Bitter Harvest

The first elven druid sneered at the Brothers Trevelyan and cast a thunderwave that sent furniture, and Bob, flying across the room, shattering scores of expensive knickknacks along the way. Alex grit his teeth and leaned into the blast wave, but was still pushed back into the thorny hide of the battlebriar. The second druid cast barkskin and armored up, swinging a wooden staff menacingly. Siegfried found himself under assault by a pair of the elven intruders – one plugged him with arrow after arrow while the other stabbed him in the side with his shortsword. Siegfried, though pained, was patient, keeping his eyes on the prize before him. He grabbed one of the elves and held him before him as a shield, but then doubled over as the elf drove his sword into the half-orc’s guts. Another elf shot an arrow at Varien, who deflected it effortlessly. The lead ranger, still stunned from Theryn’s earlier strike, was helpless amid the flames of Varien’s wall of fire , scarcely able to wheeze in agony as he burned alive. Bird-wen flew in through the open window after the druids, and dropped his wildshape, skidding and somersaulting on the wooden floor. He pointed at the surprised druids. “Girls, I’m going to make you famoose!” he called out, conjuring a herd of elks. The creatures manifested themselves inside the increasingly crowded confines of the great room, knocking over end tables, scuffing the floor, and generally causing mayhem. A few of them spilled out into the front foyer of the building, while still others began grazing on the grass outside the ruined section of the villa. “Anyone that moves, get ‘em, boys!” Erwen commanded his herd. To his friends he stage-whispered, “Stay still!” Siegfried misty stepped the distance between him and the blighted druid, and slipping behind her, struck her with a booming blade . She stiffened, rigid with agony as Siegfried whispered contemptuously into her ear. “You may leave when you are finished answering my questions.” A thorn whip arced towards him and he slapped it away with annoyance. “Ysili Uvonkel!” the druid shrieked in rage. “Re feli Feler!” She elbowed Siegfried aside, not even wincing as she took the thunderous blast of his booming blade and retreated. Inside the ruins of the great room, the battlebriar’s head snapped to attention and it emitted a thunderous growl. Siegfried shook his head resignedly as the blighted druid escaped his grasp and skittered a few yards away. “I suppose that’s acceptable.”   Varien stood before the ignited elven ranger, brandishing Fiendsbane. “Can’t catch your breath, can you?” he raised his sword. “That’s because you’ve drawn your last!” Fiendsbane’s blade erupted in radiant flame as the paladin brought the sword down on the ranger, scorching him with a searing smite along his torso. The ranger smiled coldly back at Varien even as he was wreathed in flames. “Auglathla shall…be…avenged,” he hissed as the holy fire incinerated him. Varien winced. He hated it when his quarry got the last word. Alec cut himself free of the battlebriar and rushed to defend his brothr, wielding the Sword of Trevelyan and slashed violently at the druids. Bob got to his feet and fired a twinned guiding bolt at the druids in the southeastern quadrant of the great room. Alec knocked one of the druids out of the fight with a well-placed fire bolt. The blighted druid managed to put more distance between herself and Siegfried, running towards the blackened, wizened tree near the Nidris Greenhouse. Siegfried frowned. “This is not acceptable!”   Erwen’s elks began to move. Two of them peeled off after the blighted druid, galloping unsteadily as they moved over a patch of ground that had been sown with magical thorns. Another elk lowered its horns and charged an elven archer, bashing him squarely. A second archer was scooped up by another elk’s antlers and thrown down beneath its hooves. Heedless of the battlebriar’s thorny exterior, an elk charged towards it and rammed into it headlong, taking damage as it did so. Talzu tottered out from the kitchen into the main hallway of the house, blanched as he saw the elk stampeding through the great room, and scurried back to safety. Erwen grinned at the mayhem his herd was causing, and then pointed at the battlebriar and cast ice storm . Immediately