Tartum was embarrassed, no one clapped or nodded, no one smiled or cheered. They all simply looked at him and seemed to be expecting him to say or do something. He was completely unprepared for this situation and was at a complete loss on how he should respond.
“Hello.” was all he could think to say. He regretted saying anything the moment the words left his mouth. Soveliss gave Tartum a hard look and walked towards him until they were almost nose to nose with each other. Tartum knew he was trying to intimidate him and was grateful for the attempt. This was a game he at least knew how to play, and he stood his ground as he tried to match the look in Soveliss’s eyes.
“So, you’re the Jade Mage, are you? I’ve heard about you. You’re the one that killed Adonna’s son the night she was taken, aren’t you?” Soveliss asked him. Tartum recalled the night when he had met the disgusting woman and had to fight the black cloaked man, as he tried to recover the tankards he had stolen. He had claimed to be Adonna’s son before they fought. Tartum wondered what Soveliss’s was getting at.
“Yea, I remember him. He died after he tried to recover a set of tankards I took from her office during the mission. So what?” Tartum replied. He was beginning to get angry. Tartum remembered Savall had called him his second in command, but who the hell did he think he was, to question a mission that was three months old?
Soveliss’s gaze turned darker, “That boy was my son. You killed the only thing on this world I’ve ever done that was pure. Now you have the gall to stand here and tell me you killed him because of some pointless trinkets he tried to recover from you!?” Soveliss’s voice steadily grew louder until he was screaming at Tartum.
Tartum saw the man was almost to the boiling point and his own anger surged forward. Opening himself to the magic Tartum’s anger was enhanced tenfold and his vision went red. Shoving the man away from him with all his might he unslung his staff and vented his rage at the man that dared to challenge him.
“Who the fuck are you!?! Yes! I killed that wretch whoreson of yours. If you had taught him to fight better, prehaps he would have had a chance, but as it was, he was as poor a fighter as he was a person and died like a three legged bitch as he tried to run away with my tankards. I killed him and burned his remains in the alley; then scattered his ashes with my foot into the night air! If you EVER get in my face and talk to me like that again, I promise you his death will pale in comparision to what I do to you. Understand Scarface?” Tartum hissed at him.
The man had stumbled across the room when Tartum had shoved him. The only reason he hadn’t fallen was because Jeth had caught him as he fell. Soveliss recovered quickly enough, but when he saw the look on Tartum’s face, he hesitated and now seemed to be at a loss of what to do. He looked around at everyone in the room and as one they began laughing.
Tartum had expected Soveliss to attack him, he had expected a sharp retort or to be fighting for his life against the entire room. Hell, a dragon bursting through the wall and breathing fire on all of them wouldn’t have shocked him as much as the room bursting into laughter. His anger fell away and with it, his grip on the magic.
Weakened by the loss of power and the adrenalin leaving his body, Tartum leaned heavily on his staff and waited for someone to explain. Soveliss wiped the tears from his eyes and slowly walked towards Tartum holding his hands out in a submissive gesture.
“Ah, Jade Mage, I like you…I like you alot! You honestly believed I, Soveliss the Rager, would actually lay with a foul woman like Adonna Chastilight? The woman was half troll and half nissassa! No sir, no no no! I apologise for the deception, but I had to know if you really were the hard-assed young caster that I’ve heard about, with green skin and balls of solid rock, or if it was all piss and wind. I’m very glad to see your reputation is well deserved. You…you I will allow to live.” Soveliss explained. Tartum felt foolish, he should have known it was a test, this damn guild thrived on testing its members in twisted and dangerous ways.
Tartum shook his head. “I could have killed you, you know.” he responded.
Soveliss smiled, “True, but I think you would have had a more difficult time going about it than you realize. I’m tougher than I look, caster.” he said with a wink. “Besides, I won the bet!” He said, as Jeth threw a pouch of coins into his outstretched hand.
“Gods damn you, Tartum.” Jeth said, which was met by another round of laughter.
Tartum saw the blond woman that had been introduced as Madame Liddia walking up to him now and focused his attention on her. He decided that if she tried to test him, he would just fireball the room and be done with it. His patience was at an end. As Liddia reached him, she slowly caressed his face and purred her excitement.
