Why is Splitfoot talking about dispelling anti-charms, he specifically stated that he wasn’t a magician…
“But I am not at all suprised to see you here brother”, **Kat ** replied icily. “This sort of attack on innocents is your stock in trade, father would be proud.”
“I know he would be, if he were still alive. It’s a shame about his death too, he still could have been of great service to the kingdom. Tell me sister, do you know what his last words were?”
“No Garius I don’t, you were there, I wasn’t”
“He cursed me for only wounding him with my first blow, told me he’d raised me better than that. Then he nearly pierced my skull with a hidden crossbow, he died smiling when I put my blade through his heart.” Turning to a solider now he ordered, “Sergant, bound and gag this one, she’s dangerous.”
While Garius and Kat were discussing family matters Quessa had moved to SpaceCowboy’s side to try and tend to his wounds. When she arrived he was chanting a spell of some sort to himself. “Are you alright?”
“Apart from this arrow stuck in my leg I’m fine.” he replied sarcastically “And that will cease to be a trouble in a moment, just as soon I finish this spell of healing.”
“But how? Those anti-charms the soliders are wearing prevent us from using magic.”
“No they don’t” he whispered, “they only prevent us from using magic on them, we can still cast on ourselves. There the leg’s fine now.”
“Have you been smoking that pipe of yours? The arrow’s still in there.”
“Yes I know. I have an idea but we need to plan it very carefully - are you any good at telepathy spells?” he asked.
-
Yes, quite good. * ** Quessa’s** voice echoed inside his head.
-
Excellent. Garius obviously believes the anti-charms his men are wearing have rendered us completely powerless, otherwise he would have taken steps to secure us already. Probe the amulets they are wearing, do you sense any weaknesses?*
-
Yes, yes I do. These charms were crafted by a powerful mage but they are limited, I think I can create a spell to circumvent them but our powers will be limited until we’ve had a chance to imbue your staff and my wand with the circumvention spell. *
-
Good, start working on that, and make as though you’re attending my wounds, helplessly. Our success depends on Garius’s overconfidence about the power of his charms*
Garius then began to survey the other prisoners, giving instructions to his men on how best to bind them. When he came to the halforc he had a bit of a problem. “No material I have with me could bind these strong arms for long.” he informed his sergant. “Bring me your two strongest pikemen.”
When the pikemen arrived Garius instructed them to stand on either side of the halforc with the tips of their pikes placed on the his throat, just below his impressive jawline. “If he looks as though he’s even thinking about moving, run him through.”
The halforcs dim eyes were alive with fear, even he was aware of how vunerable this position made him. He would stand there dumbly until told otherwise by ** Garius **.
When Garius reached Brahe he paused again. “Ahh I see we’ve captured a deserter then. Bind him, he’ll hang on the gallows for treason once we reach the capital.”
“My Lord! Please don’t. I-I-I’m, not a traitor sir, I was captured by these rogues while attempting to deliver important documents for the king!” pleaded Brahe
“Oh. Well that’s different then, I guess I can’t hang you for treason then. Instead I’ll hang you for delirection of duty, does that suit you better?”
Brahe began sobbing.
At this point a painful wail coming from SpaceCowboy caught Garius’ attention. “What’s wrong with him?!”
Quessa retored “He’s injured and delerious with pain you fool, he needs medical attention. I’m trying to tend his wounds as best I can but…”
Garius cut her off “but your powers have failed you and you’re helpless with out them. I know.”
“Begging your pardon m’lord” asked the sergant, “but shouldn’t we put the magicians in irons as well. They might still be dangerous.”
“Hah. Look at them - broken and helpless from a mere arrow to the leg. Look at her, she can’t do anything to help him. These-”, Garius grabbed the sergant’s wrist and held it aloft, revealing a black obsidian bracelet, inscribed with runes of power. “- have made them powerless against us. Without their magic they are helpless, bound by their own weak bodies. Let the witch help the wizard while he hobbles along with his stick as we march the prisoners back to the capital. Form up the men and prepare to march out! The king will reward us well for this capture.”
