5.1 - Escalation (Patreon)

5.1 - Escalation

Madison

As soon as Taylor mentioned the Gnome Karlach and Wyll were practically chomping at the bit to charge in and rescue him. Or… well… Karlach wanted to charge in, Wyll was eager but he quickly recognized the entryway was a perfect spot for an ambush and you couldn’t really rescue anyone if you were dead. 

The plan was hashed out quick, even if being tied to a spinning windmill wouldn’t actually kill the Gnome, there was no telling when the Goblins would simply get bored and just kill him for the fun of it. Wyll seemed to think the next stage of their ‘Game’ would be to shoot arrows as he spun to see who could hit him first. 

It was horrifying to consider… and seemed entirely on brand given that absolutely none of the natives seemed either surprised or even the slightest bit incredulous. 

Sophia and Astarion would infiltrate first along the south  western wall, it seemed the least occupied and there was a tree at the base of it one could climb to get at least halfway up to the retaining wall, Sophia’s rope would provide the means to scale the remaining distance. 

The two would keep a lookout for any Goblins and, hopefully, silently eliminate them if they had to before they raised an alarm or even just screamed really really loudly.

Once the whole group made it -or well, part of the group. Karlach being on fire was going to be an issue if she was gonna dangle all of her weight from a rope. So she would stay outside and rush in through the main entrance if she heard fighting or the team gave the all clear.-

And that’s about as far as concrete steps for the plan went.

Durge laid out a few options and said he would decide what to do once they had a better look of the situation… she was pretty sure that translated as ‘winging it’.

But no one had any better plans so… off they went.

They kept quiet and low as they approached and Madison clutched at Alfira’s Bard book like a safety blanket.

She’d already read it from cover to cover. Granted it wasn’t a very large book and she had nothing but time on her hands these days but as they drew closer she remembered the passage that had detailed how a Bards were meant to help their companions in combat. Weaving magic into the music that they played, every note and sound cue carrying an effect to bolster their strength or hamper enemies. 

It all sounded very good… in theory.

In practice she was finding herself almost sick from the nervous butterflies fluttering around in her stomach at even the thought that she was approaching danger.

Nevermind performing, what would she do if anyone decided to actually attack her? All she had was a little knife dangling from her belt, pilfered from Ethel’s house. And it wasn’t even magical or anything!

And… even if she knew the basics she was hardly any kind of expert at the instrument. She might just be better off actually smashing someone over the head with the violin rather than playing with it. 

As her doubts tossed and turned inside of her own head Sophia shifted into her shadow state and started to ‘climb’ The sun was still high in the sky, two, maybe three o’clock in the afternoon, plenty of light to spot her, and Madison felt that nervousness turn nauseating as she crested over the retaining wall.

She listened, waiting for anything to happen, any disturbance, but then, the rope was tossed down, Astarion following after her, bow and knives at the ready.

A few seconds pass, and Madison realizes Durge is looking to Taylor.

The tall, thin brunette gives the nod. “They’re in position, all clear.”

And one by one the team climb partway up the tree, grab the rope and start following

Designated as the last ones to climb Madison and Emma shared… a look, and in eachothers gaze the two Brocktonite girls could see the moment of recognition, the moment of sheer insanity sort of really hitting home as they took in the absurdity that their life had become.

They didn’t say anything though… what the hell was there to say. She watched the others, she could see the strain on Taylor’s face as she climbed, pure grit and raw determination as every muscle strained to pull her up through just her upper body strength and Madison realized, very very abruptly…

She might not be able to get up there.

Like… genuinely.

She’d never even done a single Pull up.

Hell, Taylor herself had to get help from Durge and Shadowheart to climb the last bit, the dragonborn reaching down and grabbing hold of her hand to literally haul her up the last couple of feet as Shadowheart grabbed her by the belt and helped pull her onto the top of the retaining wall.

She saw Taylor wince, whipping her hands in the air as if trying to shake off the pain, her fingers were trembling and even from here, Madison could see how red they got.

Lae’zel followed right behind, the woman made it look easy. Just grabbing the rope with two hands, not even bothering to put her feet against the wall like the others had and simply hauling herself up… she did it faster than the others did too.

And then, it was Madison’s turn.

She grabbed hold of the rope, stepped off the tree, trying to swing and plant her feet against the wall-

And as her full weight settled on her hands, she immediately knew she wasn’t climbing anything.

