Enzi's Irregulars Act I - The Calm Before the Storm

by Steve Mossman

  “Food is easy enough,” Gharaf said, “But you are not going to find any blankets. Not even at exorbitant prices. I already sold the few I had for some nice profit.”

  “What is going on with the blankets?” the Feergrus man asked with curiosity.

  Gharaf shrugged, “I didn't get my shipment this year. Usually I get a large batch of hides, but my source has not come in yet this year.”

  A sly look crossed the Ravaleian's face, “Perhaps you want to earn your blankets, and a bit of coin as well?”

  “A job? From you?” Enzi asked with suspicion.

  “My source for hides is a recluse. A hermit if you will. He is a Kurrot and he takes the stereotype of their distaste of others to an extreme. However, his attitude and ability to survive alone have earned him the respect of the Hirkans. Each year when they travel north for the winter, he meets them at their trading post of Kanea. Outsiders normally don't get to visit, so he gains a large number of goods for the cost of trade in goods. Of course, he gets those goods from me. The hides are provided to me.”

  “I worry that he has found a way to annoy the Hirkans,” Gharaf said, “That seems most likely. Either that or he finally found something worthwhile for his other hobby.”

  “Other hobby?” Enzi asked with a touch of worry.

  “He looks for strange and unique things to sell to the Collector. He keeps hoping to make a big score and be able to retire. I really don't see that as a possibility,” Gharaf said with a twinkle in his jade eyes.

  Those eyes always made Enzi feel slightly uncomfortable. While green eyes were not unheard of for a Ravaleian, they were quite uncommon. The same held for blue eyes. While history said that Ravaleians were descendants of the Agonish people, their tendency to skin tones that were less dark and a sprinkling of eyes that were not brown suggested some other heritage also hid in their bloodline. The obvious answer was the Tarvoni, thanks to the strong friendship the Ravaleians showed to the mages that came to their lands.

  “Perhaps you could go check on my friend,” Gharaf said, “If you can, bring me my hides. I will make sure you are well compensated. Plus you will have your much needed blankets. I suspect the winter will be quite harsh this year.”

  Enzi grimaced. He could not see a reason not to take the job. With a shortage of hides, many people would suffer. While it was distasteful dealing with Gharaf, the Ravaleian had his uses. Finally Enzi relented.

  “Okay Gharaf,” Enzi sighed, “Where can we find this Kurrot friend of yours?”

  ***

  Aldebaran led most of Enzi's Irregulars through the snow, blazing a path with his massive body. A shivering Kava stayed behind him, sheltering herself from the chill wind. Eurysa followed her and Ritter was in the rear guard. Mayitso was busy bounding through the snow and outrunning the group. He was enjoying himself. He obviously was more comfortable in this weather. It made Ritter wonder where the lycanthropes normally lived. He seemed to have fully recovered from the incident at the auction ground. However, the brutality of the scene where the lycanthrope had slain so many had rattled the Halz.

  He was working with monsters. They were sentient, but each was certainly not entirely civilized. More than ever Ritter respected Enzi for directing their violence in useful ways. However it also made him wonder about the possibilities of the humans and the Halz working together. He wondered if it was possible that the two races were just too different to ever entirely get along. Ritter decided he was not going to give up yet. The fate of his entire race depended on him finding a way to bring peace to the seven remaining clans.

  It was interesting to be part of the group on their own again. Having Enzi with them on the last few missions had been interesting. The Halz had seen him fight. He had also learned that Enzi had not even brought his full power to bear in that fight. The Feergrus had been impressive enough, fighting without armor or weapon. The Halz hated to think how powerful Enzi might be if he used his talents as one of the shifters of his land. Ritter imagined that would have exposed Enzi far too much. The Feergrus did not need to draw too much attention to himself.

  A snort from the minotaur brought the dwarf's focus back to the present. The group had arrived at their destination. It looked like a broken down shack near the edge of the Tarvo Forest. However, the Halz quickly saw that the looks were deceptive. As an engineer he saw that while the shack looked small and ramshackle, it had been built to cover up another structure. The Halz bet that it was another outpost once built by the giants in ages past, like the ruins at Center Point.

