They arrived at the well shortly after sundown with their new weapons sheathed but at hand. Although the sky was nearly cloudless, neither of Shaharizod's Mirrors was high enough in the sky to send any moonlight into the courtyard and it was very dark there.
"Where's this Roach?" Finian asked, looking about for any sign of the creature Kirnoth had described.
"I don't know," the mage told him and started the unscrew the cap from his light tube.
"Stay your hand, Kirnoth of Galerideleli," Roach's voice growled down on them from above.
They turned and peered upward spotting Roach amidst the shadows on the second floor of the Crossroads Inn. He hung implausibly on the side of the building like a huge insect, perched on the sill of a shuttered window. He was big, they could tell - larger than a man. As before, his body was obscured by the tattered cloak that hung voluminously around him, but his eyes - one yellow, the other red - stared down at them unblinking.
"The light from your wand will do nothing but draw unwanted attention to us," he explained. "I see that you have brought your friends. The Janissary I recognize, but who are the others?"
The mage made introductions and Roach asked, "Where is the mongrelman who accompanied you before?"
"He's gone back to his people," Finian told him. "He was only here to get something from me that he needed to help his tribe."
"And you four are all intent on facing the skaven?" Roach asked.
"This is a team effort," Kirnoth said with a nod.
"Then listen well and I will tell you what I know of the skaven's lair," the dark shadow on the wall said and began to impart some of its knowledge.
The skaven, he explained, were affiliated with a temple located in a portion of a ruined wizard's guild within Barnacus' sewers. The skaven were not in the majority there; most were human with a smattering of half-orcs or half-elves as well. Roach had seen as many as six of the rat-men in the tunnels around the temple, from time to time, but there were usually only half that number about.
The temple itself wasn't located in the newer, upper sewers, but was part of a network of tunnels that ran beneath it, predating the modern sewers by several hundred years. It was located in a very protected spot, being between a section of tunnels controlled by the local thieves' guild, "The Red Hand", and the very dangerous ruins of the wizard's guild.
The best approach to the temple, as far as Roach was concerned, was through the basement of an abandoned house in an alley off Crescent Street. It was this entrance that the cultists themselves used and as such was guarded at all times. The number of guards, however, was usually pretty small since the cult itself wasn't all that large, numbering between 20 and 50 individuals all told.
"I will show you the house," Roach concluded. "Meet me off Crescent Street, wallside, across from The Siren's Call."
Saying that, he burst into motion, swinging himself up onto the flat roof of the Crossroads Inn in one quick movement. They caught a glimpse of his cloak fluttering along the edge of the rooftop as he raced northward in the general direction of Crescent Street.
"Do you know the Siren's Call?" Kirnoth asked Ledare and the Janissary nodded.
"It's a brothel," she explained. "Low class clientele: mostly sailors and the like. I've broken up fights there a time or two."
"I sure wish that he hadn't run off like that," Kirnoth said looking up at the rooftop.
"Well, come on," Ledare replied. "I know where he's going."
"Wait," Finian called. "Is Ruze coming with us? I do not really think it is a good idea to take a blind man along. He will certainly slow us down if we need to escape. I also would worry for his safety too of course."
"Of course," Ruze repeated with a sardonic grin.
"Look, Ruze, it is going to be very difficult to lead you around the sewers when you cannot see," the Archer told him. "We would appreciate your help and healing abilities, but you cannot help in combat. Perhaps you have a ritual to do or something, Soriah always could find one of those to do."
Ruze grinned wider.
"Ah, Soriah," he said as if he'd suddenly figured out what the half-elf was getting at. "I am not Soriah, though perhaps my fallen sister was better versed in the ancient texts than I for I cannot think of a single ritual that would apply here."
"I still don't-" Finian began but Ledare cut him off.
"I don't think that this will develop into an offensive movement anyway," she said, placing a hand on each man's shoulder. "Did you plan to wipe them all out tonight, Finian?"
"No," the Archer admitted. "But I believe that Ruze will be jeopardizing our safety as well as his own."
"The order from the King to rid Barnacus of the skaven may not have to happen all in one night," the Battleguard said. "I say we scout for information."
"I think we need some questions answered before we take on the skaven," Kirnoth told them. "There's no harm taking Ruze with us to talk to Roach, is there? We can decide what to do after we've talked with him again."
"Agreed?" Ledare asked and Finian and Ruze both nodded.
"Then let's go," the mage concluded. "I don't want Roach to think we decided not to meet him."
Ledare led the group north along Festival Street until they reached its end and she turned east on Arrow Lane. Dr. Gaston's sanatorium still bore the sign that read "CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE". They turned north onto Plaza South, passed the arena and the sewer grate three of them had investigated on Shop Street before they turned westwards onto Crescent Street. The Hospital, boarded up and marred by the graffiti "REJOICE, FOR SHE IS COMING" was on their left as they climbed the hill. They could just see the gates leading to the Temple of Shaharizod gleaming in the starlight at the head of Crescent Street when Ledare turned north into an unnamed cul-de-sac that terminated at the old city wall. The Siren's Call was on the north side of the street and from the looks of the place, was doing a thriving business; revelers prowled the street in front of the place, and both music and laughter could be heard coming from inside.
Across from the brothel stood a dilapidated, burnt-out wreck of a building. It had once been a two-story home, but fire had consumed the top floor and only skeletal fingers of burnt wood remained. In the alley beside the place, they caught sight of a swirl of movement.
No one at the Siren's Call paid the group any mind as they filed into the alley.
"You move slowly," Roach's voice growled from the shadows.
"I think it's you who moves too fast," Kirnoth countered.
"A moving target is a difficult target," Roach replied.
"Well, please don't disappear so quickly next time," the mage asked. "We have some more questions. Is there somewhere else we could speak."
