Into Krizsan
Early in the month of Radiane, 832 I. E.
15 Years after Albert's Exile
Surface
As the Avernites had headed towards the largest city they'd yet seen on the surface, the one on the coast, they had noticed along the way abandoned farmhouses, some of which had been seared open by slimes' acid, and tilled fields crisscrossed with lines of melted crops. There were a few travelers and even the Empire's patrols, but though they got some funny looks, no one commented on the humans' pale skin, or Sschass or Frruh's clearly nonhuman visages. Instead, they got grim warnings about the dangers of slimes in the area. Though they heeded the warnings, the adventurers did run into a few more groups of the slimes.
Sschass shook his head. "I wouldn't have believed we could walk openly on the Empire's roads. It doesn't bode well that they are so concerned with these slimes."
Albert suggested, "Let's just walk right into the city. We need information, we'll need supplies."
Frruh cautioned, "My hope was that we could find an isolated farmhouse, or an out-of-the way inn, for getting information. It's one thing to be on the roads. It's not safe to enter the Empire's territory where they will be more interested in defending it."
Albert insisted, "We're just travelers right now. And even with our watches, I'd rather not sleep outdoors more than we have to. Although I still have more stars to show you tonight."
Helen and Sschass appeared dubious but resigned, while Frruh settled his own feelings by reminding Albert, "It's my turn to name the next star you don't recognize." His voice perhaps was not as steady as he hoped to make it sound, but they each elected to ignore this.
So they continued into the city, which a sign informed them was called Krizsan. What had been true on the roads proved true here - people noticed the Avernites were different, and were interested, when they stopped to think about it, but the townspeople had bigger problems at the moment. The adventurers were thus welcomed with polite interest, and the merchants traded fairly with them. Helen and the others were drawn to the docks, gazing in awe at the waves and fish, and though they got bemused looks, no one seemed to think their ignorance of such things a cause for alarm. Albert reminded them that plenty of people had grown up never seeing the sea. They had learned during their time in the city that they were on the recently settled continent of Valorim, so perhaps it was common to find strangers gawking at new sights.
Later that afternoon, Albert took a deep breath, looked down the street, and fixed a resolved gaze on the mayor's office.
"You can't be serious," Helen told him flatly.
Albert pointed out, "If Avernum's going to exist on the surface, the Empire's going to find out sooner or later."
Sschass noted, "But there's no reason to announce it to them. And it may well be that the First Expedition fell afoul of the authorities here. The townsfolk have been friendly so far, but a reminder that we are from a different nation may change that."
Albert floundered a bit, then asked, "Where else are we going to find out about the slimes?"
Frruh advocated, "The inn would be a good place for that."
Albert lowered his voice and said, "I don't want to go in there, either. But we can't keep going on with this, 'Does the Empire want to kill us or not?' much longer. It's this, or stay off all the main roads, and out of all of the cities. I'm fine with that. I could live the rest of my life without having anything to do with the Empire. That's been one of my life's goals. But our mission is to find stuff out. We're going to have to find out about what the Empire is up to around here. If folks are going to start families and businesses on the surface, then someday, someone is going to have to straightforwardly talk to the neighbors, even if they are the Empire." He made a face.
Frruh said quietly, "The townspeople are one thing. The officials will be held to the law. They'll try to deport me to Avernum on sight, or kill me."
Albert looked at him thoughtfully. "But you, or I don't remember, maybe it was your family, has already been sent to Avernum."
"That's not amusing," Frruh said tightly.
"No, I'm serious," Albert insisted, "you're not under their jurisdiction. As long as someone is looking for a way out-"
"An official of the Empire trying to give an Avernite a break?" Helen asked skeptically.
"Ordinarily, no, but they've clearly got bigger problems here," Albert retorted.
Sschass tapped his spear and said, "There are many reasons why we may need to be prepared to fight our way out of there. But in this provincial town, while people are more worried about slimes than Avernites attacking, this may be our best chance to learn about the Empire's government here."
Frruh frowned and growled, "I want us all to swear that I won't be left behind."