As the soliders and prisoners were forming up for the march Elfkin began to despair. Her party was in irons, her other friends were missing, either captured or dead. The cunning Garius had stopped her rebellion before it even started. Even the magicians were powerless against this awful foe. Then she heard the warm voice of SpaceCowboy echo in her head. At first she thought she had imagined it but he kept “talking”
- Don’t despair friend, Quessa and I aren’t as helpless as we appear. She has found a weakness in the soliders charms and will soon have a spell to bypass them. I’ve healed my wound already, we’re just putting on a show for Garius now. Once Quessa has finished her spell we’ll be able to make our escape. When all is ready your shackles will fall off, be prepared to act quickly! Don’t talk to anyone, I’ll inform everyone else of the plan*
SpaceCowboy proceeded to update the rest of the prisoners of the plan - except for the two new humans. He didn’t fully either Brahe or the so-called dragon slayer. He was also unable to connect with Splitfoot, something about that twisted creatures mind made telepathy impossible. Never mind, he’s enough of an opportunist to react correctly when his shackles fall off.
The prisoners were lined up in the center of the column for the march. The halforc was flanked by his pikemen for the duration of the march. SpaceCowboy limped painfully behind the other prisoners, leaning heavily on his staff, and Quessa for support.
- My spell is read * Quessa thought to SpaceCowboy
*Good, can you teach it to me? *
Yes
The pair went into a type of trance, their bodies hobbling along without any supervision from their minds as Quessa taught him how to circumvent the amulets. They remained like this for nearly an hour of the march.
When they came out of their trance SpaceCowboy commented * That is a complex spell, it will require a lot of concentration, we will not be able to fight more than four or five soliders at once, our escape will depend on the quick action and fighting skills of our companions. *
- It’s worse than that.* Quessa thought to him * The amulet Garius wears is of a different sort than his soliders. It is far more powerful and immune to this spell*
Wonderful… well we have to try. Are you ready to begi- somethings wrong! Do you feel anything unusual?!
-
Oh no! It’s a dragon! She’s heading right for us, she’ll be here in ten maybe fifteen minutes*
-
A dragon! I havn’t seen one in over 300 years! You said yourself they were extinct.*
-
I know, this one just sprang into existance, this is the work of a diety, an Olympian I think, I’m not sure who though *
SpaceCowboy sighed… * If this is the work of an Olympian you can bet she’s not being sent to rescue us. It’s a test of some sort, maybe their trying to decide which side they want to support in our little rebellion. That’s their style. Wait, I have an idea… rumor has it you used to tame dragons back in the day…
-
Yes that’s true I tamed a few dragons in the old days, but always with the assistance of another tamed dragon. I can’t tame a wild one by myself, it’s too powerful, too willful even for me. *
-
Yes I know, but what if you had a tame dragon helping? Or say a very intelligent flying horse, disguised with a spell of illusion to look like a dragon. Rasta has been following us at a discreet distance since we left camp, once airborne he can be here in a minute*
Quessa considered this plan for a moment… * Such a ploy would never fool an experienced dragon, but this one was created out of nothingness by a god, it will have a dragons instincts but no experience, it may very well be fooled by your ploy. It’s worth a shot, if I can tame it the prospects of our quest suceeding will be increased tenfold. But* she continued * it will call for a change of plans, and precise timing. We’ll have to hold a mana shield over our friends when she first comes in. She’ll make two passes over the column strafing us with fire, after the second pass she’ll slow to a hover and start attacking with claws and teeth. At that point your horse should appear, as a dragon, and I’ll have to turn my full attention to taming her. It will be up to you to hold off the soliders while I do this. *
Moments later the rear of the column was engulfed with green fire as the dragon started her first strafing run, seconds before she reached the prisoners the two gaurds on the half orc fell to the ground, as did the shackles on the rest. Quessa and SpaceCowboy ran to the center of the group, with wand and staff they each projected a powerful mana shield over their friends. Even with the sheild in place they could still feel the heat of the flame, such was the power of dragons fire. Once the dragon finished her second pass she slowed and began to hover, just as Quessa predicted. They lowered their shields and suddenly a second dragon appeared overhead, this one covered in a shimmering rainbow of scales. ** Quessa ** began giving orders to the new dragon, while chanting powerful spells of control over the still wild one. Together they worked to break her will.
SpaceCowboy began giving orders to the party to protect ** Quessa** , the halforc had picked up one his fallen guards and was using him as a club to attack the living soliders with, he comprised their entire rear guard. SpaceCowboy advanced with the rest of the party into what remained of the decimated column, perhaps fifty of the one hundred men had survived, several of them were wounded. Most of the survivors were at the front of the column. Garius however was unscathed, though a little surprised.
