Those waiting with Mazzy began to grow restless. "Where are they," asked Jennabard, "they only went to the armory."
"Yes," Dragon Wench replied, "they've been gone far too long." While a part of Dragon Wench wanted to believe that Loner and Kramo may have deliberately taken the long way around , she also felt a rising worry, and wondered if maybe they should try to find the pair. She glanced around at the assembled group, and said, "let's go to the armory."
When they arrived, they found the usually friendly and loquacious merchant white and shaken. Without speaking he gestured with his arm the direction that Loner and Kramo had taken. "This worries me," breathed Vivien.
They all headed towards the network of alleys, on edge and wary.
[ 05-28-2001: Message edited by: dragon wench ]
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. Spoiler
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.......All those moments ... will be lost ... in time ... like tears in rain.
Georgi could tell he was smirking as he left. I've got a blade with your name on it, she thought... but not just yet.
What was she to do? Calimshan, aye, she would find work there, but her heart was heavy with guilt. And yet, she couldn't return to her friends, so certain was she that she was more trouble than she was worth... No, if she was to do anything, it had to be alone.
An idea occurred to her. Foolish, brave... that was what made her so dangerous. Maybe she could help after all...
Raising her hood, Georgi left the tavern and rode until she saw a castle, set into a cliff, flying the banner of the gilded rose. Taking out a dagger, she looked down at the healing wound on her arm, and slashed it open again. "What the hell," she though, and slashed a cut down her face as well, for effect. Then she spurred her horse onwards to the castle gate. A wolf, perhaps catching the smell of fresh blood on the air, howled nearby.
"Who goes there?" boomed the voice of the sentry.
"Please, help me, I was attacked..." she cried, hoping she sounded convincing.
Another guard appeared, and they conferred briefly. "Come forth." She saw the look of shock on their faces as they saw the woman's bloodied face in the torchlight. She heard a whisper, "Of course, we must do something to help this poor woman...." and smiled inwardly. It was working. Within minutes, she was inside the castle walls.
"I agree, but not too fast. They might expect us to come out this way."
Peering around the corner, not seeing anything. Kramo signaled Loner to go, following close behind. Thinking that they were away from the archers, arrows started flying again. Both of them, ran down another alley. Quickly they moved, into another alley.
"One more street to Mazzy's, they must be on the roof tops. Keep going, I right behind........."
Kramo felt something hit him in the shoulder, he saw Loner pause.
"Keep going, I have a dent in my new armor. If I need anything else picked out, I'm letting you do it."
So it's true, Georgi thought, this is a righteous Order... so who were the black knights they had crossed swords with? Perhaps she could find some answers. Her wounds carefully dressed, she was shown into the office of one of the senior knights of the Order, Sir Alaric.
"I hope you have been well looked-after, my lady. Have you any idea who attacked you, and why they would do such a thing?"
Georgi took a deep breath. "Perhaps you should take a seat, Sir Alaric... I fear we are all being played for fools, and there is a great deal you should know..."
She quickly explained all that the Harem had discovered, the knight's face growing pale, especially at the mention of the duergar. He sat in shocked silence for several minutes after she had stopped talking, rubbing his chin absent-mindedly. An alarmed look crossed his face. "It may be too late... We have been led to believe that the Radiant Heart are poised to attack us, and a battalion has been sent north... If what you say about this ritual is true, then there must be traitors within the Order, trying to unearth the arcane knowledge that should have remained hidden."
"It is true, I assure you."
"I shall send a messenger at once to intercept the troops... with luck, out-and-out war may be prevented. I suggest you return to your friends. If you require it, I can provide an armed escort..."
"Thank you, but that won't be necessary."
"As you wish." Sir Alaric accompanied her to the castle gate. "Thank you, my lady... I hope that this disaster can be prevented."
"As do I." Georgi mounted her horse, and looked to the north. Sighing, she galloped away in the opposite direction.
Dressed all in black, a lone figure scales the walls of the Radiant Heart. Once inside, Waverly finds the knights, novices, and squires frantic with activity. Posts are being manned and the armory is open. Escaping notice, Waverly heads deep into the lower levels of the building. Below even the prison sits the lower dungeon. Now in disuse, in times past many enemies met their end while being questioned here. Lower still lie the crypts where many of those same enemies still bear silent witness to the Radiant Heart's often deadly serious methods. Waverly crept through the moldy corridors, and was surprised to find two guards blocking his way.
