The Modron Mutiny
Chapter Four
The Tower
Azra lost consciousness for only a moment. He felt his stone body seemingly falling, but was halted rapidly before he could hit whatever he was heading towards. Azra’s body was being “carried” by something he couldn’t see. It felt cold and sturdy; the somewhat rough finish had to be iron.
Maybe it was all in his head? He still felt like he was in a state of delirium. Although his focus had been off, a key sign of extraplanar travel, this still didn’t feel completely like a dream. The water was so dark. Before he had fallen off the Five’s ship, he remembered how bright it was. Surely seawater didn’t snuff out that much light?
Dream or not, Azra opened his eyes to see that he was being gripped by a large metal claw, a claw being pulled up the side of a boat with a chain. The powerful device had him on the deck before he could protest. Azra didn’t get to inspect how dirty the claw was, but did notice that he had no visible sea bottom mud on his body. He was covered in seawater though, which was completely unacceptable.
Before he could try to dry himself off, Azra noticed the bottled lights on the ship. Of course, they weren’t symmetrical, and held what looked like grotesque glowing fluid. Azra didn’t have time to gawk at the lights, as he quickly noticed a thin man walking out of the ship’s cabin and in his direction.
The man had, much to his surprise, very clean gray clothes. The man was gray as well, with black eyes and a sharp-toothed mouth that undoubtedly followed the lines on his cheeks. Azra could tell that somehow, this man had slight features of a shark. He was walking with his partially-webbed hands half held up, as if he was trying not to scare Azra. Being a shark-person may have frightened the average person unaccustomed to seeing such sights, but Azra was different. His gaze was locked on the man’s pointed, and rather asymmetric, teeth.
“Azra Holder…I have heard a whole lot about you. Nice to meet you…well like this…I wish it was under better circumstances.”
The man in the black scarf started to lower his hands, and tried to smile as welcoming as possible. Azra was still staring, slack-jawed and stunned, at the man’s teeth.
The man in the black scarf quickly put his scarf over his mouth. As if he had been released from an enchantment, Azra twitched a few times as awareness returned to his eyes.
“You should try to straighten those, maybe pull a few out just to make them even.”
The man in the black scarf’s friendly demeanor dropped. Now he held a look of irritation.
“Well, they grow back very, very fast…”
“By the gods, that is nightmarish!” Azra gasped out, probably more high-pitched than he intended.
“I really don’t have time for this, you need to listen to me and take your mind off these impulses!” The man in the black scarf half-shouted, in more desperation than anger.
Azra didn’t protest, but stood a little bit straighter. The man in the black scarf continued.
“Listen Hol…Azra, I was given very, very specific instructions to contact you this way if something were to happen to Automata…”
Azra’s eyes perked up. He quickly trotted closer to the man in the black scarf. Azra started to grab him, perhaps to shake him by the shoulders, but managed to stop himself at the last second.
“T-that is impossible! The perfect city has impenetrable defenses! Is anyone hurt?”
The man in the black scarf just shook his head, “I honestly don’t know, and we need to act fast in order to find out. The message I received wasn’t very coherent, but your wife wanted me to…”
Even though he was a statue, Azra appeared to be sweating out of fear.
“My wife? I-I don’t have a wife…or a girlfriend…or a lover or anything! I’m a statue man and am completely impotent! Why would I…well not impotent…er maybe…no…but I am a statue man that part is defiantly true. Also, I am not really impotent, but the rest is defiantly true too…
The man in the black scarf cut off Azra. As he yelled, his scarf slipped back down.
“The sword is lost! Do you have any clue what that means…because I don’t! Contacting you in the Silent Sea was some kind of emergency plan…a plan I now see wasn’t very well thought up! It was orchestrated by Ailia Symmette, the head of the Automata Council of Order! One thing very direct in her message was to find you if the sword was lost!”
Azra stood in place for a few moments, his gaze locked on the man’s now exposed teeth. The man in the black scarf’s brow furrowed. He could tell that Azra, one of the most lawful people in all the planes, was trying to lie again before he had even spoken.
“Well…I certainly do not know who this Symmette person is, she is probably flawlessly beautiful, but I fail to recognize the name.” Azra said with a twitching and almost sweat soaked face.
How a statue could sweat, the man in the black scarf didn’t know or really care to know.
The man in the black scarf struggled to hide the frustration plastered on his face. He rubbed a partially webbed hand down from his brow to his chin, which made a gritty noise as it scraped unseen scales.
“How about the sword? Can you tell me what that is, or are you going to try and stumble through that explanation too?”
Azra reached for his scimitar, but realized that it wasn’t hanging off his belt. He looked down to his waist in horror, then back up to the man in the black scarf.
“Listen, ragged-toothed fish man! I will not have you accuse me of lying about good people I have clearly never met! Now return my weapon before asking about equally mysterious swords!”
The man in the black scarf smiled and folded his hands.
