.
* * *
Kell saw the large figure stalking closer to him. He swung his hammer with all his might at him, but the foe leaned back, letting the hammer pass inches from his face.
"You're in the temple baby!" He swung fiercely at Kell, who had no time to parry, and took a brutal slice to his collar bone. His armor saved him from a fatal blow, but it stunned him and knocked him down to his knees. With a huge sneering smile he added, "You're gonna diiiieee!!" With both hands Kell's foe cocked his blade back for a decapitating blow. And the head flew.
Kell looked up wincing, only to see Ferryl's axe. The last heavy's body fell dead to the floor, and Ferryl pulled Kell back up on his feet. "THREE HEAVIES FOR ME." He snarled in glee. Then the massive dog man took off past Kell down the cooridor. Kell stumbled toward a clearing in the smoke ahead, and found Rowe and Dalivune, and joined up with them.
* * *
Kol listened to Bearrach. He pulled a small pouch out of his bag. "You might enjoy this. It's dried salted .... meat, from the sea." They both chewed on it for a while. "It's not anything special, but you won't find it this side of the mountains. There is a bay not far from Headwaters with more shell fish than we know what to do with."
"You are always welcome in out county. Hot Springs has our only inns, but lots of people taken on boarders traveling through. We're not so different. We're simple folk. You'd like it there. Now the capital, in Ardent. That'd be a shock to you. Fifty thousand people inside towering walls. Hundreds of ships moving in and out of the harbor. I've been there a handful of times, and it still overwhelms the senses. Ah, but the food and the drink there."
He handed Bearrach a small irregularly shaped shell, rough and grey one one side, shimmery blue, and perfectly smooth on the other side. "Here. A gift from the sea. You can drink water from it safely, no matter the source. But only when it shines. If it's not shimmery like this - don't drink the water!"
* * *
Rowe led the way into the maw of the dark temple. Statues of Azkladash on either side made it perfectly clear to whom these people pledged allegiance.
Dalivune's clear crystal pushed away the black smoke, and the red crystal bathed the walls in blood light.
The sight of the magician must have incited them, for a crowd immediately set upon them. Rowe cut through them easily, feeling the power and fury of the stolen orcish bastard sword. He felt strong and confident. The protection spell was working. Kell stumbled into view, looking terrible, and they forged ahead.
Rowe said to Dali, "We've got to make our way to the center, and find the high priest." Together they broke through the main chamber and into the secondary chamber where the sacrificial altar and high priest awaited.
Morphran had no recollection of his continued slow advance toward the open grave, surrounded as it was by the vigilant figures. It felt eerily familiar, as if he had been here once before, a long time ago - yet such a thing could not be possible. The tribal way was to burn the dead, their ashes rising toward Ea, not to inter them in the ground. To do so would be to put them out of the goddess' reach, preventing the spirit from finding eternal rest among the ancestors. It had been something he...
Something he feared.
An awful cackling came from the encircling forms as skeletal hands shot out, latching onto his arms and legs. He screamed as the yawning pit before him grew suddenly wider, a mouth poised to swallow him whole into the cold, dark earth.
***
The shriek from below snapped Del's attention back in Morphran's direction. His friend was being dragged toward a massive pit in the earth, seemingly by nothing more than shadows - insubstantial wraiths that he could get no shot on for fear of hitting the other.
With a curse, he slung his bow back over his shoulder and kicked out the rest of the glass beneath him. The drop was too steep for a direct vertical, but there were columns spaced just enough apart. Maybe...
"Del!"
"Am seeing!" With a muttered prayer to Ea, he launched himself through the opening, grabbing the nearest column and pivoting his momentum to spin around and leap off. Tucking his legs into a tight ball, he angled himself lower, managing to catch the next column several feet closer to the floor than where he had initially latched on. Once more, he twisted and pushed off, an arrow just missing him from below, and he nearly missed his grip on the last column, his arms protesting against the strain. Morphran was nearly to the opening, on the verge of falling in.
