Waiting For The Ratmen

31 DECEMBER 3460

NEW YEAR'S EVE

All sleep well, now getting quite used to sleeping in the small dwarven beds and they head down to breakfast just after 9.00. As promised, the illusionist arrives to discuss what might be required of him for the battle. This time he is not wearing his mask. Those that have seen him before see that he is wearing a totally different face from the one that they saw him with last time. He is also several inches shorter and nowhere near as fat as he was before.

Most of the party members start to make your way through the mountain of food that has once more been provided for them. Uncharacteristically, however, Milly pushes back her plate before even finishing her first helping.

While eating, Winnacer speaks with the illusionist:

"If you are willing, there are a few things that we would like your assistance with," the young Lord says.

"Fine," the illusionist replies. "And, by the way, you can call me Emanuel."

Winnacer nods:

"I have you task that I would ask of you before the battle starts," the LawBringer starts. "I have promised to loan my armor to Milly and have need of my other set that is in Tall Town back at Mrs. Veverka's. Could you see your way to retrieving it for me?"

Candy speaks up:

"Um, if you tell me where to find it, I can get it for you. Unless it's really, really heavy."

"It's not light," Winnacer replies, "but you should be able to manage it."

"That will mean that I have one additional spell at my disposal if Candy takes it instead of me," Emanuel replies.

"OK then," Winnacer responds. "If you head southwest from the tunnel mouth and walk on for a couple of hundred yards, then you'll see Mrs Veverka's Apothecary. If you could ask for Milan, then he will give it to you."

"Fine," Candy replies. "I'll head off right after breakfast. Won't take me long."

"Thank you," the young Lord replies and then turns his attention back to Emanuel:

"Now for the battle itself," the young Lord continues. "I understand that illusionists have little in the way of offensive capabilities and so your role, as I promised, will not be in the front line."

Emanuel looks very relieved at this.

Winnacer then goes on to describe the set up in the tunnel that the priests of Zemnye have prepared for the party and then continues:

"Firstly, I would ask that those defending the wall should be invisible at the start of the battle as I know that this is one of your specialties."

"No problem with that," the illusionist responds. "I will cast a spell giving those within 10' of me the power of invisibility so that all shall be covered."

"That would be very useful," Winnacer responds. "In addition, I was hoping that you may have a spell at your disposal that would hide the wall. Perhaps you could make the illusion that the tunnel is clear."

The illusionist thinks about the question for a moment and then responds:

"I think I know what you need," Emanuel replies. "Most of the illusions at my disposal require my concentration. There is one quite powerful spell, however, that can change the terrain over quite a wide area. That should do the job quite nicely, I believe."

"Would you be able to add some touches such as fluorescent mosses and the like?" the LawBringer asks. "We will benefit greatly by having some sort of ambient light source that will not be overly suspicious to the rats."

The 'dwarf' nods:

"I could, but the problem is that it would be of no benefit to you," he replies. "You will all know that the terrain is illusory and so you will not see the illusion, but rather the actual terrain."

"Unfortunately the brain cannot be trained to believe something that it knows is not true."

Milly chuckles.

"I think you overestimate people."

"As a result, I fear that the addition of light sources would actually work in the ratmen's favor," the illusionist continues.

Winnacer frowns.

"Well, we will have to make do then. I was hoping that Yaz would have taken care of that problem, but he seems to have gone missing. Has anybody seen him?"

The slew of no's from those present sets Winnacer's head shaking slowly to and fro. He then turns to address Emanuel once again:

"I would also like to ask you what other assistance you could provide for us?"

"Apart from that," the illusionist continues, "I'm afraid that few of my spells are going to be of much use in an offensive capacity. I can make multiple images of myself and can also confuse attackers by hypnotism, although can perform no other actions while I am doing so. Other than that, I think that only additional spells of invisibility and illusions are going to be of use."

"Well, the invisibility spells will certainly help," Winnacer replies. "How many of us can you render invisible?"

"And keep in mind you don't need to make me invisible, if that helps," adds Candy perkily.

"Oh yes, that will certainly help," Emanuel responds to her.

Turning back to Winnacer, he replies:

"I could make just about all of you invisible if you like, although I would be able to do little else for you in the battle if that was the case. And remember, apart from the spell that I can cast upon one of your number, you would all become visible again immediately upon taking any offensive action."

He pauses for a moment:

"It's up to you, however."

Winnacer listens to the illusionist and then responds:

"You have already showed us that you are an invaluable ally at the battle for Zosia's warehouse. Any assistance that you can provide will be gratefully received."

"Will that be all?" the illusionist finishes. "It's going to take me nearly five hours of study to memorize all of these spells and so I'd like to get started as quickly as possible."