a hail of icy needles and a cyclone of winter wind erupted upon the creature. Its vine-and-branch-covered body visibly wilted under a carapace of ice that enshrouded it, causing it to stumble as it tried to get its bearings. Three nearby elks were caught in the storm and winked out of existence. “Sorry guys!” Erwen said sheepishly. “I guess the buck stops with me!” The battlebriar found its footings and twisted about, shaking off sheets of ice as it hurled a thorny barrage of missiles at Erwen and his elks. Several elks were stitched by the thorns and disappeared with a fey popping noise, and Erwen winced as he was pierced by several of the thorns.   Theryn looked to his right and saw an icy maelstrom. He looked to his left and saw the fires of hell itself. He shrugged and dove through the flames, intent on cutting off the druid’s retreat. He danced over the thorny ground and ran as fast as his muscled legs could carry him, his feet barely touching the ground as he used Step of the Wind to increase his speed. Seeing that he wasn’t going to reach the druid in time, his hand strayed to his belt, coming up with a pair of throwing darts, which he flung at the escaping druid, striking her in the back. The druid stumbled, leaves beginning to drop from her garland and skirts as she fled.   The battlebriar turned about, shaking off its dizziness, and charged towards Erwen. “Don't you take another step!” Varien shouted, trying to cut off the Battlebriar’s nearest leg. He missed. Alec grabbed his sword with both hands and slid beneath the bounding battlebriar, and his blade sliced deep into the creature’s vine-covered underbelly as he skidded across the polished floor on his knees. The vines split open and compost vomited out onto the floor. The creature, its roar still reverberating in the great room, stumbled and fell headlong at Erwen’s feet, now nothing more than a pile of leaves and green ichor. “You’re mulch obliged,” Erwen said to the dead battlebriar.   One of the elven attackers stabbed at an elk, killing it. His partner shot an arrow into another elk, while two other combatants couldn’t hit the moving targets. Exchanging frantic glances, the elves withdrew, running pell-mell to keep up with the blighted druid.   Siegfried ran to intercept the fleeing druid, hexing her and delivering a hexblade’s curse . He let out a battle cry as pointed Talon’s blade at the druid’s retreating back. The sword glowed and launched three sword-shaped beams of crackling energy that streaked inexorably toward the druid, fairly spearing her and running her through with malevolent magic.   The blighted druid fell to her knees as the leaves on her body began to darken and wither. She looked back at Siegfried, who towered over her Talon’s blade raised in mock salute. She spoke in halting Common. “All people are like…grass, and all their…glory…is like the flowers of the field.” Her eyes clouded over with sadness and the inevitable. “The grass…withers and the flowers…fall….” The druid fell limp. Siegfried felt a rush of bloodlust and did not push it back. He charged forward, cursed the corpse and hacked at it for a few moments until his composure put an iron portcullis between his rage and his rationality. Green blood dripping from his blade, he turned to face the dead druid’s nearest allies. “If you wish to survive as my prisoner, drop your weapons.” Seeing that their escape route had been compromised, the elves glowered at Siegfried, defiance in their eyes. Then the elks were upon them. One of the elves disappeared in a welter of red mist as the elk trampled him into the grass. Erwen jumped through the wall of fire, heedless of the flames, and scampered out of the ruined section of the great room to survey the grounds. He snapped his fingers and the elks disappeared, and then threw back his head and howled, conjuring a pack of wolves into existence on the battlefield. “Get ‘em, boys!” he barked. Eight wolves tore after one of the elves, while another eight surrounded the second attacker. Theryn caught up with the nearest elven attacker and struck him with his quarterstaff, and then delivered a stunning strike, following up with a flurry of blows. There was a snap as the elf’s neck broke, but before the body could slump to the ground, a pack of wolves pounced on it and tore it apart. The last elf tried to defend himself as the second pack of wolves surrounded him. He swung his blade in a wide arc, only to have a wolf’s jaws close on his sword arm, jerking the weapon out of his hands. Then a second wolf leaped at him, biting deep into his throat and shaking his head violently back and forth. The rest of the wolves were on him in a split second. 