Epic #10 – Eladriel and the Raiders of the Stellar Gralle Pt. 1
After several months of damage control operations on enemy territory – concealing evidence, bribing officials, burning bodies and more – the elven assassin at last returns to the capital of the Elven Kingdoms: the city of Kerlin – the center of power for the recently confederated feudal states that had only the last half-century declared itself into being as a single polity in the region of Elveny. The sight of white marble towers reaching towards the skies, flying the bolt emblem of the National Socialist Elven Workers Party from their balconies, fills her with a sense of reassurance she has not had in a long time.
I have served the party well she says in her own mind as she marches towards the headquarters of the State Security Services in the center of the city – surely my superiors will reward me for my diligence in this matter of the false elves that dared to take advantage of our good natures for their own purposes! It's too bad that I never really learned just what those purposes actually were...
She approaches the desk, flashes her papers to the receptionist on duty and is immediately ushered to the office of the Kommandant – as Eladriel opens the door, she is greeted by the sight of a blonde male she has never met before rather than her usual superior: dressed in a black jacket adorned with gold-braided shoulder pads, he is facing away from the desk as an orange glow radiates from an unseen source that seems to captivate his gaze.
“My Kommandant” Eladriel announces her presence upon entry. “I have returned from extended service behind the lines with my report of... Uh, what's that?” she interrupts herself as the Kommandant turns to face her, revealing the source of the orange glow to be a holobroadcast of the Death Derby event at Sentinel Hill.
“Do knock before entry, agent!” the Kommandant barks at her as he quickly turns off the broadcast on his Istone. “And for the record, what you just observed is part of a surveillance program of the degeneracy of our foes in Evilland – certainly not related at all to ten thousand gold I have riding on the outcome of the derby. Is that clear?”
“Yes my Kommandant! Hail victory!” she replies with gusto as she raises her arm in the salute of the party. “At any rate, I have come to debrief you on...”
“That will not be necessary, agent” the Kommandant cuts her off - “I have already know of the false elves and your efforts to cover up the incident that resulted from your failed escort of vital supplies they allegedly swindled the party out of. And you claim that these false elves resemble rat men?”
“Yes my Kommandant – I know that the party's official stance is that they don't exist, but...”
“No buts!” the Kommandant interjects. “If the party says they don't exist, then they don't exist – do not repeat falsehoods like this in my presence or anywhere else, understood? Do you want to be labeled as a gnomo-bolshevist tool?”
“No my Kommandant!” she hastily answers with quivering in her voice. “But what else could this possibly be? If you have another explanation for this I will be happy to accept it, but right now...”
“Indeed I do have another explanation” the Kommandant interrupts her yet again. “Your former superior, once thought to be a specimen of pure elven blood, was recently found to be an abomination – a half-breed that was the result of gnomosexual relations!”
Eladriel covers her mouth as she gasps with horror upon hearing this news – “you mean... Kommandant Pes-” she begins to utter as her superior slams his fist upon the desk.
“His name is never to be spoken in this place again – do you hear me, agent?” the Kommandant immediately demands of the shocked subordinate before him.
“Yes Kommandant! Consider his name forgotten!” the agent hastily agrees with her superior. “So what does this mean for...”
“It means that you were sent on a fools errand – likely smuggling war supplies to other half-breeds for some other agenda!” the Kommandant cuts her off yet again. “And once this fact came to light, this prompted the party to take a closer look at those underneath his command: such as his number one assassin, who presently stands before me – an assassin that apparently never slew a single target that she was ever sent after!”
“My Kommandant, I can explain this irregularity here” the agent launches into an apology of her record. “Every time I was sent after a target, a series of events unfolded that either eliminated it before I could take action or else the mission was scrubbed due to events beyond my control – yet these are still considered successful deployments under State Security Services procedure and thus bolstered my record as a faithful servant of the party.”
“It tells me that you are incompetent!” the Kommandant shouts as he once again slams the desk with his fist. “Too incompetent to notice the half-breed feeding you corrupted orders – making you the perfect pawn of an enemy of the party, who in turn promoted you in order to buy your complacency! From this day forth, you are to consider yourself relieved of all duties to the S.S.S. and to the party: your replacement will be arriving shortly.”
“My... My replacement?” the now-terminated agent whispers in shock as the door opens behind her and a new presence enters the room: a fur-covered being wearing a rubber mask and a wooden sign around his neck that reads “elf-thing.”
