Warwic

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Shawdup saw Shurka going up the ladder. He waited a minute then went up after her. He snuck to the door and heard the dwarf say something to Shurka. Then the dwarf headed off.

"Psst!" Shawdup whispered before Shurka took off after the dwarf. She turned to look at him.

"I think he wants us to stay and help him, don't you?" he asked Shurka.

 

She opened her mouth the whisper back at Shawdup, but the only noise that escaped her lips was a weak, shrill keening. She grabbed him roughly and spun him to face the dark shape sneaking out of the murky shadows.

 

Cayne took out his daggers, ready for a fight.

 

"I see some of the mewling rats decided to escape their hidey-hole," the shadow breathed harshly. As the figure came closer to the two halforcs, its figure became clear.

"Mistress Warwic!" Shurka yelped. 'Me's gonna die!' ran through her thick skull as the elven mage facade loomed over them.

Warwic sniffed the air and grinned with glee. This pair was ripe with fear. "Both of you will do nicely, at least, until my companions can get their claws into the rest of your classmates."

The tavern keeper and the waitress emerged from the darkness. "Yessss," hissed the barkeep and caressed the staff Fienna had given him earlier. "Thisss power callssss me..." His eyes glowed fiercely and he dropped his glamour, as did the waitress.

"Sssavagesss...orcsss..." she hissed and lunged for the closer.

Shurka screamed like a dying rabbit and shoved Shawdup out of the way. The waitress doppleganger grabbed and slammed her into the floor with a shuddering thump.

 

"What was that?" cried Fienna "Did you hear it? It came from the bar by the sounds of it, and where are those stupid Orcs? I'll bet they've got themselves into trouble again come on you lot let's see what's what and rescue the orcs again" She leapt to her feet and started moving towards the bar.

 

"Och, I guess we might as well go help the bleedin' orc-spawn if we're to keep our own hides intact," Dala grumbled, heading toward the bar behind Fienna. Taking in the scene with the waitress over Shurka, she shook her head and went over to try to help the both of them up, muttering something about "clumsy long-legged...". But she was in for a rude surprise when the waitress abruptly clawed at the interloper, causing Dala to stumble back in surprise.

"What in the world are ye tryin' at, little missy? If'n ye wanted to get up on yer own, ye could have just said..." Another swipe caught at Dala's beard, pulling a few hairs loose. "You crazy *****!" she swore in dwarven, then switched back to Common as she hurriedly pulled out her warhammer and warned, "I'll have to put ye down if ye don't stop, missy. And I'm not in the mood to be pullin' me swings right now." Despite the warning, the doppleganger waitress advanced on the wary dwarf.

 

Fienna who by now was in a towering rage drew her sword and in one mighty swing took the head off the waitress shapeshifter and as she was swung round by the blade it bit deeply into the shoulder of Barkeep who was holding her staff, who then screamed shrilly she shouted "They're sahpeshifters you stupid dwarf, hit them" as she wrenched her sword out blood gushed and she stabbed it deep in its heart. She turned round again and saw the form of Warwic and said "You're next you damned fiend"

 

Shawdup crawled under two tables, then came out somewhat away from the shapeshifters. He saw his long spear not far from him and scrambled over to it. Picking it up, he started poking at the one who had called itself Warwick.

 

Moving forwards Fienna slipped on the blood which probably saved her from harm as a clawed hand passed over her head, she managed though to cut it badly in the leg at which point it howled.

 

"Ach, the barkeep too? Damn, and I'll probably be wantin' fer an ale after this. I'll teach ye to deprive a dwarf of her spirits!" Dala swung wildly at the doppleganger menacing Fienna, then recovered faster than the monster expected. When it tried to take advantage of her obvious opening, Dala clouted it over the head with her hammer, sending it wandering dazed to the corner of the room.

Turning away from the momentarily harmless creature, Dala fixed her gaze on the form of Warwic and sniffed the air dramatically. "Ye smell alike to the strange wall we encountered in the dungeon," she said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "What had ye to do with that, if ye don't mind me asking, 'Miss Warwic'?"