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Siegfried cast plant growth in an effort to revive the hedges and topiary in the wake of the blight that the druid had brought with her.   Varien let his wall of flame disappear around the same time that Erwen called off his ice storm . He looked around at the half-burned, half-frozen great room and heard ominous creaking sounds from the weakened ceiling joists above him. “I wonder if Lady Nidris is insured?” he asked himself. A vase toppled from a broken shelf and shattered on the floor. Varien winced. There was the sound of a clearing throat behind him. Varien turned to see Lady Sala Nidris and Vees Windrivver standing in the ruined doorway, with Talzu and Arris holding each other up as they wearily surveyed the massive damage. “Would you kindly,” Lady Nidris said, pausing as the last intact window in the room shattered in the background, “care to explain what just happened here?” Varien put on a smiling face. “Certainly, milady.” He paused as the harpsichord next to him chose this opportune moment to loudly discombobulate. “You were attacked, and we successfully defended you and your family from the intruders.” Lady Nidris’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “That…that was a wedding gift from my mother,” she said in a strained tone. “I assure you ma’am, damage was kept to a minimum,” Varien said. A ceiling joist gave way, dropping the Nidris’s four-poster bed into the middle of the room. Varien cleared his throat. “You have our deepest gratitude for letting us stay here these last few evenings.” Lady Nidris nodded like a puppet. “Quite. Yes, quite.” Siegfried, arrows still protruding from his body, strode confidently into the chamber. “Lady Nidris, is your son hale and hearty?” Lady Nidris blinked. “Yes…yes, Zan is safe.” “Thank Tyr for that, at least,” Siegfried said. “The minions of Asmodeus who tried to kidnap your son this night, did they brand him at all?” He looked Windrivver’s burned torso over. “How about you?” “No,” Nidris shook her head, a measure of pride returning to her voice. “They didn’t touch him.” “I took a lightning bolt meant for the lady,” Vees said. “But no brand touched my skin.” “Very good,” Varien said. “Now, I do find it curious that the Ashmadai, a party of masked assassins, and these druidic folks all descended on your house on the same day.” “Lady Nidris,” Siegfried continued. “Can I recommend that you and your loved ones, and select house staff of course, seek the solace and security of the Crystal Cathedral for shelter this day? If you mention the name of Robert Trevelyan to the Rose-Tender, I’m confident you and yours will be looked after in fine fashion.” He winked at Bob. “Thank you, Master Thann,” Lady Nidris said. She shook her head slowly. “All these invaders…were they trying to kill us?” “We protected your home from them,” Siegfried said. Varien shook his head. “Yes, but these druid types came after. They were agents of the Eldreth Veluuthra.” “The Eldreth Veluuthra?” Siegfried replied. “I believe Radegast left some rather strongly-worded notes behind about that group. Did they have a quarrel with you, Lady Nidris?” “The Eldreth Veluuthra?” Lady Nidris repeated absently. Erwen walked into the great room, flanked by his wolfpack. Arris fainted. “The Eldreth Veluuthra mentioned Agatha the Banshee,” Varien explained. “I think they were out for revenge.” “Their vengeful nature was only matched by their incompetence, I’d say,” Siegfried said. “Let us gather our things,” Lady Nidris said, a little too loudly. “Well then,” Siegfried looked around at the remains of the great room. “Time to call in the cleaners.” He sent a sending message to Harpshadow Boward, asking if the Harper agent could quickly find her way to the Nidris estate. Harpshadow Boward’s reply was immediate. Can’t, boss. Neverwinter Guard threw me in the stockade last night. Didn’t say why. “Oh,” Siegfried