Dark Alliance: A Kirin's Tale

by Blackdrag-rose

Marsh of Chelimber: The Drowned City

After resting for a few moments, and making sure that their gear was ready to go, Rain and her friends departed from the area that Sleyvas had set up his hut in and quickly headed back to the vine wall he had set up to direct potential allies to where he was stationed. Sure enough they found that there was now a gap in it, a section that had pulled itself away so the four of them and Shadow could press onward, which Vahn did without wasting any time, since there was no telling when the Lady who was controlling the Onyx Tower would make her move. None of them were surprised by the fact that there were more lizardfolk on the other side, just waiting for a fight, hence why Rain, Vahn, Adrianna, and Kromlech were ready to do battle with their foes as the lizards got up to challenge them. Fortunately for them the lizardfolk liked to fight close to each other, which was a good thing since Adrianna's lightning spell allowed her to hit and wound multiple foes at once, opening the way for the others to take them down so they could move forward.

Rain noted that they were still a ways away from the actual drowned city, where the king of the lizardfolk ruled from, but this did give them a good chance to understand what Sleyvas had said, the rest of his tribe, not to mention the rest of his kind, were preparing for war and were armed as mere fodder soldiers. It made sense for their new ally to be worried about what was going on, as his people had no training in how to be an army, no weapons to deal massive damage, and no armor to protect themselves from harm, in fact the gear they had wasn't even scaled to fit their bodies. She found that they didn't even need to use any fancy tactics to bring down their foes, rather all they had to do was shock them with Adrianna's spell and then deal more damage to them to secure another section of the swamp, even if that was a slow task since there was so much for them to go through. Something that bothered her was the fact that all of the huts looked worse than Sleyvas' did, as if the minds and hearts of the lizardfolk had been wholly corrupted by the Lady of the Tower, causing them to forget their ways and focus on her needs alone.

While she thought about that the group also found some magic users among the lizardfolk, targets that Shadow hunted down so the heroes didn't have to worry about them too much, though they found more banners, like those they saw in the previous locations that were under the control of their enemies.

"How long has this Lady been planning her assault on Baldur's Gate?" Vahn commented, because based on everything they had seen so far it sure looked like the mysterious figure might have been planning this for years, in secret no less, not to mention the fact that there were surprising allies in this Dark Alliance, as Rain had called them.

"Hard to say... I don't remember anyone coming out this far and dying." Adrianna said, showing them that she must have done a lot of research before leaving her home so she could travel to Baldur's Gate for the adventure of her life, though all of this told Rain that it might have been a mercenary or someone who was executed, better left forgotten, who rose up to get her revenge on her killers, "We'll likely figure things out when we reach the Onyx Tower... which means following the path that Sleyvas has put us on."

"Killing the King might set the minds of the other lizardfolk free, or he might be a harsh ruler who will join the Tower and our ally wants a threat removed." Rain stated, as there were several good reasons to explain why Sleyvas wanted his own King dead, especially since he clearly didn't like the Tower and the Lady who ruled from it's peak, causing her to sigh as she focused on the enemies in front of them as Shadow tore a mage apart, "Doesn't change the fact that we might end up killing all of his people before we reach Sess'sth... maybe there are other refugees that are far away from this place, hence why he's not concerned with us killing his people."

"That very well might be the case." Kromlech remarked, where he dodged an incoming attack and removed the head of the lizardfolk who tried to take his own, causing him to huff as he looked at the path they were following, and all of the enemies that were gathering to bring them down, "For now, let's focus on cutting a path through them so we can get to where Sess'sth is hiding."

The others agreed with him as they focused on the lizardfolk, lashing out at them as they sought out the path that would allow them to enter the drowned city, as for the most part there didn't appear to be one for them to use, despite the fact that they were following what had brought them to Sleyvas. Such a thing meant they continued to hack through all of the foes that happened to be around them, weakening the Lady of the Tower's forces as best as they could, while Vahn did his best to slow them down with his arrows as he sought out their next destination. Rain continued to collect the items that were enchanted, since they'd sell for quite a lot when they got back to a town or city, and was thankful that Adrianna took a moment to show her how to make a bag of holding, otherwise she would have had to left some of this stuff behind for either the lizardfolk or others to find. She also spotted what appeared to be siege weapons resting in some of the camps, confirming Sleyvas' tale that his tribes were being put to work by the Lady of the Tower, though she did her best to pull all of them apart with her magic, with Adrianna setting the pieces on fire, to be sure they couldn't be used again.

It took some time and effort for them to reach what had to be the beginnings of their destination, wooden bridges that the lizardfolk were using to get over parts of the swamp, so Rain and her friends got on them as well and fought off those who wanted them dead. Despite what Sleyvas said it seemed like his people enjoyed using the bridges, or maybe they were being forced to like them by their master, though since they opposed the group Rain and her friends tore through all of them once more, leaving behind a trail of bodies as they sought out the drowned city. After that they found the bridge that collected to the edge of a stone city, one that was ruined, full of moss, and totally overrun by what had to be the rest of the tribes, complete with metal braziers full of fire to help light their way. There was one building off in the distance that was far more intact than the rest, a keep by the looks of it, which was where everyone assumed they would find Sess'sth, so with that area in their focus the group started to make their way across the bridges and ruins.