“Ah, hail victory!” the Kommandant greets this figure with the salute of the party as the figure returns the gesture in kind. “Meet your replacement – Meetable the Ever-Hungry! He's a fairly new agent as he just graduated from the academy about a month ago, but he's every bit as experienced in the art of the kill as you are.”
“Hey, wait a minute...” Eladriel pauses after looking over the furry agent meant to replace her. “You can't be serious – you mean to tell me that you are giving my position to an untested agent? He's a total virgin in the field!
“Just as you-you are a virgin in the arts of death!” the furry figure retorts. “And from what I hear-hear, you are also a virgin in matters related to the bed-bed!”
“Hey! That's not fair!” Eladriel cries out indignantly as both her replacement and the Kommandant break put in laughter. “I am not a virgin – in fact, I have a boyfriend! He's... He's just up in Khanadah right now...”
“Sure, the old Khanadian boyfriend story no one believes...” the Kommandant comments with an incredulous smile as he reaches in the drawers of his desk and pulls out a sack. “Now, take this and clean out your locker in the next half-hour! You are now no longer one of us!” he barks at the former agent as he reaches for the bolt insignia armband she wore – stripping it off with a single fluid motion. “Dismissed!”
***
The former agent sits quietly at a table in the Citizen Brew Cellar with the sack containing her belongings beside her as she waits to meet her cousin – the legendary alchemist Adronaii. I was really hoping to tell him a tale of success she muses as she stares into her drink. Now all I can do is resolve not to cry in front of him! What will he think of me? Even as kids he was always better than I and I was hoping that my time in the S.S.S. would show that I earned the right deal with him as an equal!
“Hey Ellie” a soft voice from behind her speaks – Eladriel turns to see the warm face of her cousin smiling at her.
“Adro...” she whispers. “I... I...” she stammers before leaping out of her seat to embrace him as she begins to weep. “I am such a failure! I got fired from my job and my boss laughed at me for being a virgin as he told me to get my things and leave! No one believes in me anymore!” she rants on and on as she cries into the gray cloak of her cousin and everyone in the bar stares at the scene she creates.
“Hey – calm down” Adronaii softly chides his cousin with a brief pat on her head. “Take a seat and you can tell me all about it, ok?”
After drying her eyes, Eladriel returns to the table and informs her cousin of the goings-on that led her to this point as Adronaii quietly listened to the tale. “I see...” he mumbles after she finished the story of her shame. “It sounds to me like the new Kommandant is 'cleaning house' to get rid of all remnants of his predecessor – the Night of the Long Spears has had serious repercussions for the party leadership as of late.”
“Wait a minute – what's this about long spears?” Eladriel queries.
“That's right – you were behind the lines the last few months. You might not know this, but there have been rumors of impurity whirring around the party for some time and about a month ago we finally took action – cleansing out suspected gnome sympathizers and half-breeds that infiltrated the party! I even played a part in ridding our ranks of a garrison commander we believe allowed undesirables to hide in his fortress!”
“Really? I wish I could have been part of all that!” Eladrieal chimes in with glee.
“Yeah – all I had to do was fill the fortress with false gold and reassure him that he just needed to act as the bait for the forces of Evilland while I brought reinforcements to bear: of course they never came and the Lord of Eviland did the real work for me! It's all too perfect!”
“Yeah – it's too bad I didn't get him when I had the chance...” Eladriel mutters as her eyes drift into her beer. “Maybe things would be different now...”
“Well, they might change for the better yet” her cousin reassures her. “You see, I have been placed in charge of a special mission by the Research and Teaching Community in Ancestral Heritage” he continues as he lowers his voice. “They want me to find a piece of lost magitech: a legendary magical basin that can harness the power of the Stars of Elveny - the Stellar Gralle.”
“Really?” Eladirel asks as she leans in towards her cousin to whisper into his ear. “I thought that it was destroyed over a thousand years ago during...”
“Yes, that's what most people believe – but we got a tip about a certain artifact hunter who found evidence to the contrary: a gentleman from beyond the boundaries of the Reality Nexus who goes under the name of Nebraska Johnson.
Eladriel lets out a gasp as she backs away. “No way! You mean that he's here – in the Elven Kingdoms?”
“Yes – he is and we could use some help winning over his trust” Adronaii responds. “Come with me, lend me your assistance in this endeavor and I can get you reinstated in the party with full privileges.”
“Yes!” she replies enthusiastically. “A thousand times yes! Where do we start?”
