NPCs (29 page)

“Only I have to—”

“Eric, stop. Do you really think I’m going back to Maplebark?” Gabrielle touched her armor delicately, feeling the strength of the hide press back on her flesh. “I can’t be that version of myself anymore. Going to balls, minding my manners, being silent and proper… that Gabrielle is gone. I don’t know if this is who I really was supposed to be, but I like it. I’m happy like this. And I’m damn sure not going to let you wander off into unknown wilds without me watching your back.”

“Agreed,” Grumph said.

“I’m a paladin now,” Thistle reminded him. “We go where we’re needed; seems to me that helping a friend on a task for my god falls well into the job description.”

“You all don’t have to do this,” Eric protested.

“We do, actually. Gabrielle said it best: there’s no going back for us. Had you died on the floor, we’d have certainly taken a different path, but none of us would have returned to Maplebark,” Thistle said. “Each of us has said our goodbyes to the life we left somewhere along the road. Only you could have returned; that’s why Grumble made you choose. For better or worse, we’re all adventurers now.”

Eric stared in silence at his comrades. They were battered, burned, and covered in blood, yet each wanted to come with him on a path that would only lead to more. He was lucky beyond blessings the gods could give; he had found a party of true friends.

“Well then, as adventurers, our next task is clear-cut. How do we want to handle the guards?”

25.

Russell was impressed in spite of himself. When the party said they wanted to sneak out of the cave and kill off the guards, he was certain that would be the end of them (again). The stats on each guard should have proven more than enough to wound, if not kill, any given character. However, it seemed the dice were on their side. They managed to circle around and cut the throats of several guards, despite Tim’s objections, before the whole thing dissolved into a full-blown battle. When the blood settled, everyone was still standing, even if Glenn was nearly out of spells and Terry had only a few points of health left.

Russell pulled out the module book, almost certain that their efforts would have been for nothing. He was pretty sure that all the other parties in the dungeon were supposed to wipe, meaning all his players had done was murder a bunch of innocent guards only doing their jobs.

“Well?” Mitch demanded. He rolled his D20 through his fingers, anxious for more battle.

“Well what?” Russell knew damn well what Mitch was asking, but he saw no reason to make it easy on him.

“Is someone coming with the artifact or not?”

“You don’t know that,” Russell reminded him. “All you know is that you just killed a bunch of guards. If you want to see if anyone else completed the dungeon, then you’ll have to wait around and watch.”

“Maybe this time we could try talking first, if anyone comes out,” Tim suggested. “It’s possible other characters gave up too, and don’t have the artifact.”

“But they have other things,” Terry said. “Gold pieces, weapons, magic items, all things that can belong to us if we kill and loot.” At present, his character was rifling through the pockets of a guard who had only a few trinkets on him and whose entire net worth was less than a single gold. The rogue stuffed his bag with every item the still-cooling corpse held.

“Ignore him, he’s been a buzz-kill the whole campaign,” Mitch said.

“Yeah, he tried to get us to talk to the guards,” Glenn reminded everyone.

“I just thought they could be reasoned with. They were people with a job; maybe a little gold could have made them look the other way.” Tim rolled his own D20 along the map, avoiding eye contact with the others.

Russell continued digging through the module book, ignoring the sniping going on around him. Tim was actually right; the guards were all poor and could have been bought off for the right amount. That was information the party didn’t have, however, because everyone who could impart it was already dead. As his hands danced past the page with the guards, he found what he was looking for. There it was: which characters succeeded if the adventuring party failed. He was positive he remembered it being no one, but it never hurt to double check.

“Hmmm.” His eyes scanned the page, only moderately surprised to find the entry different than he recalled. Russell had misremembered so many things, it was almost like the book was purposely changing on him.

“What does ‘hmmm’ mean?” Mitch asked, impatience evident on his slightly flushed face.

“It means, tell me what you each are doing.” Russell set the book down and looked at his players. “Like I said, if you want to see if anyone is coming, you have to wait.”

“Oh, we’ll wait, all right,” Mitch replied. He glanced at the others, flashing a wicked grin which all but Tim returned.

