Bad Blood Runs Black - chapter five

Bad Blood Runs Black - chapter 5 - by John "Basileus Ioannis"

***Quick recap: Pana the cleric wants to sneak into Lord Heizmall's Schloss Rosenstein to spy on viceroy Stengel the weasel and to be there when the Luftschiff arrives at dawn with her father's body, so Haergrim takes her to meet a drow "sneak" named Chawinda, whom they hire for 10,000 gold Marks and some kind of huge debt Chawinda owes Haergrim***

Pana the cleric, Haergrim the ranger, and Chawinda the "sneak" left the tavern and melted into the shadows. The drow took the lead, as she turned into a very narrow alley, and hissed, "Follow me." They went down a narrow stone staircase to a basement tenement, but instead of opening the door, Chawinda pushed a stone on the wall opposite, and a hidden secret doorway appeared in what had been a solid wall a moment before. "This way," she motioned and disappeared into the darkness. Haergrim followed her into the inky blackness. Pana hesitated for a moment, unable to see. "Hurry it up, missy, you're letting the darkness out," called the drow, and Pana complied. The secret door snicked shut behind her, leaving a plain stone wall.

Pana's mouth opened in amazement...they were in a natural cavern barely six feet high, with tiny stalactites and stalagmites, and patches of glowing moss on the walls and ceiling, providing faint illumination. The cavern slanted downwards at a gentle slope, and water trickled down the walls...upon closer inspection, a sluice had been cut along both sides of the floor, and the water flowed into it and down into the blackness. The center of the floor was dry, providing good traction. "I call it my home away from home," echoed Chawinda's voice from the darkness ahead. Pana could barely make out Haergrim's hunched form walking in front of her...her eyes drifted down to his fine posterior again, and she blushed. After about fifty feet or so, the luminescent moss ended, and she could hear the rushing of water somewhere ahead...she squinted, but realized Haergrim was no longer ahead of her. Suddenly her toes were at the lip of a dropoff, and she could hear the water rushing far below from the chasm. Haergrim's firm hand caught her shoulder before she could tumble down into the void. "I wouldn't go that way," mocked Chawinda, "up here." The voice came from above and to her right. She had missed the side cavern, as it was above floor level by about three feet...more faint light came from that direction. The ranger helped her up into Chawinda's abode.

The side cavern opened up into a space about twenty feet in diameter, roughly kidney bean shaped...the ceiling was domed, and a dark hole appeared at its apex. Patches of moss, some purple, some green, gave off an eerie light. Pana could make out an area where clear water trickled into a natural basin, with two pots laying on their sides next to it...the water appeared to drain out towards the entrance. She passed a nook carved into the wall, the only flat surface she could see, into which several tomes were stuffed...Chawinda's library. She could not tell what the subjects were...two were large enough to have writing on their spines, but it was a language she did not recognize. "Hey missy," called the drow, her voice seemingly close and coming from several directions due to the domed ceiling, "come here". Pana vaguely made out the shadows of Chawinda and Haergrim in the back of the room...the drow held a spherical metal object with a handle, but she could not tell what it was.

As Pana approached, Chawinda flicked open a tiny door on the sphere...it was a bulls-eye lantern, giving off a dim beam of white light. The drow grabbed the hem of Pana's grey cotton cloak, holding it open, and shined the light over her clothes. "Lolth's brood, are you wearing a DRESS?" she exclaimed. Pana blushed again...she had forgotten to change into something more appropriate for the mission...and her fine silk shoes were soiled. "You're not going anywhere like that, missy," chuckled a bemused Chawinda, "here, I should have something around your size." She flicked off the lantern, setting it on a natural stone table that looked like a giant mushroom, squatted down and began rummaging through a metal chest on the floor. The metal was dark but Pana could make out a greenish hue, so she assumed it was made of bronze.

