[Quest] An old Address (Harlequill)

[Jaquise Emittere]

"That's good to hear. I'll make sure to phrase it properly, so the others know its not guaranteed. I'm thinking they'll still find the news welcome." Jaq waited for a moment to see if Zagarek had anything else to ask about, but the familiar had apparently gotten the information he wanted. "I have a question I've been meaning to ask you. If its a bad time I can come back when your better, but I was wondering what you knew about all the stone bones around the area? I know that wild magic probably caused there petrification, but I'm not sure as to why so many skeleton's would be in this specific area."

[Harlequill]

"We've found no evidence that there was a mass murder in the area, or any great battle recent enough to have created the bones. My preliminary assessment is that they are stones which merely resemble bones closely. Perhaps as the result of some burst of Wild Djed. I had intended to investigate more fully throughout the dig, but, well, here we are." With a smile he gestured to his broken body. It seemed that speaking had taken a toll on his energy. With a content sigh he sank into his blankets and pillows, eyes sliding shut. Almost immediately the man drifted off to sleep. The blood which had escaped his mouth gave him the appearance of sinking into death. When the sisters came in to continue their ministrations it became clear that Allen was in fact still alive. Ben said nothing as he moved passed Jaq into the tent with a bowl of food for his brother. The graves of the men who had died during the collapse were visible from the entrance of Allen's tent. Simple wooden markers stood over their graves bearing small flowers and tokens of respect from the living. How many more markers would stand in this field before the company escaped?

[Jaquise Emittere]

Recognizing a situation where he would just be in the way, Jaq left Allen in the care of his brother and the two konti sisters. As he was walking away he thought back to the conversation he had with Allen. It seemed his condition was improving, though it would be a little while before he was back on his feet. It was also good to hear that they might have found the location of the graveyard. Hopefully it meant that digging would end soon and the expedition force could leave with their goal achieved, perhaps making it back to Syliras without incident. 'I believe he was hiding something.' Jaq jumped as the cold voice passed through his mind, another telepathic sending from Zagarek. Jaq cursed. He had been thinking the same, but had hoped it was just paranoia. The pale man waited until he passed a group sitting around a campfire, trying to dry themselves off. The laborers gave him a nod of acknowledgment as he passed, but that was all. It seemed the mercenaries were not the only ones suffering. When he was out of ear shot from anyone he spoke. "You think Allen's spotted another wolverine in our path." 'A crude way of putting it but yes.' Jaq could almost feel the pause the familiar took before continuing. It was an odd feeling. 'You realize you can respond through thought as well. It would be a lot simpler.' Two smaller men drunk on the cheap stuff people were now hoarding walked passed him. Jaq waited until he could no longer here their slurred voices before speaking again. "Perhaps, and I will probably do so soon enough. The past couple of days have been quite for me though. I spend enough time thinking that the idea of having a conversation in thought does not appeal to me." 'You take an unnecessary risk speaking out loud. I can not see how this feeling can out way our need for secrecy.' Jaq almost laughed at the words Zagarek used. It admitting to not being able to see something. The being wasn't a braggart about his power though, so it wouldn't be appropriate. Jaq stifled his laugh and responded in thought. 'You are right. I will try to be more careful.' The rest of the walk back to the mercenary tents was quite. When Jaq got there he informed the mercenaries on break about the news. They were, as he expected, uplifted by both Allen's improving health and the possibility that the goal might soon be found. The excitement was tempered by the knowledge that Allen might be wrong, but the mercenaries didn't let it bother them now. They were already thinking of warm mead in a room of crowded people at the Golden Dragon. Jaq's thoughts joined the as well, but when he thought of Syliras he could not help but think of Jade's future. Because of Jaq, the boy didn't have much to look forward to. Weigh down by sorrow Jaq waited with the others around their own fire until team 3's shift came up. The watch was uneventful, and unfortunately gave Jaq more time to think. Only a conversation with those accompanying him, including a conversation in his mind with Zagarek, kept Jaq from dwelling on his failures all night. His sleep though was riddled with nightmares of the battle with the wolverine. Only in his dreams both of Jaq's shots had missed, and he was knocked to the ground. He lived though, long enough to see everyone else killed to a man. He awoke with in a sweat, and only the thoughts sent by Zagarek calmed him down. He fell asleep again soon afterword. If he had any nightmares after that he didn't remember when he awoke the next morning. Secret : sentences in '....' are thought, as opposed to "...." for speaking aloud.