said. “Oh dear.” He frowned and sent another message to Risca. Boward’s in the stockade in the Protector’s Enclave. See what you can do. Risca was also quick to reply. I know, boss. I’m standing in the stockade right next to her. Guard picked me up last night. “By the Hells,” Siegfried swore and fired off another message, this one to Theryis. Did any of my agents NOT get arrested last night? Why, did you get arrested too? Theryis replied. Siegfried sighed deeply. He turned to the departing aristocrat. “Well, Lady Nidris, I now know who sent these assassins to your doorstep. The Lord Protector is after my life.” “A bold claim, that,” Varien said. “No, Varien, it is a statement of fact,” Siegfried snapped. “But Dagult is my buddy though,” Varien continued. “He may be your buddy,” Siegfried growled, “but he arrested all of mine last night.” “What, your Harpers?” Varien asked. Siegfried rolled his eyes and nodded. “I wasn’t trying to say that out loud, so thank you for that, but yes.” “Well, I’ve met a few of your Harper friends, and they don’t seem to be all that…y’know, good?” Varien said. “What were they doing to get arrested, then?” “Varien, you’ve met Hadow the Wily,” Siegfried said. “You know he’s the real deal.” “Well then, let’s go visit Dagult and chat with him,” Varien said. “See what he’s playing at.” “I don’t have the strength to save my friends at the moment,” Siegfried shook his head. “Good mate you are, then,” Varien said with a chuckle. Siegfried pulled the shaft of an arrow from his torso and threw it at Varien’s feet. During this exchange, Lady Nidris had turned around and was now staring accusingly at Siegfried. “You would accuse the Lord Protector of this treachery?” she said darkly. “No, only of a part of it,” Siegfried replied. He pointed to Talzu. “Your seneschal’s wounds were not from the Ashmadai, but Vees’ wounds were. Then came the Eldreth Veluuthra, bent on revenge. I may be able to offer you the protection of the Sunite Temple in Neverwinter, but I cannot protect you from the Lord Protector should he bear you ill will.” He spread out his arms to indicate the damaged villa. “And ill will he most certainly bears.” “But I am one of the Lord Protector’s strongest supporters!” Lady Nidris protested. Siegfried smiled gravely. “Lady Nidris, just today, General Sabine was ordered to redirect nearly a third of her military force away from the walls of Neverwinter to appease the Lord Protector’s political whims. The Dagger pierces the innocent.” Lady Nidris’s expression darkened and she shook her head confidently. “Lies. Lies! I won’t have you besmirching the name and reputation of the Lord Protector in what’s left of my house. You. May. Leave.” She pointed at the hole in the wall. Erwen’s wolves began to growl. Siegfried drew himself up to his full height, engaging all of his aristocratic upbringing to deliver an ice-cold valediction. “We thank you for your generosity and your shelter.” He spun on a booted heel and strode out into the pre-dawn grey without looking back. Varien cleared his throat. “I do recommend that you report the Ashmadai’s invasion of your home to Inspector Rannigan, who seems to be something of an authority on the subject. He can track down the Ashmadai for you.” Lady Nidris deigned to nod curtly. Erwen left with his wolf entourage in tow. The Brothers Trevelyan shared a knowing glance, bowed to the hostess, and departed. The gates of the villa opened as the adventurers left the grounds. “Ah,” Siegfried said as a familiar-looking pile of paper-wrapped parcels sat in the centre of the street. “That Talzu’s a good sort of servant, if nothing else. Shame he’s working for such a social climber.” He paused. “One final bit of business, then” Siegfried said. He cast a sending message to Dagult Neverember. Renaer told me you were a coward. This paranoia was, however, surprising. I look forward to the crowning of Neverwinter's Mad King Dagult. The Lord Protector’s reply was not long in coming. Tut, tut. You insult me in my court and now while I'm 'entertaining'? My patience has limits, Siegfried. What has gotten into you this evening, boy? Siegfried shrugged and turned to Erwen, who had dismissed his wolves. “So, small man, care to wind walk us to the Sword Mountains?” “Of course!” chirped the Halfling with a jaunty salute.