The group followed Kuiper's lead through the woods for the entire day. No humanoids or any denizens of the forest disturbed them as they traveled. The night brought its heavy darkness to the wood quickly. "We should be getting close to where we're going," Kuiper told them. Shortly after that, a small cough alerted them to someone else nearby. Arachne was hiding in the bushes nearby....
Jana spun in a crouch at the cough. She had her sword half out of the scabbard before she realized it was Arachne. She eased the sword back and straightened up. She waited quietly for Arachne to speak.
"Hey Arachne," Rumer whispered, "what can you tell us?"
Aloysius stooped to examine some of the area's plant life. He picked up a few leaves, sniffed them, then held them at arm's length.
"A little," Arachne answered softly, joining the gang. "More about
what I didn't find than what I did. I found the glade, I think:
Lots of moss and spooky. You know -- the sort of feel to a place
as though it _ought_ to be haunted, even if nothing shows up to say 'Boo.'
Anyway, I think that's the appointed place. There's boggy ground
near it. Bogs are useful for storing zombies, I expect, since real
corpses keep very well in them. Something to be aware of in considering
where the enemy might be keeping reserve forces. But I didn't find
any activity around the place, nor any evidence of preparations.
The moss does glow. I'm not sure how useful that light will be for
the night-blind, but the glade isn't going to be _that_ dark -- unless
somebody decides to extinguish the moss...somehow."
"So what do we do now?"
Aloysius knelt and placed a hand on Arachne's shoulder. "Well
done, small one," he said quietly.
"We had some brief discussions as to how best approach this situation
whilst thou wert scouting. our main
priority, at least from what I can discern from the others' comments,
is to free Echo. To achieve that
goal, we discussed dividing into 3 groups: Ettiene and Rennirolas could
skirt the area in one direction and
provide missile fire. You and Jyothki could circle in the opposite
direction and try to free Echo. The rest
of us would bear the brunt of whate'er we face in the center of the
Glade."
He paused momentarily in thought. "Dost thou maintain enough strength to transport Jyothki close to where Echo is being held? If not, we may want to reconsider our approach."
"Did you see Echo?" Jana asked anxiously.
"Sorry, no," Arachne replied gently.
Jana nodded, looking like she'd just been poleaxed.
"Well, I tried to get some rest while waiting for you to get here..."
"Uh, stop me if I'm being stupid, but what, exactly, was the point of sending Ettiene and Renn circling the glade and providing missile fire? It sounds to me as though that would increase the chance of that missile fire crossing the glade and hitting one of us instead. Those missiles arc. I know that firing into melee is a bad idea -- you really can't be sure what you're going to hit. But firing _over_ melee is something else again. Unless you were just talking about a slight flanking move to get a clear shot at What's-His-Name because the distances are all pretty short and so there isn't much arc after all..." She chewed her lip a moment. "It's not that big a glade...that _would_ help... didn't say how _far_ they were going to circle. Yes, sorry: You're right and I'm being stupid."
"No, no, " countered Aloysius. "Thy concerns be well-founded.
Actually, Rennirolas came up with the
suggestion of placing a silence spell on an arrow and trying to either
shoot it into, or near to, the dark
priest thereby impairing his ability to cast spells or issue directives
to his minions. A second advantage
to Ettiene and Rennirolas moving separately has to do with surprise,
I suppose. No doubt Ranchefus plans
not to simply accost us head on and without deceit. At least
if our two archers surreptitiously placed
themselves on one flank or another, we would have a surprise of our
own to offer."
She shrugged and looked for Jyothki. In passable elven, except for the tendency to get lost in syntax, Arachne said, "You've volunteered to go after Echo? It goes without saying that she wasn't there yet when I scouted before. I don't even remember seeing any likely locations where she's likely to get set up. I mean, a tree's a tree's a tree and there are a lot of trees there and various spaces between them and -- And I suppose you think very differently and that each tree is a unique and special living thing and so on and intellectually I guess that's true. But they've all got bark and branches and I'm a town girl and as far as I'm concerned they're all... Well, it's like that. Are you going to want help getting _to_ Echo, or is my part helping to get Echo away? Doesn't change _what_ I'd be doing, I guess. But maybe how much of it I have to plan on doing."
"Certainly the dark priest will expect us to ask for a viewing of Echo
afore we turn over his booty. When he shows her to us, that should
enable us to engage him and his minions long enough for you to transport
Jyothki close to Echo, and then hopefully get them both back.
