17th Letter Home: Shadows Everywhere We Look, Heavy Defenses Leading to an Unwelcome Option, A Convoy that Never Made It to the Mines, And a Person Working for the Enemy...A Person!

General Summary

We discussed our plans and decided that we would first do a more detailed reconnaissance of the Sylvan mansion. The ‘Baxi and Alyona would do that on the ground while I kept watch from the sky.
Then we would ambush the prisoner train to the mines. The rest of the team would head out ahead of them while I wait at the inn for the signal from the innkeeper. Then I can quickly catch up to the team and we can set our ambush.
Lastly, we’ll come back to town with the freed prisoners and do our job on the mansion. This should all combine to give us enough money for passage.
So we started.
I headed into the sky, hidden by the night. The lights of the city spread out below me, and truly mother, it was a beautiful sight. Dots of yellow-orange outlined the major streets, criss-crossing and curling below me, intersecting, running round, heading off, ending at the darker regions of the city. In those areas gentle hints of orange light seeped through shuttered windows, barely illuminating streets. Truly beautiful.
I could see people walking the streets, some stumbling, some hand in hand, some arm in arm. Small groups. Individuals. The occasional guard.
Especially at the bridge leading across the river to the nicer side of town. The side of town with mansions. Several guards patrolled the far side.
Ingoria and Alyona ducked below the bridge, and Alyona decided, I think, to…swim, maybe? She swung up behind Ingoria and executed a long arcing …dive? Into the river.
She is usually so graceful, mother, executing considered moves with precision. This...this wasn't that.
Ingoria hid under the bridge, as Alyona’s considerable splash had alerted the guards. Alyona, well, Alyona swam. Kinda. Instead of getting out of the river and continuing to the target, she seemed to be swimming downstream. Ingoria was busy hiding from the guards as Alyona…did whatever Alyona was doing.
I had been watching the entire time. I never once lost sight of them. Yet somehow it appeared that Alyona had found a way to acquire some glow. How? I had never looked away!
She was swimming with the current, against the current, across the current. She seemed aimless. She must be using the glow.
It was the only explanation.
I felt as if I had been punched. I thought she was so wise! But somehow, for some reason, she had allowed herself to partake of such a drug on the night of our mission. It was very much not a wise decision.
I flew lower to make sure she was safe. As she finally got to the bank of the river, Ingoria caught up. Seeing them together, I felt more sanguine about Alyona’s safety. Ingoria would keep her safe.
Alyona seemed to recover her senses and they headed off to the mansion. Perhaps the cold water? I soared a bit higher, watching them. I noticed, and I'm very glad I did, some huge pipes emptying into the river. they looked like they came from the direction of our target mansion.
The manse was huge, mother! A palace! Surrounded by a wall enclosing beautiful gardens, light streaming from the windows. A sight to behold, surely. The gardens were quite comforting, reminding me of the wonderful jungle we had been traveling through to get here, and blocking out the sounds and smells of this enormous city.
I watched from above as they headed over the wall, carefully approaching the building. But as they moved I saw a shadow emerge…from the shadows. It was like a group of shadows, together. Flowing. Not like the shadow creatures we saw in the engineering school. More like shadows that flowed and emanated from a central object. Like smoke from a censer, but coming out in all directions instead of just up.
I wanted to warn them, but had no way. If I shouted...I had nothing to throw. It was only 20 feet away from them, and watching intently.
Whatever it was.
I got closer, and they saw me, but still I couldn’t say anything. They probably thought I was simply paying closer attention. Alyona crept up to the mansion and peered in the window as a pajama-clad man dropped from the roof, almost on top of her.
But he didn’t seem to see her!
The shadowy creature had started growling. The man had probably heard the thing and dropped to see what was going on. He looked around intently…
…and saw me. He looked right at me!
How!?
Fighting was not an option. We could not alert them to a pending attack, as they would certainly bolster their defenses. He hadn’t seen my compatriots. And he couldn’t!
Immediately flying in the opposite direction, pretending to flee, I drew his attention. I flew up and around, out of view, far away, then circled back around. Alyona and Ingoria were gone. The man in pajamas and a similarly clad compatriot were by the front door, discussing the event with the two guards. They chatted animatedly for a bit, then went back to their stations.
