FORGE OF FURY (Part VIII)
Kellick was dead, and the halfling was to blame.
Wulf wrestled with the moral dilemma set before him. By all that was good and right in the universe, the halfling deserved to die. He needed to die; it was a karmic certainty that Wulf felt down to his bones. But the rest of the party was unconscious, and Wulf felt the burden of the responsibility settling uncomfortably onto his shoulders. He could see the peck's beady little eyes flicking towards the exit, measuring the paces to safety. The right thing to do was to finish him off now.
Wulf searched through his backpack for a healing draught. He could drink it now, and even battered as he was, the sneaky little peck was no match for him in a stand-up fight. Wulf didn't like stand-up fights. He itched to throttle the little bastard in his sleep.
The problem was, he needed the halfling right now-- more than the halfling needed to die. Wulf sighed at his lack of moral strength. Like so many times before, what was good and right took a back seat to Wulf's own self-interests. There were more duergar roaming around the halls-- he felt sure he wouldn't make it out alone.
Wulf slowly unknitted his furious brows and put away his weapons to set the halfling at ease. "Get over here and make yerself useful. Get Keldas back on his feet." He eased Halma up and poured the last drops of his healing potion down his friend's throat.
The halfling seemed satisfied that he was in no immediate danger, and he quickly scuttled over to restore Keldas to consciousness as well. Wulf brought his groggy comrades up to speed.
"The halfling let Kellick die. We gotta get out o' here."
Wulf heaved Kellick's tiny, broken body under one arm, and set Taranak ablaze in his other hand. "Let's go."
They nearly tripped over Misty's body on the way out. Keldas stopped them. "We should get Misty too; bury them together."
"Yer wastin' time on a dead wolf?"
"Misty was a valuable ally through many battles. How many times did she come to your aid?"
"Just doin' what she was trained to do, that's all. Yer gonna carry her, fine. Cause we got no time to waste." Wulf kept moving through the great hall. The halfling didn't seem to care, either; he had nothing to say and was already on the way out.
Keldas struggled, trying to heave the big wolf across his back. "I'm not leaving her here." It was easy to forget that, at heart, Keldas was an arrogant, superior, and utterly intolerable elf. Wulf was somewhat grateful for the reminder.
Halma stopped and easily heaved the carcass over one shoulder. "I carry. Now go."
Wulf was in a sour mood. The halfling still walked this world among the quick, an affront to the gods-- and Wulf felt personally responsible. He struggled to find patience with Keldas. "Fine, fine. We'll build the damn wolf a sarcophagus-- ain't that right, peck?"
They set out down the mountain. Wulf led them off the path to the hole where they'd previously buried their cache of breastplates. "Let's bury Kellick right here. It's a good spot. Keep his body near the place where his soul parted ways." He dumped the body into the hole. "Godspeed, Kellick."
Halma slung Misty into the hole as well. There was barely room for the two of them. Wulf started looking around for rocks to build a cairn over the shallow grave.
Keldas sighed. "I don't suppose you could be bothered to dig a fresh grave for each of them?"
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The long walk home was grim and silent. Wulf spent his time at the halfling's side. "Some things are gonna change, peck. Yer gonna make up for what yer did. Yer gonna learn to fight if I have to kill yer."
True to his word, Wulf spent his days training with the little peck, who turned out to be a surprisingly apt pupil. Wulf gave up trying to teach him how to put his strength behind his dagger thrusts, since it was obvious the halfling was long on agility and short on strength. He had a natural talent for finding the weakness in his opponent's defenses, weaving his little dagger in and out with finesse.
"Not bad. Now use yer other hand." Wulf forced the halfling to switch hands, and when he'd mastered that, showed him how to fight with a dagger in each hand. It was frighteningly effective.
The training wasn't without its benefits for Wulf, too. The halfing's sparring kept him constantly on his toes, and Wulf soon learned to anticipate the danger, often dodging before the halfling's strike had even begun. It was a useful talent.
But Wulf hadn't forgotten or forgiven. Each night he sat with Halma, learning a few phrases of Giant-kind. Wulf was eager to share a common language with Halma-- one that the rest of the group couldn't understand. Wulf felt that Halma was the only one he could really trust, when the time came to do what must be done.
Wulf made one last trip to the old man to explain their situation and beg for help.