The drow produced a set of black clothing. "Here, put these on...they're the biggest ones I have, they should fit. I'll find you some boots," she said as she handed them to Pana. They were very soft, smooth like eelskin...Pana turned to Haergrim, but the male elf had gone to the pool of water and was filling a pot with it, his back toward the two women. Pana hastily took off her mother's cloak, her holy symbol, and her blue dress, and set them on the table. Standing in her linen undershirt, she shivered...the caverns were colder than the surface. She took off her silk shoes, and stepped into the pants...the inside was lined with fur, and was very comfortable...as she pulled them up and laced up, the pants felt like they were hugging her form, they were not baggy like Chawinda's clothes. She put on the jacket, and laced it up...these, too, were lined with fur, and were warm. The laces appeared to be leather, and there were no metal buttons.

Chawinda suddenly grabbed Pana's ankle, and she had to put a hand on the wall to avoid losing her balance. The drow put a boot sole against the bottom of her foot, made a grunt of approval, and said "try these on...they should fit." Pana slid her feet into the boots, and they fit like a glove. Speaking of gloves...

The drow appeared to read her mind, and produced a pair of black gloves that matched her attire. "Here you go, that should do it. Just keep that cloak over your head, missy, and you should be fine." Pana pulled on the soft gloves, and reached for her grey cloak on the table. Suddenly Chawinda stood up right in front of Pana, and looked her up and down to confirm her attire...she grabbed the top of her pants, and gave a tug. "Good," she said, and pulled the lower hem of her jacket down hard over the pants. Chawinda put her hands on Pana's hips, and gently slid them upwards, her thumbs gliding over her bosom. Pana blushed for a third time, as the drow murmured, "hmm...you're rounder than I am, missy..." and laughed softly. "It'll do."

Chawinda hung the bulls-eye lantern on a hook on the wall, and opened the door. The shaft of white light illuminated the top of the table, with Pana's blue dress and grey cloak on one side...Pana had donned her holy symbol. The drow nimbly stepped to a nook near the library, and produced several large scrolls about two feet long. She walked back and laid them on the table, opening up one, letting it roll up again, and opening up another, "ah, here we go." She laid daggers on the edges to keep the map open. Haergrim came up on Chawinda's left, while Pana finished putting on her cloak. The drow's gloved hands glided over the map, as Pana leaned over the table to get a better view, casting a huge shadow on the map. "Sorry," she whispered as she quickly ducked out of the shaft of light.

"This is Schloss Rosenstein's ground level plan," began Chawinda. "The main entrance gate, here, the outer walls wrap around the courtyard to the castle walls here. To the left is the main army headquarters. The right hand wall continues back here, to the canal. The canal side is sheer right down to the water. On the back left here, is the access to the parade ground where the Luftschiffe land. Alright? Now the interior..."

The drow showed the major walls, staircases, other well-known areas of the castle. The audience chamber and entry hall, Pana had seen many times, but the side chambers and stairs were all new to her. Several years ago, she had gone to a ball held in the audience chamber along with her father...her coming of age ceremony. Royal blue banners hung from the upper gallery, and streamers came out from behind the Grand Duke's throne to the ceiling. The chamber was so large, tables and chairs were arranged on either side, and there was still plenty of room in the middle for the dancing couples. Thoughts of her father came flooding back, and tears welled up in her eyes again. She quickly wiped them away, and focused on the hallway leading to the side doors facing the parade ground.

"Two guard rooms, here by the main entrance, and here by the hallway leading to the side door...the weasel may be using the Duke's library as his office, here," continued Chawinda. "Start looking for him here, it's easy access. The upstairs are harder to get to, there are few windows, and only two staircase accesses, here and here."

Pana looked at an area behind the audience chamber, accessible by a long narrow hallway running from a door right next to the exit leading to the parade ground. She pointed at the staircase at its end, at the corner of the right hand castle wall and the canal. "Where's this lead to?" she asked.

"Down, I presume," said Chawinda. "I don't know anything about the basement, I assume there's a dungeon down there. Sewer accesses here, here and here are heavy grates that are locked and warded...I can handle the lock, but we'll need a Dispel Magic. Missy, what kind of spells you got?"

"Mostly offensive," replied the cleric, "Sound Burst, Silence, Fireball, with some buffs, Bless, Prayer, Protections...I also have Dispel Magic, Knock, and Clairaudience." The latter she had received from her deity when she had asked for help to find out what was going on...not normally a cleric spell, it was unfamiliar to Pana, she would have to be very careful when she cast it.

