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Leaving the house, the companions returned home, the bulky diaries safely stashed in the Bag of Holding. The next morning, they started to read through, discovering a variety of interesting facts and confirming some of their suspicions. [ Click here for the Mazahir Diaries ] Some hours later, a disturbance outside drew their attention. People were gathering, and moving in one direction as they will if there is Something to See. Two seperate details of soldiers, in the livery of the Dragonarmy, hurried past, heading towards the Old Town. Intrigued, the band left their researches for the day and hurried after them. As they approached the destination of the crowd, a worrying suspicion grew in Hildraft's mind. Sure enough, two blocks from the area of Old Gods' Street where the old Temple of Kord was located they found a cordon of troops, blocking the road and turning everyone back. Surya approached one of the guardsmen, and tried to negotiate a way through the block, without success. Sack fell back on his own resources, and scaled the nearest building effortlessly, to take the Thieves' Highway instead. Weilding his powers, Hildraft wafted up next to him and followed - rather cautiously. Half a block further on, Surya's casually waved handful of gold coins procured him and Kobort access to the sealed area. So both pairs approached the temple from different angles, and saw what had happened to it at the same time. Nestled among the houses and bricked-up temples, the abandoned temple of Kord was glowing, pulsing with a gentle, rather pleasant blue radiance. Surrounding it were a number of worried-looking human Dragonarmy spearmen, four lizardman magi who were riffling through spellbooks looking for some suitable magic, and half-a-dozen dispirited looking lizard priests in the robes of the Cult of the Dragon, standing apart and looking tired and drawn; as was scarcely surprising. A single lizardman, well armoured and wearing the ranktabs of a Major, was in command, just finishing arranging his soldiers and beginning to exhort his magi to do something or other. |
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Hildraft shifted himself onto the Ethereal Plane once more, and re-entered the Temple. There, he found the whole building suffused with the same pale blue glow, and an immense feeling of sanctity; clearly, his Master was extending his power once more into this place. A process evidently sparked by his own rededication. Outside, Sack had remained perched high above the streets, but Surya and Kobort boldly marched up to the Lizardman officer, and Surya tapped him amiably on the shoulder. "What's going on?" he enquired. The officer glared at him in evident puzzlement and irritation. "Who are you, and how did you get here?" he demanded. Surya disconcerted him even more by telling him they'd bribed their way in. Off-balance, the lizardman, Major Kramfer, told them that the Lord of Karennal, Skufrus of the Kin, had ordered that the phenomenon be investigated and an end put to it immediately. He was about to order the pair arrested when Surya laid his blade against his throat. Kramfer became more agreeable, and pulled his troops back. |
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Things broke down shortly after that when one of his men attempted to sneak up behind Surya, and was shot with an Alchemists' Arrow by Sack for his pains. Kobort taunted the lizardman, flourishing the dinner-plate sized scale of Varkar Barduric, and pointing out that they had slain his God; this didn't help at all. Sack scrawling "The Dragon is Dead" on the wall up where he was was the final straw, and the Lizard drew his sword on Surya and shouted to his men to attack. The Tellaran sprang to the defence, and Kobort and Hidraft stepped to his side, blades ready. Kobort's Fireball blasted two of the forlorn priests, and Sack's deadly darts slew two of the magi before they could get spells away; and then battle was joined. The soldiers charged in bravely, but the four heroes had faced the Dragon-God of Alair, and were undaunted by numbers. Dweomered blades flashed, and the dead were piled in heaps, winnowed like the corn. In a handful of minutes, the forecourt of the temple was cleared of foes. Half Kramfer's force, as well as the Major himself, were dead, and the other half had no further heart for the fray; they broke and fled. Scarcely had the companions regained their breath when they became aware of others approaching. They hefted their weapons anew, but relaxed when they realized that the newcomers were not soldiers, but ordinary people of the city. In ones and twos, seeming drawn, they approached the temple, and gathered at the bricked-up doors, seeming baffled. Hildraft called upon his powers again, and reshaped the stones to open the doorway to the fane. The pilgrims entered, and began to do worship to Kord, where none had been offered for seven hundred years. Falling into the familiar pattern of the ritual he'd followed all his life, he stepped to the front of the Temple and, almost in a dream, began to give the Service. An immense feeling of rightness swelled within him, as he brought the Word of Kord back to the descendants of the Faithful. Outside, the other three became aware that there were those who had no wish for this touching scene to continue. A strog force of Dragonarmy soldiery, six score strong, were marching down the street towards the temple, led by three human officers. Waiting above, Sack placed himself behind a chimney stack, and chose his moment carefully. As the troops below passed by, he heaved mightily. With a growing rumble, the mass of masonry rolled down the sloped roof of tiles and toppled onto the men below. Screams and curses arose as plummeting bricks crushed the soldiers of the Dragonarmy. A storm of arrows answered, rattling across the rooftops, but the agile Half-orc was already elsewhere, behind another chimney. Seconds later, that too crashed onto the soldiers below. Just as the confusion reached its' height, Kobort's Fireball and Surya's deadly arrows lashed into the force from the front. Targeting the leaders, the Tellaran executed them swiftly and mercilessly, and the few surviving soldiers broke and ran. Safe within the Temple, the dwarf Hildraft reached the end of the ceremony. As the people recovered from their almost trance-like state, they smiled their thanks to Hildraft. Some gifted small coins. Knowing that, someday, from their number would rise a new priest to minister to them, Hildraft watched them go. When they were all gone, he closed the stone doors of the Temple, and rejoined his friends. |