Years of the Covenant: Part 11

Night had come and gone quickly, and the Pelennex Pinnacle was due to begin within the hour...1

After the banquet had ended, Darrien had spent a good portion of the evening placing Pearls of Sight all over the battle arena for the morrow. Vannolyn left the banquet early so that he could place a few of the pearls in the chamber of Estyn Cauth, their target. Following that, the two Nightshaders spent much of the evening studying Cauth's mannerisms, his array of weaponry, and his battle finesse as he trained in front of the mirror in his room.2

Now it was time to put everything they'd gathered in the last day to use. Vannolyn dawned his black tunic, black pants, and studded leather armor. He glazed his daggers, swords, and five arrow tips with the deadly nightshade poison. Afterwards, he sheathed and placed his weapons in their proper place as Darrien dawned his ninja outfit and his strange curved swords and daggers. He followed suit, glazing the edge of his blades with the poison.3

"You ready?" Darrien asked as Vannolyn, placing a hand on his shoulder as the young drow tried collecting himself.4

"Ready as I'll ever be." Vannolyn said, hardening the resolve upon his face.5

A knock came at the door to their chamber in the moments following. To their expectation there were a pair of royal gaurds there to escort them to the battle arena. The two Nightshaders followed promptly, but Vannolyn turned around quickly to grab the two black pouches with the contents that Silious Roh had provided him with.6

Together Darrien and Vannolyn followed the pair of royal gaurds as they twisted and turned through palace staircases and hallways until they found their way to the main gate. Their horses from the stables were waiting for them. As they mounted their steeds, they saw that all the other competitors were gathering their as well with host of gaurds at the front of the caravan. Apparently they were going to parade through the city to the arena. It was a pointless thing to do, but Vannolyn didn't argue the procedure.7

From the front the two Nightshaders heard the captain of the gaurd blow a whistle and they began to move forward; first the gaurds, then the knights, and then everyone else including them. The procession was slow as the streets were filled with cheering peasants, craftsmen, and merchants.8

After about 20 minutes of slowly trotting through the streets, the finally entered the tall gate that entered into the arenas preparation chambers. The structure was huge, but only Darrien could really tell, for he was the one who spent the previous evening scoping out the battle field.9

As they dismounted, and made their final preparations. Vannolyn took a look at all of his opponents, studying their choice of weapons and weaknesses in their armor. The two woodsmen and Druid appeared to have crude choices for both, it didn't look like they would be a problem. The knight appeared to look like powerful brawlers, but their armor looked heavier than most... speed would be the best course of action against them. It was hard to decipher where the strengths would lie with the elven bounty hunter and gnome mercenary; he and Darrien both would have to watch them closely.10

Then his eyes fell upon the Cauth. The cleric wore the same charismatic smile that was pasted upon his face the previous evening as he polished his scimitar. He wore a very shiny thin armor of a sort, given how light-weighted it appeared Vannolyn was almost certain that it was gold-plated steel. And that was just one more reason the man had to go.11

Darrien was walking the opposite direction when Vannolyn grabbed his shoulder and stopped him...12

"So what's the layout of the battle arena?" Vannolyn whispered into his ear, not wanting to draw attention. Darrien squinted his eyes and grimaced a moment.13

"There was nothing." Darrien replied, noticing the confusion on Vannolyn's face. "The battle arena was a barren flat expanse of dirt about a quarter square mile all around, and on the surrounding walls were energy siphons. My guess is that they use magic to generate the environment and cast an energy dome overhead to keep anything from harming civillians."14

Vannolyn didn't know what to think, he was hoping that they would not be stepping into this completely blind. His forehead creased as he tried to consider what their next step could be to get the upper hand.15

"Don't worry," Darrien patted him on the back, reassuring him, "I still placed several pearls all throughout the arena and at each entrance. We'll still have eyes all throughout the arena."16

"However, I did find something that would help immensely," Darrien started again, Vannolyn waiting patiently, "There were magic pylons at each corner of the arena to nullify and dampen magical attacks. The pylon at the southeast corner has malfunctioned... due to a little ingenuity on my part. So try to draw Cauth near there."17

Vannolyn let the tension realease from his body as quickly as it taken hold. But before either of them could say another word, an attendant entered the preparation chambers directing combatants to their respective entrances.18

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The arena appeared to be composed of a setting located at small sentry outpost, or possibly a fort, on a hilltop somewhere in the highlands. A thick mist layered the surroundings, as the synthetic gray light of an impending dawn permeated all about. The elements were surely on their side.20

