Shatter
Icefall 35, 833 I. E.
16 Years after Albert's Exile
Under Keep of Tinraya, Secret Caves of Upper Avernum
Albert looked around at his friends. So this was it. The vahnati had trapped them in this cell, and they were going to die, alone, and monsters would roam all the surface.
Helen touched his arm, and he squeezed her hand. Albert looked in her eyes and saw she was gesturing with her other hand at Sschass. Forcing down an irritation that she hadn't originally been trying to comfort him, Albert did try to look at Sschass. Sschass was sitting slumped in a corner, fingers laced under his chin. Albert had thought he was sad, but Sschass looked worse.
It wasn't clear whether Sschass had noticed their perusal or not, but he announced to them all, "My humble apologies for my failure. I do not see how I can make this right, but I had at least to tell you that."
Helen put a hand on her hip, half-sympathetic, half-frustrated, saying, "Sschass, the vahnati captured us all. Either we're all responsible, or none of us are. But it can't just be you alone."
Sschass said morosely, "I trained to recognize and disarm traps, to be wary of ambushes. I went on so many missions of infiltrating strongholds like this one. Yet I couldn't help when we were captured."
Frruh stopped pacing and faced Sschass. "It's like Helen said. Don't be unreasonable. Why is it not my fault, since I trained for years at the Tower of Magi, and couldn't block the Crystal Souls? But they managed to teleport us here, and that's that."
A thin, quiet voice with an odd accent said, "Quietly, friends, and quickly. They may be scrying you even now."
They all started, Sschass leaping to his feet in surprise. Albert whirled his head around - it sounded like a vahnati accent, but it had sounded like it was in this cell.
It was a ghost. A vahnati ghost was in their cell. Oh great. They were going to die, just like this poor vahnati had in this cell-
"It's not a ghost, Albert," Frruh said, just over his shoulder, causing Albert to jump.
Albert gestured at the thing and said, "I didn't believe in them, either, but-"
Frruh said impatiently, "It's an image sent from another place, to talk to us."
As Albert deflated, the semi-transparent image said, "My name is Bon-Ihrno. Do you trust that name among the vahnati, after what you know my people have-doing? I hope it - so, hope so. But we have no time now."
Bon-Ihrno gestured to a wall. "I can send one of you out," he told them. "Go through an unseen door. Then, one among you should through a portal go. It is not strong enough to take all of you - and the others would notice that. The energy from many going."
Sschass quickly found the catch among the masonry, and when a section of stone swung away soundlessly, like a well-oiled door, they looked at the small, faint magical portal that was revealed.
"Quickly choose who go," Bon-Ihrno's image continued quietly. "Fight who you came to fight. But the last monster factory is not in this place. I shall guide you to my shelter. No warrior am I - only wisdom can I give you."
"That's quite enough, thank you," Albert said reverently, but the image was fading away as he said it, so it was hard to know if Bon-Ihrno heard it.
The four adventurers looked at each other and looked at the portal.
Helen advised Albert, "Better think fast."
Albert said, "Then I'd better think out loud. I want it to be someone with magic. But-"
Frruh finished, "But we'd be deadmeat if someone good with a blade did get close enough."
Sschass said seriously, "Albert, I want to volunteer for this."
Albert replied seriously, "There's nothing you need to atone for."
Sschass shrugged, "I'm trying to accept that. But I'm still the best choice. The vahnati left us our weapons -" he tapped his Black Halberd with a claw "-because it was easy to scoop us up with teleportation. Which means they also left me my lockpicks. I can sneak and fight my way through, and those basic healing spells Helen taught us all means I can patch myself up enough. I'll work out wherever this portal leads and how to get back to you. Then we'll be the ones taking the Crystal Souls by surprise."
Albert looked up at Sschass - not at the crest on his head, not the scales on his face that were much like those on the rest of his body, but in his inhuman eyes.
Albert nodded, and said, "You've got a point. But just to make sure," he pulled out a wand and gave it to Sschass. "I know you used up your last one."