"No," he told them. "The entrance is found here, in this building, but it is safe... for now."
Kirnoth sighed and looked at Ledare. She shrugged and indicated he should go on.
"I do not believe we are ready for an attack yet," the mage said. "But we do have some more questions."
"I have said that this may very well be too dangerous of an undertaking for such a small group, but that again may be just what it needs," roach said cryptically.
"Can you explain what makes the skaven so dangerous?" Kirnoth asked. "And what is the best way to kill them?"
"I have not directly confronted the skaven before," Roach muttered. "They seem immune to conventional weapons."
Kirnoth nodded.
"Do you have any idea how long they have been inhabiting Barnacus?" he asked.
"They have been here for over a year," the shadows replied.
"And just what is their connection to the bane midges?" Kirnoth pressed.
"I believe the bane midges to be existing for their own end," Roach answered.
"What sort of opposition will we face inside?" the mage asked, looking at the deserted building.
"I do not know," Roach admitted. "Although the sewers are familiar to me, the temple is not. I will understand if you wish to gain more knowledge before entering."
"The only way to get that knowledge is to send someone in to watch what is going on, if possible," Ledare said.
"Hmmmm," Roach intoned and Ledare considered their options.
"Finian should go in ahead with Roach," she said at last. "He is the best bet among us for moving quietly and remaining undetected."
"We do have a ring of invisibility," Finian prompted. "Not that we should have too much confidence in that ring. They were able to detect me with it before."
"The skaven will smell all. All that don't smell of sewer," Roach told them and Finian grimaced at that thought.
"The Skaven somehow detected me when I was invisible in Selejian's studio," the Archer said. "They could not see me, but could sense I was there. They may have been able to smell me."
"I don't have any spells to change your odor," Kirnoth confessed and Finian continued to grimace.
"As much as I hate to say this, if I am really smelling of sewer when I go in, that would cover my scent from the skaven," he said. "It sounds nasty, but it could work."
The Janissary removed the gold band from her pouch and handed it to him.
"Take the invisibility ring and roll around in the sewer muck a few times if you think it will help," she told him. "Kirnoth, Ruze and I should remain behind to watch your backs from this point."
"An excellent plan," Ruze said. "Let them scout for numbers, locations, etc. - just gather intelligence. Then we will know more about how to rid Barnacus of them."
Finian slipped on the ring and vanished from sight. He pulled his sword a hand's breadth out of its scabbard and was pleased to see that, although it was invisible it shed light just as well as it had before. He resheathed it at once.
"Let's go," he said to the shadows and there was a stirring there as Roach began to move.
"Hold a moment all, "Ruze instructed and he knelt down in the alley, hands crossed over chest. "My Queen, it is I, Ruze. I know you can see me."
He chuckled at that and shook his head.
"Anyway," he continued. "Tonight my companions may need your guidance. I only wish to serve and with your blessing we go forward."
Nothing appeared to happen, but Ruze got unsteadily to his feet, almost shouldering Ledare into the wall in the process.
"Oops!" he exclaimed, "Sorry, Ledare."
Ruze entered the house via an unshuttered window in the back and Finian followed. The window let into a hallway that was littered with debris and garbage. There was a door set into the left-hand wall, and the floor in front of the door was free of trash. Roach hunched down beside the door for a moment and then turned the handle.
The door opened without a sound on hinges that had obviously been oiled recently. A set of stone stairs ran down the wall to the left, descending into a darkened basement. They listened, but heard no sounds coming up from below.
After a moment's pause, Roach moved down the stairs, quick as lightning and silent as a shadow. Finian moved to follow him. He chose his steps carefully, but his feet betrayed him, scrunching grit beneath them, kicking loose pebbles off to clatter down the stairs. They were small sounds, but given their situation, even small sounds could be enough to place them in jeopardy.
At the bottom of the stairs, they surveyed the basement in greater detail. It was mostly empty, with a dirt floor and loosely-mortared walls. It was littered with moldering sacks of flour and grain, some broken kegs and lots of cobwebs but nothing of readily apparent value or interest. Nothing, that was, except the large hole in the far wall, big enough for a single man to step through at a time. A haphazard pile of broken bricks lay just to the left of the opening.
Again they paused to listen and this time they could just hear the trickle of water. The sound seemed to be coming from the dark crevice in the wall.
Finian looked at the ground. It was packed earth and likely held plenty of readable tracks. But without lighting a torch or unsheathing his sword, there was no way even his half-elven eyes could see them. He joined Roach by the breach in the wall and together they peered out.
The opening into the cellar was in the side of a long, narrow sewer conduit. All that they could hear was the echoing drip of water and an occasional squeak of vermin. The echo off the dank stone sewer walls distorted the squeaking so much that it was impossible to determine which direction it came from. A thin stream of stagnant and putrid water ran down the center of the cramped pipe.
Roach signaled to the invisible Archer that he planned to go right and then squeezed himself carefully through the thin opening. As he did so, Finian got a look at his mysterious companion's right leg. He was surprised to see that it had an extra joint in it like a dog's and was covered with golden brown fur caked thickly with muck. Before he could see more, Roach was through and began moving silently down the tunnel.
Finian moved to follow and found that he had to stoop to move along it. There was a great deal of moss growing along the length of the pipe and he noted that there were small holes at random places near the floor along the walls. He could detect no movement from them, however, other than a trickle of muddy water.
Roach was up ahead in the tunnel, filling it almost completely with his bulk. He seemed to be stopped and so Finian stopped as well. That was when he saw the movement coming from all directions. Thousands of roaches swarmed out of the small holes along the conduit's walls - a living carpet of insects. Despite himself, Finian felt a wave of horror swell up inside his chest as the roaches came at him. He took in a lungful of air to scream and suddenly Roach was on him.