  If that was true, it was very possible that the building had some extensive and very large rooms beneath the ground. The seven clan halls of the Halz were all built for giants. Ritter's people had been enslaved, much as the elves and humans had been. The giants had used the skill of the Halz to create the great halls. It was one reason that Tralenheim had been so beloved by Ritter's people. It was a place for the Halz only, built by the Halz. The Halz had suffered under the rule of giants for far longer than the other races, such an act of independence had given the Halz a sense of unity.

  The fact that the giants had came back and defeated the Halz and all the other races to end the Second Goblinoid War was a terrible memory. It had been the humans, under the leadership of Ago, that had freed the land once again. That act had given the humans a great deal of respect within the hearts of the Halz. It was the source of the Earthbreakers and one reason that Ritter hoped that human example would aid his shattered people.

  Aldebaran blazed a trail to the door of the large shack. It was locked, but the minotaur was polite enough to knock first. There was no answer, so Aldebaran knocked louder.

  “Just knock the stupid door down already,” Kava blurted, “Its freezing out here. At least we will be out of this damn wind in there.”

  The minotaur sighed, then kicked the door with one of his mighty hooves. The door shuddered and gave way before the fearsome assault. The wooden part of the building was certainly every bit as ramshackle as it had looked. The stone foundation upon which it was built, however, would certainly not have given way to such an attack. The minotaur did not immediately enter, so Kava rolled between his legs to get inside.

  “Ooh, this feels nice in here,” she purred with her croaking voice.

  “It smells... Sour,” Aldebaran said with a confused look, “That is unusual.”

  The best nose in the group, however, was still bouncing and playing in the snow. The rest of the mercenaries poured into the shack. The warmth was comforting, but the Halz did notice the odd smell as well. It was not the smell of death, but the Halz certainly could not place it. It was slightly acrid. The odd scent did not daunt the mercenaries. They searched the shack and quickly found it empty of any life or immediate clues. Ritter knew that it was built on ruins, however, and surveyed the shack for a route to a basement. He was not disappointed.

  “Here,” the Halz said, his completely black eyes spotting the hidden trap door, “A passage to the cellar.”

  The group cracked open the trapdoor. It had been excellently hidden as just some more poorly laid floorboards. Mayitso still had not joined the group, but Ritter knew the lycanthrope would not let Eurysa go far without him. The four mercenaries slipped down the shaft and immediately Ritter felt an oppressive muggy air assault him. He felt an odd sense of revulsion as he stepped on the ground.

  There was a sick crunching sound as he stepped on the floor. His eyes could easily peer through darkness and he did not see anything odd. However, there was also a crunching noise as he put his gauntlet on a nearby wall to steady himself. He took his hand off the wall and part of it stuck to his gauntlet. A goo or slime of some sort stretched from the broken off pieces of wall and the wall itself.

  “Ugh, what is this stuff?” Ritter asked.

  Eurysa found the ladder down a bit difficult to traverse. The floor felt horrific to her skin as pieces broke off and the slime trailed after her. While Aldebaran and Ritter could see perfectly fine in the darkness,
Kava was nearly blind in it. Eurysa had decent night vision, as long as there was at least some ambient light. The same would hold true for Mayitso if he was there. Ritter lit one of the slime covered torches on the wall so all could see.

  Bringing light to the scene did not help at all. While the dwarf could see shapes perfectly well in the darkness, without light there was no color. That was why the cities of the Halz were always well lit. They wanted to show off the gems and crystals they had mined. The sparkle and color was of great beauty to the eye of his people. What he saw in the basement of the shack was incredibly foul. The stone was covered with a shell that looked like stone except for its foul coloration. It was some mix of brown and green that almost exactly failed to please the eye.

  As they continued down the oddly coated hall, they heard the skittering of a great wolf's feet on the floor above. The Ritter heard an odd sound. It was the pattering of human feet behind them. The group turned as Mayitso caught up to them in his human form. His icy blue eyes were wide with panic.

  He spoke in the tongue of the Feergrus, “We need to leave now.”

  There was a large crash behind them where the ladder was.

  Mayitso merely sighed, “It is too late.”