Waiting at the top of the retaining wall, Durge watched, and no doubt the man could read the look on her face. “Stay there with Karlach.” He whispered. 

“What!?” Emma hiss-whispered back, and from her angle Madison couldn’t see what her expression was but it sounded a little strange to her ear.

Durge didn’t answer her, his left hand glowing a pale blue. “Let go.” He demanded.

Madison felt nervous, but decided to trust and let go of the rope, her body beginning to fall the six or so feet before it felt like she was floating, like she was hanging from a parachute.

She adjusted, feet touching the floor- and a split second later there was a tremendous, unmissable sound of a horrible crashing and clattering noise above. 

“Oh hells!” Shadowheart hissed.

And that’s when the sounds of fighting broke out.

Karlach grinned, pulling her axe free, body glowing, flames dancing along her flesh. “Fuck yes!” 

And she practically started to skip towards the front entrance. 

The others left, abandoning her and Emma along the retaining wall. And Madison turned to look at the redhead. And like her voice before the expression on her face was strange, indecipherable and then she looked at Madison. 

“We can’t just keep being left behind!” She said.

“We can’t fight!” Madison shot back just as the sound of Karlach roaring reached their ears and she saw one Goblin get thrown end over end, screaming down the hill. Had the giant woman punted him or something?

Emma reached grabbing hold of the booklet Madison had stuffed into the small travel bag and shaking it. “We can do something! You’ve been at this longer than me so… anything!”

Madison grabbed hold of the violin at her back, pulling it free of the cloth that bundled it, racking her brain, remembering the book’s “lessons”.

She could barely play, she sure as shit didn’t know how to ‘Weave magic into every note to lift spirits and confound souls’ but…

Fuckit

She placed the Violin to her chin, the bow to the string and racked her brain for a song.

Given the sounds of sheer bedlam and chaos just above and to their right… one song came to mind…

—

Taylor

Lae’zel had been moving to take a vantage point in the second story of one of the houses.

The wood had disagreed with that idea.

The crash was the whole rotting structure giving way under the weight of her and her armor, the Githyanki had fallen straight through, cursing in her own language in some rather inventive ways.

If she ever got her hands on whoever built the building… I doubted the man would enjoy the meeting.

Regardless the Goblins had heard, how couldn’t they? And then one caught sight of Gale, his bright blue robes were never made for stealth. 

And all hell had broken loose from there.

The alarm went up, there was a mob of literally flea bitten, screaming, howling, little green monsters coming at us with swords, shields and weapons at the ready.

I made my swarm answer.

Mosquitoes began carrying spiders and scorpions up and into position, flies worms and flying roaches flew in to cause a distraction. I could hear with my own ears Goblins shouting ‘For the Absolute!’ Saw and felt Goblin mages, or at least what I guessed were Goblin mages casting spells to help protect against the swarm. Lightning, fire, even poison gas. There were… four? No, si- seven. Seven Goblin mages as far as I could tell.

In total I counted one hundred and seven exactly of the green monsters. Fifty-three were in the village proper and already converging on us, another thirty-seven were at the top of the hill where the Windmill and the gnome hostage was. The rest were in the surrounding hills.

The ones in the hills were easy to disable, already isolated from the mages and in the forest itself the bugs surged out of the trees and bushes, tearing into them. I could hear their screams with my own ears, flailing limbs and desperate panicked fight or flight responses kicking in. Most ran, others tried to get to the perceived ‘safety’ of the village itself.

Astarion started firing off arrows from his vantage on the roof, Sophia joining him. The Goblins that tried to surge into the building itself found a very irate Lae’zel, her blade hacking away as Wyll and Gale fired out of the windows.

Down by the main gate, Karlach was happily charging straight into the fray, catching the gate guards who had turned their backs, wondering what all the commotion was inside the village when she pounced on them.

And then, I heard a very familiar, unmistakeable song beginning to rise over the screams and buzzing of my swarm.

Sophia paused, turning and I have no doubt her expression would have been as incredulous as mine.

“Who the fuck is playing Free Bird!?” I heard her Holler, even as Karlach, smashed a Goblin through a wall turning it to splinters.

“FUCK YEAH! NOW THAT’S A SONG A GIRL CAN FIGHT TO!” I heard her roar even from all the way over here. 