"Well, old man, Durgeddin's halls are full of duergar. Yer a dwarf, I know yer can't like that. Are yer finally willing to help us or not? The damn gnome up and died on us. We need some cheap healin' if yer expect us to go back and do Moradin's work."
"Duergar? This is dire news indeed. Healing potions alone will not suffice; no doubt you'll need a cleric of Moradin to reconsecrate the halls."
"Now yer talking! Pack yer bags and fire up the Flame Strike, old man!"
"Oh no! I won't be going myself! Heavens, no. I can send an acolyte, though, that Moradin's strength and protection may go with you. Diessa!"
The curtains parted and a young female dwarf stepped into the room.
Wulf raised one eyebrow. "How YOU doin'?"
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Wulf was in much better spirits when at last they set out for the mountain again, despite the fact that it was pointless trying chat up Diessa. Her only concern was reclaiming the halls for the glory of Moradin-- and Wulf had little luck convincing her of his devotion. He scraped the corners of his mind for the proper words, but he'd paid little attention religion as a child and even less through his adult life.
"Praise Moradin!" He made his fist into the sign of the hammer. He was sure there was something about a hammer. Or a fist.
Diessa was unmoved. Wulf was a little disappointed that he'd had more rapport with Kellick than he could muster with one of his own people-- and a lady at that. He shrugged. In the end, blood and battle were his loves. He had little use for religion and even less for romance-- either or both could be bent to his needs, and he was happy.
"Look... Yer just take care of me, and I'll take care of yer, ok?"
Once again the group made their way down to the Great Hall, once again an alarm called out a warning at their approach, and once again, they poured into the Great Hall to do battle.
This time, the duergar had reinforcements. A dozen warriors, backed up by their sorceress leader. No problem-- the party met them blow for blow. It was when the drow stepped out from behind the dais that the party started to re-assess the situation.
Drow-- one male, one female-- pulling out all the old tricks. Darkness, invisibility, and a bevy of unholy spells made the battle more desperate. Diessa did her best to counter the evil priestess and protect her party. Keldas was livid, eschewing his spells and drawing his sword to do battle face to face. The drow were unimpressed by his headlong charge, hurling insults and striking back with sword and mace, but when Halma joined the battle, and Wulf and the halfling moved into place on their flanks, their resolve crumbled. The duergar chieftain threw warriors into the fray to cover their escape-- invisibly, once again. The heroes were frustrated once more-- eventually victorious over the warriors, but not the leaders, and too wounded to risk tracking down an invisible foe. They retired to the surface caves to rest-- and plan a more successful assault.
It was clear that Diessa would prepare an Invisibility Purge as well as Dispel Magic. Wulf stood over Keldas' shoulder and did his best to understand his spellbook, annoying the wizard with his constant kibitzing and second-guessing of his spell preparation.
"Yer takin' Rapid Strikes, right?"
"Yeah! Rapid strikes!" Halma joined in, lobbying hard for what Wulf called "Fightin' Smack."
"Maybe I'll take one. I want to be ready with Glitterdust, though."
"What!?" In the countless times Keldas had tried to use Glitterdust to reveal invisible foes, he'd always guessed their location wrong and wasted the spell. "That thing is useless! Give us webs and acid arrows! Yer need some real smack if yer want to fight drow!"
Wulf gave up and went to rest against the wall while the spellcasters prepared.
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The party crept back down to the Great Hall-- no alarm awaited them in the entry. They crept into the hall, wary of invisible ambushers, but the hall was silent. They could still hear the sound of the forges being worked off to the west, but they opted to enter the door at the end of the hall, behind the dais-- from whence they'd seen the drow arrive before.
The party gathered up quietly and burst suddenly into the small room. The duergar sorceress was there, flanked by the drow and a few duergar warriors. She stood and spoke to the party. "You should not have returned!" Crossbows creaked as the warriors leveled them at the party.
Wulf quickly stepped to the front. "Hold yer fire!" The duergar hesitated just long enough for Wulf to sense an opportunity. They were willing to parlay? The situation was tense, so Wulf proceeded with the utmost diplomacy.
"Right. Look. Yer fight pretty good, and we can fight again if yer want, but yer know we're just gonna keep killing yer boys off and comin' back. And maybe yer might get lucky and kill another one of us. Nobody wants that, right?"