A huge hand, half-again as big as a man's clamped down over the Archer's mouth and Roach leaned in so close to him that the half-elf felt a beard tickle his left ear.
"If you cry out, they will know we are here," Roach whispered into his ear. "These insects are harmless. Get hold of yourself."
Finian struggled with his natural instinct to scream in revulsion, and gradually, he was able to get his racing heart under control. But still, it was a tenuous control at best. He shuddered each time he scritched one of the bugs underfoot s they continued their journey down the pipe.
The pipe opened up into a larger conduit that ran perpendicular to it. Roach dropped down to the floor of the new pipe and again signaled that he planned to go right. Finian eagerly climbed out of the narrow pipe and spent a few moments jumping about and checking himself for roaches.
Once he was reasonably convinced that none were on him, he followed Roach's shadow.
This pipe was like the one that Finian had climbed through beneath of Shop Street, made of fitted bricks. But here, the ceiling dripped constantly with water, some of the bricks had come loose, like half-extracted teeth. He reached an intersection in the passageway where the path to the right had been blocked by a fairly recent collapse of earth from above. The passage continued on to his left, though there were further signs of stress on the ceiling in that direction, including an area of slumped passageway filled with debris.
It looked very unsafe, and if it hadn't been for the fact that he could see Roach's cloaked form crouching beside the pile of debris, he would never have journeyed down so risky-looking a passage.
Keeping one wary eye on the partially-collapsed ceiling, he moved to join his companion.
Tons of moist earth had slumped downwards to block further progress through the tunnel at the point where Roach crouched. He pointed to a dark cleft at his feet a few hands off the floor. Inspecting the hole in the wall, Finian saw that it was a narrow crevice which lead to another tunnel beyond and below this one. It would be a tight fit for someone of Roach's size, but anyone man-sized or smaller could slide through the to the level below. Some bits of cloth snagged on the few sharp edges indicated that more than one person had done just that.
Finian heard Roach sniff the air and then he signaled that he was going through. He did so with remarkable ease although his cloak caught on the edges and tore a little. Finian followed him and dropped into a wholly different sort of tunnel.
Not to say that it wasn't dark, wet, and nasty - it was, but the floor of the tunnel was curved inward at the center to allow water to flow freely, but along the walls were flat, fairly wide walkways. There wasn't much water running down the trough in the center of the tunnel, and the ever-present drip seemed far-off and muted.
They could clearly hear something up ahead in the darkness.
From their present position it seemed like voices, speaking in common, laughing in the darkness ahead. As they crept closer to what looked to be an iron gate at the end of the conduit, the voices became more pronounced until they could clearly hear what they were saying.
"-not so sure she's the real deal," one of them was saying.
"That's blasphemy!" the other countered. "Magnus will have his tongue if he hears he's been saying such things."
"Magnus?" the first one went on. "Elgoth's the one with the Scrolls. If I were him that's who I'd be worried about."
"Agreed," the second concluded. "And let's not speak of it again. There are eyes and ears everywhere. She'll give birth within the week and we'll see one way or the other whether she's the one the prophecies spoke of."
The two speakers paused then and remained out of sight. Finian and Roach could hear them moving about, but for a time they said nothing more.
Roach made a gesture to the invisible Finian indicating that the half-elf should stay back. He then pressed his great bulk against the wall of the tunnel and edged toward the gate. As he went, his foot splashed in a pool of standing water. He froze at once and both he and Finian held their breaths.
"Did you hear something?" one of the voices in the area beyond whispered.
"I don't know," the other said. "What did you-"
"Shh!" the first replied sharply.
Finian reached down at his feet and scooped up some sewer sludge. He quietly began to smear the stuff onto himself, hoping that he wouldn't be smelled out.
The shadows in the room beyond changed as the light source within moved. As it did so, it illuminated other grate-blocked passages like the one in which Roach and Finian crouched all connecting with that dank chamber. Abruptly, a human, large and burly with bushy black hair and beard appeared within their line of sight. In one hand he carried a hooded lantern, a large dirk was in the other. He held the lantern high and peered into the shadows. A second man followed behind him, shorter and flabby with thinning brown hair and no beard. He carried a light crossbow and had a knife sheathed at his hip.
"It's probably those damned thieves," the shorter man suggested, but the man with the lantern shook his shaggy head.
"No," he said flatly. "No. The deal with the guild's still good. They don't use these tunnels."
He started to turn the lantern on the very grate that barred Roach and Finian's progress and then Finian heard a most peculiar sound. It was the same tittering, squeaking whispers that the Archer had heard beneath The Five Elements Inn: bane midges. It seemed to be coming from on of the other tunnels.
The man with the lantern spun around and shown his light between the bars of the grate on the opposite wall.
"It's them jinxkins!" the man with the crossbow said excitedly.
"They're called jermlaine," the other man corrected as he directed his light down the tunnel. He shouted into the darkness there, "What do you want?! Nunzio ain't here! We've got no use for you now!"
The tittering stopped and Finian saw Roach move slightly. He heard a puffing sound and then a soft TINK! as something metal struck stone. The man with the lantern heard it too and jerked his light in that direction. He bent quickly and picked up something thin and pointy; Finian recognized it at once as one of the darts that the bane midges had used to put Kirnoth to sleep.
Roach made that puffing sound again and the bearded man jumped as another dart stuck him in the thigh. He had time to look at it irritatedly before he started to collapse.
"Giller!" the other man cried as his companion splashed unconscious to the floor of the chamber. Giller's lantern landed on its side, miraculously intact. He rushed over and crouched down over Giller's body, presenting his back to Roach who placed a dart into the meaty part of the man's upper left arm. The crossbow fell from his nerveless fingers and he collapsed across his companion and was still.
Roach turned and slipped the blowgun back beneath his tattered cloak.
