Of Sorcery and Ale: Chapter 14

Bloody!
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--Chapter Fourteen--
--Assassins and Flashbacks--

Korgan was drinking when Ochentarkinish found him. He had found a barrel of ale that was near the staircase, and instructed two trainees to carry it over to the courtroom.
"KORGAN?" the golem asked.
"Ach, so you be Jan's golem, eh?" Korgan said and belched. Major Domo winced.
"YES."
"Ah, good. Go clean out that cellar, now, will ye."
"YES."
The golem wondered off, presumably to the cellars, and Jan entered the courtroom, humming a tune.
"Hey, Korgy." he said loudly, looking very pleased with himself. "Did you see Ochey?"
"Yer golem?" Jan nodded. "Told 'em to go clean out the cellars."
"No trainees today, then? Perhaps they were eaten by griffins?" Jan suggested, sitting down next to Korgan.
"I told 'em ta go home. The Fentan Knights are comin' 'ere today, took them bloody long enough too." Korgan muttered. "Had some business ta take care of o'er at the Umar Hills or some such. No sense fer those young men ta get hurt, 'cause I guess many o'them would try ta go with those Knights."
A very odd gurgling sound came from beneath them.

Fortunatly for them, there were no thieves on the second floor of Mae'Var's guildhall. None that they could see, anyway. The group entered Mae'Var's room using one of Nalia's spells after Kita had jammed the lock trying to pick it, and there was a strongbox there. Kyron opened it using the key, and in it, some nice prizes.
"Ho hum, what is this?" Kita said, picking up a pair of boots. The boots were glowing brightly and it was obvious that it is enchanted, even to Kita.
"Let me see." Nalia said, and Kita handed it over to her. Nalia focused a while, then chanted some magical words. A white glow surrounded her other hand and she touched the pair of boots gently.
"It's the Boots of Stealth." Nalia said. Kita oooooed in responce.
"Ooooh. Nifty." Kita said brightly. "But what does it do?"

"Help!"
"What in the hells was that?!" Korgan demanded, slammed his keg down on the table, spilling ale all over Major Domo's paperwork. A very thin young man pushed the Keep doors open and charged into the courtroom. "Help!" he screamed again.
"And who the hell are ye?" Korgan roared, causing the poor man to cower and squeal.
"P-p-please don't hurt me!" he said in a high-pitched voice. "M-m-m-m-my name is Ly-Ly-Lyman and-and-and I-I-I'm one of the Fentan Kn-Kn-Knights!"
"GET ON WITH IT!" Korgan yelled, grabbing his axe and slicing his keg in two out of fury. Major Domo decided it would be better if he changed his seat, and Jan watched with real interest as the ale began to freeze under the magical influence of Frostreaver.
"Well, the others have BEEN CAPTURED!" Lyman screamed. "BY THE SHADE LORD!"
"Shade Lord, eh?" Jan piped up, thoughtful. "Well, my cousin Reginald was a bit shady too. He was a mage, see, and his favourite spell happened to be invisibility. You wouldn't believe the sights one could see in the local turnip garden while invisible. Well...he casted so many invisibility spells, that in the end, he just turned invisible, and he lived at the turnip gardens. Funny thing is there happened to be a griffin living there...and of course we all know griffins loved turnips. This particular griffin had bad eyesight, and..."
"And he ate your cousin Reginald?" Lyman asked.
"NO! Where would you get such an idea? The griffin ate the house instead, so Reginald took over and gazed at the turnip gardens all day. Of course, he's a bit of an oddball at parties...but alright, overall."
"Fascinating." Lyman breathed.
"Err, well." Korgan said, twiddling his axe. "What about the bandit problem in this area, eh?"
"Well...we were going to do that after we investigate the Umar Hills!"
"Hrrmph." Korgan grunted. "Would have ta talk to yer leader, the halfling lass..."
"But Lady Fentan had been captured too!"
"Mazzy?!" Korgan shouted.
"Yes! Lady M-Mazzy Fentan!"
"WE GOT TO GET GOING!" Korgan roared, then at Major Domo "Dominos! Ye can handle the Keep until yer Lord gets back, aye?"
"I-I suppose." Major Domo stammered.
"Right, then!" Korgan yelled, grabbing Jan by the collar (no small feat) and lifted him outside, then dropped him promptly. Lyman followed.
"We have ta reach the Mazzy lass immediately!"
"Yes, indeed!" Lyman agreed eagerly.
"ARGUS!" Korgan shouted. Argus was the stablekeeper. "ARGUS! GET YER ARSE OVER HERE AND GET ME THREE OF YER FINEST HORSES!"
"Right away!" Argus replied, then pulled over three horses. "But I thought dwarves hated riding?" he hinted with a tone of sarcasm in his voice.
Korgan scratched his chin, a gesture he often did when he's thinking.
"Normally, but there's an innocent life at peril!" he finally bellowed. "Now will ye get me a chair?"

