Chapter 2: The Eagle and the Crows
Undead come in a surprising number of shapes and sizes, or so you have been told time and again.
The most common forms of undead however are remarkably uniform, they are slow and they are stupid but they are also incredibly dependable. Within the admittedly small range of tasks a thrall can succeed at it does quite well. A thrall can march, a thrall can kill and the Fallen Lords required little more from them than that.
Normally columns of thralls would be supported by the more mobile soulless, or the cunning ghôls but from what Bari tells you these thralls and ghasts are alone. Without support they should be easy to dispatch for your group. In fact with the aid of your dwarven mercenaries you could probably dispatch a force of over one hundred with little difficulty. You are faster than them, you are smarter than them, you are simply better than them in every way that matters.
But this is no reason to get overconfident.
"So what is the plan?" Thaïs inquires as she approaches your group.
"Ambush," mumbles Bari.
You nod, "Ambush."
Your mercenaries begin their work. They clear a killing field and take up firing positions. Telling, the explosive expert, sets to work concealing his mortar while Gilling and Felling set up satchel charges, "Just in case," they say.
Within ten minutes your men are all in place. Now you just have to draw out the dead. At first you were going to send Bari but if there is a necromancer around you do not want him or her to know that you have dwarves. Instead you and the girls are going to be the bait.
Hopefully they will take it, hopefully you will escape and hopefully the damn dwarves won't blow you up.
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The three of you stand at the edge of town and start yelling. Immediately you get a reaction.
The dead pour forth. The twenty Bari saw quickly become thirty, then forty, then fifty, then sixty. As the last of the ghasts pour forth a single robed figure emerges. This then must be the necromancer, the key will be to get it to move forward with the horde.
You decide to test the willpower of this new opponent. You send out a slight suggestion. A small thing really. Not even a lie, in fact it is a little piece of the truth and something your opponent would be willing to take a risk for. You send out your little suggestion; that you are in possession of a power artefact, something your adversary would want, could use... and you wait.
The idea takes hold as a tiny smile creeps onto your face, "It bought it," you whisper.
Grabbing Biliku and Uttu the three of you flee back towards the rest of your group, hidden in ambush.
The enemy necromancer pushes its way to the front of the mob, shouting orders in a high pitched squeak. Something about power and a glorious future, the usual delusions of the desperate and the mad.
The three of you run through the kill zone, well ahead of the first thralls. You make a big production of falling, you are slow to rise and feign a sprained ankle. You are no great actor so you slip another little suggestion into the opposing mage's mind. Part of you is a little disappointed. This individual has some power and a great deal of ambition but no will, no sense. His mind, and you are fairly certain now that it is a he, is an easy thing to bend, to twist to your needs. There is no real challenge in this for you.
He leads his mob of dead towards you, he licks his lips, "Well what do we have here?"
He is almost close enough, you just need him to step a bit closer.
You feign terror, "Just... just travelers sir. Please... please don't hurt us..." you are not terribly convincing but with a few more suggestions he buys your act.
He grins wide and takes a step forward, "Oh, I won't hurt you Miss. But I think you might have something in your possession that I might have use for," he turns his attention to Biliku and Uttu as he takes another step forward, "My what lovely girls you have..."
The girls begin to whimper. They are good actors really. His grin stretches even wider and he takes another step forward. The last step needed to trigger you trap.
"Bari! Now!" you grab the girls and dive behind the nearest cover. A single crack is all you hear followed by the explosion as the mortar shell hits the mage and the front of the thrall mob.
With their leader dead the thralls fall back onto their most basic orders. They advance to engage in melee but your group pours out a truly impressive stream of firepower.
You are outnumbered more than five to one but you are also operating in absolutely ideal conditions. There is next to no wind, it is dry, not a cloud in the sky, and the entire horde is bunched up in front of you. In amongst the buildings they may have been a problem but out on open ground your advantage is absolute and unassailable.
Bari laughs like a madman and screams something about a "target rich environment" as he lobs one cocktail after another. You have not seen him this happy in months. Within five minutes your group has slaughtered every enemy you can find. Your victory is complete and everyone is in high spirits as you enter the town.
Most of the buildings in Blackford have been reduced to smoking husks, black burnt timbers jut out into the sky like so many charred bones. The air is filled with a terrible, acrid odour; you suspect that many of these buildings still had people in them when they went up...
There is no movement in this dead village, or at least no human movement. As you enter the village square you spot a large and rather bored looking crow resting on the remains of a fence. You stop. You are not sure but you could swear it is looking right at you.
Your allies move to free the villagers as you continue to stare at the bird. A second and then a third bird land next to the first. They begin to caw to one another, as if discussing the events that have just played out within the village. The longer you watch them the more certain you are that they are talking about you.
"-and this is our leader Derryth. Derryth what are you doing?" Thaïs comes up to you with Uttu and the mayor of the village.
You reluctantly turn from the birds, "Just mage stuff. I don't suppose you and Uttu could do me a favour?"
Thaïs gives you an uncertain smile, "What sort of favour?"
