Flying in skyships was quick, safe (if you took the proper precautions), and relaxing. The trip over the North Gallidan Ocean took only a few days. During that time, with no land in sight, it was as if the Skycutter and its crew were all that were left in the world. Khaska knew this was silly, but the isolation did make it easier for him to look over the edge of the ship at the ocean below them. With the wind in his hair, he could easily let tension drain from his body. He could see the appeal of meditation, as Jenika practiced daily, and he felt more calm than he had in many years. However, when land appeared, the calmness went away. He was approaching what was possibly a turning point in his entire quest to seek the truth of Tawru. Twilight was the location where Tawru’s sword was last seen, in the hands of Likran Treewind, centuries ago. Many things may have happened in the intervening time. He was nervous, yet excited. Every so often, he would look in his pack to see Loremaster Onasus’ brooch, to remind himself of his promise to the ancient teller of tales.
Jenika was glad to be putting so much distance between them and the tragedies that had befallen the group in Laishtek, as well as Fan’s family. The monk was antsy in her own mind, moving so far from her own quests in seeking Kaylee, but she also knew that they would be able to catch up with the rogue monk later.
In comparison to his companions, Rynn looked forward to arriving in Twilight. He had spent some months there, back when he was under Arandur’s tutelage. It was a rough town, in many ways, on the frontier of the Death Side of the moon, with little of the trappings of civilization in the big cities the group had spent so much time in recently. He wondered at what changes had happened, some that they had heard of, and others that would surprise him. Yet he felt that he was moving more into the fringes of civilization, and this greatly helped him feel better than he had in months. The wild would be much more present, whatever happened in this city. He had enjoyed his time working on his bow, sitting next to Akle. The shaved-headed gnome had finished his golden dragon carving several days ago, though it was not as good as his previous silver-dragon one. He had not begun work on another piece, but had watched Rynn work on his bow, asking questions occasionally and learning what he could, though he claimed no skill as a weapon creator and no desire to become one.
As it had been in Pemmadhagra, Akle was the first to see the city in the distance. It was night when they arrived. The sun had set several hours ago, and as happened in this part of the world, the Edge between the living side and the death side, the sunset wasn’t from the sun gradually disappearing over the horizon. It vanished behind Pressen in a matter of seconds, and the light went from almost full daylight to completely dark, an experience that neither Khaska nor Jenika had ever encountered.
“The skyship landing area is on the north side of the city, about half a mile from the outskirts. It’s in a large clearing made just for that purpose,” Rynn said to Godfrey. “It’s much smaller than the other ones we’ve visited.”
“I expected as much,” the gnome captain said, slowly guiding the ship down. “But hopefully there will be room.”
Like an evil omen, Arkenos hung hugely in the sky. It had grown in size as they had passed over to where it was visible from their moon. Pressen itself was just visible over the horizon as they were close to the Death Side, where the gas giant always hung over the land, lending light and creating eclipses day by day. There was not much light from other moons, but between the two giant celestial bodies, there was enough light to see.
“Is it supposed to be that empty?” asked Akle. The gnome was frowning. Rynn walked up to him and looked over the edge. The lights of the town were visible off in the distance, but there were none below them in the clearing. There was enough moonlight that the outline of the clearing was clearly visible, but . . . there were no ships. There were no campfires. No gatherings of gnomes and Halflings. Nothing. It looked completely abandoned.
“No, I don’t think so,” Rynn said. “At least, that’s not typical of what it was like when I was here a year ago. There were usually at least a few skyships prepping to transport goods, even on a slow day.”
Godfrey brought the Skycutter lower. It was Rynn who first noticed that there was, indeed, a skyship on the ground. However, it was a burned-out husk. Black char marks surrounded its location, the vegetation around it burned up, and the skyship hull itself a mess of holes and burned wood. The mast had snapped in two, and lay across the hull like a severed limb. There was no smoke, so whatever happened hadn’t occurred recently.
“Whoa,” said Jenika.
Khaska’s ears flattened against his head. “This does not bode well.”
Akle gave a low whistle. “By Markus,” the gnome whispered under his breath.
Godfrey halted the ship’s descent and furled the sails. The ship hung over the clearing, merely hovering. He looked at the situation.
“I don’t want to put her down here until we know what’s going on.”
“I’d like to get a look at the ground,” said Rynn. “Can’t tell much of what happened from the air.”