Chawinda raised her eyebrows and whistled. "That's quite an arsenal...Fireball, eh? You a Fire domain?" Pana nodded. "Well, that's always handy to have around...as well as Knock in case there's a wizard lock in our way. I assume the Clairaudience is how you intend to eavesdrop on the weasel?" Pana nodded again. "And that Silence may certainly come in handy...I can turn their lights out, and I got something to mask our scents, but noises I can't control."

Haergrim studied the map wordlessly. Chawinda continued, "Okay, everyone memorize the layout? Good," and pulled the map free of the daggers and rolled it up. She slid it under her cloak, and found somewhere to stash it. She deftly snapped up her daggers, and they disappeared into her sleeves. "Alright, the night's not gonna last forever...here," she produced a vial with a shaker top on it. "Scent mask, my special blend...it'll make you smell like mold, it's for the dogs." She gave another one to Haergrim. "Let's do it."

The trio went down to the canal, prised open a grate, and entered the foul smelling sewers. They sloshed through the sewers for what seemed an eternity, Chawinda in the lead, Pana blindly following her leader, with Haergrim bringing up the rear. The drow stopped, and whispered "alright, wait here" and disappeared up the walls of the sewer. Pana waited anxiously, peering upwards in the darkness where Chawinda disappeared. She was tempted to cast Light, so she could see, but controlled herself. Haergrim stood right behind her, one hand on his sword hilt, the other on Pana's shoulder to comfort her. Suddenly she heard a hiss, and a heavy rope smacked her in the face. "Okay, come up" whispered the drow. Haergrim gave her pointers to use her legs as well as hands, and Pana obediently climbed up the rope...soon she was up at the grate with Chawinda.

She felt something on her cloak, and looked down in the dim light from above...a fat spider almost as big as her hand peered up at her, mandibles twitching. She stifled a scream...Chawinda chuckled, "ah, a cutie..." and deftly plucked the spider from her cloak and dropped it down the shaft.

A second later, a groan came up from below...Haergrim came up the rope with the spider squarely on his face. He flicked it off, his eyes glaring at Chawinda, "thanks for the gift."

"That's what you get for looking up our skirts," laughed the drow. "Okay, missy, see the box on this side of the grate? Hit it with your Dispel."

"Are you carrying anything that might be affected?" asked Pana. "Nah, everything's durable," replied Chawinda. "Go ahead."

Pana cast the Dispel Magic on the box, and it glowed for a moment, then everything was still. "Alrighty," said the drow, "I'll take care of the rest." She produced picks out of her hair behind her ear, and after a few seconds, a clack sound confirmed the open lock. She pushed up on the grate, and it barely moved...all three braced their feet on opposite sides of the shaft, and heaved...the grate slid aside, inch by inch, until they were free. Chawinda poked her head out of the shaft, looking all around. "Okay, come on," she hissed, and climbed out. Pana followed, the lanky elfin ranger last. There were coats hanging overhead...it was a garde-robe, a combination closet and bathroom, on the ground floor level. There would be another on the upper floor, extending out over the castle wall.

Torches burned in sconces along the walls...they were near the audience chamber. Faint voices echoed from somewhere in the distance. Banners hung in intervals from the upstairs gallery, just as Pana remembered. Before the trio left the garde-robe, Chawinda said "okay, use that stuff I gave you...and missy get that Silence spell ready, just in case." The concoction was sprinkled on their clothes, their hair, and faces...it really smelled rank, like moldy wood. The drow helped Pana put it on her back better. Now they were ready to move out.

They crept from banner to banner, ready to duck behind one at any moment. Haergrim and Pana drew their swords. Chawinda appeared to melt into each shadow. They came to the main entrance hall...the drow peeked around the corner. "Dung," she hissed, "get back." The ranger and the cleric flattened themselves behind a banner...the "sneak" melted into the shadow of a column nearby...they heard footsteps, the distinctive clinking of mail, and the panting of a dog. Two guards holding halberds walked into the audience chamber, one holding the leash of a huge mastiff. The mastiff stopped, sniffed the air, made a low "whuff", and the guards stopped. Looking around and seeing nothing, the guard holding the leash said "come on," gave a tug, and they went toward the side door of the Schloss. The other guard coughed loudly, complained about the "blasted mold" as they disappeared.