“So, your sword isn’t artifact…well that is something of a surprise. I figured they’d give you a weapon out of some Mechanus vault or something. In this world certain powerful magics aren’t affected by the disarming measures.”
Azra lifted and balled a fist, “No, it is an artifact! I wield Grovelthrash, the sword that cut through two warships! It has eaten Arms of the Betrayers! It can cut through anything! I even cut apart a vampire in mist form! It can…”
Azra stopped, suddenly stunned at the flood of memories coming back to him.
The man in the black scarf nodded, then his smile started to fade, “And despite all that, it isn’t here…”
Despite gaining some memories, Azra started to really feel afraid. Why would his home city be in danger, why did she want a fish man to find him if a special sword was lost. Azra still had Grovelthrash…even though it wasn’t here…it wasn’t lost. Nothing about this made sense.
Azra trotted back a step, and tried his best to put on a face that looked friendly. It looked very forced and disingenuous. Azra’s lips pulled into an unwilling smile. It would have probably frightened a normal person.
“Alright sir shark-man…so let us say that I do know who this Symmette person is…is she in danger?”
The man in the black scarf crossed his arms, “Well, start by telling me what the sword is.”
Azra started to speak…but a sudden thought forced his lips to shut tight. The sword was missing; she contacted this person for help…maybe this was just because Azra had left! The sword had to be Grovelthrash! Him leaving must had worse ramifications that he had realized.
This time Azra did grab the shark-like man, who flinched as if he were about to attack in response. The man stopped himself as Azra seemed to ignore the wet substance now coating his hands.
“Did a man named Arius Desmond command those modrons? Did he take control of the city? He’s always been jealous of me, and would stop at nothing to see me permanently thrown in prison. That bastard is still mad I insulted his brown teeh! He never evened cleaned them, even after I told him how putrid they look!”
Arza shook the man as he shouted. The last shake caused the man in the black scarf to step out of Azra’s literal stone grip.
“I don’t know who that is, but I know the council head can’t be responsible for whatever is going on with the tower! I just know that the sword is lost and needs to be returned! Why are you doing this? I know that you and Ailia Symmette are together! Just tell me what you know about all this so I can…”
Azra Holder shouted before the man in the black scarf could finish, “I do not know who that is! I am sorry but I cannot help you!”
The man in the black scarf let out a combination of a growl and a sigh, “Not even if she’s in danger? You’d continue to act like a child for what? Why are you hiding this?”
Azra gritted his teeth, and no longer could restrain himself as he shouted, he held up both hands.
“I cannot talk about her or the mind flayers will know where she is! She cannot get taken by them; they can hear anything you say on the Prime Material Plane! Their psychic powers will tear her apart!”
At this point, Azra noticed the wet substance on his hands. It was most likely soapy water that the man in the black scarf had tried to clean off with, just to prepare for this meeting. To Azra Holder though, any wet substance that cannot be identified had to be removed.
As the man in the black scarf started to speak, Azra was shaking both hands around limp-wristed, as if he were trying to frantically shake off what was on his hands.
“Ok…I think I understand. A caliban with…”
The man in the black scarf stopped himself with a head shake, almost immediately linking the fear to the subject.
“…no, illithids can’t just know where someone is, and even if they could they certainly don’t come here. We can speak freely, and I don’t view her as a monster so I’m not going to try and…what are you doing?”
Azra was still shaking his hands, now looking around as if in a panic.
“You had some kind of fluid on you…and now it is on me…and I need to clean off!”
The man in the black scarf now started to look afraid. He was starting to see the futility of his efforts.
“It’s just water. Listen, we need to find out what the sword is!”
“Do you have soap inside that room?” Azra shouted as he ran for the ship’s cabin.
Azra ran past the man in the black scarf, ignoring his scream. The man shouted “no” in a desperate manner that probably would have stopped anyone sane, so clearly it didn’t stop Azra from charging in.
Azra saw nothing but nightmare fish. Most were asymmetric, completely lacking a bilateral form as the gods intended, and all had needle-teeth more uneven than Azra’s nightmares could concoct.
Azra just shrieked and ran back out without stopping. The man in the black was slouched with his arms at his side, the look of crippling disappointment on his face was obvious enough to taste. He was watching the horizon, and didn’t impede Azra as he ran and launched himself into the inky water.
Right has Azra disappeared beneath the water, Captain Saltrock appeared on deck, popping out of a concealed trap door as if he’d missed something important.
“Should I have stopped that? I know ye said to stay down there so he wouldn’t see me beard.”
The man in the black scarf kept his posture, not even turning around to address the dwarf.
“Captain, you did your duty perfectly. This is entirely my fault. I really didn’t plan for or anticipate that he’d be…well like this…”
“Acts like his wife he does…remember seein’ her out here? Near scared me to death.” The dwarf muttered out.
“Yes, but at least she could be reasoned with. Well, she didn’t get any water on her, or see the fish. I guess I have to factor that in too…”
The man in the black scarf sighed, and slowly walked back to the cabin.
