James Ward: The Paladins

"Hey! Hey! HEY!" he shouted, until the mighty wizards and warriors fell silent and stared indignantly at him. "Undermountain's right below our feet, isn't it? Why don't we just hoof it there?"

Can we walk to the third level of Undermountain from here?" asked Miltiades.

"Well… we can sail there," answered Aleena, hesitating. "But you paladins won't like it." She looked toward Khelben, who threw up his hands and looked away, thoroughly disgusted. "We'll have to pass through Skullport."

"Skullport?" asked Jacob.

"A city of criminals, outlaws, and… undead," said Miltiades. His voice was filled with dread, as he recalled his own existence as a death knight. He sighed heavily. "So be it. Piegeiron wanted the paladins of Tyr to lead the rescue, and Kern is one of the two. Through Skullport it is."

Aleena's eyes met Noph's, and she smiled reassuringly, but her face fell as she turned away.

Interlude 2

Knowledge is power. If you destroy your teacher, it will be all yours.

A twelve-foot stone wall surrounded the city where the bloodforge was hidden, but a thousand barriers could not bar the way of tanar'ri, were they not magically enhanced with powerful wards-as this wall was. The magnitude of its impregnability surprised the vrocks. Shaakat and Rejik circled above the habitation, carefully avoiding the invisible border, for no magic or might would allow them to enter. To the humans below, the vrocks appeared to be common vultures circling some unfortunate, fallen beast outside the city walls.

"There," thought Shaakat to his confederate, pointing with his gaunt hand to a dome within an enclosed courtyard of a large building, near the south wall. "Smell it?"

"Yes! A dimensional portal. A gate! In that round-topped structure surrounded by human sentinels."

The fiends laughed at the idea of a mere human protecting anything.

"Who knows where the gate's other side may lie?" whined Rejik.

"The primes in that burg below, leatherhead. See those humans just emerging from the keep? Let's scrag 'em!"

The vrocks spiraled lazily downward, waiting for the pair of riders to clear the warded walls before swooping in. As they cleared the magical barrier, the humans seemed to sense their peril, for they kicked at their steeds and broke into a gallop, making for the forest beyond. Shaakat and Rejik clucked in anticipation of sport and pulled in their wings, dipping into a dive. They leveled off and soared just over the riders' heads, parting their black beaks and piercing the air with a terrible, deafening screech, which stunned both the horses and the humans.

With horrible screams of their own, the horses writhed in terror and tumbled to the ground, pitching their helpless riders over their heads. Shaakat and Rejik came about just as the horses regained their feet. The fiends slashed the poor beasts from shoulders to rumps as they streaked by again. Both animals wailed piteously and collapsed twitching. One of the humans, the one in metal armor, quickly rolled to her feet and drew a gleaming blade with a flourish, turning to face her adversaries. The other lay groaning upon the ground, dazed or injured by his fall.

Shaakat and Rejik alighted before the warrior.

"Go back to the Abyss!" she snarled and charged them.

"Come with us!" they jeered, spreading wide their wings to expose rows of glands along their sides. With a sickening heave, the vrocks flexed their sinewy bodies, and a sticky spray shot from the glands, covering the woman in stringy mucous. Her sword sliced at them, but the fiends disappeared, blinking two steps to her side.

The warrior spun to face them again and raised her sword… then cringed and buckled in sudden agony while spores in the mucous covering her sprouted and wormed their spiny tendrils under her skin, swiftly covering her with thick, sinuous vines. She opened her mouth to scream, and the vines quickly swarmed into her mouth, choking her cry. She crumpled to the ground and thrashed about with a gurgle, then mercifully fell still.

Shaakat and Rejik turned toward the man, who struggled to a sitting position, cradling one arm while he gaped in shock at the heinous murder before him. They hopped, birdlike, toward him, but he made no move to escape. His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open as they approached. He began to shake violently.

"There's a gate inside the building from which you've just come," said Shaakat's raspy voice in his head.

"Do not deny it!" squealed Rejik's mind.

"Where is its other side?" continued Shaakat, his arm emerging to clutch at the human's throat.

"Undermountain," thought the man in return, unwillingly. "Undermountain, far to the west."

"Undermountain," repeated the vrocks telepathi-cally, "far to the west."

Rejik's pointed beak opened impossibly wide while Shaakat bent low. They spread their wings about the fallen human. And a single scream rent the morning air.

"Skullport lies beneath the southern sea caves of Mount Waterdeep," explained Aleena as the party floated in a large flatboat along the banks of the subterranean river Sargauth. "It's a highly magical, lawless community, crawling with shady dealers and cutthroat justice." Guiding the paladins through one of the most lawless cities in the world was going to be tricky. "Remember, you promised me you wouldn't cause trouble down here, no matter what you see."

Kern stood beside her at the bow of the vessel and nodded his head once more. "Lady Paladinstar, there'll be no trouble."

As she sighed, their boat passed under an archway and entered the grand cavern of Skullport. To their port side ships of every size rocked at anchor, thick tethers reaching below the flat, black water of the great underground bay. In the distance beyond the gently weaving masts, the travelers could see uncountable caves riddling the ocean-carved walls, right up to the ceiling, several hundred feet above. An immense tangle of rickety catwalks strung between them sparkled with thousands of dim yellow torches and lanterns. Glowing lichen crawled along the cavern walls, illuminating the vast open space overhead, and little orbs of bright light streaked through it.

"Look at the will o' wisps!" said Harloon. "There must be hundreds of them. Do they try to lead beings to their deaths?"

"That and more," Aleena warned.

"Look at those huge ones over there!" said Noph, pointing up at two gigantic spheres in the air. Great arcs of lightning shot back and forth between them.

"Those aren't will o' wisps," whispered Trandon. "Those are beholders!"

"Beholders?" cried the paladins, instinctively reaching for their hammers. Jacob instantly sprang to their side, sword drawn.

"Kern! Miltiades! No!" hissed Aleena. "We've got to keep a low profile or we'll be fighting the entire population from now until Doomsday!"

Reluctantly, the warriors squatted down and hid their weapons.

Fortunately, no one manned the decks of the vessels around them, except a bored crewman who absently paced the deck of a huge war galleon, staring up at the battling beholders. They slipped stealthily among the darkened crafts and continued on their way.

"So far, so good," whispered Aleena. "We're going to sail right past the city and go deeper into the cave complex by way of the Sargauth. Only a few dozen feet and we'll leave Skullport behind and be in Undermountain."

"What are these things floating in the water?" asked Noph, grabbing a boat hook and pulling one nearer.

"Noph, stop!" cried Aleena, a moment too late.

An elvish skull bobbed within reach, thanks to Noph's hook. As he recognized it, the boy recoiled with a yelp. Trandon ducked underneath the swinging boat hook with a disgruntled gasp as Noph stumbled back. The boat pitched sharply, precipitating a commotion of flailing arms and startled shouts among the rest of the passengers. Noph lost his balance and reeled backward, pivoting over the side of the boat as it rolled with his shifting weight. Harloon caught his lashing arm at the last moment and yanked it downward. Noph tumbled headlong into the bottom of the boat. A wave hissed through the party, as the vessel sloshed in the water and settled to rest again.