Chapter IV: Skirmish at the Gates

The continued march toward the Hollow was uneventful. The walls of the Hollow rose ever higher as they approached. In the darkness of their first night, Selene had not realized just how massive they were. In the sunlight and through the haze, she could see them standing high above all but the nearby tower Jezran claimed for his study.

From a distance, it all seemed peaceful, until they heard the sounds of bestial roars and cries of pain echo in the distance.

With no hesitation, the party drew their weapons and readied spells as they raced towards the sounds.

Are they already under attack? Selene thought, her grip on her daggers tightening.

It was not long before they saw a swarm of Drowned led by a thrall attacking a small group of armoured men. They seemed skilled enough to keep the Drowned at bay, but the thrall's brutish force was more than they could handle as it grabbed a random guard and slammed them into the wall as an ally slashed feebly at its tentacle limbs. Above, archers peeked through holes in the wall, firing upon the beast with careful shots.

None fazed it.

The sound of their approach was drowned out by the clash, so none noticed save those on the wall. Two arrows flew in their direction, but failed to make their mark.

"They're firing at us?!?" Jezran cried out, running awkwardly in a zigzag pattern, hoping to avoid their shots.

"No time to consider friend from foe. A fight's happening at the gate and more people are coming," Argent explained coldly, "It's their job to try and wound us so we're less of a threat to their men below."

Another few arrows were shot towards them, one about to bury itself in Jezran's chest before a flash of Argent's steel parried it mid-flight. Hamish caught another as it flew through the air and threw it deftly toward the enemy. The arrow flew with a speed and force as if shot from a crossbow into the flesh of the large thrall.

The damage appeared negligible, but it got the massive humanoid's attention.

It let out a bestial roar before turning and charging the party. A volley of arrows targeted the thrall as it surged toward them faster than a cavalry charge.

"There," Hamish said, self satisfied, "Now they know friends approach!"

"Great, now we'll get smashed instead of skewered," Selene muttered.

Once the thrall was in range, Jezran stopped and cried out, "Arcus!"

A cascade of lightning shot from his open fingertips toward the thrall. The beast let out an agonized cry, but it did not slow.

"Get out of the way, now!" Ari cried out as she slowed to a stop and crouched down. Fingers touched the ground as ice began to spread. Her eyes turned icy blue as she whispered her incantations.

Everyone moved quickly out of the way as ice shot toward the beast's path. Upon touching the bulging, fleshy tentacles of the thrall, the ice seemed to grip and cling to the creature. It slipped and crashed to the ground a few hundred feet ahead of them. The thrall was temporarily dazed, and did not immediately spring to its feet.

Once Ari stepped back, then Argent surged forward.

He leapt onto the small patch of ice on the ground, using the slick surface to propel himself forward. Reaching the collapsed thrall before it recovered, he thrust his shortswords into its exposed torso. Both swords sank to the hilt in the creature's flesh thanks to the momentum.

It let out a cry as it made to grab the elven warrior. Ducking, Argent managed to dodge the blow, but was forced to retreat before he had a chance to pull his swords free.

Enraged, the beast slammed its fist down, hoping to crush Argent. He dodged, but it gave the thrall time enough to rise back up to its tentacles. Leaning back on half its limbs, it used the remaining tentacles to release a flurry of ground strikes in front of it.

Argent managed to stay one step ahead, but he had no room to draw another weapon. Every time he tried to retreat did nothing as the thrall kept advancing on him. Even with all his skills, it was only a matter of time before the elf was crushed beneath the blows.

Jezran tried casting Barrier to help, but the thrall's strength and flurry broke through with ease.

Pulling one of her hands back like a bow, Ari shot an ice shard at the Thrall. It landed in its arm and ice bloomed around it. The creature looked at the ice, then shattered it with its free hand. The barrage of tentacle blows never slowed.

Selene grabbed a throwing knife, but after seeing how ineffective Ari's ice arrow was, she decided to put the blade back in its place. I don't think I have anything that can hurt this thing unless I get really, really, close.

Meanwhile, Hamish was getting ready to charge in. Whether that was to save Argent or attack the Thrall, Selene could not tell.

Jezran, seeing the failure of his Barrier, decided to try another tactic.

"Arcus Maxim!" He cried, the bolts flew from both his hands toward the beast, then seemed to arc midway towards the swords in the creature's chest.

Due to the increased voltage, or perhaps the lightning rods in the beast's chest, its flurry was finally halted as it shook violently from the lightning shooting through its body.

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The smell of cooked flesh soon filled the air as the beast finally collapsed on the ground.

It did not rise again.

"Great work, Jezran," Argent said, half out of breath. Wrapping a cloth around his hand, he delicately pulled the swords from the cooked corpse.

Jezran simply beamed. Hamish slapped the wizard on the back, straining the smile, but it never faded.

Ari, meanwhile, went to check over Argent, who let her fuss for a moment while stating repeatedly he was fine.

After that was handled, the party continued on until they reached the gate. By the time they arrived, the guards were finishing up with the remaining Drowned.

Seeing their approach, one of the guards ran up to meet them.