“Let’s just hope that when he’s unconscious again things have changed for the better in the waking world.”
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It wasn’t coughing from spitting up water that woke Azra Holder. He was certainly coughing and gagging, but it was due to the memory of the troll scat that had been thrown on his chest.
Azra kept coughing; it was as if he couldn’t stop if he wanted too. He didn’t smell anything or taste anything, but the memory had its own taste…
Azra wouldn’t forget it anytime soon.
Azra was somehow lying on an all too familiar metal, a bronze he had seen many times over. Azra had no recollection how the adventurers rescued him from the seafloor. Azra felt something greasy on his sides, but couldn’t see anything. He would have to inspect it more thoroughly later.
Azra could hear the Fighting Five arguing in the distance. The gnome was yelling at the elf, who was yelling at everyone else in return. The only interrupting factor was the tortle’s grinding, yet calm voice, or the dwarf’s high-pitched laughter.
“You were looking for loot while we almost had our faces smashed in! I should throw you down to the sharks!” Rexi screamed.
The gnome had now taken her helm off, possibly just so Theril could see how displeased she was.
“I was not looting anything you simple-minded cutthroat! I was fighting the troll! If I hadn’t held it at bay as long as I did, it would have killed us all with the orcs!” Theril managed to scream back in a higher voice than Rexi.
Rexi’s eyes flashed, before a grin started to form on her face. This didn’t exactly comfort Theril, who just looked at her in confusion.
“The troll said it was asleep Theril! You’ve been caught in your own lie!”
Rexi started to lunge at the elf, who in turn started to grab the hilt of his sword. Before either could do anything hostile, Qresh lifted up his left leg and slammed his foot onto the ground.
The impact was heavy enough to knock Theril on his backside and stagger Rexi to one knee. All three of them stared at the Tortle in shock.
“If we sit here fightin’ we ain’t gonna learn much o’anything ‘bout this damn tower! If it’s dangerous, we’ll need all the help we can get!”
Qresh took a few steps over to Rexi and offered her a scaled hand. She took it, and the large tortle pulled the gnome up off the ground. Rexi looked calmer now, if a bit embarrassed.
“Maybe that was a little over the top…but once we get back to Chult, Theril is staying.”
The elf leapt to his feet, and soon after, haughtily turned his head away from the party. Before he walked away, his wholly blue eyes landed on Azra.
“Well, well, well, it seems that those bladder-nosed seals you summoned did indeed lift the statue man from the seabed.”
At the mention of seals, Azra vomited up sand into his lap.
Rexi ran over to Azra, and Qresh lumbered along at half the pace. Toenails just flashed a yellow-brown grin but didn’t approach. Rexi had instructed him not to talk to the statue if possible. Toenails really wanted to poke him though, maybe even lick his finger and put it in the statue man’s ear.
Rexi would be furious, but the statue’s reaction would be worth the effort.
“Are you okay? Did you swallow any seawater…er…do you even need to breathe?” Rexi chattered in concern.
Azra faced Rexi and blinked, still looking quite ill and now attempting to clear the wet sand-vomit from his lap.
“You have my utmost gratitude…but please…just do not describe whatever beasts rescued me.”
Rexi flashed Azra another gap-toothed smile. Azra was able to not stare quite as bad.
“I’m just glad you aren’t dead or stranded in the dark zone of the sea. We didn’t have much trouble getting to the tower. There was a sort of magical shield around it, but that faded pretty fast once we got in close enough.”
Rexi pointed a thumb at what looked to be a colossal set of double doors. The entire tower looked like it was casted in a dull bronze, and the doors fit so well their seams almost looked invisible. The carvings on the doors, Azra could tell, were equations that mirrored each other on the opposite sides of the doors. The tower was devoid of decoration save for the equations. Any shape carved into the bronze looked to be geometrically perfect.
Azra stood up, and once his vomit-sand was scraped off his lap, started walking to the doors. Before he could reach out a hand to open them, he saw…him…
the dwarf…
Toenails waved at the horrified statue, and as he waddled in the statue’s direction. On his way, Toenails had to pull up his trousers that were being pushed down by his ample gut.
“Glad my’s seals rescued ye! It be colder than a witch’s titties down ‘ere!”
Azra appeared to not understand what the dwarf was saying; he just looked disgusted and shot out another stream of sandy vomit.
“P-please do not come any closer!” Azra screamed with one hand outstretched to the dwarf and another over his mouth.
“Dammit toenails!” Rexi shouted, “We agreed you wouldn’t bother him; you’re scaring the man!”
Rexi turned back to Azra with hands held up, “I’m sorry he’s harmless. He won’t touch you.”
“I has to touch him if he want’s the healin’.” Toenails protested as his one good eye opened in alarm.
Azra vomited again, this time narrowly missing Rexi.
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Rexi closed her eyes, for a few seconds, then turned to the living statue with a shockingly reassuring smile.
“We can find another way to heal you. Now, let’s introduce ourselves proper…maybe that will calm your stomach.”