He moved forward at once, invisible amidst the shadows and pressed himself against the grate. It was old and rusty, but solidly built, none the less. The grate didn't quite reach all the way to the ground, but the space beneath would have presented a tight fit to the thinnest of halflings. There was a large and obviously new padlock there.
Roach produced a small bundle from beneath his cloak and from the bundle produced several twisted bits of metal that Finian recognized as lockpicks. He went to work on the lock without success, growling his frustration.
The Archer pressed him out of the way and tried his own hand with the lockpicks. He had no better luck.
"Force it," he heard Roach whisper and together they pushed against the grate. The metal groaned in protest and sprang free of the wall after a moment of effort. The gate was hinged at the ceiling and they slipped easily out into the chamber beyond.
It was empty except for three dilapidated wooden crates being used as makeshift table and chairs. Some filthy cards were scattered across the center crate. Gated tunnels like the one by which they had entered were located in three of the four walls. An iron-bound door was in the fourth, directly behind the improvised table and chairs. A symbol had been carved into the door at eye level - a symbol that Finian had seen before: a rat's skull surrounded by a snake eating its own tail.
Roach moved quickly to douse the lantern light and check the two bodies. Both men were unconscious and Roach disarmed them quickly before going through their pockets. Along with some loose coins, he found a small clay pot labeled "HONEY" in the fat man's pocket and a wad of dried tinder moss in Giller's. The crossbowman had a key on a thong he wore around his neck.
Finian splashed over to Roach's side and whispered, "How long will the guards be out for?"
"It is unknown how long they will be out," Roach admitted. "I recommend pulling them back a ways and making their slumber more permanent."
Finian frowned at that. He didn't much like the idea of killing helpless prisoners, but they were clearly followers of Aphyx. He had little doubt that they would do the same thing to him in a heartbeat.
"I don't know whether we should kill these men or not," he said. "Let's get back to the others. This would be a good time to get them."
Roach held up the thong so that the key swung back and forth at its end.
"I would like to see if this key fits the iron-bound door," he growled.
Finian licked his invisible lips.
"I am flexible and willing to go forward, but I think it best that we get everyone. Then we can continue to explore," the Archer said. "That symbol on the door is the symbol for the Goddess of Disease. I have had dealings with her minions before... and I do not wish to see them again soon unless it is on the end of my sword."
"Fine," Roach told him and got to his feet. "I will check the door while you pull the two bodies out of here."
He took two steps and paused adding, "Be sure to grab their belongings and be careful not to leave traces of where the bodies were pulled so as not to give our direction away too quickly."
The Archer bent down to move the two men and was surprised to find that they were both already dead. Their necks had been broken; their heads hung at sickening angles. He gathered up the few loose items that Roach had already found and slipped them into his belt pouches where they promptly became invisible. He'd managed to get the smaller of the two bodies hoisted onto his shoulders when Roach approached again.
"The key doesn't fit the door," he said. "There are more voices coming from beyond, so I did not try picking it."
"Then let's get rid of these two and come back with reinforcements," Finian huffed.
"Hmmm," Roach intoned and hauled the other body up onto his wide shoulders.
They disposed of the bodies in a section of sewer that Roach asserted led to a ruined wizard's guild. It was unlikely that anyone would go there looking for the two men.
Finian was mindful of getting swarmed by cockroaches again. He drew his sword free of its scabbard, flooding with light the narrow pipe that was the last leg of their sewer journey. He was happy to see the insects scurrying away down their little holes.
After that the journey to the surface was uneventful and they found Ledare, Kirnoth and Ruze waiting for them in the dark alley. Roach hung back in the shadows while Finian single-handedly recounted their journey to the hidden temple, finishing up with, "If you come into the sewers, perhaps you should consider covering your scent."
"So we can smell like you?" Ruze asked incredulously.
The half-elf shrugged.
"It could not hurt," he said, but the pinched expression on the Battleguard's face told Finian that Ruze disagreed.
"It sounds as if there is a deal between the thieves guild and this cult which prevents others from using the underground passageways," Ledare hypothesized.
"Hmmm," Roach intoned from the shadows. "I believe you are right. The Red Hand has an existing... courtesy, if you will, with the members of the cult. In keeping that deal each protects the other from their respective direction and can therefore concentrate on other areas of security. The wizards' ruins are far too dangerous for any body to travel and therefore no one has to watch from that direction."
"What's so bad about entering these wizards' ruins?" Kirnoth asked. "What do you know about that entrance?"
"I would not recommend entering the former wizards' guild," Roach said simply. "And if you choose to do so then my help has ended."
Roach's hulking shadow tensed as if ready to leap up onto the roof or disappear quickly into the dark alley.
"Wait!" Kirnoth said a trifle louder than he intended.
Ledare peered out into the street, but no one gathered at the Siren's Call seemed to have heard the elf's cry.
"Don't rush off again," the mage protested. "I definitely want your help and trust your insights. If it's too dangerous, we won't do it. What's a better idea?"
"We all return the way we two entered," Roach suggested.
"It doesn't seem like we can do much else," Ledare admitted. "I guess we advance."
"Yes," Finian said. "We could try to pick the locks on that iron bound door. Roach could use his blow gun again and I might even be able to use my bow if we aren't surprised and I have time to prepare."
"I agree. I think we need to get moving," Kirnoth suggested. "I don't want these cultists catching on to something and being forewarned. I am confused by one thing, however. How did the guards' necks end up broken?"
Finian shrugged and refused to meet the elf's eyes.
Roach said nothing.
"Well, perhaps we should take a closer look at their bodies and figure out what happened," the mage added.
Roach growled in the shadows.
"Necks of guards break quite easily, and leave no traces of blood. They must have hit their heads as they fell," he said. "If stealth is our mission let us leave it at that."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence and then Finian cleared his throat.