[Harlequill]

When the dead walk the earth, the living will fill those coffins... Three days passed before they located what appeared to be the tomb in question. It had survived the ravages of time and disaster relatively intact. The walls, roof, and doors all remained. It had been constructed of solid stone and perhaps reinforced in some way that was not apparent to the naked eye. The man within had once been a man of influence in the world of men. Though Allen desperately wanted to be present during the examination of the tomb, his doctors would not allow it. Either he had understated the severity of his injury or the konti were babying him excessively. Ben emerged from the tent to lead the men who had been chosen to crack the doors. A tension gripped the men as they moved closer to the tomb. When the crew had examined the structure thoroughly they began the process of opening the doors. Unfortunately this process involved a stout hammer and a chisel. There were no handles visible on the smooth stone, only a crack between the double doors which showed that they were not one solid slab. Pull. Swing. CRACK. Pull. Swing. CRACK. Pull. Swing. CRACK. Every impact of the hammer caused the men standing nearby to jump. Even those who were prepared for the sound felt an unease steal over them. Where was the thrill of victory? Where was the rush of pleasure felt over a job finally accomplished? Perhaps it had been buried with those men. If not that then it had been torn asunder with Tenner, and all of the boy Jade's dreams. Hairline fractures split the flawless surface of the ancient tomb. Spreading outwards like the threads of a spider's web they became deeper and longer. Stone walls shuddered as the door collapsed inward, leaving a jagged hole through which a beam of sunlight could spill. Torches were passed forward. Ben gripped one and stepped eagerly into the darkness. "We have found it men. The tomb of Korinel Jerva!" A collective sigh could be heard. It had been done. The tomb for which they sought was finally theirs. Once it was emptied and the tools once again packed into the wagon, the expedition could return home. Two teams, hand picked and lead by the foreman, moved forward to aid Ben in removing whatever treasures lay within. Zagarek, uninterested in the affairs of such insignificant men, would perhaps be clearer of mind and more perceptive than his master. His acute senses detected a faint rumble within the earth. Mizahar was displeased.

[Jaquise Emittere]

Jaq had been across the way relaxing when Zagarek spoke to him. Despite the excitement in the air at having found the tomb, Jaq was to tired from his watch the night before to get up. He had instead sent Shi'ala to be in charge in his stead. He had been awakened by his familiar, Zagarek. 'You must hurry Jaquise. Something is wrong.' Jaquise had quickly gotten dressed and readied, armor and all. All the while he question the being as to the nature of the emergency. All the being would say though was to hurry to the tomb. Something had been done that should not have been. Something bad was going to happen as a result. Jaq strapped on his sword and then dashed across the encampment to the pit where they had found the tomb. It seemed almost everyone had gone to see the opening of the tomb, the reaching of the expeditions goal, the completion of its task. For the first time in a long time, there was a silence to the encampment. The lack of people made it feel more like the abandoned place it was supposed to be. 'There is more to the silence then just the lack of humans.' The familiar must have been having the same thoughts Jaq had, or at leased guessed as to where his thoughts would travel. He listened more closely to the silence, trying to discover what Zagarek meant. He was almost to the pit when he Jaq reached an understanding. The forest around the encampment was as silent as the the empty tents Jaq had run by. Jaq reached the lip of the hole leading to the tomb and looked down, searching for something, anything. Jaq saw Ben and the two teams of laborers enter the tomb before a blinding pain blossomed in his head and sent him to one of his knees. For a moment he could do nothing but hold onto the sides of his skull as the pain ran through. Then it was gone. When Jaq opened his eyes his left eye was once more viewing the Aura's surrounding him.

