You stand just inside the slightly ajar kitchen door. You've slain the huge Ukk-ra cook and stuffed him in one of the wine casks, and just bullied three minions into ignoring you. There's a short hallway outside the door, and a broad stone staircase leading up. Torches gutter in sconces along the walls of the staircase.
You can hear the strains of music echoing down the staircase. The kitchen is empty for now, but you don't expect it to be for long.
Varun's minion got you inside the Old Keep, but now you're on your own.
Khom-Bei looks expectantly at Kane. "Lead on, milord."
You are clad in dark cloaks, with weapons and stakes concealed beneath. Your weapons are muffled for quiet travel.
Kane says, "Let's see if we can get a view of the party goers."
Khom-Bei nods and follows Kane.
Kane pads up the stairs, clinging to the shadows of the torchlight. At the top is a broad landing opening onto a columned gallery, empty of people. To the left, a stone railing overlooks the source of the music, a much larger room below. To the right, a broad staircase leads down. The music is louder now, a slow, traditional waltz tune that echoes off the stone walls of the keep interior.
Khom-Bei gestures to Kane to follow him and crawls silently to the railing, taking position to observe the partygoers in the ballroom below.
Kane follows after Khom-Bei.
You peer through an opening in the rail. The Great Hall is lit by hundreds, perhaps thousands of candles, giving the large room and eerie illumination. It's thronged with people, dressed in silken finery. In the center, a large circle conducts a slow and courtly dance, paired off two by two in time to the music. The lute players, all Reith, play calmly and well. On a raised dais at one end, seated at a banquet table, sit the lords and ladies of Camars, including Lord Valkris. And at his right hand, looking bored, is Lady Merith, the royal emissary. High above, at your level, dangles a massive chandelier holding hundreds of tiny candles. Above that, you can see a circle of six glass skylights, an extravagance, set into the ceiling of the hall. Raindrops patter down on the skylights.
The chandelier is suspended by thick ropes and then tied off to stanchions around the room. One stanchion is just beyond the rail near you, anchored to a buttress descending from the ceiling. The thing looks massively heavy. There is a large window cut into the wall at the end of the gallery above the dais. Valkris and Merith are right in the midst of things, a crowd surrounds them, but the dais is highly visible and guards stand about.
Kane says in a low voice, "Well, what do you think?"
Khom-Bei says, "I think that this is going to be very difficult."
Kane says, "Perhaps we can draw Merith away some how."
A low moan issues from the shadows in the gallery behind where you crouch. Now a second moan emanates from there. The sound seems to be coming from a small alcove. There's a sharp intake of breath.
Khom-Bei turns quickly and looks into the shadows.
Kane turns to look as well.
There appear to be one, maybe two figures limned by shadows in the alcove behind an old suit of armor.
Crouching, Khom-bei moves toward the shadows while drawing his great hammer from his belt.
Kane draws Light Bringer and leaps up to his feet.
Two figures are intertwined. Suddenly, quick as lightning, one breaks off, hurls the other to the ground, and hisses. Leaping from the shadows is a Vorghol, blood covering his lips, tongue and jaw. "Mine!" it hisses. The creature's fangs are poised to strike, but it scents something and pauses. Eyes going wide, it looks past Khom-Bei and regards where he crouches Kane.
"You...!" the Vorghol says in recognition. He is young-looking, dark haired, with red eyes. Kane knows him...In life, he was Garyon, a minor courtier. Garyon smiles, holding down his victim, a young serving wench in the blood trance. She is pale and trembling.
Khom-Bei halts in his movement and points to the Vorghol. "By the Great Father, you will be silent."
Garyon goes to speak and no words issue. He shakes his head, growing more enraged. He shakes the wench by her long dark hair. She tries vainly to bat him away. No sound issues from her throat either.
Khom-Bei rushes forward, his hammer swinging toward Garyon's head in a great silent arc.
Kane readies a stake for a finishing blow and moves in for the kill.
Khom-Bei lands a glancing blow to the enraged Vorghol's head as he rushes past.