"I want to take out those three crows over there," you subtly gesture with your head at the three birds behind you.
Thaïs and Uttu look around you at the birds. They are a bit too obvious about it for your liking, "Don't make a big production about it. They will notice."
Thaïs is a little concerned for you now, "They? The crows? Maybe you need to lie down for a little while Derryth?"
You frown at her, "Don't treat me like I am insane. I am just being-"
"Paranoid?" Uttu asks.
"Paranoid," Thaïs nods in agreement.
"Cautious," you correct them.
Thaïs shakes her head, "Paranoid."
You smile at her and nod, "Oh paranoid she says," you pull one of your gloves off to reveal the bracelet still stuck to your wrist, "Sure, because my instincts are never right."
Thaïs laughs, "Alright, alright. I will take the one on the left. You take the one in the middle and Uttu can have the one on the right."
You and Uttu agree as you spin on your heels. The crows must know something is up as the three of them take off into the sky. You and Thaïs hit your targets but Uttu misses the bird by mere inches. It lets out a loud caw as it flees towards the east.
Four more crows answer the call and take flight from a large tree at the far edge of town. They move to meet with the first bird but before they can a second shape descends from high above the crow.
A large eagle strikes out at the lone crow and buries its talons into the smaller bird. With its prey firmly in its grasp it heads due south with three of the four remaining crows in hot pursuit. The fourth crow sets a course to the east and proceeds with a great deal of haste.
Thaïs lets out a slight humph, "Well that was strange..."
You shake your head in disappointment, "Ah well, hopefully it was just paranoia on my part..."
The mayor has stood this entire time in silence. He is a tiny, round man with a happy if rather vacant expression on his face. He seems a touch simple and more than a little intimidated by your presence and the strange scene that has played out in front of him. Now however he works up enough courage to speak, "I... I would like to thank ya Mistress Derryth for ya assistance... um... without ya aid we... well... um..." he trails off uncertain of how to address actual mages.
Thaïs works her charm, "It was nothing, really. We could not leave innocent subjects of the empire to such a cruel and unjust fate. It is through the hard work of you and your people that the empire will prosper and grow. In truth we should be thanking you for your efforts."
You can tell that he does not fully grasp everything she is saying. Instead he seizes upon a few words here and there, "Thank ya ma'am, we do try ta work hard. If there be anything... um... anything at all that me and mine can do for ya..."
You smile at the man, "Now that you mention it sir, yes, there is something you could do for us. We are headed southeast into the Dwarven Kingdom but we could do with some supplies to aid in our passage."
He nods slowly, "Ya need food? um... most of what we got was destroyed... um..."
Uttu adds, "We have money. We can pay."
You give her a slight poke in the side and whisper to her, "I am trying to avoid paying kid."
She looks up at you, "But they have lost everything Derryth..."
You mumble, "Bloody kids..."
The mayor is not quite sure what to make of all this, "Um... if ya are willing to stay we can probably gather up something for ya. Why don't ya stay for the evenin' and leave in the mornin'?" You get the impression that he would rather have you around.
You scratch your head, "Well, you don't seem to have much of a town left to stay in-"
Thaïs cuts you off, "What we mean sir is that we do not want to delay you. You should take your people and lead them over to the nearest Legion outpost."
He considers her words for a moment, "Well the patrol should be 'round in a day or two. I think we will wait for 'em. We got elderly and kids ta look after and I wouldn't feel safe taking 'em out on the road without protection... We did have a mage but he went up with half the town..."
The way he trails off you are fairly certain he wants your help but is not confident enough to ask.
You move the discussion back to the issue of supplies, "We only need enough to get us to the next settlement and there are only nine of us. Are you sure you can't give us anything at the moment?"
He frowns but nods, "Yeah, um... maybe half an hour and we could find ya something. Won't be the best stuff but it should keep ya going."
Well then you have your answer. Everyone assembled is waiting on you to make a decision:
A) You escort them back to the nearest fort. You are not confident they will survive by themselves. (It will take about six days to get back with the villagers slowing you down).
B) You stay with them for the next two to three days. Once the patrol shows up you can leave.
C) You accept the mayor's invitation and stay for the night. You will have a better idea of what to do in the morning and it may give you some time to investigate this mage he mentioned. If they did have a mage living here and he is dead then any spellbooks or artefacts he had might be up for grabs.
D) You leave as soon as possible. You are done playing hero for a while. These people are alive because of you, what happens next is not your concern.
i. You buy supplies from the villagers. Uttu is right, you do have the money to pay for it.
ii. You take the supplies from the villagers. You have already given them their lives back. They owe you.
iii. You leave immediately without taking any supplies. You do not want to stay in this place for even a moment longer.
E) You escort them. But not backwards, you take them with you to the next settlement. A dwarven fort to the southeast. (It will take eight days to get there with the villagers slowing you down).
F) You have them send a runner out to the nearest fort.
G) freeform
2. You think the mayor knows something about what is going on here. You will get this information from him though you may have to get a bit rough.
A) Torture the mayor. You need to know.
B) Don't torture the mayor. This may be a bit insane...