Do you think you will have enough energy for that?"
He turned to the others. "Stargazer certainly has no more experience
at these sorts of maneuvers than any
of the rest of you. Please, if anyone has another proposal, share
it with us by all means."
Jyothki listened to the gnome with patience. When she was finished the elf thought for a moment, then replied. "Actually," she said slowly, "I can get myself to Echo and get us both out without help. I don't know what condition she will be in, however, and your talents with healing may prove useful. Forgive my suggesting," she said softly, "but if there are other ways that your talents would be more helpful, a diversion perhaps, or... well I'm not truly certain of what you can do." Jyothki smiled at Arachne. "You are welcome to help me take Echo to safety once I have her out of the glade."
Aloysius raised at curious eyebrow at Jyothki's statement. "Jyothki,"
he said in elvish, "not that I
doubt your words, but how is it that you propose to reach Echo all
by yourself? I don't mean to pry, but
if the majority of us are going to be fending off who-knows-what in
the Glade while you try to free
Echo, I don't think that it is unreasonable for us to ask how you plan
to accomplish it."
Rumer looked up. "I'm not sure any of us attacking in a big clump is such a good idea. Aren't there spells that work on folks that are huddled together? Maybe if we stagger ourselves out with each of us taking a partner and hit from as many sides as we can, we'd be more likely to take them by surprise and possibly avoid being all caught in some horrible spell other than those that were already possibly flanking and shooting arrows into melee."
"Another thought, if I were a big villain and had a hostage, I'd make sure I was close to her and able to kill her pretty easily. So attacking may not be such an easy proposition. Nor would firing arrows if Ranchefus is just standing in front of Echo tied to a tree or something. I mean, there's not really any such thing as friendly fire, is there?"
"All excellent insights," replied Aloysius. "No doubt Ranchefus
has access to magics that affect entire
areas, as Rumer has suggested." The mage sighed deeply, the weight
of uncertainty hanging heavily upon
him. "How about this? We could employ Rumer's suggestion
of a wider spread of personnel and still
use Rennirolas's silence spell if he cast it on one of US instead of
Ranchefus. The person he cast it upon
should be one of our stouter members as they would have to stand toe-to-toe
with Ranchefus for quite a
while for any benefit from the silence spell to accrue. If Jyothki
is confident that she can reach Echo alone, then perhaps we should let
her try. Arachne could wait for them on the edge of the Glade and
then transport all three of them as far away from here as she can.
I wonder if we humans will be able to see?"
The mage stretched his arms but continued speaking. "Jyothki mentioned
the possibility of a diversion. If
we were to divert attention away from Echo somehow, that would increase
the likelihood of success. Of
course, the rest of us would have to find some way out, but we've known
that all along. Stargazer has prepared no spells that might serve
as a diversion. Does anyone have any suggestions on that issue?"
Jyothki sighed and walked slowly to a tree. She did not stop, but kept walking, fading into the tree, until she could not be seen. A short distance away, and to the party's left, she reappeared, much in the same way she had disappeared.
With a shake of her head she said softly, and mostly to herself, "Now I shall definitely have to go home when this night is done."
Aloysius's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, but he appeared (thankfully?) too amazed to speak.
Etienne spoke up, "Aloysius, Jyothki is a dryad, a tree spirit. Her kind has the ability to move through the trees. I would have said something earlier, but a few things were unclear to me. That is something that can wait, though. We have one of our own to worry about now."
Aloysius was still standing dumbstruck when Etienne spoke. "Oh," he replied finally, a slow grin creeping up on his face.
"Neat!" Arachne declared softly. "And I take it that a wooden post is as good as a tree for your purposes, Jyothki. And that there does not exist a tree so evil that you could not go there. (After all, this post is hardly being put to _good_ use.) Moreover, I suppose that, whatever binding What's-His-Name may use to keep Echo in place, it cannot interfere with your releasing her. And that wherever you're able to go, you can bring Echo with you.
"I'll appoint myself your backup, then," she continued.
"I'm in pretty good shape for working my own style of "magic." I
can work up several of my doors if they prove to be necessary after all.
If whatever's
binding Echo is a problem, I can probably destroy that -- rust it if
it's iron, rot ropes, whatever. If she's near death, well..."
She sighed. "I'll try to point my door to wherever Renn is.