“I’s is Toenails!” Toenails chortled before Rexi could finish.”
“Not you!” Rexi shouted as Qresh lumbered up to the human statue.
Qresh lumbered up and attempted to block Tonails from Azra’s sight.
“I’m Qresh…mhmm…”
He nodded sternly, and then looked at Rexi. Rexi mumbled a silent thank you as Toenails started to waddle back to the edge of the ocean. Toenails was now visible again. Rexi was certain she heard him mumble something that sounded like “piss.”
Before Toenails could fully drop his trousers to urinate, Rexi grabbed Azra by the arm and spun him around. The gnome was unusually strong; to Azra it seemed impossible that a gnome could move him.
“We are the Fighting Five…. or we were before our cleric tragically passed on…”
Azra nodded, then wormed his way out of the gnome’s grip. Even though Rexi was wearing gauntlets, it was obvious that he didn’t want anyone touching him.
“We’ve been adventuring together for quite some time…well except for Theril who was sort of forced to come with us due to family issues. It was some bout of elf politics that his family lost…”
Azra didn’t appear to be listening; he instead was brushing off the spot of his arm where Rexi had touched him.
“The tortle is Qresh, I’m Rexinaleadal, but everyone calls me Rexi, and you’ve already met Toenails.”
“This is a Pillar of Law.” Azra blurted out.
Now he was too mystified by the tower to pay attention to the cheerful gnome. Azra walked up to the doors, away from Rexi who now was just as curious, and started to touch the door handle.
“Well, who are you, statue man? I bet you’ve got quite the story about why you’re made of stone and not like the rest of us.” Rexi asked, though Azra didn’t act like he heard her.
Azra didn’t answer. He started to touch the large and precisely angled door handle, but something stopped him. He had seen this, and knew what it was, but his memory was so broken.
Grovelthrash’s purpose, obtaining the other weapons, the brief flashes of his former life he recalled on the shark-man’s ship were fading. The only thing Azra clearly remembered was the crime he committed, of fleeing Automata; that beautiful but tragically cutoff life…could he make it right? Why though, why couldn’t he fully remember this tower…or why he was stone? Was he? He had to be…”
Azra stopped reaching and grabbed the temples of his head. Rexi was now a little alarmed, but something stopped her from questioning this. Rexi’s line of thinking was cut short however, as a disembodied voice shouted at the group.
“You wanted his name, didn’t you lass? His name is Azra Holder, and he’s utterly insane!”
The voice, accented like a dwarf but too high pitched and too academic, came from seemingly nowhere. It was loud, just as loud as a shout, but Rexi could tell that the one speaking wasn’t yelling. This was some kind of magic.
“Basilisk! I was petrified by a basilisk and Grovelthrash fixed me! I remember!” Azra yelled in excitement, almost as if he didn’t hear the voice insult him at all.
“See what I mean…” the voice chided, “This thing is working for the one who started the invasion! If you four value Faerun and want everyone here to not be forcibly turned into twisted freaks, then you’ll throw that madman overboard and leave him in the crushing abyss!”
Rexi looked back at Azra with some alarm, then looked over to Qresh. Azra recognized that voice. He couldn’t remember who it was, but Rexi could tell that he recognized it. Even though Qresh’s face held no visible reaction, Rexi could somehow tell he wasn’t impressed.
Qresh just bellowed in the direction of the voice. “Hmm…I don’t buy that. This rock man saved our skins and asked for nothin’ in return. If he wanted to help whoever put this here tower up, then he wouldn’t o’ killed all them orcs. He’d kept that smokepowder and used it, probably to blow you to hell and gone ‘for you revealed him…mmhm…”
Azra finally spoke up, “This tower is a Pillar of Law…whoever you are…and a Pillar of Law cannot make anyone into…did you say freaks? It cannot make anything freakish; it is used for fixing wounds in reality. It cannot be used to invade; you must be sorely mistaken or slow-minded. How did you acquire it?”
There was only a few, somewhat unnerving seconds of silence. Rexi glanced around the tower to see if she noticed anything odd. Before she could investigate in any real sense, she heard laughing. The voice, for some reason, thought that Azra’s reply was quite funny.
“That is just hilarious coming from a slave of the palindrome!” Hein yelled, then turned to the Five.
“Listen adventurers…I can’t really prove my past to you, but I know Holder! Azra Holder is insane, he’s nothing but a tool used by an even more psychotic monster! He’ll be what topples this realm if you don’t listen to me!”
Azra was starting to get scared now. He knew this voice, and the voice knew him, but he couldn’t make the connection who this was. Not just that, but he was starting to think the voice knew of his crime…and even worse wanted him sentenced to death. Azra didn’t think the gnome and turtle-person were going to attack him, but he didn’t really know that for certain.
“Hold on, hold on…” Rexi shouted up in random directions, “We don’t even know why Azra’s here in the first place! You might know him, but he needs to plead his case before anyone tries to do anything! We’re all civilized people here…we aren’t going to do anything rash!”