"I suggest that our marching order has Roach and I ahead a little, followed at a distance by the others," he offered. Turning to the silent Battleguard, he said, "And I certainly want Ruze to stay put. The sewer is no place for a blind person. Perhaps he should find his way to an inn."
"I can take care of my own," Ruze countered. "Simply lend me an arm and I can follow behind rather readily. Shaharizod gave me this test for a purpose, and I fear that although I would not mind spending more time eating spice cakes and drinking juniperberry tea I feel my Queen is mandating that I stay with you."
"Is your sight getting any better?" Kirnoth asked. "If not, don't you think eavesdropping for info at the Satyr makes more sense than possibly putting yourself into a combat situation."
Finian nodded his agreement.
"If attacked there is more than one way to defend," Ruze said with a smile. "Do not worry. I will be fine."
"Ruze, I want you to do what makes you comfortable, but I also do not want to jeopardize all of our lives unnecessarily," the mage went on. "Tell me, how would you defend yourself against attack and how would you avoid accidentally bumping into the wrong creature? Remember, this is a stealth mission."
Before the Battleguard could respond, Roach put in, "Some that have to live without sight become better in other areas. If he wishes to proceed with the help of his faith, perhaps that is where his strength will grow."
"My Queen will provide," the Battleguard said simply.
Kirnoth sighed.
"While I respect your worship of Shaharizod, the rest of us are not followers and may have some difficulty with the idea of trusting that she will provide for everything," the elf said.
"Don't worry," Ruze smiled back. "I have faith enough for us all."
Finian started to add something and the Janissary held up her hand.
"This arguing is getting us nowhere," Ledare said flatly. "Let him come. I think we will need him."
"Then just stay out of the way, Ruze," Finian conceded. "I have to give you credit, though; you and Soriah sure have a lot of faith."
The group retraced Finian's and Roach's earlier path in through the back of the abandoned house, down into the basement and into the sewers via the breach in the cellar wall. Finian warned them about the bugs in the tunnel beyond.
"There are lots of cockroaches in there," he explained. "They are gross, but harmless, so do not be scared or make noise!"
Looking at Ledare he said, "I did not see any spiders and the light from these magic swords seems to drive them away."
She nodded grimly and slid her sword a little bit free of its scabbard, releasing a ghostly blue radiance. It had the desired effect and the insects scuttled away into the darkness outside the light's reach.
They moved down the cramped pipe, dropped down into the larger passage that ran perpendicular to it, and turned left into the section of collapsed tunnel. Roach disappeared quickly down the cleft leading into the older tunnels below.
"Wait here," Finian cautioned. "The temple is just below us."
The Archer slipped the invisibility ring back on his finger and vanished from sight. A moment later, he eased himself through the fissure and dropped down beside Roach.
While they scouted ahead, Ledare reached out and grabbed a scrap of fabric that had snagged on the stonework. She held it close to her eyes and sniffed it once.
"A bit of Roach's cloak," she announced and slipped the scrap into her belt pouch. "That would have been an easy trail to follow."
"Come on," Finian's voice hissed from below. "The way is clear."
Kirnoth was easily able to slip through the hole, but Ruze with his thickened waistline and Ledare with her plate armor had somewhat more trouble. When they were all assembled, they moved on through the loosened grate into the chamber with the door. There they arrayed themselves and Roach produced his lockpicks again.
He silently went to work on the lock, and was just about to admit defeat when a tiny click indicated that it had been released. He sighed and slipped the picks away before turning to the others. He pointed to the door, pointed to the side of his head, and then began counting upwards on the thick fingers of his left hand. At last he shrugged and pointed to the door again.
Ledare raised her new shield, resting her hand easily on the pommel of her sword.
Invisibly, Finian notched an arrow and drew it back to his ear.
Kirnoth moved his hands to the silver-tipped darts on the bandoleer.
Ruze, at the rear of the group, crouched into hawk stance.
The Janissary nodded and Roach lifted the latch and pushed open the door.
It yawned open silently on well-oiled hinges revealing a smallish room lit by torches set in metal sconces on the walls. Two metal-bound doors were set side-by-side in the opposite wall. A long, wooden table filled the center of the place and several rough-looking characters in ratty leather armor sat around it playing cards and exchanging crude jests. One of them, a woman with grime on her face and greenish teeth suddenly stopped laughing and looked right at the door. She shouted and pointed at the open door. At the same time, she jumped up from her chair, knocking it over backwards.
Kirnoth had thrown his first dart before any of the cultists could do anything more than begin scrambling for their weapons. Unfortunately, his first dart sailed harmlessly past his target's elbow.
Finian's arrow was next, and it flew straight and true, impaling a man's right knee in a truly gruesome manner. The man stopped reaching for his shortsword and dropped heavily to the ground.
Finian instantly became visible in the doorway.
Ledare began moving forward, her longsword slid free of its sheath in an eyeblink and filled the room with dazzling blue-white light.
In an effort to avoid the Janissary, both Kirnoth and Finian flubbed their next attacks.
Roach huffed into his blowgun and sent a gleaming dart into one man's left elbow. The cultist cried out and began falling instantly to the floor.
Two of the uninjured cultists moved to intercept Ledare's advance. They brandished their shortswords with skill, but inexperience; the Janissary's shield blocked one and her sword parried the other away. Unfortunately, her counter attack was little better, and Ledare failed to land a blow on either opponent.
The man who Finian had wounded was trying in vein to pull out the arrow that had transfixed his leg. He did little other than succeed in making it bleed more freely and he collapsed with a sigh.
Finian chose a new target, but his arrow missed the woman who had been the first to see them and shattered against the wall behind her head. She ducked down and began moving toward the two closed doors.