Garius in fact had no idea what the hell had just happened. Suddenly his column was engulfed in flames from an attack by a long extinct species, then a second dragon appeared, and both of them now appeared to be engaged in some sort of struggle with the witch. This was odd but he put it out of mind as it did not affect his immediate tactical situation. However he was being advanced upon by his former prisoners, being led by not quite so helpless wizard. This was something he knew how to deal with and began barking orders to his troops for a counter attack. Suddenly green lightning lept from the wizards staff aimed direclty at his chest, where it fizzled about a foot before impact.
“Damn!” cursed **SpaceCowboy, "he is safe from my attacks but his men aren’t! " He destroyed the nearest advancing spearmen with a green bolt of fire. “This spell of Quessa’s has weakened memore than I thought, I can only fight one at a time, but we have to hold these troops back while she tames that dragon or all hope is lost!” with that he reached under his cloak for his sword, only to realize that he’d left it in his saddle bag, on Rasta, who was occupied at the moment. “Dammit!”
** Garius** was an able commander and soon had the rebels outflanked, he was taking losses but would have them corned soon. Out of nowhere ** Cougarfang** lept upon his back and made to rip out his throat. Garius deftly threw her off his back and knocked her unconcious with a vicious kick to the head, but before he could deliver the killing blow with his sword he was tackled by Kat and Elfkin while Samarm pulled Cougarfang back to relative safety. Garius soon threw off his new attackers, even his sister was no match for him in hand to hand combat, especially now that he was being fortified by that amulet. Before he could press his attack on them, ** SpaceCowboy** pulled them back to the rest of the party.
Things were looking desperate. Cougarfang was badly injured, Brahe and ITR had taken swords from fallen soliders and were guarding their flanks valiently but were both wounded and exhausted from fighting off so many foes. Splitfoot was fought well when corned but otherwise spent his time slitting the throats of the wounded and rifling their corpses. Garius had finally outflanked them with his remain forces and had them surrouned. Then from their rear came screams of pain and terror! The halforc had come, still with his gaurd-club and was clearing a path to the party with lusty swings of the gaurds body! The halforc had half a dozen arrows in his tough hide but hardly seemed to notice! They might yet survive the day!
Garius had regrouped his men and was pressing his attack from the front again when suddenly a wall of green flame, hotter than the sun engulfed him, and cut off his men from the battered party of outcasts. Quessa had tamed the dragon!
Garius was hot. Very hot, painfully hot in fact, but that is to be expected when one is hit with a blast of dragons fire, even when protected by powerful magic. He lept back out of the flames and watched helplessly as his prisoners escaped. No matter, he would find them again soon enough, and next time he would not make the mistake of underestimating that that pair of spellcasters.
SpaceCowboy ran to Quessa only to watch her collaspe the moment he reached her. He knelt by her side, she was alive, but very very weak. She had drained almost all of her mana in taming the dragon. With a gesture he commanded the dragon to land nearby, with another Rasta landed, once again looking like a horse. Now that the dragon was tame the illusion was not needed.
“Get on the dragon, she’s no danger to you now” **SpaceCowboy order the party as he gently loaded Quessa onto Rasta and climbed on behind her.
“Is Quessa alright, she saved us!” cried Elfkin
“She’s very weak, almost drained of mana, she will die if I don’t help her soon, but we have no time, we must leave now and find a safer place to rest and recover. Mount the dragon, she will follow Rasta.”, with that he spurred the horse into the air and shot off into the sky.
The rest of the party hastily climbed onto the dragon, making sure the wounded were well secured and sure enough she took off after Rasta.
No more than 20 minutes had passed before they landed in a small clearing in the dense forrest below. ** SpaceCowboy** had already dismounted with Quessa and was making ready to cast some sort of spell by the time the others landed.
“Are we safe here?” asked Elfkin
“No, but Quessa can’t wait, we must stop here. Make camp and set a watch, tend to yourselves for now I must concentrate on her if I’m going to save her. We will both be very weak when am finished.” said SpaceCowboy before going into a trance with his hands on Quessa’s limp body.
The others made camp and tended their wounds as best they could. Once revived Cougarfang appeared to be unharmed and went off to hunt for the group. Night had fallen and the group had eaten and gone through two watch rotations before a sound was heard from SpaceCowboy or Quessa A weak groan came from SpaceCowboy
Elfkin ran over to them, “Are you alright? Will she live?”
“Yes”, came his weary reply, “but we must rest for a while, we will be weak and unable to cast for at least a full night and day, please have some food ready for us when we awake…” and he then collasped in a heap next to Quessa and began to snore. Elfkin covered them with her cloak and went back to the fire with the rest of the group.