"Thank you," Sschass said, carefully placing it in easy reach on an outer loop of his pack.
As he was doing so, Frruh went to his other side and filled up empty scroll tubes in his pack. "This one is healing," Frruh said, tapping the tubes so Sschass would know from the vibration and not need to take his attention away from the wand, "and this one is 'Lightning Spray'. I just hope you don't come across enough foes to need it." Sschass agreed, "Same here." He finished securing the wand and clapped him on the back.
Helen came forward, holding out a flask, saying, "I added some horseradish. Let me know if that helps with the taste."
"You remembered my joke?" Sschass said, taken aback.
"I thought it might at least distract from the bitterness," Helen smiled, her eyes starting to shine. "You won't be alone out there now."
Sschass took in a hissing breath, looked at them all, and said, "Not with everything I learned from my friends. I shall come to you as soon as I can."
Sschass did everything he could not to grunt as he was flung back against the wall. The vahnati had left some troublesome monsters to guard these halls. One of the smaller ones drew closer, holding its wounded arm back as its other trembled with eagerness for revenge.
Sschass whipped out Albert's wand and dispatched the monster. His other hand was slick with blood, but he rested the halberd against his shoulder, unstoppered Helen's potion and drank it, immediately feeling better. Another monster charged, and he dodged it. The beast's momentum carried it past him, and he dropped it from behind with his halberd. The big monster was about to howl in rage, but Sschass whipped out the 'Lightning Spray' scroll, killing it and another of the small monsters.
The two remaining monsters stared at him as he panted.
Sschass grinned. He had plenty more tricks up his sleeve, given to him over the years by comrades, his mentor, and his friends. He had to make it.
Albert took another lap of the cell at a slow pace. He did believe in Sschass, but even people trying their best weren't invincible. How long to wait before he sent someone else? Should they take a risk and rapidly go single-file, even if it did alert the vahnati?
At this point in his lap, his back was to the cell door, so he didn't hear Sschass until the key turned in the lock.
Frruh and Helen leapt to their feet as Albert whipped around. Everyone except Albert managed to stifle happy greetings as Sschass held a finger to his lips.
As they filed quickly out the door, Frruh pointed out, "We do still have a lot of vahnati to fight - please keep your voice down."
Sschass said softly, "Don't begrudge him all enthusiasm. We're together and free now."
Albert laughed aloud, drawing a further glare from Frruh, but Albert said (quietly, thankfully,) "I could take on them all. We've got Bon-Ihrno on our side, the one who helped Captain Tompkins and his men!"
Frruh groused, "The one friendly vahnati face in this place. Or more accurately, not in this place. He never claimed to be a great warrior, so he can't force his way in to physically help us."
"Nobody's perfect," Albert grinned. Frruh sighed heavily and shook his head, but his expression was different than it usually was - he knew Albert was joking.
Albert himself was savoring this elation. He knew it would end soon enough when he had turn his blade on the vahnati, the people who had brought him hope in the dark days of his childhood, after he lost Carl in the Empire War. Albert would have to shred the tale of his heroes, Captain Tompkins and his men, and Bon-Ihrno.
Mid-822 I. E.
5 Years after Albert's Exile, in the time of the Empire - Avernum War
Bon-Ihrno's Home, Vahnati Caves Below Avernum
Captain Tompkins looked at the house around him, at him and his squadmates sitting at ease in alien furniture, while their host, one of the beings called vahnati, served them tea. It was the last thing he'd expected after the wild ride down the dark river, and the horrors they'd had to fight.
Bon-Ihrno, continuing their conversation, explained, "From what I have scryed, your people, like ours, loathe kidnappers. Imagine, if you can, that someone were to kidnap a person who was both your grandfather and your king. The Empire captured three of our Crystal Souls, and I shudder to think what may have become of them."
Captain Tompkins moved his hand from his chin and said wearily, "And just like we can't yet tell the difference between factions among your people, you can't tell the difference between us and the Empire?"