Healing's hard work, and if I've done much of the other stuff, I
won't have much left to keep Myrkul -- or whoever it is these days -- at
bay. So the only issue around all that is -- Jyothki, can you whistle?"
"I don't have a horn for you to wind. I also won't come to wherever Echo is unless you decide I'm needed. If you _do_ decide I'm needed, we need some way for you to signal that. I'll watch from the woods, but I think we should also have a positive signal. Whistling, if you can do that, smoke from the dead post -- if it is dead, wooden, and you can do that. Whatever you suggest.
"Oh: If you really want a diversion, I could find a dead tree and help it fall down. That may or may not be an impressive diversion, but it's the best I can think of. As for keeping it simple, how about this? IF you hear or see a tree fall nearby, it's probably me acting on the belief that a diversion would be a useful tactic."
Jyothki whistled softly, a near-perfect imitation of a the periodic sounds of birds in the area. Smiling she said, "I don't really know how to do it, its just an unconcious thing I suppose, but I can do it louder if I need you, Arachne, and there shouldn't be any birds in a haunted part of the forest, and definitely not with people moving about and fighting."
"No," Jana objected, "the only issue is, where the hells is Echo? Arachne said she didn't see her. None of this matters," she said, waving her hand around in an all-encompassing gesture, "if we can't find Echo!"
Rumer turned and spoke, quiet seriously and intensely, "No. That's not the only issue. That's just one issue. The main issue is stopping Ranchefus from doing this to others. Or whoever is behind this. This is just a trap. I doubt Echo will even be here. If she is, we try to free her and keep alive and kill whoever. If she's not, we just do the other two. But Echo isn't the only issue. And it will matter whether we find her or not."
"You have your issues," Jana replied, "and I have mine. Finding Echo comes first, at least for me it does. When she's safe, then I'll kill the bastard."
"I didn't say she wasn't an issue. I just said she wasn't the only thing that matters." replied Rumer. "Not that you care about anyone other than her and yourself anyway," she muttered.
Etienne turned to Kuiper," Sir, are you in with us on this? If so, I would appreciate yur guidance on this matter. We are walking into unknown territory against a foe who we know has set a trap for us."
He looked at Jana, "Jana, it may be best to find a place to tether Horse before we get to this spot. He won't stay around long with undead and if he runs off into the darkness, he could run into a bog."
"Okay," Jana said, "but we'll have to carry the chests in." When an appropriate place was found, she tethered her horse where he could graze, making sure he could break free if he got hungry enough to put real effort into it. She stripped him of saddle, packs, everything, leaving them nearby covered by a few branches. "Go to Oleanne if I don't come back," she said softly to him. She hugged him tightly, then released him. The horse whuffed and rubbed his head against her. She scratched him in his favorite places for a moment, then with a final pat, walked away. She rubbed her eyes and said in a tightly controlled voice, "Let's go find Echo."
"The chests." Blacky spoke up "The silence could be cast on one of the chests and I could just bring it to him. How inconspicousely can the spell be cast and how long does it last?"
"An intriguing possibility," Aloysius agreed. "Rennirolas?"
Etienne shook his head, "Ummm, guys, there's only one problem with that. Don't you think Ranchefus is going to be a bit suspicious if Blacky come walking up dragging a chest and not making any noise. Or were you planning on casting it after the chest got there?"
"Well I suppose if this little adventure starts with following a dryad
into a deep, dark, haunted forest, we
shouldn't expect it to be a prance through the daisies." Daelen
said as he grasped Snow's leash with his shield hand and drew his sword.
"So does anyone know what else we might meet in here? Giant man-eating flying squirrels maybe?"
After Jana tethered Horse, and the others discussed suggestions for
the "plan", Aloysius addressed the
group generally.
"From what I have heard, there be certain things that must occur based
on our intentions and the realities
of our situation. First, the chests must be carried by persons
who have the strength to do so, and these
same persons shall necessarily be in the front of our approach.
Second, Jyothki and Arachne shall need to
be away from the group as we approach so they can concentrate on retrieving
Echo. Third, I believe that
Rumer's suggestion of spreading ourselves out to a certain extent to
be a good one. Finally, in some fashion Rennirolas shall use the
silence spell to try and hamper Ranchefus."
"It seems that we still need to address the following questions: First,
what shall the humans use for light
in the event that the gleam be not bright enough? Second, if
we are to spread into groups, who shall be
in what group? Third, shall we propose a meeting place in case
we all get separated in this dark forest?"