 

"Everything, you hard-skulled, hill gully," Warwic sneered. "And, no, you haven't upset my plans. You can't even tell who's real or imaginary," Gesturing to the halforc on the floor, she breathed, "Shurka might not be the same anymore. She could be a completely different person when she comes about."

She whirled and tore the spear from Shawdup, snapping it in two. "Poking me isn't going to do much, you worthless savage." Her eyebrows bunched together as she lashed out. "A bard? Oh, dear Shawdup, you will never be a true bard. Or even a drunken sot bard like Greggor. You must have talent, you see."

"The sorceress - an in-bred, power-by-blood mage. Hmm, you have what I'm looking for, dearie." Warwic's eyes gazed lovingly at Frienna's bloody sword. "Now *that* is why I've been holed up in this cr*p hommlet. Be a good little girl and give it over to me. I promise not to eat your brain." Her voice oozed sweetness as she reached out towards the blade.

Inches away from her goal, she paused and tipped her head to one side. "Ah, the sneaky, backstabbing thieves are making themselves known. Well, you can thank them for this." Quickly, she pulled a glowing pebble from a hidden pouch and tossed it at the youngsters. "Out of the frying pan; into the fire," the Warwic doppleganger hissed and vanished with a deft flick of her wrists.

 

Fienna got to her feet fuming "Wants my sword does it well I'll give it my sword right in its guts" she hit the flicked pebble with her sword and stomped on it hard some kind of goo came out of it and a soft wailing could be heard fading into the distance. Fienna turned and looked at Shawdup "You wre told to stay downstairs with the rest of us, but no that was too simple for you, you had to come up here to get into trouble. And then you stand there witlessly poking it with your spear instead of stabbing it. RARRRGH" She then looked at Dala "What were you doing trying to talk to them instead of helping Shurka eh, not that she doesn't deserve a good tongue-lashing as well for causing this little mess" she picked up her staff from the Barkeep and stamped it on the floor "As for the rest of you, how nice of you to join us did we interrupt a card game or something? Did any of you listen about working together and not indiviually, if this is your idea of co-operation and helping one another maybe I don't want it. I'll be outside" so saying she walked outside into the sunshine and the door slammed heavily after her.

 

"She's kind of mad." Shawdup looked at the sorceress go.

"Now I know why Miss Warwic so nice to us. She wants to kill us when we aren't on our guard."

He picked up the pieces of his spear, wondering if they could be fixed.

 

"Glllaghkle," came from the vicinity of the floor. Shurka groaned and pushed herself up, bracing one arm on the ground and the other rubbing her chest. "Feel like a gnome powder cannon hit me!" Seeing the dead, bloody bodies of tow shapeshifters, she turned an even darker shade of green and tossed up her breakfast.

 

Fienna sat outside the Inn on a bench, her anger still a tight knot in her gut. She looked at her bloody sword and pulled her cleaning kit off her belt, first she wiped down the sword to clean the blood off; then she started sharpening the sword with her whetstone muttering to herslef.

"If that bastard thinks he's going to get my sword he's got another slice coming out of him first and then I'm going to hang his head on my staff with or without their help."

The steady action of stone on sword slowly calmed her down but she wasn't thinking about anything now just totally concentrated on her sword.

 

Brega returned to the tavern with Lavertym and Korden in tow. "Aye, there they be," the dwarf growled. "Told ye they wouldna listen."

"Brega, shut up please?" Lavertym countered as she put an arm around Frienna. "Do you want to talk about it?" While the two ladies spoke about what happened, the cleric and fighter entered the bar.

They saw Shurka throwing up, Shawdup crouching behind a table and Dala grumbling. They also noticed the two dead shapeshifters. Brega went to check the bodies and confirmed their deaths.

Korgen hauled Shurka upright and gave her a thump on the back. "Looks like you ran into some trouble," he commented casually. "Where's Warwic?" Dala informed him that the spell flinger had decamped. "Mmm, interesting." He scratched his chin. "The others are still downstairs with Greggor and the true Warwic?" He received a curt nod of agreement. He jerked his head at Brega and ushered everyone else out of the building.

