***
“I’m startin’ to have real doubts about this whole adventuring thing,” Borik said over the top of his mug.
Borik Deepstone was, at first appearance, your typically squat, dour, strong-armed, hardheaded dwarf. He kept his long, reddish brown beard tucked into his broad belt from which hung a large assortment of weapons and smaller tools. He had only two facial expressions that even his closest companions ever saw: thoughtful and contemplative or perturbed and grumpy. Right now, as was his favorite, he was perturbed and grumpy.
“What do you mean?” Maude asked.
Maude was an unusual woman. She drank, fought, and cursed as well as any man, often going to great lengths to surpass them in these pursuits. When not encased in her armor, she had a plain face, thick neck, broad shoulders from which sprouted lean but very strong arms, a surprisingly narrow waist that quickly expanded into broad hips and muscular thighs.
Her name was Maudeline Ballister though some referred to her as Maude Ballbuster, but those who knew her never said it within her hearing. Any drunken louts who made the mistake of allowing her to overhear the nickname soon found themselves leaving with far fewer teeth than when they had arrived.
“I mean nobody does this kinda stuff anymore and I’m startin’ to see why. It's been four months since we've had so much as a whiff of a job! That kobold den we flushed out didn't even turn up enough loot to pay for food and damage to our weapons. We been running around like idiots for more’n three years, and the only thing we’ve found remotely interesting is that!” Borik complained, jabbing a stubby finger at the elf, Tarth.
“You leave Tarth alone!” Maude warned. “He is special and part of the team and I like him.”
“He’s special all right, kicked in the head by a mule special.”
Tarthanalis Moonglow was a thin elven wizard who was unusual even for his reclusive race. He was tall and lean, dressed in flowing robes of colorful silks, and walked the world as though in a semi-dream state. He lined his eyes in coal and often powdered his face due to his extreme vanity. He was currently engrossed in coloring his long fingernails. Using his magic, he touched his index finger to a fingernail and held it out for study. He often used his magic to color coordinate his hair and nails with whatever outfit he was wearing. Both were currently sea green. Tarth looked up at the mention of his name then went back to his accessorizing.
"Give me some time, dwarf! Do you think there's treasure just lying in some cave a day’s walk in every direction sitting there waiting for someone to find it?" the big warrior woman asked heatedly.
"As much as I am loath to agree with the dwarf, he is right. We need to come up with something before winter sets in. I hate adventuring in the freezing cold and rain on an empty stomach," Malek chimed in.
Malek Barthalis was a cleric of Solarian, god of morning, bringer of light, destroyer of shadows. His shoulder-length blond hair, fair skin, and deep blue eyes had been the primary factor in the nearly sixty percent increase in attendance of church services by female parishioners while he attended seminary. As much as the elder priests appreciated the renewed interest in their churchgoers during the religious sermons, they did not appreciate the increased attendance of private services the young novitiate gave in the evenings and often throughout the day as well.
This led to his elder brethren to send him on sabbatical upon completion of his seminary schooling with the primary assignment of ridding Valeria’s alleged plague of undead and the secondary job of bringing the word of Solarian to the masses. And bring word to the masses he did; particularly the female masses.
"What do you think, Tarth?" Maude asked the elven mage.
"I think that my slippers do not match my fingernails," the elf said dreamily, holding his slipper-shod foot up near his hand on the barroom table.
"Wow, thanks for that insightful input, Tarth. I don't know what we would ever do without your contributions to our talks of impending financial crisis," Borik said, at which Tarth simply tilted his head and smiled vacuously at the surly dwarf.
Maude ignored Tarth and turned her attention back to Borik. “What would you have us do, Borik? You want to return to your mountains and dig tunnels all day? Maybe you want to get a real job working the docks or something?”
“I’m not saying anything like that! I’m just saying nobody does this anymore and this is why.”
“Of course people still do this. If no one still does it, why is there an adventurer’s guild?” Maude asked.
