3 - Twinblade

The adventurers took their leave of the elders and made their way to the inn. The adrenaline had begun to wear off, leaving everyone exhausted.

The inn was situated close to the road to attract as many weary travelers as possible. It was a stout, three-story structure made entirely of the lumber from the neighboring forest, which backed up to the building. The innkeeper provided them with ample quarters; three small rooms connected by a larger common room. While it was not luxurious by any means, the adventurers were too tired to complain. Everyone retired to sleep. Marill, inexplicably, ended up in the closet.

The night was dark, silent and peaceful. And while most of the party slept deeply, three were stirring.

The first was Niggaroso. Keen instincts had taught him that there was no such thing as a dark, silent, and peaceful night. The dark concealed greater threats, while the silent existed because whoever was out there was being careful… and quiet.

Niggaroso’s eyes shot open. Yes. There was something there. He could feel it. He eased himself out of bed, shooting a glance around the room. No one else moved. He carefully began to make his way across the room.

The second to be awake was Dirac. Though he, too, had been bothered by some invisible threat, he had shrugged it off as nerves. As a scientist, Dirac didn’t put much thought into emotions. He assumed his stomach was still jumpy from the earlier battle – or the hunk of disgustingly tough bread he had eaten for dinner.

But a small creak on the floorboards confirmed it. With eyes just slightly open, he saw a blurred form moving across the room. He squinted. It was Niggaroso!

The door clicked shut softly. Immediately, Dirac shot to his feet. He crept towards the door. Then, a voice! Dirac crouched beneath the windowsill, listening intently. The voice was Niggaroso’s, and it was traveling. Dirac shuffled as quietly as possible, shifting from windowsill to windowsill as the voice moved around the side of the building. He caught only a brief snippet of conversation:

“ – must get the book of –”

Dirac strained his ears. But the wind whipped suddenly through the trees, obscuring any further conversation. And the voice was moving further away, towards the forest. He cursed silently, stood up, and turned around.

His heart leaped right into his throat as he saw the third sleepless adventurer staring intently at him. It was Adrie. She put her finger to her lips, indicating that Dirac should be quiet. Dirac pointed outside. She nodded her head and went right for the door. Dirac watched her exit, then go off to the right side… not at all where Niggaroso had gone.

Crying out silently in frustration, Dirac moved as quickly and quietly as he could to catch her before she went too far in the wrong direction. But she was a ranger, and so had disappeared into the night before he had taken a step.

He opened the door. The darkness almost consumed the inn. The only light emanated from small candles hung in lanterns on the four corners of the roof. Even though it was warm outside, Dirac felt a chill.

He stepped out into the woods and began walking. He wasn’t sure who to follow. Adrie could take care of herself but if she had continued going east, she was just chasing ghosts. If he went west, he might be able to find Niggaroso – but Dirac got the impression that Niggaroso wouldn’t be found unless he wanted to be.

Suddenly, Dirac knew he wasn’t alone. The woods were teeming with creatures who were no longer bothering to be silent. A trap! Dirac cursed himself for walking right into it as a group of bandits began to surround him.

…

Adrie knew the bandits were out there. She had sensed them back at the inn. The bandits, however, had no idea she was there. Adrie had perched herself in a particularly big oak tree a few yards into the forest and was watching intently as a group of bandits moved below her. They were heading towards the inn.

Adrie made her decision. She jumped down from the tree right on top of the nearest bandit, brandishing her sword. The surprised bandits yelped as she made quick work of the ones nearest to her.

She spotted Niggaroso to her right, beginning his assault against another group of bandits. Dirac was sprinting towards them quickly, trailing a few of them behind him as well. He let loose a burst of energy, destroying a half dozen of the nearest bandits.

…

Back at the inn, the remaining adventurers were caught completely unawares as the bandits began pouring in through doors and windows alike. Thorin and Eidward were up in a split second, assessing the situation. Eidward began to speak when one of the bandits came crashing through a window, tripped over a chair, and broke his neck. The creature fell down, dead.

Thorin and Eidward just stared.

At that moment, Marill burst forth from the closet and, with a great whooping yell, plowed with all his might into the nearest bandit. Unfortunately, all the Halfling’s might was not enough. He bounced slightly, stunned, and stared up at the bandit, who merely laughed.

Eidward took this opportunity to strike. He launched a ghost sound across the room. Suddenly, the sound of a thousand gold coins falling to the ground filled the ears of those in the inn. Fortunately, Eidward knew what bandits liked. Every knave in the room turned his head greedily towards the sound.

“Go!” Eidward urged, as he himself jumped through the nearest window to safety.

…

Out in the forest, the skirmish raged between Dirac, Niggaroso, Adrie and their quarry. Adrie sunk an arrow into the final bandit and sighed in relief as he dropped to the ground. The three convened at the bottom of the tree Adrie had been hiding in.

“What do we do?” Dirac demanded. “Go back to the inn?”

The words were barely out of his mouth when another voice boomed across the forest.

