I awoke, feeling the little velkamir nudging me and hooting softly. But we were not alone. Several adventures stood in the room. One looked familiar, a lizardfolk who was staring down at me with a worried expression.
“I just fought a few demons and you look a lot worse.” He said, offering a hand to help me up.
“Clemersel right?” I asked, groaning a bit. My head felt like it had been knocked into a wall a few times. I nearly tilted over as I got vertical, still feeling like I was spinning around. The adventurer held my shoulder to keep me steady.
“Yea. Glad to see you’re still alive. Shocked to see you up here and in robes.” He showed his teeth as I let out an exhausted chuckle.
“Not my idea. They forced me and the others to wear them.” I rubbed my head and finally took in the scene. My nose was filled with the scent of blood and death. There was a whiff of the demonic sulfur smell coming from the adventurers but the blood was coming from the body on the floor. Velkcathus.
“What happened?” I asked, only now remembering Astaril attacking him as I ran down the ramp.
“When we got up here we found the one the robe like yours wrapped around the dead guy, ranting in another language. The two guards were trying to pry them apart and surrendered as soon as they saw us. You were laying on the ground near a stasis box and I was terrified for a moment you were dead too.”
I looked around and spotted Astaril. He was restrained along with the guards but there was something wrong with his eyes. Rather than the sharpness he always looked at the world with they seemed, hazed. He was muttering but nothing made sense. Something about a mirror.
My whole body shivered as I looked back at Clemersel. “Something is wrong with him. Sounds like he snapped.” I felt the velkamir nudge my leg and looked down. The discarded scanner was clutched carefully in its beak and I smiled, crouching down. The movement might have brought out a new spike of pain through my head but I stroked the creature’s head anyway.
“Thanks little one.” I retrieved the scanner, looking down into the creature’s big black eyes. “You need a name.”
——————————
Raven had come to a decision as she looked over the injuries of her party, she would send Jace and Luskis up to find one of the other teams and learn their status while she would talk with the woman. Mazen would keep an eye on Firth and Dranmir while she moved slowly down the hall.
Mildred was waiting at the door, kitchen knife in hand as Raven came in. The relief on the woman’s face was easy to read. “Thank the gods you’re back!” She called, putting the knife away into her robe.
“Yea. We’re all alive but some are injured so we’re trying to get in touch with the other teams to see if it is safe to get you all out of here.”
Several of the hillsec woman were talking amongst themselves and one with vibrant purple scales slithered towards her. She said something as she looked at Raven but even Mildred did not seem to understand her words. The paracrest put her hand out anyway, holding her eyes steady with the woman.
A warm glow of light pulsed from all four hands as they took gentle hold of the adventurer. The warmth flooded her body and she could feel her broken rib stitch back together as if she’d never been tossed into a wall.
“You’re a [Healer]?” Raven asked in surprise.
The woman tilted her head, letting go of the arm. “Heal, yes.” In what sounded like broken common. She seemed older. Her side sails, sometimes called a hood, were drooped down and the scales were flaking.
The adventurer patted one of the older woman’s hands gently, “Can you heal more?” She asked slowly, recognizing that while this lady might know common she had not used it in a long time.
“Yes.” The hillsec tilted her head to examine Raven even as the paracrest backed out the door.
“Come with me, please. Friends hurt.”
It wasn’t just the older purple scaled hillsec who came, but Mildred and a few other women. They all came to the ramp room where the injured were located. Raven heard more murmuring as the woman surveyed what had happened here. She even heard a muttered cry from one of the guards they had tied up in the hallway. She should have thought to move them before bringing anyone back but, who was she to get in the way of long overdue justice?
Dranmir had his back to the wall, only glancing her way as she came in with the woman. Most of his focus was on the men tied up on the other side of the room. Mazen turned Raven’s way when she returned, only giving her a nod and a beaked smile before looking to the other hallways. The woman though went right to work. The purple one slid up to Firth with two assistants while another lady carefully slithered to the minotaur’s side.
Mildred looked up to the ramp then down another corridor and shivered. “There are the prisons down that way. Infected prisoners are being kept in there. No one is to go near, even the food is passed to the guards. They didn’t talk when I was being held there with Camphus. We tried, yelling to them but just heard groaning from time to time. Not sure what was done to them but Ramjack said the infection is bad.”
Raven’s stomach curdled at the thought, and the idea that started climbing into her head. A worry really. Maybe it was just her exhausted brain connecting it to the last time she ran into the term but all she could think of was the missing team from Terath. She hadn’t heard him moving but Mazen was then at her side.
