Narg and the Necromancer

Night Visits.

The path turned north, and Narg and company followed it though the afternoon. They met no others and made good progress.

As the light started to dim they found a good place to rest and made camp, surrounded by trees. The night was clear and cold, and the stars began to sparkle through the trees in the clear forest air. Narg sat in front of the campfire watching a rabbit Shogun had summoned roasting over the flames. Shogun and Gorgus were both deep in meditation, resting and gathering power for their magic. The only sound was the low murmuring of their chanting, and the crackling of the fire.

Serime walked over and sat down next to him, leaning forward towards the fire. She had discarded her sword and amour and wore a simple white robe, slit low at the front.

“Narg.”

Narg grunted and wrenched his eyes back from down her top to the cooking rabbit.

“We make a good team you and I.”

Narg grunted again.

Serime leaned on his shoulder, rubbing herself up against him. “You know, the Eyes of God are powerful artefacts.”

He said nothing, the rabbit was looking less interesting all the time.

“You art a fighter of considerable power and skill. A man of legend.”

Narg quivered slightly. He was no longer hungry. For rabbit anyway.

Serime’s hand ventured lower. She leaned forward, mouth near his ear and spoke in a whisper. “We could be a good team. You owe these two nothing. We get the Eyes, ditch the mage and the cleric and set ourselves up somewhere…cosy. What say you?”

Narg narrowed his eyes and thought about it. Serime was a piece of work alright, as demonstrated by her current hand activities in the region of his crotch. Sure, he liked the little guy, and even the cleric sometimes, but what did he owe them? On the other hand - he gasped slightly as Serime did something interesting with a part of his anatomy - what about Serime? The Elf was hardly a character who was trustworthy and loyal, or so he judged. Despite her obvious charms, of which she had plenty, and a certain character compatibility with Narg, she was likely to get the goods and leave him, perhaps with a knife in the back. That’s what Narg would do anyway.

Serime brought her mouth into play, and with increasing difficulty he considered the proposal. Maybe she had a point, he could deal with her when, if, the time arose. He leaned back, groaning as Serime began to use her tongue in an unusual but definitely stimulating fashion. “Oh yes! Let’s do it!” he groaned.

Serime somehow managed to convey ‘You mean take the Eyes for ourselves and ditch these other two losers?’ whilst still busy with Narg’s organ.

He made an affirmative sound and Serime began to move her head at a faster pace. Narg stuffed his fist in his mouth to try and stifle his moans. He managed to hold it in for about a minute…

“Yes, yes YESSSSSSSS!!!! Arrrrrrhhhhhhhhhgggggg!”

Narg fell backwards off the log he was sitting on. Serime smiled to herself and wiped her chin.

                                                                                               ~ * ~

It was morning and the group once again set off north. The path led upwards, winding between scraggly pine trees as it went. Ahead lay a range of low lying hills occasionally visible through the trees. A cold wind sprung up, and the travellers wrapped their cloaks around themselves and leaned into it as they walked.

The wind grew fiercer and colder as the day went on. Dark clouds scudded across the sky, an ominous forewarning of worse weather to come, and the afternoon saw the travellers cold and tired. They stopped only briefly to eat rations, huddling behind a tree in a vain attempt to get some shelter.

It was beginning to grow dark as the first light flakes of snow drifted down. Shogun tripped on the hard mud of the path and cursed energetically. Narg reached down to help him up.

“I can’t keep going much longer. I didn’t memorize my warmth spell last night either, someone interrupted me with his howling.” Shogun cast an eye towards Narg, who merely grinned unapologetically.

“We’ll find a place to camp soon Shorty, or so I hope.” Narg pointed forward and to the right. “See that? Looks like an old tower, I figure it could be a place to shelter.”

“Bah. Knowing us it will be filled with undead, or crazy Bob monsters or something.” Shogun wasn’t going to be pacified that easily. Still, he seemed to perk up, and picked up the pace a little.

Narg spoke to Serime, who was wrapped in her cloak so that only her eyes could be seen. “Do you know anything of that tower ahead?”

Serime shook her head. “I didn’t come this way before.”

As they moved closer to the structure it became obvious that it was a derelict place. The entire top half had caved in, or fallen over. It was difficult to see through the trees and the ever heavier snow, but it had a look of desolation and age.

Even so, the group approached carefully, weapons at the ready. The tower was set back a little from the road, on a slight hill. It didn’t appear to be very big, perhaps it used to be a watchtower or some such. It was made of solid stone though, and Narg could just make out an old wooden door hanging off the hinges, half hidden behind a pile of fallen masonry.

“Can you detect anything sword?” he whispered, drawing the weapon from its sheath slightly as they neared the building.

“The name, if you don’t mind, is Bloodletter,” replied the sword in a haughty tone.

“Yes, yes, Bloodletter then. Can you detect any hostile, or potentially hostile, hell any presence in or around the tower?”

“Only you and your charming friends. I must admit, the wench you have taken on board is quite wholesome, the way she used her mouth to…” The weapon’s voice was cut off as Narg slammed it home in the scabbard again.