I continued to watch, but nothing else changed. So I flew back.
We shared our stories when we got back together at the inn. Alyona had looked inside and seen a small, spartan room. Perhaps servant's quarters? She had also been seen as she fled, and retrieved one of the shuriken the man had thrown at her during her retreat. So...Night Shades? The team was hesitant to even consider approaching the mansion with the level of security we had uncovered. Which is the entire point of reconnaissance. I remembered the large drainage pipes on the cliff, and told the group that those might provide a less-fraught method of access to the mansion. Though the team was not pleased with the idea of heading to the mansion through sewers, we agreed that we must explore them further when we get back.
It was time for our rescue mission!
We decided that we were confident enough in the schedule that we could assume they would leave within the next day or so, and that there was no need for me to wait behind for the signal; we could simply get a good head start and I could scout from the sky.
So I did! I headed up and scoped out the road ahead when we left the next morning.
It felt so good! I must admit that I did not do so very much scouting as soaring. To be up in the sky, wings spread, pumping, taking me higher. Feeling the drafts and riding the currents, no fear of being spotted, no skulking. I had been trapped in that room for so long!
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and stopped. Our mother earth pulled me, and I felt my speed slow, slow...stop. And I fell.
The wind coursed through my feathers as I fell, faster and faster, a smile on my face.
I took another deep breath, spread my wings, and opened my eyes. Time to work.
I observed that there were daily patrols leaving the city, returning the same day. Additional long-range patrols headed out from the city, not returning the same day. I assume they proceeded to the next city before returning, but perhaps they returned in two days, three...
On the second day I saw the caravan leave Yelahn.
I saw three outriders speeding ahead, swinging outside, and working their way back. Their captain had a large sword. Three wagons were the cages we rode in to the mines, and they were full of prisoners: our 4 targets, and 2 more. Two wagons were covered, one of which looked mostly empty. The wagons were all driven by soldiers.
But, mother, they had a scout. And their scout was one of the people.
One of the people, working with the Sylvans.
Abducting travelers and taking them to the mines.
One of the people!
He saw me.
And I saw him.
He immediately flew away, and I chased him. I tried, mother, I tried, but he was faster. He flew back to the convoy, certainly to warn them. As I chased him I noted that he was very well dressed. Very.
A noble.
This distressed me to no end. And my team sensed my distress as I told them what I had found.
We needed to adjust our ambush. They now knew we were coming. So we simply kept moving, allowing them to also move forward and hopefully become more complacent as they decided that we’d abandoned our ambush. Eventually we found a nice curve in the road lined with boulders on both sides. That would be our ambush.
I kept an eye out for the person, and he did eventually fly past us, scouting ahead. Mostly looking for me, I’m sure. But I was not there! I was here, on the ground, watching him. We lay low, hiding, allowing him to pass. It ended up being very good that I had spotted him, even if he had taken away our initial plans for ambush, because otherwise we would not have know to beware his presence. Knowing he was there, we knew to hide and let him pass. That would keep him out of the battle, at least initially.
Then one of the outriders came up the road. And we killed him.
It was fast.
One down!
We hid his body.
While we waited for the rest of the convoy, I set an arrow trap in the road, right between two large boulders, where I knew they would trip it. I also learned a really neat trick: a rope trick! I can create a small portal and hide there for an hour. Nobody can see me, or detect me in any way. And my little portal, it fits others. So we all climbed up into my rope trap, which I set far behind the arrow trap so that we could drop out behind the convoy. I hoped that they would set off the trap, think we were in front of them, and charge forward. Or spread out. Whatever. Just not look back. Then we would drop out of the sky and attack them from behind.
It was beautiful mother! We dropped out of the sky like avenging gods! Alyona fell gracefully, arms out, rolling as she hit and heading toward the nearest cart. Baermak used a spell to make sure everybody else fell slowly, so as not to drop like a crab to the rocks.
I flew. I soared out of that space of nothing at full speed and shot the rear outrider right through the throat. He didn't even know he had been killed. I angled my left wing to begin a spin, shooting the Sylvan riding on the back of the rear wagon. Through the neck again.