"Certainly," Winnacer responds. "I suggest that we meet at the entrance to the tunnel at 9.00p.m. The note that we read said that the ratmen were coming in at midnight, but we had better get there a little early just to be on the safe side."

Emanuel nods once again:

"Very well, I shall see you there at 9.00."

The illusionist says his farewells and then heads off out of the inn.

Candy gets up immediately afterwards:

"I'll go and get your armor now," she says to Winnacer. "I shall be back in a bit over an hour."

"Fine," Winnacer replies. "We should head over to the Cathedral of Zelezny after you're back."

Candy then disappears from view and heads out of the inn. As she departs, Winnacer speaks to the others:

"I'm heading back to my room in order to write some letters now," he says. "I suggest that we meet back down here at noon before we go to the Cathedral."

With that, the young Lord heads off to his room. The rest of the party passes the time in different ways, some also heading to their rooms, while others stay downstairs, chatting amongst themselves.

Candy returns a little over an hour later, dumping Winnacer's armor in the meeting room. Half an hour later, all reassemble in order to head off together to the Cathedral of Zelezny.

They all head for the staircase that leads down to the second level and then quickly pass through the level until they get to the Cathedral. They see that there is a group of blacksmiths around the outside of the Cathedral, and that all the taverns around are doing excellent business. Upon entering, the party members see that it is even busier inside the Cathedral than it was the day before. Rather than the messy groups of blacksmiths that were milling around yesterday, they are all sitting on the iron pews listening to the Master Artificer giving them Zelezny's blessings.

The Master Artificer sees the party as they enter and nods for them to wait a moment until he has finished with the group. They find a space to stand at the back and watch on while the Master Artificer leads them all in prayer while the other priests go around each member of the congregation and smear their foreheads with the sign of the hammer in soot.

It takes around half an hour for ArcWelder to finish the blessings and then all of the congregation files out of the Cathedral to be replaced by another group of smiths. As the Master Artificer takes a break, the party members walk up to him:

"Sorry about the wait," the dwarf apologizes, "but I want to make sure that all of the smiths receive Zelezny's blessing before they go into battle."

"Now, I believe that I promised you some caltrops in return for your taking the Nemotz priest off our hands."

"That's right," Winnacer replies. "You won't have to worry about him any longer."

Dax interjects at this point:

"I was wondering whether you might have a shield here that I could borrow?" he asks. "I think I could do with all of the protection I can get my hands on prior to the fight."

ArcWelder nods:

"I'm sure that we can find you something."

The dwarf then turns to three of the acolytes and barks out some instructions to them. They head off and come back a couple of minutes later, each dragging a large sack with them. One of the acolytes is carrying a small round steel shield.

ArcWelder takes it from the acolyte and hands it to Dax:

"It's going to be a little small for you, I'm afraid, but obviously we only keep dwarven-sized items in stock."

"It should do nicely," Dax replies, getting used to the feel of the shield. "Thank you."

The Master Artificer than turns to Winnacer:

"These three sacks are full of caltrops," he explains. "Hopefully there will be enough for your use."

Winnacer nods:

"Yes, I think so," he replies. "Thank you. Now let me take that Nemotz priest off your hands."

Dranthor looks highly relieved at this. He barks an order to the priest on guard duty and the dwarf opens up the door to the storeroom.

They all walk in to see the Nemotz priest exactly where they left him a day ago, still occupying himself by carving grotesque faces in the coal.

The priest smiles sarcastically as he sees them all:

"Back again already?" he asks. "I never knew I was so popular."

Winnacer ignores him:

"So do you still agree to be placed under an enchantment and fight at our side against the ratmen in return for a fair trial?" he asks.

"Sure," the priest replies. "It's been my life's ambition."

The LawBringer looks to Fae:

"Can you use your ring to charm him please?"

The magess looks a little unsure as to whether she wants the filthy priest as a best friend, but nods her head in agreement before rubbing the ring and saying the word:

"Umberto"

As she does so, the priest seems to go into a trance, his eyes wide open and glassy. He speaks to her in a stilted robotic fashion:

"I. Am. Your. Servant. Mistress. What. Is. Your. Bidding?"

Suspicious of the ring's effects, Faewen'il feel the amulet and looks at the priest.

She sighs:

"It has nae worked," she says.

The priest comes out of the trance and grins at everyone:

"Hey, you can't knock a guy for trying," he shrugs.

Winnacer shakes his head as the priest manages to try his patience yet again. He then looks at Faewen'il:

"Could you try again?"

Faewen'il tries once again, rubbing the ring and uttering the command word. As she does so, the priest smiles at her. She uses the amulet once again and nods:

"It be workin this time," she says.

