The morning dawned rough, grey. Smoke and fog rolled through the camp, cook-fires preparing meals for the troops before their day began. Azrael ducked out under the entrance to his quarters and stood in the mists, absorbing the smells of the camp. Soldiers and servants bustled about their business, and the level of sound was muted behind the cloak of vapor passing through.<\/p>\n
He didn’t like the southern forests. Too much humidity, it had a rusting effect on weapons. His pack was ready beside the entryway, his bow leaning against the door and sword resting across the pack. As he belted his gear on and inspected the contents of his pack, he could see his company gathering a ways off. Confirming that his gear was properly stowed, he shouldered the pack and walked over to them. He withdrew three packs of arrows tied together with twine from a quartermaster’s wagon as he passed it.<\/p>\n
The lieutenants were forming up as he drew closer. He slotted one bundle of arrows into his quiver, and handed the other two to a soldier, pointing his thumb back at his pack. The man took them and tied them to the top left and right of the gear while Azrael looked over the company.<\/p>\n
“Set?” He asked, loud enough to be heard.<\/p>\n
General assent came from the company’s troops. “All right. Form up, everyone. Casters, draw your circles and let’s get everyone ready to travel.”<\/p>\n
Kaenig shuttled over to him and handed him a bundle of leather, containing glimmering residuum dust. Azrael nodded and smiled as he accepted the components.<\/p>\n
The various magicians began prepping their traveler’s chants, and Azrael began applied shadow step to groups of soldiers as he moved down the lines. In short order, the company was ready and moved out. Azrael saw several of the troopers looking on with wonder and not a little consternation, seeing the light of day shifting through the echoes of the Shadowfell as they all formed up to head out.<\/p>\n
The semipermeable nature of the space through which they moved actually felt thicker than normal air, heavier in some ways. Yet trees, rocks, clouds, they all passed remarkably swiftly. They hustled on, with what would have been quick speed even without augmentation. Azrael found the most challenging aspect of the journey was simply navigating, keeping on track.<\/p>\n
The day passed quickly – almost quicker than the terrain they passed over. As the day wore on, and they grew closer to the town, Azrael began to instill caution on the team, single-filing the company and slowing slightly down. He was slightly surprised at how quickly the company moved through the terrain, and made a mental note for the future that such a combination of rituals made for an exceedingly useful move for moving his unit.<\/p>\n
The last thirty minutes or so of the march was along the side of the river, which they crossed at a point where it became extremely wide and shallow. Before long while proceeding downstream, the long stone bridge came into view, and the smoke of the town across the river rose into the sky in soft ribbons of grey and brown.<\/p>\n
The end of the bridge was fortified with a small garrison-house, and as they shuttled through the woods to the South, Azrael went with one of his men to scout the place. A squad of four or five dragonborn soldiers were positioned in the bridgehouses, all of whom looked thoroughly bored.<\/p>\n
The company finished its crossing of the road, and they entrenched themselves in a deep pocket of woods perhaps a mile south of the bridge and its attendant roadway. Azrael assigned squads patrol schedules as well as a perimeter walk, and arranged the first scouting party with himself at its head. Gathering his four chosen team members to set out. In the quiet humidity of the jungle, accented by the smell of rough sweat and rotting vegetation, and punctuated by the sounds of biting insects, the five of them divested themselves of everything but the bare essentials. Morolan, the youngest of them, squinted against the drip of sweat coming down his forehead. “I hate the jungle,” he said quietly.<\/p>\n
Azrael tightened his sword-belt and checked his quiver. Glancing over at him, he commented equally quietly – “The sooner we get our job done and done well, the sooner we get home. If it makes you feel better, I dislike it as well.”<\/p>\n
Morolan nodded, shouldering on a leather jerkin. The armor creaked with the damp air. Hearing the noise, Azrael double-checked his own, and picked up some mud from the ground to wipe on his own armor. The others took the hint and did similarly.<\/p>\n
The sunset in the jungle was less than dramatic, just a softening of the light into a deep twilight, the sound of frogs and insects rising up to a fever pitch that was almost painfully loud. Some form of locust was going through a breeding season, and the raucous noise of thousands of individuals advertising themselves to one another almost made it impossible to be heard with a regular voice. The five Turathians slid through the jungle brush, often on their stomachs to get through the thick vines and brush.<\/p>\n