“Come on!” Durge urged us to follow him, running to join the bedlam and mayhem-

But I saw something he didn’t.

The mob at the top of the hill by the windmill had thinned, nearly all of them running down to join the fight, only about three of them were still up there, and there was a narrow half hidden path up through the west side!

We could get to the gnome!

Later, I’d chalk it up to instinct, or just the notion of hitting someone where they weren’t expecting pushing me forward, but I turned and ran just barely being within earshot when Durge shouted after me.

I kept an eye on the fight with my bugs as I ran. Karlach was practically carving a trenchline of bodies as she battered her way towards the rest of the team through the Goblins. 

Gale covered the windows in grease, tripping the Goblins up as they tried to get in, making them easy prey for Lae’zel as the woman charged in, cleaving whatever was in her path with that sword just as I started to clamber up the hill.

The swarm finally descended in force and whatever Goblins weren’t being protected by those mages were now very painfully aware of just how many bees and hornets and other nasty creatures had been living in the squalor that was this destroyed village. Hell, I even made the ticks and fleas on them start sucking blood and biting at their scalps. 

Finally, I reached the top of the hill, where around five Goblins were left, looking down in confusion towards the village.

They weren’t looking at me, or the windmill.

I snuck past them, into the Windmill itself, and was greeted by massive wooden cogs and gears. There were two levers, and the Goblins were kind enough to carve in the words ‘Stop’ and ‘Fly’ next to each of them. 

I pulled on the one that said stop.

The stop was not quiet.

Metal screeched, wood ground to a halt and I felt the Goblins by the hillside turn at the sound.

“The hell! Someone’s tryin to rescue the pipsqueak! Gut em!”

Four of the Goblins drew their swords and began to approach.

Fuck!

I looked around, searching for a weapon. 

I grabbed the only thing that looked like it might work. 

—

Fezzerk

He didn’t know how in the blazes they got past the gate guards without anyone noticin, but by the absolute he was gonna gut this lil gnome prick’s friends before the day was done!

Fezzerk swatted away the buzzing flies and bugs swarming around him. Was it one of those druid cunts the Drow were lookin for?

Didn’t matter. 

“Fuckin kill em and lets join the others! He demanded as the boys walked towards the windmill. 

Gibbet was the first to get there, spear in hand, reachin for the half broken door.

Fezzerk wasn’t sure what he was expectin’ but someone literally kickin the door down and nailing Gibbet in the face wasn’t it.

It looked like a girl… the hell was she doin with that ladder!?

His question was answered rather abruptly when she swung the damn thing and clobbered Rask square across the face!

The rest of his boys rushed her.

And Fezzerk felt his jaw drop as the girl, used that fucking ladder, and made it look like the best damn weapon in Faerun!

It was everywhere, spinning around her body, over her head! She twirled it so fast it almost looked like it weighed nothin blocking swings and makin his lads look like bumbling infants who barely knew how to swing a sword. 

“The bloody hell is wrong with you lot! Get he-” A fly flew down his throat and he choked as Gabbel swiped at her legs with his sword, trying to slice em off, only for her to step over the strikes, swinging the ladder to sweep Gabbel’s legs out from under him.

Rask tried to hit her blind spot but she threw the ladder up, and even though she was wide open the stupid bastard flinched, looking up to make sure the ladder wouldn’t fall on him, only for her kick to nail him across the jaw.

Fezzerk growled, grabbing hold of his own blade and rushing in. He’d show the lot how to use a goddamn swo-”

The ladder came down.

She caught it, spun it over her head like a staff… and looked at him.

…

… Why was Fezzerk hearing music?

He shook his head, gathering his nerve shouting as loud as he could, he charged at the girl.

And the girl swung the ladder up, over her head and brought it straight down.

Fezzerk stopped in his tracks, eyes wide, covering his head.

And the ladder trapped him in one of the gaps between its peg steps.

“What the-!” And that was about as far as she got.

The girl kept man handling the piece of equipment - with him in it! Blocking a blow from Gibbet on her left, another from Rask at her right. 