“Ohhhhhhhhhhh…Jade Mage is it? I can see why Elizabeth likes you. You’re absolutely delicious.” She scrunched her nose at him, and Tartum thought it might be the cutest thing he’d ever seen. His heart began to race, as he started to wonder what her lips would taste like. The way she was stroking his cheek made it hard for him to think, and he was all too aware of Elizabeth watching it all take place.
“Thanks, but only Elizabeth gets to touch me like that.” To drive home his point, Tartum flung her hand away from his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elizabeth grin, and he knew he had made the correct choice.
Liddia’s smile never faltered, if anything she seemed to get even more excited. “Ohhh! He resists me! Elizabeth you MUST let me borrow him sometime. The girls and I would love to conquer him back at my compound. Mmmmm!” she said, as she returned to her place next to Elizabeth. They shared a laugh that made them seem like innocent school girls; Tartum’s head began to spin.
Elizabeth winked at him before she responded. “I don’t know, Liddia, Maybe when I’m done with him, you can have the shattered remains. For now, though, he’s all mine.” she said. Tartum knew she was playing along, but he was sure everyone heard the life threatening undertone in her voice.
Liddia got a cute disappointed look on her face and feigned like she was pouting. The facade was all the young Eida could tolerate, and she spoke out in frustration.
“Savall, can we get on with why the hell were here, before Liddia fucks every guy in the room!” she spat. If Liddia was upset by Eida’s words, she gave no indication. If anything, she seemed to completely ignore the fact that she had spoken at all.
Savall bought himself a moment by clearing his throat. Tartum realized he had been as taken in by the scene as everyone else and now was embarrassed that it had gone so far. Looking around the room, he began the briefing.
“Yes, well as some of you already know, the town of Rebirth has been taken over by a man calling himself Lord Zahut. According to new information I’ve just recieved, Lord Zahut isn’t a man at all. He’s a Kritchet, and he’s using the population of the town to experiment on. Our source isn’t sure what he’s trying to accomplish through these experiments but believes he’s succeeding, because the frequency of which people are being taken into his tower has increased. Our source tells us that it’s mainly men and adolesent boys he’s experimenting on, using the women and children as a labor and food source. Not much else is known, but our source claims that if we don’t get there and stop Zahut soon, he’ll wipe out Rebirth’s population by the end of next week. The king has offered the guild a large sum of gold and the promise to look away when we do our missions within the city, and that any members caught by the guards will be afforded the opportunity to escape from the dungeons. I know it’s unlikely he’ll make good on that promise, but he’s already paid half the promised gold, which I’ve distributed to the cell leaders to use as they see fit. I assume you wouldn’t be here if the compensation wasn’t to your liking, so here’s the plan.” Savall took a drink from the tankard he had gotten from Tartum. Tartum had seen him drinking from it ever since their trade and was still touched that he was so fond of it.
“We’re going to head out tonight for Rebirth; it’s a two day journey on horseback. When we get to the
outskirts of town, we’ll send out scouts to evaluate the situation. We will plan our assault on Zahut’s tower from there. This mission is out of the ordinary for us, I know, but so is the payment. Bring any of the members from your cells that you believe would be beneficial. Leave any members that you think would not; they’ll only get killed. My cell is heading out after this meeting. When your cells are prepared meet us at the rendezvous point two hours northeast of here on your way to Rebirth. We’ll stick to the roads, it’s not like we have to worry about bandits along the way, right?” he explained. There was a low murmur of laughter at his final joke about the bandits. Tartum had found it just as funny as the rest of the members of the room. Of course they didn’t have to worry about bandits on the road, they were the bandits. The cell leaders made their farewells and left to prepare their cells for the battle.