Kane rushes Garyon and thrusts Light Bringer into the Vorghol's belly. The sword pierces through Garyon's gut. The courtier's eyes go wide in terror and he claws at Kane vainly. "You...!" he mouths, as his body turns to dust and crackles to ash.
Khom-Bei turns to the serving wench quickly to stop her from raising an alarm.
The wench is dazed and drained. A trickle of blood runs down her neck. Suddenly, she snaps to, realizing her predicament and turns to scream, but no words come out.
Khom-Bei pounces on the woman and covers her mouth with his hand while holding a finger over his lips.
She cannot speak. Her dark eyes go wide in terror.
Kane knocks the wench out with a quick blow to the head and points back to the alcove to Khom-Bei.
The wench goes limp in Khom-bei's arms.
Khom-Bei frowns at Kane as he pulls the limp girl's body behind the suit of armor, hiding it from sight.
Kane quickly turns to see if this quick struggle has been noticed down on the dance floor.
The struggle is unnoticed; the gallery is still dark and empty.
Kane says in a low voice, "Sorry I couldn't chance that she would betray to those below."
Khom-Bei nods in silence.
The music swells from below. A storm has begun outside, common in these highlands this time of year, and lightning crackles, visible in the skylights nearby.
Kane moves back to the railing to see what is going on below.
Khom-Bei follows Kane and kneels to look through the railing again.
The waltz continues. Lord Valkris leans over to hear some quietly spoken words from an underling. Merith twirls her blond tresses and suppresses a yawn. Kane knows that gesture well.
Kane says to Khom-Bei, "I think we should move from here."
Valkris rises and signals the dancers to stop. The music goes silent. He stands to address the crowd.
Khom-Bei places a hand on Kanes' arm to stop him, pointing to Valkris about to speak.
Kane who was about to move away from the rail, pauses to hear what Valkris will say.
Valkris has the form of a ten year old and the demeanor of one who is two centuries older. "My lords, my ladies, on behalf of Camars I do welcome Lady Merith to our Keep. It has been too long since I last entertained a royal emissary. As a token of esteem, for herself and for his Grace the King, we have prepared a special treat for her." He gestures. Three tiny girls, pale and plump, on a golden chain, are led into the room by a servant. The dozens of Vorghol in the room make appreciative noises, while the living look indifferent. "This week's blood tithe..." Valkris explains, proudly.
The presentation is met with applause. Lightning crackles. Merith rises and bows. Her voice is just as Kane remembers, but steelier. "My lord, on behalf of his Grace, I thank you for your offering."
Thunder rumbles.
Khom-Bei tenses at Kane's elbow, his jaw clenched tightly.
Kane bows and shakes his head.
She gestures the little girls closer. Smiling sweetly, she kisses one on the forehead. "Beautiful, simply beautiful..." she murmurs. The Vorghol lords laugh and coo. The girls, drugged or paralyzed with fear, tremble.
Valkris says, "And Lord Garyon has more for you, my lady..." he says. "Garyon...Garyon?" he calls. They glance about the room for him. Valkris rolls his eyes with good humor at the perennially late Garyon, and the crowd laughs along. "Someone, pray, find Garyon..." Valkris says, idly.
Kane says, "Time to move."
Khom-Bei nods, his eyes fixed on the three little girls.
Kane looks for a hiding place closer to the dance floor.
Merith looks at the girls. She tells Valkris, "I am sure he will turn up, my lord." She whispers something to him, and the childlike Vorghol Lord nods at her. One of the little girls is unclipped from her chain, and Merith offers her hand to the child. She leads the child off the dais and heads for a large door behind the dais, a private room, perhaps.
The music swells again and the dance begins.
Khom-Bei tugs at Kane's sleeve and moves toward the kitchen.
Kane follows reluctantly.
Once at the stairs, Khom-bei breaks into a trot, hurrying for the kitchen door.
Khom-Bei looks Kane in the eyes. "What is your plan?"
Kane says, "We need to find a way into that room behind the dais."
Khom-bei begins searching the kitchen furiously, looking for flammable liquids. "I thought that I would set the kitchen on fire as a distraction. A distraction seems to be in order, doesn't it?"