[Harlequill]

An aurist of Jaq's ability could not hope to deliberately detect what his eye showed him. Unfortunately he lacked the skill or the experience to block out what assaulted his senses. Hate. Malice. Destruction. A balancing force as primeval as the earth beneath his feet or the sky above the treeline was approaching. There were scores of creatures approaching who felt these same emotions, and felt them so strongly that they overrode all else. Jaq must find a way to shut these auras out or risk overgiving by observing too many at once. No one among the laborers were aware of what was coming. Only Jaq and his familiar knew, so they thought. Behind him, in Allen's tent, the captain of the mercenaries could hear steel being drawn. The sound aided in shocking him back to the present and away from the sight of his glass eye. As if heard from underwater, the garbled sounds of cheers could be detected from the workers. Something spectacular had been found. Life was good.

[Jaquise Emittere]

Jaq heard the cheer as if he were underwater. Through all the hate, through all the malice it reached him. He grasped onto it like a drowning man would a life preserver, and with the cool presence of Zagarek hanging form the necklace on his breast he pulled himself away from the aura's. For a moment he stood with his eyes closed and simply breathed, focusing on freeing his mind from his power. When he opened his eyes, his vision had returned to normal. Something horrible was coming, and it was bringing friends. Jaq did the first thing that came to mind. He alerted everyone else. Summoning a small bit of res from his mouth, Jaq waited until it was just before speaking. He didn't yell, he didn't scream. The pale wizard spoke normally. However through the res, which was being transmuted into a wave of air manipulated in a very specific way. Jaq used to use this working all the time as a kid, but never at this magnitude. His voice, betraying his nervousness but sounding determined all the same boomed out across the encampment. "Mercenaries, arm yourselves. We have enemies incoming." Being so close to the working Jaq almost deafened himself with the sound, but it had worked. It felt like he was underwater again, and the sounds Jaq heard were muddled and confused. What little he could make out was incomprehensible. In his mind though, Zagarek was kind enough to inform him of anything important. 'Do not worry, I do not have ears to damage.' A pause followed before, 'Be careful wizard.' Jaq looked around to see what affect his voice had on those near him. He could already see Shi'ala, crossbow drawn, and V, in wolf form, running toward him. The konti sisters stood outside Allen's tent, Suvai's drawn and looking at him expectantly. "Guard Allen." Jaq didn't here the words come out of his mouth, only an odd that hurt his ears. Zagarek assured him that he had spoken clearly enough. The sisters nodded and prepared themselves, watching and perhaps feeling for any threat. Jaq drew Memoria and turned in the direction of the malice he had seen. "Follow me." he said to V and Shi'ala and began to move.

[Harlequill]

Yukmen resembled a parody of whatever intelligent life was in the area. As landspawn they were one of the least dangerous and most numerous monsters of Mizahar. The most unnerving aspect of the creatures, visually at least, was that through their sentient appearance could be seen poking soil, rocks, and at times unworked gems from the area in which they spawned. In a stretch of forest miles wide which was covered with stones that resembled human skeletons, Yukmen were even more gruesome to behold. Though they were in truth only rocks, bones appeared to jut out of the humanoid creatures at odd intervals. Their flesh was covered with ribcages, knucklebones, and similar horrible sights. One, which led a group of ten, had a skull jutting out of its naked chest. They did not yet appear to be armed, these recently formed monstrosities, but there were too many of them for that to be of any comfort. Scores of Yukmen were swarming toward the laborers and the mercenaries from all directions. Somehow they had time to fan out. Warnings made all the difference in these situations. Men had time to arm themselves with picks and shovels. Having heard the urgency in Jaq's voice even ordinary laborers had seen fit to grasp a cudgel or tool and prepare their defenses. Unfortunately most of the men were in the pit. They would be fighting an uphill battle. Retreat was not an option unless the mercenaries cleared a path. As a squad of the monsters spotted Jaq's trio of warriors they opened their mouths to speak. Shrill, ear shattering shrieks pierced the air. Eyes mad with lust for blood bulged out of inhuman faces. Muscles bulged beneath rock and jutting bone as they prepared to overwhelm the defenders with sheer strength and numbers. Scholars often debated what caused the landspawn to emerge. Among these intellectuals, some maintained that landspawn had been created out of the anger Mizahar had toward those who pillaged the secrets buried beneath the earth. As death rushed forward like a swarm of insects, certain laborers could not help but agree with that reasoning.

