OMG, It's Dungeons & Dragons!

[a i s u r u]

"Pardon me, sir, but I..."

Constance didn't get to finish her request, as the cultist guard rudely swung a rusty woodsman's maul at her. Mianna grabbed the girl and pulled her aside, just in time, and Lylia speared the man through the chest. He gurgled and tried to swing the maul at Lylia, but the Giantess was careful to keep him just out of reach, until aisuru was able to wrestle the weapon from him and use the hammer-like butt of the head to crush the man's skull.

"I must have startled the poor fellow." Constance concluded.
"Aye, likely something like that." Mianna nodded, not wanting to hurt Constance's feelings.
"would yez tak a look at this maul!" aisuru bemoaned, disgusted that the tool had been allowed to fall into such a poor state. "thon's a guid hickory handle, that. could likely clean that up nae bother - braw grain oan it tae - but look at thon heid oan it!"
"What are you going on about?" Ailith didn't understand the level of animation that had come over aisuru. "It's just an axe."
"naw, it's no. it's a maul, an a guid yin tae. it's rustet tae buggery but, coz some bam didnae think tae tak care a it right."
"Why are you so concerned about an axe?"
"maul." aisuru inspected the head - it was probably not worth fixing up now - to get a good edge back you'd need to grind it down quite heavily, and that'd destroy what was a pretty-near perfect balance.

Constance turned to Mianna, and whispered a query as to what the Frost Elf was rambling about.
"He's upset that the maul has been allowed to rust away to the point that it's become little more than a hammer."
"Oh." Constance pursed her lips. "Why?"
"because..." aisuru began, adopting his 'noble' accent, that he used when humans had difficulty in grasping what he was saying "i'm a woodsman by trade, and this maul once belonged to a woodsman. If he's still alive, which i doubt, then he's lost a fine tool, and probably his livelihood."
"Oh." Constance repeated, surprised. "I had no idea, I'm most terribly sorry."
"nae bother." aisuru let the accent slip a bit, as he considered removing the head from the shaft and finding a replacement in Redcliffe. it was an excellent shaft, and had a small white oak inlay of an ornate letter 'S' at the throat.

Ailith decided to take control, and get them back to the situation at hand.

"Perhaps we should move on, and find the captives?"
"Yes." Constance agreed. "I'll try not to sneak up on the next chap, it seems to alarm them."

[a i s u r u]

The light in this room was brighter, lit as it was by seven large candles, and two smaller ones, all mounted on floor-standing iron pedestals. It seemed to be some sort of sitting room for the guards, as it had some partially-broken furniture in one corner, and a number of broken wine bottles in another. A second guard was here, peering through the bars on the door at the far side of the room, and scratching his arse.

"I say!" Constance called to the guard, a cretinous-looking individual, with a large nose (which looked to have been broken more than once) at the centre of his pockmarked face. Above the nose lay two eyes, in shadow due to the heavy, low overhanging brow, and below the nose one could observe a jutting chin, cradling a gap-toothed, gaping mouth with several warts and a brass ring as decoration.