Albert said hotly, "We're a team!"
Frruh snarled, "When we're all in there, and it's your kind against mine, they'll focus on me and leave you alone. It'll seem easier to let them take me. Promise me you won't do that."
Helen told him firmly, "We'll swear that we won't leave anyone behind. They may hate all of us still. We're all taking a risk. And we're all a team."
Albert threw up his hands. "You're acting as though I like the Empire. I will gladly go to blows against them."
"Just not too quickly," Sschass insisted.
So they swore. But, unexpectedly, they did not need the swearing. There were many stares, some whispering, but no one challenged them. They were given an audience with the mayor immediately.
No one realized until much later how significant was this brief meeting in a provincial backwater between strangers who didn't quite trust each other.
"Did we just agree to help the Empire?" Albert asked, stunned, as they left the city.
"A mayor of the Empire asked for our help," Frruh pointed out.
Helen noted, "The only difference between that and what Albert said is that we haven't agreed yet."
Frruh agreed, "A highly important difference."
"Yes, a relieving one," she agreed back.
Albert frowned and said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but, shouldn't we?"
Sschass protested, with a rare sibilant hiss, "We have a mission already! They have the Empire's army! Why don't they go and deal with this?"
"They don't for the same reason Avernum has us," Albert pointed out. "The soldiers are busy defending the people. And nobody knows where to look. They should have their own adventurers, but maybe they've all been killed already."
Frruh suddenly asked, "How many soldiers are there here, anyway?"
Sschass paused for a long moment, then growled, "Don't make me say it."
"It's already obvious - not enough," Frruh insisted. "I know the rest of you have seen it with your own eyes, and in any case, it's obvious from the Empire asking us at all."
Helen shook her head and exclaimed, "I don't want these people to die, but I did not join the Avernum Adventurer Corps to do the Empire's dirty work!"
"Literally," Albert quipped. "Those slimes are disgusting."
They laughed suddenly, the tension broken.
"Believe me, I hear what you're saying," Albert told them. "I don't want to end up on the Empire's side. But we're here to scout, and it'd be pretty important to at least find out where these slimes are coming from."
"Perhaps we can go back and report to Commander Anaximander, and then get his advice," Sschass proposed, and the others heartily agreed.
As they got closer to the crack which led back to Fort Emergence, Sschass thought aloud, "You know, if the slimes aren't stopped, then through dumb luck, they may just find their way into Upper Avernum."
"Great, more monsters in Avernum," Albert groaned.
"Stopping the slimes is growing more appealing," Helen admitted.
Agate Tower, Surface
Eight days Later, the bandit mage brought up his staff, which shivered as it tried to parry Albert's sword. Albert was able to move his blade down the staff and nick the hand of the mage. The mage was knocked back a step, and he dropped his staff as his wounded hand was reflexively clutched by the other. Sschass's spear finished him.
The Avernites looked around a bit, then left the mage's sanctum and walked back to the large hall of the tower and stared at the pool of slime, which would still occasionally bubble and froth up a new slime, which they would hurriedly stamp out. Sschass had tried stabbing the pool, and Frruh had tried singeing it, and Helen had tried freezing it, but the pool still bubbled quietly.
Helen considered, "We could scoop it up and dump it outside, but I don't know that it won't keep working out there. Besides, it's time I got those arrows out of you, Albert."
Albert was about to try to disagree, so Sschass volunteered, "I'll keep watch for new slimes," and Frruh offered, "The mage's journal may have information we can use against the slimes."
Helen pulled the arrows out of Albert, who tried to stifle his reactions, and Helen closed the wounds with quick chants. Sschass looked back at the hall they had just entered, blockaded at several points with walls and windows guarded by archers they had defeated. He commented, "I thought the Empire was irresponsible for allowing brigands so near, but this was a formidable defense, and a remote and well-hidden place. If that sailor hadn't noticed the lights on this cliff, and if that sailor hadn't been in the inn in Krizsan for us to talk to, who knows how long it would've taken to conquer this tower."
