Bane the Barbarian – Session 6
DAY 14 (cont)
I don’t think any of us was particularly looking forward to a return visit to Nulb, so it was decided that this time we would pass through as quickly as possible. I wouldn’t have minded stopping briefly to burn the inn to the ground, hopefully taking the cursed ghost with it, but the others weren’t too keen on the idea and I wasn’t about to try anything on my own.
One by one we carefully led our horses across the old wooden bridge and gathered on the far side. The only slight mishap was when Ichabard nearly fell through into the murky water below, but I managed to retrieve him and get him across unharmed. It didn’t bode well for his chances of survival though. I was left with the feeling that if I took my eyes off him for a moment he was going to get himself killed.
We mounted our horses and rode through the village at a trot, pretending not to be overly concerned.
A few hours later, with the threat of Nulb some way behind us, Az elected to inform the fellowship that, by Dwarven law, all his belongings were the property of the Metalhaft clan and in the event of his death they should be taken to the nearest Dwarfhold.
I’m not sure what had brought this on exactly but I assumed that, in light of our imminent arrival at the Temple of Elemental Evil, he had decided to mention it while he still had the chance.
Having travelled with Az in the past, I was familiar with this practice, but I sincerely hoped I would not have to return his belongings to his Dwarven brethren any time soon.
It was when Rae observed that the arrangement ‘obviously excluded items relevant to the party’ that the trouble started.
Az raised an eyebrow quizzically and asked for an explanation of what Rae considered to be ‘items relevant to the party’.
From what I could ascertain Rae felt that this label could be attached to pretty much anything she thought might be useful in the fight against the Enemy. It seemed to me that this roughly translated as “I’ll hold on to anything I fancy.”
I could see Az bristling.
Matters were worsened when shortly afterward, with her normal level of diplomacy, Rae stated that she intended to do whatever needed to be done to thwart the Enemy’s plans, and that in her opinion Az and Ichabard were only ‘along for the ride’.
Understandably this did not go down too well with Az and Ichabard.
Although I kept my thoughts to myself as somewhat blunt opinions were exchanged, I didn’t much care for Rae’s assertions either. She was too absorbed in her own self-importance, and as usual was demonstrating a lack of tolerance for those who she perceived as being inconsequential to her goals. In my eyes, her dismissal of my friend’s contribution was unjust. Whatever his reasons for being here, there was no one I would rather have at my side than Az, and as for Ichabard, if nothing else I felt he had done enough to prove his good intentions.
I was relieved when Muratis ended the dispute by pointing out a thin plume of smoke in the distance, but I suspected this was not the last I had heard of the matter. I could see by Az’s gruff demeanour that bad feelings still simmered beneath the surface, but to his credit he spoke no more of it and, with the aid of some invisibility magic provided by Muratis, went ahead to see what he could see.
The rest of us halted and waited for his return.
While we waited, for reasons that are as yet unclear, Rae attempted to persuade me that I should join the Med-Jai. Perhaps it was a trick of some kind and she was testing me, but whatever her intentions, I was not attracted to the idea. Though our paths may often lie along one road, I will fight the Enemy in my own way, not at the Med-Jai’s bidding.
When Az returned he was able to provide a detailed description of what lay ahead. A huge edifice, every inch of its stonework carved with scenes of foul creatures and depraved acts. There was no doubt that this was the Temple of Elemental Evil. A band of hobgoblins was camped in the courtyard and guards were posted at the main gate and temple entrance. There were undoubtedly more within.
Intriguingly, two hobgoblin bodies were chained to posts in the castle bailey and the flagstones showed signs of a recent scuffle, including a couple of long burn marks. Muratis was particularly interested in these, asking Az to describe them in some detail before continuing. When Az was finished Muratis appeared to be deep in thought, until after a few moments contemplation he suggested that perhaps a power struggle had taken place as a result of the arrival of the Blue Dragon that they had encountered once before.
Az, Ichabard and I had only arrived later, so we had not been there at the time, but apparently the previous meeting with the dragon had gone less than well. In fact Muratis had particularly strong memories of the event because he had almost been killed.
A dragon, even a small one, would be an extremely dangerous adversary and I hoped he was wrong.
Cautiously we circled around to the rear of the temple. We watched and waited till dusk, observing the lone tower that stood in the far corner from whence we had come. There appeared to be little activity in that area and Az had suggested that it would be the best way to get in undetected. In such matters I trusted his judgement.
When the light had dimmed sufficiently to hide our approach we advanced toward the temple wall. Az went first, using what I had discovered were Rae’s magic boots to run up the side of the tower. When he reached the top he removed the boots and dropped them back down for Rae to pick up again, before disappearing through a small opening.
I stood with the others staring up at the dark tower and wondered if anyone was going to tell me what the plan was. There didn’t seem to be much happening and I wasn’t too keen about Az being in there on his own.
“Shouldn’t we be doing something?” I enquired after a few moments.
“I suppose so”, replied Muratis. “To be honest, I hadn’t really put much thought into what we’d do at this point. Normally all Hell has already broken loose by now.”
I glanced at Rae, who did something approximating a shrug, apparently in agreement with Muratis, though it was hard to tell under all her armour.
“I think we’d better go now”, I said, turning and heading determinedly toward the tower. The others followed.
Muratis and I reached the wall first and, while I started to climb the old fashioned way, he quaffed a potion and floated upward into the night. Pah! … Wizards! Can’t they do anything without involving magic!