Hein could feel rage bubble in his veins. This damned gnome would cost him everything… Her conviction was admirable, but her ignorance couldn’t be excused.
“Miss…Holder is a lunatic! You should see his gir…”
Hein stopped himself before he could mention Symmette. He was too angry, just insulting Holder wouldn’t tell the adventurers anything. He needed to tell them, and better yet, needed Holder to tell them first.
The group was met with another three seconds of silence.
“By the gods fine! But let me see what he has to say first in person!”
Hein walked away from his scrying port, then stepped into a teleportation circle. He was in front of the tower’s entrance in mere moments.
Rexi saw the double doors slowly open, and saw Azra scurry as far back as possible. She stood in place, and slipped a hand on her longsword for good measure. Rexi noticed Qresh shuffle up, who strangely was gripping his sword’s hilt too. He normally only used that sword if his fists couldn’t do the job. That was not a common occurrence.
The doors only opened wide enough for a lone figure to emerge. Rexi saw a short, broad-shouldered figure. The armor was very strange though; square plates arranged like scales, only they would randomly shift like a slide puzzle. They were a sort of bronze or dark copper color, but the plates looked too sturdy and dull to be such a metal. Each plate was also a slightly different shade of “copper” than the plate beside it, giving the armor a rather gaudy appearance that wasn’t easy on the eyes.
The most obvious thing about this person was his mechanical hand. The thing was almost the size of Rexi, was wickedly clawed, and was twitching as if it’s wielder wasn’t the one in control. The other hand the man had was somehow backwards, but clenched around a strange glowing longsword. The aqua blade almost looked see-through.
Rexi met the totally black tiefling’s eyes, which were also black, and almost smiled when he flashed his abnormally wide grin.
“Hein Slatecu…formally of clan Slatecutter.” Hein coughed out as the house introduction threw off his speech.
Rexi almost introduced herself, but noticed that the tiefling’s smile faded right as those words left his mouth. He was now glaring at Azra. The tiefling pointed the gigantic claw and Azra as his face twisted in anger.
“What’s wrong? You don’t remember me? Don’t tell me that you forgot about all those ridiculous orders and redesigns, Holder! That madwoman and her mice! Surely you remember!”
Azra stared, almost dumbly. Hein waited, and fully expected Azra to laugh and open a portal to his clockwork hell-world. He didn’t, Holder just stared as if he couldn’t think.
“I have absolutely no idea who you are.”
Hein’s shoulders slumped as Rexi relaxed. She thought this had been a misunderstanding, and was evidently right. Hein knew, however, that Azra wasn’t lying. Azra Holder couldn’t lie even if he wanted to. If Holder were to lie, it would be so obvious that even a young child could tell he was being deceptive.
This was very bad for Hein though. If Holder had been angered by him mentioning anything, he’d have all the proof he needed. Did he somehow lose his memory? This made little sense, and Hein’s job of proving Holder’s guilt magnitudes more difficult.
“Did you get your memories erased? Try to pull a fast one and I’ll turn you into paving stones…asymmetric paving stones!” Hein shouted as he pointed the ethereal blade at Azra.
Rexi heard the statue yelp, which made her snarl and step in between Hein and Azra.
“Listen tiefling…crazy or not…he isn’t pointing a sword at anyone. Put that thing away unless you want a fight on your hands, or maybe I should say hand, that you can’t handle.”
Hein was still angry, but wasn’t about to fight the closest thing to reinforcements he could get. He saw the huge tortle straighten his posture, and noticed that the elf and dwarf were standing next to each other like they weren’t just going to watch anymore.
Hein Slatecutter’s face relaxed. He started to slip the sword onto his belt, and as he did the blade somehow vanished. The small hilt slipped silently into his belt pocket.
“Listen…we have bigger things to worry about than me being rude to a statue. I’m not going to attack any of you, but that statue knows far more than he realizes. If he’s responsible for this, and I am quite certain he is, you’ll do well to remember that I’m your only ally out here.”
Rexi tensed her shoulders, but was caught off guard by the tiefling’s wide smile.
“Hells, if you want to point swords in the faces of your real enemies, you’ll need three swords for the two of them!”
Hein moved out of the door and motioned into the tower as if he wanted them all to see something. He was still grinning, but malice had returned to his voice.
“Maybe he just needs his memory jogged! Why don’t you all see the monster responsible for this?”
As Hein pointed, the doors continued to open. As the doors creaked and ground against the metal, more and more of the tower could finally be seen. Inside the tower was a set of two parallel staircases that lead in to something of a foyer. There was a colossal statue, one with both arms held out slightly raised from its sides with the palms upturned. The statue had a very symmetrical set of armor, what looked like tightly-fitting studded leather. The studs in this case were gears, and the only reason Rexi knew this to be armor was because simple clothing couldn’t have held such devices.