  Enzi's Irregulars #0018

  “What is it Mayitso?” Eurysa asked in Infernus.

  “I think you call them Trenchers,” the lycanthrope said, still uncomfortable in his pale humanoid form.

  “Trencher worms?” Eurysa hissed, almost in derision, “Those things are pests that bother farmers. Even the largest ones are less than two feet long and not that dangerous.”

  “Those are the larvae,” Mayitso replied, “If fertilized, they get much different.”

  “Different?”

  It was obvious that Mayitso was struggling for the right words to describe them when a large shape zipped past the group from the direction of the ladder. For a brief moment Ritter saw four diaphanous wings carrying a worm body with six legs. It was about the same size as the Halz. The legs looked like scoops, though each had a sharp point. The dwarf thought he had seen a gaping circular maw full of needle-like teeth as well. However the creature's attack was not against the mercenaries. The lit torch was ripped from the wall as the creature flew by. The light disappeared quickly.

  “How did it come from behind us?” Eurysa hissed.

  “They can hide on these walls,” Mayitso replied, “And now the real fight begins.”

  Ritter saw the lycanthrope shift forms. The magical fey power that allowed such a transformation was shocking to see. The darkness hid it from most eyes, however. The Halz wondered about the magic that some Feergrus used to shift their own forms. He wondered if it was at all similar. Of course, the lycanthrope's ability was innate.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a shape in the darkness. The scoop-like legs of a flying trencher worm wrapped around the currently blind Eurysa. She hissed loudly as she was yanked off into the darkness. Mayitso spun in that direction, though he could not see without light. His nose, however, was working perfectly. The large wolf immediately trotted down the hallway following the scent. Kava was flailing her arms until she found a wall.

  “You know, Maybe I will just guard the exit here,” the vodyanoi croaked in Infernus.

  Ritter and Aldebaran looked to each other, nodded, then headed off after the kidnapper. The enormous hallways gave the creatures plenty of room to fly. Having been built to allow a giant to walk through, the ceiling was well beyond the reach of Aldebaran, even with his two handed sword adding to his reach. Mayitso bounded far out of the sight of the Halz and the Minotaur. The buzzing of a creature flying past was brief but terrifying. The two warriors moved onwards, keeping their eyes open in the dark hall.

  The Trenchers had begun to build on the walls. Ritter could see horrifying shapes made out of the insect's resins. Suddenly he was glad for the darkness. Color would have made those shapes only more horrifying. The crunching of the resin under their feet was only worsened by the feeling of good that stuck to their feet as they walked.

  A yell from behind the two made them spin. Far above them Ritter spotted a Trenched flying off with a struggling shape in its legs. It was too small to be Eurysa and had come from the wrong direction. It had to be Kava. Aldebaran and Ritter continued on, coming what had likely once been a huge room. Now it was choked off, with small tunnels leading in all directions.

  “Wonderful, just when we need our tracker,” Aldebaran said in Nuvro, worry obvious in his gruff voice.

  At that moment a pair of winged monstrosities erupted from boils on the walls. Viscous goo splattered all over the place. Ritter swung his warhammer as one flew past him. Another was pestering the minotaur. The creatures kept flitting about. Whenever it got close, the Halz could feel a strong vibration. He wondered what it was until the creature got its maw close to him. Ritter could feel the sonic emanations coming from the creature's maw. It seemed to use the noise like a sonic drill of sorts.

  He could feel it trying to penetrate his armor. His metal armor had no defense against such an attack and the dwarf crashed backwards. He stumbled and rolled down one of the tunnels. The Halz could feel the thrumming vibrations coming closer as the creature chased after him. A thought struck Ritter. From what he had seen of the creature, it did not seem to have any area for eyes. It had to be feeling its way through the dark with the help of its noise.

  He yelled as loud as he could as he charged into battle, hoping to disrupt its ability to see. He couldn't tell if had any effect, but his warhammer struck true. As the winged creature lay twitching on the ground, he smashed it again. Certain it was dead, Ritter looked around. He had bounced around a lot when he had tumbled into the tunnels. The area seemed honeycombed with the tunnels, so it was hard to tell where anything was. He had been separated from the others. Everyone was on their own now.