* * *

Eric poked his head out first. Even though they’d decided to take the diplomatic route and see if the guards responded to a bit of gold, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t immediately shoot at anyone exiting the dungeon. As the spryest of the party, plus the only one fully healed from their encounter, Eric was the natural choice to test the guard’s willingness to listen. He surveyed the landscape, watchful for arrows coming in his direction, but none appeared. There also didn’t seem to be any guards about, though his keen eye did catch splatters of blood on the grass near the guards’ tent.

“I think something might have happened to the guards.” Eric motioned for the others to follow him then stepped fully from the dungeon’s cave entrance. Putting his hands together, he cupped them in front of his mouth and let out a loud yell. “Hello! Is anyone about?”

The only response was silence and a soft rustle of wind through the forest trees.

“Maybe there was a monster attack?” Gabrielle pulled her axe free of its sheath, wincing slightly as she did. Aldron’s last blow had torn something in her shoulder, and until Thistle regained his magic, she’d have to muddle through the pain.

“Too clean.” Grumph had no magic left, but he gripped his bone-sword tightly. He’d come too far to go down easily. “Monster would have shredded the tent.”

“Aye, you’re right, old friend.” Thistle pulled his daggers free, twirling them once in each hand. “What we have here are signs that another party also wanted to leave the dungeon, and did so over the guards’ protests.”

“Then, shouldn’t there be bodies?” Eric asked.

“Could have been moved. Could be scavenger monsters. Lot of options,” Grumph grunted.

“So… is this just a free win? No guards, no one to deal with?” Gabrielle was a bit relieved at the idea of getting through this without combat. She’d hoped the guards would take the bribe, but if they hadn’t, the only option remaining was fighting. That would have been exceptionally risky since everyone in the group, except Eric, was already halfway dead.

“It looks that way,” Eric agreed. His eyes swept the forest once more, and he noticed a slight rustle in one of the bushes. It was tiny, likely a rodent or the wind, and he would have dismissed it as just that if not for the flowers blooming in its viridian depths. They were a brilliant scarlet, as though they’d been dipped in flaming blood.

“Red flowers.” Eric pulled his short sword free as he stared at the bush.

“Beg pardon?” Thistle asked.

“Grumble told me to tip my bartenders, be nice to people who knew where I slept, and to watch out for a bush with red flowers. Those flowers are definitely red, and I think I’ve seen it move twice since I’ve been watching it.”

“I was really hoping this would be a free win,” Gabrielle sighed, bringing her axe to the ready. She’d just gotten it into position when the four figures burst forth from behind the bush.

* * *

“This is bullshit! We totally should have been able to surprise them!” Mitch had actually stood from his seat at the table and was glowering at his D20, resting lazily on the number two.

“You got a two on your Sneak roll, and they have a high Vision,” Russell said. “You fail to surprise the party, so no bonuses.”

“Don’t worry about it. We can take them, anyway,” Glenn said. “I’ve got first in the turn order, and I’m going to let loose with my last spell:
Blazeferno
. I’ll cover them in fire so hot, it will melt the flesh from their bones.”

“Just don’t let it destroy any of their gear,” Terry protested.

“Let’s see if you even succeed first,” Russell said. It was a pointless exercise; the roll for Glenn’s min-maxed wizard was ludicrously low, but the rules demanded it. “Roll your Casting check.”

“Gladly.” Glenn tossed the green D20 across the map, where it rolled between the figurines without disturbing a single one. It slowed down, clearly showing a nineteen on top. Then, at the last instant, it moved just a touch more, and a new number stared up at the waiting players.

“I got a one? No, it was on nineteen, you all saw it!”

“Bad rolls happen,” Russell replied. He might not have taken quite such joy in it if the group hadn’t been such a relentless pain throughout the entire campaign. “You fail to cast
Blazeferno,
successfully and no harm comes to the other party. Now, roll again to see if you hurt yourself with that critical failure.”

* * *

The thrum that filled Eric’s body nearly knocked him from his feet. As soon as the enemy wizard began to cast, Eric could feel The Bridge awaken, power surging outward. He could almost see it happen before it occurred: first, the wizard was calling forth magic, then, the spell was about to convalesce into a hellish spell of flaming death, and then, at the last moment,
something
shifted. The fiery blast meant to destroy them was gone; instead, the wizard was struggling to put out his now blazing robes.