Rexi must have been looking at an abstract statue; it was far too thin. Anything humanoid this thin would be very ill; and the hands had two thumbs on opposite sides. The most obvious signs that this statue was made to represent either a strange outsider or something of fiction, were the wings jutting from its back, and the pair of heads it sported rather than only one.
Rexi could tell by the faces that it was female, which was the only real indicator other than its neck length haircuts. She started to ask Hein what this was, but could tell by how he was watching them that this demonstration was made to prove a point.
Qresh’s heavy footfalls echoed as he walked in, and was quickly joined by Toenails and Theril. Azra was still outside. Rexi glanced at Hein, who was smiling at Azra with a look of pure malicious joy. Azra looked overwhelmed; as if he was in the presence of an object of great beauty. Even though he was made of stone, Rexi either saw or thought she saw tears forming in his eyes.
“Remember now Holder!” Hein shouted with the wicked smile still on his face.
Rexi could tell he was about to reach for that sword again. Azra didn’t respond immediately, but he did start to walk inside. Azra’s loud footfalls didn’t make him blink, and he entered the tower without taking his eyes off the statue.
“I-I do not know who you are…but I know that …she…is not causing anything evil.”
Azra had to choke out the words. Hein didn’t like this. He knew Azra couldn’t lie…but he was clearly wrong.
“I don’t see the big deal about a two-headed angel? You keep trying to accuse Azra of a lot of things…but he sure hasn’t acted incriminating. Azra, do you know anything about this place?” Rexi said a little too loudly in the echoing tower.
Azra wiped a hand over his eyes; it was the only thing he could do to not look at the statue.
“It is a Pillar of Law, only used in emergencies to fix wounds in reality. I do not know how it was authorized to be deployed here in the Prime. Mechanus does not make mistakes…”
Rexi’s eyes almost boggled at the mention of “Mechanus” which she recognized to be the plane of absolute order. Mechanus and invasion did not go together. Rexi’s face started to scrunch up in annoyance. She started to tell this to the tiefling, but was interrupted by Azra.
“Please sir…sir tiefling, I-I do not…I do not remember you. I do not know how I recognize this tower…or why it is here…but whatever the reason it has to be just!”
Hein started to ask Holder about the statue…about Symmette, but the look of desperation on the stone-man’s face told Hein that he didn’t have all the pieces yet. Sure, he could summon his army to kill Holder and make the adventurers leave, but he would be playing the villain too hard. If he did this, and when the modrons actually showed up, Hein wouldn’t have anyone to aid him. Anyone hearing the Fighting Five’s story would just think he started some foolish fight with the machinations of the lawful planes.
Hein needed them to see Holder’s insanity…he needed to show them…
Hein’s thought process was immediately broken by the gnome.
“Yeah idiot! A lawful plane doesn’t invade because that’s against the law! It violates everything they stand for! You wanted to accuse our friend for this! It had to be an imposter…or somehow you confused him with another animate statue!”
“He wasn’t a statue when I knew him you dense midget!” Hein growled out.
“I don’t know how he is a statue, but that is Azra Holder!”
Hein violently pointed at Azra with his giant mechanical hand.
Rexi didn’t act angry at his insult, and stranger still, smiled as she crossed her arms.
“Yes, you seem to know him, but he doesn’t know who you are. You recognize him, and think he’s part of an impossible attack from the planes of law, but you have no proof of this. See, if you are to accuse someone, you need proof of their guilt to take actions against them.”
Hein bit his lower lip, and felt like his plan wasn’t going to work. He had to act now. Even if he could get Holder to tell who the giant statue was, that might not be enough.
“The giant statue there is no angel…it is a psychotic, deformed woman who is obsessed with symmetry!”
Hein’s head snapped back over to Azra, “Isn’t that right Holder!”
Rexi looked over to Azra, fearing that he actually would say something incriminating. He looked hurt, but certainly didn’t act hostile.
“…yes.” Holder muttered flatly.
Hein grinned, then looked at the others who were now focusing their attention on him.
“That is Ailia Symmette, someone who works for Mechanus! She is going to use this tower…or more importantly the machine inside it…to “fix” reality into her own twisted vision! See, nothing here in the material plane is really symmetrical! She’s going to twist everything into symmetrical nightmares like her with this damned contraption!”
Rexi and Qresh focused more as Hein spoke. Even though he seemed overly hostile to Azra, the passion Hein had about this invasion was striking. Maybe there was some truth to what he was saying. Rexi just didn’t want anyone hurt, and Qresh didn’t want to hurt anyone that was just confused instead of outright malicious. Theril didn’t care and Toenails just wanted to watch.
“N-no…it does not work that way…” Azra said softly.
Hein leaned in and exaggerated with his huge hand as if he couldn’t hear.
“What’s that Holder? I can’t hear your evil plan quite loud enough. Why don’t you tell us how perfect that monster is and how we’re all going to enjoy what comes next?”
“No.” Azra grunted with more force, “You are wrong! The Pillar of Law cannot undo reality as it is intended…even if the asymmetry is unsightly. Besides, even if the pillar could, do you honestly think a woman working with the plane of ultimate law would just invade and start doing this on her own? Ailia…this woman…would have to break numerous rules…rules I know far too well…just to get this here without reason!”
