Enemy at the Gates

(Erean Mountains, north of Gloiran, 24^th-28^th September, 1600)

Crossing the southern shoulder of the Stone Tooth, the group pushed on through the night, the bipeds carrying the otters. Consumed by their desire to put as much distance as possible between themselves and Mazahir, the party were thankful for the last-minute decision to polymorph into otters rather than salmon. Three hours into the ride, the effects of the wand expired, and the transformed people resumed their normal forms. Gratefully they resumed their own mounts and the rate of travel picked up, though it was still slow as they were now up on the precipitous mountain roads built into the sides of the valleys by the dwarves - and only three of the five could see in the dark. As they progressed, the others noticed that Sack was collecting wild garlic wherever he found it growing.

Heroic Otter

At this stage a spirited discussion as to what to do next commenced. This organized itself around a list of people or groups who might want Mergil, and the relative merits of them.

• The Dwarves. The consensus was that they would probably sequester the weapon in the deepest, darkest vault they could find, and assume that it was perfectly safe. Given the fate meted out to the Elves, who also felt the Dragon posed them no threat, the party decided this was not a good idea.
• The Free Kingdoms. While offering the best chance of instant monetary gain, this option had drawbacks. The sword would probably end up in the official regalia of one or another of the Kings, and the Dragon would tear the southlands apart to reach it.
• The Dragon. The concept of changing sides and taking the sword to the Dragon himself was worth thinking about, but there were far too many things wrong with it. The dwarves and half-orc would be slaughtered as "vermin" out of hand, and neither of the humans regarded the Dragon as trustworthy on the subject of rewards - especially if some of their earlier Kin-slaughtering exploits came out later on. Hildraft also had his own personal reasons; his Master would never countenance delivering the key to Godhead to the Dragon. Also, of course, the vampires would probably attempt to prevent them delivering to the Dragon and exact vengeance if they did.
• The Elves. Based on the vision shown to Kobort, the assumption that the Elves survived somewhere had to be made. Given the apparent reluctance of the sword to perform for anyone else, the idea of locating an Elven champion and turning the whole problem over to him appealed a great deal. Sack and Hildraft both had a deep distrust and dislike of the Elder Race, and helping them at all went hard, but they could see the logic in the suggestion. The only remaining problems with this option were a) getting there and b) the probably interference and vengeance of the vampire clans.
• The Orcs. Sack was pretty positive by this stage that the vision he'd experienced at his first meeting with Mergil was a fake. Nonetheless, it was pretty clear that the Orcs - or some of them - wanted him to take up Mergil and go to Orc-land; to do what, he was unable to tell. Not even Sack was about to trust his mysterious visitors that far.

Nine hours after leaving the lakeside, the group approached the place where the valley they were in intersected with the main dwarfroad running south from the old battlegrounds on the orcish marches towards the dwarfcastles in the south. Sack, walking slightly ahead to scout, cocked his head to listen, waving to the others to stop. Distant, but clear, from around the shoulder of mountain seperating them from the road, they could hear the thud, scrape and jingle of marching troops.

Lots of marching troops.

Kobort sent Nose-Biter up to swoop over the army, and got the owl to estimate how much more there was forward of the first place Sack had observed them. From this they multiplied up to estimate an army of roughly thirty to fifty thousand troops.

Cautiously, the group followed the army down the valley, using the owl to keep an eye on it so as to ensure they didn't bump into it by accident. This proved unlikely, as the army didn't camp overnight but pressed on for three more days with only occasional rest stops.

Finally, the army emerged from the mountain pass into the area directly in front of the nothernmost gates of the dwarfcastle of Gloiran. Spreading out over the flat plain between the mountains, they deployed and encamped, obviously preparing for a lengthy stay. Field kitchens were set up, bivouac tents were unpacked, and siege engines were unloaded ready for assembly.

The heroes took counsel at this point, pondering what to do. They could simply work their way around the army and escape southwards, but this didn't appeal much. Instead, they decided on a little sabotage.

Kobort applied his Improved Invisibility to himself, Sack and Surya, and ordinary Invisibility to Hildraft. Then Vollun was left a safe distance up the valley with the horses, and with Mergil buried in a nearby heap of stones - just in case. The four fanned out into the encampment and set to work wreaking havoc.