"What do you propose, then?" The warriors eased their aim just a little.
Wulf glanced at the drow and took another bold step forward. He spoke quickly in Undercommon, trying to remember the right words, and addressing the priestess directly. "Aluvé! We make a deal. We can fight. You pay us good, we do not kill you. Kill whoever you want."
The drow priestess spoke up and gestured at Keldas. "You consort with our hated brethren. Why should we trust you?"
Wulf was pretty sure his comrades couldn't understand what was being said, but he glanced back just the same. They looked nervous and confused-- Keldas looked angry, but he wisely held his tongue. Wulf plowed on, speaking comfortably in Undercommon as the old language started to come back to him.
"Who do you think is in charge? An elf, a peck, a boy, and a woman. And then there is me. Do not worry about them."
Halma was fidgeting, his sword quivering. He whispered to Wulf, "What you say to bad elves?"
Wulf quickly spoke to the priestess, switching for a moment to the gutteral Giant tongue. "It help if you speak Giant. You speak?"
The drow male snapped at Wulf. "Stop grunting at her with that gibberish! Show some respect!"
Wulf chuckled to himself and turned to Halma, whispering in their shared language. "It's ok, we not fight them now, come kill later... Good?" Halma nodded.
Wulf turned back to the priestess. "The boy respects your power. We do not want to kill any more of you in pointless battles. We only want to pass by to plunder the deeper halls. You see the value of a truce?"
The drow conferred for a moment with the duergar sorceress. At length she spoke up. "We see the wisdom of a truce at this time. The halls to the west contain many undead, and we do not wish to deal with them at this time. You may try your luck there. If you do not disturb us here or in the forges to the east, you may keep what plunder you may find."
Wulf bowed low.
The drow priestess spoke, almost as an afterthought, "And should you seek out the deeper levels, you will find a young dragon that has taken up residence there. She has some small amount of treasure you may wish to recover."
Wulf nearly fell over in his surprise. A wh-- did she say?-- Wulf composed himself. "Very well. Thank you. Farewell."
Wulf turned and hustled his comrades back out the door and into the Great Hall. Keldas spoke up immediately. "Look, I don't know what that was all about, but I am not making any alliance with drow-- as if we could trust them!"
"Quit yer blubbering! I just bought us some time, that's all. They say there's some undead to the west. It's probably a trap, but we can plunder that first, get stronger, then come back and murder these *****s."
Keldas' rigid morality got the better of him. "I don't like going back on my word!"
"Yer just said yer weren't going to make a deal with drow! So there's no word to go back on, right?"
"Fine!" Once again Wulf had successfully led Keldas through a moral crisis. It was a good feeling to help his friend through his moments of doubt.
"Yer all should know... there's one more thing. Seems there's a dragon down deeper." Wulf didn't wait for their reactions, but headed to the doors to the western crypts. "Right then, let's go get some undead."
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The party was ever wary of a duergar double-cross that never materialized. True to their word, the western area was home to quite a few restless dead, though mostly the lesser sort that were easily dispatched with weapons. There was a tense moment with some kind of shadowy form that trapped the party in a narrow hall, draining their will with its eerie wail and icy touch-- but no serious mishaps.
A small room to the north held a beautiful young girl, trapped in a pentagram, who begged the party to save her from a terrible wizard who had entrapped her. Halma was instantly smitten and was near to being forcibly restrained; Keldas refused to leave a damsel in distress; but it was the even-keeled Wulf who pointed out the inconsistencies in her story. "And besides... Even if yer not an evil demon she-bitch," he told the sobbing girl, "there's drow and dragons running about, yer safer tucked away here than hangin' onto my apron strings. We'll come back for yer. Yer got my word on that."
She was soon forgotten and the party continued their explorations...
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After a number of twists, turns, and dead-ends, they realized that they'd explored the entirety of the eastern passageways. Wulf checked his map and pointed out a number of likely spots for secret doors, and Keldas' keen eyes soon uncovered just such a portal. The door opened onto a long hall. A short passage branched off to one side and ended in another secret door. The main portion of the hall continued on for several paces then fell away into the darkness. There were slick ladder rungs leading down to the sound of running water. Judging from their map, they had completely circled around the duergar leader's room. Their choice: duergar or dragon.