Neither Sylvan even knew the battle had begun.
As I continued my spin I then shot the driver of that rear wagon. The wagon continued forward, the horse unaware of the chaos unleashed behind it. The outrider hadn't even fallen off his horse yet. Three shots, three kills.
Alyona charged forward and pummeled the driver of the second wagon while Ingoria and the rest of the team engaged with the Sylvan who popped out of the last wagon (I thought it was empty). I flew forward and killed the wounded driver of the second wagon while Baermak cast a spell that created a freezing apparitional hand, choking the Sylvan on the back of the wagon.
But as he did that, one of the prisoners in the caged wagon leapt up and sprinted to Alyona. Surprised, I watched him charge her. He had dark tattoos running down his forearms to his hands, and he shot shadows out of them. Shadows that coalesced into fists. His shadow-fists laid into Alyona, connecting several times.
He was not a prisoner.
The rest of us rushed forward, and I drew down on the strangely tattooed dwarf.
Alyona returned his blows, and the other prisoner in the back of the wagon stood up and cast a spell at Alyona. Another not-prisoner. He then shot a small crossbow at her; and she simply swatted it away! He shot at her again, but was so flabbergasted by her batting away his last shot that he was unable to concentrate properly, completely missing her.
That’s when their captain finally appeared. He sped out of the front wagon–then appeared next to Alyona. Literally. He was just there. He was running from the wagon--then he was next to Alyona. He hefted his great sword high into the air, and knocked her to the ground. I saw her eyes roll back into her head as they closed, and she slumped to the ground.
She doesn't wear armor, mother, opting instead for speed, ducking and dodging incoming blows. But with three attackers focused on her, all raining attacks, one is bound to get through. And if an attack gets through, with her not wearing any armor...
She had fallen.
Fallen!
I changed my target to the mage, knowing that the rest of the team had the melee fighting covered. The mage was flinging damage from a distance, and needed to be taken out. From a distance.
So I shot him.
I hit him.
And out of the wound came shearing grey-black shadows, headed straight back the way the arrow came: at me. And they hit me.
Hard.
Very hard.
I quickly dropped down out of the sky, shooting him again as I headed to the ground. My arrows were hitting him, but not penetrating as much as they should. He must have armor under his prisoner’s tunic. He waved his hands and was enveloped in a cloud of shadows.
More shadows!
I heard a horse approaching from the rear. But that could wait.
Alyona lay on the ground.
Sylvan soldiers were scurrying out of the wagons and charging towards us. So many more Sylvans than we had expected!
Baermak used his magical frozen hand again, and Vessyr shot; both at the dwarf, who had been stunned by Alyona before she fell. Baermak whispered to Alyona and I saw her eyes flutter under the lids.
She lived!
She jumped to her feet, dropping the tattooed dwarf on her way up, swinging at the captain (but glancing off of his armor), and spinning on one leg to kick the soldier next to the captain with her foot, dropping him to the ground. She then continued moving and ran over the falling soldier and sprinted to her grandfather’s side.
I popped back up from behind some rocks to draw down on the mage again. That’s when the captain appeared next to me.
When I woke the mage was no longer bathed in shadows; instead he wore Elven chain mail, explaining my difficulty in wounding him deeply. And he was trapped in webbing! Alyona stood behind him, pounding him repeatedly. He looked as if she had been beating on him for an entire day!
The captain still stood next to me, but Vessyr’s spider stood next to him, threatening to attack, and keeping the captain's attention.
A remaining soldier had engaged Baermak.
The mage suddenly appeared on the other side of Baermak, free from the webbing that had been holding him in place. He used his little hand-crossbow, but he used it very well and landed two bolts.
As I took stock of the situation, arrows flew from the sky and appeared next to Vessyr, so I knew that their person had returned.
I lay perfectly still, breathing as shallowly as possible. As soon as the captain moved away from me I drank a healing potion and stood. My head swum a little, but the potion seemed to clear my senses. I quickly moved behind Vessyr’s spider, keeping it between that huge sword and myself.