“Hah-HAH! I fight in the name of the great Edwin Van Cleef ! Tremble ye poltroons! Feel the wrath of Jack Twinblade!”

The adventurers spun to see the dwarf calling himself Twinblade approaching, surrounded by dozens more bandits. He was small and stocky, and carried a crossbow. Affixed atop the crossbow was a scope.

“Sniper!” Adrie hissed.

As if on cue, Twinblade fired off a rapid shot at Niggaroso, who swiftly ducked. The dwarf cursed, then pulled out two arrows and pushed their ends against his cigar. The arrows began to burn brightly. With surprising quickness, he shot both the trees around the adventurers. Aided by the wind, the trees were soon ablaze. The adventurers raised their arms to shield themselves from the scorching heat.

“Now,” announced Twinblade, “let’s have at it!”

…

Marill launched himself out of the window after Eidward. Panicked, he ran blindly to the left side of the inn, staying in the shadows. He crept around to the edge of the inn, sizing up his opponents.

Marill was surprised to see reinforcements, and even more surprised to see their leader, the dwarf sniper. Withdrawing, he glanced around worriedly for any sign of Thorin and Eidward but saw none. He crept slowly back towards the end of the building and tried to gauge the number of knaves. Niggaroso, Dirac, and Adrie were now visible as well – and Marill could tell they had taken out a lot of bandits in the past few minutes. The dwarf’s ranks were thinning but he seemed undeterred, firing off shot after shot.

Suddenly, a group that Marill had not seen rushed forward from the side, knocking Niggaroso down. Dirac and Adrie were on them immediately, but it was clear that Niggaroso had been hurt. Adrie calmly stepped in front of Niggaroso, eyes blazing, bow nocked and ready. Marill started to call out to them, but quickly shut his mouth. There was no chance he could take all the bandits nearby, and if they heard him, they would head for him first. But Niggaroso was in serious trouble, and none of them knew if there were any more bandits coming. Marill gritted his teeth and made a split-second decision. There was only one way out: distraction.

Summoning up the last of his strength, and remembering his sore muscles from his last attempt, Marill rushed the nearest bandit. The creature jerked in surprise as Marill slammed into his side. But it was not enough. To the Halfling it was like hitting a wall; the impact made his bones shudder and his sides ache terribly. Once again he looked into the eyes of the enemy, preparing to give up, when Thorin and Eidward charged from around the right side of the inn and began their assault against the bandits.

Adrie and Dirac covered Niggaroso further down the field. Twinblade was becoming a pain in Adrie’s side, although she had to admire his aim. As she targeted him, she noticed Thorin and Eidward making their charge. Immediately she lowered her bow.

“The others are upwind,” she said to Dirac. All he could do was nod, as he muttered a healing incantation over Niggaroso.

“Now is our chance,” Adrie added. “We have to destroy him while he is distracted.”

“No!” gasped Niggaroso. It labored him greatly to speak. “Keep… him alive. Need… to… to question him.”

“He’s right,” Dirac said. “We need answers.”

Adrie grinned. She put away her bow and brought out her sword.

“Don’t kill him,” Dirac reminded her.

“Yes sir,” she said giddily, and bounded off.

She reached Twinblade in a matter of seconds and struck quickly, turning her weapon to the side at the last possible second, thwacking the dwarf on the side of the head. Twinblade dropped hard. Having cleared out the remainder of his followers, Thorin and Eidward ran to reconvene with the group while Niggaroso hobbled up, aided by Dirac. The six adventurers looked down at the unconscious dwarf.

“What should we do with him?” Dirac asked.

“Take him inside,” Eidward said. “We’ll guard him until he wakes up.”

Eidward and Niggaroso grunted as they grabbed the dwarf and hefted him up onto their shoulders. The group made its way back towards the inn, where they were met by the very unhappy innkeeper.

“What happened here?” the innkeeper shrilled. He gestured wildly around. “Who caused all this?”

“Bandits, sir,” Niggaroso declared. “Cretins, bent on destroying your town!”

The innkeeper looked despairingly towards his lodge. “Yes, well it seems the only thing they destroyed was MY INN!”

Dirac stepped forward. “Sir, we tried to minimize the damage. But this would have happened regardless. I’m sure Lady Jaina will be able to compensate you. Now if you’ll excuse us –”

“Who’s that?” the innkeeper asked, eyeing Twinblade.

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Dirac answered.

…

Ten minutes later, the adventurers had propped up Twinblade in the closet. His arms and legs were bound, providing them with the opportunity to loot the useful gear he had been wearing.

After a few moments, the dwarf began to stir. His eyes shot open suddenly, and he gave a tremendous kick in the direction of the heroes, causing them all to back off by a few feet.

“Nefarious meddlers!” Twinblade raged. “You dare to impede my mission?!”

“Greetings,” Eidward said. “We are the Powerful Rangers of Chernobyl. Do you know of any good eateries –”

“I care not!” the dwarf screeched. “I’ll see to it that you all are garroted! Exterminated! Annihilated!”