The tower wall was relatively uneven, and in many places the mortar between the stone blocks had weathered to leave handholds that I could use, so it was not a difficult climb. I made short work of it and reached the gap in quick time. Despite his magically assisted ascent, Muratis had disappeared inside only moments beforehand and I followed close behind; only to discover that the way ahead was blocked by Muratis’s arse.
“Is that you Bane?” he called.
Hmmm… it looked very much like our resident wizard had got himself stuck. I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps if he exerted himself a little more often, rather than relying on magic all the time, he’d find the physical aspects of our work less challenging.
“Problem?” I enquired.
“You couldn’t give me a push could you? I appear to be wedged”
“What? No magic spell to get you out?” I muttered under my breath, as I endeavoured to push Muratis through.
After a few moments strenuous encouragement the wizard came free and dropped untidily onto the floor on the other side. I followed him through. It was a tight squeeze but I had no intention of getting stuck there myself.
I scrambled to my feet, just as a gout of flame illuminated the stairwell where Muratis and I were standing. I threw myself against the wall, narrowly avoiding the expanding ball of fire. When the heat subsided, there were two goblins smouldering in a charred heap a little bit further down the stairs. Muratis was still where he had been standing.
He looked somewhat singed. So far it didn’t seem to be his day.
“Alchemist’s Fire” he muttered irritatedly.
I wasn’t sure if he was cursing or whether it was the name of a spell that had misfired. Still the goblins were undoubtedly toast and Muratis was still alive. There didn’t appear to be any real harm done.
Then, from below, we heard the sounds of a struggle and together we set off down the stairs.
When we reached the ground floor we found Az grappling with three hobgoblins. To his credit it was difficult to tell who had the upper hand. As I sprung to my friend’s aid, Muratis waved one of the wands he was carrying and colourful, swirling light enveloped the fray. I’m not sure what the effect was but the hobgoblins began staggering about and falling over and the battle was quickly won.
Afterward, I clapped Az fondly on the back, expressing my relief that he was OK.
“You took your time my friend”, he muttered breathlessly.
“I knew you could handle it” I replied with a grin.
Once Rae and Ichabard had joined us, we completed a search of the tower and quickly established that all of the occupants were now deceased.
So, what to do next? Based on the information Az had gathered during his scouting mission, there remained only the temple itself, the few guards by the gate and a ruined building behind some trees in the opposite corner of the rear wall. After some discussion it was the latter that we decided to investigate.
Cautiously we moved through the twilight. It was fairly open ground so we kept close to the wall, using the deeper shadows there to hide our passage. More than once we halted, concerned that we may have been seen, but the alarm was not raised and eventually we reached the cover of the trees.
The ruin was little more than an empty shell, but within the derelict structure Az found a trapdoor to a cellar below. He warned us all to stay back while he opened it, in case it was trapped.
Az opened the door, peeked into the hole, and then dropped through. When he landed on the floor below he nimbly tumbled off to one side. I could see shadows moving in such a way that suggested Az was not alone down there, so I drew my sword and plunged through the trapdoor behind him. I did not want my friend to face any more dangers on his own. I hit the floor and rolled, coming to my feet amidst a group of three hobgoblins. Instinctively my blade flashed back and forth and my adversaries fell. By the time Rae arrived only one remained and, after she had wounded it, I despatched that one as well.
Other than a few items that Muratis found on the bodies there was little else there, though the signs were that the hobgoblins had been hiding in the cellar for two or three days. We pondered the mystery of why this was, and once again returned to Muratis’s theory that the blue dragon was here.
So now only the Temple of Elemental Evil itself remained. It’s foreboding presence loomed over us in the darkness as we sheltered in the ruins and gathered ourselves for what lay ahead.
“I could go and scout around a bit more” Az suggested. “Perhaps I can even find a way in. At the very least it’s got to be worth a peek through one of the windows. I hate going in somewhere I haven’t scouted.”
“If you hate going somewhere you haven’t scouted, then I would think that ‘in there’ is the last place you’d want to go” I observed, jerking a thumb toward the temple.
“You have a point”, Az conceded. “However Muratis seems convinced that a dragon is inside the building. I believe that if I can confirm this it’ll help us decide what to do next.”
“Looking through windows sounds like quite a good idea” Muratis agreed. “I think it would be unwise to attempt to sneak in if the dragon is in there though.”
“OK” I shrugged “I admit it would be nice to know what’s in there first, but you be careful my friend.”
“We’re not going to attack the dragon if it is in there though are we?” interjected Ichabard.
“Err… Yeah Ichabard, that is basically the plan… I know it may seem a little dangerous but…”
“No you don’t understand”, said Ichabard forcefully “We’re not going to attack it. I will go in a speak to it.”
There was a moment of silence while everyone checked their ears.
“You’re going to what???”
“I would have thought you would have more respect for dragons” Ichabard continued “but I suppose it is a sign of the times in which we live. They can be worthy allies you know; their wisdom and strength are great. We would be wise to seek its council and win its trust rather than its blood. I shall flatter it, which is said to work very well with our draconic cousins. The fact that I speak their language can only help. I will appeal to its great wisdom and ask it if we can investigate the lower levels of the temple where he can’t go due to his size.”
Here we go, I thought. He probably read that in a book!
“That’s a ridiculous idea” Az spluttered “The only thing that’s going to do is get you, and probably the rest of us, killed!”
I had to agree. “Have you lost your mind Ichabard? You’ve only just been rescued from the brink of death. Are you so eager to resume your journey into the Afterworld?”
A lengthy debate ensued. Ichabard was not to be dissuaded however. He was confident that his plan would work and would have none of our protests. Eventually we gave up and returned to making ourselves ready for the coming assault.
I was left hoping that Ichabard’s plan would never be put to the test.