***
“Can you hear me?” a voice inquires from an earpiece linked to Eladriel's Istone as she sat alone at an outdoor table in front of a Kerlin cafe with a cup of black coffee – dressed in a white coat draped over her leotard, a pair of glasses that have no functional value on her face and her hair dolled up in short curls, she awaits the arrival of the otherworldly treasure hunter with the appearance that she was assured to most appeal to male humans of his world.
“I hear you Calypsii, but this just doesn't seem right – are you sure that this Johnson guy will go for this?” Eladriel responds to the voice on the other end. “I mean this guy is pretty rough-and-tumble according to his reputation, so wouldn't he want a girl who more like himself?”
“For the last time, you twat – females of his world portray themselves in a demure manner to avoid the appearance of vying with the males for dominance” the voice chides her with an irksome tone. “Remember: you are an archaeology student at Kerlin University and you came across some information on the Stellare Gralle in a restricted section of the library – you are getting in touch with Johnson because you believe that he might have a key clue to its location. Please tell me that you can play that role straight, because if you can't you are useless to us! Understood?”
“Understood...” Eladriel replies with a heavy sigh – recalling with clarity how Calypsii protested her presence when Adronaii integrated her into the plan: only agreeing to her own presence if she was allowed to coach her throughout the time she was to be part of the operation – basically dressing her as a clone of herself and creating this persona to present to the treasure hunter.
“Good – I could have easily done this part myself had your cousin not vouched for you” the voice responds through the earpiece. “Now just follow my lead, woo this human and get him to put all his cards on the table. And remember: keep small talk brief and simple – no issues that might be controversial. Humans don't care for that from strangers. And be sure to flatter him at every opportunity! They like having their egos stroked. And...”
“Ok! Ok!” Eladriel exclaims with annoyance. “He's going to be here any minute, so just let me work my magic on him, alright?” he continues as she raises her head in search of her contact – but thus far no human matching the description given to her: that of a rough-looking male with a scruffy beard wearing a leather jacket and fedora hat.
Several minutes pass and there is no sign of her contact. The only thing that caught her attention at this time is the sight of a clockwork shop across the street in the process of being commandeered from some gnomes that once owned it by the party – the new owners of pure elven blood being handed the keys as the dirty, little people marked with yellow “G” symbols on their garments are marched into a wagon to be relocated elsewhere as the new owners' tails twitch with glee at the thought of taking possession of their birthright as those of pure elven lineage that was long denied to them by doubters who called their claims to elven heritage. It's good to see our own rights upheld – even though it's hard to believe that these furry folks with tails are actually of our kin at times... But the party has tested them and who am I to question the word of the party?
With that thought, she notices that her black coffee is running dry - if her contact is going to be late in arriving, she might as well as enjoy a fancy cup of coffee while waiting...
***
In a small, drab room Calypsi removes her glasses and presses her fingers into her eye sockets as her elbows rest upon a wooden table after cramming her Istone back into the blue leotard she wears - “just what in all the hells did I agree to when I signed on for this?” she mutters to herself in disbelief: this is not the operation that she envisioned when first approached concerning the hunt for the Stellar Gralle – reduced to being a mere intermediary for a third-party hastily brought aboard and integrated into the plan. “It should be me out there with Johnson..” she whines as Adronaii enters the room accompanied by a furry being with a long tail and a sign around his neck reading “elf-thing.”
“Hail victory my Kommandant!” Calypsi calls out as she hastily rises from the table to greet her superior with the raised hand salute. “Your agent is presently awaiting the arrival of Nebraska Johnson as we speak – the plan proceeds smoothly.”
“Good to hear – you come highly recommended by the Research and Teaching Community in Ancestral Heritage for this mission, so much is expected of you” Adronaii says coldly he pulls out a seat from the table. “Your job is to feed Eladriel all relevant information pertaining to the Stellar Gralle as she plies her mark for any information he has on its location – once we are satisfied with the necessary clues, Meetable the Ever-Hungry here will step in and do what he does best” Adronaii continues as he gestures towards the figure he entered with.
“Yes Kommandant, but...” Calypsi trails off. “Surely... This job would be better performed by someone with extensive knowledge of the lore of the Stellar Gralle as well as the customs of Johnon's people – such a person wouldn't need to be coached about what to say or do! I still fail to understand why this agent you brought into this mission is needed in the first place and it's affecting my ability to perform my duties to the Research and Teaching Community in Ancestral Heritage!”
