Nameless: Captives

[Day 15 of Blaugust 2015!]
[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

With the main entrance magically sealed and a surprising lack of large, openable windows, the girls were left with few options. While Sharon voted they try go higher to find another exit, the others out-voted her in descending to the lower levels to try free the other captives. There was strength in numbers after all. At the end of the large cellar was a spiraling staircase leading deeper underground. More of the armored guards patrolled here so they were very careful to move quietly without torch light and only engage stragglers in quick, silent skirmishes if necessary.

Eventually they came across what seemed to be a strangely unguarded but empty prison block, yet all the gates were locked and the ones blocking the torch lit hallways needed to be picked or broken open. As they turned a corner they suddenly found an occupied cell, and from behind the bars stood Cecilia. After exchanging a moment of shock, Cecilia spoke "You don't look like guards, who are you?"

"C...Calandra?" asked Sharon meekly from the back of the group. The woman nodded, shocked that the strangers knew her name.

"Your twin sister hired us to rescue you," explained Drisana as Sharon went to work again on the lock. "I'm sorry to say she... she didn't make it."

Sharon stopped her work as she noticed other figures in the room behind Calandra.

"They are what's left of my group," said the woman as she looked back at them and signaled them closer. "Shorn, Tanglor, Amber, and San Raal."

It occured to Drisana that unlike Insal, all these people were actually still armed, albeit poorly. She put one hand on Sharon's shoulder to prompt her to continue picking the lock but also squeezed gently to her know that she should do it slowly. "How did you get stuck here?" Drisana asked politely.

"Same way you did," muttered Shorn, a bearded stocky fellow. "We walked in."

Seeing the blank expressions on their faces Shorn just laughed and unlocked the cell door from his side, "Some rescue you are!"

At this the girls jumped back, weapons at the ready but Calandra quickly moved between the two groups, hands raised to prevent any violence.

"Please calm down. We were ambushed just before dawn in the nearby forests and those of us that surrendered were forced to help carry our dead down here. Eventually the soldiers let their guard down and we managed to take some of their equipment and flee here. We didn't know why they didn't follow us, but it soon became clear when we tried to leave."

"The first one who touched the door went BOOM!" exclaimed Tanglor with expressive hand gestures. Like Shorn, he was also a stocky and bearded fellow though apparently more simple.

"A magic trap," coughed the thin and dark skinned San Raal who seemed to be doing the worst of all of the captives, leaning heavily on a broken table leg he was using as a cane. "One that is difficult to dispel."

"You've been in here for how long... surely there's another way out?" spat Nessa in her usual non-polite manner. The other group looked to one another before Shorn spoke up again. "Oh, we found one but you're not going to like it."

Nameless: Not that Way

[Day 14 of Blaugust 2015!]
[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

The trail of blood led down some stone stairs into a dark and dank torch-lit cellar. There the girls found Cecilia's bloody corpse, her throat cut from ear to ear, and standing atop her was the balding monk who was busy violating her mouth. Nessa, who was in the lead, wasted no time in beheading the clueless bastard. They were all startled to then hear a nearby voice that said "Oh well done! That bastard had it coming."

Nerith, flanked by Sharon and Drisana, moved deeper into the large chamber, lifting her torch higher and found what seemed to be a small iron cage. In it was a short smelly man, devoid of all belongings.

"I am Insal," the prisoner said. "Be good girls and get me out of here, will ya?"

"Why are you being held captive? Are there more prisoners around here?" asked Drisana while Sharon started working on picking the lock.

"I was... entertainment mainly," replied Insal, his gaze now watching Sharon's deft hands. "There was another group brought in not too long ago but they were taken downstairs, and other than the guards no one has ever comes back from there. Sorry I can't be of any more help..."

As soon as the lock clicked open, Insal suddenly burst out of the cage - snatching a bag of supplies from Sharon's waist as he ran past and up the stairs. Nessa was the fastest to react, chasing right after him but the little fellow was too quick and remained out of her reach. He gave one last grin at his pursuers as he ran for the main entrance, but upon putting his hand on the door to open it he suddenly was flooded with searing magical energy. After screaming in agony for just two seconds he suddenly exploded - sending pieces of himself all over his pursuers and redecorating the foyer in grisly, dripping blood red.

Though none of the team spoke it was clear they weren't going to be getting out that way.

Nameless: Ambush

[Day 13 of Blaugust 2015!]
[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

A loud noise startled Drisana awake. Through blurred vision she could see that she was still in the foyer area of the temple and that her companions were also asleep where they sat. She didn't remember falling asleep though. Concerned she quickly shook the sisters and Sharon in an attempt to wake them. It was only then that she noticed the chairs of both Cecilia and the bald monk were empty. A blood trail led through the next door deeper into the temple. At that exact moment two figures filled the doorway, it was the monk who brought the cups and the bigger one who had brought the cauldron. Something caught the light in their hands.

Daggers.

Drisana quickly drew her own blades as the smaller monk headed towards her friends while the bigger one focused his attention on her, putting himself in between the groggy woman and her allies. In with a sudden rush, the big man thrust at her but Drisana managed to parry the strike away and at the same time stabbed the man's throat with a dagger of her own causing him to stagger to his knees before dropping dead. She saw the smaller monk had also been caught unaware as Nerith, who had still been pretending to sleep, suddenly stabbed him through the heart.