“Guild, ha! A run down tavern where half a dozen old drunks tell each other lies about stuff they never did. That’ll be us one day, sittin’ around, drinking cheap swill, and telling a new bunch of idiots the same lies we heard. Bah!”
"Pardon me, my Lords and Lady, but did I hear you say you were adventurers? Heroes like in the tales?" a comely serving girl asked the group.
"I am a hero, my dear lady, while they are mere adventurers. What can we do for you?" the handsome cleric asked putting on his most charming smile.
She looked around furtively before answering. "It's the laird of our poor town, sirs. He is an evil man who taxes us into poverty and jails and flogs those who cannot pay. Mayhap you can rid us of the evil beast?"
"If he is the legal laird of Duskshire, then there is nothing we can do. We are not assassins," Maude explained.
"But he is most foul and has lived an unnaturally long life. I think he practices dark magics that surely the King frowns upon," the serving girl insisted.
"Aye, he's an evil one for certain," an old crone shouted across the common room having overheard their conversation. She stood up and hobbled over to where the four companions sat. "He practices magic most foul, magic that requires the blood of goats, sheep, and sometimes men, women, and children."
"Has anyone disappeared from the town that you know of?" Maude asked the old woman.
"Oh aye, most definitely a man named fat Thomas. He's disappeared as well as my own boy. Many people who couldn't pay their taxes or spoke out against him, they'd be gone for days and days, and when you saw them again they'd not be the same. They'd look like they'd had the very life sucked out of them they would. The laird’s wife and son disappeared most mysteriously. I heard much wailing and screaming from the manor house round the time they disappeared too, I'll have you know," the crone hissed conspiratorially.
Several patrons, farmers, millers, cobblers, and beggars began to all chime in about the atrocities the laird had committed; from townsfolk disappearing, livestock slaughtered, to performing foul magic, and all swore he was a vampire or ghoul of some kind.
"All right, first thing tomorrow, I want Malek to ask around town about these rumors while Borik, Tarth, and I go take a look at this laird's mansion," Maude instructed.
"I don't like the idea of tangling with vampires," Borik said adamantly.
"It's one vampire and we'll attack in daylight, so he should be sleeping," Maude assured him.
"If we attack in daylight, won't it be hard to get past the guards?"
"That's why we're going to scout out the mansion."
"If you attack the mansion, try not to hurt the poor souls guarding it. They ain't there of their own free will, and many of em is son's and fathers of the townsfolk. He keeps ‘em spelled so's they don't run off or kill him in his sleep," added the crone.
"That makes it a bit tougher, but I'm sure Tarth can help with that, can't you, Tarth."
"Hm? Oh, of course, dear, I know just the thing. I think I'll dye my hair blue. That will compliment my nails and slippers; kind of pull them both together," the mage replied.
The next morning after they broke their fast, the adventurers split up to learn more about the beleaguered town's situation. Malek went about inquiring about the laird, digging up any useful information he could while Maude, Borik, and Tarth followed the road out of town toward the laird's mansion.
The mansion sat upon a hill just outside the town at the end of a winding flagstone road with immacu
lately groomed grounds. Drainage ditches and culverts lay to each side of the well-maintained road and not a speck of litter from man or nature marred the perfect landscaping. It was apparent that a great deal of labor had gone into the estate grounds.
The three intrepid adventures watched the mansion from the safety of a thick stand of trees about fifty yards from the mansion wall. It was a solid wall with a stout gate. Several armored guards paced atop the wall, occasionally calling down to someone else on the inside, most likely more guards.
From her own observations and from what she had heard from the bar patrons, there were perhaps a score of guards on the estate, several patrolling the outside grounds, perhaps half a dozen inside the mansion watching over their sleeping master during the daylight hours, and a night shift sleeping in barracks somewhere behind the main building.