“Is that wise?” asked Khaska. “Jumping into a dark area where something is clearly not right? Would it not be better to wait until the morning and the better light?”
“Easy enough to stay hovered here,” said Godfrey. “We wouldn’t be in much danger. Maybe a skyship could come after us, but there’s enough light that we could easily see one coming. Wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Delaying until morning might also give someone more time to prepare an ambush,” said Jenika. “I say we go now.”
“Whatever happened didn’t happen recently,” said Rynn. “The fires that burnt that ship have long burned out. Let us down a little ways from here, Godfrey. We’ll find out what’s going on. In the meantime, you focus on keeping the ship safe—who knows what’s going on out here. Let’s plan to meet up tomorrow at midday; look for us at the clearing. If that’s not safe, we’ll find another way to signal you.”
“Very well,” the gnomish captain said. He manipulated a few levers, turning the skyship crystals downward, and the Skycutter sank slowly towards the ground. Rynn kept an eye out on the surrounding forests, but nothing appeared. The area, he was fairly confident, was deserted.
When the ship was hovering about forty feet above the ground Godfrey’s men grabbed bows and arrows. Akle grabbed his crossbow, a maniacal glint in his eye.
“We’ll cover you for the first little bit,” the captain said.
“We’s got your back!” Akle responded, happily nocking an arrow.
The ship descended just a little bit further before they tossed the rope ladder overboard. Jenika volunteered to go first. The monk clambered down easily. Rynn grabbed Ranna, and slowly edged his way down. The rope ladder swung at his movements with so much weight, and Ranna whined just a little. About ten feet from the ground, he lost his handhold, unable to keep his grip, and slipped and fell. However, his Ring of Feather Falling activated, and he and Ranna slowly descended the rest of the way, lightly touching down.
Khaska climbed down very cautiously, encumbered by his armor, but he made it down without mishap. Rynn, Jenika, and Ranna, were scanning the area. It still seemed deserted.
“Well, I’m going to look around, see if I can’t tell what happened here,” said Rynn.
It didn’t take the ranger long to determine the culprits. Goblins had attacked the site. It was a mess, but looked to him like several ships had likely gotten away. The attack didn’t seem well-coordinated, but tracks indicated that there were a lot of goblins. The ranger was slightly disquieted by what he saw. Such a large number of goblins working together, even haphazardly, would have been unusual since he had last been in the city. The goblins all seemed to have left to the east. The tracks looked a few days old at least. Other tracks seemed more recent, but looked to the ranger like they had come to see the site, then left to return to the city. Those more recent tracks were of all the races, humans, dwarves, gnomes, halflings. There were also a few carts, likely for carrying the dead from the attack, as there were no bodies in the clearing, and surely an attack of this size had casualties. He knelt down, inspecting a particular set of tracks headed south to the city. It took him a few minutes to be sure, but it looked to him like some goblins had come with that more recent group. That didn’t make sense to the ranger, but it was clear. There were goblin tracks that had come with that other group, and left with that other group, apparently without incident—at least here in the skyship clearing.
“Everything okay?” called down Godfrey.
“Yes,” Rynn called up. “The attack happened several days ago. I think we’re safe, but we’ll continue to look around.”
“We’ll see you tomorrow at noon, then,” said Godfrey. “Back here, if you can. If not, I’ll wait for your signal.” With that, the captain disappeared from the edge of his ship, and the Skycutter slowly began to rise. The sail unfurled; apparently Godfrey wanted to park the ship somewhere else.
Rynn looked around at the forest. Still nothing.
“What shall we do?” inquired Khaska.
“I’d like to spend a few minutes searching this area to see if there are any more clues. After that, I think we should head along the main path to Twilight so we can find out what’s going on. Looks like there may be two different groups of goblins in the area—one that attacked the ships, and another that is allied with the other races.”
“That seems wise,” Khaska replied. “But we should keep a lookout.” He glanced up as the ship continued to recede into the distance. “The city isn’t that far, but we should be careful.”
“I was worried about the city being the dangerous part,” Jenika said. “But now that we know it was the goblins that did this, well, I feel safer.”
“Really?” said Rynn. He glanced around at the trees. “The light will continue to get darker for the next hour or so, then we’ll have probably two hours of brighter light, then darker again until morning, which will come quite suddenly. But we are not terribly safe out here.” The ranger took in a deep breath, then smiled. It was good to be back in familiar territory, both nature in general and a city he had spent some time in that he knew well. “But let’s search the area more thoroughly.”