“If they learned about the vault they might have learned about what was in the mine.” The chelkren said softly. While there were times he seemed like just the blade and the defense in their dynamic he clearly had the same thought she had.
——
I still didn’t have a name for the little cub who was now following me like I was their mother. I didn’t know much of anything about velkamirs other than that they were feathery and liked meat. I carried the stasis box with me as I headed slowly down the ramp. My head would likely hurt for a while and moving too quickly would cause it to spike.
While the adventurers secured and brought the prisoners I explained to Clemersel about the infection. “I know a healer can deal with the low level infections. Actually, everyone should probably get some kind of healer cleansing as we leave just to be on the safe side. Astaril has notes about it in his lab. Samples too but I don’t want to touch those.”
“Alright. Raven’s team has the lower level.” And even as he spoke another familiar voice called my name.
“Ramjack! Hey you’re alright!” Jace called as he jogged down the hallway. “Clem, Firth and Dranmir are hurt and cannot be moved. Luskis ran out of magic and went to find Ipira and her team. Got any spares?”
“We might have some, enough to get them out of the building maybe. We had to face off against demons. No one died at least, but some of the others have mild injuries too. They’re getting some of the prisoners from the top floor.”
The little velkamir moved around my side and pushed against Jace’s leg, hooting in greeting. I patted the creature on the back with my tail as I headed to the lab.
“Hey Jace.” I said at last, pushing open the doors to the lab, “I was telling Clemersel about an infection they have been testing here. Do not touch the infected. If Raven and her team are downstairs best to warn them especially if they don’t have a healer right now. I’ve seen some of the results of it.” I tried not to think about the man I’d been forced to kill. His infection had been horrible and he’d been one of the cultists but still.
“Ugh. Yea. Oh, good news. We found your friend Mildred. She and a bunch of woman apparently. They’re safe. I’ll go let them know about the infection.”
“Mildred knows.” I paused, starting to collect my notes. “Jace, I’m worried it might be Rav’s old team down there. It was too dark to see in the prison but in addition to the hillsec smell I could smell human and terrisian. I think she mentioned the people missing fit into those slots… And it is definitely the same infection I learned about from the jar scroll.”
Jace nodded and took off. I didn’t hear him mentioned Camphus but I hoped she was ok too. There was relief in being surrounded by Adventurers. Of being free from this cult, from Astaril’s threats and demands. But I wouldn’t let myself celebrate yet. Not till we had gotten back to Dacathus and everyone was safe.
As I found bags to pack things into I suddenly remembered the scanner that was in my pocket. I knew why I couldn’t fully relax too. Whoever was on the other end of the communication had mentioned breaches every time the pulsing crystal had been touched. Every time it shot a beam of light into the sky. When the shard had been attached it didn’t stop. But nothing bad had happened here. The demons had already been in containment bags, they hadn’t come through a breach. So where was the breach?
————————————————-
Jace had managed to regroup with Raven before she found the ramp down into the prison. He touched her arm gently, relaying that Ramjack was both alright and what he had been told. That only made her hesitate for a moment. She wanted to go see him, to reunite with the kind librarian she had been dating recently, but she couldn’t abandon either her duty or the other reunion.
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“I don’t have magic for that kind of healing.” Raven said at last, walking down the ramp, “I could have if I had picked that path, maybe.” She only spoke so she wouldn’t freeze up. She used it to distract herself, to keep moving into the dark. Mazen was the one to bring out a light orb he’d picked up somewhere, since her staff had been broken during the fight.
When she got to the bottom of the ramp she could smell the sickness in the air. It was oddly plant-like, mixed with excrement and unwashed bodies. Several of the cells were empty with just straw and buckets inside. But one wall was not. There was a line on the floor marked out in red paint an arm length away from the bars.
She did not cross that line as her heart pounded. Mazen stood at her side, keeping his distance as well but held up the light. The victims in the cells groaned softly, showing no real recognition of those they once called teammates. Trish and Ssanic were easy to recognize, even with the weird crystal-like growths spotting their bodies.
They stood there, side by side, looking in. Mazen was stoic as usual but she could see the sadness on his chelkren face when she looked towards him. Her own sail was practically flat as she tried to decide what to do. Could this be cured? She thought it was possible even if she didn’t have the ability to do it.
The warning Jace had brought said they were infectious. And their condition, they didn’t seem to be aware of what was going on. Alive, but almost like the undead. She shivered once even thinking the word. They needed to be contained and kept safe for others and from themselves.
“Jace?” She asked, not turning from the prisoners but not sure if he was there.
