ENZI'S IRREGULARS ACT II
The Storm Front Arrives
by Steve Mossman
Copyright 2013 Steve Mossman
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Table of Contents
Update #0021
Update #0022
Update #0023
Update #0024
Update #0025
Update #0026
Update #0027
Update #0028
Update #0029
Update #0030
Update #0031
Update #0032
Update #0033
Update #0034
Update #0035
Update #0036
Update #0037
Update #0038
Update #0039
Update #0040
Enzi's Irregulars #0021
The fact that the guard had Ritter's weapon probably saved Gierig's life. As it was, Gierig was shocked as Ritter yelled and charged at him. He brought his weapon around and away from Gharaf. That was when Enzi struck. Gierig's axe clattered across the ground as the Feergrus man struck it from the dwarf's grasp. At the same time, Ritter tackled his fellow Halz.
“You don't want to do this,” Gierig growled.
“No, there are far worse things I'd like to do for all the trouble you have caused,” Ritter replied.
“No more than I would have liked to avenge the injustice wrought by your clan,” Gierig replied, “But there are more important issues at stake for the Halz.”
As the guard came over, he pointed his blade at the two dwarves. Ritter stood up as the guard took Gierig into custody.
Ritter shook his head, “Why would you attack this man?”
“Who do you think hired me for the job we did?” the Halz said, “All as a reason to take the axe of my clan. The thief escaped, and now I am tracking him through the last source left.”
Enzi raised an eyebrow at Gharaf as Gierig was dragged out of the shop.
The Ravaleian swindler shrugged, “I get people posting jobs through me all the time. I don't exactly keep track of all of these things.”
“You are in the business of information,” the Feergrus man replied, “I find it hard to believe you don't know exactly who it was.”
“There are some people even I do not ask questions of,” Gharaf said slyly.
“Gierig will find a way to extract the information from you physically if he gets a chance,” Enzi said reasonably, “
“There are worse threats than him,” Gharaf said losing some of his practiced charm, “Now please leave.”
Enzi and Ritter left the shop and the Feergrus looked towards the Halz, “I have never seen Gharaf like that. Whoever hired Gierig for that job must be quite powerful. They also had no problem setting us up for failure.”
“And now they have one of the ancient artifacts of my people,” Ritter said, “That seems like a bad combination.”
“I agree,” Enzi said, “Worse, I fear we may know too much. Whatever people these are, they may wish to eliminate us now. I hate to say it, but it looks like we have a new mission. We need to learn more. I fear there is only one person who will help us now.”
“Oh, who is that?”
“Gierig Silveraxe.”
Ritter made a face at that, “While distasteful, you are right. If it is for the good of my people, Gierig will work with us to help them. He may hate me, but he does seem to love my people more. I would trust him as far as it takes to help the Halz, though no more than that.”
“I think I can arrange us to be his new jailers,” Enzi said with a devious smile, “Though you might want to go talk with the others and warn them while I make the arrangements.”
“Oh, the others should enjoy this,” Ritter said with a touch of worry in his voice.
***
“What?” Kava asked with exasperation, “We have to let him live? Can I at least torture him for the information we want?”
“He will give the information freely, I suspect,” Ritter sighed, “I don't like dealing with him any more than you. He is a reminder that even my people have those that can not be entirely trusted.”
“You know, with enough violence I bet we could make him more trustworthy,” Kava said hopefully.
“Kava,” Eurysa hissed solemnly, “Be calm.”
The vodyanoi made an odd sound then trudged over to the wagon to sit against it. She slumped there and sulked. Eventually the wait of the mercenaries ended as Enzi came along with Gierig in tow. Gierig gave the mercenaries a suspicious look.
“Believe me,” Ritter said, “I am sure I find working with you as distasteful as you do with me. For now we have a common goal.”
Gierig sighed in defeat, “You are, of course, correct. Let us work together for now, for the good of the Halz.”
“First you should tell us what you know,” Enzi said.”
“When I came to Center Point, I learned of Ritter. I knew getting to you would be difficult, and I came to Gharaf for information. It seems others he talked to learned of my quest and came up with a plan. A group that called itself Unity. Gharaf has strong ties to them at the very least and from what he told me I expect he is a full member.”
“They are powerful enough he did not speak of them, even knowing of the threat you posed to his life,” Enzi interjected.
“Yes, I had tried a few ways to gather information from him,” Gierig continued, “Violence was to be my final method, though I was interrupted. It seems even that might have been ineffective. Persuasion has never been my strongest suit.”
Kava snorted at that comment, but said nothing.
“Gharaf told me his shop succeeds because of this group,” Gierig stated, “How much of what that snake-tongued fiend said is true at any time might be questionable, especially as he was trying to convince me to trust in the job they offered. It is certain that he knows enough to further my search for my clan's ancestral axe.”
“What did they tell you of the job?” Enzi asked.
“Just that it was a puzzled box with Halz runes. They had already figured out that it was tied to the Platinum Clan. I had already talked with Gharaf about Ritter and his clan earlier. It was his information that allowed me to confirm who you were. They needed you to open the box. Then they would take the treasures inside and I would get a cut. I just had to help the escape with the loot, which would be achieved through the elimination or subdual of you and your allies. For me it was a pay day and a chance for revenge. I never suspected the box could hold something so important.”