[Jaquise Emittere]

Jaq slid to a stop and in formed so res around him. Beside him Shi'ala also stopped and fired her crossbow. A lucky shot with good aim and a lot experience guided the shot into the skull of the nearest yukmen. By then Jaq had formed three shards of ice and sent them flying toward the group. Huddled so close it wouldn't have been hard to miss them. Three lances of ice flew, three stuck. One in the gut of a howling Yukmen, one in the throat of a second, and one in the shoulder of the third. The first to dropped, dead, and the second fell almost an instant later to a large brown blur of fur, claws and teeth. Jaq started running once more, raising his katana over his head as he charged. Just as he was withing 5 feet of the Yukmen, Jaq began bringing the blade down. Within three feet Jaq had cut it from its left shoulder down through its chest to its right hip. Jaq was done though, in a spin he brought the blade around in a sweeping motion, taking the head off a second of these beings. Sound came rushing back to Jaq and suddenly he could here the scream of pain from the enemy. It was almost as painful as losing his hearing had been, and it distracted him long enough that one of the unarmed monsters was able to get close to him. A thwang sound rang out and the thing dropped, clutching a crossbow bolt in its throat. A voice sounded in his mind. 'Ben is out of the pit, and he his armed with his club. He is keeping the whole safe from two of the beings. One of them tried to charge the sisters, its still alive but is lacking both its arms.' Jaq wondered for a moment how Zagarek was seeing all of this when he realized his familiar, in his sealed form, had spun around to hang from the back of his neck. Jaq spun around and watched as Ben dispatched the two things in one swing of his hefty club. The sister had decapitated the one that had gotten to them. V ran to his leg and bumped into it, then looked a bit farther off in the direction the tents. More of these things were attacking the other borders. Jaq turned back to the two teams of laborers climbing out of the pit. All had armed themselves with weapons, from shovels to hammers to nails. It was a moment before he realized that Jade was among them, holding a hammer. he was covered in dirt, and looked scared. but across his face was also a look of determination. "You lot with shovels come with me, the rest of you stay with the konti women. Listen to them and you'll survive." Ben looked happy to be staying with his brother, but conflicted about not joining the rest of the fray. That is until another 8 of the things came from about the same place the first ten had. He gave Jaq a nod that said he'd handle it. Jaq turned to V and spread his hand out in a gesture that said lead the way. The she-wolf happily complied, dashing off in the direction of the sounds of distant fighting. Instead of running around the camp, the group ran through tent groups and the smoldering ashes of camp fires. One or two laborers feel but were quickly back on their feet. The three mercenaries did not fall. The sound of fighting increased and Jaq caught his first glimpse of the fight ahead. It took a moment to understand what he was seeing though and he halted to the group to make sure he wasn't mistaken. There were 20 of the things, all surrounding three mercenaries. The tall Akalak, Alicob wielding a curved scimitar, and what looked like a large snake with two hands holding two short swords, were back to back with the wolf Ronald who had drawn his own lonsword. Every time one of the Yukmen tried to get closer one of the three would strike out with amazing quickness, already four lay dead at their feet. A dhani, that was a surprise, one that Jaq would normally find distasteful but now thought couldn't be better. With wicked speed the Dhani lashed out, and in the blink of an eye two more Yukmen were dead. Jaq couldn't risk firing res at them, if he missed the yukmen he might hit one of the mercenaries they surrounded. Instead he decided to stick with his sword. Jaq looked back to see the readiness of his troops. Shi'ala had dropped her crossbow and drawn hers as well. The men with the shovel, heartened by the sight of the mercenaries alive, raised there shovels high. Jaq turned to look at V a few feet ahead of him. She was waiting for the signal. Jaq looked to the 18 Yukmen left, raised his sword, and with a yell that sounded as loud as his spell worked warning had, he charged forward. The Yukmen, surprised by the new arrivals charging at them armed and yelling in anger, turned to face the new opponents to the right. The three mercenaries in their center reacted instantly cutting through the ones to their left. The charging group didn't so much as crash into the line of Yukmen so much as they simply parted them down the middle. In that moment another 8 fell, leaving ten to face a kelvic, an akalak, a dhani, a wizard, a mercenary captain, and a wolf named Ronald who suddenly felt he had to prove himself. The laborers with shovels were no laughing matter either. The Yukmen fought like cornered animals, but the end was inevitable. Jaq brought his balde through the enemy as if he were parting air. Those few who reacted quickly enough raised their arms in defense. It made their deaths that much mroe painful. Zagarek assisted. Whenever on of the beasts tried to sneak up on Jaq from behind, Jaq was given a fare warning and brought his blade around in a swing. Heads rolled. Two of the laborers were injured, and one was knocked unconscious, but none were killed. Jaq just hoped his warning had served everyone else so well.