"Brother Enoch? You don't belong down here, I will have to report this, but things will go better if you leave at once."
"They seem to be preparing for battle up above," Waverly said. "You may be needed."
"This is my post, and here I will fight to the death if necessary. Our task is sacred, but not for your ears, though brother you may be..."
Waverly approached the nearest guard with a small smile on his face and his arm outstretched as if to pull the man aside to share some small secret. Before anyone was the wiser, Waverly had buried a dagger deep in the man's back.
"Treachery! What have you done?" The second guard swung his halberd, but missed. The hefty weapon was too cumbersome for him to recover before Waverly was on top of him. Twisting the man's helm, Waverly first heard the man's nose break, but as his head began to turn with the helmet a second sickening crack testified to his broken neck. Waverly picked up the halberd and began chipping at the mortar of a bricked over archway behind the guards...
Then darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time
"That's the second time you've asked me to leave you when you're wounded," Loner said. "No way. I'll get killed before I do that."
So instead of keeping behind Kramo, she stayed right alongside him. Another arrow came flying and struck Loner in the leg. She turned...and saw, on a rooftop behind them, one of the snipers, now in full view and aiming for the kill...
Then the figure fell, slain by some other marksman.
"Come on, you're almost there," said a voice nearby...it was Mazzy, bow in hand. And as they stood there, she aimed again and another sniper came crashing to the pavement, right at their feet.
"We've got you covered, now go on!" Mazzy ordered. Kramo and Loner then saw that everyone was there -- Dragon Wench, Jennabard, Vivien, Darkpoet and Gwalchmai, and all were carrying bows. "We went looking for you when you stayed away too long," said Vivien, aiming and shooting as she spoke...
They finally reached the back door of Mazzy's house, and Loner collapsed into a chair. "That's the last time I go out without a bow," she said. Then she turned to Kramo. "Are you all right? It looks like your eye was hurt..."
As they were all catching their breath there was an urgent knock on the door. Dark Poet edged along the wall and peered through the crack in the shutter. "It's okay, it's Sirs Keldorn and Trawl, he said, and proceeded to unlock the door.
The two paladins quickly entered. "We have grave news," reported Sir Ryan. "The Gilded Rose are a legitimate order; but it would appear that they have been infiltrated by dark and shadowy forces. Not only that, but two of our members guarding the Radient Heart catacombs have been assasinated in cold blood; we do not know if our own order has also been infiltrated or if this is an outside job."
Recovering from the shock of this news, Mazzy asked how they knew of the affairs of the Gilded Rose. "One of their messengers intercepted us," replied sir Ryan, "but I'm not sure how they knew to find us."
Dragon Wench, ever suspicious, said, "could it be a trap?"
"Nay," responded Keldorn, "the messenger was honest and bore us no ill."
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. Spoiler
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.......All those moments ... will be lost ... in time ... like tears in rain.
Ever indecisive, Georgi, still hooded, looked down on Trademeet. After all, if Waverly was so eager for her to leave, the best thing to do was stay... wasn't it? The words of her vision echoed in her mind. "You're wrong," she said out loud, "Maybe I couldn't save you... but I can save them."
Her eyes narrowed. Was that... archers? On the rooftops? One of the figures fell, followed by another. Six in all, deftly picked off by people on the ground, she presumed...
Hoping her friends were alright (and not too angry at her), she cantered down to Mazzy's house.
Luckily the arrows were not barbed, and Loner removed those that had struck her and Kramo. Mazzy hurried about helping them tend their wounds. "So," said Loner, "it's as I suspected: a pretty covering to hide a vile evil. So the name implies after all, Dragon Wench. So it's this dark influence that has pitted the two Orders against each other, for its own agenda...whatever that is. So what happens now? War?..."
Dragon Wench gazed at her friend. "I don't know Loner, I prefer to avoid violence when I can, but something tells me that this time we have little choice."
At that moment, there was another faintly cautious tap on the door. Again, Dark Poet squinted through the shutter. This time letting out a whoop of glee, he bounded to the door. As he opened it, Georgi, slightly red-faced, stepped inside.
[ 05-28-2001: Message edited by: dragon wench ]
Spoiler
testingtest12
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. Spoiler
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.......All those moments ... will be lost ... in time ... like tears in rain.