Maude and her group watched the guards’ activity and noted the numbers and their patrol cycles. A couple hours later, they returned to the inn and sat in the common room discussing plans over ale and wine. Malek finally joined them late that afternoon.
"Were you able to find out anything more from the townsfolk?" Maude asked.
"Oh yes. Let me tell you, there are a lot of penitent women in this town. It was fortunate that I was here to grant penance," the cleric replied.
"I asked you to find out about this laird not cavort with the local maids!"
"Oh they're no maids I assure you," Malek replied with a grin that he quickly dropped and got serious as Maude glared at him. "Right, the laird. Well, everyone I spoke to all agree he is mean and evil and most say he probably dabbles in the black arts. Nearly half insist he is indeed a vampire or ghoul of some kind; half again as many folk say it is possible or at least probable that he is a vampire, and two women claim to have had children that have disappeared over the years."
"It sounds pretty clear to me that we have an undead menace terrorizing this poor little town. As a registered adventuring group, I think we have an obligation to relieve this town of this scourge as well as any treasure we find in the mansion of the beast," proclaimed the group's leader.
"Hear, hear! I swore a sacred vow to destroy the undead plaguing the kingdom and would be greatly remiss in my duties as a cleric of Solarian if I turned my back on the poor people of Duskshire," Malek proudly proclaimed to the applause of the afternoon tavern crowd.
"I still don't like the idea of tangling with a vampire. Do you have a plan for getting us past the gate without having to hack our way through?" Borik asked.
Maude explained the plan she had developed from her observations of the compound. Borik grudgingly agreed after he was unable to come up with anything better of his own. The group ate an early dinner and went to their rooms to prepare for the assault the next day.
The party of adventurers found themselves watching the walls and gate of the mansion about an hour after sunrise. Maude sent Tarth and Borik to hail the gate as she and Malek hid in the same copse of trees she had used the day before.
"Hail, the gate," Borik shouted to the guards on the wall.
"What do you want?" one of the guards called down.
"We are traveling mummers and wish to entertain your great lord for a bit of wine, food, and coin sirs."
The dwarf had his armor and weapons covered by a bright robe that draped over his body and hung to his knees. He wore an oversized pair of gaudy pantaloons that bulged out at the hips and clashed horribly with the coverlet. The entire ensemble made him look like an obese court fool.
"Go away. Our lord has no interest in entertainment."
"Please, sir, just give us a moment to show you our act and I'm sure you'll agree that it is worth a bit of your lord's precious time and coin."
Before the guard could object, Borik and Tarth launched into an act of juggling, tumbling, and pantomime that insulted true mummers everywhere.
"I told you fools to leave, now clear the gate and take yourselves back down the road! I've seen better shows involving a donkey and your mother!" the guard called down.
"Well then, that just might make us relation. I wondered what why my mother gave away my bastard half brother!" Borik shot back.
“That ain’t no show, it’s a debacle. Now clear the grounds or I'll show you the inside of your guts!" the guard threatened, now getting truly livid.
By this time, several more guards crowded the walls near the gate, drawn by the heated shouting.
"You want a show? I'll give you a show!" Borik shout as he dropped his pants and bared his buttocks at the guards that were watching the ridiculous farce.
They exchanged several more insults of increasing vulgarity before the guards had finally had enough.
"That's it, dwarf, you and your weird friend are in for it now!" the guard threatened as the gate swung open.
Several armed guards stalked out of the open gate to thrash the impertinent dwarf and the strange skinny elf and drag them away from the estate grounds.
Fortunately, Tarth was having one of his more alert days and cast his spell at the group as they emerged from the gates, sending them crashing to the ground in a magic-induced sleep. Before the three remaining guards on the wall could shout an alarm, Malek burst from his concealment and cast his own divine spell that caused them to become completely immobilized and unable to speak.
Maude and Malek ran from the cover of the trees and joined the dwarf and the elf on the road in front of the gate.
"So far so good. Excellent work, Tarth," Maude complimented the beaming elf.
