Chapter 6: The trip into Darkness
As you gather around the table everyone expresses an opinion. Some push for speed and stealth while others make a case for a slow and steady approach utilizing magic to cover your weaknesses. They all make good cases but ultimately it is your decision to make, without you none of these people would be here, you just hope that you are not leading them all to their deaths.
"We will use the middle passage," you inform the group.
It is the most open option striking a balance between ease of access and Imperial presence. There will probably be monsters but nothing you can not handle, you reason. You inform Gareth that you will be taking the horse and wagon, it may well be a liability but it is also an asset and if the worst happens you can always abandon it.
Doctor Miosguinn and his apprentice will stay in the back of the wagon and cover it with illusions while you and Thaïs ride in the front. Gareth and Serpent will guard either side of the wagon, if they stay close then they too will be hidden by the Doctor's spells. Tyrvard will act as a scout, partially to give him a longer leash and partially to avoid conflict with Serpent.
With their marching orders established the group gets to work and your little expedition slips out of the rear gate as the sun lazily drifts below the horizon. By the time you reach the restricted area of the city it is approaching midnight, luckily it is a full moon tonight and the light reflected by that celestial body proves sufficient to navigate the ruins by, you drive while Thaïs, holding the map, gives you directions. Miosguinn sits in the back of the wagon across from his apprentice, the two quietly chant the incantations to mask the expedition's presence. From the perspective of an outsider it would seem as if you did not even exist; all sight and sound is suppressed or manipulated.
Every now and then you catch Thaïs watching them, trying to decipher their actions and steal just a little knowledge, you might be tempted to chastise her if you were not attempting to do the same thing.
The journey to the entrance has proven largely uneventful, until you near the site. The Berserk is returning, stalking towards the wagon, a small stone in his hand. Miosguinn gave it to him so that he could locate the wagon underneath its spell, he crawls through the rubble and waits for his chance before leaping over a ruined wall and rejoining the party. He knows his trade well and you doubt any but the best trackers could follow him. It seems he has important news...
"Tyrvard, slow down and tell me what you saw." Gareth is trying to calm the northerner to get a proper report from him.
It seems he spotted a column of two hundred ghôls with a shade leading them, marching towards the city, your group should be able to avoid them given the direction they are headed in. Seems they are going to try and raid the city, it will be a bloodbath in the tent camp... still you do not like their odds, Alric is in the city with the full might of the Heron Guard. Shade or no shade they will get wiped out...
You shrug off Tyrvard's news, it just means fewer enemies for you to worry about. And then you hear it, an explosion not four blocks over, the sounds of fighting echo through the night. Maybe the ghôl advance guard ran into a group of adventurers, or an Imperial patrol. Either way the city may have warning now, hopefully they do not break the ghôls too quickly or you may have an army of them on your heels. You hurry past the sounds of battle and continue on your way to the entrance, everyone is just a little on edge in the cold, dark night.
As you near the entrance to the underground, two sets of figures race by ninety feet ahead, the first group consists of twelve stooped figures barrelling through the night, three upright shadows chase after them. The smallest of the shadows stops, raises its bow and draws an arrow, lights it and fires. One of the twelve drops dead, the arrow explodes as it makes contact with the creature's head. The other two shadows draw and fire plain arrows and two more of the creatures fall. But the remaining nine make it to the entrance and succeed in gathering aid. Twenty of these apelike horrors pour from the wound in the earth and the three shadows begin a fighting retreat. They will not make it, you think to yourself, but at least they flushed out the guards for you.
The three shadows seem to realize that they can not outrun the beasts and instead they head for higher ground, firing as they run. They are all good shots and they have reduced their attackers to twelve by the time they catch the first one. He barely has time to yell as one of the creatures, which you recognize as a ghôl, lifts a curved blade and lops off his head.
The remaining two figures have made it to higher ground and have even managed to kill a couple ghôls, they circle the pair looking for an undefended way up the incline. It is just a matter of time, you know they are dead.
Gareth however has other plans, he motions for you to stop the wagon, you do, he motions for you to get down, you do, and then he explains his plan. He wants to catch these ghôls in the open. If you allow them to kill the pair then they will return to their posts and he wants to avoid cave fighting this early in the trip. He reasons that you have the numbers and the element of surprise on your side, you are not too sure but he does have the military experience and it looks like Tyrvard is barely holding himself back from battle.