"Thanks for taking out that big one for us," he said. By the look of him, he was Malenai. His skin was an ocean blue and coral grew out of his temples.

The nearby guards did not appear to have much of a set uniform, save whatever armour could be scrounged up.

His uniform, on the other hand, appeared professional. It was only simple chainmail, but it was clearly of a finer quality, meant for prolonged battle, and well polished. It also had the marks to prove its effectiveness.

The guard reached a hand out toward Argent once they were a few feet away, "Name's Sebastian, Sergeant of the East Gate, but most folks have taken to calling me Bastion these days."

"A fitting name, you defend this place well," Argent said, taking his proffered hand, "Most call me Argent. This is Jezran, Selene, Hamish, and Arifrenya."

"Pleasure to meet you," Jezran said, shaking his hand as well, "I don't know many of the officers over on this side of the wall."

"Likewise. Pleasure to meet you all," Sebastian smiled.

"Bastion!" one of the guards called, "All finished here, we should head back in."

"Oh, what about the squid thing?" Selene said, remembering the last time the party faced Drowned.

The guard gave her a weird look, "Squid...thing?"

"You know...the thing that controls the Drowned," she tried to explain.

"She means have you taken out the thing controlling them?" Jezran tried clarifying.

The guard just frowned, "Thought they was jus' undead."

"No, we had a run in out there with Drowned that seemed to have some kind of squid inside. It attacked us shortly after we 'killed' them," Argent explained.

Bastion frowned, "No, I don't believe any of us have seen that. Then again, we never thought to check," he turned back to the guard, "Percy, keep an eye for any...squid things coming out of the corpses from now on."

The guard nodded, eyeing the nearest Drowned corpse with suspicion.

"Thank you for letting us know. I'll make sure everyone knows in case it happens again. For now, though, you all should come in. I have no idea how you survived out there, but we can get you some food and rest."

"That would be most appreciated, thank you," Argent said.

The gate, compared to the wall, was remarkably small. It was only large enough for the party to enter single file.

Must not be a lot of trade caravans going through crazy fish town, Selene thought as she entered behind Hamish.

The gate shut behind them with a resounding thunk. The interior of the wall was strangely foreign to the ruins and Hollow around it. Utility and function took precedence here over form and aesthetic, it was also far newer than any dilapidated ruins from within or without its borders. Instead of the glowing algae, torchlight lit the large room.

As Bastion was about to ask them something, three guards approached. These guards, unlike the ones Bastion commanded, were dressed in full plate mail, and seemed to have a strange symbol on their breastplate. One of them, a middle-aged human male with a bushy moustache, stepped forward.

"Ah, there you are, Ser Jacob," Bastion said, sardonically, "Enjoy your view from the wall as we fought for our lives?"

The man he called Ser Jacob ignored him. His face was grave, turning to face the party. He asked in a low voice, "These are the ones that came from outside the wall?"

"Yeah, they saved our lives, taking out the Thrall on their own," Bastion said, grinning, "I know I don't have command, but they should be up for some kind of reward for their service."

Ser Jacob sighed, grabbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers, "Normally, I would agree. Such bravery could be of use in the coming days. Unfortunately, we have our orders."

One of the guards next to him spoke out, "You are under arrest, please do not resist or we will have to use force."

Bastion's eyes grew wide, shocked, "Wha—why? They saved our lives, that should be enough, right?"

"Unfortunately, no," Ser Jacob said. It was hard for Selene to read his face under the moustache, but he appeared reluctant in his duty as he continued, "We cannot go against the Governor's decree, no exceptions. We'll need to lock them up until we know who they are and what they were doing out there."

All resistance faded from Bastion at the mention of the Governor. He hung his head and looked to the party as he said, "I'm sorry, Ser Jacob is right. We have our orders, please don't resist."

"Wait, there must be some misunderstanding!" Jezran cried out as all the guards in the room, Bastion included, quickly surrounded them and began binding their hands, "Let me speak to the Governor, I'm sure we can get this cleared up."

"Calm down, young man," one of the guards said, placatingly, "You'll have a chance to speak with him once we confirm you're not a threat."

Another guard guffawed, "Fat chance. The Governor keeps cooped up in his room all day. Nobody's seen him 'cept those who know 'im personally."

Jezran stopped struggling at that, "Then this is quite simple. I do know Governor Merus. We meet once a month to talk about the state of the Hollow over Dunbaran tea for the last five years!"

The guard gave him a funny look, "Why would the Governor be talking to you?"

Jezran's face went beat red.

"Because I'm Jezran! You know? The wizard? I own the tower outside of town!" he fumed.

The guard shook his head, "Nuh uh, I seen the wizard. He got a big ole bushy beard."

Selene barely stifled a laugh at that, earning a sharp glare from the wizard.

Jezran pleaded with the guard, "But—I—I am him! My—my."

"Enough!" the guard yelled, silencing any further debate.

"Can we at least know what we are charged with?" Selene asked.

"Suspicion of fraternizing with enemy forces. You were found outside Hollow walls, likely were out past curfew, too. We'll take your testimony to the Governor and then he'll decide what to do with you lot."