Winnacer sighs with relief and then turns to address the priest:

"So how can you help us in the fight?"

The priest has not lost all of his sarcasm as he responds:

"Well, as soon as you asked me to come with you yesterday, I decided that I would ask Nemotz to bless me with as many spells as he could to keep me alive, of course," he replies. "I do have a few spells that can stop the ratmen from killing me. I am able to keep a few of them immobile for a while, and I can try and poison them with a touch. I can also summon a magickal hammer or make my club magickal to hit them better with as well."

"Of course you're going to have to take these chains off me and give me back my club and components if you want me to do anything at all," the Nemotz priest finishes.

Winnacer looks at the priest with a bit of trepidation. He hopes that this risk would pay off, but he cannot help but worry that using the Priest as such may backfire horribly. As he runs through the different members he has managed to assemble for this fight in his head, he cannot help but shudder.

'This is certainly going to be a mess,' he thinks to himself, 'perhaps worse than the massacre at Pardubitze.'

The young Lord sighs once more and then turns to the Master Artificer:

"Could you please get someone to unchain him and also to give him back his possessions?"

"Certainly," Dranthor replies. "Anything as long as you take him with you."

He barks an order to the priest on guard duty who firstly heads into a room next to the storeroom where the Nemotz priest has been held in captivity and returns a couple of moments later with a belt and pouch and a gnarled looking club. The guard then goes to the priest and unchains him.

The Nemotz priest rubs at his chaffed wrists and ankles:

"That feels so much better," he says as he buckles the belt around his waist and checks the contents of his pouch.

Obviously satisfied that everything is in order, he selects a couple of the carved heads and pops them in his pouch. He then picks up his club and takes another two of the carvings, handing one to the guard and the other to ArcWelder:

"Just a little reminder of my stay with you," he grins.

ArcWelder immediately tosses the carving onto the fire:

"Good riddance to you, you filthy bugger," the dwarf shouts.

"Shall we go then?" the priest smiles to the rest of the party.

With that, he starts to head out of the Cathedral. The party members quickly say their farewells to the Master Artificer and wish him and his smiths the best of luck with the battle, before grabbing the sacks of caltrops. They head out after the priest. They quickly catch up with the priest as he skips happily along, obviously glad to be free. As they walk back across the level with the priest, they realize that everyone they pass is staring intently at the priest, shouting curses at him in dwarven and holding their noses. The Nemotz priest cheerfully gives them all the finger and continues onwards.

As they continues to walks, Porter pats the Nemotz priest on the back, saying:

"Remember me, pal?"

The Nemotz priest looks at Porter a little uncertainly, obviously trying to remember what happened before.

The bounty hunter holds up his thin dagger, saying:

"I bet you remember my little friend, here, don't ya?"

It all comes flooding back to the priest and he scowls back at Porter:

"Oh yes, now I remember why I haven't been able to hear so well out of my right ear recently," he replies.

"Good job I've got a spare," he grins sarcastically.

Porter continues with a big smile:

"First, let's all be courteous here. We're a friendly group. Second, if somehow you decide that double-crossing us is a good idea, let me assure you that it isn't."

He holds up his dagger again:

"'Cause if there's a next time, it's not going in your ear, but up yar ass. Okay?"

The priest sneers at him:

"Hey, pal, just because you and most of your friends are big assholes doesn't mean that you need to cut me one too. I don't need to be part of your gang THAT much."

Faewen'il can't help but titter at this.

Porter pats the man on the back again and returns to watching Candy walk in front of him.

Upon reaching the staircase, they ascend to the top level and head back to the 'Cask & Bottle' once again. As they lead the Nemotz priest into the inn, the innkeeper at the desk smells the air and then looks to the yellow and black clad priest:

"THAT is not coming into my inn," the dwarf shouts out, pointing to the priest. "I run a decent house for decent folks."

"He'll have to stay in the yard. I'm sorry, but I've got standards to keep."

The Nemotz priest shrugs:

"No problem, I'll just wander around for a bit. I could do with stretching my legs in any case."

Winnacer looks to Faewen'il. Faewen'il shouts to him as he departs:

"Just ye be sure ta be back here afore 8.30."

"I think we need to wash him before this battle starts," Winnacer says as he looks at the filthy, disease-ridden priest. "I'll attend to this, as Spravedelna shall protect me from the myriad boils and pustules across his body."

"Oh damn!" Dax exclaims, with mock disappointment, having kept a large distance between himself and the stinking priest. "I was so hoping that would be MY job."

"Have at 'im, my friend," he laughs to Winnacer.