"Wot?" he stared back, breathing heavily through his mouth. "Wot u dooin!?"
"Pardon me..." Constance tried to force a smile as she slowly approached the man. "I was wondering if I might be able to some to some sort of arrangement with you, regarding the internment of these young people?"
"Wot?" the guard scowled, gripping tightly at the handle of a rusty flail. "Wot?"
"An agreement, sir, regarding the internment..."
"Wot?!" he cut her off, sniffed his nose, wiped drool on his sleeve and advanced a pace. Constance tried not to back away, even though Ailith was tugging lightly at the back of her dress, attempting to encourage the sensible option in this situation.
"You're keeping these young people in custody, I can...
"Custard?" he barked, advancing another pace. "Custard?"
"Custody... I..." Constance raised a soft, flat hand to aisuru, to deter his advance. "You have these people locked up, but I'm inclined to believe that..."
"Wot?" he took another slow gait towards the group, and another, and was now only a few feet away.
"I, uh..." Constance was losing confidence in the theory of peaceful negotiation.
"Constance." aisuru passed his sword to Lilya and stepped forward, holding the maul firmly in both hands. "allow me."
"aisuru, please, let's accomplish this without violence."
"see me?" the Frost Elf demanded, standing about as close to the man as he dared due to the fear of catching some kind of hideous disease (about two and a half feet).
"Yer." the guard nodded.
"see you?"
"Yer." he repeated.
"ah'm gonny smash you."
"WOT!?" he looked ready to erupt, and swung the flail up above his head.
"ah says ah'm GONNY SMASH YE, YA BAS!"
"AARRR!!"
"aisuru, please!"
"or you can go home, and you'll be allowed to live."
"...wot?"
"think about it." aisuru smirked at him. "there's one of you, and five of us."
"Wot?"
"ye'r outnumbered. ye'll nae get out a here alive, unless ye walk oot the now."
"uh..." the guard scratched his head, and sniffed as though he were trying to suck the snot up his nasal cavity and into the brain to lubricate it. "uh..."

the party split into two, leaving a clear path down the middle towards the doorway. only aisuru stood in his way.

"ah'm gonny smash ye. or ye kin go home an' live. your choice."

the guard dropped his weapon and aisuru stepped to one side.
"gon go home." he muttered, and began to sidle out, shoulders hunched, head lowered, feet scuffing the floor as he went.

the group watched him leave, then turned to look at aisuru, who was holding the maul, haft up, inspecting it in the better light of this room.

"see this inlay, by the way? the detail work onnit is somethin' else, so it is."
"By the Gods, aisuru!" Mianna cursed, and grabbed the tool out of his hands. "You can have it back once we've rescued the young ones, and not before. Now keep your mind on the job at hand!"

[HiddenTruth]

(( Five years of RPing in this thread and for most of it, it seems aisuru has been carrying this thing steadily along. I salute your endurance good sir. xD ))

[a i s u r u]

"well let's get them rescued then, eh?" aisuru strode up to the door and hit the latch heavily, making the door swing open suddenly.

"och! in the name a..." aisuru winced, spat on the floor, and then drew his hand up over his mouth and nose.
"aisuru!" Constance "That sort of behaviour..." then the smell hit her. "...ugh!"

The girl backed away and turned her head from the doorway. Ailith gagged a little, but tried her best to resist effects of the terrible stench. Each room smelled worse than the last down here.

"Rotting flesh..." Mianna noted "..blood, bile... feces... boiled liver and cabbage."
"At least they're feeding them." Lylia raised her eyebrows and covered her mouth and nose as she advanced into the room. aisuru followed her, wishing he still had a shirt so he could tear a sleeve off it and use it as a mask.

There were seven young adventurers in four heavy iron cages - crudely constructed but substantial and secured with heavy iron padlocks. All of the prisoners were human, save for one elven girl, and were little more than teenagers... apart from the Elven girl of course, who aisuru placed at being somewhere around seventy years of age - a teenager by Elven standards.

"Don't worry, little ones." Lylia reassured the prisoners "We'll have you out of here in just a few moments."
"The key." one of the prisoners - a gaunt, pale human, about 19 or 20 years old - gestured to a hook by the door, where a rusty key was hanging.
"och, ah wiz gonny smash they locks wi ma bare hands, but this'll work as well, ah suppose." aisuru joked, trying to distract himself from the stench. He took hold of the key and proceeded towards the first cage.

Meanwhile, in the previous room, Mianna had begun raking around in the potion bag, While Ailith held it open for her.
"Do you have a potion to inhibit our senses of smell?" Ailith asked, hopefully.
"No, sadly." Mianna produced a small vial of yellowish liquid and removed the stopper. "But this might help a little." she dabbed some under her nose and passed it to Ailith to do the same. "perfume, distilled from Hyacinths and wild Rustberry flowers."
"It's better than nothing." Ailith smiled, and offered the vial to Constance, who politely accepted it.

