[color:"00cccc"] "Hey!" I slapped Jurak from his snooze. "Look over there! The others seem to be excited about something. Jolie and Viper were waving at us, pointing to a crack that had suddenly appeared in the wall.
"Good gods! We're in mate!" Jurak's eyes widened.
"Lets go!" He said with excitement in his voice.
We stashed the sled and took the gear we needed for a fight. Viper led us into a small cave which widened after a few paces. Aganeth was arrogant, that was for sure, there were no guards in sight.
We came upon 3 doors and decided to split up. Viper took the right-hand door which he opened with a bit of 'persuasion' in cold steel. Jolie and the now inseperable Willow went left.
I took one of my daggers out and jammed it in the lock. Inexperienced as I was at lockpicking it seemed natural to me. With a satisfying 'click' the door opened.
Jurak and myself snuck into what was a narrow hallway. Jail cells lined each side. Most seemed empty apart from one which seemed to contain two very annoyed-looking dwarves. A single guard was asleep at the far end of the row of cells. He was in front of a door with a small sign.....
[color:"orange"] The master's chamber. KEEP OUT! [/color]
"Bingo! I whispered to Jurak. "Think you can handle the guard?"
"No problem!" He whispered.
Though somewhat alarmed at the sight of an eight-foot tall mortal enemy and a kinsman working together the dwarves remained silent, watching in some amusement as an orc tried to tiptoe up to the guard.
A few feet away from the guard Jurak's sword made a small 'clank' on the rusty bars. "Uh-oh" He said.
"Wha-uh....." The guard opened his mouth to cry for help but Jurak's sword moved like a blur, impaling the hapless guard on the wall behind him. Death was pretty much instantaneous....
I grinned, highly impressed and moved over to the dwarves' cage.
"Who are ye?" One dwarf growled. "Bloody well come to finish us off eh?"
[Dwarvish] [color:"yellow"] "Well I was going to let you out but you can stay in there if you want"
"Er, not really but why are you with the orc!!?"
"He's a deserter, some hired muscle I picked up in a town south of here" I lied.
"Ah I see. Make the bugger work for you huh?"
"Any better use for em?"
"You trust him with that sword? Looks dangerous to me...."
"He's fine. What are you doing here anyway?"
I finally got the cell open.
"Impressive knowledge of locks there young, young...?"
"Womble, they call me Womble."
"What kinda name is that for a dwarf? Oh well, I'm Garak and this is Perrywinkle"
"Pleased to meetcha!" I said smirking..[/color][Dwarvish] "Perriwinkle! Jeeeeez!" I thought.
"Anyway," I looked at Jurak and gave him a quick 'shhhh', "You'd better get out of here. We have business with the wizard."
"Rather you than us mate, he was the one who put us in here. Took our equipment and everything! He has a lot of guards so watch yourself!"
"Hmmmm, equipment eh?" My thieving brain thought to itself. "Look guys, you have no equipment and you look like boar-sh*t! Escape now, trust in my friends!"
Something in my eyes must've compelled them to leave.
"Look..." Garak said, "he has several secret passages to his central chamber, there is the source of his power. We came here to find out his links with the seven. But then we ended up here." Garak spat with rage. Then he looked at me strangely...
"I remember you now Womble! You were a great forger until you decided to become a theif! What posessed you boy? You could've been the best in the land! I thought you were dead after they threw you out of the doors of the great halls. Left for the cave spiders to feed on!"
Memories returned.....like a steam tank at full pelt. My family! I'd disgraced them all trying to steal king Ironbeard's axe. They'd left me out there for the cave spiders, goblins and drow to devour. Banished me from the great underground dwarven halls of Drogni Ironbeard.
But I'd sneaked back, over the walls I'd scaled. I needed the gear that I'd stashed. My boomstick was weapon that could allow me to kill a cave spider from over one hundreed yards away. The 'traditional' dwarven warriors called me a coward for using it but they were wrong in the end. Each one a stinking corpse with goblin crossbow bolts sticking out of it.
The Goblins had attacked just as I had gathered my gear. Hoardes of them swarmed over the city. In the end even the great dragonslayers were overwhelmed. I watched from the cover of a ruined house, too scared to move, too scared even to breathe. I stayed there for days before moving, making sure they'd gone. I vowed to kill every goblin I saw that day as I trudged through the ruins. I buried who I could and left with all I could carry.....
"Yes, I returned and saw the carnage." I said shaking my head. "The bulk of the army was fighting a drow uprising. They knew! How did those green basta*ds know??" I almost started sobbing.
"That's why we came here," said Perriwinkle, "we suspected magical interference long ago. Ever since we started working for Nagarous the goblin attacks have been increasing in size and power. We wondered if Rabaer was trying to get to us and undermine Nagarous' authority."
"So you were there directly afterwords?" Garak asked. "What of the king's axe?"
"I don't know, I never found it. Its probably in the posession of Rabaer now. Such an item should not be used by such an evil being..."
"Then find it Womble! You and your....strange friend. Find it and return honour to the dead of Drogni halls!"
I nodded solemnly. I knew my mission now. The dwarves must not die out. I must find that axe before its power could be used for evil.
"I'll meet you in the dwarven city of Riflak. You know the way...." Garak said as his final words to me....
"Find the gold nugget that Aganeth took from us! It is a symbol of our bond to Nagarous. Without it he will abandon us and join the core of evil that the rest of the wizards have built. The whole world will not be safe!"
With that the two prisoners left. They dissapeared into the caves with the food we'd supplied them. They were badly beaten but they were dwarves, they'd survive...
Jurak looked at me.... "Don't worry mate!" I grinned, "I take each orc ask he or she comes now! I guess Kiya taught me that. Besides, they were goblins that destroyed my home!"
"Little buggers....." Jurak grinned. "Cmon, lets get this door open!"
"Sure." I replied.
The door was not budging to all my lockpicks. I'd even made a few out more of some spare wire I had.
I finally lost patience. "Ok Jurak, stand back!"
I hefted my axe and swung it in a massive overhead arc at the door. There was a sound like thunder, lightning flashed from the blade and the door turned to splinters beneath it.......
"Cool!" Jurak said once the dust had cleared. I looked at the axe with a mixture of admiration and wide-eyed horror. "Let's see what's in here..." I said with a smile. We walked through.
A fist hit me on the side of the face. I rolled with the blow absorbing the impact. My knife was in my hands and brought to the throat of my assailant in seconds. A knife was at mine too.
"Oh hi there Kiya!" I said with a grin. [/color]