Pana breathed a sigh of relief...Chawinda hissed, and the trio went back to the entrance hall, and hugging the wall, went toward the open door to the castle library. Voices could be heard from within, but even from the doorway, they could not make out what was being said. Pana peered around Chawinda into the room...by the blazing fireplace was a wooden table with many documents on it. Behind the desk, in an ornate padded chair, sat the viceroy Stengal the weasel...he was speaking with a hooded figure seated in another chair facing his. It was almost thirty feet to the desk from the doorway. The drow whispered, "Alright, do your thing." Pana took a deep breath, and her memory produced the incantation...she gripped her holy symbol in one hand, and the words came out. She focused on the desk...the desk...the desk...and soon she could hear Stengal and the hooded figure.

"...another over at Geisdorf, which completes the encirclement. We shouldn't expect trouble from their militia, our man has taken care of that as well," Stengal said confidently. "By dawn, our troubles will be over." Geisdorf, Pana knew, was a town to the west of the capital, about seven leagues away.

"Yes, viceroy, you have done well," a female voice, somewhat familiar, said to the weasel quietly...a mature voice...who is she? "After the body arrives, we will hold the funeral services...then we will no longer need our prisoner."  Prisoner? thought Pana.

"I will see to it personally, madam," purred the weasel. "With him gone, and the body burned beyond recognition, not even a Resurrection spell would bring him back." He laughed a squeaky, evil laugh...how Pana hated him. "Now, how long do you want me to wait before I announce my coronation?" Coronation! But Lord Heizmall...

"Patience, viceroy," said the woman. "The people must have a proper period of mourning, and we must wait for the right circumstances. Our man may have effective control of the remaining army units, but all we need is some loyalist unit causing trouble..."

"But that's where the encirclement forces can forestall the remaining loyalists," interrupted the weasel. "They are strength aplenty to block the roads with the monsters, the Charrs could then be free to deploy in the city." Ah ha, thought Pana. So he does have something to do with the Charrs, and the orcs and the troll she ran into.

"You underestimate..." and the spell had run its course. So, Stengal the weasel is a puppet, and the woman was the puppet master. He DOES have something to do with the Blackstonian roadblock, and it sounds like he has an inside man controlling the army. He definitely has ambitions for the throne, but Lord Heizmall is at the front, he might be able to make it back by Luftschiffe to lead a counterattack against the invaders. The woman, she is facilitating the weasel's coup d'etat! They also have a prisoner, whose life apparently will be ended after her father's body arrives in the morning. Pana finished digesting the intelligence, and moved on to the second phase, to find a place to hide until sunrise...when her father's remains will arrive...

"You done?" whispered Chawinda. Pana nodded. "Alright, we gotta find somewhere to lay low for a few hours...come on." She led Pana and Haergrim back to the audience chamber, and checking to make sure the way was clear, they made their way toward the hall to the side doors. They arrived at the doorway to the barracks room, and peered in...the two guards they saw earlier were sitting around a table playing a dice game...the mastiff was laying on the floor between their legs, facing away from the door...several occupied bunks were further back in the dark end of the room, with snoring occupants. The trio snuck past the guard room, made their way to the last door before the side doorway, the one that opens to the long narrow corridor leading to the staircase down. They opened it, found it unlit, and quiet...several pieces of furniture were stacked in the corridor, covered in dusty cloths. "This looks good...get under the tables," said the drow. They crawled under the cloths, being careful not to upset the dust on top, and hid. "I'll take first watch, you two have had a long day," said Chawinda. Without a word of argument, Haergrim curled up on the stone floor and was fast asleep.

Pana suddenly realized how tired she was...she looked into Chawinda's red eyes. The drow winked at her. "Thanks, Chawinda...for everything," Pana said, and went out like a candle.

--- definitely to be continued! ---