"Exactly. Some among my people attacked you for that reason. Others because they are ancient rivals of my tribe." Bon-Ihrno took a sip. "I will speak to my people more and more. Your arrival has stirred interest, and my word carries weight. The others more will understand as they see you fight the Empire, and recover the Crystal Souls. Those of my tribe, at least."
The captain looked into his cup. They were already losing the war against the Empire; they couldn't afford a second front with the vahnati. The vahnati's assistance also might turn the tide against the Empire. But a mission that deep into enemy territory - even if it got approved, could they ever carry it off?
Tompkins looked up from his cup. Maybe his team would fail, but another could always be sent if that happened - the army didn't consist solely of his team. Avernum's honor had to be restored in the eyes of the vahnati. Besides, someone being imprisoned by the Empire - it was a sorrow Avernum was all too familiar with. Avernum chose either an impossible mission or a lingering death, and looking at the eyes of his squad, he knew what Avernum had chosen.
Two Weeks Later
Ornotha Ziggurat, Empire Fortress Occupying Avernite Lands
Captain Tompkins tried to contain his disappointment as he heard the click of a trap springing under the foot of one of his men. Then he heard a familiar hissing and whooshing of fire - but something about it was wrong.
The crimson flowers of flame were licking the wall, evidently from where the mechanism of the trap had been, but the flames were spreading too rapidly, and somehow burning even atop stone. The rest of his squad quickly backed away. "Quickfire!" Feinman muttered. "Is the Empire mad?"
"Run for it," Tompkins ordered quickly, and they did. He didn't have to order them to keep their eyes peeled for the Crystal Soul they were trying to find here - they were already doing it, even as they ran into the next room, quickfire already following them.
Iago spotted the case, and Renault opened it and wrested the Crystal Soul from inside there. Renault tried to say something comforting to it as he put it in the pouch at his waist, but the flames were only three feet from his heels and gaining fast.
"Feinman, haste us, and Iago, bless us with a shield," Tompkins ordered. Iago was really rather better at pronouncing judgment with curses for his enemies' misdeeds than blessing his friends, but they needed every advantage they could. Hasted and surrounded by a temporary, invisible shield, they ran through a gap - only to find themselves on the roof of the ziggurat, and fire following them.
"I guess you'll just have to set our broken legs, Iago," Feinman joked.
The Crystal Soul said panickedly to all their minds - "Madness - we will shatter-"
And they ran for it - right off the edge of the ziggurat. The Crystal Soul joined telepathically in their physical screams.
They survived that, partly because it was a ziggurat, rather than a sheer cliff. Perhaps the vahnati fighting the Empire on the plains below helped them with a far-flung spell to reduce their speed, or perhaps the Crystal Soul did as well.
As they returned to Olgai, the Crystal Soul said to Renault's mind, "I hadn't dared to believe it, but humans are not all of the Empire."
"No," he told it as he patted the hip pouch where it rested, "We're from the Avernite Army. Our squad is led by Captain Tompkins, up ahead, and that's Feinman and Iago behind us. My name is Renault."
"I am Caffren-Bok," the soul replied. He suddenly said urgently - "Others - there were others the Empire stole from the shrine-"
Renault broke in reassuringly, "We already rescued Jekknol-Bok. We'll do our best to find your other friend, too."
Feinman watched Renault with interest - he seemed to have such a way with the Crystal Souls. Renault had held the last one just because that was how it happened, but seeing his rapport with this one made him glad they'd decided beforehand that Renault would carry him, too.
"Vyvnas-Bok is his name," supplied Caffren-Bok, relieved. "My many thanks to you. Hope I had not dared to have, that there were differences among humans. That you were not all of this cruel, power-hungry Empire."
"Your captivity is over," Renault said calmly. "You're safe now. Avernum will ever be your friend."
Icefall 35, 833 I. E.