"Ah! There you all are!" came a voice from the shadows.
"Hello Dru." Ailith replied, recognising the voice, but unable to see the Drowess initially.
"You might want to come with me." a shadow gestured and indicated towards the previous room.
"We're a little busy right now, we're trying to get the prisoners out of here so we..."
"Suit yourself." Dru cut her off. "But there's going to be a massive fight kicking off any second."

"YALDI!" aisuru yelled as he ran through the doorway, a grin spread across his face. Mianna sighed as she threw his Claymore to him, which was caught in mid-step. "let's get stuck intae these bams! YASS!"

And with that, he was gone, following Drusillia off into the shadows. Off once more to face impossible odds and overcome them! he'd survive, of course. he had to; Mianna still had his new maul.

[Sideburnz]

Vidiana had taken thought to attempting to pick a lock or two on the cages that held the captives. She was out of practice having been on this adventure with her siblings and their party of friends and allies, doing more deeds of killing, pillaging, and looting, whether it was the Zalestinian Army, drunkards, or local thugs and bandits looking to take what spoils they had managed to lift in their travels, she, in all honesty, hadn't done a lot of thief-related activity. Her brothers were far worse in practice than she was, a couple of bumbling idiots they were. They learned from her, but were often thick at times and seemed to forget the basics and would get tripped up the more finesse required to perform the task they intended to do so.

With that being said...to say she didn't enjoy a scrap would be an understatement. She was proud of her prowess with her dual daggers, favoring them over one or two handed weapons...small...fast...lethal. The largest of enemies would fall to the smallest of wounds caused by the weapons on her belt at her hips. Once more, her siblings often favored running or using ploys and distractions, if not hit-and-run as well, which was the way of the common rogue, but in their travels, straight-up combat seemed to be prevalent, so they were often forced to regroup on their dear sister or one of the stronger, more combat-oriented friends in their group.

"Oy, Aisuru," Vidiana questioned in a hushed whisper as they seemed to be destined to fight the cultists present in the caverns, the chants and sounds growing louder as they progressed, a hand on the pommel of one of her blades as they crept. "...how many you think we're lookin' at...numbers or not...tight quarters, if we plan right, we can take care of them without incident."

((If you got something planned, you can disregard this, I'm trying to get back into it, I've said it before, but college pulls me away and I do apologize, I still want to be a part of this if you'll allow me))

[a i s u r u]

"hmm..." he thought for a second. "can we avoid a fight?"
"What?" Dru whispered in surprise. "Never thought i'd hear you trying to get out a of a fight!"
"nah, ah'm no tryin' tae get out it, likes - right up for a scrap, me. but ma faither aye telt me; "if ye dinnae need tae fight, don't. if ye dae need tae fight, then win."
"Wise words." Marcus agreed.
"I don't think we can avoid it, not if we want to rescue those two." Vidiana gestured.

aisuru peered past the boulder they were all hiding behind for a better look. A cavern - naturally-formed, judging by the shapes of the walls and ceiling - had been set aside by the cultists as their main hall. The only light was from a single oil lamp, hanging from a chain near a granite altar. There were two young adventurers in small, iron cages suspended from the cavern ceiling. One male, one female, both human. Behind the altar near the centre of the space, stood a large, imposing man in white robes, busy preparing for a sacrifice, by the looks of it. Other cultists scurried about, or knelt in front of the altar, chanting and ringing small finger bells. The room was about forty ells by 30 ells, and had two passageways running off it - not counting the one they'd come in by.

"aye." aisuru ducked down behind the boulder again. "gonny need to fight them then. cannae leave they young'uns tae get chibbed up aff thon fanny in the dress likes."
"What's your plan then?" Vidiana asked, with a slight smile. "You've always got one, and none of them gotten any of us killed yet."
"plan." aisuru looked at Marcus, then back at Vidiana. "they've likely got daggers, like yesels, looks like there's at least two dozen aboot this bit. Marcus hangs back here to cover our retreat, you and Drusillia attack them from the rear in the confusion, while Vardin and Vindar circle roun' the edges a the cavern and pick aff anyone tryin tae run for reinforcements."
"Confusion?" Vidiana started to ask, "What co..."

before she could utter the rest of the query, however, aisuru had spring to his feet, and was running towards the centre of the room, Claymore raised aloft, screaming "FUILEACHD!!" at the top of his lungs.