They approached to find, as predicted, an empty tower. Or a ruin of an empty tower anyway. Narg climbed over the rocks and kicked open the door to reveal a dark, but dry and sheltered room. A stone floor was covered with leaves, twigs and the occasional animal dropping. The remains of a wooden table and chairs stood in one corner, and there seemed to be nothing else of interest. Rotting stairs lead upwards to another floor and Shogun climbed gingerly up to peer onto another level much the same, though this one was open to the sky, courtesy of the caved in roof.

“Well, looks solid enough, and it’s certainly better than out there,” Narg said. “Let’s get a fire going and cosy it up some.” So saying he smashed the remains of the table into firewood, and added some twigs and sticks to make a campfire. Shogun, now shivering quite violently, used a quick spell to light it, and soon the old place took on a more comfortable air.

Gorgus and Narg secured the door so it couldn’t be opened from the outside without alerting them, and everyone settled down to rest. Serime snuggled up to Narg on his sleeping skin and soon snores rang out whilst the winter wind whistled around outside.

Narg murmured and turned in his sleep. Something…

‘Naaaaaaaaaarggg. Naaarggg.’

He found himself in a room, not unlike the tower would have looked before its downfall. A by-now familiar figure approached him.

“You again!” he said. “What did you call yourself? “Misty? Mistral! That was it! What do you want? Am I dreaming again? You’d think there would be a couple of busty wenches if it was my dream.”

The white shape of a young woman drifted closer, holding out an ethereal hand. ‘Heeee commessss! He comeesss now! You mussstt wake!’

“Who comes? The necromancer? A Bob? Who?”

‘Waaakkkkke! WAKE!’

“Crap! How can I wake up?” he tried to pinch his dream self, only to find he actually didn’t have a body to pinch.

‘WAKE!’ shouted the image of Mistral suddenly, and Narg opened his eyes with a jerk.

He was back in the tower, lying on his sleeping skin with Serime’s arm draped across his chest. The fire was still burning, though a lot lower than before, sending flickering shadows out around the little room.

He heard something, a faint scraping noise. Carefully, moving very slowly, he looked around. There! A shadow at the base of the stairs. Someone in black robes with his face swathed in black cloth was very stealthily approaching. He held two wicked looking black daggers, one in each hand. Narg followed his progress, moving his eyes only and keeping his breathing regular so as not to alert the assassin.

Slowly he moved his hand towards Bloodletter. The black figure stopped moving. Narg froze. For an instant there was no movement, and then Shogun, lying on the other side of the fire mumbled something in his sleep and turned over.

The figure resumed its approach, and Narg resumed his slow reach for Bloodletter. The figure was near them now looking down on the couple. Narg could see the glint of an eye through the cloth as he looked at his targets. The eye suddenly widened! Narg moved and shouted at the same time. He grabbed Bloodletter and swung the still sheathed weapon around, smashing one of the daggers from the owners’ hand. The other dagger slashed down, and Narg rolled to one side, away from the blade.

Tearing Bloodletter free from its sheath, he leapt towards the shadowy foe, swinging as he did so. The assassin jumped back and threw the other dagger at Narg. He ducked and it missed by a whisker. When he looked back, the figure was bounding up the stairs.

“Wake up you lot!” he shouted. “We’re attacked!” Without waiting he leapt after the intruder.

Upstairs snow drifted down through the hole in the roof, footsteps revealing the path the assassin had taken to the room’s single window. As Narg thundered up the stairs he threw back his cowl to reveal a white painted thin face, a black star tattooed over the left eye.

He drew a short blade as Narg approached. “Lucky,” he said. “Lucky this time, but I’ll be back!” Without a backward glance he climbed onto the window ledge and leapt out into the night, quiet as a cat.

Narg approached cautiously, it wasn’t unknown for assassins to leave traps in their wake.

Behind him Shogun pounded up the stairs. “Narg! Narg! Are you okay? What happened?”

Narg peered out of the window. There was no sign of the attacker. He hadn’t really expected there to be.

He sheathed Bloodletter and turned to the panting halfling. “Nothing to be worried about wizard, only a Black Sun assassin.”

“Black Sun?” said Gorgus poking his head into the room. “As in the Black Sun assassin’s guild? ‘We kill who you pay us to or the assassin dies’ Black Sun?”

Narg nodded. “Yep. I really don’t know how they recruit people with that company policy.” He stopped. “Where’s Serime?”

The three rushed downstairs to find Serime lying where they had left her, holding a gash in her side and panting hard. “Poison!” she croaked as Narg and Gorgus knelt down beside her.

Gorgus examined the wound and looked at Narg, shaking his head. “I can do nothing for this here.”

Serime lifted a hand weakly. “Pouch,” she whispered. Gorgus looked around and handed her her pouch. Serime fumbled about inside and withdrew a small orb made of what looked like glass. “Emergency teleport,” she explained. “Stand back and…Narg.”

Narg leant close. “Yes.”

“I’ll be back.” Serime mumbled a word and crushed the small orb in her hand. There was a wavering of the air and a sudden ‘whooshing’ sound, and she was gone.

Narg stood up. “Well then.” He looked around. “I’ll take the first watch.”

The other nodded and returned to their rest.