“Your duty is to follow the orders given to you!” Adronaii rebukes the young researcher. “My reasons for bringing in the agent are not your concern and shall not be discussed further, do you understand?”
“Y-yes... Kommandant” Calypsi stammers in reply - “I am on standby to feed the agent information in real time when she makes contact, but it would have been better to have some one-on-one time to go over as much lore related to the Gralle beforehand...”
“Our operation simply does not have the time for that – we need only give her what she needs to know, when she needs to know it and Meetable will take over from there” Adronaii abruptly interjects. “This fine gentleman of pure, noble Elven ancestry comes recommended to me from the State Security Services for the task that follows the meeting: one of elimination of the foreign treasure hunter and the recovery of the agent.”
“My men stand-stand at the ready, my Kommandant” a chittering voice whispers beneath a crude rubber mask worn by the furry figure. “Meetable the Ever-Hungry seeks to serve-serve your mission with his talents in the arts of death-death.”
“Remember: you are to eliminate the treasure hunter only – the agent is to be recovered alive!” Adronaii restates for emphasis. “The last time I worked with an S.S.S. Agent he was more than a little bloodthirsty and killed my agents with his recklessness – I am trusting that this won't be an issue this time around...” he concludes before rising up and turning to leave the room, allowing Calypsi to finally slump back into her seat.
“Good gods – he really seems to value the life of this random agent...” Calypsi remarks snidely as she throws her head back against the rest of the seat, allowing her brown hair to slump behind her in a flowing mess.
“Meetable believes that he knows-knows this one” the chittering voice beneath the mask answers. “She was fired from the job-job that he took – it turns out that her loyalties were called into doubt-doubt” the voice continues has he produces an Istone from his pocket: placing it on the table and activating the holoprojection mode to display a 3D model of the area surrounding the cafe – the location of the agent at her cafe table being marked by an orange dot.
“Really?” the young researcher queries. “Why does he insist on a failed agent with questionable loyalties – especially when I can do this job so much better?”
“Meetable thinks-thinks that he owes her a favor – he can think of no other reason he would give-give such an important task to her” the furry figure replies. “She is a total virgin in the matters of death-death and, Meetable thinks, in the bed-bed too.”
“What?” Calypsi interjects with disbelief. “She's a complete virgin and we're relying on her to beguile a man into spilling his secrets? Good gods – I'm only 50 years of age and I even a bookworm like me that spends most of her time in the library managed to bed a few males!” she shouts in disbelief as she rises from her seat. “I have got to make a stone call...” she continues as she pulls out her Istone and heads out the door.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Hehehe...” the furry figure chuckles as Calypsi leaves the room. “Now for the fun-fun part...” he mutters as he reaches for the interface of the Istone – moving his clawed fingers through the holographic projection...
***
“Yes – I'll have the South Jungle vanilla latte with extra foam and cinnamon” Eladriel casually rattles off to the waiter. “And I think I'll have a blueberry scone to go with that. Charge it to the company account used to pay for the black coffee: if they want to use my time like this, they can pay for some real luxury caffeine!”
As the waiter leaves the table, she notices a pair of figures in grey cloaks staring at her from the sidewalk – Eladriel turns to face them in her seat at the table, only to be greeted with the sight of a hand-crossbow appearing from beneath the cloak of one of the figures. “Oh shit...” she utters to herself as she dives under the table just before a steel bolt hits the back of her chair.
“You take-take the next shot!” a chittering voice from beneath one of the cloaks rattles off as the other figure produces a hand-crossbow of his own – only for it to be torn from his fingers the moment he raises it up by a leather whip wielded by a human male in a brown leather jacket and fedora hat.
“Get lost you rats!” the human shouts as he lunges towards the cloaked figure to give it a solid right hook to the face – throwing it backwards into the figure standing beside it. As the stunned figures hit the ground, the cloaks fall away to reveal a pair of furry creatures with “elf-thing” signs around their necks and rubber masks: the human proceeds to deliver a kick to the face of figure he hit with the right hook – knocking him out cold while the other figure beside him scurries away on all fours.
“What in the hells is going on here?” Eladriel shouts hysterically from beneath the table. “This is not supposed to be happening! Just...” she suddenly pauses as she peers out from the make-shift furniture shield to see the human: a tall, rugged figure with a face covered in stubble and broad shoulders that bulge beneath the leather jacket – truly he is a man of action and can only be the famed treasure hunter himself. “Nebraska Johnson...” she whispers to herself as her eyes take in the sight of this most impressive and, though she is loathe to admit it to herself, sensual figure of a man.
