It took less than two days to for Vaishu to
find a lead. It was in the small city of Stonebow Dale that a local shopkeeper
had sold supplies to two mercenaries who called themselves keepers. They
were headed into the city of storms down through the Mithril Caves where
Vaishu knew right away their destination. Gathering his things, he made
the descent into the city known as Darrowmere on the seventh hour of nightfall.
It was less than an hour before the gates of the city appeared in the haze,
shrouded beneath a dense mass of clouds and darkness. Darrowmere was a
city of extraordinary beauty, though cursed to forever dwell in the shadows
of the rainstorms. For those who called it home, the rain was less curse
than circumstance and the strider felt out of place, being the only one
who ran for cover under the eaves of the buildings. It was just east of
the southern entrance that he found the mansion he was looking for. Accounts
document the story of Hawke and the demon which was imprisoned in his basement
--A demon of great power and evil. And of course as such stories go, a
demon that guarded a valuable antiquity. The doors of the mansion remained
ajar, suggesting someone had recently been through it. To the right stood
the massive door to the basement, which was also left half open, freshly
picked as indicated by the scars on the lockhead. The stairs descended
into a immensely dark and cold basement which sounded of strange noises
and faint echoes. As he traversed them, he saw the glowing eyes of curious
creatures darting back and forth through the darkness, though they were
seeming more scared of him than he was of them. The echoes grew louder
and it was perhaps halfway through that he realized they were voices. He
followed these voices to an opening in the ground where two demon corpses
sat amidst a pile of empty vials. Looking inside, the faint glows revealed
the images of three figures: two mercenaries and the demon who towered
above them flailing its arms and swinging its tail as it swooped back and
forth on leathery wings of blood red. The mercenaries circled the demon
equidistant from one another, while taking turns striking it with their
weapons. The larger of the two held a pair of spears with a length of rope
tied to his wrist. This he would use like a javelin at times, tossing it
forward and drawing it in, but then when the demon faced him, he would
wield it like a halberd, parrying the blows with one, while dealing them
with another. The smaller mercenary wielded two swords, one of which shimmered
like so many piles of treasure and resisted the blood like oil to water
such that the blade never appeared dull. His other sword was a bit shorter
and blue as ice as he used it to parry while striking with the first. For
several minutes Vaishu watched the display from his vantage point while
entertaining thoughts of joining in, but it remained too well orchestrated
to toss in another variable. Within a few more minutes, the shorter mercenary
dealt a fatal blow to the demon, and it fell to the ground such that the
whole place shook with a great sound. "Drumroll" yelled the larger, titan
mercenary to the first, who began to simulate a drumroll with his swords
as he made a poor attempt at articulating the sound. "And nothing!" was
the reply as the titan spit at the corpse in frustration. It also here
that Vaishu could no longer hide his amusement as he let out a laugh from
above. "Need a hand out of there?" he
asked the titan, who he could now clearly identify as being Blasko. "Sure!"
Blasko replied as he reached for Vaishus outstretched arm. "We can just
leave Dusk down here." "Hey!" yelled
the human merc, who quickly pulled himself out of the hole in fear of the
others making true to their suggestion. "So
you guys got time for a break?" asked Vaishu.
"Always,"
replied
Dusk. Blasko nodded in agreement, and the three made their way out of the
mansion.