"What about me? I'm the one who made a horse's ass out of himself to get them to open the gates," Borik pointed out in protest.
"Quit your whining, you big baby," Malek sniped.
"I'll show you whining, you pompous, deviant halfwit!" the dwarf shouted throwing off the robe and pulling his mace out.
"Stop it, you two, now! We still have a barracks full of guards and more inside the mansion we have to deal with, and I would rather that it be a surprise!"
Chastised, Malek and Borik followed their leader through the gates and around to the rear of the huge manor house. There were several buildings at the back of the mansion. A stable, what looked to be servant's quarters, and a long low building that most likely housed the remaining guards.
The party crept up to the door and peeked inside. Another entire shift worth of guards lay snoring within. Borik looked around and pointed to a stack of timbers lying against the stable wall. Maude lugged one timber out and braced it against the front door while Borik and Malek carried another around to the other side and did the same to the other door.
Once they securely barricaded the barracks doors shut, the four adventurers crept to a side door that led to the kitchens. Maude gently pulled the door open and slipped inside with her companions close behind. The group stepped into the large kitchen and stood face to face with several maids and a cook.
"Shhh, don't be frightened. We're here to help you," Maude whispered reassuringly to the startled staff.
Unfortunately, seeing armed and armored intruders was not a reassuring sight and several maids screamed and ran for the door leading into the mansion. Maude was just able to dodge the cleaver that the cook hurled at her before following on the heels of the women.
"So much for surprise," Borik grumbled as they all heard the sounds of booted feet running toward the kitchen.
Not wanting to be caught in an enclosed space, Maude led a charge into a large dining hall. A huge polished wooden table sat in the middle of the room surrounded by ornately carved wooden chairs with red velvet padding on the seat and backs. Three brilliant crystal chandeliers provided light to any evening dinner guests.
The cook and scullery maids bolted through the door at the far side of the room at the same time several guards burst in, shoving past the terrified kitchen staff. Maude leapt upon the ornate hardwood table, furrowing large gouges into the polished surface with her hobnailed boots. Borik ran under the large table, barely having to duck his head. Malek
called upon his god for aid and a sense of well being and righteousness filled him and his companions as they charged the oncoming guards. Tarth stood in the far corner admiring the faceted crystal of the chandelier, the scrollwork of the dining table, and the artwork that hung upon the walls, seemingly oblivious to the impending threat.
Maude swung a large, two-handed cudgel into the helm of one of the guards knocking it clear off his head and sending him sprawling across the polished granite floor. Borik burst out from under the table catching another guard completely by surprise with a wicked blow to the knee before rendering the hapless guard senseless with a hard whack to the head with his mace. Malek waded into the fray swinging his hammer with wild abandon while calling out to his god.
The adventurers tried their best to keep their promise to not slay any of the mind-controlled guards, or at least not cause permanent injury, by using only blunt force weapons and checking their blows. The party quickly brought low the hire swords and charged through the door that the kitchen staff had fled through moments before.
The small band of heroes burst through the door and came face to face with half a dozen guards, crossbows leveled with deadly intent. Maude leapt to the right as soon as she cleared the doorway and Malek dove left as the house guards loosed their deadly bolts. Borik ducked his head as the quarrels zipped past like angry hornets. Tarth, being typically distracted, was not so fortunate. Several of the steel-tipped projectiles tore through his magnificent silk and saffron robes.
The elven wizard let out a high-pitched shriek of rage and indignation at the effrontery of the inconsiderate guards. He summoned the power of the Source and conjured two huge semi-transparent fists that he directed to slap viciously at several of the guards, pummeling them into submission. Maude and Malek rolled to their feet and charged the flanks of the guards that yet stood unchallenged by the furious elf and were seeking cover behind a large padded couch whilst the dwarf charged straight up the center.
The Sorcerer's Ascension (The Sorcerer's Path) Page 22