Kirnoth saw where she was headed, sighted carefully and threw a dart. It struck her in the back of the hand, making her cry out and drop her sword. She faltered, but his next dart missed her entirely. She made it as far as the door before the elf managed to pierce her calf. She jerked, slamming into the door and slid unmoving to the floor.
One of Ledare's opponents slashed her across the back of her sword hand, and she nearly dropped her weapon. The pain caused her to miss her own attack by a wide margin and distracted her so that she almost suffered a gut wound from the other cultist. If he hadn't slipped on the blood-slicked floor, his sword would surely have found its mark.
Finian made sure that he would never threaten Ledare or anyone else again. One of his arrows transfixed the cultist's neck. The man crumpled over backward spraying blood in a crimson arc.
Kirnoth's next two darts struck Ledare's remaining opponent in the groin and chest. The man cried out for a moment before Ledare's longsword buried itself in his belly. He clutched weakly at the Janissary's arm as he fell to the floor and had just enough strength left to spit blood at Ledare and croak, "You're... all... dead."
They had ripped through the first line of defense in mere moments, with only the wound to Ledare's hand against them.
Finian looked back over his shoulder at Ruze. The Battleguard was still crouched with his feet together and his elbows drawn in. He was making slow fluid circles with his arms.
"Ruze," the Archer whispered. "There's nobody near you. They're all dead."
Ruze stood up straight and smiled.
"Excellent," he said. "What next?"
Without answering, Finian moved across the room and listened at each of the two doors leading out of the room. He heard nothing at either and opened first the door on the right.
It was a closet or supply room of sorts, barely five feet square. There were eight black, hooded cloaks hanging on pegs; 2 oil lanterns; and 6 flasks of oil along with a pair of brooms and a mop and bucket.
The door on the left opened onto a hallway dimly lit by torches. Taking a careful step away from the doorway, Finian could see an iron bound door set into the hall around the corner on the right. To the left the hallway branched off in two directions and out of Finian's line of sight. No one was rushing to oppose them.
He popped back in, closed the door, and told them what he'd seen outside.
"I vote for looking at the iron door," Finian said once he'd described the hallway beyond the small guard room.
Roach didn't look up from the body over which he was crouched as he said, "Whatever we decide, I do not think we should linger long. The woman's shouts must certainly have raised someone's attention."
The archer nodded.
"I agree," he said. "We should hurry and be at attention for more intruders whether they be men or monster."
Roach chuckled and rose to his feet.
"Here, it is we who are the intruders," he said.
Ledare made a huffing sound at that and wiped her sword clean before resheathing it.
"Let's make sure they are all dead, and search the bodies with care," Finian suggested. "I think that there must be something on them that is a clue."
"Good idea," Kirnoth said and moved to the nearest of the bodies.
Between corpses, Roach glanced up at the Janissary's bleeding hand and said, "I would have the cleric mind to that immediately. This cult of disease is not one I wish to see the abilities of."
Finian looked up from the body he was checking and nodded his head.
"Perhaps they were infected with something," he guessed.
"Hmmmm," Roach intoned with a grave nod of his head. "For that very reason I am wary of what that man said. We... are all dead. He surely saw that it was his group that where suffering that fate. Unless he knew something we do not."
Ledare glanced at her hand and then looked at Ruze. The Battleguard was standing with his back against the wall by the door through which they'd entered.
"Could you do that, Ruze?" she asked. "Could you call upon Shaharizod to purge me of disease?"
Ruze frowned and shook his head.
"Calling on such divine aid is beyond my skills," he said apologetically. "I could heal the wound, but even if I am in My Queen's good graces, I can only do so three times each day. And, if this blindness is any indication, I may not be on her best side right now."
Ledare looked at her hand and flexed it.
"It's a minor injury," she said after the experimentation. "Healing can wait."
"At the very least let me try some herbs," the Archer suggested. "And a Cure Disease spell would certainly come in handy after this is all over."
"I'm sure my temple could provide such services," Ruze said. "Nasser-Ubeen is well loved by My Queen and can surely exert her will to cure us all."
"For the right price," Finian grumbled in a voice so low that only Ledare was able to hear him.
While Finian tended to Ledare's hand, Kirnoth and Roach were able to search all of the bodies, make sure they were all dead and gather up what they could salvage. In all there was about 15 gold worth of mixed coins - mostly silvers and coppers with a few electrum eagles as well. The mage was able to recover four of his silver-tipped darts that were still in usable condition; the others were either broken outright or bent in such a way that they would never fly true again. Roach's blowgun dart was intact, but its coating of poison had worn off and he slipped it into a separate pouch.
Aside from the obvious valuables, there was a large volume of seemingly useless junk: a bulb of garlic; a small, highly polished brass tin containing colored powder and a tiny brush; a metal fork that someone had twisted out of shape; a slightly soiled lace garter adorned with satin rosebuds; a single piece of hard candy that had stuck to the inside of one man's belt pouch; and what seemed to be a well-worn but intact deck of ordinary playing cards filched from "The Cock and Bull Gaming Club".
And while the others were puzzling over these trifling treasures, Ledare was staring into the open closet and formulating a plan of action.
"I say we put on those cloaks and take the lanterns and oil," she announced, pointing into the supply closet. "If we meet with some fairly unintelligent low-lifes, it may be possible to convince them that we have a purpose in these tunnels. Even if the cloaks do not completely disguise us, they may at least help us with the element of surprise."
Roach, who was already near the closet, reached in and pulled out one of the black cloaks.
"A fair idea, although I don't think any of these cloaks will fit me," he said.
The Archer moved over and took the cloak from Roach's black-furred hand and shook his head.
"Sorry, but I do not think that plan will work," Finian countered. "It is very hard to disguise platemail and these glowing swords are pretty obvious."
"So we keep them sheathed until we need them," Ledare responded and drew her sword in a flash.
"Not all of us can draw our weapons that fast," Finian told her as she resheathed her weapon.