Kane says, "I'm not sure that would bring anyone besides servants."
Lard is plentiful here. Best not to think of where such blocks of fat were rendered from.
Khom-Bei begins piling up wood and hunks of lard in front of the cookfire, throwing several large chunks of fat into the smallest of the kettles and setting it over the hottest part of the fire.
Kane says, "Shouldn't we have a plan for after the distraction?"
Khom-Bei says, "A big enough fire should bring lots of attention away from wherever we are. That's as far as I've gotten, but I'm making it all up as I go anyway so it shouldn't really matter."
Kane says, "Well I guess it's better than doing nothing."
Foul-smelling smoke begins to fill the room.
Khom-Bei pauses in his efforts and moves close to Kane. He speaks in a barely controlled voice. "If I die in the attempt, I will try to save those children, Kane."
Kane says, "We both will, now lets move."
The smell is harsh and acrid, making your eyes run.
Kane moves out of the kitchen and heads in the direction of the ballroom.
Kane draws Light Bringer and hides it under his cloak.
Khom-Bei tosses a last few green pieces of wood on the pile before he spills the liquified lard over it and drops a burning torch onto the mess before running after Kane.
Smoke pours out of the kitchen behind you. As you race up the stairs, you hear shouting from that direction; apparently some minions in an adjoining room have discovered the flame. You hear muttered oaths to the unreliabilty of Ukk-ra cooks.
Smoke billows out now. Lightning strikes outside the Keep, and rain pours down on the skylights.
Kane heads up to the gallery and then heads down the servants stairs to the dance floor below.
As the pair near the dance floor, Khom-bei halts Kane.
Khom-Bei says, "It's time."
Behind you, you hear the kitchen servants shouting, "Fire!" The smoke has begun up the stairs.
On the dance floor, Quarus snaps out orders to his underlings. Three race towards the servants stairs to check it out with the speed of Vorghol feet.
The stately music still plays.
Khom-Bei says, makes a holy sign. "Great Father, shield us from the eyes of those who would harm us." Then he makes another sign and says, "Great Father, give this one your aid in his labors." He makes a third holy gesture and calls, "Great Father, grant me your power to send these foul creatures to their rest."
The three Vorghol guards race past you on the stairs, armor clattering, as if you weren't even there.
Khom-Bei says, "Let's go, Kane."
Kane moves out along the perimeter of the wall heading in the direction of the dais.
Lightning strikes again, and thunder. The storm is closer now. The loud music swells as the musicians keep the time. The dancers are stately, paced, and measured in their waltz.
Khom-Bei follows Kane, keeping to the shadows.
Quarus, near the dais, shifts his feet impatiently, looking towards the kitchen. With his Vorghol senses, he can clearly smell the smoke.
Lord Valkris glances with a frown towards the door Lady Merith has passed through. He drinks from his goblet.
Valkris gestures Quarus over for a quiet word.
The Vorghol now begin to smell the smoke and some look towards the kitchen, curious.
In the gallery above, you see a squad of guards race along, headed for the kitchen, clearly, to help put out the fire.
Quarus looks towards the servants stairs, not far from where you lurk.
A Vorghol reveller, drunk on something, narrows his eyes at Kane. "You there!" he slurs. "Fetch me some more!" He shakes his goblet at Kane, and thick red drops spill onto the tile floor.
The Vorghol holds out his bloody goblet in a lordly way, and makes a joke to his companion, a skinny Vorghol. The skinny one says, "Who do you speak to, you fool?"
Kane nods subserviently and moves past the Vorghol.
The first reveller squints. He looks in his empty goblet, then back to Kane. "That shifty servant over there."
The second Vorghol shakes his head and laughs. "You're going blind in your age!" he teases. Lightning strikes again.
Kane moves purposefully towards the dais.
Quarus races past you, up the stairs. You both move towards the door that Merith went through behind the dais. Then halfway up, Quarus seems to remember something.
The large oaken door before you is unlocked. The music carries forward, a slight breeze in the huge chamber rustles the hundreds of candles.