"Get lost," the filth priest replies to Winnacer. "I ain't having you washing me. I mean, you're a bloke. That's perverted."

He looks over at Faewen'il:

"I'll let her do it though."

"Ye must be jokin," the magess replies sternly as she sees Winnacer considering the offer. "There's no way in this realm that he be comin anywhere near me. Ye can all forget it."

The Nemotz priest shrugs:

"Oh well, looks like I'll have to stay the same as I am then," the priest replies. "I'll see you all later."

And with that, he heads out of the inn.

The party members then all head into the meeting room for the last time:

"I don't know what the rest of you want to do," Winnacer says, "but I'm heading up to my room in order to pray to Spravedelna so that she might look over us during the fight and to check over my armor and weapons."

With that, the LawBringer takes his platemail and heads up to his room. The rest of the party members attend to their own business, checking over the equipment that they shall be taking with them for the battle. Those that have gods to worship offer their devotions for the upcoming battle. As the afternoon wears on, the conversations between party members die down as all start to consider what the night will bring. After 8.00p.m., they all start to head down stairs to reassemble in the meeting room. By 8.30, everyone is assembled in the room, apart from Yaz who has still not turned up.

Winnacer doesn't look too happy about the fact. He sighs:

"We shall just have to leave without him. Perhaps he is waiting for us at the tunnel."

They then all leave the inn. Faewen'il heads for the yard where she finds the Nemotz priest obediently waiting for her. They then head for the staircases that will take them down to the sixth, dragging the sacks of caltrops and the rest of their equipment with them.

As they descend, they see that there is a level of activity in the city such as they have never seen before, as armed and armored dwarves are all heading down in order to get into position ready for the defense of their city. As a result, it takes them a little time to descend the choked staircases and get off at the exit to the sixth. As they walk across the level to the entrance to their tunnel, they see that the area is unusually quiet, with just a few dwarven females and children peeking through shuttered windows to see the party heading across the level.

After ten minutes, they see the illusionist is waiting for them at the mouth of the tunnel, as promised. There is still no sign of the missing druid, however. Emanuel is standing behind a small bundle at the tunnel mouth. He is holding a small piece of parchment in his hands:

"It's from the priests of Ohen," Emanuel says as they approach him. "They offer their apologies, but they are unable to spare much in the way of their Holy powder or Greek fire. They have been able to provide eight vials of Greek fire and have replaced the 40 charges of powder that they took from you to make the bombs."

Winnacer looks a little saddened at the fact that the priests have been unable to provide more, but understands the reasons for it.

"Let us get into position now," he says. "We need to make sure everything is ready well before the ratmen are due."

They walk down the tunnel until they get to the wall that the priests of Zemnye created for them yesterday and then Winnacer turns to address the others:

"As we discussed two day ago, the original plan was for Porter and myself to hole up in one of the alcoves, with Yaz and Rowan in the second."

"However, if Yaz isn't going to show up, then it means a change of plan."

The young Lord looks around:

"Do I have any volunteers for manning the second alcove along with Rowan?"

Damene looks as if she is about to speak up but then she shrugs her shoulders in a dismissive gesture. She watches Winnacer for a moment as if waiting for him to come to some sort of decision.

Dax thinks for a moment, but then says:

"No ... I think the best place for me is down here behind the wall, protecting the magess so she can cast. You said this was going to be the key to this fight."

Candy smiles:

"I can be in the alcove with Rowan if you like."

Her smirk is dangerous looking and she eyes Rowan much as Milly did her dinner:

"I can make myself really small. I'm very coordinated," she adds, her blue-green eyes twinkling.

"With your many abilities, you would be more useful as a failsafe for the ambushers if they get overrun," Winnacer replies. "The Light of Justice causes terror in the hearts of Sinners. Your abilities would just be redundant."

Candy's face falls:

"Oh yeah. I wish I could see in the dark. Maybe Boli will grant me that one day. I could still do an alcove though."

She looks up at Winnacer with puppy-dog eyes:

It doesn't seem to have any effect upon the LawBringer:

"Plus you can't see in the dark, which we need to coordinate our second ambush," he adds. "What we really need is Yaz."

Winnacer clenches his teeth:

"Wherever he has gone off to."

The LawBringer pauses in thought:

"What we could use is another sword in the alcove. Any volunteers?"

"Well, not a sword, but a whip?" suggests Candy.

Winnacer conjures up an image of Candy lashing out at a set of rat ogres with her whip. It is almost immediately followed by an image of them devouring her:

"I think it would be best if we hold you in reserve," he says:

Winnacer then shrugs:

"If you really want to go into the alcove with Rowan, I'm sure he'd oblige you afterwards. Although Zosia would probably take too kindly to it."