"Well Gareth, if you have a plan I would like to hear it..."
With that simple and self-assured smile of his he explains his plan, and it is not bad.
Five minutes later you, Serpent and Thaïs have every major route of escape back to the ruins covered. Unfortunately one of the archers had been killed by a thrown blade from the ghôls but the last one was putting up a good fight, lighting arrows and firing them at her assailants. You are closer now and you have been able to determine that much, the lone survivor is female, she also knows just a little magic as those are regular arrows that are exploding on impact. She has managed to reduce the number of ghôls to six, they do not seem deterred.
Gareth and Tyrvard are just about ready to spring their trap, Tyrvard leaps out first, right next to one of the ghôls, it did not even realize he was there, and with one fluid swing of his greatsword the beast's head soars through the air and lands a foot from one of its companions. As the remaining ghôls turn to face the new threat Gareth attacks from the other side, he slams into a ghôl with his shield, pinning the wiry scavenger against a piece of masonry and dispatches it with a quick thrust of his blade.
One of the creatures charges Gareth's exposed back, the lone archer drops on top of it and with a well placed strike from a long knife cuts deep into its neck, it bleeds out on the ground. Three against two, the ghôls make a break for it. If they get back into the ruins who knows how many reinforcements they could raise. Thankfully that is not a concern, one of the ghôls passes close to Serpent who springs out of hiding striking it with his shovel, it tumbles to the ground as he walks over and shatters its skull, the other is headed right past you and Thaïs. You have already set up a kill zone for it, as it runs towards you, you both spring up and fire your spells at it. She catches it right in the throat collapsing its windpipe, a kill for sure, but just to upstage her a little bit you aim for the eyes. A perfect hit, your bolt enters through one eye socket and scrambles the creatures brain as it bounces around in its skull.
"Show-off..." Thaïs says as she walks up to you and gives you a little jab in the ribs.
"Just reminding you who the master of magic is, is all." you grin at her.
"Well that would be the old man, sleeping in our wagon," she responds returning your smile; "at any rate it looks like the boys are interrogating our young friend over there we should probably see what is going on."
With all of the sentries dead the two of you meet up with Serpent and head over to Gareth and Tyrvard who are in deep conversation with the archer, well Gareth is at least, Tyrvard looks bored as he always does when not drinking, gambling or fighting.
As you get closer you realize that you know this woman, it is the thief Brigit, and despite your reluctance to help her earlier she expresses her thanks for saving her life, she gives you a quick hug before returning to Gareth's side and continuing their conversation. Seems that these things attacked her guild and she and the other two archers were to pursue the ghôls and find out where they are coming from.
She would not mind coming with you and before you can make a decision Gareth agrees, maybe you should have a word with the man about who is in charge here, you think for just a moment.
Then again it would be useful to have another warm body between you and the hordes of monsters down there and she did just kill a dozen ghôls in a running battle so all things considered you probably would have made the same offer.
Brigit, not one to stand on ceremony, says a short prayer for her companions and begins looting their bodies, grabbing their bows and arrows "just in case".
You return to the wagon and introduce Brigit to Miosguinn and his apprentice. Big surprise, Miosguinn is dismissive of her while the apprentice hates her. Come to think of it you have not seen the apprentice react favourably to anyone in the party, and honestly she gives you the creeps. Well, you think to yourself, mages are known for being peculiar, good to see the young keeping tradition alive.
As you and Thaïs return to your seats at the front of the wagon and begin the slow crawl through the ruins, Brigit takes up a position next to Gareth and the two fall back into conversation. You pass the empty sentry posts of the recently deceased ghôls without any complications and begin your long decent into the earth, one last time you look up into the sky, by Wyrd you hope you don't die down there.
Far in the distance you can hear the faint sounds of battle as the defenders of the city and the ghôl army come to blows...
-----------------------------End of Prologue----------------------------
And with that your merry little band enters into the most dangerous dungeon in the known world, will you find power, glory and fortune in the dark or will you all meet your own terrible and bloody deaths? I suppose we will find out in Chapter One: Through the Dark City...
I would love to hear any feedback you may have as I have never run one of these before, anything you liked or disliked, problems with formatting or writing, questions about the setting or anything else, suggestions, it is all appreciated. And if everyone is still actually interested in seeing more then we will pick up the story later this week after I do the promised "behind-the-scenes" update, as always thank you for reading.