They chose the duergar.
The party gathered up just outside the Great Hall. The plan was to power up with spells, then burst in as fast and deadly as possible. Diessa put a Silence on a small rock-- Halma would hold this and close with their spellcasters to prevent spellcasting. Several Protection from Evil spells were bestowed. Bless. Rapid Strikes. Displacement for Halma. The works. When it was all set, Wulf opened the door and Halma burst into the Great Hall, expecting his allies to follow right behind him.
The duergar and their dark elf allies were waiting for them.
"Fools! Did you think our gods would fail to warn us of your inevitable treachery?"
Keldas had just entered the room and Halma had made it as far as the throne before a huge billowing web descended on the party. Halma and Keldas were trapped in the room, while the rest of the party was still stuck out in the hall. Fortunately, the drow wizard was rather indiscriminate, and he'd captured a couple of duergar warriors in the web as well.
Wulf started slashing at the webs with Taranak, trying to burn them away. The halfling threw some burning oil out into the room, where it started burning away from the other side. It would take a few precious moments to burn away to the middle. Unfortunately, their enemies were not content to wait for that to happen. Keldas and Halma both were stuck in the webs and pounded mercilessly. It soon became clear to Wulf that by the time the webs burned away to Keldas, the duergar would kill him-- and if not, the flames from the web would probably finish him off! Wulf grit his teeth, dove into the burning web, and started pushing his way through the flaming strands-- at the very least, he hoped to offer their enemies another tempting target.
Halma managed to wiggle his arms and weapon free and started hacking at the priestess, but she quickly stepped back outside the range of the silence spell and managed to hold the young warrior. The duergar warriors started shooting at him, and though every other shot missed the blurry outline of the barbarian, the party could only watch and wait as Halma suffered wound after wound.
Keldas managed to free himself and stagger out of the webs. He rushed towards Halma where he could potentially cast a Dispel onto the area, but was worried about dropping his own Displacement spell. It was the only thing keeping Halma alive at the moment. Wulf changed course and started hacking a path to Halma, beckoning Diessa up behind him so that she could cast healing magic when she got close enough. The circle of silence surrounding the barbarian proved to be a problem, as Diessa would have to cast her spell from outside then hold it long enough to move in and touch his wounds. She wasn't certain he'd live long enough for her to get there.
The party turned their attention to what could be helped. Keldas managed to Sleep the greater number of the warriors, while Wulf harassed the duergar sorceress with his sling. The halfling drank a potion of Invisibility (where did he get that?) and started moving out into the room, angling for a chance to get nasty with the sorceress. Unfortunately, she'd somehow levitated up out of reach. Though he was loathe to go toe-to-toe with anyone remotely able to fight back, the halfling had no choice but to pick on the drow male. As expected, his sneak attack was brutally effective: the drow went down in a heap to the halfling's deadly little daggers-- hamstrung, two perforated kidneys, and a couple of kicks in the kneecaps for good measure.
Keldas turned his attention to the duergar sorceress, sending acid arrows zipping into her compact frame. Visible or no, the continuing agony of the acid dogged her as she sailed around the ceiling. She took several such arrows and fled into the forges.
They'd wittled the resistance down to the drow female, and Wulf moved to the north end of the room, up onto the dais, to back her away from his friend Halma. Wulf charged, swinging Taranak over his head to watch the flames burst across her armor. She was severely wounded-- but once again, able to turn invisible and flee. They saw her leave through the north door.
The party quickly circled their wagons, retreating to the south end of the hall where they restored Halma to activity and healed everybody up as best as they could. Diessa burned spell after spell, beseeching Moradin to grant the healing they desperately needed. They looked up to see the north door open once again.
A sinewy, black, reptilian head poked through.
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"Who dares to disturb the rest of Nightscale?"
Wulf had always imagined a dragon's voice to come booming out with authority, but he found the quiet, subtle, feminine hiss of Nightscale to be even more disturbing.
The dragon sat on the dais, watching them imperially. The party could do nothing but stare right back. Several awkward moments passed before something occurred to Wulf. "I'll handle this."
He drew his axe and walked to the north. "Come down off the dais and get me, yer fat toad. I don't think yer got the stones."