Candy smirks:

"Why is that? She wants to fight rat ogres?"

She looks at Winnacer innocently:

"Actually, I thought it was more of a 'throw things on rat guys' type of initiative there then to split our party in half and have part attack them in front and part from behind."

Winnacer tries hard not to sigh:

"Even the best laid plans go awry, especially in the face of so many unknowns. And if they do, we will too busy fighting for our lives to be able to watch your back. And in the confines of an alcove over with skaven surrounding you, I'm not quite sure how you will manage to defend yourself with a whip and cannot in good conscience believe that your leathers will turn the blades seeking your lifeblood."

"Those in the alcove will all see melee. That I can almost promise you."

Candy smiles at Winnacer.:

"Don't be so quick to think me defenseless. Underestimating an ally or an opponent is dangerous."

She shrugs:

"It's your party. I guess we'll plan the raid on Blofeld's place."

"Perhaps," is all the LawBringer has to say to that.

Candy winks at him.

Milly turns and gives Winnacer an odd look. She opens her mouth as if to say something, but looking at the others, she changes her mind. Turning away to get into position, she stops and looks back:

"Hey Mr....Hey Winnacer, how do ya turn this stuff into armor again?"

All can see that the 'Fabio' armor is still in its concealed form.

"Just say 'Fabio'," the young Lord responds.

"Don't look at me to help man one of the alcoves," Milly says.

"I can't see in the dark and there's no way I'm fittin' in that little hole."

Damene looks at Winnacer with a bemused and somewhat frustrated expression:

"None of us can see in the dark," she says, "why bother asking for volunteers if you will just refuse because of that? For what it's worth then, I'll volunteer as well."

"None of the rest of the group are perfect candidates for that reason," Winnacer replies. "But, from what I gathered, Candy's skills would be best suited supporting the mages rather than fighting a prolonged melee. However, if you can keep your ears open and your mind calm, we'd be happy to have you take position in one of the alcoves."

Damene nods in agreement.

Candy grins at Damene impishly from behind Winnacer.

Damene looks at Candy and a small smile crosses her face:

"I'm not the only one, am I?"

Damene flashes a quick glance to Winnacer, then looks back at Candy. She raises her shoulder in a helpless shrug before turning her full attention back to the discussion of final details.

"Damene," Dax says to her, speaking as if they were the only people in a room, "why don't you just stay here with ..... stay behind the wall?"

"What's the use putting yourself out there where you can't see them, but they can see you? That's just taking unreasonable risks, if you ask me."

"I really don't understand why we're pressing on with the parts of the plan that call for things we don't have or can't do," he shrugs at her. "Just leave well enough alone and stay behind the wall. We're just here to help as best we can, not volunteer as cannon fodder."

Damene smiles at Dax, silently thanking him for his concern:

"And if that is where I can help the best, then that is where I need to be. I'll try not to be good fodder."

"But, I ..." Dax begins, then stopping abruptly with the corner of his mouth twisting up in frustration, " ... suppose you know best there."

"Just be ... well, you know," he mumbles as he turns his attention back to Winnacer and the preparations.

"She'll be OK, Dax," Candy reassures him. "And I can check on her during the fighting, if you like. I know a few tricks that can help me get through the worst of it, I think. OK?"

Candy pats his arm gently:

"In fact, I could probably do a pretty good courier thing, but I don't think the LawBringer would like it."

"All right then," Dax replies with a weak smile at Candy, but sounding more like he's talking to himself.... or, rather, trying to convince himself.

"It's just that I've seen enough of my friends dying because they were sent to the wrong place at the wrong time," he adds to her, quickly and bitterly, his eyes getting the same far away look he had looking at the burned out huts in the druid grove.

Candy sighs:

"Yeah, I'm looking for probably my only friend and I have a bad feeling about him. He's never been missing this long before. Well, even though y'all probably don't want them, Boli's blessings."

Dax does not react to Candy's words at first, perhaps still lost in his solemn reverie. But then he gives a short exhale through his nose that sounds like a short laugh, as the corner of his mouth turns up in a slight grin:

"Maybe not your ONLY friend, Candy," he says quietly, turning to look at her and holding his gaze for a few seconds longer afterwards before seeming to snap back to the moment at hand.

"Long term then," she winks at Dax.

"By the gods, let's get on with this, shall we?" Dax asks rhetorically.

"Winnacer, I'll go where you want me."

"I'm ready too, Winnacer, sir. Let's light this candle," Candy adds, looking as serious as she can.

The young Lord nods then turns to Emanuel:

"As the four who are going to be hiding in the alcoves will be covered by the stone lids that the Zemnye priests made, it seems to be a bit of a waste to make them invisible as well."