When they reached the riverbank, Azrael took a few moments and prepped a water-walking ritual for each of them. He sent Morolan over first, bearing a candle and a small metal shield for the flame to give them a location to home in on. When he reached the other side, Morolan lit his candle and positioned the shield to allow its light out only in the direction of the waiting scouting party. As each of them completed the ritual, they skittered across the surface of the water, which had begun to steam gently in the cooler air of evening. Azrael was last over.<\/p>\n
“Alright. If things go askew, we return here to regroup and retreat. Got it?” They all nodded assent. “Let’s move, then.”<\/p>\n
They moved out, Azrael in the middle, bracketed by Morolan, Petr, Zakne, and Ria. The brush rustled around them in the slowly lessening heat of the evening. Now that they were out of the shadow-walk, they were fully exposed to the numerous tiny, biting midges that ensured their every step was paid for with blood.<\/p>\n
Through the forest they slid, quiet as they could manage – not that it mattered terribly much over the raucous noise of the jungle. After a few minutes, Morolan held up a hand, “Please wait.” They all paused while Morolan unrolled a small scroll. Azrael broke out a small canteen and sipped while Morolan went through his ritual. After a few minutes he finished, and the jungle around them seemed to withdraw as if it was quietly repelled by them. It was such a subtle pulling away that it almost seemed as if they’d paused at a roadway.<\/p>\n
“I should have thought of that, good catch, Mor.” Az clapped him on the shoulder.<\/p>\n
“That’s why you pay me the big coin, sir. Just be careful – if we move too quickly, the brush ahead and behind will make a lot of noise. We’ll still move slowly, but we’ll have a clear path.”<\/p>\n
“Mor, you have a familiar in there, right?” Azrael pointed to the side bag that was hanging open at the soldier’s side.<\/p>\n
“Yes sir, but not one that’s capable of speaking with me. Just letting me know when there’s a problem and gifting me with a little extra dodginess.” He smiled as the pink nose of a small rat extended from the shadowed interior of the bag, whiskers twitching. Almost as quickly, it withdrew.<\/p>\n
“Okay, everyone, move out.” They all stood and stowed their gear, and made the hustle.<\/p>\n
Two hours later, they had circled three-quarters of the way around the town. Resting in a small hollow, Az brought Petr with him up to the edige of view of the town for another look.<\/p>\n
“There’s that pyramid we saw from the other side. Less brush here, should be easier to see.” Petr said as he passed over the spyglass.<\/p>\n
“And be seen. Keep an eye out and make sure we’re not being flanked.” Petr nodded and glanced around through slitted eyes.<\/p>\n
Through the spyglass, Azrael saw the town – wide, red-dirt roads, many wooden huts and buildings, and a very few stone edifices surrounding a large stepped ziggurat. The pyramid had stairs leading all the way up, and a stone hutch atop it. It was kept immaculately clean, no vines or moss accumulated upon it. Smoking pit-fires were scattered around the town in between the buildings, and many had chimneys that extruded thin ribbons of smoke into the humid air. Dragonborn and a few humans wandered around.<\/p>\n
Several of the stone buildings boasted elaborate decorations, feathers, and intricate pottery around the grounds. From one of them, Azrael saw a creature come forth from its doorway, looking up at the top of the pyramid. Its eyes never left the hutch at the top as it pulled a harness over its all-too-human shoulders and tied it around a waist that seemed never to end. Its head was that of a snake, colored green and red – either through paint or naturally colored – and below its ribs it had no legs, just a broad tail of angular cross-section that boasted brown and tan chain patterns. The harness had a large dagger, leaf-shaped, with a twine-wrapped handle, as well as other gear. It moved from its door and slithered up the stairs of the ziggurat.<\/p>\n
The roads were slick with mud. Apparently the place had not yet had a sewer constructed, as occasional wooden buildings on the outskirts apparently served as communal toilets. Small trenches led from these outwards into the surrounding jungle, and rain-barrels stood outside their doors as well as those of several other buildings.<\/p>\n
As he was looking around, four dragonborn bracketing two chained humans and a single halfwise came out of one of the stone buildings and started up the steps of the pyramid. Azrael knew what was waiting for them up there, and didn’t think much more of it.<\/p>\n
Thunder boomed in the distance.<\/p>\n
“Alright, I’ve seen enough. Let’s get back and we’ll brief the rest of the team.”<\/p>\n
Within a couple hours, they’d returned to the camp.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The morning dawned rough, grey. Smoke and fog rolled through the camp, cook-fires preparing meals for the troops before their day began. Azrael ducked out under the entrance to his quarters and stood in the mists, absorbing the smells of … Continue reading