The party watched as Wulf walked to certain doom. The dragon merely watched and waited atop the dais.
"Yeah, that's right. Yer dealin' with Wulf Ratbane now. Now be a good girl and come take the ass-whippin' yer got coming to yer."
Wulf was literally within reach of the dragon-- his comrades crossed themselves and wished him well in the afterlife-- when he suddenly darted off toward the forges and slammed the door there.
The dragon winked out of existence.
Wulf had seen the duergar using illusions before, so it had only taken him a moment to figure out that the dragon was probably an illusion too. He'd simply focused his eyes and his mind and sure enough, he'd stared right through it. He enjoyed a good belly laugh at the expense of his companions.
"Yer should have seen yer faces!" He could barely compose himself. "Now let's finish off this tricky duergar bitch once and for all." He grabbed the silence stone from atop the dais-- he'd use it to cancel out the sorceress' spells and finish her off. His comrades were halfway up the hall to join him when he threw wide the door to the forges and stepped inside.
Sure enough, the duergar sorceress was there, wide-eyed and silent...
And so too was the drow priestess! Climbing up the rope ladder into the forge, right on time, as expected.
What was completely unexpected, however, was the long black shadow that rose up out of the darkness behind her and alighted in the forges. Wulf took a blast of acid breath full force in the chest. He staggered back out of the room and yelled to his companions, "It's the REAL dragon! Run, ye poor bastards!"
He was still silenced, of course, so his warning was unheeded. Halma and Keldas kept right on going-- right past Wulf, wallowing into a puddle of black acid, and straight into the jaws of death waiting in the room.
They decided, against all better judgement, to fight for it. "Have at 'em, boys! Yer only live once!"
Halma stepped up and took it to the dragon; Wulf spread out as best he could to take out the drow priestess; and Keldas concentrated on the duergar sorceress.
Keldas finished off the sorceress with one last acid arrow...
Wulf forced the drow to flee into the depths again...
and Halma did bugger-all to the dragon.
Their weapons could barely penetrate its scaly hide, and it seemed to have an insurmountable tolerance for punishment. It drew back and breathed again, drawing a neat line between Halma and Wulf. Overconfidence got the better of Wulf again as his normally nimble reflexes failed to evade the blast. He was very nearly dead now-- another blast like that would kill him. Or Halma. Or Keldas for that matter. What to do?
"Run away! Run away!"
Wulf was the first out the door, catching the halfling lurking outside the door and bundling him off down the hall. Together they crossed the length of the great hall at a flat-out sprint, their stumpy little legs pumping for all they were worth. Keldas passed them a moment later. Finally came Halma, who'd turned on his heel and left the dragon choking on his dust. Diessa was already waiting for them all at the doorway out of Durgeddin's halls.
Nightscale came gliding swiftly and effortlessly into the hall, right into their midst, and settled to the ground, laughing. There was no way they could outrun the dragon. They were all going to die. One at a time, probably, but it was inevitable.
Keldas was the first to decide to fight. He dropped a Glitterdust right onto the dragon's head and urged his comrades into battle. "Quick! While she's blinded by the dust! She can't hit you!" He drew his sword and stepped up, toe to toe with the dragon.
Halma didn't have to be told twice. He knew he could outrun the rest of the party, but that would only mean he'd be the last to die-- alone. He swung his greatsword in a wide arc and turned to charge the beast.
Wulf couldn't decide if he was inspired, or simply resigned to the matter. He dove into position on the dragon's flank.
Diessa stepped up, flanking the dragon with Wulf and slinging her warhammer for all it was worth.
The halfling hesitated for a moment, but, hey, as long as it was blind and helpless... ("It's blind, right?" "YES!") He tumbled over behind the dragon where he could safely attack it from the rear.
And, amazingly, it was just enough. The dragon faltered under the weight of their combined assault, its bulk collapsing amidst the glittering gold motes dancing in the air.
For once, they felt like they could stop, right there on the battlefield, lean against their weapons, and just rest.
Like heroes.
Nobody felt harried. The drow was surely long gone. No invisible enemies were around to ambush them. Wulf took his time happily butchering the dragon-- carefully removing its head and most of its hide. He bundled it all up into a sack.
"Right... Yer want to press our luck and go look for her treasure?"
"NO!"