Eidward waited patiently for him to finish raving. “That’s all well and good,” he continued. “But it seems we have you in a bit of a compromising situation.”

That shut the dwarf up. He eyed his bindings and decided that it might be a good idea to comply. At least for the moment.

“Well then,” Eidward said. “We know your name is Jack Twinblade, is it not? That is what you yelled across the field of battle.”

Twinblade gave a barely perceptible nod.

“And you work for Edwin Van Cleef.”

Again, the dwarf nodded.

“Where is he?”

“I will never tell you.”

Eidward kneeled down and stuck his face right next to Twinblade’s. His lowered voice became silky, menacing. “We are not here to play games, dwarf. Tell us what we want to know. Or we will deal with you accordingly.”

Twinblade spit on the ground. “You think you can intimidate me, scourge? I am indifferent to your empty threats.”

Eidward nodded thoughtfully, then delivered a strong kick that sent the dwarf reeling backwards. Twinblade’s head lolled around as he lost consciousness.

Niggaroso stepped forward. “Let me deal with him.”

Eidward’s eyes narrowed. “You?”

“Yes,” Niggaroso said. “I am confident that I can acquire the necessary information from this malefactor. However, I require absolute solitude while I proceed with the interrogation.”

“You want us to leave?” Thorin asked.

“Yes.”

It was silent for a moment.

“Fine,” Eidward said. “We will leave. You question Twinblade, and report back to us everything he says.”

“I shall,” Niggaroso said. He bowed.

Hesitantly, the other adventurers exited the building, while Niggaroso sat down beside Twinblade, awaiting his return to consciousness. Had Niggaroso being paying careful attention, he might have noticed the Halfling rogue lurking outside the doorway.

…

“We should be there for this,” Dirac said as they reassembled outside the inn. “We should have equal access to this information. This is foolhardy, Eidward.”

“That was not part of the agreement,” Eidward shot back. “We are not to interfere in the private dealings of Niggaroso, no matter how much we would like to.”

“Therefore we are subjected to his choices,” Dirac growled. “We are to believe everything he tells us is the truth – and not only that, but also that he has not omitted any information in his own interests. Are you out of your mind, Ku Len?”

Adrie piped up from the back. “Where is Marill?”

Dirac stopped right in his tracks. He turned to look at Eidward. A slow grin was spreading over Eidward’s face.

“You dog!” Dirac exclaimed.

Suddenly, a commotion could be heard inside the inn. Instinctually, the adventurers rushed back inside to find Niggaroso standing over the dwarf. It was clear that he was dead.

“You killed him!” Eidward shouted angrily.

“It was necessary,” Niggaroso said grimly. “He became out of control.” He turned and addressed the rest of the group. “But I have recovered some useful information from him.”

Eidward glanced at Marill, who had somehow appeared behind the rest of the adventurers. Marill nodded.

“It so happens that Edwin Van Cleef is stationed in the Dead Mines, three days’ journey from here,” Niggaroso said. “There, the great bandit king sits atop mountains of treasure. Among these treasures are gold” – here he glanced at Thorin – “and many ancient tomes, both scientific and magical,” – here he looked directly at Dirac. “My recommendation would be to travel to these mines, capture the rogue and return with the treasure.”

“Our top priority is protecting the Faire and the townspeople,” Eidward said firmly. “This will have to wait.”

“But –” Niggaroso attempted to protest.

“I am already on the verge of questioning your intentions,” Eidward said. “But given our agreement, I am not in a position to do that. This is the best deal you are going to get.”

At that moment, Lady Jaina knocked timidly on the door frame. “Greetings, adventurers. Is this a bad time?”

“Not at all,” Eidward said.

“I bring news… and payment for the eradication of the bandits,” Jaina said, handing each of the adventurers a scroll. “A few days ago I sent my best scout to Stormwind City with a list of weapons for you, as a reward. He is in the midst of collecting them as we speak. He has also sent me sensational news. As luck would have it, there is a group of Archmages visiting Stormwind. They are on their way here – and much closer than we think. It shall be a matter of days, rather than a week, until their arrival.”

“This is indeed fantastic news,” Eidward said. “Of course, we shall be staying until their arrival.”

“Thank you again,” Jaina said. “I hope the night passes with no more… surprises.”

“As do we,” Niggaroso said. “I bid you farewell and a restful sleep, Lady Jaina.”

As soon as she left the room, Eidward spun to face Niggaroso. “We are staying,” he said. “I trust that you will do the same. When the mages arrive, we will decide which path to take – towards the mines or towards the mountains. No decisions until then.” He stuck his finger threateningly in Niggaroso’s face. “I will be watching you.”

Niggaroso guffawed. “And I you, Eidward Ku Len.”

“Can we go to sleep now?” Adrie grumped.

And so, with suspicious fresh and exciting news abound, the adventurers settled into a fitful sleep.

-Kim