[a i s u r u]

aisuru swung wildly and hoped that the rest of his plan was going as well as the 'create confusion' part.

the cultists were clearly not prepared for a half-dressed elf to run screaming into their midst with a two-handed sword. the first two cultists that aisuru hit were certainly not ready for this event, and as their innards splashed over the floor, they must have been rather bemused. the Pastor, dressed in immaculate white robes, was more angered than surprised at the intrusion; he'd just been getting to the really good bit, after all.

striking the blade of a horn-handled dagger into the altar, he muttered an incantation under his breath and activated the thing aisuru had assumed was in another room somewhere.

the Pastor stood back quickly, as what had appeared to be a small, innocuous pearl or polished stone suddenly expanded into a sphere of energy which enveloped the altar with a flash of bright blue light, and a tremendous crack of the air. one of the cultists was caught in the energy field, which now expanded to around eight feet in diameter, and sucked air and dust from the room into it. the cultist that was unlucky enough to be standing by the altar when this happened was lifted from his feet, and tossed around inside the sphere and started to disintegrate in what seemed to be an incredibly painful manner, given the nature of the noises he began to make.

"bollocks!" aisuru yelled. he kept swinging his sword, and tried to bat some victims into the thing, aware that if he didn't to it to them, then they'd likely try to do it to him.
"That'll be the 'Sphere of Annihilation', no doubt." Vidiana mumbled to herself, inaudible to anyone over the noise of so many people screaming. "I was wondering where that was hiding." she stuck her dagger between a cultist's shoulder blades and snapped his head back to break the neck. around her, robed figures fell to the ground, either injured, dead or un-footed by blood and innards a smooth stone floor.

aisuru - after a couple of attempts that ended in only dismemberment - managed to throw a skinny, inbred-looking cultist into the Sphere, and tried not to watch as the skin dissolved from his muscles. the muscles burned off of his bones, revealing organs that weren't intended to be seen in such a manner, and the organs themselves started to twist and contort around the still-living skeleton, as though the Sphere was trying to rearrange the cultist's physical form into some hideous new form. most of the organs eventually popped out from the skeleton - and as the lungs were no longer connected to the vocal cords, the screaming stopped.

aisuru decided that decapitation was probably a more pleasant way to dispose of one's enemies.

[a i s u r u]

aisuru had expected Vardin and Vindar's role in this fight to be [I']ones who kill the ones who try to run away[/i]', or whatever the word was for that down here in the Southlands... but it turned out to be slightly different.

The main difference was that none of the cultists actually tried to run away, leaving the twins to stand by a doorway each and stab a few stragglers who were presumably milling about somewhere else when aisuru's initial attack was made, and arrived late to the event. He didn't know the word for that either, but the word for what this fight had become was certainly 'bloodbath'. He couldn't quite visually pick out any of the four Drow who were in the room - the Sphere of Annihilation seemed to somehow suck out light from the room, rather than cast it - but he knew they were there. The Pastor was still here too, and he didn't seem too pleased that his entire cult had been mown down in a surprise attack from a mad Frost Elf and a couple of shadows.

One of the shadows, by name of Drusillia, could have sworn blind that she'd slit that one's throat, but she must have been mistaken, as here he was now, standing in front of aisuru, fuming and brandishing that horn-handled dagger.
"You n***ing Elf d***er." the Pastor articulated, slowly. Hardly language befitting of a man of the cloth! "I'm n***ing well going to..."
"shut the f**k up?" aisuru interrupted, and swung the Claymore swiftly at the Pastor's chest, knocking him to the ground and spilling yet more blood over the cultist-carpet that now covered the floor.

the last of them finally dispatched, aisuru made his way towards the Sphere and tried to figure out how to switch it off. Marcus, having made sure the escape route was definitely clear, now made a move on the two cages where the captives were imprisoned.
"how the f**k do we switch this big bastart aff then?" the Highlander asked, mostly rhetorically.
"N***ed if I know." Vidiana replied from the shadows. "Don't touch it though, I can't imagine that going well for you."
"naw, ah reckon ye're right there hen."
"Swine!" yelled the Pastor, getting to his feet again, looking around for the dagger that had been knocked out from his hand when the barbarian Elf had struck him.
"f**k sake man." aisuru grumbled, and lunged back towards the Pastor, driving the blade into the man's back, and aerating his torso a little more.