With a cry and a last push, Del collided with his friend, smashing into him from mid-air and knocking him free of the grasp of the strange wisps. He tasted blood as the impact knocked his teeth together, and both of them groaned in the instant after crashing into the stones.
"Uhh... be thanking me for this later, comrade," Del managed, his limbs protesting as he struggled to stand.
"Nyet, comrade - is too late! They are here!"
Following Morphran's terrified gaze, he saw that the smoky entities had coalesced into far more substantial forms - black-robed things with flames where eyes ought to be. He fired several arrows in rapid succession, but though each found their mark, embedding themselves in the deep robes, there was no visible effect from the attacks.
"Be reminding me for killing you later, if living through this..."
***
"Spasibo, comrade." Bearrach looked at the shell in wonder, turning it this way and that in an effort to catch the sun's weak rays on its interior. "Have never been seeing the sea - though I hear it is larger than the largest lakes inland. Also, am wondering - the meat you are bringing. Is it always that salty?" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Am remembering brother Del saying something about how gnolls have little salt and rely on fresh meat. Possible trading, maybe. And if Hot Springs is open to the traveler, then da, maybe time for having adventure of my own."
As if recalling something else, he reached into his tunic and made a quick tugging motion just below his neck, drawing out an intricate figurine carved entirely out of bone and attached on a length of cord. It resembled a mighty bear, standing upright and its claws extended.
"In our tribe, it is customary to make shape of spirit animal from bones of first kill. Seemed appropriate that my guardian beast and first successful hunt came from same creature. Is said to be bringing luck." He proffered the gift to Kol. "Am wanting you to have, comrade. Will not warn you about health of water, maybe, but perhaps strength of bear is good in other circumstances, nyet?"
***
Ferryll smelled, rather than saw, the dark magics ahead of him, as he barreled into black robes from behind, pinning them to the earth. Raff, following his example, took a second, and while the wraiths could do little, neither did the attack provide more than a momentary reprieve. They wriggled and hissed as the dog-men slavered and snapped, their jaws finding nothing substantial to latch on to.
"Run!" Del shouted, shoving Morphran ahead of him as the two ducked through the nightmare-beings. Ferryll and Raff, on realizing that there was no flesh to rend, released their prey and led the way forward, howling. The quartet raced forward, hearing evil chattering from behind as arrows whizzed. A trio of goblins moved to intercept but were easily bowled over by the gnolls.
Left, right, right, and then a clearing - Del recognized the Count, along with Kell and - was that the crystal smith? Maybe he wasn't so lacking in courage after all.
"Comrades!" Del shouted, but no sooner had the word left his mouth than one of the shadow-things laid its ice-cold grip upon his shoulder. Grasping the sacred stone, he thrust his fist into the hollow robes and yelled, a burst of light radiating outward and sending the robes crumbling floorward, ashes scattering. "Am bringing company, comrades! And not good kind!"
***
"Shit, shit, shit!" As the events unfolded below, Buck had no shortage of targets, doing his best to keep the goblins occupied while Del performed some insane aerial acrobatics. It wasn't until the gnolls arrived that he had a clear idea of what next to do. "Aedhan! Fighting retreat; let's cover them as they break toward the Count! They're going to need support!"
Aedhan nodded, making one final shot before sprinting ahead to another vantage point. Buck repeated the gesture, each of them falling back window by window as the quartet below reunited with the others. Despite this, there was one form in particular that he could not spot.
"Come on, Hauk, where are you?"
Buck scanned below. Now that the big orcs were finished, their side seemed to have the better of it hand-to-hand. He was playing a cat and mouse game with a shifty one. He'd already fired three arrows only to have his adversary duck behind a pillar just in time. At least he was holding this one's attention away from his friends.