"Those that are hiding behind this wall should be invisible, however, with a layer of caltrops covering the ground before them. If you can make the whole area invisible as well, then we should be able to take many of them down before they know what's happening."

"As the area will be in darkness, you will need to keep a look out, as you are the only one of us with infravision."

Emanuel is looking quite nervous at the moment, but he nods his head in agreement:

"I should be able to manage all this," he says.

The young Lord looks around and smells the stench of the Nemotz priest once again. He turns back to the illusionist:

"Is there anything that you can do to mask his smell?" the LawBringer asks. "With him smelling like that, he will alert the ratmen to the fact that something is wrong straight away."

Emanuel shakes his head:

"No, I'm sorry," he replies. "Scent is a difficult thing to mask will illusions. I didn't learn the spell that can do it today. I took more invisibility instead."

Winnacer sighs:

"I'm sure that Yaz won't smell any better either. I suppose that he's just going to have to wait at the cave mouth, waiting for the loud sounds of thunder before joining us."

The young Lord walks over to the sullen priest to speak to him:

"I don't think I ever asked your name," he says.

"Yeah," the priest replies, "and after we've been seeing each other for such a long time as well."

"It's Yaroslav," he replies. "But you can call me Yarda; it's so much more personal."

"Well, Yarda, I have a few questions," Winnacer says. "What exactly do you know about this part of the plan? Do you know what they are bringing in? Are they expecting to meet with any of your sect? Is there a certain meeting place? What do the rats really expect to find?"

Yarda shakes his head:

"Let me remind you once more, as you're obviously pretty dim," he sighs. "As I told you after you captured me, all we were told to do was to go and dump the juice in the wells and get out of here. The ratmen are just a bunch of big dumb rats with hands. I half-expect this whole ratman invasion thing to be just something you dreamed up. I know how much you LawBringers like to come up with quests to save the world."

Winnacer looks over to Faewen'il who is holding her amulet once more:

"He be tellin ye the truth," the magess reports. "He nae be knowin nothing about no ratmen invasion."

The LawBringer shakes his head:

"I think that the best thing you can do is to wait outside the mouth of the tunnel and wait until you hear the sound of thunder," he says. "That will be your signal to come and join us."

The Nemotz priest seems to be pleased with this:

"Oh, that's a shame," he smirks. "I was really hoping to be right at the front where I could get eaten by ratmen right from the start."

He starts to walk out of the tunnel:

"See you all later," he waves.

Winnacer shakes his head once more and then turns to the others:

"Because of the lack of light, it looks like we'll need three lighted stones, one for the ambush group, one for Porter, and one for Rowan. We'll have to produce light at the instant that Faewen'il is ready to release her spell. Spravedelna help us..."

Faewen'il reaches into her pouch and produces three tiny packages made from some of the black silk that she liberated from the Temple of Smurt a week ago:

"I be makin them yesterday," she explains as she passes one to Porter, one to Rowan and keeps the other one for herself."

"As for the caltrops," the LawBringer continues, "I suggest that Rowan takes half a sack, I will take another and we should scatter the rest in front of the wall."

He looks around at the others:

"Does that sound alright with everyone? This battle is getting dangerously close to starting..."

"Sounds good to me," nods Milly.

Porter replies:

"Works for me. I'll take a couple flasks of that Greek fire."

"Me too, if you would," Dax asks.

Porter asks:

"Another thing. I take it when you and I set to work, we're going to drop the stone door right on top of them, right? That is, if there's somebody underneath us. If that's the case, when you drop down, I'll stay up in the alcove and create a little more havoc before I come down. Just to let you know."

Candy looks at Winn winsomely:

"Do you want me to go up ahead and try to scare them out toward the rest of you? They'll likely pay less attention to anyone if they're really, really scared."

"Candy can be very scary, Winnacer," Dax interjects, tongue planted firmly in cheek. "Trust me on this."

"No, let's get them close enough to blast them," Winnacer replies. "After we've caused some real casualties in their ranks, then if you possess the powers of fear, feel free to use them. We want them surprised, as they are not suspecting ANY resistance. Let's not tip them off that things are not the way they think they are."

"Well, not really fear," Candy replies. "Not like you do anyway. I mainly just have to use my head and trick folks into being afraid. Not just give 'em the big whammy god stuff."

She grins:

"Hopefully you'll see soon."

If anyone had the nerve to laugh, Milly almost makes a comical sight in outdated robes with a worn scabbard strapped to her side, a quiver of arrows thrown over her shoulder and a shortbow in her hands.

Before the others leave for their posts, Milly calls everyone together:

"Now this isn't something I normally do, but a old friend of mine pointed out that I shouldn't ignore the spiritual side of life. And at my age, I'll take all the help I can get."

