Into the Oven

Chapter Eight

Glug and I waited in the woods, for what seemed like a year and a half, before anything happened. Finally, we saw some people in the distance. It was too far to determine who they were, but they came out of the stump, so we decided to follow them at a distance. We followed them to a barn, not too far away. After letting them get settled inside, we approached the door and knocked. I can only imagine the looks on their faces upon hearing a knock at the door, during their secret little meeting. After a little ruckus inside, someone slowly slid the door open a crack. A scared looking human, looked upon myself and the chisel toothed Orc.

"Hey there, how's it going? I was wondering if you'd like some help taking out Victoria?" I said through a rather large grin.

He was taken aback by my open effrontery of the situation. When he was finally able to snap his jaw closed, he turned back to his fellows inside, before returning to the door. He looked around to see if we were with others, and once it was determined that we were alone, he opened the door and asked us in. Inside sat less than ten men, all slightly armed, and apparently poised for combat, as their weapons were either drawn or at hand. We were immediately asked who we were, and what we were doing there. Glug wisely allowed me to do all the talking.

"I've met with Johal, and would like to join you in bringing down Victoria"

"Who sent you?"

"Why no one sent us, we came on our own free will". Again, I brought my large smile to bear.

"We don't have money to pay assassins."

"We're not assassins." I said, then Glug grunted to contradict my statement. "We have been following Victoria for a couple of months, and are hell bent on bringing her down, with or without your aid."

This seemed to surprise them somewhat. "Why do you want to bring Victoria down?"

"Well", I said, "she treated us unjustly, and believe her to be a tyrant, that should be more than enough reason."

With that, they had a brief discussion, then sent one of their number out the door. I had Glug join him, to ensure that we weren't caught unawares by the town guard. Soon after, another man was sent to confirm with Johal, that I was who I said I was. After that, the rest of the group refrained from further conversation, and told me to wait for the return of the messenger and Johal. Surprisingly, I had let my fingernails go to pot, so I spent the interim cleaning my nails, and prettying myself up. Johal eventually arrived, and confirmed that I was indeed the Elf who he had spoken with earlier. After that, we began to discuss a plan of action in earnest.

It seems that the sword we reclaimed for Victoria, from her family crypt, had some magical property, that allowed her to hold sway over people, and convince them to follow her. She was using this charm to enchant an entire nation into following her. Throw in a megalomaniacal desire to create her own empire, and the picture becomes pretty clear. It was decided that we, we being Glug, myself, and Bud, would attempt a late night break in of the castle and steal the sword back from her.

To effectively achieve such a break in, the schemers, provided us with plans of the castle, boats to cross over to the island on which it sat, and an inside man that would lead us to Victoria's rooms. It seemed simple enough, row over to the island in the dead of night, scale a tower and take out the guard, go through a tunnel that connected the tower with the castle, and wait for the inside man. He would then lead us a short distance to Victoria's quarters, where we could subdue the guard, steal the sword, and escape the way we came in. The plans were set, and someone would come and get us in two nights, and lead us to the boats.

Glug and I informed Bud of the plan, the next day, so he did not return to his guard attachment, and stayed with us at the Inn outside of town. We laid low for a day, and finally word came, that everything was ready. We put on our leather armor, and grabbed a minimum of weaponry. I took along my, broadsword, shield and daggers. Glug brought his shield, battle axe, and daggers, and Bud grabbed his great axe and daggers. We met up with two guys that would row us across the river to the castle. They had two rowboats, so we climbed in, it was nearly midnight, and the mission began.

The crossing was uneventful, and we were able to land on a secluded rocky potion of the island fortress. The nearest castle walls were nearly 150 feet away, and we had to walk west along the shore, to get to the tower. The tower, which was to be our entrance, served as a lighthouse as well as a defensive structure. We were told that there would be four guards in it, but didn't expect them to be overly alert. Glug was the first to scale the tower, and soon made it to the top. After a few moments, he signaled me to come up. I climbed up to a point in which I could hear human males inside the tower, apparently playing a game of chance. Glug went over the wall, to the top floor and beacon level, while I stayed just below him near an open window that led to the guards floor. Bud climbed up the opposite side of the tower, and waited for the signal.

The Signal was Glug opening the trap door down to the level where the guards were, and attacking. Needless to say, neither Bud nor myself missed the signal. When I heard the guards shout, I vaulted through the nearby opening, and landed catlike upon the floor, with dagger in hand. Across from me, I saw Bud tumble ass over teakettle through the window and onto the floor, with legs kicking frantically, and much dwarven cursing. Two guards were doing there best to introduce Glug to the business end of their broadswords, while a guard charged both myself and Bud. Luckily, Glug was able to position himself in front of the only exit, so the guards were unable to send an alarm.