Frruh announced sadly, "We must fight further than we hoped." He lifted slightly an open book he had taken from the mage's study, and continued, "The mage found the slime pool elsewhere; southwest of Colchis, he wrote. It was one among many. He scooped it up, brought it here in a coarse bag, learned to control the slimes. If we are to stop the slimes, it'll have to be at their true source."
"This is so wrong," Albert growled. "People are dying, crops being destroyed, and these bandits wanted to use this unnatural power for their own gain. They didn't care that they were making it worse for everyone. It makes me ashamed of humanity."
Helen looked at the dead bodies around them and remarked, "Seeing one of the doctrines so confirmed - the horrors we can perform and become - it is not pleasant."
Frruh put in, "So felt I, when we had to lay waste to the camp of the nephil bandits in Upper Avernum."
Sschass was about to commiserate with his own experiences when Frruh turned from his reading and asked, "Sschass, please step back." He did so, and so Frruh, with flourishes of fingers and deft movements of hands and arms, cast a fireball that directly hit the slime pool. That portion of slime which wasn't evaporated was baked as though it were pottery, and as it lay in the hole, several remnants of it shattered.
"That was incredible," Albert said softly.
Frruh turned to him, nodded, then turned back to the ruin and commented, "It's the only way to destroy these pools. Heat, vast, fierce, and instantaneous."
Slime Pit, Surface
After weeks spent finding the exact spot of the slime pit, then destroying all of the pools the slimes spawned in, the Avernites had fought an enormous, alien slime. That was the best way to describe it - four times the size of a normal slime, with massive tendrils - but it was gone now.
When they had caught their breath, Albert said. "All right. We'd better have a look around. Make sure there aren't any more slime pools."
Helen hoped the slimes that had occasionally entered this part of the cave were just stragglers they had missed while clearing the rest of the caves, or some sort of bizarre honor guard for the alien slime, but it would do to check this area, since they hadn't gotten to explore it yet.
In a concealed cave nearby was a rune on a wall.
Albert groaned. "You were right, Frruh. They were manufactured."
Frruh attempted to thwack him on the back, but lacked practice, so it was more forceful than he meant it to be. "You needn't sound so surprised," Frruh joked. Sschass held the light closer to the rune, and Frruh began to sketch it.
Albert said, only slightly defensively, "I was already starting to come around. There was almost nothing about these slimes that was natural. And trying to take over-" he started to feel queasy again at the memory, and finally concluded with, "I never thought I'd feel sorry for goblins."
After a few moments, Helen said aloud, "I don't recognize the rune. Do you, Frruh?"
"Unfortunately," Frruh growled. "It's Erika Redmark's personal signature. Not her family crest. Her imprint as a mage."
"Are you saying Erika made these slimes?" Albert asked, astonished.
Sschass disputed, "Among those with the power to make these slimes, her mark would be common knowledge. Someone could be boxing her."
Albert stared at him, and so did Helen until she said, "Oh, framing her." Sschass agreed, shuffling his feet slightly, and Albert felt relieved.
Frruh nodded. "On the other hand, she does hate the Empire, and she can't attack it in person, so making and planting these slimes could be her revenge. But those are also reasons she's easy to frame."
They searched the area thoroughly, but found no further evidence.
2 Years before Albert's Exile
Mertis, Avernum
Derek and Warren had been dragging Nathan towards Mertis for awhile.
Nathan had earlier been able to at least shuffle along, but soon it became clear that his bandages (despite having been redone twice) were severely constricting his breathing, yet still not stopping the bleeding. Derek and Warren had begun dragging him at that point.
As they came into town, one of the guards asked what had happened, and they replied that they had been exploring the Spiral Pit. The guards regarded them with both admiration and wonder at their foolishness for taking on that haunt. Moving on to the more immediate problem, several came forward to help haul Nathan, while another went further into town, saying, "I'll get Father Ribaldi."
"He's not dead!" Derek protested. He made a disbelieving noise and looked at Warren, about to ask, "Am I right?" But Derek was disturbed to see that Warren was chewing his lip and alternately looking at the floor and at Nathan. Nathan did look paler than he had at the start of this trip.