"Kill him right this time." Dru sneered from the shadows. "Amateur."
"thought ah did, likes." aisuru frowned.

When the Pastor got up again, a few moments later, aisuru was quick to ask for a demonstration of how a 'hardened, professional killer' would handle this, and Dru was quick to prove her point.

When the Pastor got up for a fourth time, Vidiana suspected something was awry here, and suggested that they all try to kill him at once. four shadows immediately pounced, and at least two dozen puncture holes were made in the Pastor's flesh.

When he got up yet again, it was time for a new plan.

[a i s u r u]

"right, ya bas!" aisuru yelled, and swung his Claymore wildly at the Pastor's neck, cutting the head off and sending it bouncing over dead bodies until it came to a rest, face up and staring at the party. "right, now stay deid this time!"
"Ha!" the Pastor's head laughed, as his body started to crawl over towards it. "You can keep doing this all day, Barbarian, but you'll not see the end of me."
"ah'll get ye eventual-like!" aisuru frowned, and started hacking at the body.

in an effort to defend itself, the Pastor's body raised a hand to try and deflect aisuru's sword, and was cut off and thrown across the room. the Pastor's head looked over towards the hand, and mumbled a few incantations while it wiggled its fingers... reanimating one of the dead cultists.
"Oh, by the Gods." Vidiana sighed. "Zombie cultists and it's not even lunchtime!"
"Allow me, sister." Vindar stepped in and plunged a dagger into the base of the zombie's skull in a manner which suggested it was not the first time he'd encountered the living dead.

aisuru started to grow tired of hacking at the torso, as wounds would close over as quickly as they were made.

"Hasn't it occurred to you yet?" came a voice from the darkness.
"well clearly no, otherwise ah'd hae done it, eh?"
"Quite." Captain Silverblade strode towards the pastor's head and picked it up.
"Hello again brother." the Pastor's head sneered at him.
"I am not your brother, fiend." Silverblade sneered back.
"Oh, come now, we all know what our father did to my mother. We all know he wasn't the saint your family would have everyone believe."
"That may well be fact, but YOU are NOT my BROTHER!!" Silverblade screamed, and threw the head into the Sphere of Annihilation.

the head screamed in pain as the hair, flesh then muscle was burned off, until only a skull with a sickly-looking, pulsing brain and a pair of burning eyes were left, floating around the inside of the Sphere.

"That didn't occur to you?" Silverblade smiled at aisuru.
"ah'll be honest... it didn'nae." the Elf replied.
"It still hasn't killed him though." Dru observed, correctly.
"No, but it's enough to hold him for now."

a pair of Redcliffe militiamen entered, followed by a cleric who seemed quite surprised that the plan had finally worked. he took out a ledger and began taking notes, while Silverblade looked around for other parts of the Pastor to lob into the Sphere.

"Well, looks like you've earned your pay." he gestured over his shoulder without turning to look at the travellers. "Off you go, the Brigadier will want to see you."
"Right." Vidiana nodded, trying not to look at the Pastor, who was still making quite a lot of pained noises and bouncing about inside the Sphere. "Off we go then."

Ailith rushed to help Marcus with the captives, and the party left the room, in silence.

[a i s u r u]

the party remained largely silent as they made their way to the surface again. this was partly down to the horrific scenes they'd just witnessed, and partly due to the knowledge that this journey was nearly over, and soon the group would be split up.

an adventure such as the one they'd shared over the last week was something that was guaranteed to bring people together. different races, different backgrounds, different motives... all of that made little difference to anyone at that point in time. each one of them would give everything for the rest, and each one, each of them would give their lives for each other right now.