[Harlequill]

The Yukmen which Jaq and his team were battling fell like blades of grass before a scythe. Six trained killers supported by an impromptu militia had little trouble dispatching unarmed and unarmored Yukmen. Unfortunately for all involved, other areas of the battle were going very poorly. Arms and armor would be strewn all over the ground before long, and when that time came Jaq would have a much more difficult time ahead of him. Michael had been off duty, lounging next to a fire and indulging in some light alcohol, when the attack came. Snatching up his crossbow he managed to wind it and load it before he was spotted. Taking aim at the crowd of landspawn rushing toward him he pulled the trigger and sent a bolt flying into the shoulder of one. Dropping his crossbow he drew his shortsword and called out for help. They fell upon him five at a time, catching him by the wrist and holding his arm high above his head. One shoved its fist into his mouth and began choking him, another punched him in the side. The largest of the group tore his sword from his fingers and drew the edge along his throat. Michael's eyes went blank and lifeless. Deep in the pit old Gared had rushed to the aid of a group of laborers. His crossbow lay splintered on the ground in front of him. He and his men were being pushed back into an ever tighter circle by the Yukmen. Once they had entered the pit they had gathered their own clubs and tools to use as weapons, quickly overwhelming opposition. As the monsters pressed the assault several more men fell to the ground dead. As one reached out for the old wolf's throat he swiftly severed its hand at the wrist. "Y'll nae take me w'out a fight! Back! Back Y' curs!" The severed stump bludgeoned him just below the eye and he gutted its owner. Another yukman grabbed his sword arm just above the elbow. Dropping his sword he pulled a dagger from his belt with his free hand and buried it up to the hilt in his attacker's shoulder. One of the laborers behind him attempted valiantly to free Gared by slashing at his attacker with the blade of a shovel. The shovel's edge glanced off of a gem protruding from the victim's skull and deflected off to the side without cutting flesh. Another yukman stabbed the hapless worker in the spine with a broken tool handle, breaking the wood off in the wound and wrapping its earthy hands around his neck. Zagarek could see, behind Jaq and deep within the pit, as Gared was bitten in the neck by the jagged stony teeth of the enemy. As he turned to stab his newest foe another bludgeoned the veteran in the side of the head with a shovel. The dagger fell from limp fingers. Both Gared and his men were overwhelmed by the assault, butchered to a man. Eight more lives lost. Back at the sick tent Allen had left his bed. With one hand clutching his bandages, wearing only a pair of breeches, he staggered to aid his men with rapier in hand. The konti sisters had managed to repel the current assault, but the surviving yukmen were regrouping and arming themselves with the weapons of their fallen enemies...