Their search turned up nothing of use, really. There were no bodies; even the goblin attackers had been taken away. A few possessions here, a shredded tent there, but it looked like everything had been pretty well picked over. By the time the skyship had disappeared from view by flying too high Rynn knew there was nothing else to see and no information of value to gain.
“I think we should press on to the city,” he said. “We’ll have better luck determining what’s going on there.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“I am most curious about many things,” Khaska said. “I agree that the city is the best place for us to find answers about the monastery, the goblins, and anything else that we might help with.”
“Or that will help us on your quest,” said Jenika.
“And I’m interested to see how the city has changed since I was here a year ago,” said Rynn. “Shall we? It should only be about a fifteen-minute walk to the city.”
Rynn led the way, he and Ranna constantly on the alert for danger. He didn’t want to run across a group of goblins, but neither did he want to be seen as an enemy to the people living in the city. If the goblins truly had stepped up attacks, it would be prudent to set up sentries. Then again, how far out would the sentries be patrolling? The skyship port was only half a mile away.
The tracks that had come from the city went right on the path, although the path itself wasn’t as well trod as it had been a year ago. It showed signs of disuse. Looked like there simply hadn’t been as much traffic, or at least as frequent of traffic, lately.
“Rynn!” Jenika’s voice hissed out, quietly, but sharply. “Goblins!”
Sure enough, the monk’s sharp eyes had spotted a group of goblins. They were coming form the south in a general direction towards the party, but as the ranger watched it seemed they wouldn’t meet directly. The goblins themselves looked to be headed to the skyship port. The ranger did a quick headcount as he ducked behind a bush. There were about ten of them, give or take, a little bigger than a hunting party, a little smaller than a raid.
Khaska moved in front of a large tree. A split in the trunk allowed him to peek through at the goblins with little chance of being detected. He had no desire to sneak closer, as his armor would clank and shine in the light from the now crescent Arkenos and Pressen. Even as far away as they were, he could make out their guttural tongue.
“Faster you slugs! The ship landed ten minutes ago! If anybody’s still there, it’ll be a miracle.” With that, the goblin speaking whacked one of the others with the flat edge of his pock-marked sword. The other goblin yelped and ran ahead.
“What are we going to do when we get there, Srog?” asked another.
“Kill them! Kagu said anything that lands outside the city walls is to be destroyed!”
Khaska glanced over to where Rynn and Jenika were slowly slinking through the bushes. Apparently neither had heard the conversation well enough to understand it.
“Psst!” Khaska hissed. Rynn and Jenika stopped and turned to look at him. He glanced up. The goblins had not noticed them or heard him. He motioned them back.
When they were close enough, the cleric whispered. “They are looking for us, the ones who landed with the skyship; I could make out their words, and they are to kill anybody outside the city walls.”
Rynn glanced up, poking his head ever so much above the shrub he was hiding behind. “You want I should follow?” he asked.
Khaska shook his head. “We don’t know enough about the city and what areas Kagu controls. I think it best we head to town.”
Rynn nodded, and began to move away from the goblin party, which was closer now, but beginning to move away. Khaska muttered a prayer and Obscuring Mist slowly rose from the ground around him, masking their retreat. It made movement a little awkward for a few yards, but they were able to see well enough and move quietly enough that their presence was not detected by the goblins, who vanished into the forest in the distance.
The city itself was not far from where they had seen the goblin patrol. Five minutes of walking and it appeared.
“Whoa,” said Rynn.
Twilight had never been that big of a city, but it was a decent trade hub, and so the city itself had sprung up from just being a shantytown to a decent population of a few thousand. Lumberjacks and others had cleared area for the city itself, but it had basically grown into the forests that surrounded it. However, things had changed since the ranger had been here last. The area surrounding the town had been cleared away, haphazardly, as the ranger saw. A combination of lumberjacking and controlled fires (some probably uncontrolled, as several outlying buildings were half burned) left a large swath of barren ground between the outlying buildings and the surrounding forest, now filled with mud and dirt and tree stumps. A ditch had been dug around the city itself, not terribly deep and not terribly consistent, but now filled with rainwater at least a foot or two, and sharply sloped up to where chopped and sharpened trees were jammed into the earth itself, pointing outwards, with other trees of various heights lashed together to form an uneven fence. Rynn was able to spy men sitting atop the buildings they could see. Lookouts, he supposed.