Grumph, Gabrielle, and Thistle didn’t hesitate to capitalize on the momentary advantage, pressing forward with an attack of their own. Eric tried to join them, but the sensation surging through him made even the smallest of movements difficult.

“What… what are you doing?”

The Bridge didn’t answer him in any tangible sense, nothing as clear as the “stop” he’d gotten in the fight with Aldron. Instead, he received a vague feeling of certainty and relaxation, as though whatever was going on was well in hand; all he had to do was play his part. Without even realizing he was doing so, Eric had reached into his pack and pulled out The Bridge. It shone in the sunlight, or perhaps the sunlight shone in it; such distinctions grew fuzzy when Eric clutched it in his hands.

“Okay, tell me what you want me to do.”

* * *

“Come on… come on… come on… GODDAMNIT!” Glenn jumped up so hard that his knee knocked the table, spilling a bag of chips that had been resting on the edge. “How does she keep hitting me?”

“You’re wearing robes for armor, she’s a barbarian, and the dice are working against you,” Russell said. “You were at three Health Points, and she does nine damage, meaning your character is knocked out, bleeding, and almost dead.”

“Someone get me a potion!”

“We got our own trouble to deal with,” Mitch replied. “This fucking gnome keeps pinging me with daggers, meanwhile, I can’t roll shit.” He tossed his D20, which proved his point excellently by landing on a three. “Another fucking miss?”

“The dice really are against you guys in this fight,” Russell said. He checked the order and found Tim was up next. It was a shame; if anyone in the party didn’t deserve to wipe, it was Tim. But the dice were the dice, and a game without risk wasn’t really worth playing.

“Tim, you’re up.”

“Come heal me,” Glenn begged.

“I can’t, remember?” Tim stared across the table with unmasked exasperation. “I’m just a knight. I wanted to roll a paladin again, but none of you would let me, so now, we don’t have any healing in the party besides a few weak potions.” He turned away from Glenn and looked at the map. “I guess I’ll go after the half-orc.”

“Roll it up,” Russell said.

* * *

The tall, blond man in the shining armor took a swing at Grumph, but stumbled at the last moment, sending his blow wide. Grumph didn’t miss the opportunity, stabbing him cleanly through a gap in his dented breastplate with the bone-sword. Grumph’s opponent let out a light whimper and fell to the ground.

Grumph turned back to the smaller man on his left, probably a rogue by the look of him. He ran toward Grumph, daggers at the ready, only to trip on a rock in his path and fall down. No sooner had he landed than blood began pouring out from under his torso. Judging by the amount and the angle, it appeared to Grumph that the man had fallen on his daggers and seriously injured himself. Just to be sure, Grumph drove his own blade through the man’s skull. There would be no getting up from that blow.

With a slight twist, he moved to check on the downed knight’s status and found Eric already perched over him.

“Go help the others,” he called. “I’m supposed to be here.”

Grumph noticed the glowing artifact clutched in Eric’s hand but said nothing. He’d been under its thrall briefly; he understood the clarity it could provide. If Eric felt he should deal with the knight, then Grumph would trust him. Besides, the last of their enemies, a barbarian with an axe even bigger than Gabrielle’s, was proving a real bastard to put down.

On his way over, Grumph paused by the form of the unconscious wizard. It was weak, but the body was still breathing. With a quick chop of his sword, the wizard’s head went rolling past Grumph’s feet, and that breathing came to a halt.

* * *

“Why won’t any of them die?” Mitch threw his D20 again, unsurprised to find another low number staring up at him. No one had rolled higher than a five in this entire battle. Nothing worked: not changing dice, not blowing on them for luck, nothing. He couldn’t even accuse Russell of using overpowered enemies; most of the damage the party had taken was self-inflicted.

“At least you’re still alive to try,” Terry grumbled. “Glenn and I are already dead, and Tim’s not far behind.”

“He’s not dead yet,” Russell said. “But Tim, when the paladin and barbarian are done attacking Mitch, be ready for a roll. The sword already nearly killed you outright, and it also has a blood-poisoning effect. If you don’t save against it, your character will die.”