* * *
Rowe glimpsed ahead into the inner chamber. It was a simple stone room with little adornment, save for a red stone table. On a closer look, it was a marble slab stained heavily from many prior sacrifices. Three figures with black robes and crescent moons on their backs faced the altar, chanting some ritual. Behind them another was drinking from a small, white chalice. Behind that one, a ghostly white old man stood with his arms outstretched reading a ritual. The one who was drinking from the chalice, placed the chalice down, then stood at the edge of the table, and leaned over it. The old one then pulled a black dagger out of a sheath over his head.
"Hurry! We need to stop that ritual!" He had no idea what would happen if the sacrifice was completed, but he was certain it would be bad if one their own was freely willing to be sacrificed.
Rowe felt an oppressive gloom crush into his mind. He looked to Dalivunne who was gazing into a blue crystal in front of his face. The humid summer air Rowe breathed in suddenly turned dry as a desert and a cyclone of water began to form in front of Dalivunne and sweep out horizontally into the inner chamber. The cyclone rushed into the room engulfing the hooded figures, but the black dagger sliced down with uncanny precision, and blood spilled all over the marble slab. Rowe's stomach turned. Beside him Kell uttered, "we're doomed!".
Dalivunne's spell broke up, leaving a harmless puddle. The three chanters turned towards Rowe, Kell, and Dali. A crazy black horse appeared in front of them and charged, its foot-falls soundless. It trampled goblins and men alike, coming for them. Rowe couldn't move his legs. Dali ran left. Raff flashed in front of Rowe, and swung his axe at the beast, but his weapon sliced clean through it without effect and it charged ahead. Kell finally pulled Rowe on top of him, and the horse ran straight over Kell, and continued on.
Bloodied and wheezing, Kell barely managed to get back to his feet before a robed man lunged in, hoping for an easy kill. He staved off the initial blow, but was pinned to the ground by his friends. Raff had regained his composure and tore them off of Kell, until the two of them could.
* * *
Ferryl swatted and hacked with glee. Every kill invigorated him, driving him to the next one. His foes were mere gnats, and now they fled before him. He worked his way down the side of the temple instilling fear and chaos wherever he went. Suddenly a dozen goblins swarmed out of the floor in front of him. They appeared confused and frightened. He swashed ahead and hacked through the easy pickings. Behind them a new figure emerged. This one was bigger. He swatted, but it dodged. Annoyed he swung again, harder, and caught nothing but air. Only on the third swing did he realize it was Hauk.
Ferryl smiled unapologetically. "You're hard to hit!"
"Nine." Hauk said, breathing heavily. "-teen."
"Not bad. For a man." Ferryl added, "twenty two." Without pause, he took two large strides to ahead and grabbed a fleeing goblin from behind with one hand yanking him into the path of his oncoming axe.
Hauk shook his head in admiration before chasing another goblin back down into one of the panels in the floor. "Get back here you little bugger!"
* * *
Kol held the bear carving from Bearrach in his hands reverently. He did feel stronger holding it. He fell quiet. He worried his gift was not good enough. These shells could be bought for as much as a good sword where he was from. Expensive, but certainly not rare. Still, he felt it unwise to discredit his gift. Perhaps such shells were quite rare away from his homeland. "You are a good man. Your people are good. My home is always open to you and your clan. May Headwaters know that the Eamites are good and generous people."
* * *
Rowe focused on the chanters. They were getting ready for another conjuring. He looked down at his stolen orc bastard sword, and felt a sense of horror come over him. "Turn fear to power." Searching for his inner blood lust, he repeated under his breath. "They must fear me." Another one charged at Rowe now. Kell and Raff had their hands full. Rowe steadied his hand, blade out to spear the dark horse. It was nearly upon him. The blade sunk into the beast and the creature disintegrated into black smoke around Rowe. He was coughing and blinded for a moment, but unhurt.
When he looked up everything was different around him. The chanters shimmered with a metallic glow. Ferryl and Raff seemed exactly the same. The goblin's skin looked almost human. His own friends were dull and sickly grey. Dalivunne held the white crystal up - he was the only thing with any color. With pale hollow black eyes and a fiery black aura, the high priest began to move forwards them.
Continues with The High Priest