The next morning, I did a divination, trying to determine if our presence here changed things. Sure enough, I saw Hilda still being attacked, but the time line was pushed back to a week from now. So we had a spy in our midst, someone who warned them that we were there protecting her. I was suspicious of Poul but that might've just been because I was worried he was gonna find out I deflowered his Baroness. In any case, the sight seemed to indicate that he was not involved, nor was her father. It was unlikely that he'd have anything to do with his daughter's kidnapping attempts, but it was rather convenient that he had to leave right as we arrived with news of Hilda being in danger.
I let the others know about the delay. We were all pretty frustrated, because while we did not want anything to happen to Hilda, we couldn't stay here indefinitely. That morning, Hilda held court, having to deal with the boring day to day running of the barony, settling disputes and wot-not. I wanted to be by her side, in case there was any trouble, but Poul let me know in no uncertain terms that would be entirely inappropriate. So I waited close by in the shadows, watching the minutae. There were only two events of interest- something about elemental water miners being attacked by humanoid creatures from the nearby swamps and an increase of goblinoid attacks on the villages in Runearch. The attacks on the water miners piqued Grey's interest, curious if they were planned, malicious attacks, or if the miners had accidentally done something to upset some local spirits. It was the former. Poul suggested Hilda dispatch six knights each to look into both situations, and she did. Although my visions showed the kidnapping would take place a week from now, with a possible mole about, we didn't want to leave her and have them show up early. Trent sent Swiftwind with the group that went to check out the mine situation.
I wanted to spend some time with Hilda after her courtly duties that morning, but Trent and Grey whisked her away to test the “kidnapped girls having infernal blood” theory. Apparently, she was descended from devils, just like I was. I wanted to tell her it was okay, try to reassure her since the other guys couldn't. But she'd holed up in her room and Poul wouldn't let me speak to her alone, and I didn't want him to be around to hear me say, “You're infernal? Its okay, because I am too!” I don't think he trusts me too much already, no need to make him more suspicious.
That afternoon, a traveling carnival run by a halfling girl named Lorie showed up at the gates. We were wary, but Poul said they were old friends and had come by pretty often. Still, they had a set of five dark elf acrobats in their troupe, and not to be racist or anything, but that was a little too close to my vision for comfort. Hilda was finally done moping in her room and came out to greet her guests. We told her about my prophecy about the dark elves and suggested she be careful. They had wanted to set up camp within the castle walls, but if the acrobats were indeed the kidnappers, we didn't want them having such easy access. While the carnival could still have their show (we didn't want to disappoint everyone who was wanting to enjoy the entertainment), we had Hilda claim she was ill, and that they'd have to stay outside for the night.
They did provide us some interesting news about Upper Thalia. Apparently Lord Marshall Wost Denstil of Upper Thalia had died recently and that had plunged the entire country into civil unrest. They spoke of riots on the streets of Dimmersdel, with many areas of the city on fire. Apparently Wost was considered a moderate, and with various powers scrambling to fill the position, Shesslia was also caught up in panic, worried that whoever took over would call for Upper Thalia to once again start invading its neighbors. Alestia was also scrambling in the wake of the tumult, and that was probably why Philip had been called back to the city, as the Electors deliberate over what to do about this turn of events.
I wanted to be the one to be watching over Hilda during all this, but that went to Cassie and Willow. Grey patrolled the halls while Trent and I watched the carnival. I don't think Trent was doing anything more than enjoying the show, he was confident the rest of us could handle any trouble that might arise. But everyone wanted me to see the show, to watch the dark elves to see if there was anything that looked familiar about them, anything that could clue us in as to whether they were the attackers in my vision.
In the end, the show and the night passed without any problems, and the next morning, they left. With that being a bust, we wondered if it would be safe to investigate those trouble spots, but my divinations showed that if we left today, she would be attacked that very night. We were kinda getting sick of this run around, so we hatched a plan to speed things up. Unbeknownst to anyone but Hilda, Grey used his magicks to forge a panic room within the walls of her room. The next morning we would leave under the guise of helping out the dispatched troops, but as soon as we were a couple of hours away, I opened a gate back to the panic room and we hid there until night fall, hoping the kidnappers would strike now that we were supposedly gone.
Just to be safe, Cassie switched places with Hilda once again, with Willow hiding in twilight to let Trent know if and when the attackers came, since we couldn't see what was going on outside of the room. When the time came, I quickly charged out the door and moved to strike the first dark elf I saw (a beautiful elven maiden we would later learn was named Nuladit) and slashed her good. That should've been a killing blow, but these elves were just too nimble. They weren't weighed down with heavy armor to slow them down. In fact, Nuladit was dressed quite scantily, once I saw who I was fighting I was a little hesitant to slay such an enchanting creature.
Well, I was going to defend myself, and if I had no choice to kill her lest she kill me, so be it. But I didn't want to take the offensive. Besides, with her speed and grace, I knew I was better off getting her to strike me and parry the blow and respond with a counterattack rather than try to chase her down. But the bitch refused to attack! She just kept looking at me funny. I could see out of the corner of my eye a dark cloud envelop Grey's head, I figured the dark elf was trying to do the same to me. She shouldn't have been wasting her time- even if she had blinded me, I had magically tagged and mapped the battle out spatially, so not being able to see wouldn't have made a difference. So finally, I said frak it. I struck her down with a perfectly timed blow that knocked her unconscious, but she would live if she got medical attention quickly.