"I still think Ledare's idea is a good one," Kirnoth said. "She's the only one of us in heavy armor. We'll just keep her out of direct light and towards the back of the group."
"I suppose," Finian shrugged. "But what about Roach?"
"I believe these cultists have been looking for me for sometime and someone bringing me in as captive could benefit," the hulking creature suggested.
"I think that the surprise of having you with us is more benefit than using you as justification for being here," the mage told him. "But, we could either do that anyway or give you the invisibility ring so you are not able to be seen at all."
"I need no ring, "Roach scoffed. "If I do not wish to be seen then I won't be."
"Okay," Finian conceded. "You three get into the robes. I'll keep the invisibility ring and Roach and I will scout ahead."
Ruze, Ledare, and Kirnoth slipped into their disguises, while Finian slipped on the ring, and Roach took to the shadows.
They found no indication that anyone had heard the guard woman's screams or the ensuing altercation. The hallway was chill and quiet as a crypt. Finian and Roach left the others waiting by the guard room door and crept ahead down the hallway to the right. The two of them had just turned the corner and were about five feet from the iron bound door when the cry sounded from the opposite direction.
"Ar?" a guttural female voice shouted.
Ledare, Kirnoth and Ruze spun around and saw a plump, female half-orc about ten feet away. She had just turned the corner of the hallway and stood at the branch leading away to their left and her right. She wore a frayed and filthy apron over equally frayed and filthy clothes. In her hands she held what looked like a huge, hairless rat.
The look on her piggish face told them that their disguises hadn't fooled her.
"Rargada!" she cried in Gobbledy before switching to Common and yelling again, "Intruders!"
Ledare, who was the only one of the group who spoke Gobbledy understood the implication as she hurled the rat-thing to the ground and said, "Frarrl, dakar dez rargada!"
The command translated to, "Frarrl, you kill the intruders!" and it was plain from the hairless thing's demeanor that it understood and approved of the idea. As it came at them, scurrying ahead on what looked like twice the proper number of legs, the woman darted out of sight down the corridor to her right.
"Ledare, go after the woman! We are surely dead if she calls in reinforcements!" Kirnoth shouted and felt the Weave tremble around him. "I'll handle this rat thing!"
The rat thing had different ideas, however, and even as Ledare moved to evade, it changed course to intercept.
"Rat thing?!" Ruze cried out and slipped back into his fighting stance. "What rat thing?!"
It leapt up to nip at the Janissary's shield arm, but she was able to jerk the limb out of its reach and slash once with her sword in the process. The blade connected with the creature's head, slamming it to the floor of the tunnel. Blood began to flow at once, but the creature seemed not to notice.
As Ledare clanked off down the tunnel after the orc half-caste, Kirnoth finished tracing the sigil representing force in the air and felt the familiar surge of weave-energy go through his body. It sizzled down his arm and two bolts of energy arced from his outstretched fingers, unerringly broadsiding the rat thing. The first bolt struck its foreleg, the second found its home in the leg growing behind that.
The hairless thing turned toward the elf and squealed its displeasure. Eyes the color of fresh spilt blood regarded Kirnoth with naked malice.
At that moment, Roach moved past the melee in a shadowy blur of motion as he went the way of Ledare and the half-orc.
Finian drew back an invisible arrow to his invisible ear and let it fly. The head of the arrow grazed the rat thing's abdomen, cutting a bloody groove in its belly. The Archer instantly became visible and reached for a second arrow.
The rat thing jumped, snapping at Kirnoth's left hand, but the mage was easily able to avoid its oversized jaws. His mind raced back through the incantation for the magic missile spell as he went.
Finian notched his second arrow and drew back on his bow. But he pulled too savagely, and the string snapped suddenly dropping the arrow to the floor and ruining the bow until it could be replaced.
The Weave responded to Kirnoth's evocation and another two bolts of raw manna strobed from his fingertips. They struck the rat thing on the rear leg and flank, dropping the creature in its tracks. It lay on the ground, smoking and lifeless.
The passage down which the half-orc had run horseshoed around to the right. Ledare could hear her shouting in Gobbledy and pounding on a door somewhere ahead. Suddenly, Roach breezed past the Janissary, his tattered cloak fluttering behind him. He stopped at the next corner, drew his blowgun and huffed into it.
The dart struck the open door beside which the half-orc was standing and the woman jerked away from it, heading around the next corner. Roach growled and sped after her, fitting another dart into the gun.
He moved past the open door and looked left after his quarry. Two closed doors were set into the left hand wall and the area opened up ahead on the right. The woman darted around the corner there. Roach reached it a moment later and saw her heading toward a pair of iron-bound double doors set into the left hand wall across from a line of what looked like cell doors. He used the blowgun again, and this time struck her in the small of the back with a dart. She cried out, staggered and fell forward onto her face.
A moment or two later, Ledare rounded the corner and found Roach there, crouched over the half-orc in front of the double doors. The doors themselves were of old construction, but showed signs of some recent, amateurish carving. The faces and symbols all had an unsettlingly evil quality despite the poor craftsmanship.
Sniffing, the Janissary glanced over her shoulder into the room down the hall whose door still stood open. A cloying scent hung in the air and seemed to be coming from the hazy room. From where she stood, Ledare could see several sitting mats and a few low-lying bookcases jammed with books and scrolls. The pungent smoke seemed to be emanating from the brazier of incense sitting atop the bookcase opposite the door. Three cross-legged figures, either meditating or in some other form of deep reverie were sitting on the floor, surrounded by the smoke.
She didn't hear Roach come up behind her until his voice whispered in her ear.
"I hear chanting coming from behind those double doors," he said. "A lot of it."
Ledare turned and looked at the ominous doors. It was plain that the half-orc had been trying to reach them and that likely meant that there were reinforcements beyond. She grimaced.