  Ritter stumbled onwards, searching for some sign of life, whether it was an ally to rescue or an enemy to smash. The dwarf moved on for what seemed like hours. Then he heard something. The sound was terrifying without context. It sounded like something enormous sliding along ooze and resin, pausing for a moment, then moving again. Deciding it was better to deal with it rather than avoid it, the Halz moved towards the creepy sound. Everything he had prepared himself for had not been enough. He spied upon an enormous room centered around a large pulsating gelatinous cocoon.

  Then he saw Eurysa and Kava. They were wrapped up in resin. They were to be food for whatever monstrosity would come out of that cocoon. The cocoon itself was gigantic, easily over two dozen feet long. Ritter heard the dragging sound again. It was Aldebaran. The minotaur was being dragged towards the cocoon. Ritter leapt into action. His hammer smashed down on one of the Trencher gatherers. The other made a low reverberating sound. Suddenly Ritter found himself facing off against three of the four winged worms.

  His hammer flew through the air, left and right. His shield blocked sharp legs that stabbed at him. Ritter felt a solid hit as he crushed one of his foes. The other two circled him, diving in and swooping around. They finally swooped from opposite directions. Knowing his options, the warrior decided to charge into the path one one of them. His shield created an opening and his hammer crushed the creature with ease. However the other hit him in the back. The Trencher unleashed the full fury of its sonic power towards his head.

  Ritter hit the ground face first. His world was spinning. It seemed he had failed his friends and would soon join them as dinner. He saw one of the sharp scoop-like legs raise up and Ritter thought it was the end. Then the insect was tackled off of the Halz. The lycanthrope Mayitso had finally arrived. He tore the winged worm in half with his mighty jaws. After a few sniffs he transformed into his pale human form.

  “I found the eggs. Six of them,” Mayitso growled, showing his feral nature even in humanoid form.

  “Well, I killed three here and one earlier. With the one you killed, I guess that means one is still left.”

  “No,” May
itso said, “It is here. Cocooned. Growing. It becomes.”

  “Becomes?”

  “King of the Trenchers,” the lycanthrope said, “Enormous, nearly unstoppable. They can make the larvae change into gatherers. Sometimes a gatherer can turn into a king. Once the process starts, the colony continues to grow and expand. My people fight a great many of these in our lands, trying to kill the kings to keep them from spreading.”

  “Then we need to destroy this abomination,” Ritter said, “And free our friends.”

  Mayitso spoke, “I agree. I can smell them, but the scents are difficult to pick out with the Trencher scent all over. I can not see, I need your eyes to save them.”

  “If you can not see, how did you get the trencher off of me?”

  “I guessed.”

  Ritter shuddered to think what might have happened if the lycanthrope had missed in his guess. He imagined that even with his heavy armor, those teeth would hurt. Even if they did not penetrate, the twisting motion of the wolf's max would likely dislocate or break limbs. Ritter pulled himself up off the floor. He could feel the goo underneath the floor's resin sticking to his armor and face.

  He badly wanted to take a bath, though he was unsure how to do that easily as they were isolated from civilization and sitting in the middle of winter. A great many scenarios filled his head for a moment before he brushed them away. He had more important things to attend to. He broke the webbed resin that covered Aldebaran, Kava, and Eurysa. He gathered those the could not see together for support. He then set about trying to smash the cocoon. Its gelatinous form made it nearly immune to his hammer. He looked around the room and spotted something that gave him an idea.

  “Mayitso, do you think you can help lead the group to the entrance?”

  “Yes,” the lycanthrope replied.

  Ritter turned to Aldebaran and spoke in Nuvro, the only language the two shared, “Try to make some marks with the blade of yours in the resin so I know the path. I have a plan, but I'd like to hurry once it is in place.”

  The minotaur merely nodded, still in shock from his capture. The group wandered off, following Mayitso using Aldebaran's eyes. Ritter turned and began wrenching barrels out of the resin. The man who had lived here had been a hermit. He kept supplies. This included several barrels of lamp oil. The Halz began pouring the oil over the cocoon. The cocoon was oozing it places where he had hit it. He had damaged it, but the warhammer was not the tool to truly finish it.