With the help of the guards, they made it into town, and a man who they assumed was Father Ribaldi came running to meet them, along with the messenger who had summoned him. The priest, looking at the two men, and their companion's pale face, stopped and moved his mouth soundlessly, then appeared reassured and thoroughly examined the wounds. He next began to chant, finally saying, "In the name of the triune God, be healed!"
The result was astonishing. Nathan's color instantly returned, and he began to strip off the constricting bandages. These were still soiled, but beneath them was living flesh, unmarred.
"What happened, my sons?" Father Ribaldi finally asked them.
"Ghouls, (expletive deleted) ghouls - er, sorry, Father - happened," Nathan grumbled.
"In the Spiral Pit," Warren supplied, sighing in relief, and totally having forgotten about both his and Derek's injuries.
"Derek," Nathan began, "I thought I told you to keep to the front."
"What front?" Derek protested. "The skeletons ended up behind us. Was I just supposed to ignore them?"
"Warren's got our backs," Nathan insisted.
"In Derek's defense," Warren pointed out seriously and reasonably, which startled both Nathan and Derek - for Warren usually obsequiously and with clear and ironic insincerity took Nathan's side - "I barely manage to take down one skeleton, after five minutes. Three skeletons are a reasonable cause for concern. In fact, I'm fairly sure I gibbered for my life. I've done more than that which I ought to be ashamed of, and so I don't feel too bad admitting it." (Ribaldi wasn't sure how much stock to put in this, as Warren said it with the voice of one who at least pretends to be ashamed of nothing, but Warren continued-) "In any case, I'm indebted to you, Derek, for coming to my rescue. Not that I'll ever repay you, I simply am stating-"
Nathan cut in, "Warren, if you would practice more and talk less-"
Derek exploded, "Good (obscenity deleted), man, you need to get off your power trip. It was amazing any of us hit our targets instead of each other in that dark (expletive deleted). Why didn't you know he needed help?"
"I did," Nathan roared, "and I was going to! Didn't any of you listen to me - I'm the one who's going back and forth between the front and rear! But you had to break formation, Derek! I'm trying to keep everyone alive, and suddenly I'm left alone, getting mauled by a ghoul, and -"
Father Ribaldi stood and broke in, "Look at you! This one-" he gestured to Warren, "talks up a storm, yet says nothing of importance. This one," and he gestured to Derek, "blames others for his own actions. And this one-" he pointed at Nathan, "blames others to cover up his own fears and regrets! And you lot thought you could take on the Spiral Pit alone! People tell me my faith is unbelievable, but this-"
All three adventurers began shouting at Father Ribaldi at once, but he finished, "None of you have thanked God, me, or even each other, for Nathan's deliverance."
Nathan was about to attempt an angry thanks when Warren insisted, "Shut up for a minute. How did you know his name was Nathan? I don't think anyone's said it, and we haven't met you."
Father Ribaldi sucked in his cheeks and finally admitted, "I had a vision. Of all three of you."
"Oh, great," Derek groaned.
"Our names and faces?" Warren asked, only slightly less suspicious than usual.
"And that you would be staying here," Father Ribaldi added. "I've been in this town a few times on my travels. I must've just missed you this morning; when I came to visit my friends, I heard that you came to town a little while before this venture to the Spiral Pit."
Derek rolled his eyes and asked, "Let me guess. You saw a great vision. Maybe a great task we are meant to do for you? Or maybe a big donation we need to make for the work of your church?"
Father Ribaldi said irritatedly, "That would be more convenient, wouldn't it? But no. I'm supposed to help you with your great tasks."
"Which are?" Derek inquired, clearly still expecting a catch.
Father Ribaldi queried in exasperation, "You don't know yet?"
Warren shrugged. "Nathan has this idea of making a living as some kind of adventurer. I'm still with him so I can escape this place, and because I'm too lazy to farm."