All my attention was quickly taken up by the guard attacking me. He swung with his sword, and I ducked underneath it, and locked up with him, stabbing with my dagger. It turned into a street fight, and I couldn't tell how the others were doing, as I fought with my assailant. He quickly dropped his broadsword and pulled his dagger. I was eventually able to cut him down, I felt bad about killing the guard, but he worked for an evil woman, and that’s just the way things had to be. I was able to look around, and saw another guards body laying on the floor, while both Bud and Glug were locked in close combat with daggers drawn. Bud finished off his opponent, so I jumped into the fray with Glug. The guard realized that he was outnumbered and sorely wounded, so he surrendered. We accepted his capitulation, and while Bud and Glug tied him up, I scouted ahead.

I crept down the tower stairs, your typical circular staircase found in most towers, and entered the tunnel that connected this tower with the rest of the castle. I proceeded quietly down the hallway, until I heard voices ahead. I peaked around a corner, and spotted two guards, stationed at a major bend in the tunnel. Neither one of them spotted me, so I crept back the way I came, and informed the two lug nuts what I'd discovered. We came up with a brilliant battle plan, which you will just have to wait to see how it unfolds.

We gathered our stuff together, I was wearing Glug's cloak of Chameleon, and moved quietly down the tunnel towards the guards. When we got close, I charged ahead, with shield raised, and slammed into the standing guard. The other guard was seated at a chair, and neither one was expecting my attack. The guard I rammed was able to keep his feet, but before he could draw a weapon and strike me, I continued on down the passage. Bud and Glug were right at my heels, and engaged the guards in combat. I continued running until I came to a staircase leading up. The sound of combat behind me was distant. I climbed the staircase quietly, to a door at the top. This was the location where we were to meet the servant, who would lead us to Victoria's chambers. I stopped to listen but could hear nothing beyond it. Soon after, Bud and Glug joined me, having dispatched the guards.

We discovered that the door was locked, so Glug began to pick the lock. While Glug was struggling mightily with his lock picks, we heard a key in the lock, from the other side of the door. I became one with the wall, while Bud and Glug raised weapons. A man, appearing to be a servant, opened the door and looked at us.

"You guys sure made enough noise trying to pick that lock", he said. "Why didn't you just get a key off one of the guards?"

I took this opportunity to un-chameleon from the wall and slap Glug across the back of the head. "You idiot, you didn't check the guards for a key?"

Glug and Bud just looked at each other stupidly. I'm sure the servant considered every one of their looks to be stupid, but I know the real deal when I see it.

We quickly asked the servant how far away Victoria's rooms were, and how heavily guarded they were. It turns out that Victoria's room was just around the corner from here, and there was only one guard stationed in front of her room, while there were many guards nearby, roaming the halls. It looked like it would be very difficult for us to pull this off quietly, but we decided to give it our best shot.

I returned the cloak of chameleon to Glug, and he followed the servant to Victoria's room. Bud and I waited to come to Glug's aid, in case he was unable to knock the guard out without causing a disturbance. Soon after leaving, we heard the telltale sounds of a botched knockout attempt. The signs of such are usually the sound of yelling guards, in this case it was only one yelling guard. Bud and I ran towards the location. Well I ran, the dwarf just sort of dawdled quickly in that direction.

I rounded a corner, and saw Glug attempting to kick in a door, while a guard was leaning against a wall and bleeding, Glug appeared unharmed. Unfortunately as I ran towards him, the door did not yield to his blows. I ran full tilt into the stunned guard, with my shield, and knocked him to the floor. He didn't move afterwards, but two guards came running around a corner at the other end of the hall, and ran straight towards us. Meanwhile Bud had gotten caught up in combat with a few guards at the end of the hall, which I had just come from. I drew my broadsword and faced the charging guards. Glug continued to try and kick in the door.

A few blows were exchanged between myself and the two guards, before one of them drew his dagger, and slipped in under my sword. I had to drop my sword and shield and draw my dagger. Meanwhile Glug continued to uselessly kick at the door. I was soon engaged in close combat with both guards, and soon had dealt both of them stunning blows. By this time, Bud had made his way down the hall, and was hacking at the door with his great axe, while Glug fought off the guards that had been attacking Bud. Bud looked to be pretty beat up. He smashed the door open and ran inside. I took the opportunity to grab my sword and shield, just as one of the two guards fighting Glug slipped past his defense, and attacked with a dagger.

I leveled a deadly blow at the guard who'd gotten past Glug's defense, and knocked him back. Glug grabbed his axe and shield again, while the other guard swiped at him with his sword. At this time, Bud came stumbling back through the door, dragging a two handed sword, and wearing a crossbow bolt. I told him that it looked good on him. If he'd had the strength, I'm sure he would have slugged me. I glanced at the sword, it looked like the one we'd swiped from the tomb, not too long ago.