The ranger took this all in with just a glance. There was one gate that he saw, about where the trail would have led. It was also made of wood, with logs lashed together to make the gate. The ranger’s keen eye noticed that the wood itself seemed undamaged. No protracted attempt to get in had been made. He would have expected a siege to have led to some battering ram attempt, but none had been made.
He glanced around, but could see nothing in the forest. They would have a straight shot to the city itself. “Well, let’s go,” he said, then pushed out into the cleared area. The mud was thick and they all sank a few inches as they made their way into the clear. It wasn’t long until they were spotted from the city itself. One of the guards saw them almost immediately and jumped to his feet. He cried something unintelligible, but then motioned for them to come quickly.
Rynn began to jog, his feet finding firm purchase even amid the muddiness of the cleared area. Jenika and Khaska were just behind him as another cry sounded out, this time behind them and to their right. Three goblins came sprinting out of the woods, nocked arrows, and fired. They were using shortbows, so the arrows all fell short, but the party began to sprint towards the city fortifications.
“Open the gate,” Jenika cried out. The goblins again shot at them, but all missed, the arrows falling short yet again. The guards could be seen wildly gesticulating, but the gates did not open even as the party reached them.
The goblins were sprinting towards them, clearly trying to get within range. Arrows from the guards whizzed towards the goblins, who ducked behind fallen trees and stumps and continued to make their way closer under cover.
“Come on! Open up!” said Rynn.
“Toss them the ladder!” came one voice, speaking in goblin.
“Don’t you dare you little twerp!” said another voice, in common, from further back in the city.
A rope ladder was flung over the gate, and Jenika grabbed it and clambered up, not even bothering to use the rungs, just using it as a rope. Khaska went next as Rynn thought about shooting back. Just as the Maha’i reached the top, though, he thought better of it, and grabbed the ladder, holding Ranna the way he had descending from the skyship just half an hour ago.
“Just pull him up!” he heard Khaska’s voice say in goblin, and then the ranger was yanked upward as an arrow hit the gate five feet to his left. He spilled out as he crested the top of the gate, scraping himself, but then the Ring of Feather Falling activated yet again and he and Ranna lightly touched down, right in the middle of several goblins who had fallen on their butts as he let go of the rope ladder. They, along with Jenika and Khaska, had been hauling him up.
Several others were running up, including a dwarf and an elf, weapons drawn.
“You know you’re not supposed to let people in after dark!” the dwarf yelled.
The goblins snapped back at him, speaking a pidgin of goblin and common. One of them finally calmed his compatriots. “Kagu’s goblins were firing at them. They were not a threat, and Nir would not want them to die!”
“Nir doesn’t run this town!”
“Well, I’m glad that his Nir would have wanted us to be on this side of the gate,” said Jenika. “I’d rather be here than out there.”
“Goblins have moved off, Ulric,” the elf said, peeking through the space between the gate door and the frame. “It’s okay. You know they don’t attack anybody inside the walls.”
“Hrmph.” The Dwarf said, jamming his axe into his belt. “Welcome to Twilight!” He turned to storm off.
The elf looked at his dwarven friend with a single eyebrow raised, then he moved off to follow.
Khaska finished picking himself up from where he had fallen to the ground. He turned to the goblins, and began to speak to them in their language. “Your timely assistance was most welcome.”
A few of them still looked confused at him. Rynn stepped forward, putting a hand on Khaska’s arm. “Thank you,” the ranger said simply. At that, the goblins nodded. The one who spoke common stepped forward.
“What were you doing out in the woods so late?”
“We just arrived by skyship,” said Jenika.
“You landed in the clearing?” the goblin was startled. “You’re lucky you’re not dead!”
“Yeah, I’m getting that. What’s going on?” asked Rynn. “The city has changed a lot since I was here a year ago.”
“Got that right,” said one of the other guards, sitting atop one of the nearby derelict houses. In fact, it wasn’t really a house any more. On this side of the fence, it was clear that the structure was abandoned, and there was a ladder leading to the roof. “Looks like you got out before Kagu went crazy.”
“Oh?” Rynn climbed the ladder to get a better look. The goblins had moved away from the city, just inside the forest, still visible, and well out of range of any arrows. The light was fading fast, but Rynn knew that sunrise would be in a few hours as it emerged from behind Pressen. “What do you mean, crazy?”