"Yaaaaay!" Kita sang, skipping around, holding the evidence they found in Mae'Var's strongbox. "We got the evi-dence. We got the evi-dence."
"We're not out of danger yet, Kita..." Kyron said. Jaheira nodded.
"He is right. We're still in Mae'Var's guildhall, for god's sake!"
"Aww, it's not as if anyone would notice us!" Kita said, turning back and smiling. Her friends froze.-
Kita turned around slowly and saw a blade pointing at her throat. And the man holding the blade was Gorch.
"Well, well." he said and smilied thinly. Kita never knew that a fat man could look so evil.
"Indeed." said a third voice. There was an odd ripping sound, Gorch's eyes widened, and he fell over. Behind him stood a man.
"Arkanis Gath, at your service." the man said. "We still have spies inside here, and one informed Renal that you had the evidence. I came here to help you eliminate Mae'Var."
"Oooooooh..." Kita smilied brightly. "We'll still get paid, right?"
"Of course." Arkanis replied. The assassin seemed to be in the shadows, even when there is none.
"Kita," Jaheira said haughtily. "I must say that I do not like our current actions. We are working for the Shadow Thieves!"
"Lady," Arkanis said, in a dagerous undertone. "My orders are to exterminate anyone who stops Kita. I hope that wouldn't be you."
"If you think you can scare me, assassin, you are very wrong." Jaheira said, laying one hand on her scimitar.
"I have no such intention. Milady." he said, and with a little bow, strode off to the stairs leading down.

There were six Shadow Thieves, fully armed, when they came downstairs.
Quick as a flash, Arkanis slit the throat of one closest to them, hiding in the shadows, and Nalia managed to knock one out with her magic (and Jaheira added the coup de grace). Kyron was experimenting the dual-spellcasting on them, and it seemed to be working, at least. He watched as Kita viciously strike down a thief, and his mind swirled back to that night in Irenicus' Dungeon.

They, Kita, Imoen and Kyron were fighting a bunch of duergar. They were doing well, considering that they were outnumbered.

The duergar leader, Illyich, charged towards Kita, screaming fiendishly.
Kita had an urge to kick him.
So she did.
Illyich flew across the room and slammed into the back wall, where he shouted painfully. His body fell down a second later and he smashed into a table, his bones broken. The other duergar looked very stunned for a while, and decided that the better part of valour must be practised. They started to run.
"Oh no you don't." Kita hissed and licked her chin. Moving at impossible speed, she ran, chasing after them. The duergar were huddled together in another room down the corridor. Kita snarled.
"Die!" she screamed, and drew her sword. With a quick motion, she sliced off the head of one duergar. The others shouted, and scattered (as best they could) into different directions. Kita picked up the dead duergar's axe and hurled it at one warrior. The axe rammed into the back of his head, and he fell over. Looking around, Kita saw her closest enemy, who was almost standing right next to her. With an evil grin, she reached out with her bare hands, and ripped his head off. Blood sprayed everywhere, and Imoen was edging slowly towards Kyron, who was observing with a thoughtful look on his face.
There were only three duergar left. One Kita killed by poking her dagger though his eye, then drawing a massive scar across his face, his bones no match for her strength. Another, she dispatched by twisting his head around a full circle. And the last was a fast runner, evident in the fact that he was near the end of the long, long corridor.
Kita snarled again.
She began running.
She jumped.
And she landed in front of the duergar, whose eyes bulged. He kneeled down in front of her and begged for mercy.
She punched his head. His skull shattered instantly, and Kita began chuckling.
She turned around.
She saw Kyron and Imoen.
She began moving towards them.
"Kita, no!" Kyron shouted, trying to conjure a magical ward. He succedded, and a faint blue glow appeared in front of him and Imoen, who looked very scared and was down on the ground, gasping.
Kita passed right though the barrier unharmed. She held up Kyron by his throat.
"I'll enjoy killing you..." she hissed. Behind her, Imoen futilely attacked her back with her fists. Kita elbowed back, and Imoen flew into the barrier Kyron had set. Imoen screamed painfully then slumped down on the ground.
Kita drew one of her hands. With a sharp twang, claws appeared, not unlike what a cat might do. Slowly, she used one of her finger-claws to slice open a minor wound on Kyron's shoulder. He started bleeding, she smilied, and sampled the blood.
She loosened her grip, and then she collapsed. Kyron fell back, coughing loudly, his back hunched. He looked around, and saw Imoen's slender body. He ran over to her.
"Are you alright?" he asked, helping Imoen stand up.
"Y-yeah..." Imoen muttered. "But...what was that back there? K-Kita was...was..."
"I know." Kyron said grimly.
"I...only saw her like that...twice." Imoen said, turned around, and hugged Kyron, who was very unused to this attention.
"Er...oh?" he said, patting Imoen on the back awkardly.
"Once in Candlekeep, once when fighting Sarevok..." Imoen said. She appeared to be sobbing.
"Bhaal have a lot to answer for." Kyron said quietly.

Bloody!
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Oh yeah!

"Bhaal have a lot to answer for." Kyron said quietly.

I would imagine that he is enjoying it.

Hunter