“I had thought such an artifact would have been put in a vault and locked away as dangerous,” Ritter said, “I was as shocked as you to see it appear.”
“The agent disguised as the auctioneer escaped with it,” Gierig said with obvious disgust, “I was unable to catch him. I searched for him and for any leads. When all trails ended, I came back to Gharaf.”
“Perhaps we can...” Enzi started.
The Feergrus man paused, the hair on the back of his neck standing at attention. His intuition was screaming at him. Eurysa caught the pause and began looking around.
“A dozen or so figures approaching,” she hissed, her green eyes having caught the motion in the distance.
“I can't imagine they are friends,” Enzi said.
With that Kava was on her feet with a grin. The rest of the mercenarie
s grabbed their weapons. Several soldiers approached the group and the Agonish leader looked over Enzi and his irregulars.
“Ah, it seems your prisoner escaped and has slain you,” the soldier growled in Nuvro, “Too bad. Kill them.”
The fight erupted as Gierig sat bound and helpless. As most of the soldiers engaged Enzi and his irregulars, the leader strutted towards the prisoner.
“Unity sends its regards,” the Agonish man said, “I am afraid you know too much to live. At least we never had to pay you.”
The man raised his blade to end the life of the dwarven traitor. However suddenly Gierig found his bonds cut. He rolled away from the attack that came and saw the inhumanly wide grin of the vodyanoi.
“I sensed you wanted to slay me, why help me to live?” Gierig asked as he stumbled to his feet.
“Oh, I will kill you,” Kava replied, “But it will be me when the time comes. Now beat the living snot out of these useless humans.”
Ritter felt the solid impact of his warhammer against the leather and mail of his opponent. He saw Aldebaran cut down a pair of foes with a single cleaving stroke. Eurysa's arrows whistled in the air as Enzi's unarmed and unarmored abilities proved far superior to his armed and armored foes. It was quite impressive. Kava and even Gierig helped, though without his axe, Gierig's main ability seemed to be to distract foes.
However poorly organize the irregulars had been at the beginning of the battle, by the end they moved like a well oiled machine. Even Gierig was impressed with their skills. Soon only the leader remained and Gierig was sitting on his chest. Disarmed and pinned by the Halz, the Agonish man stopped struggling.
“You should start talking, boy,” Gierig threatened.
The Agonish man snorted, “I may die here, but your threats do not frighten me. Even our failure here still ends you and your allies. The monsters have slain an innocent group. Again.”
“Again?” Gierig asked.
“Oh yes,” the leader said, “That slaughter at the auction is terrible news. Rumors already swirled about it. Today we confirmed it. And now you have slain another group of humans.”
“So Unity will frame us for murder?” Gierig asked.
“Yes,” the man laughed, “Our bureaucratic members can make anything happen.”
“I've heard enough then,” the Halz said, then broke the man's neck before anyone could stop him.
“He would have been trouble later,” Gierig said, “But a bureaucrat is easier to intimidate. We should find this person that works with the people around here and question them.”
“I hate to say it,” Enzi sighed, “But you are right. Leaving that man alive would have only made things worse. Already we are in a terrible situation. By now we are likely considered criminals. Things just got a lot more difficult.”
Enzi's Irregulars #0022
The wagon sat well outside of Center Point. Ritter and Eurysa had the unenviable job of keeping Gierig alive while Enzi paid a visit to the bureaucrats that tried to run the mercenary town. Most of them had positions of leadership due to control over something. One led the guards that protected the merchants. He was effectively the justice for Center Point. That was the man that Enzi had gone off to interrogate. That left Ritter and the gorgon working to try to keep the vodyanoi and the minotaur from ripping apart the Halz guest.
The rage of the minotaur was difficult to contain for Aldebaran. Ritter had seen Aldebaran in combat and understood that well. He had heard hints of the mighty creature's past. It seemed it was filled with violence and anger. Kava was another matter. Her thirst for combat was insatiable. Gierig had crossed her, which gave her more reason than she needed to kill him. Eurysa was hard to read, but her self control and calm nature helped keep the others in line.
Mayitso was completely calm. Oddly enough, the lycanthrope was the most well adjusted to the change of anyone. Ritter wondered what that meant. Ritter had plenty of hard feelings for his fellow stone-kin. Now the mercenaries were likely targets. As many were monstrous they had already been targets to some and suspect to most of the rest. Things had never seemed dire, especially with Enzi around to keep trouble at bay. Now suddenly Ritter thought the outlook seemed bleak.
The Disputed Lands were full of mercenaries. It would be far too easy to put a bounty on the head of the Irregulars. At that point, it would take a miracle for them to survive long. The thought of being persecuted and hunted washed over Ritter. Suddenly he felt more kinship with the others in the mercenary group. As a Halz he had never felt racism in the same way as the others. Certainly many humans were racist towards him, but he was not considered to be an animal to be hunted down. The difference in scale was staggering to the dwarf's mind.