“Yea?” She heard him shuffle his feet behind her as she finally took notice of a woman’s soft crying. Mildred was probably there too, seeing the infected prisoners for the first time.
“Do we have anything to contain them with? To keep them from infecting others? I… they don’t seem to recognize us.” Not that the infected were looking at them but unless they’d gone completely deaf there was no missing her voice and they still didn’t move.
“I don’t think so Rav.” The [Tinker] let out a long sigh, “I’m sorry.”
The other human sniffled, adding to the conversation “I might know a way. The cult brought us here in stasis bags. One minute I was running outside the city to get away from the demons the next a bag was over me. Then the next moment I was being dumped out into a cell.”
Raven’s sail went high. “Of course! The cult must have used such things to transport them here in the first place all the way from the Bush Desert. We just need to locate them!”
For the first time since finding out the Terath Adventurers had gone missing, Raven had hope of their rescue.
—————————————
My reunion with Raven while inside the cult building was brief. I had just finished packing up what I could from the lab when the paracrest came dashing by. She only slid to a stop when she saw me, changing directions to bring is into contact.
“Jace said you were alright.” She told me, rubbing her snout mine, “I’m really happy to see you. Right now though I need people sized stasis bags. Do you have any idea where they might be? Mazen and Jace are on the lower floor searching but I came up here.”
My tail waved a bit at the contact, relief filling every part of me. All the stress I had been under gone just to be in her presence again. “None in here. Is it really them? I couldn’t see them in there but the smell made me thing… that and the infection I saw.”
“Yea. Gods Ram they looked terrible and not very responsive. Almost like zombies in there.” She shivered, reminding me that she had a dislike of the undead.
“Someone with a lot of healing magic might be able to fix the infection. The rest we’ll have to hope.” I told her, touching her hands before she broke for the door again. “Good luck.”
With that she was sprinting off again, even if she cast me one more look over her shoulder. I couldn’t help a smile of my own. I just hoped Mildred and Camphus were alright as well. I wanted to go down to the lower levels to find them but Clemersel had made it clear that I was to go with him out of this place. To ensure that I could be returned safely to Dacathus and that Raven’s team was handling things in the lower levels.
As we walked I took out the scanner from my pocket and tried to send a message. ‘All clear here so far. The crystal is contained and the infected will be cured’. I waited a few minutes, getting a strange look from the otherwise silent lizardfolk, and didn’t put the scanner away till we were outside. There had been no response. Whoever had sent messages in the first place had gone silent. Either something had happened or they just didn’t care now that the crystal was contained.
Outside I stared up at the night sky, sighing contentedly. A moon I barely paid attention to was up there, reflecting the light of the sun. A warm breeze stirred the thick yellow grass around us, carrying its pleasing scent past my nose.
Clemersel and I were not alone out there. Other adventurers and captured cultists were around too. Each cultist was a bit apart from another to keep them from helping each other with their bonds. I could see that in addition to being restrained they had been gagged. Probably less to do with keeping them from talking and more to do with the wicked fangs all hillsec possessed.
I could see several of them shrinking back as much as they could when they spotted me. It was because of the velkamir at my side I noticed, tracking the eyes of the cultists. The cub hooted at them in a way that did not sound friendly but never moved closer to them. I decided to ignore them in favor of my new companion. Sitting myself down in the grass near to where I first came out of the cult compound months ago, I scratched the cub behind the neck frill.
“Hmmm… I still need a name for you. Was thinking I should look into more about your species but that might be days from now.” The cub blinked up at me with adorable black eyes. “How about Hoot?” In response it hooted again. Silly as it may be to name a creature after a sound it made it seemed to fit. “Hoot it is.”
——————————
Raven hadn’t expected to be escorting such a big group out of the cult as she did. Yes, there were prisoners, tied and gagged for good measure. Some of them were hurt but most who hadn’t already gotten into a fight with adventurers had surrendered on the spot. No, the rest were woman and children. Small hillsec who had never been out of the nursery level. And like some of the woman had never seen the sky let alone touched the grass before.
Each of the adults carried a pack with her. What few belongings they had from inside, or things they had decided to swipe from bedrooms. She hadn’t cared what they took but most weapons had been cleared before the packing had begun. And of course the lab and experiment rooms had been deemed off limits to everyone.
It was a bit chaotic when they got outside, the children were instantly entranced by the tall grass and left the woman behind to explore. It was dangerous out there for such small creatures but in the end Ramjack helped.
Raven had seen him sitting out there, stroking the head of a baby velkamir, when the children went slithering everywhere. None had tried to free the captured men at least, mostly seeming to think it was a game to have them sitting around unable to talk and taking advantage of the situation.