With the other cell leaders gone, Savall leaned over the table and braced himself with both hands. He let his head drop, and for a moment Tartum thought he looked like a man that had the weight of the world on his shoulders. After a moment, he looked up, and Tartum was surprised to see a smile on his face. “I know you’re nervous, you should be, a Kritchet is a dangerous opponent. One that can cast is even more so. Also, I know they all seem like good people, but keep your guard up around the other cell members. I’ll try to keep the cells working independently of each other, but it’s going to be a battle, you may find yourself alone with them, and they may see it as a chance to take one of you out for nothing more than furthering their own reputation. There’s alot of envy and jealousy that comes with being a member of the first cell. What I’m trying to say is watch your backs. That’s all. Any questions? No? Good! Let’s head out!” Savall finished.
With that, they were dismissed.
…
They headed over to the stables as a group. The stable master was a rude old man that seemed to know more about horses than he knew about people. Savall haggled with him for a few minutes, then put a very large bag of coins into his hands. The old man was still happily counting the coins as the group rode off on their new horses. When Tartum inquired as to why Savall had paid so much for horses, they could have easily just taken them. Rashlarr leaned over to him and stated that when they got back from their business in Rebirth, the first mission Savall would give them would be to rob the stable master’s coffers dry. Tartum laughed hard when he heard that; it was a twisted kind of justice that appealed to him.
They made good time to the rendezvous point and set up camp. Tartum set Buddy to guard the site while they ate. It was a simple meal of rabbit and squirrel stew that Jeth whipped up while the rest of the group set out bedrolls and tended the horses. As they sat around the fire eating, Tartum began thinking about Lord Zahut and the treasures he might pilfer off his corpse. It was during his day dreaming that a thought occured to him.
“Hey Boss, what is a Kritchet?” he asked.
Everyone but Vaund and Buddy stopped eating and looked up at him. Tartum was a little surprised at their reaction but didn’t let their reaction bother him. He refused to feel ashamed for asking what he thought was a good question. Savall laughed, “Damn, son, sometimes I forget you grew up in a small village in the middle of nowhere. Refill your bowl; the answer to your question is a long story.”
Savall waited for him to get situated before beginning. When Tartum returned to his seat, he saw that Vaund and Buddy were sitting there waiting for him. Tartum figured that Vaund must not know what Kritchets were either and didn’t want to miss out on the explanation. Tartum took his place next to them and looked at Savall expectantly; he was looking forward to this story.
“Well, son, the thing about the Kritchets is…no one really knows where they came from. Some people say they aren’t of this world, others claim they’re an evil union of man and insect, other say they’re a race of creatures sent here by the Gods to punish us for being unpure. Who knows who’s right or who’s wrong, and who cares. The only ones that know for sure are the Kritchet, and they aren’t much for talking about their heritage. The story goes that about two hundred years ago, someone looked up into the sky and saw a small red dot amongst the stars. For months, scholars and religous fanatics argued over what it was and what, if any, meaning it brought with it. As the months went by, the dot got bigger, and soon it was refered to as an orb, and the orb became a sphere, growing larger and larger almost daily. As it got bigger, the stories and prophecies forming around it got more and more ludicrous as well. Mass suicides and new religions formed almost weekly, and it was all because people were trying to explain why the red object had appeared. About eleven months after the initial sighting, the world was in such a frenzy of panic and religious fervor that riots became commonplace, and armies were raised to quell the masses. No race was immune to the irrational behavior, and the world of humans, elves, dwarves, and others all suffered greatly at the hands of the less rational members of their societies. A year after the red object was sighted, it was as big as a moon and looked like a giant fireball. A few days later, it slammed into the desert lands far to the north of us, near the center of the world. The impact caused great earthquakes and tidal waves, resulting in tens of thousands of people being washed away or swallowed up in the huge rents that formed in the earth. The air was thick with ash, and it took years for the world to recover and the dust to settle. In an unprecidented show of unity, the races of the world sent a delegation of two dozen men and women from each of their societies to journey to the center of the world and find out what the red object was. Twenty-four elves, humans, dwarves, friians, minotaurs, and many other races went as one, to investigate the crash site. It was the first and only time the races of our world had ever united for any reason…and it was also the last. Over four hundred souls walked into that desert, and not one walked out. To this day no one knows what happened to them, but it is assumed they were all captured or killed. The armies of the world were prepared, and the races hid behind the walls of their largest cities, waiting for the coming attackers they were certain were on their way. Months went by, and no one was attacked. Some of the races sent scouts to find out anything they could about what was happening in the area now referred to as the Dead Zone. None of the scouts ever returned, and all travel to the Dead Zone was prohibited.” Savall took a long pull on his flask before continuing. Tartum could tell he was warming up to his story and waited silently for him to resume his tale.