Hein dropped his shoulders, completely taken off guard by Azra’s seemingly newfound logic.
“Honestly I didn’t expect you to react so calm to that.” Hein said before looking back to the others.
“This woman is a monster though! She had to have finally snapped and decided to invade on her own! Look at her!”
Rexi glanced up at the thin-bodied statue, then back to Hein with her brow furrowed.
“So, if someone looks different, they’re evil to you? Is that why she’s to blame?”
“No!” Hein shouted, “She’s to blame because I had to make a machine for her, a machine that made things symmetrical! She never told me the plans for it, and just a short time later this happens! Why would a two-headed symmetry monster want such a machine? Just a few years after I built it, this happens! A Pillar of Law! A thing from the lawful planes…where she lives…used to correct defects in reality! Please tell me you can put these pieces together!”
Rexi looked at the panicked tiefling, then back to the bronze statue. The woman’s faces did look a little manic and somewhat disturbing. She was so thin; Rexi would have thought she was a famine victim if not for the extra head and wings. Maybe this tiefling had a point? After all, Rexi didn’t know him or his motives. Even if she had defended him, Rexi didn’t really know Azra Holder either...
“Hmm…well maybe this here lady is weird an creepy…an statue knows her face…er…”
Qresh loudly, and wetly, cleared his throat. Azra winced.
“…faces…but she ain’t here is she?” Qresh bellowed.
A bolt of terror shot down Azra Holder’s stone spine. Could she really have done something like this? Could Symmette stage an invasion…what if it was all to get him back? Was she here? She hadn’t answered her mirror since Azra woke up on that beach.
Hein saw Holder’s face, and knew he was telling the truth. He had to have been mind-wiped…but Hein had to answer the tortle.
“Not that I am aware of…at least not yet…but she would send in pawns before revealing herself…she…”
Hein started to say more, but Qresh cut him off, “Then she done had this stolen and they didn’t think to take out the statue. Lawful people ain’t gonna go steal or trespass…no sir…”
Hein could now see that these adventurers were denser that he realized.
“Listen, making a statue of herself and staging an invasion is not unlawful to this woman because she thinks symmetry supersedes natural law! She is to blame!”
“If she isn’t here, we can’t question here…unless of course you have proof…?” Rexi asked with one eyebrow raised.”
“…proof other than that she’s gross to you.” Rexi chided.
“She eats mice!” Hein shouted as he could feel his defeat approaching.
“So, I does that too!” Toenails retorted, followed by a cackle that sounded like it was from a hag.
The only thing stopping the Five from ignoring Hein was the loud echo of marching coming from inside the tower. It sounded like thousands of metallic boots were marching in perfect synchronization. The Fighting Five just turned to look down the farther corridor.
Shapes could be seen coming from the darkness, all like phantom boxes, and all marching far too perfectly to be normal humanoids. Hein looked petrified with fear. Theril ran up, then squinted with Rexi. The elf just looked confused, but Rexi managed to mutter something.
“Modrons…”
Rexi was starting to make the connections now.
Rexi felt a strong hand grab her by the back of her neck. With surprising strength, Hein pushed her towards a glowing circle to the inside left of the door. Rexi stopped just short of entering it, and turned to Hein with a look of confusion mixed with shock.
“Go! Get out of here! Go back to your ship and man the cannons!” Hein screamed frantically.
Qresh, who was glaring at the tiefling for grabbing Rexi, suddenly realized Hein’s intent. He just nodded, then half threw Theril and Toenails in the direction of the circle. Qresh followed the two, but Rexi didn’t leave immediately. She stopped to see the modrons fully, and noticed that they were indeed all boxes. They also all had some subtle differences between them, which was odd.
Turning away from the Modrons, who were still far enough to hopefully not catch up to the Five, Rexi looked at Azra. He was still gazing at the two-headed statue in amazement.
“Azra let’s go!” Rexi shouted as she motioned him to follow.”
Azra didn’t move at first. He didn’t until Hein spoke.
“Leave him alone lass, he’s about to rejoin his people…”
With a painful grimace, Azra turned from the bronze statue and ran after Rexi. Rexi vanished in a puff of smoke, but Azra didn’t step on the teleportation circle immediately.
Azra looked over at Hein, this strange tiefling that Azra could now see how annoyingly asymmetric he was. It only fueled Azra’s anger.
“I will not let you hurt her or anyone else! Ailia is not an invader!”
Hein managed to laugh without moving his face.
“You poor, silly bastard…you’ve got no idea what is happening do you? I’m going to save the world at any cost. Symmetry monster or statue, no one is stopping me.”
Azra Holder wanted to cut the tiefling down right there, but something stayed his hand. Azra didn’t know why, at this time he couldn’t, but those words “save the world” …Azra had said them before…he knew it
“…we have a world to save…”
Azra had said that once and had his mirror in hand…but when…?