Dala shouted, "What ye be doing, blast it!" She saw Frienna was subdued, gagged and weaponless, Lavertym cautiously stripping the sorceress of any useful items.

"Taking care of a few problems, Dala," Korden replied as the group listened to the earth below them rumble and shake.

The dwarf exited and brushed dust from her beard. "That takes care 'o that. No more drunken howling and holier-that-thou attitude from that pair."

"Excellent," Lavertym smirked as she strapped the sword across her back. "Let's bundle up the rest of these babies and get them to the boss." The students were no match for the experienced team and soon were trussed up and weaponless. The quartet watched helpless as the halfelf chanted up a spell.

A large, glowing rip in the Material plane appeared. "Time for a one-way trip, kids," Korden stated with a half grin. "Enjoy your stay." He, with Brega's help, shoved each student through the gate, then followed with Lavertym entering last and severing the spell.

Shurka grunted when she landed, rolling to a stop at the feet of a creature she had never seen before. The creature looked like a human with red skin and wore a flowing golden robe. The massive sword in its hands shone brightly. She didn't know where she was, except in trouble as usual.

 

Shawdup looked up at the creature, through his gags he yelled. "Mmnn emem nn emm mm amm moommumm! Eemm mem miimmm!"

 

Fienna felt calmer than she ever had in her short life she knew exactly what she was going to do, she hoped it would work as well on this plane wherever it was as her aunt had told her. She was going to have to time it right so that she could see the three teachers and the creature in front of her. She remembered her aunt telling her about a sorcerer's last resort weapon Final Strike; the socerer willed themselves out of existence and struck their enemies with bolts of devestating power. She hoped her friemds would be alright and they would forgive her last words to them. She waited for the right moment, tears streaming unnoticed down her face.

 

These are not part of our agreement the creature spoke in a chesty baritone.

"No, sir, they aren't," Lave answered and motioned toward each in turn. "They are students of our school and helped in our cause to find the shapeshifter you call Shorme Shain, who took over the body of our friend Warwic. Shorme was interested in Frienna and her blade, though why we don't know."

Why do these persons remain bound and silenced, if what you say is truth?

Lave squirmed under the pointed question and twisted her fingers together. "Well, it's like this: these four are very feisty and three of them are spellcasters." Korden and Brega both eyeballed Shawdup dubiously, but agreed. "There was no time to explain what was going on or what we needed to do."

Then I will take those neglected duties. I am a kolyarut, an inevitable, and you are in the Mechanus plane. My mission is to seek out oathbreakers, most specifically a one Shorme Shain. Shorme Shain is a talented shapeshifter of great power and enjoys creating havoc within organizations. Recently, I was asked to mete out punishment on Shorme Shain for breaking his contractual agreement with the Many Coins Merchant League in Baldur's Gate.

The kolyarut paced in front of his captive audience as it explained further. It became necessary to employ the services of humanoids to complete my task, thusly I chanced upon Miss Lavertym and her group. Now, it seems, I must also inquire as to whether you four will help. The capacity would be as bait for Shorme Shain, since he has shown a special interest in Miss Frienna. I will allow you sufficient time to decide.

Korden released each of the students in turn, from least to most dangerous. "You heard the...guy. He needs your help to catch this doppleganger," he said as he cut Shurka free. "I can tell you this much: you won't be sitting ducks. We'll be ready to jump in and fight. If you think you can trust us after what we did to you." He looked narrowly at Lave.

"What? I said it would take too long to explain!" she cried and threw her hands in the air.

 

"Then you'd better take the time to explain and make it a good, if you expect me to trust you I can't speak for the others." While speaking she rubbed her chafed wrists. "Why all the rough handling wouldn't it have been better to gain our trust by asking instead of force?"

As she spoke Fienna had moved herself to a position where she could see everyone; she wanted what they were saying to be true but she was ready just in case.