Soder's Parley 2

At Malachite's words, everyone else winces and sucks in a surprised breath. Velendo thinks over the mindlink, "Malachite, could you stand in front of me, please?"

"MORE in front. I'm not sure we want to goad him."

Malachite's mental voice is disbelieving. "We've been goading him for the last ten minutes! We've been goading him since the moment he opened his damn mouth!"

Nolin speaks out loud. "Well, you just need the usual things. Huge quantities of damage until we stop moving." He cocks his head. "But so far. . ."

Soder sighs with a dribbling noise. "I just haven't done a good enough job. I hoped that today you would find some redemption. Some second thoughts."

"No," says Nolin. "Even if we die down here, we're not joining your team."

Malachite turns to Nolin. "And we're not dying down here."

Nolin turns around, confused. "What?"

"We're not dying down here."

"I. . ." The bard sounds doubtful. "I knew that." He blinks. "You know it?"

Velendo squints. "Remind me when Malachite changed his mind about dying."

"Tell me about it," says Nolin. "Did you get a prophecy we didn't?"

Malachite tries to explain. "Ciann told us what was going to happen afterwards. Clearly she wouldn't have given us a mission about what would happen afterwards if we were all to die." Hope radiates from him, not that Nolin notices.

"A, I don't listen to prophecies, and B, we've proven them wrong before."

Malachite sneers. "Your lack of faith is typical."

"Well, yes," Nolin agrees.

"My faith is not. It doesn't say that we're all going to survive, but it says that some of us will."

"Dear Lady?" asks Soder, addressing Mara.

"Yes?"

"If your friend ends up being wrong, and your group ends up becoming one with us, I would be honored to show you about."

Mara looks shocked, and Velendo interprets. "He's asking you if you want a date."

Mara tries to be polite. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Malachite doesn't. "I'll be honored to shove my fist down your goddamn throat."

"Ahh, jealous boyfriends."

Mara blinks. "Hey!"

Agar chimes in. "He hasn't lied yet."

"She begs your pardon for your insolence," growls Malachite. His eyes are bulging.

"You are uppity. Well, we'll see what happens, won't we? Fair enough. It's been lovely talking to you. I've enjoyed it."

Agar interrupts, desperate to get some useful fodder for his powerful truth spell. "How close is the Ivory King to getting the body?"

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Are you planning on going to the body, or is he bringing the body to him?" Soder's gurgling chortle echoes in the small cave.

"I hope he has more mercy on you when all is finished. I'll try to convince him to." His voice sounds affectionate. "I like you."

Malachite's tone is low and bitter. "It warms my heart."

"Be safe." The voice goes silent.

Velendo's eyes snap over to Agar. "Was he lying about that? About hoping that the Ivory King shows mercy on us?" Agar shakes his head no.

Malachite's fist clenches. "Does that damn spell work at all?"

Agar shrugs. "He never said anything that's a lie! I know the spell works. Maybe he's immune to it."

"Either he's really good at guessing, or he really is truly screwed and wants to try to buy us off. Of course, he wants to buy us off with essentially a truce, and that's not our goal."

"He sounded like he was telling the truth," says Galthia. "Is he still there?"

"We can't tell," says Mara. "He's still covered by rocks. We should probably unearth the dead kobold and kill it. I can't believe I have evil undead things asking me out."

Malachite gives his fellow radiant knight a look. "Mara, you have everything asking you out."

"It was just one giant!" She sounds upset.

"That's what I'm saying. Men three times your size are interested in going out for drinks. Like it or not, you had better grow accustomed to it."

"Just to refocus here," Agar waves his hands, "does someone want to get under that and kill it?"

"Yes, of course," answers Galthia. The group organizes so that Galthia is responsible for rock hauling, Malachite is responsible for the killing blow, and other people are prepared for any treachery.

Lying in the rocks with the kobold zombie's eyes shut and eavesdropping on the conversation, Soder wonders if he should have some fun. Should he open his eyes and yell "BOO!" No, he reflects, he wouldn't want to scare them, and best that they never learn he had been listening in. He slips away from the body just before Malachite's sword falls, and he never feels the kobold's head comes off and roll across the floor.

Agar stares at the decapitated reptilian head and shudders. "Mordenkainen's disjunction?" he says disbelievingly. "Does everyone have a good feel for what that would do?"

"It would permanently annihilate all of our magic items," answers Velendo grimly.

"If I want to surrender to somebody, I don't usually open up with Disjunction," complains Nolin.

"Surrendering must have been his fallback plan," says Galthia. "Charming."

"My friends," Malachite's eyes are bright. "If we are to believe the spell, or at least his surrender, then the White Kingdom's spine has begun to bend."

"I'm still waiting for that cracking noise!" quips Nolin.

"Oh, I am too! But this is a sign of progress. Maybe they're just trying to buy time. Let's not give it to them."

Nolin looks at Mara and Malachite as Velendo and Nolin heal people. "Do you guys want to practice praying together?"

"We've prayed together many times before." They look at one another and shrug.

Velendo examines everyone carefully. "Those people who fell in the water probably are going to come down with grave rot. No one still has revenant worms in them. Let's get you healed." Mara and Malachite remove disease, and once Priggle and Galthia smash through the door on the far side of the hydra's cavern the group gets moving.

They fly down well-groomed passages, wondering how the illithids managed to survive despite a long occupation by the ghouls. "How is it that they managed to save any of their people?" asks Velendo.

"They sucker adventurers into healing them?" asks Malachite.

"Hey, we got unmolested passage through their city. That seems like a good deal."

"We agreed to heal their infection. For an unasked free bonus, we decided to heal the thing back to its full potential."

There is quiet, finally broken by Nolin's quiet voice. "Boy, are we stupid."

"Boy, we did do that, didn't we?" wonders Agar.

"It wasn't unasked!" insists Mara. She feels pretty good about what they've accomplished.

"It was worth it," concludes Velendo, and they fly down into winding darkness.