He had underestimated the suffering of his fellows. Their survival was against all odds. That they kept fighting for righteous causes was beyond commendable. Ritter's stony face showed a slight smirk. This was not the time to become disheartened. These warriors had been through worse. This was just a minor obstacle for them to overcome. Kava shifted in her seat. Her attention span could be counted in seconds and Ritter had a sudden foreboding feeling that her shift meant she had become bored with the current status quo.
The orange eyed amphibian opened her overly wide maw, “So Gierig. You don't like our short little walking ball of metal? I can understand that. I fully hate at least half of the dwarves I've met myself.”
Gierig said nothing which to Kava was an invitation to dig deeper, “I love how you prove your so called honor by seeing to the death of a lot of others, innocents as well. I'd invite you to our little club here, except I took the position of amoral murderer myself.”
Gierig snorted, “You have killed for money. What happened was a job. You should be pissed at my employers. If it had not been me, another mercenary would have taken the job.”
“Going after Ritter was just a job?” Kava asked.
“It was getting paid to do something I wanted to do anyways. You and your allies were nothing I wanted to deal with. My employers seemed more than happy to come after you for themselves. In the end, they betrayed me. In this we have a common enemy. I may still wish to unleash my vengeance upon the Platinum Clan, but I harbor no ill will to the rest of you. You are mercenaries. You understand the life.”
Ritter was surprised at how good a point Gierig made. Gierig certainly seemed sharper upon this meeting than the last. Ritter suspected that his fellow stone-kin was not among the brightest of his kind, but he certainly proved he was not a dullard. Ritter's training in engineering had taught him to think through problems. He wondered how well Gierig would have done with such training. Perhaps he would have been able to see the flaws in his thinking. Certainly, though, he could not predict the randomness of the vodyanoi.
“Why would anyone but a dwarf want a stinky old dwarf axe anyway?” Kava asked.
“You are quickly becoming someone I might enjoy killing if paid to do so,” Gierig growled.
“Good, good,” Kava said, “Now I am beginning to like you. Maybe. Even if you do like ancient rusty useless poorly crafted weapons.”
The fire of anger filled Gierig. The Halz had great passion and showed it strongly. The relative stiffness of their stony features meant their emotions were often exaggerated. It took a lot of control to hide those expressions and Ritter highly doubted Gierig would have had reason to practice that. That only meant trouble. Seeing that she had provoked Gierig, Kava would surely continue to torment him.
“You know nothing of craftsmanship,” Gierig said, “My people craft things that are made to last. The axe of my clan is a great and powerful artifact.”
“It is from your clan then?” Kava asked, “Proof that it must be weak.”
“If it was so weak, then why would humans want it for themselves?” Gierig asked.
The vodyanoi grinned, “Ah, no fun. You should keep to the anger and blurting out silly things.”
The rage cooled on Gierig's face as he resumed a neutral look, “I see now your game.�
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“Well yes,” Kava said, “I just told it to you. Perhaps I could have said it more plainly even.”
“Indeed. I will be happy when the axe is safely out of human hands and back with the Halz.”
“Ugh,” Kava croaked, “I don't really want you to be swinging it around either.”
“Such a proud weapon is not for me,” Gierig replied, “I would not wield it. It needs to be returned to a spot of honor in the clan hall of my people. Safe from misuse.”
Ritter narrowed his eyes at the thought of the axe being misused. He wondered if the Silveraxe clan would rise up once more if they had it in their hands again. Ritter began to wonder exactly what would need to be done if they finally did retrieve the axe.
“So your clan had the only super magic axe?” Kava asked, “The other clans must have been jealous.”
“Perhaps,” Gierig said, “But the axe was the relic of our clan. Each of the other surviving clans had their own relics.”
This made Ritter pause his train of thought. He knew of no relics within the Platinum Clan. Certainly one might count the Forge of Souls as a great relic of the Soulforge clan. The Diamondheart, Goldbeard, and Orcdoom clans had no appreciable relics that Ritter knew of. The Stonehammer clan often spoke of the mighty hammer of their founder, but it had long been lost. It was the only thing that Ritter could think of that might be considered a relic, though at least tales of the hammer told of no magical properties.
As if reading Ritter's mind, Gierig spoke, “Of course the most relevant one is the Hammer of Ruin, the mighty weapon of the founder of the Stonehammer clan. Even now an expedition moves to recover it from where it had been lost.”
“How would anyone know where that is?” Ritter asked, “It was lost long before the fall of Tralenheim and the loss of records could not have aided any search.”
“Being lost that long ago was a blessing is disguise,” Gierig replied, “The records of it were hidden away in the clan hall of the Stonehammers and never sent to Tralenheim. Scholars unearthed the hidden texts and even now seek to obtain the relic.”
“Where would it have been hidden and not found?” Kava asked, “I imagine you dwarves go digging everywhere.”
“Of course you do,” Gierig said dryly, “It was not hidden in stone, but in the land here above.”
“Then it might have fallen in human hands?” Ritter asked.
Enzi's Irregulars Act II - The Storm Front Arrives Page 1