Beloved Child 7
The ogress whirled on the group when they entered the hall through one of the side doors. She quickly raised the large maul she carried and toppled a table in the process. It made a dull thud as it hit the floor.
“Who are you?” She growled showing her sharp teeth and bent tusks. “All humies are supposed to be dead or gone away.”
“We are here to make you an offer.” Groder told her and made slight bow
“Wha…?” the ogress seemed confused and her brow furrowed, she squinted at them. Dark bangs fell in front of her face.
“We are willing to pay you to help us.” Groder continued sweetly as if talking to a child.
“Mogal is already getting paid.” The ogress responded and brandished the maul in a threatening manner.
“We will pay more. How does 2000 gold sound?”
Mogal`s small eyes went wide when she head the sum.
“Ogres only get…” She thought for a moment. “1000 to share… How do I know you do not lie?” She gripped the maul tighter. “We were told 1000 after….”
“We don’t lie.” Groder smiled again and then motioned at Nalia. “This is the daughter of this keeps lord. She will vouch for us.”
Mogal looked down at Nalia. “You are really his daughter? She has a green ring”
Nalia nodded hesitantly and showed her ring.
“See, it has our family name engraved on it.”
Mogal nodded eagerly.
“We were to look for you.” The ogress began. “But you were gone.”
“So, do you agree to help us? 2000 for you alone is very good no?” Groder interjected.
The ogress chewed her lower lip and looked uncertain. She seemed to weigh the pros and cons of the offer in her head. Then she nodded the black spikes of hair bobbing.
“Just make sure you pay…” The ogress growled.
“Then tell us, where are the rest of the invaders?”
“The courtyard is full of goblins, Thorgal didn’t want them inside. Upstairs are trolls and maybe some ogres. Got to watch out for Lur, that bastard got magic. Thorgal is below. I’d like to smash his skull open if only it didn’t grow back afterwards.”
“Let us head for the courtyard, we need to open the gates.”
“We are going to let the humies in?” Mogal asked, looking worried. She came to stand next to the group. Groder noted with some annoyance that his head only reached to the ogress midriff.
“Ah, yes. But you are with us so that will be alright…” Groder said. “Now shall we?”
He waved a hand towards the big double doors leading to the courtyard. They grouped at the doors and Groder instructed Yoshimo to go back down the secret passage to Arats war camp and tell the captain to get ready. The Kara-Turan returned after ten minutes.
The group and the ogress burst into the courtyard that was almost L shaped. To their left a wooden kennel held some barking dogs; a few goblins poked them with their short spears. Large rocks rose behind the leftmost wall. A tower rose from the wall at the corner of the L and in the long sided walls middle was the portcullis. By the keep wall and the entrance to the small sitting room sat a stone stair that led up to the keeps ramparts.
The group sprinted towards the stairs as the goblins began realizing that something was wrong. They had reached the stairs when the goblins swarmed upon them. Making it up a few steps Mogal began waving her maul at the advancing goblins, creating a barrier and backing slowly upwards. In the back of the pressing goblin throng was their helmeted leader crying for archers. The rest of the group sprinted up the stairs with Groder in the lead. He skidded to a halt in the middle of the stair when a large troll came bounding down towards him. It was larger then the ones they had fought previously. Its back was bent and its face misshapen, the nose broken and one eye was rolled back into its head. Wild white hair flowed from its head.
Behind them the goblins where making little progress bypassing Mogal whom sent a few goblins flying with each swing of her maul, but the holes made in the swarm where quickly filled by new little green bodies and the ogress was slowly backing up the steps. Groder and Viconia were being driven back by the old troll coming down the stairs. Nalia cried an incantation behind them and several red balls shot over their heads and hit the troll around the head and neck.
It lost its footing and fell screaming from the stairs, smacking into the goblin archers that had begun taking up position below. The group moved up onto the ramparts where more goblins waited. Below them Mogal swung her maul again and again and sent more broken bodies flying. The goblins on the ramparts were quickly dispatched and the group began turning the wheel.
Down below, the door to the sitting room slammed open and two trolls and two ogres spilled out. The old troll on the ground was getting up again when a few flaming arrows slammed into its back sending it down. Pandemonium erupted in the courtyard when Arat lead his forces through the portcullis. A group of goblins broke off from Mogal and headed for the newcomers. The trolls and ogres ran at the humans. One of the ogres passed close to the stairs got its head smashed by Mogals maul.
The fighting went definitely in the humans favour when more of Arats men entered the courtyard from the keep proper, having come in from the secret passage. The goblins lost what little discipline they had and attempted to flee through the humans. Few made it out.