“I – I... Uh... I am... Eladriel of... Kerlin... University...” she just manages to stutter out as she is captivated by the site of this impressive human male – one that she just cannot help but feel utmost attraction and lust for! “I came to... Meet you... About...”
“Can it!” Nebraska shouts as he grabs her by the hand - “we'll talk later! Now we move!”
***
“Kommandant!” Calypsi cries out as she barges into the private quarters of Adronaii. “My superiors demand to know why the agent you placed on this mission is grossly under-qualified!”
“Your superiors?” Adronaii queries as he rises from his cot. “What do your superiors know about qualifications for espionage? Are they not archaeologists and librarians? Why would those ivory tower academics know anything about spycraft?”
“They have recently become aware of the fact that the agent you put on this mission was recently let go from the S.S.S.” Calypsi hisses out in a hushed tone. “They also know that she was a failed agent that only remained in the agency due to being protected by her superiors – superiors that are connected to you! And furthermore, she has never even successfully seduced a male! This is an-”
“Enough!” Adronaii interrupts as he slaps Calypsi across the face with the back of his hand. “You are only here to feed the agent need-to-know information on the Stellar Gralle and her target! It's not your place to judge whom I select for what role! And your superiors have no right to question my judgment!”
“Perhaps you forget who finances the academic endeavors of my superiors...” Calypsi retorts with a tone of menace in her voice. “They report to Himmael and he in turn reports directly to...”
“Vittler.” Adronaii cuts her off at the end with a sigh: the new party leader that has ascended to prominence in the wake of the “Night of the Long Spears.” “As poorly-equipped as your superiors are to judge one's fitness for a mission of this nature, an explanation of my rationale is in order. I will have one written up by the time this mission is concluded, but for now you will continue to obey my orders without further interloping by the political establishment into these affairs of fieldwork, is that clear?”
“If I were you, I would make some changes in the organization of this operation right now – Kommandant” Calypsi mutters coldly towards her mission commander. “You don't want anyone with a direct line to Himmael expressing concerns about the competency of your leadership during an inquiry, do you?”
“Very well...” Adronaii relents as he heads towards the door. “Meetable!” he shouts down the hall towards the operations room. “Have the agent called back – we're sending Calypsi out there instead” he continues as he opens the door.
“I can not-not do that” Meetable the Ever-Hungry replies, looking up from the holographic display of his Istone. “She has already made-made contact with the man-thing treasure hunter!”
“Dammit!” Calypsi cries out as she rushes to the table and grabs her earpiece. “What has he told her so far?”
“Not a thing-thing – it seems that there was a random shot-shot from a crossbow fired and the scene is now a mess-mess.”
“Oh fuck...” Adronaii whispers under his breath as he slowly sinks into a seat at the table...
***
“What's happening?” Eladriel frantically inquires as another bolt just misses her by a fraction of an inch. “Why are we being shot at? Who are these people? What-”
“Shut up, lady!” the human treasure hunter shouts in frustration as he tosses the elf into a waste dumpster. “Hide here!” he blurts out before making a run towards a corner of a blind alley.
Eladriel fumbles around though the garbage before emerging from the dumpster, a banana peel upon her head of golden locks. “Hey!” she exclaims towards no direction in particular. “Where did you go? Are you just going to leave me here?”
As she begins climbing out of the garbage, two more figures appear at the entrance to the alleyway – furry beings with masks and “elf-thing” signs armed with crossbows aim their weapons in Eladriel's direction. “Wait! You got the wrong girl here!” she exclaims with her arms raised in the air. “I don't know who you are, but you wouldn't spill the blood of your fellow elf without cause, right?”
“Heh...” a small chuckle comes from beneath the mask of one of the figures. “It's time for you to die-die” he snickers as his fingers begin to tighten around the trigger of his weapon. Upon seeing that the figure is unmoved be her plea, Eladriel shuts her eyes and makes a vain attempt to shield herself with her hands.
But the shot never came – instead, a sudden crack of breaking wood fills her ears. When she opens her eyes she is met with the sight of the figure that had threatened her moments earlier on the ground: the human treasure hunter holding a broken piece of timber in his hands and the other figure recoiling from him in sudden shock. Taking full advantage of his position, the treasure hunter proceeds to toss the remains of the wooden board into the face of the other figure before diving straight into his mid-section for a take-down.