She looks at the others self-consciously:

"We used to have a Padre to do this, but seein' as how there ain't one around, I'll have to do it myself. I wish I could remember how it went, but I don't, so humor an old lady."

Winnacer smiles at Milly, and leans back against the wall watching the proceedings. Candy does not join in the prayer, but walks outside and maintains a respectful silence while the others pray. Noticing the others looking at her she says nervously:

"Don't look at ME - bow your heads!"

Lowering her gaze to the ground she says:

"Well, Radegast, it looks like ya' got your wish; Milly's back in the trenches again. You know the foes we face. You know our hearts. And you know that we're on the side of right. All we ask is that you give us the strength today to send these rats back down inta' their holes. And if..."

She draws a breath:

"And if some of us don't make it today, please welcome us into Your hall."

"Amen"

Lifting her head, all can see that her face is bright red:

"We'll waddya' lookin' at me for, get goin'!"

Once she has completed her efforts, Winnacer removes a small vial from his waist and his silver gavel from his side:

"If any of you wish, I can anoint you with Spravedelna's blessing. Her omnipresent eye shall be upon us today, and those blessed may receive her favor."

Milly volunteers, saying:

"Go ahead and hit me with that stuff. I can use all the help I can get."

"Very well," Winnacer replies, hoping that he can remember the words to the blessing that he has been learning for a long while. He takes his ceremonial hammer and coats it with the holy water from the vial. He then takes it out and, with the water dripping from the hammer, he walks towards Milly. As he stands before her, the LawBringer looks ahead and speaks:

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your heart so that Her spirit may combine with the blood that runs through your body so that you shall be one with Her."

He then takes the holy hammer and places it against Winnacer's heart. He holds it for a moment and then continues:

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your head so that Her spirit may combine with your mind so that your thoughts may be as one with Her's"

He then brings the hammer up and places it upon Milly's forehead before applying some more holy water to the gavel and continuing:

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your eyes so that She may see through them in order to look for Injustice wherever it may be committed."

Milly then shuts her eyes as Winnacer places the head of the holy hammer against both of them in turn, the water stinging her eyes a little as it drips onto them.

He then continues:

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your ears so that She may hear through them in order to listen for Untruths wherever they may be uttered."

Winnacer then touches both Milly's right and left ear in turn and then moves on to the next part of the blessing:

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your tongue so that She may guide your speech in order to say the words that are needed in order to see that Justice is done."

Milly opens her mouth and makes her tongue ready for the hammer's being placed upon it. The slightly acidic quality of the holy water tastes quite bitter.

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your arms so that She may give you the strength that will be needed in order to fight against all that is unjust," the young Lord continues.

Winnacer takes the holy hammer and brings it gently to rest upon Milly's forearms.

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your legs that you may stand proud and erect so as to instruct others in Her ways and lead others to perform Her bidding."

He then brings the hammer down and touches Milly gently on each thigh.

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your body that She may protect you from maladies that would seek to weaken you and stop you from performing Her bidding."

He then touches Milly on the stomach with the hammer before continuing:

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your armor that it may better protect you from the blades and blows of those that would seek to stop you from performing Her bidding."

He then places the head of the hammer upon Milly's shoulder and makes the last blessing:

"With the blessed water of Spravedelna upon Her Holy Hammer I anoint your sword that She may keep it sharp and guide the blade to strike down all of those that are Unjust and would seek to stand against you"

With that, he takes the hammer and rests it upon the blade of Milly's sword.

Once Milly has finished making her blessing and receiving Winnacer's in return, Dax sidles up to Milly:

"Thank ye for that," he says to her quietly, but sincerely. "You're just full of surprises, Milly. I'm not a great one for religion and such myself, but I've been fair impressed with Radegast's church of late. If I was to receive any blessing before this fight, I'll be glad for it to be His ... and glad to have got it from you."

Dax smiles warmly, but then quickly changes, lightens, his tone and begins to move away from Milly as they continue to walk, not wanting to make her any more uncomfortable than he may have already.

"And don't worry -- none of us are falling today, if I have any say."

With the last minute planning and blessings out of the way, everyone makes their last preparations. Winnacer hands out the eight vials of Greek fire, ensuring that there is an even distribution of the oil by giving two vials to Dax, one each to Milly, Porter, Rowan, Damene and keeping two for himself.

"Let us get into our positions now," he says to the others.

"OK," Candy replies and promptly turns invisible. Where she goes after that is anyone's guess.

The LawBringer looks to Milly and Dax:

"Please can you come and put the covers on the alcoves once we are inside," he asks. "There is no way that we can pull them up ourselves while we are inside."