Ailith had started this journey looking for a way to escape the past, to forget about her family: her step father had thrown her out, her mother was gone and her real father was totally unknown to her. now she had a new family, and it was one that cared for her.

aisuru had started his journey on a simple errand, was enticed into joining this quest for the money to get home to his family, his village, and his clan. now he was part of another clan.

Vidiana started this journey looking to escape her past. she'd done things she wasn't proud of, and wanted to make a new future for herself. now she had a new life, and a new destiny.

"I'm sorry Marcus" Mianna broke the silence as the party emerged into the light and fresh air once again. it was a bright day, but with a cool breeze. the clouds in the sky looked dramatic and turbulent, and really quite pretty. "that couldn't have been a Sphere of Annihilation."
"No?" Marcus looked puzzled.
"No." Mianna said quietly, as two militiamen approached to lead the last two captives off to the medical tent. "Not from what you say."
"Well, I only know what I saw."
"I don't doubt what you saw, not at all. I only know that we've been horribly lied to"

[a i s u r u]

"What is it then?" Vidiana asked, quietly, as the group gathered round.
"No idea." Mianna bluntly replied, a concerned look on her face. "But I'd like to find out, because whatever it is the Redcliffeshire Army don't want anyone to know they've got it."
"So what do we do now?"
"we keep walkin', fer a start." aisuru suggested. "we're bein' watched, likes."

Lylia glanced towards the villa, and noticed a figure standing a few hundred yards up the road, by the archway, looking in their direction.

"The Brigadier?"
"aye."
"Good eyes, ai."
"cheers.
"Let's go" Vidiana agreed, starting to move. "This does lend credence to your theory, aisuru."
"aye."
"Theory?" Ailith prodded him "What theory?"
"well..." aisuru began "ye pay an army at the end a' the month, an' ye pay thir widows a sum if they die. ye pay mercenaries a sum up front, an' the rest when they finish. ye pay adventurers once they've done the job."
"So?"
"so if they dinnae feeninsh the job, ye dinnae need tae pay 'em."
"right."
"free mage-fodder, eh?" aisuru looked around at them to make sure they were getting it. a few confused expressions looked back at him, so he continued. "see, they've got a war on the now, and they cannae spare soldiers. they cannae spare the money for mercs, coz'a the war bein' so expensive. ye get a bunch a' young adventurers thegether, and send them down instead, ye'll likely no need tae pay anyone other than the militiamen they've got guardin' the place. keeps the cult busy, fer minimum cost." he rubbed his thumb and fingers together to gesture 'money'.
"Right!" Ailith nodded. "That's... it's just..."
"Cynical?" Mianna suggested.
"Perfidious?" Constance added.
"Clever, I was going to say."
"Aye, I suppose it is." the giantess laughed.
"So you think they didn't want to get the job done?" Ailith prodded aisuru again.
"they probably wanted it done, aye, but they'd be prepared to wait."

Vidiana was still troubled by the 'Sphere of Annihilation' not being a Sphere of Annihilation.
"But why tell us the thing was a Sphere of Annihilation, when it was a... whatever it is?"
"och, that's nae bother." aisuru chuckled to himself. the Brigadier was now half-way up the driveway, striding back towards the Villa.
"Another theory?" Ailith prodded him again.
"aye. ah wish you'd stop pokin' at me though, hen." he lightly prodded the girl back.
"Sorry." she smiled, and prodded him again, for fun.
"aye. aye, it's just like a few years back, when it wis ma sister Isla's birthday. a hundred and twenty, so she wis. see, a hunner'an'twetty, thon's like a big celebration up our way, an' ye get gifts affy yer pals, and yer family, and that. the usual gift ye get affy yer family is somethin' wi gemstones - jewellery, most a' the time. Isla quite fancied this necklace she'd seen, so ma maw telt me tae go down tae Glenacaill, a toon aboot two day's travel fae oor village."

the party stopped at the archway, listening to aisuru's story, and wondering where it was going.

