Chapter 15 Headaches.

The cacophonous blast echos off the walls of the buildings and the city, and slowly fades, replaced by the cries of the wounded, and the moans of the dying. I look about and see six people with various injuries, and a final seventh who lies dead. Using the new talents that Daja has given me, I point to the two in most danger, a warmth coming back to the cold skin, and bring them back from the brink of death. Getting up out of cover, I go over and heal two others while Aurane heals the rest. Flesh is joined back together, much like a new weld. I am too busy to see what Melfina is doing to the dead, but knowing her, it has something to do with Blood. Quickly gathering together, we all decide to head over to the main stage that Aurane has built, as he says that Dani was supposed to perform there tonight. I was about to just go over there without my gear, but Aurane wanted to go to his shop and get his armor on. While I want to say I go with him so he is not all alone right now, He makes a valid point that we should be ready for anything tonight, and gear would help that. We tell the others to be careful, and they head for the stage, while we head for our shops.
Making our way there, we don't come across any more injured folk, but panic has definitely taking the city. Small groups of people are running this way and that, People are asking what is going on, and vendor carts are in various states of disarray. Some are on their sides, some are abandoned, some, the vendors are trying to gather everything together and leave. As Aurane and I near our shops, we split up and I tell him to meet me at my shop.
Max and Leona aren't there, and I can only wonder about where they are. Hoping they are OK, I rush into my room, and tear my Vest off it's stand, Inserting the metal plate back into it, I secure the straps, and tighten it all up before closing the pocket in the vest where it sits. I should really just keep the damn plate in there if I am going to keep needing it, just force of habit that I left it out. Throwing on the bandolier that holds my axes. By the time I slip the last hand axe into it's sheath, I am going out the door and Aurane is walking up to the shop. I lock the door again, and we head off to the stage, passing mayhem in the streets once again. The one thing we do not see is the city guard, but I am sure they have their hands full somewhere else.
The scene at the stage is carnage. No one I recognize is there, Dani or the rest of the group, and it is hard to discern what has happened here. Bodies lay about the stage, and at first glance, I can't figure out how some of them died. A few are fairly obvious, as one is missing a head, and others look like they had been chewed on by several small creatures. Then Aurane points over to a couple of bodies behind the stage, and I can see evidence of Melfina's work. A horrible, necrotic blight have taken a chunk out of one of them, the other has been splashed by some sort of liquid, blood dripping from ears and eyes. Aurane is able to find a trail of blood that leads back to the direction of the shops, and we follow it, still not seeing any guards. Not sure about the condition of any of our allies, we follow the trail hurriedly, and we find ourselves standing in front of my shop again. Opening the door, expecting to need to heal my companions of whatever wounds they had endured, I find instead Dani sitting in Max's cushioned chair, Marda and Melfina standing to a man bound to one of my dining chairs, and Leona is serving tea to Rorin who is sitting on my bellows stool.
I stand in the doorway, mouth open, and wave of relief spreading over me, and I move aside to let Aurane see. As we both enter my shop, Max comes in from his room, once again wearing his armor, ready for anything as usual. I notice a goblin, sitting behind Dani, absolutely festooned with jars and bottles, some have liquids, some have possibly dead animals, and one looks to have bees it it. I ask allowed why there is a goblin in my shop, and in an unfamiliar accent, he answers that his name is Jerkytin, and that we can call him Jerry. He is apparently an alchemist, and was called in to make the show more spectacular. Dani tells us that the Bard's guild had called in some reinforcements after getting info there may be an attack on the guild. She didn't imagine that any attacking force would dare attack the innocent people themselves. Now that we are all together again, we can get down to what all happened. Melfina says that most, if not all of the assailants had Red Dragon tattoos, and Dani tells us that the Crimson Dragon is nearly as large as the undertow, and are mostly Mercenaries and sometimes they are employed by cities. A good amount of the people come from dawn's reach. There are really a lot of casters in the world, most of them with so little talent they can get by without being noticed, and that they are just trying to live normal lives. Stronger casters are taken by the undertow, sometimes with help of the bard's guild, to live in other places. Worried that if someone attacked Dani, they may also be trying to attack the Babblebrook Inn, I tell the others we should go check it out. Humming a small tune into her tea, Dani closes her eyes while the rest of us are getting ready to go. Before any of us can even start to turn, She somehow talks with Bridgett, and apparently gets a response telling us that the Inn is fine. I knew bards could do magic, but it is a little odd to see it this close. No holy symbols, no asking some divine entity for power. It just happens.