“It was the dwarves that were first contacted by the kritchet. The visit came out of the blue, according to the dwarven historians. A contingent of three hooded figures were seen walking towards a dwarven hold in the mountains that bordered the Dead Zone. The dwarves met the strangers a few hundred yards outside their gates and inquired to their identities. When the creatures removed their hoods, the dwarves were stunned. The kritchet are insect-like humanoids that varied in color from blue to purple to brown. They closely resemble ants, and their way of life seems to mimic an ant society as well. They like to live underground, they have a queen that rules them, but just like humans, they mate individually, they are very strong for their size, and have an exoskeleton that’s as thick and tough as studded leather. Their faces consist of two large eyes that look exactly like a fly’s, they have long antennae that come out of their heads instead of hair and their mouths resemble a human’s, with the exception of large mandibles that jut out of them. They speak common well enough, but they pepper their words with the chittering and clicking of their native tongue and are as intelligent as any of the other races. The dwarves and the kritchet distrusted each other at first, but eventually an understanding was found between the two races and a sort of peace was achieved. However, whenever the subject of the lost delegation of the races or the scouts that followed them was brought up, the kritchet would either ignore the questions or flat out refuse to answer.” Savall sighed at this point and took another pull of his flask.
“For months the dwarves and the kritchet interacted and learned from each other. The Ki
ng of the dwarven hold was very taken with the new race and spent as much time with them as he could. It got to the point that some say the king even began sleeping with them when he got the chance. Eventually the king’s infatuation with the kritchets became obsession, and he demanded a suit of armor be created to perfectly match the race’s exoskeleton. His armorsmiths toiled for months, using every material at their disposal to do their king’s bidding. The king, whose obssession began to take on an air of insanity wasn’t happy with any of the suits of armor they offered him and had some of them him put to death. This motivated the surviving smiths to redouble their efforts, but it was the king that finally brought them the material they needed to make the armor he so desperately wanted. The king had slain his mistress and cut the exoskeleton from her corpse. While the dwarves claimed they were appalled, they dared not question their insane, homicidal king and used the exoskeleton to craft a suit of kritchet armor that met his desires. He was overjoyed with the result and lavished jewels, coins, and other riches on his armorsmiths the likes of which they had never seen. He was so happy with his new armor he held a celebration that lasted for weeks to honor them for their dedication and skill. After the celebrations ended and things got back to normal, the obsessed king donned his kritchet armor, packed up his traveling gear, selected twenty of his finest warriors, and traveled into the Dead Zone to become one with what he was claiming were his true brothers.” Savall began to chuckle to himself at this point.
“No one knows the exact details of how the meeting went when the king finally made it to the kritchet capital, but what is known is that the female kritchet that the king had killed for her exoskeleton was the hive queen’s youngest daughter. As you can imagine, seeing her daughter’s carapace adorning the insane dwarf king’s body wasn’t recieved well and so marked the beginning of the Bug Wars. Thousands upon thousands of kritchet swarmed out of the Dead Zone to take their revenge. The dwarven hold that the insane king had ruled was over ran in less than a day, and they slaughtered every man, woman, and child they encountered. There was not one survivor, and the only reason we know of any of this is from the texts that were recovered after the wars ended. The Kritchet either could not or would not differentiate between dwarf, human, and elf; so when they encountered the other races, they simply attacked until they were beaten back or everything was dead. They refer to humans as “tall dwarves” and elves as “pretty tall dwarves” which drives the elves crazy to them we all look alike. But before you judge them for it, let me tell you something; the kritchet all look alike to me.” Savall pointed at Tartum and Vaund to drive his point home.
The Jade Mage: The Becoming: Volume 2 Page 6