Ramjack got up and called out to all of them in what she now knew was Alliance Standard. She didn’t know what he said but the children seemed to and came flooding back to the woman for a headcount. All the hillsec seemed to focus on him as he spoke.
Raven only left the gathering briefly to retrieve the scared prisoner from their camp. She kept him secure but brought him to sit with the rest of the ones in brown trimmed robes.
A few minutes later, once the rest of Clemersel’s team gave the all clear, Raven, Ipira the civith [Scout], and Clemersel gathered together before the entrance, facing the crowd of hillsec. She even pulled Ramjack over though he seemed a bit surprised at first.
“We’ll need you to translate. Many of them don’t speak common.” Raven told him.
Ipira was the one to clear her throat. She had climbed up to sit on the fancy ledge-work above the archway into the building. With all eyes on her she began to speak. “For those of you wondering why we have come, broken into your home and tied many of you up,” She paused only as Ramjack was nudged into position directly in front of the arch to translate. “Dacathus does not take kindly to our people being abducted and demons let loose. These are things members of this cult have done.”
The civith waited a moment for the translation before continuing on, “When we got here we also discovered missing members of the Adventurers Guild. Ones held in deplorable conditions I might add. Now, most of you are not directly guilty of these offenses so we can take no further action against you unless you decide to challenge us further. But your leaders will be taken away to face justice.”
She paused again, looking around at the faces. Raven did as well, judging them. The hunters seemed to be relaxing their postures. As did some of the simple robed individuals but she caught sight of some with terrified eyes. She would have to remember them.
“But before that we as people discovered something else horrific that many of you might not have understood to be so. A bunch of enslaved woman kept in poor conditions. The young among you might not understand this… not know the word even. But these are guild lands and slavery is one of the things we will not stand for. But we have no true authority here. Only that we will ask the victims, the woman among you, to decide. Shall we let the men who did nothing to us go? Leave them to your judgments? Regardless of your choice in that matter we will offer all of you woman and the children you care for a home in Dacathus. One where you can forge your own lives instead of one told to you by others.”
There was another pause and Raven could hear the woman murmuring as Ramjack finished his translation. Most seemed alert but not all. Some looked like they either wanted to go back inside or flee themselves through the grass.
“We will be taking the short path through the woods with the prisoners as we do not have enough stasis bags big enough for all of them. But the rest of us will be traveling the long way for the safety of the children. If you do not want to go with us I suggest you head north or east instead, because we will not hesitate to protect ourselves and our charges otherwise.”
Raven could see the body language of the people around her. Most of the woman were already moving in the direction both Ipira and Ramjack pointed when talking about the long way. Raven wasn’t the only adventurer in the group to have picked up on the expressions the men had given off during the speech either. Several of the hillsec had already been gathered up into the remaining stasis bags, kept separate from the ones that housed the sick.
[Healer]s who still had magic in them had managed to work together to weave a spell that would help them as a group detect the infection that had been found inside the cult. Several of the unadorned black robed kind had a low level version in them that wasn’t infectious and able to be cured. Raven hated to think what would have happened if they hadn’t been warned about any of this. Would it have spread through the entire cult? Spread to the cities?
“If you want to leave,” Ipira went on, “You are free to do so. We have talk about it and those of you with brown trimmed robes, unless any of the women here object to you personally, we’ll be untying. I would suggest you head north. One of the villages or small towns out that way might take you in even if you can’t yet speak the language.”
This seemed to brighten the moods of the young [Hunter]s, especially the one Raven had taken hostage before the assault. Several of the woman who hadn’t joined the ones going south had already moved off the other way. Some of those ones stopped, looking back at the youths. Raven wondered if they still saw them as children, to be protected and not feared. She hoped so anyway. The looks some of the non brown trimmed men got made her think they would be safer going to Dacathus for trial rather then being left with any of the woman.
Things went on like this for a while as Raven gathered her burdens together. She and Mazen were taking care of the stasis bags. They were light but they still had the same basic size and shape of the people inside, making them a big awkward to carry. Her team was heading south, grateful that Firth had been healed enough to walk. It would likely take them two weeks to get back but they had food stores from the cult, people who could hunt, and enough things to forage along the edge of the forest. The group also had her, a water [Mage].
She was more concerned about the message that had come through on the notebook when it had been opened to send a report about the rescue. A demon attack had befallen Dacathus. Right about the time they’d assaulted the cult. And another complication but whoever was on the other end of the message hadn’t elaborated, only said that the city was fine and that they would see everyone when they got back. She would just have to wonder until then.