Siege weapons were spiked; poison introduced into cook-pots, fires quietly set, valuable trinkets stolen from one soldier and tucked almost out of sight in another's pack, and flasks of oil hidden in the cold ashes of cookfires, ready to explode when the next meal was readied.

Kobort had zeroed in on a small group of splendid pavilions over to the eastern side of the encampment. He sent Nose-biter to scout. Peering in, the owl discovered that the commanders of the army were gathered in a tactical meeting. A mixture of officers, mostly lizards but with a couple of humans, were seated around a table; leading the meeting was a figure Kobort recognized immediately. Artila of the Kin.

The tent - click for bigger map

Reporting back to the others, they concocted a plan of attack. Polymorphing into an owl (and still invisible), Kobort soared over the tent and landed on the roof. He made a small slash with his claw, and swooped noiselessly in, landing [1] on the sword-rack at the back of the tent. Transforming back to his normal self, he lifted the weapon on the rack with infinite care, noting with satisfaction that it went invisible itself as he did so. Kobort hefted the strange sword. Long, slender and slightly curved, it a chisel-point and almost no quillons, merely a filligree disc to protect the hands. Of peculiar design and manufacture, it was nonetheless one of the most beautifully made swords he'd ever seen. In size and balance it resembled his own hand-and-a-half sword, and naturally suggested a two-handed grip, which he adopted. Then he tiptoed silently to stand behind the lizardman at the foot end of the table [2] , opposite Artila.

Kobort swung a mighty slash at his target with the strange sword. The results exceeded his wildest expectations; with scarcely a jolt, the slender blade planed completely through the lizard officer's neck, severing his head in one surgical strike. With a silent thud, the glassy-eyed relic bounced across the carpeted floor of the tent.

Sack kicked savagely, locking his foot onto the back of Artila's chair and slamming the Kin sprawling forwards onto the table, before slashing his shoulders savagely with the now-blazing Blade of the Sun. Hildraft moved in on the nearest Lizard officer, his axe readied, as the officer lurched to his feet and drew his sword[7] . Surya struck out left and right in a smooth, horrifying figure eight which slew both guards in their tracks, dropping them to each side of the tent door without a sound. Hildraft's foe toppled backwards, bisected, as the dwarf reversed his stroke at the last minute and dealt a hideous uppercut into the groin. The Invisibility spell on the dwarf flickered and died as he made an attack, and he popped back into view.

Stepping around his previous victim, Kobort slashed again, felling another lizardman, as Surya moved up to support Sack's attack on Artila but came up against a human officer who was flailing desperately, trying to strike the invisible attackers.

Neither he nor Sack knew quite where the other was, and so they managed to strike each other a glancing blow almost simultaneously. Fortunately the Blade of the Sun and the Sword of the Dead Legions didn't clash; and with the Silence in effect, no-one could tell if either made any noises at this point...

Surya dropped the human without difficulty, as Kobort moved further around the table, pursuing the last lizard officer who, courage failing, had turned and was trying to slash through the tent wall and escape[9] . As he did this, Artila unleashed his secret weapon, and drawing a deep breath, vomited a blast of flame that burned clean through the table he was pinned to. As Sack continued to slash at his back, he dropped through the resulting hole and tried to crawl away.

Sack and Surya grabbed the table, and heaved it up on its' edge, horrifying Kobort who, turning from finishing the craven lizard, thought for a moment he was going to get it on his head. Then Surya and Sack pounced on the weakened Artila, slashing and stabbing. Invisible as they were, they couldn't tell who dealt the killing blow, but the body slumped down and remained still.

Sack wasn't taking any chances. With a few more strokes, he had the Kin's head off. Casting around, he grinned evilly to himself, removed the helmet from the Kin's armour on its' stand[10], and dumped the head in that for carrying. They couldn't carry the whole armour, but Surya tookthe breastplate. Kobort hung on to the strange sword, and Sack and Hildraft made a hasty search of the bodies and the chests in the tent for portable loot. Then Kobort renewed the Invisibility spell on the dwarf Hildraft, who faded from view as they left the tent. And then they simply walked coolly out and back to their hiding place on the northern road...

Artila's Helmet