As we have a captive, and I have seen enough of what happens when we try to interrogate people, I pull Leona out of the shop, and we wait outside. I can tell that she has been frazzled by tonight, and I quietly talk to her, trying to calm her down, and telling her that she has made amazing progress. She should be able to help me design and make the buckler for Aurane. Right as she opens her mouth to say something, My whole shop shakes, an incredibly loud voice coming from within. I open the door, see Rorin and Melfina staring each other down, and without even asking what that was about I simply say, “Don't. Ruin. My. Shop.” Closing the door, I get back to Leona. I don't want her to be afraid of anything, and she is old enough to be embarrassed by any coddling I would want to give her. On the other hand, I was told to protect her, and teach her. All these damn problems that keep popping up are getting in the way of that. Where was the damn city guard?! This isn't some story book, where some silly heroes have to save the world. People are dying.
Aurane opens the door and gestures for us to come back in. The man, whoever he is, is unconscious in the chair, and I get filled in on what we learned from him. He was drinking at the tipsy tavern in Dawn's Reach when he was recruited. Some sort of pass phrase, “The Dawn is bright, The Night Approaches”. Bunch of drivel if you ask me. Marda says the Crimson Dragons was probably looking for expendable people, and I am agreeing with her. This guy looks like he can swing a sword, but may not be able to hit anything besides a target dummy. Dani says that while the bard's guild isn't official, they do have an old guard tower over near the Ashforge estate. Aurane goes to find some mode of transportation so we can get over there, and comes back inside a few moments later with a Falcon for Rorin. The Estate is under attack, and the residential district is on Fire. Leona, getting into her armor, is ready to leave, and not wanting her to be in danger, I ask her and Max to stay here and guard the prisoner, and more Importantly, Dani. She agrees, giving me an unreadable look, and we make sure they will be OK before we leave, climbing into rickshaws and racing across the city.
On the way over, Melfina and Marda compliment each other on the various tactics and spells they used. Apparently, Rorin caused a large sphere of darkness, like the one in his house, and raced up and dragged Dani out of Harm's way, then punched the crap out of anyone who dared get close enough. Melfina meanwhile had sprouted her bone wings, and honestly, I'm glad I missed that. IT was down right terrifying the first time, and after everything else tonight, it would have kept me up. She also summoned her floating scythe, and those little bone demons that rip into people. That would explain some of the carnage. Melfina does compliment Marda on the decapitation, and continues to describe it in detail, how Marda went around, dealing slashes and cuts, then trying to stop someone by hooking them with her blade. It stopped him all right. The blade hooked around his neck, and the opposing forces removed the head. One of the last fellows alive was hit by the necromantic blight that helped us find the trail.
We pull up to the estate gates, rioters trying to get through to the manor house. As if throwing things from his hands, the gate is suddenly aflame, and Melfina adds to the chaos by clutching her holy symbol, quickly telling everyone to leave. They scatter. These people must have just been taking advantage of the lack of city guard and the destruction to try to steal things. As the last of the dregs run away, the fire around the gate vanishes, as if it were never there, and Rorin rushes up the the door to make sure the staff are safe. Garfield tells him that all should be well, and we get back into the rickshaws, to get to the tower.
Maybe a Dozen men are standing around the tower, dressed much like our captive back at the shop. I ready myself for battle, but notice a small figure come out onto the guard tower's balcony. The diminutive form starts to sing, and while I am to far away to understand the words, it seems a mournful lament of a song. We are all transfixed by that lone performer, singing her song from that tower, When a wave of energy pulses out from the base of the \tower. A visible ring, expanding outward, coming towards all of us. It reaches us, and the worst pain I have ever felt ruptures into my head. I nearly black out from the pain, falling to my knees with nearly everyone else. Melfina drops, unmoving. Spike tumbles dead out of the harness, killed by the shock wave. I quickly crawl over to Melfina, her pulse fading. Somehow gathering the wits to concentrate enough, I am able to Heal her. Pulling her from the clutches of death. I see the assailants, those who would have attacked the tower, all dead. Some, they eyes have ruptured, all with blood coming from ears and nose. It is then that I notice blood dripping from my snout. I didn't even know that could happen...