The team focused on the shadowy mage, but I was far more concerned with the captain. Vessyr shot the mage and I saw the same thing happen to him that had happened to me: nasty shadowy tendrils arched out to Vessyr, slamming him in the chest and forcing him to step back and catch himself from falling. The only emotion he ever shows is anger...except for then, when he showed a great deal of surprise.
But while the mage was focused on Vessyr, the granddaughter of Vessyr snuck up behind him and smacked him so hard in the back of the head that he fell without even trying to break the fall: face first, hands at his sides. She then dropped the soldier next to him.
The battle seemed to be turning back in our favor! There was one remaining soldier, the returned scout, the captain, and the person in the air.
As their captain attacked Vessyr, he failed to note me. So I shot him in the back.
He barely noticed.
That’s when the person shot me. I felt the arrow hit, and I fell.
I woke to Alyona cradling my head, an empty healing potion in her hand. The captain appeared next to her, swinging first at her, and then at me. He hit me as I lay on the ground, trying to roll away. His huge sword cut into my back and I quickly drank my other healing potion, standing as fast as I could.
Baermak was on the ground, arrows in his back.
The battle had apparently not been turning back in our favor.
But I think there was some extra anger in the healing potion, as rage consumed me. These Sylvans, the same Sylvans who had kidnapped me, kidnapped this entire group, were here, having kidnapped others. Here! Right in front of us! But with them was a person. Another person! Working with these...these parasitic mites. They are the fungus you scrape off an oyster before you cook it. They are less than that. They are the excrement of that fungus!
And the person worked with them. And his clothes belied a station perhaps higher than ours, mother.
Their captain stood next to me, but their person was the bigger threat. And the greater disappointment. I changed my concentration to focus on him and sent two arrows, back to back, directly into his chest. They both hit, and well! I saw the blood spray. But they hit just as he loosed his arrows at me. I tried to move, but he had anticipated that. I moved right into the path of the first arrow. He took my arrows and dove to the ground. I could see that he was in a bad way; he needed to get out of the sky lest he fall. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ingoria tracking his descent.
That’s when his second arrow hit and I fell yet again.
When I woke (yet again) the team was clustered around the captain. Alyona lay on the ground (again), the spider was smashed to pieces, and the captain stood next to Baermak, swinging his sword. No soldiers, no mage, no person.
Just the captain.
I stood and embedded two arrows square in the center of his back.
He fought on.
Baermak cast some spell that seemed to drain life from him. Ingoria popped up to the top of one of the boulders and drew down on him with her little short bow.
Still he fought on.
Finally, Vessyr crept up behind him and shot him in the back of the head.
He fought no more.
We paused, breathing a collective sigh of relief. And I went immediately to find the person.
He had several arrows protruding from him, and I retrieved mine. I also took Ingoria's out, to return to her. He lay dead in the road. Dead for the Sylvans. Stupid.
And mother, he was of the Cloud Eyrie! Laarii of the Stormriders! Here, working with them! The Stormriders!
I am torn, confused, disappointed. We are of the people, and must be as one! All people are sisters and brother! We cannot fight amongst ourselves. Yet we are.
I feel betrayed.
Your counsel would be so very welcome today.
Always, but today in particular.
I took his signet ring. I shall find a safe place for it, and ensure it gets to you no matter what.
I fear telling the team. They cannot know that the people are divided. Though they must already guess, having seen the person in the air, raining arrows upon us.
I am embarrassed at having been betrayed.
I thought perhaps that the freed prisoners could shed knowledge on this, but they know no more than I. Except that there's more than one person working with the Sylvans.
At first the Dwarven prisoners were hesitant to talk with us, but Baermak, with his easy conversational skills, was able to forge an understanding. We cleaned up the site of the battle, moving everything out of sight of the next patrol, and headed out overland. Camping cold, we all chatted, and that's when they told me of the other...collaborators.
They also mentioned that the Sylvans ordered their person about like a slave. Can you imagine? A Cloud Eyrie Stormrider being ordered about! I took great pleasure in knowing this. Not as much as in knowing he was dead, but still.

Report Date

10 Sep 2022