Apparently, the mage was in a very agreeable mood that night. "Indeed," he responded. "Methinks that using the spell on an arrow, or a person not quite in the front rank might be a better approach. I just wish we had more time to address each contingency."
"By the gods," muttered Falgout, "this just gets worse and worse." He hung back at the very edge of the group as they planned, mumbling to himself about women who steal men's souls.
Rumer hung back with Falgout. "Weird. Never met a dryad before. I'm gonna hang out with you Falgout. I think we make a pretty good team."
"Yeah, I'm going," Kuiper told Etienne. "Your plans have merit, although they seem to be getting more and more complicated. I'd say that since Jyothki says she can get Echo, the main target should be the priest, keeping him from casting spells and then killing him or capturing him if we can. And don't forget, if things go wrong, we need to be able to retreat."
Aloysius wrung his hands nervously. "Konrad's Theorem of Simplicity states that, when faced with more than one proposition that may or may not be true, a presumption arises that the simplest of the propositions has the most merit unless it necessarily requires the use of Neirdahl's Logic Schematic. This, in tur- . . . . ."
He glanced at the others for a brief moment.
"Uh . . ." he continued slowly, "why not just send Jyothki and Arachne
around the perimeter whilst the
rest of us spread out in the central area? If we get a chance
to slay Ranchefus, we shall. We shall rely on Rennirolas's good sense
about how best to employ the silence spell. Pairing up might be wise.
Some of us, uh . . . ., ME primarily, have need of space to cast spells.
If need be, we shall retreat to . . ." he looked about, "how about
here?"
"Simple . . . yes, an excellent notion," said Aloysius. "It sounds as if Arachne and Jyothki have their part of the plan established. Rumer has suggested that she pair with Falgout. Assume do I that Etienne and Janathell will wish to, er, move together. Stargazer should not be paired with Rennirolas if he is to be casting silence spells. That leaves Kuiper, Daelen, or Eric as Stargazer's companion. Who is going to carry the chests? That will likely determine our final pairings. Also, I would suggest that we remain at least 20 feet apart, at least initially. That means that each group will need a torch."
He shook his head. "Oh dear. So many details . . ."
"Why would you assume that?" Jana asked defensively. I'd figured I'd be needed to help carry the chests. Someone who can fight worth a damn ought to go with Jyothki and Arachne, to protect them. Etienne might be a good choice." She looked over at Etienne. "You can see in the dark some, right?"
"Oh dear," said Aloysius in a low voice. "I was afraid of this."
"Well," he said to the entire group, "here we are nonetheless.
Forth to the Glade shall we go, and not 'til then shall we know who is
there and who is not. Perhaps having Etienne attend Jyothki and Arachne
is a wise suggestion. Mayhap Rennirolas as well. I'll not volunteer
any of our stronger members to carry the
chests, for that will likely be the most perilous position. Howe'er,
Stargazer will require at least one warrior to accompany him lest he be
entirely ineffective."
He stopped for a moment and considered his last statement. "Please," he said finally, "let us determine our course and take it. There will hopefully be plenty of time in the future to discuss our differences."
"I'll give that black bastard a chest if he wants one." Blacky said with a wicked grin.
"You're forgetting that she probably won't be safe until he's dead anyway." Daelen remarked then turned to Aloysius.
"I can probably carry one of the chests, though that means I won't be able to lead Snow or have my weapon ready in case we're attacked. I'd suggest that Blacky carry the lighter of the chests and the rest of you who aren't going to circle around carry the other since my sword is enchanted and can light our way as well as any torch with a command. I don't think spreading ourselves too thin is wise, everyone who's gonna be fighting should have at least two other people watching his back. If we have people who can sneak around in the dark and we're the good guys, you can be he has them too."
"Whomever carries the chests will likely not have to carry them long,"
said Aloysius. "Since Eric and
Daelen have indicated a willingness to do so, perhaps they could carry
the chests and simply set them down
in the middle of the Glade? Janathell, if thou doth wish to be
in the forefront, perhaps you could accompany them. Kuiper and Stargazer
could place ourselves slightly behind and to the side of the group with
the chests. Etienne and Rennirolas could accompany Arachne and Jyothki
and provide any martial support they may need. Falgout and Rumer
can go wherever they see fit."