I turned my attention to a dark elf standing over an unconscious Cassie. Dammit, this one was a hot chick as well! I held my blades defensively, hoping she would fall into my trap. That was when Cassie quickly kipped up and brutally backstabbed the woman. She looked incredulously at the sword point sticking out of her chest, but I couldn't bring myself to finish her off. Grey knocked her out with a vicious punch, but her wounds were too grievous and she died.
The rest of the dark elves were alive, so we tied them up and interrogated them in the castle dungeon. Like the other thugs who had been kidnapping the girls, they were merely mercenaries. They were of a higher caliber than the previous kidnappers, but merely hired hands nonetheless. We asked them about the mole, but there wasn't one, they were scrying the castle and I guess we both just kept re-adjusting our plans according to what we saw with our magicks until they finally fell for our trap.
We told them they would be set free in exchange for information about their employer. They had apparently been hired at the Happy Jolly Dancer inn in the city state of Endelbar by an older man named Braithe three weeks ago, and prior to that they had never met him. They'd be held for a couple of weeks to give us time to get to Endelbar, and then they were free to go. We did claim some of their magical items as compensation for the trouble they had given us.
It had been an exciting night, and after we told Hilda and Poul everything we had learned from the elves, everybody went to turn in. Finally I had managed to steal some alone time with Hilda. Those sexy dark elves had made me kinda frisky, and I was hoping Hilda would want to repeat some of the fun we had a few nights ago. I had suffered a couple of deep cuts and bruises from the encounter, and I'll admit, I played them up to get some sympathy from the redhead. As she tended to the wounds, I steered the conversation to the recent revelation of her bloodline. She was sad and upset about it, and while Poul told her it was just another challenge she had to face, one that he had no doubt she could conquer and become the better for it, she wasn't so sure. I told Hilda I believed in her and if someone like me could do it, so could she. “What?” she asked, shocked at what she thought I was saying. Indeed, I revealed to her my dark heritage and told her it was something I struggle with every day. But she wasn't like me, I told her she was a nice, sweet girl, and even though its in her blood, she wouldn't let it control her.
She caught the self-deprecation in my tone, and told me she's seen how heroic I could be, tonight was the second time I had saved her life. We kissed, and though it took some convincing (not too much though), she eventually acquiesced to another tryst.
Anyways, since Endelbar was in the middle of barren wastelands, we packed a wagon with supplies and headed down there the next morning. Hilda was sad to see me go, but I told her I'd see her again on our way back up to Alestia once we'd taken care of this guy who had hired the elves to come after her.
It was an uneventful ride for the first few days. We passed a large merchant caravan guarded by several dozen soldiers. They warned us to be wary, there was supposedly a large bandit group, probably around 40 strong, lurking about and attacking people on the road. I told them not to worry, I'd take care of the brigands for them. But they never showed. A day later, a chill went down our spines as we were sure something ominous had passed us by.
I consulted my visions, asking us whether we would be attacked by whatever it is we sensed, and sure enough they warned me we would. I saw the creature- a large wyvern, and knowing that, I made a mental note that in addition to armoring and hasting myself, I should enact a spatial warp around myself that would allow my attacks to strike from a distance. If he was flying, we needed some way to attack him, and Trent was the only one with a bow and arrows.
A few hours later, we sensed the presence of the wyvern once again, and buffed ourselves up to face him. I think it could tell we knew he was there, because it spent a couple of minutes building the suspense- anticipation of death is far worse than death itself. When it finally decided to do something, we saw it diving at our cart, claws poised to grab one of the horses. And you know how sensitive Cas is about those creatures. She jumped onto the horse, hoping to do I don't know what. I was quick enough to slash at it as it attacked, the blade impossibly slashing into him though he was several yards away.
That didn't deter it, and it snatched up Cassie and the horse, Cas trapped between the horse and its claw. I couldn't let it carry Cassie away! My blade reached out at it again, slicing into it wickedly and causing the monster to drop Cas and the horse. The horse was a mess and Cassie wasn't moving, and anger and hate filled my mind. I was struck with searing hot sand and wind but I shrugged it off and yelled “Bastard!” at the creature, daring it to come at me. I intended to sidestep the attack and catch it with a perfectly timed riposte, but despite my speed and agility, it managed to grab me as I countered.
I fought through the pain as it began to crush me in his claws. Luckily my hands were still free and I could still stab at it. I saw Trent firing arrows at the winged beast from below, Grey having done something to his arrows, as I could see the missiles easily burrow into the Wyvern's thick hide. The strikes finally caused him to let go, and I crashed to the ground. My whole body felt like it was on fire from the pain, but I couldn't pass out, couldn't let it take us all out. I gave it my all and went all out on what could have been my last attack. It cranked its neck up as it flew past, hoping to swing around and get another swipe at us. My magic had given me that perfect moment to strike, the armored scales on it neck arranged in such a way that there was a slim and exposed opening for my blade to slip through. I focused all my will into the blow and lopped off its head, seeing its carcass crashing to ground unceremoniously before I finally passed out.
I woke up a few minutes later, and everyone, including Cassie, was all right. They bandaged me up, and thankfully we made it the rest of the way to Endelbar without incident.