Derek spoke over Warren's last few words and insisted, "Spit it out, Father. What great task are you so sure we have to do?"
Father Ribaldi replied tightly, "I wasn't told, so I assumed you knew. All I know is that I'm supposed to follow you. Don't even know what'll happen if I do."
"You mean you don't know why you had this vision, Father?" Derek said, unconvinced.
"I only know it means I am to follow you," Father Ribaldi answered. He looked to heaven (despite being interrupted by the cave ceiling) and sighed, "Lord only knows why."
"He'll be asking that a lot if he comes with us," Warren whispered amusedly to Derek.
"Don't encourage him," Derek whispered back fiercely, then said to the priest, "Would you be able to keep up if you came?"
Nathan sprang to his feet, asking, "Would we be able to survive without him? Three men with blades were nearly killed today by walking corpses. Father Ribaldi, I am grateful. And you're right. But I doubt we're the right sort of men for you."
"You're not sinners, are you?" Father Ribaldi returned dryly. "I'd never have guessed. But I won't presume on my position. You have the right to ask yourselves: am I the right sort of man for you? Anyway, call me Ribaldi. I appreciate real respect, not the fake respect of titles, and certainly not the way you roll your eyes when you say it, Derek. You may not believe it, my son, but I often mistrust authority, too. So set your mind at ease about one thing, you of little faith: I'm an itinerant - I have no building for you to donate towards. I have only what I have on my person, my faith, and the vision. And here I was hoping that last was from indigestion."
Warren sidled up to Nathan and whispered, "We could just get rid of him." Nathan turned frowning eyes on him, and Warren elaborated, "Not like that, I meant leave before he wakes up tomorrow. He hasn't got anything worth stealing, anyway."
But Ribaldi had already lifted Warren's shirt, saying, "Stop prattling a moment." He put his ear to Warren's chest to listen to his breathing, ensuring his lungs were sound, then pressed two fingers to a small slash on Warren's side, chanted to heal it, then dropped Warren's shirt, saying, "Continue prattling, if you must, my son."
Derek folded his arms as Ribaldi approached him, clearly intent on healing his wounds. Derek inquired, "Are you any good in a fight?"
Ribaldi said pointedly, "I have the better right to ask that question." Then he reached out and healed a cut on Derek's arm and added, "But down here, I sadly must do more defending of the faithful than defending of the faith. This mace your friend doesn't think worth stealing has had to lay low many foes. Not, perhaps, in a league impressive to a mighty warrior such as yourself. You might tell me about some of your conquests as I heal your leg."
Derek, trying to suppress any potential mollification from all this, admitted, "Well, there was this bandit fort we took down together."
The end of the story didn't come until they all had tankards of ale at the local inn, and each of the three adventurers had contributed to the story somehow. After Warren got up to "take a (obscenity deleted)", Ribaldi noted that, "Whatever you lot may tell yourselves about how lawless and free you are, you care about each other a great deal to drag Nathan into town with wounds like those you had. Rather sad you need me to tell you that, I must say."
Nathan didn't care to be told this by a strange priest, and also didn't like to think too hard about the implications of what was said. But at least by the time they all turned in, he had more sincerely thanked all three companions. They received it with different degrees of sincerity and belches, but fell asleep far more peacefully than they had arisen.
Author's Note:
I don't recall exactly, but I think it was three or four days' journey from Upper Avernum's opening onto the surface to Krizsan.
I may be misremembering the Agate Tower's layout. Also, in case any Avernum 3 players are confused about why fire is needed to destroy slime pools, my recollection is that in Exile 3, the Fireball spell was required to destroy the slime pools, but the spell doesn't exist in Avernum 3, and other methods of attack could destroy them. I chose to stay with the Exile 3 requirements because I liked them better.
I don't remember if only a few know Erika's rune or everyone does, since she is famous.
Ribaldi is joining the story of the Avernum 1 characters here. As I recall, it's actually possible in Exile 1/Avernum 1 to let an NPC join your party, or add in a character you create on your own later in the game. That's the sort of mechanic I had in mind for adding him.