"I feel like we are in way over our heads here," she muttered. More loudly she added, "I say we go back."
Just then, Finian and Kirnoth rounded the corner with Ruze in tow. The Archer had his ruined bow in his left hand and Kirnoth wore a look of pride.
"The rat thing is dead," he announced in a half-whisper.
Ruze sniffed the air.
"What's that smell?" he asked.
Ledare pointed to the open doorway and the small room beyond.
"Incense," she said, her eyes wary of any movement from the three figures within.
"Smells a little like blue lotus," Kirnoth told them. "It's used in dream magic."
"Could these be such magic users?" Ledare asked, her hand tightening on the pommel of her sword.
"I don't think so," the elf told her with a shake of his head. "Dream magic usually involves eating blue lotus, not burning it."
"Black lotus is a poison," Finian offered. "One of the more deadly ones actually. It can be burned and delivered through the smoke. But they'd be convulsing in pain or long dead if that was black lotus."
"Purple lotus is a powerful narcotic," Ruze told them. "It's always inhaled and induces a state of bliss that verges on unconsciousness."
"It's also highly illegal in Elcaden," Ledare said looking first at the smoky room and then at Ruze. "How do you know so much about it?"
"Certain clergies of the more... unseemly deities use purple lotus to induce a state of religious ecstasy," the Battleguard said with a shrug. "I think it's a load of troll dung personally."
Roach moved to the door and quietly pushed it closed.
"These three are not our most pressing concern," he told them as he plucked his dart free of the door. It disappeared among the folds of his filthy cloak. He indicated the area with the double doors and the dead half-orc.
Finian moved quietly in that direction and paused when he was close enough to here the voices raised in a chanting drone that he had heard before.
...UH-LUH... UH-LUH... UH-LUH...
As it had all that time ago, the sound made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and his head pound. At least he didn't start spontaneously bleeding this time.
A trifle shaken, he backed away from the door and leaned his bow against the wall.
"Let's attack them as quickly and quietly as possible," he said grimly. "Any ideas of how to kill a lot of critters fast?"
"Hold on," Ledare said quickly. "I don't want to have to confront who is chanting behind the double doors if we don't have to. I think we are in trouble here and I think it was foolish of us to think we could take on this whole cult."
"It might be now or never, Ledare," Kirnoth told her. "I don't think we're going to get a better chance."
The Janissary shook her head.
"I don't think that physical force is going to resolve this situation for us," she countered. "At the very best we will be captured, and then who knows what... We need to consider other options - more along the lines of stealth and espionage, not combat."
They looked at each other for a moment and then Finian said, "I have two ideas: either Roach and I sneak in and see what is there or we barricade the door and search this area."
Roach growled.
"We can look for trinkets later," he told the Archer. "Now is not the time."
"We have surprise on our side now. If we leave and try again, they'll find the dead bodies and be better prepared. And there's not a lot of time left before 'She Who Is Coming' becomes 'She's Here'! I think we have to go through with this or we will not be successful in this mission."
Ledare considered the wizard's words and her face took on a look of deep consideration.
"How about this," she said at last. "What if Finian goes ahead with the invisibility ring and checks out who is chanting. If, by chance, the group chanting is all decked out in black robes, perhaps we could join them surreptitiously and quietly observe from there."
"That could work," Finian said, fingering the invisibility ring. "Just be ready if it doesn't."
"Okay," the Janissary nodded. Under her breath she muttered, "I still think we are about to be in a very bad way."
Only Ruze heard her and he quickly said, "Wait."
He then spread his arms in the general direction of the Companions and said," My Queen, I fear that we're about to face a great evil and I hope that your blessing will shine on us as we champion your cause."
They each felt a pleasant tingle in their hearts and a warm sense of calm suffused their bodies.
"Okay," the Battleguard concluded.
Finian slipped the ring off his finger and then slipped it back on and instantly disappeared from view.
"Open it," he hissed and Roach reached out with a warty yellow hand and grabbed the enormous iron pull ring.
"Prepare yourself!" he growled and yanked back on the ring.
The door opened silently revealing a shadowy, vaulted chamber of impressive size. The foul stench of offal, human waste and urine drifted out like a cloud. Fat, smoky, black candles provided dim illumination, enough for Finian to see familiar black columns supporting the ceiling: each was carved to depict a nude woman with bat wings standing on a mound of skulls. In the center of the shadow-filled room stood seven chanting figures in green-trimmed, brown cloaks, surrounding a large sacrificial altar of black stone. A gagged man lay atop the altar bound with heavy ropes.
The Archer had enough time to see that much before the chanting stopped and the cloaked figures turned toward the door. The lead man, who wore around his throat the same type of yellow scarf that Heurist had worn, held a wavy-bladed dagger in his right hand.
"Defilers!" he cried out, pointing the dagger at the door.
"They've spotted us," Roach growled and drew his blowgun.
"Dammit!" Ledare cursed and started for the door.
"Ledare!" Kirnoth said, stopping the Janissary as he touched the Weave and moved his hands through the gestures symbolizing form and change.
Invisibly, Finian moved silently into the chamber, circling around to the right as he went.
"Kill them!" the cultist with the dagger shouted and the robed figures broke ranks.
Everything seemed to be happening at once.
Kirnoth sent the Enlarge spell at Ledare and the air around her was filled with the tinkling sound of a thousand bells as she grew to nearly eight feet in height.
Roach huffed into his blowgun, but the dart went well wide of the mark.
The man with the dagger muttered a few words and a cloud of greenish smoke began to rise around him.
Two of the other figures cried out to 'the Lady of Worms' and pointed toward the double doors. A bubble of impenetrable darkness instantly filled the area, enveloping Roach and Ledare and completely hiding the entry to the room.