Gabbel grabbed hold of the ladder, wrestling with it

“GET ME OUT OF THIS DAMN THI-” He started to holler, only for the gril to slide under the ladder and sweep his legs out, he fell forward, slamming his chin into the step hard enough that he was seeing stars. He was half sure he bit his own damn tongue off. The girl kicked at the ladder before he’d even gotten his bearings to send him and the it tumbling sideways to close the distance of Gabbel, fists coated in green as she delivered a flurry of punches as Fezzerk finally crawled his way free of the accursed climbing tool.

And then, the bees started stinging. 

Fezzerk ran. He’d never been very fast, but he ran and didn’t stop until he got out of the forest.

If he never saw another bug, or girl or ladder again in his life, it would be way too soon. 

—

Taylor

I was breathing heavy by the time the fight was done. Not just from the pounding of my heart and the ache in my body from exertion, acrobatics and… skill it had never gotten used to, but more from the sheer rush of pure adrenaline that left my fingers twitching uncontrollably and my body trembling. 

The Goblins in the village were breaking, running away, screaming. Durge wouldn’t be happy. He’d wanted them all… dealt with. To make sure they didn’t carry word to either party but I didn’t have enough venomous insects to deal with that many and even if I did… Monsters or not I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be actually killing any of them…

I looked down towards the village, through both my physical eyes and the swarm senses, watching everything and listened distantly as… fucking Free Bird stopped playing on the wind.

Where in the hell did-

“Erm… excuse me… young lady.”

I started, turning and looking at the Gnome dangling from the Windmill arm.

He had slate grey skin and was squirming rather uncomfortably in his bindings. 

“Would you mind cutting me loose?”

“O-oh… yeah sorry.” I said quickly, hearing as a collection of footsteps beat feet up the slope of the hill.

A second or two after I started undoing the knots, Durge, Shadowheart and Wyll crested the hilltop.

The Dragonborn took a long slow breath. “Hebert-”

“Sorry.” I cut off… whatever he was about to say. “I saw an opportunity to get him and I took it.”

“Yes she was… quite creative with climbing utensils.” The Gnome said. 

I felt heat crawling up my cheeks and neck and made a rather concerted effort to not look at the curious looks the three were giving me.

“We’ll speak on this later.” Durge’s voice hadn’t changed but that statement almost felt like a threat as he marched forward, razor sharp claw brandished before he used it to cut through the ropes like a knife through butter. 

The Gnome fell off of the windmill arm with a startled shout, hitting the ground on his feet but immediately stumbling and swaying like he was drunk. Or dizzy. Likely dizzy…

The others started making their way up the hill now or at least Sophia and Madison did, Lae’zel, Gale, Astarion and Karlach I think were checking the bodies. 

“Are you alright?” Wyll asked.

“I’m fine.” The Gnome answered, clearing his throat before looking at me and then at Durge. 

“Alright well… Get on with it!” He demanded suddenly.

Durge raised an eyebrow. “Get on with…”

“You’ve saved me, now you’ll extort me.” The Gnome explained like he was talking to a dull child. “That’s how this works isn’t it!?”

“We’re not bandits.” Shadowheart chuckled. “We’re… well…” She trailed off looking at Durge.

“Problem solvers.” The Dragonborn chuckled under his breath. 

“Adventurers then… or… Mercenaries.” The Gnome sighed before straightening his spine. “Barcus Wroot. At your service… and… well…” He looked around before shrugging. “Good day I suppose.”

He did a sharp about face and began walking off.

“You’re leaving?” Shadowheart asked.

“I came out here looking for a friend. I need to find him.” The man explained. 

“We beat the Goblins but they’re not dead by any means.” The Half elf said. “If you head out on your own now you’ll likely be captured by one or more of them once more at best.”

Barcus opened his mouth and then closed it, lips pursing in displeasure. 

“You… might have a point.”

“You’re welcome to remain with us until its safe to go your own way.” Wyll offered. “Safety in numbers.”

“I…” Barcus cleared his throat. “Well… that’s… very decent of you.” He seemed about as socially awkward as I was. Maybe even moreso. And that was saying something. 

He looked around and then sort of leaned up on his tippy toes to look down the hill where the others were.

“What is your group called then?”

We all looked at eachother.

“Erm…” Wyll began. “Well…”

He trailed off.

(X)(X)(X)

We are now accepting suggestions for what you all think the group should be called :p

Next chapter is gonna be an important one. And no. Not because of the spiders. I promise we'll get there. But next chapter's gonna be a big step forward for our little group.

You'll understand what I mean when you read it :D