“Alright!” Eladriel shouts with excitement and glee. “Beat that gnome-spawn senseless!”
“What?” the human responds with a confused look upon his face without much thought – loosening his grip on the figure long enough for it to slip out out from his position beneath the treasure hunter and begin scurrying towards the entrance of the alleyway. “Dammit, get back here!” the treasure hunter calls out as he springs to his feet, trusty whip in hand, and sprints towards the figure, but the figure makes it to the entrance and out into the busy street: blending into the crowd and out of sight, Nebraska loses him.
“Well shit...” the treasure hunter sighs as he lowers his head in disappointment – that figure was the only survivor of the attacking gang and he had intended to interrogate him as to the nature of their interest in his work, but that's no longer a possibility. With this realization he turns to his elven contact with exasperation. “Thanks for nothing!” he shouts at her while throwing his whip on the ground.
“Hey! It's not like I wanted him to get away!” the elf retorts in anger. “It's your fault that the gods damn gnome-spawn got away – don't blame me!”
“You see, that's what I don't get – what the hell is this 'gnome-spawn' stuff you are going on about?” the human asks incredulously. “The guy was obviously a rat!”
A rat? the elf ponders to herself. Is that some kind of slang that his people use? Well, in any event it's gone and now I can finally work my charms on this human – this gruff, primitive, albeit rather alluring, muscular, handsome-faced human who isn't aware of my lack of experience in... Wait a minute – what am I thinking here? He's still just a human and I shouldn't be so concerned with such things! Even though I really wouldn't mind getting into bed with him and seeing just what he's capable of...she says in her mind as visions of all manner of positions fill her head.
“Uh... Hello?” the human treasure hunter queries as he snaps his finger in front of the elf's face as she stands there and stares blankly into space. “Anybody in there? Don't tell me you've gone into shock...”
“Oh!” the elf exclaims as she suddenly returns to reality after her lewd fantasies suddenly come to an end. “I... Uh... I just had a sudden thought about... The Gralle! Yes! That's it” she lies to cover for her brief escape from the world into her imaginary world of carnal pleasure with a stranger she just met.
“Sure...” the treasure hunter lies to get out of this awkward spot and get on with business. “So, what do you got for me?”
“Well...” the elf trails off as she realizes just how little she actually knows about the Gralle – aside from being aware of the power of the Gralle to harness the hidden power of the Stars of Elveny held by the monarchs of the Elven Kingdoms, there's very little information she has on the subject. Damn – I got nothing! she says to herself. If only I had paid more attention in history class I might have something to tell him!
“Hey! Can you hear me?” the elf hears a voice call to her from the earpiece that she still wears. “Answer me!”
“Um... All this excitement has made me a bit loaded with... Certain fluids...” the elf lies to the human while looking frantically in all directions. “I really need to make use of the lady's room right about now, so if you mind...”
“Fine...” the treasure hunter lets out with a long sigh. “I'll just wait here while you go squat behind a dumpster over there.”
“Perfect!” the elf exclaims as she ducks behind a couple of waste cans while reaching for her earpiece. “I'm here Calypsi – he's asking for information about the Gralle” she whispers into her Istone speaker. “What do I tell him?”
“Oh gods – please tell me that you took a look at that info package I sent you” Calypsi groans as she presses her fingers against her forehead.
“I might have given it a look, but some things have happened since then – like me nearly getting a bolt in my chest!” Eladriel retorts under her breath. “Could you just help me out here?”
“Ugh – just tell me what happened and I'll give you some pointers” she reluctantly agrees. “But you really should pay more attention to the info I send you, dammit!”
***
The unlikely pair arrive at the entrance to the library of the Kerlin University. “I found some old texts here that might give us some clues about...” Eladriel begins to explain as the human treasure hunter reaches into his coat pocket and produces an old journal. “Uh... The Gralle...” she slows to a halt as she witnesses him thumb through the pages.
“This place...” Nebraska Johnson mutters as he keeps thumbing through the book. “I've seen it before. Was this place a temple once?”
“Yeah – back in my grandparents' day” the elf responds. “The university bought the land a couple centuries back when the temple fell on hard times due to lack of attendance, then converted the building into a rec hall – which it then closed after too many rowdy students made a mess of the place and then made it into...”