While Nerith retrieved her sword from his corpse, two more men then arrived and it was clear that these were no clerics. They wore scale mail armor and upon seeing the girls awake, drew their curved swords as they advanced into the room. They were quite skilled too, driving back both Nerith and Drisana against the wall while evading any counter attacks the women threw back at them. They didn't realize Nessa had woken up too though, and having snuck up behind both of them, sliced simultaneously through the exposed napes of each of their necks - severing their spines.

After picking up one of the curved blades from the still bleeding out soldiers, Drisana silently gestured to the sisters to watch the inner door. They both nodded and took up positions on either side of the entry way while the ex-caravan mistress shook Sharon awake. At least her vision was clearing now, but they would need to hurry to save Cecilia - if she could even still be saved.

Nameless: Sharing a Meal

[Day 11 of Blaugust 2015!]
[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

"Oh, dear you are all soaked!" exclaimed the balding cleric who opened the door for Cecilia and her team, ushering them into a small welcoming foyer area with plain wooden benches and a warm fire roaring in the nearby fireplace. "Please, take a seat while I fetch some towels, blankets and perhaps a hot meal?"

"I'm looking for my sister," said Cecilia directly, her hand moving up to the pommel of her sword. "Last I heard, she was coming here."

The cleric looked confused. "I'm sorry, but you are the only visitors we've had in a while... what does your sister look like?"

"She's my identical twin," replied the knight immediately.

Clearly at a loss the cleric simply bowed respectfully. "I'm terribly sorry, but you are the only visitors we've had for weeks. Please, make yourselves comfortable for now. You would not be doing your sister any favors by going out into the forest in this rain to look for her. When it clears I will try round up some of our number to assist you."

After a short pause, Cecilia sighed and nodded. While the girls made themselves comfortable by the fire, the balding cleric closed the door and disappeared deeper into the temple. In just a few minutes he was back carrying a pile of folded towels and was followed by another two clerics, one carrying empty wooden bowls and cutlery and the other, larger one hefting a large cauldron with a delicious smelling stew which he set down on a nearby table.

Without saying a word the two worked in unison to fill each bowl and hand them out to each of their guests. The bald one sent them away afterwards, letting them leave the cauldron where it was for the time being, he then turned to the girls and spoke. "Again I apologize, you've come just a little late for meal time so this is just today's left overs from the kitchen."

"I insist you join us," Cecilia said immediately as she offered an empty stool, with an unmistakable commanding tone in her voice. Whatever excuses the bald cleric had prepared clearly melted away as he meekly sat into the chair. The armored lady then offered the monk her bowl of stew. "You first."

The poor cleric hesitantly took a spoonful of the stew. Then another.

"This definitely lacks salt," he muttered afterwards. "I hope it's still to your liking."

Satisfied that the food was safe to eat, Cecilia nodded to the others. There was still something about this place that didn't feel right.

Nameless: Shadowstar

[Day 10 of Blaugust 2015!]
[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

A few weeks after sailing away from the burning lands of the Wizard King, Nessa, Nerith and Drisana found themselves at the dark and dour city of Deepwater. It was also apparent that there would be no respectable jobs for foreigners such as themselves. As they walked through the dimly lit streets the sisters were arguing on the merits of the continuous rain in this region while Drisana counted her quickly diminishing pile of coin savings in her purse which only had some weight thanks to slowly selling all their equipment. A group of four ruffians did try to way lay them for all their "goods" but it was the ruffians who ended up not knowing what hit them as the girls continued what they were doing throughout the small interruption of their journey.

None of them realized that they were being watched by a short woman wrapped in a dark cloak from the shadowy rooftops.

It was only later when they stopped at a local tavern for some food that they were approached by the same woman, following behind a heavily armored lady. "I heard what you did to those guys back there," said the knight politely. "You are all very skilled! Would you be interested in a job?"

It turned out that this woman, Cecilia, was gathering together a party to search for her sister's group that went missing in some not so nearby woods recently. She also introduced to them Sharon, her first mercenary who upon pulling off the hood of her cloak appeared far too young for a girl going on adventures. Still, it sounded like a worthwhile task and the foreign girls needed the money so after Drisana managed to haggle a better price, including getting some coin up front for supplies they agreed and soon found themselves headed out into the forest.

"What was your sister doing out here anyway?" questioned Nerith inquisitively as the team trekked through the dark forest. The canopy wasn't particularly thick, it was just the unending rain clouds above that just made everything feel so ... oppressive. The howls of some distant wolves clearly put Sharon on edge as she put one quivering hand on the hilt of her sheathed dagger.

"She was investigating the disappearances of other people," answered Cecilia plainly as they suddenly walked out of the tree line and into a large clearing. In the center stood a large compound made of marble.

"That's the Temple of Shadowstar," continued Cecilia without missing a step as the rain picked up a notch. "While the sect within has never openly broken the laws of the land, they are very secretive and doesn't take kindly to trespassers. It's also where we will begin our search."