Breaking away from his stupor, Azra stepped in smoothly, and found himself on the ship’s deck with his new party.
******************************************************************************
Grob couldn’t stop coughing. Orcs rarely had to swim, but why did he agree to go over the ocean? Grob hated the ocean and everything in it! He got stuck inside a ship, drug under the sea, and now he found himself in an even scarier sea.
In a black ocean probably filled with monsters…Grob was rescued by a dwarf! A dwarf thought saving him would be a good idea! Right when the dwarf hauled him onboard, he nearly knocked the stunted sailor out. The dwarf had yelled for “the boss” but it didn’t matter. Grob was the boss of this ship now.
The man in the black scarf ran out of his cabin, tossing off his dissection gloves as he did. This was the first time he had heard captain Saltrock yelled like that. It sounded like he had been ambushed. The man in the black scarf didn’t understand until he got outside. Out of all the things he had seen in this demi-plane, he never expected to see a lone orc.
The man in the black scarf walked up to the unarmed orc, trying as hard as he could to not lose control. He wasn’t about to embarrass himself in front of an orc of all things.
“Did you attack that dwarf?” The man in the black scarf asked, in a voice that sounded far too calm as he rapidly advanced towards the orc.
Grob just grinned. The little man was moving too fast. He was going to get too close. Grob wasn’t used to seeing such small people be this brave, but it didn’t matter. If this pale man wanted to be brave, then the gray scum could die.
Grob lunged and grabbed the man the second he got within reach. Grob held the human-like man by the front of the shirt, and was able to easily lift him off the ground. Grob felt both hands of the man grab his arms…and it hurt. This man had rough skin, skin that was cutting Grob’s arm. The orc had never heard of people with skin like this, but rough skin couldn’t stop Grob.
Even though the orc had grabbed him, the man in the black scarf kept calm. He had been stupid, and shouldn’t have gotten so close.
“Wanted to give the orc the benefit of the doubt, but of course I didn’t think about it attacking first…was too angry over Saltrock and got far too close...” The shark-like man chided to himself in his head.
Grob couldn’t help but grin. The little man was just staying put, he must have been dumb.
“Ha, you dumb gray man! Looks like you’s bit off more than you can chew!”
Grob reached for his axe, only to realize that it wasn’t on his belt.
By the time Grob glanced back to his victim, the strange man’s black eyes were white. Grob was surprised, but nearly panicked when the man’s mouth split open. It was so much bigger than it looked…and was full of teeth like a dragon’s.
Grob didn’t have time to drop the man in the black scarf, or to even scream. In the lone second for his dull mind to understand what was happening, the man in the black scarf had bit off a sizable chunk of Grob’s forearm. The man in the black scarf fell out of Grob’s grip onto his feet without stumbling.
The orc shrieked like a pig as he held his ruined arm. The bite was so large; it actually snapped and took most of the bone with it. Grob’s arm had a ragged semi-circle in it with both arm bones missing. The forearm was flopping harmlessly as Grob held it.
The man in the black scarf turned away from the orc, spat the chunk of dark flesh out of his mouth, and slipped out a rag from his belt pocket. The rag was soaked in formaldehyde; a chemical used in preserving specimens. He knew the orc didn’t have long. The man in the black scarf had bitten off enough meat to know that the orc would bleed out soon.
If the orc had tried to stop the bleeding, he might have had a chance. Instead of holding the wound shut, the orc was flailing the arm around and screaming. The man in the black scarf kept inhaling; doing all he could to avoid the scent of the blood spraying all over his ship.
As the man in the black scarf inhaled, the orc rushed him. The man in the black scarf took away the rag, then opened his mouth as wide as he could. He clamped his jaws shut, and as he did, a large pair of ethereal shark jaws appeared. The jaws matched the color of the moonlight, mimicked his movements, and struck the orc before it could get close. By the time the man in the black scarf lifted the rag back to his mouth, the orc was stone dead.
“Captain Saltrock…are you alright?” The man in the black scarf asked as he reached for a flask.
After washing his mouth out with some kind of very dark alcohol, the man in the black scarf noticed Saltrock. The dwarf was standing in astonishment; as if he had never seen the man in the black scarf bite anyone.
“…aye…I be fine.” Captain Saltrock managed to cough out.
“I jus’ didn’t know ye could do…that. The orc died faster than if I had stabbed him!”
The man in the black scarf was now breathing deep in his chemicals. He was trying to suppress the smell of the blood. Even blood as putrid as an orc’s made him mad with hunger. It was like the strongest intoxication, though it didn’t last long and only got worse when one indulged. The man in the black scarf prided himself in only biting or eating what he wanted…not what his instincts told him to.
Besides, he didn’t eat humanoids.
“I’ll fetch a bucket. If you’d be so kind, could you please help me clean this garbage off my boat.” The shark-like man muttered through the rag as he marched to his cabin.
“Aye sir, it’d be a pleasure.”