Kane moves towards the door and enters the chamber.
Khom-Bei follows Kane closely, prepared for the worst.
Kane and Khom-Bei slip into the room. A short corridor beyond leads to a small anteroom. On a couch, Merith is stooped over the naked girl, making soft noises of reassurance, caressing. She draws long nails down an alabaster thigh.
Kane draws Light Bringer from under his cloak and moves in for the kill.
Merith looks up, startled. "You!" she breathes as she sees Kane.
There's a noise at the door behind you. An urgent rapping.
Kane says, "I'm afraid so..."
Merith slides off the girl. She smiles her old bright smile at Kane, only now it is ringed with fangs. "But...I thought you dead!" She regards the sword in his hand. "Is that...for me, dear one?"
Kane says, "I have come to free your spirit Merith in the memory of the girl I once loved and who is long dead now."
Merith turns to Kane. "Dead? Dear one, I've never been better!" she giggles. "You've become so serious. And gotten so old..." she says, as if in sympathy, studying the lines of Kane's face.
Kane says, "For you, Merith," then lunges. Lightbringer enters Merith's body just under the ribs. The dragonfire licks at her form and Merith reaches out for Kane, longingly.
She whispers, "But, but ..." as her form chars and begins to turn to ash. Her face crackles and peels, her skin flickers and flutters, she opens her mouth in a silent scream....then she vanishes in a cloud of dust.
Khom-Bei turns to answer the door.
Captain Quarus is standing there, with his two swords drawn. There are two Vorghol spawn behind him, "I believe we've met before.." he smirks.
Khom-Bei raises his hands and smiles at Quarus. "Yes, but we shall not meet again, foul creature." Holy fire issues from his fingers, pouring over Quarus and his guards.
Quarus and his guards recoil from Khom-Bei's Turning. "Bastard!" Quarus yells, as the spawn at his side howl in rage and terror. He grips his two swords and shakes his head, but he cannot advance into the room.
The little girl with the golden collar scrambles to her feet and hides behind the couch.
Khom-Bei says, "Kane! Some assistance please?"
Kane kneels down to touch Merith's ashes. As he turns to face the other Vorghol a single tear can be seen to drop down into the midst of the ashes. Heroars a battle cry and charges for Quarus.
Outside, the lightning crackles, and thunder echoes across the stones of the Old Keep. The Vorghol in the chamber just outside can sense the baleful influence of Khom-Bei's Turning. Beyond, the Great Hall reeks of smoke.
Quarus hurls himself away from the open doorway, backing off. He has the speed of a panicked Vorghol in the face of holiness. He holds his swords in impotent fury as he staggers back.
Clouds of smoke billow about the rafters of the hall. Flames issue from an area beyond the servants' stairs.
The music stops, suddenly, and sounds of panic issue from the hall as the crowd reacts.
Kane follows Quarus into the Grat Hall, scanning the room for the two chained children.
Guards hurry to assist their Captain, and two Sathanids stride forward, clutching maces.
As the frightened Quarus runs, Khom-bei grabs the cowering child and hoists her over his shoulder. "Be quiet, girl, we are here to save you." Before he moves out of the room, he stabs a stake into the couch: the Hunters' calling card.
The children are chained to the dais.
Khom-Bei follows Kane quickly.
Kane slashes the chain with his sword to free the children.
The Hall is close to chaos now. Valkris leaps atop the banquet table. "My lords, my ladies, let us not stop the celebration! Everything is under control!"
The two heavily armored Sathanid warriors charge forward, maces striking down at Kane.
Kane meets their charge, swinging the fiery Lightbearer over his head.
Lightbringer punctures the armor of the terrible Sathanid, and white light billows forth from the armored form. A terrible cry rings out in the Great Hall as the Sathanid spirit flees to the outer darkness forever. The empty armor clatters to the marble floor.
The second Sathanid hurls itself forward to smash Kane with a large, spiked mace.
With the death of the Sathanid, the hall erupts into chaos. The Vorghol race forward to deal with these upstarts, ordering guards to attack and seal off the Hall. The living, for their part, are content to be ordered about by the Vorghol, as a century of oppression has taught them.