Marda is sitting on the ground, cradling her small pseudodragon's body, who also succumbed the the pulse. The limp body of my distant cousin looks so insignificant in even her small arms. I can't hear her crying, not sure if the ringing in my ears is stopping that, or if the crying is silent. The door at the bottom of the tower opens, and an Elf walks out, unhurried by the recent events. Stepping up to Marda, she grabs the tiny dragon from her arms, and humming a tune, Sora stirs in her arms. The small lizard perks up almost instantly, and coils around the neck of the Elf I had met while on the way to the tunnel. Lilith. The others told me her name was Lilith. She bends, and brings life back to Spike, who immediately tucks into his shell. Getting to my feet, I ask if the tower is going to do that again, because if it is, I would like to leave. She says it won't, but we should go inside. Melfina is clutching her turtle, and praying over it, and when done, seems a little troubled, but satisfied, and we all walk into the interior of the tower, noting that fortifications have been improved upon, adding new ones, and strengthening old ones. Garnet, the diminutive elderly gnome woman in charge or the guild is walking down interior steps, and once she reaches the bottom, she apologizes to us, saying that the chant had already started when she saw us, and it could not be stopped. Stopping to touch both Aurane and Melfina, some vitality comes back into them, and she looks at us all very seriously and tells us that water will help. Lilith wants to show us some room, and while Garnet doesn't agree at first, she reluctantly agrees. Lilith says that what we are about to learn to put us all in danger, that we can't tell anyone that is in the immediate company. This info cannot go to the sanctum, or the City Council, or Max or Garfield. Aurane backs out, saying that he cannot choose to know something he may or may not have to tell people, and instead of risking it, he would prefer not to know.
Lilith takes the rest of us into the tower, and Down, Far Far underneath. We walk down stairs for 10, maybe 20 minutes (definitely not looking forward to going back up those stairs. Behind secret shelves, and hidden passages, and finally we reach a large Circular chamber, with many intricate sigils in circular patterns all within one larger circle. Lilith explains that when a street musician gets too good and develops some magical ability, or some sorcerer has too much talent to hide anymore, they are able to get those people out of the city by using this circle. It will teleport them away, somewhere safe. Most of the people have already been moved out of the city by way of this circle, and only a few remain at the tower and the Inn. Rorin asks Lilith what is stopping us from telling Aurane, and I am too lost in thought to catch the answer she gives him. I try to think of what this means to us, and as far as I can tell, It doesn't mean anything to us at this time. We can't use it, We don't have any control over it, and at the moment, I happen to like most of the people who control it. If we find someone that needs help, we can tell Lilith, Bridgett, Garnet, or Dani, and if we need shelter, we only need to find the nearest Arch, and we can get places like the secluded tower we stayed in between the Hydra fights.
We go back up through the passages and stairs, and Aurane and Garnet wait for us at the top. On the way back up, I tell Lilith that we have a prisoner at my shop, being watched by Max. They were talking about the strange behavior of the guards, and it turns out that most of the guards were kept inside the barracks, and there was a large group of turncoats in the guards themselves who are in the Crimson Dragons. Lilith wants to do a sweep of the city, and wants to get the prisoner and see Max. Aurane is upset by the turncoat guards, and wants to go hunt them as traitors to the city, but we all decide to go back to the shop. We are stopped by Guards a couple times, but Aurane is able to get them to leave us alone.
We get close to the Shop, and Max sees us waving in greeting, but his face changes when he sees Lilith, and he just walks off. I look in to see how Leona is doing, and she is just batting at the captives head, almost fascinated by how it bobs around. I try to go after Max, but I can't seem to figure out where he has gone. By the time I get back to the shop, Lilith is ready to go with the prisoner, and leaves. Dani, asleep in Max's chair, is going to be spending the night. I briefly wish I had cleaned the shop better, but... that would have taken weeks. Aurane tells us that he will sleep tomorrow, and get a report of what rogue guards are left in the morning. But he will be going after them. After drinking some water, I collapse in my bed, drained of energy, and weary from the long day.