Paul Kidd - Queen of the Demonweb Pits

"This is seriously icky! Have you guys met Count Bisecto, Master of Homicide Hall?"

Moving swiftly to the vampire, Jus knelt to examine the damage. Polk trundled over to a fallen jug, sniffing eagerly as he caught the scent of crab-apple brandy. Mincing over the floor and avoiding extravagant pools of black sticky stuff, Escalla made her way to Jus's side. The Justicar was carefully examining the wounds on the vampire's body, while Cinders grinned away, his big teeth gleaming.

"So what did him in?" Escalla asked.

"Curved blades." Using the tip of his hunting knife, the Justicar opened up a wound. "A cut from a very sharp blade. Body weight behind the blow, pushing forward. Good technique."

"Hoopy!" Escalla drew the man away. "You think it was the snake lady?"

"Almost certainly. Swords, tracks… she killed him in a single pass-three hits, all at once."

"Creepy." Escalla pondered memories of the tanar'ri. "She had nice hair. And a nice butt-for a snake, I mean." The faerie turned. "Polk! Careful, man! You don't know what's been in there!"

Polk had taken possession of the fallen jug, smacking his lips. Every cell of his body craved an alcoholic interlude, and crab-apple brandy would surely hit the spot. He held the jug in his back feet and inverted it, eagerly opening his mouth. Thick vapors swirled from the jug and pooled out over the floor to gather in a mist behind him.

Behind Polk, Escalla hovered in front of the Justicar.

"So Jus, are you sure about this? How does someone manage to kill a vampire with a single blow?"

The mist behind Polk suddenly flashed. In its place, appeared a female vampire, black clad and arrowing toward Escalla and the Justicar. Escalla squeaked and sped skyward. Screaming, claws reaching, the vampire streaked below her. There was a sharp whisper and a blur of light, and the vampire stopped and stared in shock.

The Justicar held his pose for an instant-sword out. He reversed the blade and sheathed it, sliding Benelux slowly back into her scabbard.

The vampire's severed head tilted back, burning slowly as it fell. The decapitated torso stood swaying, the undead flesh beginning to wither from contact with the metal of Benelux. The torso finally fell. Staring at it, Henry blinked then snapped a crossbow bolt in two and hammered it straight into the vampires heart.

"Um… all right!" Escalla looked at the corpse. "Yeah, like that! That was good."

Completely unconcerned, Polk had already begun helping himself to the dregs of brandy in the jug. "That's just the way I would have done it, son! But you need just a little bit more style."

A horrific scream came from the courtyard below, followed by the sound of claws scrabbling beneath the windows. The Justicar directed his friends back from the windows and doors, guiding them to the center of the room.

"Henry, back to the middle of the room! Enid and Escalla, up in the rafters. Polk, play dead!" The Justicar drew his sword. "Here they come!"

Through the doors and windows, a howling mob of ghouls-jackal-thin, stinking, skeletal, and crazed-rushed into the room and ran madly at Henry and the Justicar. Henry coolly opened fire, his magic crossbow stuttering. A stream of five crossbow bolts tore through one ghoul, sent it crashing to the ground, then Henry drew his sword and followed the Justicar as the big man ploughed into the foe.

Cinders snarled and sent a blast of flames writhing through the ghouls. The creatures twisted and screamed, burning as they fell. The Justicar wielded Benelux in a savage blur, the ghouls burning like paper as they fell. The ranger's stoneskin flared and died.

Henry blocked a ghoul's claws and ran the creature through. Another ghoul sprang at him in a fury, only to be torn apart by a stream of golden bees shot from the rafters. Enid fell atop the last three ghouls-swatted one so that it simply fell in half-and discovered another flat beneath her paws.

The last ghoul turned to flee. Jus whip-cracked his magic rope about the creature's torso, jerked it from its feet and rammed Benelux through the monster's head. The body flared into flames, and Jus yanked on the rope, spinning the burning corpse across the floor.

Still sitting in the rafters and nursing her unused wand, Escalla looked suitably impressed. "Hoopy! What was that-nine in, nine down?"

"Nine! Are you blind, girl? It was a dozen!" Polk happily jotted notes into his chronicles. "For every piece of evil seen, there's three waiting in the wings, so that makes four-dozen defeated! Forty-eight ghouls! Not bad for a minute or two."

"Polk, shut up." The Justicar kicked a ghoul's corpse over and examined the body. He stabbed it once more to make it burn. "Scavengers that serve the vampires. They eat bodies drained of blood."

Still panting and pale, Henry wiped his mouth. "Why did they attack like that, sir?"

"If they can stop us from killing the vampires, then they still have their meal ticket." The Justicar burned away the last remnants of both vampires' skulls. "Everyone check this room, then retreat back into the tower."

Escalla had already begun a search. Rummaging behind a painted throne, the faerie gave a whoop and dragged out a sack that clinked and clanked.

"Treasure! Finally we find a treasure!" She upended the sack. Out spilled gold coins, silver coins, bent copper pennies, wooden slugs, little gems, big gems, potion bottles, and a scroll. "Look, guys! Treasure! Whoever offed the vampire just left the stash lying around!"

Beside herself with excitement, the faerie flung herself atop the gold and wallowed atop the pile. "Enid, come over here and try this! Oh, I'm so excited I can see through time!" Escalla plucked a bottle from the treasure pile. "What's this? Magic potions? O-o-oh, a regeneration potion!" The girl unshipped the slowglass gem from down her front. "All right! Everyone pose with the money and wave! Smile!"

The Justicar found the discarded bag that the treasure had once been in. He lifted it to Cinders's nose, and the hell hound sniffed at it carefully.

"Tanar'ri?"

Tanar'ri snake!

"Yes." Rising, the Justicar signaled Henry to his side. "Get back into the room with the food. Barricade the door to the courtyard. I'll bring Escalla and the treasure."

"Yes, sir."

They retrieved the treasure through the simple expedient of opening the portable hole, then pushing the entire loot pile inside-faerie, potion bottles, and all. Escalla gave a squawk and looked out over the edge of the hole as Jus dragged it over the floor to the other room.

"Hey, Jus! Hey look! Treasure!"

"Yep"

"Real treasure! There's gold and potions… and jewels! One of them's a diamond!"

"Uh-huh." The Justicar nodded. "Exactly the right size to use for a stoneskin spell?"

"Oh-oh, yeah. Did yours run out yet?"

"Just then."

"Ah." The girl suddenly took on a thoughtful look, ducked into the hole and came up with one of the potion bottles. She gave it a sniff. "Healing potion, Flanaess style."

"The sausage in the room is lying on a bag. The bag is stenciled with the seal of a Keggle Bend merchant." The Justicar reached the far room, where Henry was busily dropping a bar into place against the outer door. "Our snake woman is a busy girl."

"A busy girl with an agenda." Escalla climbed out of the hole. Her eye took in the food, doors leading off to two other small, quiet rooms filled with bedding. "She wants us to rest."

"She took care of the only thing here that was dangerous. The chief vampire would have been a lot tougher than his bride." Jus spied a fireplace and checked it-a metal grate sealed off the chimney flue. "We each need at least four hours to rest and get spells back. Polk and Cinders can keep guard. We can put that mutton on to cook."

Enid looked up guiltily. The stripped mutton bone lay on the floor before her, and she covered it up with her paws.