The three other Sathanids now charge forward.
Kane turns to Khom-Bei and says, "Get the children out of here. I'll cover your back!"
There are screams of rage and fury from the crowd. The little girls cling to the legs of the man in black.
Smoke is filling the upper gallery now. Lightning strikes again, this time very close. Thunder booms like the hammer of an angry god.
Kane scans the room for Valkris. He thinks to himself if he must die this day, Valkris is going before him.
Khom-Bei steps forward and raises his arms, bellowing into the hall with a voice born to carry across the open steppes. "Great Father, shine down your light on the Dark Ones and their servants!"
A burst of daylight pours forth from Khom-Bei's arms and floods the Great Hall.
Shrieks of horror erupt from the crowd as daylight blossoms forth in the darkened chamber. The Vorghol fall back in horror, the Sathanids charging forward stagger, and the living are blinded by the dazzle, blinking in disbelief.
Lightning strikes again, blazing out across the darkened sky, with thunder booming once more.
Kane turns to Khom-Bei and says, "Now let's get these children and get out of here." He snatches up the two young girls and races out of the ballroom.
The Vorghol hide under tables, taking shelter. The smell of burning Vorghol flesh comes to your senses, more than one of them was singed by the touch of daylight.
Khom-Bei follows Kane.
The Sathanids pause, crouching. "Stop...them..." one hisses. "In the name...of...the King!"
Khom-Bei scoops up the last of the girls and follows Kane.
The daylight still suffuses the Great Hall, blinding most of the room's occupants.
You race for the Hall doors leading to the outside. As you do, four massive wolf shapes slink into the hall, amidst the chaos. Wargs, controlled by Vorghol, no doubt. They stand between you and the doors.
Kane sets the chidren down in front of Khom-Bei and charges the wargs. He slashes at the warg to come within his reach, and it falls back, snapping and growling.
The warg turns and strikes and its jaws sink into Kane's arm.
With one child over his shoulder, Khom-bei gathers the other two in his arms and attempts to skirt the wargs as Kane battles the beasts.
Kane turns and stabs at the nearest warg. He impales the snapping Warg on the point of his sword.
Another warg leaps on Kane, snapping and biting, while one of the immense wolves attempts to launch itself at the fully laden Northerling.
The warg's yellow fangs rend Kane's swordhand.
Taking the warg's bite in stride, Khom-bei continues toward the door with his precious cargo.
The three little girls, shivering and naked, shriek in terror.
Kane takes his sword in two hands an swings it down on the attacking Warg. He hacks at the Warg before him, and the creature attacks with redoubled fury. The warg's hot breath is in Kane's face as he struggles with the huge wolf.
Khom-Bei continues his charge toward the door.
The massive door is partly ajar. In the shadows beyond lurks Arrok, Varun's minion, who drove you there and is a servant here. He avoids eye contact with Khom-Bei.
Kane attacks the wounded warg once one, again slashing into his opponent and spilling wolf blood.
The creatures leap on Kane again. But Kane's sword forms a blazing curtain of fiery steel around him, shielding him from the Wargs' savage jaws.
The Warg's jaws clamp down on the throat of one of Khom-Bei's burdens.
Slamming through the small opening in the doorway, Khom-bei commands the warg. "By the Great Father, be gone!"
In the face of holy power, the snapping wolf turns and flees from the battle, tail between its legs.
Khom-Bei says, "Arrok, we have done as your master asked, get us out of here, now."
Arrok murmurs, "You must come with me. My master gave instructions..." He takes the still-clinging dead girl from Khom-Bei's back and lays her gently down.
Khom-Bei says, "Come on, Kane!"
Kane sees Khom-Bei is through the door so then heads for the doror himself.
Khom-Bei prepares to slam the door in the wargs faces as soon as Kane is through.
Kane is savaged as he leaps through the door, and Khom-Bei slams it shut behind him. The warg's claws scrabble on the door and it howls in fury.
Arrok gestures down the corridor. "We must hurry...my master says..."