16 Years after Albert's Exile
Keep of Tinraya, Secret Caves of Upper Avernum
Albert and his friends faced a line of desperate, skilled, vahnati defenders, and behind them the crystal souls, blazing with the magic they were ready to unleash. Vyvnas-Bok and Caffren-Bok were calm and unyielding. The adventurers could hear Jekknol-Bok's thoughts jabbering in insane fury, as he pulsed in his crystal.
How Albert had longed for the chance to come face-to-face with those who had planned the destruction of the surface, and how he now longed to be anywhere else. But he had to see this through. Standing just out of razordisk range, he pulled out the crystal, the great weapon Avernum's Bunker had given him against the crystal souls, and held it high above his head.
There was a torrent of light that streamed out of the crystal and over the vahnati heads, and into the crystal souls, and weapon and soul shattered and fell, out of the hand and off the pedestals. The vahnati shrieked and keened in horror, then in rage, and in grief. One dropped his waveblade and fell to his knees, shouting at the ceiling. Another screamed in a way no human throat could, and launched herself in a berserk rage, casting razordisks at the party in almost random fashion, brandishing her waveblade as she came closer. A razordisk pinged off of Sschass' breastplate as he and Albert met her in battle, and other vahnati began to join the fray. Soul crystals were loosed from vahnati belts as the vahnati called out of them incredible monsters. Frruh launched an Arcane Blow at the foes, while Helen blessed the team.
She could see behind her attackers that two of the vahnati, with unnatural stillness and precision, were engaged in a futile effort to put the pieces of the crystal souls back together. Finally, one touched the other's forearm. They bowed their heads, keened one last time, then turned and drew their waveblades, running towards the fray.
Meanwhile, one of the other vahnati practically hurled himself onto Sschass' Black Halberd, then used a graceful waveblade as a crude hammer on Sschass' nearest mailed arm, which was holding the halberd. Albert fended off another vahnati's waveblade with his shield, then finished off Sschass' foe. His weapon again free, Sschass dispatched a vahnati who had just caught Albert a terrible blow, surely mortal were it not for his helmet. Albert picked himself up as Frruh rained lightning and Helen sent more ice into the vahnati's bodies. He forced himself to raise his shield, and more razordisks pinged off of it. Albert focused again, reentered the dance, fought to the unusual rhythm of waveblades and alien limbs, and cut his way through these former allies. When it was over, he saw Sschass throwing the last vahanti defender against the wall with his halberd, and she slid down it, staining the beautiful finish with her ruin. Her bulbous eyes drifted to the crystal shards, inches from her fingers, and then she never moved herself again.
They began to move towards the exit, but Helen turned back and took a deep breath.
"What is it?" Albert asked.
Sschass pointed out urgently, "We've won a great victory, but we haven't found the last vahnati factory; they're still making more monsters. And there could be more on their way here-"
"That's why the funeral benediction is short," Helen said without turning. "We living never have much time. We can't bury them, no, but I can at least do this for our erstwhile allies."
Sschass looked at Albert with a slithzerikai frown, but Albert had already bowed his head.
After the last words of the benediction finished ringing off of the walls, Helen moved quickly with the rest of them. Frruh asked her, "Do you really think they deserve to be at peace?"
Helen replied, "I wanted that for those poor souls, especially Jekknol-Bok. Since I learned what they have done, I have doubted whether they deserve anything but torment. Thankfully, the judgment is not mine to make."
Author's Note: Bon-Ihrno's dialogue in general, and especially between he and Captain Tompkins' squad (they are this story's version of the player characters in Avernum 2), is non-canonical, but hopefully in character. I don't quite recall the details of the Ornotha Ziggurat, so a lot may be non-canonical.
I don't quite recall how the party gets captured by Crystal Souls, so that part may be non-canonical. I'm fairly sure that it is because the Crystal Souls teleport you into a cell without disarming you that a lone character being sent through is practical. It's simpler and less risky for the vahnati, but it works to their disadvantage in that way.
I don't quite recall why there is a secret door in the cell wall, or why only one person can go through it, but I assume it was some reason like that given here.