Vannolyn took to the nearest prevailing shadow and pulled out the Vision Scroll. Waving his hand over the surface several times, and was able to locate where several of the combatants were. The druid had changed form to a lion just along the garrison wall, two of the knights were tip-toeing through the corridors, the elven bounty hunter was scoping out a target from the parapets, and it looked as if Darrien was scoping out his first target. And just as soon as that, Vannolyn felt he was being scoped out as well.21

All of a sudden, the dwarven paladin fired a crossbow bolt, slamming directly into the stone wall right next to Vannolyn's head. He was impressed with the paladin's ability of tracking down his prey, but was sorely disappointed with his skill as a marksman.22

With an expression of victory, the dwarf strutted over to double-check that his bolt had found its target. It was too hard to make clear what had happened through the curtain of mist. Through his clouded sight, he could pinpoint a black form sprawled across the stone. But as he approached, he noticed it was nothing more than a dark, ephemeral silouette. It was a trap!23

A dagger came bursted from the mist, at the dwarf's left, slamming him directly in the chest. As he writhed in agonizing pain, Vannolyn emerged from the dagger's origin. He looked down at the paladin, completely unimpressed with his lack of caution. "Figures..." He muttered, shaking his head.24

Pulling out the vision scroll once more, he was able to pinpoint the rest of the combatants once again. It seemed the more and more of the competitors had run into each other; Darrien was still silentely stalking Cauth on the eastern wall, waiting for just the right moment. Apparently a quick strike was out of the question, poison at this point would probably not be the best course of action.25

Muttering a few words under his breath, Vannolyn invoked a shadow-displacement cloaking spell. That should make spotting himself very difficult for any others that might try to get in his way. Choosing the harder path, Vannolyn scaled the wall of the garrison, not wanting to cross paths with anyone else.26

Just as he lifted himself over the lip of the ledge, he spotted Darrien creeping about slowly just 20 feet away. A poison tipped arrow was already strung in the bow, and lined up with Cauth. Vannolyn darted towards mentor, startling Darrien causing him to nearly fire prematurely.27

"Wait", Vannolyn gave pause, "I have another idea."28

He pulled out his vision scroll yet again and waved his hand over the surface several times, revealing the sorcerer to be on the flight of stairs that led to the open courtyard at the top of garrioson; directly where Cauth was scouting for enemies... and near the southeast corner of the arena.29

Darrien could already sense what his pupil was planning to do. Vannolyn allowed his cloaking spell to disperse, made his way around the garrison wall, and dropped down to the stairwell entrance unnoticed. He tiptoed down the stairs, trying to catch the sorcerer unawares. However, one uncertain step kicked up a few small rocks... followed by a flying fire ball.30

He had certainly gotten the magic caster's attention, just sooner than he'd hoped. Vannolyn raced back up the stairwell, throwing stealth to wind, quickly evading the barage of fire ball and lightning attacks. And just as he'd crested the opening, he shouted to Darrien. "Now! Hold him!"31

Darrien leaped from the garrison wall, grappling Cauth and straining to hold him in place. Vannolyn invoked the shadow-displacement once more, placing him far enough from Cauth and Darrien so that they could not be spotted through the mist, but close enough that the sorcerer would surely strike.32

Vannolyn held his ground, waiting with anxiety as the Sorcerer crested the stairwell entrance, blue lightning sparking violently from the tip of his wooden staff. His eyes were darting from side to side, trying to fixate on Vannolyn's ephemeral form. In a rage of frustration, a bolt of lightning zipped by Vannolyn's face, far too close for comfort. "Now... Release!!!", he shouted back.33

Darrien dove to his left as the beam of electricity impacted Cauth's chest, shattering his plate-mail armor and, just as they'd hoped, did not nullify the power of the magic attack... exploding the cleric's body as well.34

Veering back around and swiping Cauth's scimitar, Darrien dove for cover and scrambled for a shadow shard. "Hurry up, the portal's open!" Darrien yelled back, tearing a hole between the two planes.35

Vannolyn sprinted for the cover of his mentor, dodging more magical projectiles from the sorcerer, and now a barrage of arrows from the elven bounty hunter that had been lying in wait. He dove, desperately trying avoid another fire ball. Taking Darrien's hand, he lifted himself up. And together, the two of them slipped through portal, out of Pelennex and back to the Shadow Plane... mission complete.