"A little, I'll have a bruise. What about you, how's the leg? You going to be able to move, if we have too? All right I want to know. who did we piss off now? I'm tired of being a target, at least with the Drow, you knew they were around."
Kramo moved his sore shoulder, then he saw the arrow.
"Loner, did this arrow, come out of your leg or my back?"
"Your back, I'm afraid," Loner answered, taking some water and bathing Kramo's wound. "And I think the dark force within the Gilded Rose is behind all this. They know we pose a major threat to them and they want us gone, so they can go about their little take-over. I'm afraid we're in for a war here, no matter what happens..."
It was at that moment that Georgi walked in, and Loner ran as well as she could to embrace her friend. "Thank Helm you're all right," she said. "Don't ever do that to us again; we all love you..."
But in the midst of this reunion, Darkpoet, keeping watch at the window, paled and gasped. Loner could hear a sound as of a troop of armored horses advancing toward the town...she went to the window.
There was a group of black-clad Gilded Rose knights just outside the walls.
"Sir Ryan Trawl! Did the messenger from the Gilded Rose find you?"
Everyone in the room stared in wonder. Georgi blushed some more. "These dark knights, they want immortality. The paladin war is but a distraction... unless you had something they need in the Radiant Heart catacombs?"
"Kramo this is going to get ugly, that calvary will chew us to pieces. If they catch us out in the open."
Kramo looked up to see, DP staring right at him. He got up and walked to the window. Kramo didn't like what he saw.
"Dp, that's heavy calvary, even if we had enough bows. We would have a hard time taking them down."
Kramo, sat down looked at Loner. Darkpoet knew what he was thinking.
"Mazzy, do you have any escape tunnels under this house?"
"Wait a minute, wait," said Loner, suddenly feeling terribly ill. "These knights may not be from the evil in the Order; there are those who aren't associated with..." She looked at Kramo. "Come into the other room," she said. "There's something I need to say to you. I'll be quick."
Loner led Kramo into the room, and sat beside him. She was shaking. "My courage fails me," she said. "But it isn't because of any battle...Kramo, I don't want you to go through a war again. You don't have to do this...but I do. I have to stay. But...before anything happens, I want you to know...I have to tell you...I...I think I love you, Kramo. I think I'm in love with you..."
Mazzy turned to Kramo and smiled triumphantly. "Indeed there are tunnels, all halfings have them under their homes, if you're all ready, come with me."
[ 05-28-2001: Message edited by: dragon wench ]
Spoiler
testingtest12
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. Spoiler
testingtest12
.......All those moments ... will be lost ... in time ... like tears in rain.
Looking into Loner's eyes, Kramo's heart just melted.
"I love you too."
Taking her head in his hands, giving her a long kiss.
"We have to stay calm. This might get ugly, like DP said. I have been in this postion before. I need to know right know. Have you been in a huge battle before?"
Waverly stepped over the bodies, refusing to look down at the fallen knights. In his pack he had carefully placed a golden basin. He could read little elvish, but enough to be certain it was the artifact he sought: the Basin of the Mad God. Dried blood still clung to it's walls and arcane runes covered the outside surface.
Waverly mounted his horse and hurried off before his evil deeds were noticed.
Then darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time
Just then Mazzy appeared in the doorway. "I hate to interrupt," she said, "but do you want to go through these tunnels or not?..."
Loner got up shakily, still clasping Kramo's hand, and went to the doorway. "We need to talk about this," she said. "Like I said, there may not be any need for bloodshed at all, just yet. Maybe that's exactly what the evil wants, for us to attack this force. Then there will be chaos. Why don't we send someone out to parley with them? I have the feeling we're going to be in for a much bigger battle than this, and soon. If we can unite the forces of the Radiant Heart and the Gilded Rose, we can stand against what's coming. That's exactly what it doesn't want. What does everyone say?..."
"We may not need to even do that," Georgi said, watching intently from the window. A messenger was hastily approaching the knights. "I think they may be the men that Sir Alaric of the Gilded Rose told me about... if so, that's probably the messenger arriving to inform them of the situation. Let's wait a moment further..."
, she also felt a rising worry, and wondered if maybe they should try to find the pair. She glanced around at the assembled group, and said, "let's go to the armory." 