Before the elf could finish her thought, Nebraska marches up the steps with his journal still in hand – proceeding to open the door and walk right in without her. How rude! the elf thought to herself. You would think that an archaeologist of his caliber would be more interested in the history of the local area – this piece of golden advice from Calypsi is completely worthless!
Eladriel quickens here pace – pursuing the human treasure hunter into the library as he continues to gaze at the book in his hand. He thumbs through the pages as he looks around at the architecture: pausing to trace lines from himself to various points in the building – a wall, a pillar, a window with a stained-glass depiction of a worship ceremony. “It's uncanny how familiar the numerals are...” he half-whispers to himself.
Eladriel takes a second look at the portions of architecture he had taken notice of – they all had numerals on them: particularly the numerals for “III,” “VII” and “X” - all three were present upon the window while the wall and the pillar only had the “III” and “VII” marked on them. “Oh yeah...” Eladriel remarks quizzically. “Well, some centuries back we had contact with a culture of humans that took a liking to our style of architecture and they had an unusual writing system that used numerals like these – our artisans have made use of them for aesthetic purposes, but we always found them impractical for...”
Once again, the human treasure hunter ignores her and continues glancing around the edifice until something draws his attention to the floor – after surveying the ground under his feet, he notices a strange linear pattern emerge. Upon noticing this anomaly, he sprints up a nearby staircase and bends over the rail to get a more complete picture of the pattern: a pair of black marble lines that clearly forms the “X” numeral.
“X marks the spot!” he exclaims as he comes down the staircase – dashing towards the middle of the giant numeral and dropping to his knees upon reaching the center: he gropes about the ground with his bare hands in search of something out of the ordinary until he finds a small separation in the marble slab barely large enough to press a copper coin into. “Hey – make yourself useful and get me something to pry this off!” he shouts to the elf that has been watching this scene play out with utter bewilderment.
“Uh... Sure.” she replies with hesitation – she was led to believe that the purpose of the trip to this library was to comb through the texts for clues, not examine the building itself. Yet she complies with the unusual request and heads toward a janitor's closet. Surely there's a tool in here that should be able to preform adequately she remarks in her own head as she quickly picks the lock and gently pushes the door open. Upon sifting through the various implements within, she stumbles upon an ice pick used for the purpose of clearing sidewalks in winter weather. This should do nicely she says to herself as she makes her way back towards the treasure hunter.
The human grabs the pick by the handle, presses it against the slight opening in the marble and begins pushing it at an angle with all of his weight – after about a solid minute of prying, the marble slab comes loose to reveal an empty space just beneath the floor: he slowly pulls the slab back to shed more light into the space – a stone marker with a strange inscription in the shape of a six-pointed star in the center of the small area comes into view.
“Bingo!” the human exclaims as he reaches into his pocket – pulling out a sheet of paper and a charcoal stick. After setting the paper over the stone marker, he makes a rubbing of the inscription with the charcoal. “Alright, let's go” he states curtly once he places the rubbing into his jacket pocket and returns to his feet.
Could it really be that simple? Eladriel wonders to herself. Maybe I should take this to Calypsi she can see if Nebraska missed anything... she ponders as she reaches for the marker – gently lifting it from its resting place and putting into her coat pocket: after placing the marker in her pocket she began to casually walk away – and just then all hell brakes loose as a massive explosion transpires directly behind her and throws her to the ground!
“Ugh – what the fuck...” she begins to mutter as she slowly pushes herself up to her knees, only to hear a low growl of a beast behind her. She slowly turns her head around to see a demon with the head of a lion and the humanoid body, covered in white fur and black stripes, staring down at her with hungry eyes – her skin is drained of all color, her eyes become wide as saucers and she finds herself incapable of moving a single muscle: the only thought going through her mind being “oh shit” repeatedly as she feels the hot breath of the monster against her face and fogs up her glasses.
Just as the jaws of the beast approach her head, baring razor-sharp teeth preparing to remove it from her shoulders, a sudden crack of a whip snaps Eladriel out of her psychosomatic paralysis with a sudden slash mark appears upon the eye of the demon – sending it reeling backwards in pain. “Come on!” she hears the cry of the human treasure hunter. “Move your ass!”
The pair dash towards the exit as the demon beast gives chase – knocking over bookshelves, collapsing support columns and thus causing damage to the ceiling of the structure as it pursues them. As they run towards the exit, debris from the damaged ceiling begins to fall in front of them at a faster and faster rate as the integrity of the structure becomes increasingly compromised: chunks large enough to crush a human being plummet right in the path of the doorway – threatening to block it and seal them in, leaving them to either perish from the collapse or at the hands of the monster they accidentally summoned.