Khom-Bei hands Kane the two girls and bends to pick up the corpse of the one he failed to save; "Go, Kane, we must hurry."
Kane helps Khom-Bei with the girls and heads after Arrok.
Khom-Bei follows quickly behind.
Thunder booms, and lightning crackles. The pathetic minion shambles ahead of you down the long corridor.
A dash down the corridor, then a turn, and into a small courtyard inside the curtain wall of the Old Keep. Two horses are saddled nearby, standing in the rain. Arrok produces blankets for the girls, wrapping each one carefully up. "My master...has arranged...for you to leave by the main...gate. So leave, and do not return..." He adds, "So speaks Varun the Shadow."
Rain is sheeting down now, rain and more rain, and endless autumn storm.
Kane seats the girls on the horse then climbs on himself.
Placing the dead girl across his horses neck, Khom-bei climbs into the saddle. Looking down at Arrok, he speaks softly. "If any harm befalls these girls, I shall visit it tenfold on your master. Make sure he knows."
Kane simply nods to Arrak then spurs his horse at break kneck speed down the road.
Khom-Bei turns his horse toward the gate and kicks it into a gallop. He is soon lost from sight in the rain.
Arrok, standing alone in the rainy courtyard, shoulders slumped, can't raise his eyes.
The hoofbeats of the Hunters' horses are lost in the stormy darkness.
Alarms sounding behind them, two black-clad horsemen race through the unnatural darkness of Camars, hooves clattering above the sounds of the storm. Lightning flashes overhead, illuminating them and their three small passengers as they dart through the main gates of the city.
As they pass, a grizzled sergeant-of-the-guard signals to his men to close the heavy gates. As the gates slowly winch closed, he turns, palm extended, to face a figure in the shadows at the base of the city wall. "Always good to do business with Him..." he says, quietly.
From the shadows steps a small girl wearing a heavy cloak of wine-red velvet, the hood falling from her golden ringlets. Her pale skin nearly luminous under the constant lightning, she extends a gloved hand and drops a purse full of dragons into the sergeants' palm. "My master appreciates your service."
Their horses flecked with foam and heaving for breath, Kane and Khom-bei rein in their mounts. Kane gestures at the two unconscious little girls he holds before him, "We should take these two to Elianel's refuge. They'll be safe there."
Khom-bei nods and looks down at the third girl draped across his horse, her form lifeless. "There is something I must do before we travel much further, Kane."
Frowning, Kane sighs, "We don't have much time, Khom-bei. Can you make it quick?"
Climbing down from his mount, Khom-bei pulls the girl down and carries her body to the side of the road. Laying her gently on the ground, he turns to Kane."I will make it as quick as possible, Kane, but try to remember that we are talking about a little girl that died."
Kane starts to speak but thinks better of it, climbing down from his horse instead.
Khom-bei gathers firewood and piles it together for a pyre. As he places the girls' body on top, he begins softly chanting a death song of the plains. Scooping up a handful of earth, he moves slowly in a circle, tossing part of the dirt to each of the four winds. Completing the circle, he kneels and brings out knife, flint, and steel from his belt. Shaving a mound of slivers from a splintered branch, he sparks the fire alight as he ends his chant. Blowing the slivers into a brighter glow, he adds tinder and places the handful under the pile of wood. Standing again, he looks to the sky, "Great Father, take this child to your side where she may walk in the sun for all time. She fell in a place of darkness and evil that she had no part in. Guide her steps to the homes of her ancestors."
Bowing his head, Khom-bei stands in silent meditation.
Kane steps forward and bows his head over the girl, eyes closed against the smoke billowing about him, "Go, little one, shine brightly that your mother may look to the skies and see you forever in the stars."
Kane turns and mounts his horse, reining it around to face Khom-bei, "We must ride quickly if we are to get these two to safety."
Khom-bei nods and climbs onto his horse. Taking one of the girls from Kane,
he settles her astride the gelding. As Kane kicks his horse into motion, Khom-bei
pauses for a moment. Taking his knife, he cuts his pony-tail off and tosses
it into the fire before digging his heels into the geldings flanks and chasing
into the darkness after Kane.