At about this time, more guards appeared at the end of the hall, which we had come from. I yelled for Glug to run, and we all dashed past the two guards that I'd stunned with my dagger, and ran down the hall. Luckily the hall looped around, and we were able to head back in the direction of our escape route. Unfortunately the remaining guard was also able to cut us off. We had a couple of them behind us, and about four of them ahead of us. I yelled at Bud and Glug to keep going, I'd try and slow them down.

I ran full tilt into a guard with my shield, knocking him backwards, but still on his feet. Bud tried to shoulder past a guard, and behind me, but got held up. Glug came in and knocked the guy flat on his back. Our speed and momentum were able to carry us through the guards, and the doorway down to the tunnel was right ahead. Bud and Glug ran through the doorway and down the stairs, while I tried to close the door on the pursuing guard. I held the door for a few seconds, gaining precious time for my slow footed comrades to make it to the tower, before the were able to push it open. I backed slowly down the stairs, defending with sword and shield. I was able to deliver a few blows, while avoiding most. Once I made it to the bottom of the stairs, I'd given the other two plenty of time to get up to the tower, so I turned tail and ran as fast as I could.

By the time I got to the top of the tower, Bud and Glug had started down a rope they had strung through a window. The guards were only seconds behind me, so I quickly sheathed my sword and threw my shield over my back and scrambled down the rope. On our way down, we were hailed by arrows from the not distant enough castle walls. We made it to the bottom, and began to scramble our way towards the row boats.

Unfortunately, along the way, Bud got hit by a stray arrow, and was knocked senseless. I had to carry him the rest of the way to the boats. The two men were sitting off the shore in one boat while the other was on the shore. We threw Bud and the sword into the boat, and I rowed while the exhausted Glug attended to Bud's wounds. Just as I cleared the beach, our two guides told us that we had company. Sure enough, a couple of rowboats with armed guards were coming around the island.

It wasn't long before we made it to the river bank, near where we'd started. Glug had been unable to heal Bud, and he was still unconscious. Bud was in bad shape, and Glug wasn't much better off. There was no way we could carry Bud and outrun the guard, so Glug and I dragged Bud a couple hundred yards into the woods, and Glug lay on top of him, using his cloak of chameleon to conceal them both. I did my best to cover their tracks, and then ran off in a different direction with the sword. I was deeply worried for both Bud and Glug, but couldn't think of anything else I could do, but hope the guards would be unable to find my friends in the dark.

I ran back towards our inn, in a rather round about way, and found a good place to bury the sword. I took great care in marking the location, so I could find it later on. I then made my way to the Inn, and snuck up to my room. A few hours later Bud and Glug came back. Glug had finally been able to perform healing on Bud, and he was back on his feet again. We decided that we better get the hell out of here, before the guard came looking for us. The combination of a Dwarf, an Orc, and an Elf should be pretty easy to spot. Not to mention Victoria knew exactly who we were.

We gathered our stuff together, and were just heading down the stairs towards the stables to grab our horses, when I saw some figures pass by a window. We quickly ran back up the stairs and ducked into my room. Bud and Glug had gone out the window, with myself about to follow, when a knock came at my door.

With one leg out the window, I asked, "Who is it?"

The familiar voice of one of the schemers responded. "Open the door, its me."

I climbed back through the window, and opened the door a crack. Outside were at least four of the dimwitted Anti-Victorians.

"What the hell are you idiots doing out and about at this time of night?" I asked.

"We wanted to know if you got the sword."

"You stupid asses are drawing way too much attention to yourselves wandering about at four in the morning." With that I beckoned the leader into my room, and directed the others to get out of the hall and go into Glug's room. I doubt they liked the smell.

Once inside, I told him what happened. He wanted to see the sword, and verify that it was indeed the magical item that held sway over much of the citizenry. I told him that I'd buried it in the woods, and he'd have to come with me. He agreed, but looked at me oddly when I made him climb out the window without letting the others know where he'd gone. Bud and Glug were waiting below, and we all headed into the woods to find the sword.

Eventually we got to the sword, just as the hint of dusk appeared in the sky. I unearthed the weapon and presented it to our accomplice. After careful inspection, he deduced, that we'd grabbed a non-magical replica of the real sword. The paper would ignite if I were to write down what spewed from our mouths. To say we were angry would be a great injustice of how foul an emotion we felt. After slowly returning to a semblance of normalcy, our compatriot asked us just what we planned to do next.

I was surprised he was still standing after witnessing such an onslaught of indecent oaths and curses. Nevertheless, we told him that we would have to leave, as we would be much too easy to spot if we stayed around Mearlan. We told him that we could be reached at the Horny Mug Inn in Kael, and that we'd have to make another attempt on Victoria during one of her trips to neighboring towns and villages. He said he'd get her schedule to us as soon as possible, so that we could continue our quest.

We were very disheartened as we gathered our mounts and gear and headed out of town at first light. We knew we'd have Mearlan guards on ours heels, so we made for Kael as quickly as possible. I really wish we'd brought the griffon's on this adventure.