“Oh shit!” the elf exclaims as she bears witness to the sight of her impending death even as she flees from it – only now realizing just how in over her head she is, all manner of random thoughts flash through her mind; if only she had just accepted her lost status in the S.S.S. and sought out employment in a different sector, like waiting tables at the Citizens Brew Cellar or delivering for the local Pizza Shed, she wouldn't be about to die at this moment; of how her cousin will remember her as a total failure and regret every time he did her any favors and thus tell the rest of her family what a loser she actually is; if only she actually succeeded in assassinating the Lord of Evilland at Komang's camp she would be celebrated as a great hero even if she somehow got assigned a mission like this, preformed as poorly is she is doing presently and died in the process she still might be remembered as someone who made valuable contributions to the party and to Elveny...
As the elf grows more and more introspective in what she believes to be her final moments, the treasure hunter notices that the debris of the building collapse is affecting the demon giving chase – seeing how it is being bombarded with slab after slab of stone and concrete, slowing its b-line advance in their direction, he decides to make a sudden detour: grabbing the elf by the arm, he pulls her off towards his left towards a large reception desk close to the entrance and jumps on the top - “Give me one sec...” he quickly spouts off as he reaches for his whip. He takes a look up at the ceiling to note that there are a number of banners hanging above the doorway hanging from poles that appear sturdy enough to support his weight that are just on the other side of the collapsed slabs blocking the door.
With a flick of his wrist, he sends his bullwhip towards the banners – creating a make-shift rope from which he began climbing over the slabs. “Wait til I'm over the top” he instructs the elf. “This thing can't support both of our weight.”
The elf pauses to look behind her – observing a furious rustling in the rubble as the beast founds furiously at the stones that have fallen on him. “Hurry up and climb – I don't wanna die!” she screams at the top of her lungs as more and more of the wreckage is swept aside by the second before turning around to see that the human had already finished climbing and was waiting at the top of the debris pile for her.
Frantically, she grabs the whip handle and begins climbing – her sweaty hands slipping down the make-shift rope nearly as fast as she can grab it: seeing her struggle to ascend the whip, the human bends down from the top of the debris and extends his hand. “Grab my hand!” he calls out to the elf as she makes her way up to him. Once she comes close enough, he grabs her arm and violently pulls her over the stone slap and leaps to the bottom on the other side while losing his hat in the process: he drags the elf behind him towards the main door as more rubble begins to fall around them, but just makes it passed the portal – only stopping for a brief moment to reach back for his fallen hat before structure collapses, sealing the doorway.
***
Upon their escape from the collapsing library, the pair make their way to a nearby alleyway to catch their respective breaths and recover their bearings. “Well, that was close...” Eladriel remarks while hyperventilating just before she finds a hat smacking her in the face.
“You moron!” the human treasure hunter bellows out after striking the elf with his hat, knocking her glasses to the street below. “You realize that I made the rubbing for a reason? Did they teach you anything about magical traps in those university classes?”
“I... I'm sorry” the elf weakly stammers as she shies away from the angry human. “I just thought that there might be something else we could learn from the marker if...”
“We got what we needed from it” the human interrupts - “the marker is a messenger of the Gralle's guardians, not the message itself. From now on, you are to follow my lead and not act without my approval – got it?”
“I...” the elf pauses as she ponders the ramifications of this – can she do her duty to the party if she's constantly seeking his approval for action? Could she manipulate him into giving up his knowledge or will he be able to resist her charms (such as they are...)? “I got it” she reluctantly agrees, hoping that she can turn this situation to her advantage later.
“Alright then – let's get out of here and see if we can get this rubbing translated” Nebraska says nonchalantly as he turns around and starts strolling out of the alleyway and into the main street – followed by Eladriel on his heels. “You forgot your glasses...” the human remarks, causing Eladriel to duck back into the alleyway to get them.
As they make their way down the street and away from the remains of the library, a cloaked figure sulking around in the shadows on the opposite side of the road observes at a distance: it pulls out an Istone and places it close to its face – a feint ring is heard from it for a few seconds before a voice on the other end answers. “What-what is the status of the subjects?” the voice asks impatiently.
“It seems that they got a clue-clue the cloaked figure responds. “Me will continue to see-see how this plays out...”