The trolls and the remaining ogre didn’t fare better and soon joined the scores of dead goblins on the ground.
Groder and the party had made their way down the stairs and was standing at the bottom with a nervous looking ogress. The courtyard was still a flurry of activity, men and women in red and blue where checking the wounded and hauling corpses out of the way. Arat came up to them, his armour splattered with gore.
“That went rather well, I am glad to see that you are alright, lady Nalia.” His gaze drifted to the ogress and then to Groder. “What about her?” He indicated the ogress standing in the back of the group.
“Mogal is on our side.” Groder replied and Nalia nodded a bit apprehensively.
“I suppose press ganging an ogre isn’t a bad idea, just not a likable one.” Arat said. “We have taken the first floor of the keep, now all we have to do is find and make sure that both Lord De`Arnise and Lady Delcia are safe and sound.”
“Again, I think a smaller group may enjoy more success. They most certainly know we are here now. We wouldn’t want any rash actions taken by the remaining forces.” He continued.
“If you don’t mind captain, I think we should rest a few minutes. I also need to talk to Nalia about the layout for the second floor.” Groder said.
Arat nodded and went to see to his men. The group huddled around the stairs with Mogal sitting on the steps; she was still a head taller then everyone else.
“So, that went absurdly well.” Groder announced. “Better then I had hoped.”
“We are actually doing it… reclaiming my home.” Nalia breathed.
“Did you ever doubt young lovely?” This from Yoshimo.
“Now we just need a plan.” Groder turned to Nalia. “Was Arats scribbles accurate in regards to the second floor?”
“Well yes…” Nalia began. “But he doesn’t know the passages there. They interconnect the whole floor and at its centre is a stairwell the leads to the cellars and the tower.” Nalia pointed to a solitary spire that rose from the far end of the keep.
“Are there more secrets there little one?” Viconia asked from directly behind Nalia, causing the girl to jump a bit.
“N… no, it is just a small retreat.”
The group stopped at the top of the stairs with Mogal at the rear. The stairs had led to a smaller dining room, presumably used only by the De`Arnise family and guests.
“So, where to?” Groder asked Nalia.
“Both doors lead to corridors and my auntie’s room is on the other side of the second floor so it doesn’t matter.”
“Well, let us check through the rooms anyways. If I counted right we may face very little resistance here.”
They were faced with an immediate problem though, the De`Arnise keeps doorways and corridors were not built for ogres and Mogal stood a head higher then the doorways.
“Do you think you can squeeze through?” Groder asked the ogress. She looked at the doorway and corridor beyond.
“I guess… Mogal is big for an ogre.”
In the end Mogal managed to enter the corridor but had to walk hunched over in the small corridor. The corridor itself went straight forward and then veered of to the right. A lone door on the left wall led into a guest room. Groder closed the door and Nalia led them on. The continuing corridor held another guest room and ended at a sturdy oak door with extravagant carvings on it.
“This is the library; we can get into the passages from here.”
“Yoshimo, can you tell if anyone is in there?” Groder addressed the Kara-Turan.
“We shall see.” He answered and walked up the door. He put one palm to the doors surface and then pressed his ear against it. He stayed this way for some time.
“I don’t think anyone is there. I am not sure.” He disengaged from the door.
“Well, we are kind of working on a schedule.” Groder muttered. “We will have to take our chances. Open it.”
He immediately regretted that decision, as the door swung open a deep male voice cried a command word. From the tip of the blue wand pointed squarely at them, a blue arc of electricity shot out towards them. The tattooed face of the ogre mage wielding it was a mask of gleeful hatred.
The force of the magically altered lighting bolt lifted Yoshimo and threw him against the corridor wall. It bounced from Groder to Nalia, singeing him and driving Nalia into unconsciousness. Viconia had braced herself for the impact and the elf’s innate resistance to magical energies managed to make the electricity dissipate harmlessly. The ogre mage was about to fire another volley when he spotted Mogal. Confusion overtook his features.
“Wha… Mogal?”
“Lur…” She growled.
The ogress didn’t wait but charged into the library almost stepping on the unconscious humans. As the space between the two ogres closed, the mage whacked Mogal with the wand. She shrugged it off. The two where to close to each other to used their preferred methods of fighting so they started using their fists. Mogal quickly landed blow after blow with her massive fists and the ogre mage had a hard time keeping up. In the end he sunk to the floor with a smashed skull.
Viconia began to quickly cast healing spells on the wounded and dazed group. Groder and Nalia had escaped with some light singeing and headaches. Yoshimo had not been so lucky and Viconia had to use on of her more powerful spells to close up a wound on his skull. Mogal was leaning against a large bookshelf and panting. Groder walked up to while trying to smoothen out his hair.