"see, me an' Isla, we'd been doon in Glenacaill a few months afore that, an seen this necklace at the jeweller's shoppie, but ah'd also seen her lookin at this sgian dubh - the knife ye keep..." he gestured to his sock, then realised he'd leant his own sgian dubh to Lon-dubh last week. "...in yer sock. anyroad, this knife wis a belter, so it wis. a right beezer, but the fella wis wantin' six hundred gold fer it, an we only had aboot four hundred. but ah knew Isla really wanted the knife, so ah got a loan affy ma pal Shuggie, put ma ain savins tae it as well, an' ah went doon tae Glenacaill."
"Aww, that's nice." Ailith prodded him again. this prodding was becoming a compulsion with her, aisuru thought. he could tell that one or two of the group weren't sure what it was about, but he continued with his story undeterred.
"so ah came back up the road fae Glenacaill, wi this wee box, aw wrapped up in purple velvet, an wi' a black ribbon. looked dead nice, so it did. but see, ah wanted it tae be a surprise, so when ma other sister, Cara, asked tae see what ah'd got, ah telt her it was wrapped up too nice, an' a didnae want tae unwrap it, coz ah would'nae be able tae get it that nice again, eh?"
"Uh huh." Vidiana nodded, surprised the group had stayed silent this long to hear the story, especially with... wait... where was Drusillia? and what about that upper-class twit of the year runner-up Sogglesbythe? aisuru finally got to the point.
"so ah telt Cara it was the necklace we'd seen. see, ah knew she'd tell ma Auntie Aislain, who'd tell ma Auntie Senga, who'd tell ma cousin Leaghain, who'd tell Orla, and she'd likely let it slip tae Isla, eh?"
"Ah." Mianna nodded. "Misdirection. They put it out that they're trying to capture a Sphere of Annihilation, to conceal the fact it's something else."
"spot on, hen." aisuru nodded. "likely a weapon, ah'd say. probably more powerful than a sgian dubh in this case, though, eh?"
"Where the hell is Dru?" Vidiana cut in.
"that one... ah've nae theory on." aisuru conceded.

[a i s u r u]

"Didn't honestly expect you to get that far down there, to be honest." The Brigadier spoke as he opened a large wooden chest, adorned with several polished brass Redcliffeshire army badges.

"No, we'd thought not... to be honest." Vidiana replied, hoping to prompt the human into an explanation, if not a justification. neither came though, just the clinking of coins as he took a series of generously-sized leather bags from the chest and placed them down on the table, in bundles of seven.

"Unfortunately, we don't have enough here to pay you in full." he said, calmly, as he completed the third bundle of seven.
"What?!" Vidiana was outraged and confused. "You don't even have the money to pay us?"
"You'll be paid, fear not. Redcliffe keeps its promises." he closed the lid of the chest and securely fastened a large padlock. "The other two payments will be here in a matter of hours, I've already sent word to the treasury."
"What?!" Vidiana couldn't believe this. aisuru, standing at her back, took hold of the his comrade's arms in case she went for the daggers.
"A cart will be here by seven o'clock this evening, you have my word."
"Two? That's only five rewards, you promised us six!"
"Yes, I'm terribly sorry, but I've been instructed to deduct seven hundred platinum coins in lieu of the cart and horses which you lost."
"WHAT?!"
"calm it, hen." aisuru tightened his grip. Ailith joined him in pre-emptively restraining Vidiana.
"Those horses were never worth that sum! You're cheating us!"
"I'm afraid I have my orders." The Brigadier slid a folded piece of paper across the table towards Marcus, to took it and read it. "You'll need to take it up with the Council if you have an objection. Still, twenty-one hundred platinum coins isn't exactly a pittance, is it?"
"It's not the money, sir, it's the principle!" Vidiana shook off her captors. "Is this 'Council' the body that came up with this idea? To send young people down into that pit of evil to die in vain?"
"Yes." the Brigadier stroked his moustache. "But again, you'd need to take that up with them yourselves, I only follow my orders, It doesn't matter if I disagree with them or not."