“Few months back, goblins started attacking the miners again, which is nothing really unusual. Seems Kagu did so every once in a while just to keep the goods from the council flowing.”
“I remember,” said Rynn. “I helped negotiate one of those agreements. Well, translated between Councilmember Agamm and Kagu. Not negotiate. Seems Agamm was the one who most often deal directly with Kagu.”
“Well, it got him killed,” the man said. “He went out to negotiate this last time and Kagu slaughtered the lot of them. That was when they began attacking more directly. Even laid siege to the city for a day or two before they up and left, but his goblins still patrol around the area a lot. Especially at night. It’s easier to move around in the day.”
“And these goblins?” Rynn indicated the goblins who had helped get them into the city.
“They’re from some of the lesser goblin clans in the area. Kagu attacked them, so they fled to the city.”
“Seems they’re not very welcome.”
The man shrugged. “They cause problems, but everybody does these days, all stacked up on each other. Their leader, Nir, tries to keep them in line and if Kagu’s goblins attack, they help fight, so I don’t care much. Not like Ulric there. He’d throw the lot of them out if he had his way.” He leaned in. “If you get too friendly with them, some of the locals, like Ulric, will take notice. They aren’t very popular in the city right now, as you can imagine, and it might not be wise to buddy up with them, just between you and me.” Rynn nodded. He didn’t much want to get too involved in local matters; that had gone so well for them in Hammerdine and Laishtek. But all local matters seemed to be revolving around this goblin problem, at the same time. It was sure to make the quest for Tawru’s sword more complicated. He thanked the guard for his time, took one last glance at the goblins, then descended back to the street.
Khaska was still speaking with the goblins that had helped them. After the goblin attacks had begun, the city had hastily fortified itself with the results that they had seen. These goblins were mostly scared of living in the city, more scared of Kagu, and severely out of place, for the most part.
“So tell me about Nir,” asked Rynn, joining the conversation.
“Nir!” The goblin practically spat the name. “Since he’s one of the few that speaks common well, he became our ambassador, then our defacto leader. Wanted to run for city council, and I think he has the support, but they won’t let him.”
“It would seem the situation would call for all races to join together, would it not?” asked Khaska.
“Kagu is a goblin. Nir is a goblin. Most folk don’t see a difference.” The goblin shrugged.
“And where could we find this Nir?” asked Rynn.
“He usually stays around the town hall with a few bodyguards. I think it’s for his own safety. People wouldn’t dare kill him around the city hall. It would start a goblin riot inside the city, and that’s the last thing the council wants at this point. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my friends don’t want to stick around much longer.” At that, the other goblins perked up and followed him off.
“Well,” said Rynn, “things have certainly changed in the last year.”
“It will certainly make our quest harder,” said Khaska, whispering. “I would like to inquire after the monastery, but only with those that seem more worthy of trust.”
“Let’s head to one of the inns and see if there’s a place to stay,” replied Rynn. “There’s a good one near the middle of town, The Night Owl. The innkeeper is an older elf, and if memory serves, she’s been in the city for a long time. She might know who we could talk to, if she doesn’t know herself.”
As they walked toward the inn, Rynn and Khaska filled Jenika in on the details of their conversations in goblin. They also got a good look at the interior of Twilight. The town itself seemed run down, and as the party made their way towards the center of town they began to see that the town was also holding more than its fair share of inhabitants. Houses looked full, and there were many just slumped on the side of the street, sleeping where they could. The Night Owl itself was filled to overflowing. The party was quickly informed that there were no available rooms, but that they were welcome to sleep on the floor of the main room. Chairs and tables had been pushed to the side already, and the good spots near the fire were already taken, but there was room. The bartender on duty said he would charge them but obviously just for food and a few extra coins for the roof over their head. Rynn, actually, declined to stay in those conditions, so he and Ranna went to find a spot outside, while Khaska and Jenika opted to stay in the inn on the floor.
The owner, Mirwen Taldiril, was already in bed, so they would have to wait to talk to her tomorrow. “Breakfast is at sunrise, but like our accommodations, it won’t be all that much” the bartender said, keeping his voice low to not wake other sleeping customers. It was obvious that not much would be found in the way of information that night. So with that, the party retired to bed, Rynn around the back of the inn, Khaska and Jenika in the front room with many other guests.