Dax and Milly agree and accompany Winnacer, Porter, Rowan and Damene as they head down the corridor to where the alcoves are situated. They take off the lid to the southern alcove and, somewhat reluctantly, Rowan and Damene clamber up into the alcove. As Rockrender warned, it is very cramped inside the alcove and the pair of them hopes that they will not have to spend long in there.

Once they have managed to crouch down inside the alcoves, Winnacer gives Rowan half a sack of caltrops and then, between himself, Porter, Milly and Dax, they haul up the stone cover and push it into place.

If crouching in the small alcove wasn't bad enough, after the cover is slipped into place, it is incredibly claustrophobic and both Damene and Rowan wonder whether volunteering for this position was such a good idea after all.

The four remaining warriors walk over to the opposite side of the tunnel and then Porter easily springs up into the alcove. Winnacer takes significantly longer to get up, his platemail not being the most suitable item of clothing for the task. Eventually, however, he finally manages to get into position where he knows he will have to crouch stock-still to stop his armor clanking against the wall or floor of the alcove.

"Please hand me half a sack of caltrops," he asks. "Use the rest to form a barrier in front of the wall."

Milly divides the caltrops up and hands half a sack to the LawBringer. She then assists Dax in placing the stone cover in position, covering Porter and Winnacer. The pair of them then head back to the wall and climb back over it.

Once they are the other side, they take the remaining two sacks of caltrops and toss them to the ground before the wall. By the time that they have used up all of the caltrops, they have created a dense barrier across the width of the tunnel to a depth of 10'.

After the caltrop field has been laid, Emanuel sets to work on creating his illusion that will mask the position. He takes a stone, a twig and a blade of grass from his pouch and starts to utter a long incantation while gesticulating. The incantation lasts ten minutes in total, during which time the illusionist breaks into a sweat from the exertion. Once the incantation is completed, those behind the wall see, for a split second, that the wall and the caltrops disappear totally, becoming nothing more than a continuation of the tunnel. Then they realize that it is simply Emanuel's illusion and see the wall and caltrops field once more.

With the terrain now in place, the illusionist reaches into his pouch once more and produces yet another eyelash encased in gum Arabic. He starts to cast for a second time and, after a little more than 30 seconds, he disappears from view together with those around him as all become invisible.

The preparations are now all ready and so there is nothing more that any of them can do except to wait for the ratmen to arrive. By the time all of the preparations are complete, it is 10.30, just an hour and a half before the ratmen are due to make their assault upon the city.

Waiting for the time to pass is a miserable experience, especially for those waiting in the alcoves where they are unable to move much in the confines of the hole. Not only is it uncomfortable, but it is also cold and very, very dark. As the first hour passes, each of them hopes that the ratmen invasion will start on time, as the thought of spending even a few minutes more than necessary in the holes starts to become even less appealing than fighting the vermin. Winnacer spends the time in silent prayer urging Spravedelna's blessings for the on-coming battle.

Time passes slower than any of them can remember before as the seconds and minutes tick away as it gets closer to midnight. Several of them think back to where they were in previous years as the clock counted down to the start of a New Year in Bohavia and all come to the conclusion that this has to be the most miserable New Year's Eve ever.

Time continues to tick away as midnight comes closer and closer. Eventually, they can hear the chimes from some of the clocks behind them in the city telling them that the hour has arrived. Even before the sound of the full twelve chimes have rung, they hear a loud explosion from the far end of the tunnel, followed by another and then another. Those of them who have experienced the devastation of one of the ratmen's gunnes realize that the ratmen are blasting down the last of the rock between the ratmen city and the tunnel with the gunnes. There are a couple more explosions and then the sounds stop as quickly as they started.

For the next five minutes, they can hear nothing more from the tunnel. They can, however, hear faint sounds in the distance telling them that the invasion of the other 12 tunnels is also taking place as expected.

Then, they start to hear the first sounds of activity in their tunnel. Faintly at first, they can hear chittering heading in their direction. The sound gets louder and louder as it gets closer and closer.

Those of them who have faced the ratmen before realize immediately that this is not the sound that they make as the ratmen's chittering is a lot deeper in tone than the sound that they are hearing now. No, these are not ratmen that they hear approaching, but rather regular rats that they have seen and ignored a hundred times before on their adventures.

The difference is that there are lots of rats coming in their direction.

Hundreds of rats.

Hundreds and hundreds of rats.

The sound of the approaching rat swarm gets louder and louder until the cacophony sets their ears ringing. Amidst the sounds of the rats, they can hear the cracking of whips as the packhandlers urge the rat swarm onwards down the tunnel.