Sure enough they encountered more lizardfolk that wanted nothing more than to kill them, where Adrianna realized why they were so aggressive, it was because there was a King and not because of the Lady of the Tower, though there was a chance that the Lady helped Sess'sth gain his terrible throne. What made their journey through the drowned city easy was the interesting fact that most of the ruins were collapsing into the water, so the intact ones were being used and there were a number of bridges leading the way, meaning all they had to do was follow the bridges and they would reach their first destination. There wasn't much for anyone to talk about, as they knew nothing about the Lady of the Tower or the rest of the area that they were traveling through, so their full focus was on cutting down those who got close to them, all while Shadow stalked all of the mages and tore them apart with her sharp teeth. Such a thing allowed Vahn to focus his attention on scouting the ruins for the path forward and using his arrows to knock down targets before they became more of a problem, since there was always a chance that a scouting party might show up and ruin their day, but for the most part his skills allowed them to avoid any nasty scenarios.

Rain was pleased when they could get around the various patrols without having to end their lives, since she felt that they were just trying to survive and suspected that killing their King might dismantle the entire army in no time at all, saving the rest from the disaster that was threatening to bring about their destruction. Another thing she and the others discovered was that this city was far larger than they expected, even in it's ruined state, meaning it had been quite popular before an event caused everyone to either move or perish, something Sleyvas might tell them if they bothered to ask him. With that in mind Adrianna wondered if some shamans had brought about the destruction that was around them, like a duel that upset the area and caused the Water Stair to violently react, since this place was flooded, though that was a guess on her part. Rain figured that the reason behind the destruction didn't matter, as something or someone was angry and wiped out the city, making it into a place for the lizardfolk to thrive in, despite the ruined nature and the fact that she was sure all of the buildings would be gone in the very near future.

Such a thing caused her to count themselves lucky that they hadn't arrived later in the year, since there was no telling how much more of the city could have collapsed due to the flood, though when they approached the keep she turned her mind towards tracking Sess'sth down so they could end this portion of the journey.

Strangely enough all of the doors and furniture were still intact, as everyone assumed that the lizardfolk would have just pulled all of the wood out to use it in either making fires or building their new weapons, though since they didn't Rain had to assume that even the treasure was still waiting inside their chests. Rain spotted some kobolds helping the lizardfolk, as a number of them rushed into battle as well, though it just meant more targets for Adrianna to hit with her spell as she and Kromlech dealt with the melee foes, leaving the ranged ones for Vahn. Sure, there were plenty of chests to loot, which may or may not be from all of the buildings outside the keep, but Rain and her friends still looted everything that was on the way to their true destination, since they were seeking a throne room of some kind. Other than that there were plenty of enchanted weapons, armor, and jewelry for them to take, where once again Rain and Shadow spent some time simply collecting all of it in a single container, as the others claimed that they would sort everything once the adventure was over, or they reached a safe zone, so everything they had found so far was in her possession.

As it turned out tracking Sess'sth down was rather easy, the keep was smaller than they were expecting it to be, and they found that he was larger than the rest of his kind, who carried a large wooden mace and shield into battle, though there was a door behind him that had to lead towards the next region.

"You trespass. This is the land of my people... Sess'sth rules here." Sess'sth stated, showing that he didn't care for them being here, especially since he readied his weapon and took a step forward, meaning a fight was coming and that talking to him wasn't going to help at all.

Sure enough Sess'sth wasted no time in charging at them, where they found that while he was fast, far more than most of the lizardfolk they had encountered so far, he didn't seem to be very smart and his attacks, while being surprising to the rest of his kind, were easily readable for the group, to the point where Rain jumped and kicked off the wall as she swung her blade, removing his head.

"That was their King?" Kromlech remarked, as he was expecting some great fight, though this just confirmed that he was a pawn of the Lady of the Tower, but as he said that Rain took Sess'sth's head and pulled it outside the throne room, where they heard the sounds of the lizardfolk fleeing and shouting that the King was dead as she returned.

"Yes, and now all of his kind will know he was slain by our hand." Rain stated, which meant the tribes would go back to their previous forms, at least until a new ruler managed to take Sess'sth's place, causing her to sigh as she turned to face the door that would take them to their next destination.

The group agreed with her unspoken desire, a bit of rest would be good before they headed through the door, so they used a recall potion to return to Sleyvas' area for a bit of additional safety, and when it was time to move on they would do so without delay.

Comments

[badninja]

Let’s see if these lizardfolk follow might makes right or will they scatter into the wind once their boss meets their end.