“Fast thinking there…. Good.” He told her. The ogress nodded her thanks and went to retrieve her weapon. Nalia was helping Yoshimo to stand and walked him into the library heading for a corner with plush chair that sat by a small table.
“I have used most of my healing spells.” Viconia told Groder. “We shall have to be careful.”
Groder nodded and looked around. Compared to Candlekeep this library was nothing but he supposed that it was fairly large and well stocked for an Amnian noble family. The room held a fireplace before which a table and a few chairs sat. Bookshelves where lined against the walls and a few shelves stood on their own in the middle of the room. The sun was shining in through two large windows and Groder wondered how much time they had before it set.
After the involuntary rest Nalia showed them the secret doorway. Manipulating a small carving on a bookshelf opened a section in it and revealed a passage. Groder found it to be horribly cliché but said nothing. Viconia moved first into the darkness, mumbled a few words and a sparkling light appeared above her head.
“Shall we?” She asked.
The group moved down the corridor, Mogal was hunched over but did not need to walk sideways. They moved down the corridor guided by Viconias light when Yoshimo motioned to Groder to stop. They had come near an open space which held a large stone cylindrical stairway leading up and down. A slight shuffling could be heard and it was coming closer. Both Nalia and Yoshimo knocked back arrows and took aim. A man moved slowly into view and turned towards them. Viconias light shone on a strong chiselled face. His green eyes were vacant. Nalia lowered her bow.
“Glacias!” She cried.
The man opened his mouth slightly and then it curled into a snarl.
“For my new master, his magic has shown me the way!” The man called Glacias cried and charged raising an axe over his head.
“It is me, Nalia! Don’t you recognize me?” the young noble cried. Viconia pushed her out of the way.
“He is being dominated, waela jalil!” The drow turned quickly to Yoshimo. “Kill him!”
“Do as she says!” Groder yelled backing up.
Yoshimo let his arrow lose and the man fell backwards just before reaching them, the arrow sticking out of his head. Nalia got to her feet distraught.
“That was Glacias, he is one of my father most trusted bodyguards! Why did you do that?”
“As I said, he was under a spell and he would have continued to attempt to kill us unless we killed him.” Viconia stated calmly.
“But there are counter spells!” Nalia practically shouted.
“I do not have any ready, do you? There was never any mention of mages so I made no preparations for such things.” Nalias face fell a bit.
Groder meanwhile was looting the bodyguard’s corpse. Nalia noticed what he was doing just as he had begun slicing the dead mans clothes open with a dagger.
“What are you doing?” it was barely a whisper. Groder gave her an incomprehensive look.
“Searching…” He ventured seeming not to understand what the red-head was talking about.
“And finding!” he said before Nalia could utter another word. He held up a flail head to the light. Viconia leaned in to look at the object. Nalia fell silent realizing that any protests would fall on deaf ears. Yoshimo slid up beside her.
“Try not to think of it, Nalia. They are…” He used a word from his own language she didn’t understand but the meaning was clear. Behind them Mogal snorted at the antics of the humans and drow.
“The second flail head. Good.” Viconia said and slipped it into her pouch. “Once we find the third one…” She finished with a nasty smile.
The group ignored the stone stairway and ventured down a western leading passage. Finding Delcia was their goal at the moment.
“This leads to a small chapel; it hasn’t been used for ages and beyond that is my aunt’s room.” Nalia told them looking quite subdued.
They emerged in a room with columns and three large statues of Waukeen, the goddess of trade. The entire room was bathed in gentle blue light emanating from magical fixtures in the ceiling and on the columns. In the shadows stood the large gleaming frame of a metal golem, it was not active and watched them with dull unseeing eyes. Groder wondered how long it had been here, dust seemed to cover everything in the chapel. He noticed that an old broken doll lay by the golem’s feet.
“What is that?” He asked and pointed.
“When I was little I left it here, I used to feel sorry for the golem that had to stand here all alone.” Nalia answered sheepishly. “The way to my aunt’s room is over there.” She pointed to an alcove near the statues.
When the wall slid inwards they where greeted with a view of an extravagant room. It was quickly obscured by a nervous looking guard that advanced against them. When he saw Nalia he practically dropped his sword and shield. Tears welled in his eyes and moved forward as to hug Groder who happened to be in the front of the group.
“Thank the gods! It has been so horrible.” The young man began to sob as Groder attempted to shake the man lose.
“Pathetic.” Viconia said behind him.
“Nalia!” A shrill voice cut through the young guards sobbing. “Who are these ruffians?”
