Chapter 5.43

Chapter 5.43
Chapter 5.42	Interlude – Niers
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Chapter 5.43 is the 46th chapter of Volume 5, and the 24th chapter of Book 8, Blood of Liscor.

tl;dr[edit | edit source]

Adventurers fail to free the Gnolls. 20 more Raskghar awaken. Ceria avoids being raped by Calruz. Mrsha breaks locks with magic. Snatcher makes it into camp and the Gnolls attempt fleeing.

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

Some Cave Goblins flee during the fighting, due to rumors of better masters springing up.

Adventurer teams try to attack the Raskghar camp from two sides, but are unable to do so. With Halrac and his team, as well as the Silver Swords, being part of the group to try and encircle the camp, they are pushed back by artifact-wielding Raskghar, led by Nokha.

The adventurers decide to withdraw for now; when they do get back to the Raskghar camp, all of them, including the Gnolls, disappeared through the back exit. Frustrated, the adventurer teams decide to pull back through Erin's Magical Door, which they set up, with one of Pisces' Bone Horrors staying behind to destroy the remains when they were all through.

Back in the inn, the distraught adventurers try to make sense of the situation. Xess of Reldiev Scalers tells Jelaqua that they had messed up the ambush by being seen too early, while Pisces and other adventurers talk about the contents of Ceria's message; Mrsha is safe for now, but 20 more Gnolls are to be sacrificed and Calruz suspects treachery. Furthermore, they suspect that the quick and lucid Raskghar was the result of the ritual being performed.

The Raskghar move their camp back to the old place they inhabited previously and perform the ritual 20 more times; there are now 21 awakened Raskghar. To celebrate the occassion, all of the Awakened want to mate. Calruz tries to force Ceria to do the same, trying to convince her by stating that he's her chieftain. Ceria manages to appeal to his still sane side. Enraged, Calruz throws her which causes Ceria's wand to come loose. Calruz picks another Raskghar.

Ceria, crying herself to sleep, manages to form a sharp dagger out of her tears.

Meanwhile, Erin moves through her door to the Goblins' hideout, trying to come up with a plan. The Redfangs agree to try and find the Raskghar camp again.

Mrsha, distraugt, throws poo at one of the Raskghar. The riled up Raskghar hurts her, but doesn't kill her for fear of Calruz' retribution.

Calruz, in order to see the strength of his newly awakened Raskghar, decides to attack the nest of The Children. On the way there, Nokha asks Ceria what a Half-Elf is, but Ceria doesn't go into details. Nokha states that they need Calruz because he's smart and strong, however, Ceria can see that she's lying, as the awakened Raskghar has not yet learned proper body language.

The awakened manage to easily root out the nest they are attacking. Ceria and Calruz afterwards loot the nest, and Calruz tells her that his big goal is that the knows it's *wrong* to sacrifice the Gnolls, but that he wants to lead his forces to the City in order to earn glory for his old team; he cannot honor them with anything else.

Ceria informs Calruz about Nokha being able to lie and that the awakened Raskghar are not fully loyal to him. He dismisses this, however, Ceria suspects that the ritual makes them smarter all the time. Calruz agrees to not sacrifice anymore Gnolls for now, but wants to Ceria's help to defeat the already awakened. He then reveals that he knows about Ceria's ice dagger, stating that it would have been ineffective against his [Thick Skin].

Pisces receives a message in the form of a firefly from Ceria, making him aware of her assumptions of the Raskghar intending to revolt. Pisces then joins Erin in the Goblins' hideout, but is nervous by all the Goblins that are abound. Together, they form a plan.

Back in the Raskghar camp, Mrsha finds Ceria's wand that rolled up to her cage and manages to remove her shackles with [Grow Grass]. The other Gnolls, having noticed, stare at her, stating that Gnolls aren't able to learn magic. Mrsha, after being convincd by Elirr, manages to free several other Gnolls from their shackles too.

Calruz informs the Raskghar that they will stop with the sacrifices, but that they will attack the city, however, Snatcher show himself with heads on sticks around a corner. Everyone tries to stay as still as possible, however, one of the Gnolls intentionally starts shouting defiance and Mrsha starts to howl, which alerts not only Snatcher and other monsters in the dungeon, but also the Hobgoblins on the search for Gnolls. Snatcher moves towards them, but Ceria as well as the Cave Goblins and Raskghar try to fight him.

During the initial chaos, free of shackles, the Gnolls manage to escape the cages.