Chapter 11 - Part 1

CHAPTER ELEVEN – EVIL GROWS
The 1st of Sypheros, 993 Y.K., high in the air above Merylsward

The first spell was a fireball, specially empowered by Herschem’s years of study and training to be even hotter and deadly than the already-deadly common battlefield version of the spell. It formed as a small bead of light and fire from Herschem’s finger, pointing down at the roof of the inn, right atop the suite that Pienna had paid for.

The small bead made barely a sound as it flew through the air, but when it hit the roof it detonated with a loud roar. The entire roof of the inn was covered in roiling, angry flame. People all across the town turned in panic at the sound, squinting in fear at the eruption of fire.

The roof of the inn was slate, made to resist heavy rains and snows, shaped so that liquid would flow off onto the ground. Underneath the slate was plaster, with beams supporting the lot. An area of the roof some forty feet across collapsed, the fire rushing into Pienna’s suite, as well as all the other rooms surrounding hers. Several people died instantly, including Drorin. One of the dead was an adolescent girl who was mopping a floor, excited to be working on her first day as an employee.

Their deaths occurred in the first two seconds of the detonation. Approximately half a second later several of the lighter cross beams collapsed, their cores weakened by the burst of flame, their exteriors whittled away to sticks. The rest of the roof collapsed onto the top floor, and then the top floor collapsed in whole onto the lower floor and outbuildings. The two central beams began to tilt from the shift in weight, dumping flaming debris onto passers by. Five more people died instantly, including the stableboy. The horses were killed or mortally wounded. The kitchen of the inn was filled with choking dust and the head cook was knocked unconscious by a falling piece of debris.

The pieces of flaming wood, slate, and floorboards dumped onto the common room, showering down on everyone there and wounding them. The ambassador from Breland suffered a bad cut across his forehead from falling wood, and the blood rushed into his eyes, blinding him.

Pienna rolled under a table, her reflexes taking over. She slapped Missy on the rump, ordering her animal companion to get out of the building. In a second she realized what was going on, and she yelled at everyone to evacuate.

Most people did not respond, shocked as they were. Iron Orphan grabbed the mayor, whose shirt was smoldering from debris and whose shoulder had a length of wood sticking in it. He began to pick the man up, while trying to spot an exit through the dust.

Seconds later Herschem’s second spell hit the inn, a bolt of summoned lightning. Aimed at the center support beam of the inn, it blew out windows and doors with the force of the explosion, showering people with glass and splinters. One man died when he crouched over his daughter to protect her and a flying piece of glass hit an artery in his neck.

The center beam cracked right down the middle, and began to lean. In fractions of a second gravity began to pull at it, as it could no longer support its own weight, let alone the roof. The entire structure collapsed, burying everyone within it. Only three people escaped, and they were all hurt in the process. Iron Orphan bolted out of a side door with the mayor, through the burning stables, while the goblin woman who worked at the inn, Nuck’s grandmother, rolled out through a laundry hatch. She broke her ankle upon landing, but later would count herself as lucky.

The lightning bolt was visible, whereas the flying bead that became a fireball had not been noticed. Now everyone looked up. Herschem’s invisibility had dropped with his first attack, and they could now see the man in wizard’s robes high above the ground. Nonetheless the panicked, stunned citizenry could not do much at first. Some looked to aid the injued, others scrambled to get the buckets of water going towards the inn, but most were too shocked to do anything before Herschem had time to cast his third spell.

Hoping that the druidess and the halfling magician had already perished, Herschem cast his next spell at the base of House Sivis operations. It was not much more than a cottage with an attached office, and perhaps a garden patch in the back. Herschem had prepared a fireball for it, to be sure that no magical equipment would survive for Svis to broadcast a message with. As it was much smaller than the inn, he did not arrange the more powerful fireball spell earlier in the day. Still, it was enough.

The bead flew into an open window, and detonated within the cottage, blowing the roof and walls open and out. The fire also engulfed the office area, and the gnome woman in the back who was hanging up laundry while watching her infant play on a blanket. Juzhe d’Sivis, his wife, their children, and one of their children’s friends who was over to play, all died instantly.

House Vadalis and the Wardens of the Wood had the best training, and so were the first to react. Now they were aiming bows and firing. Herschem was within easy range of the few longbows, and at the edge of the dependable range of short bows and crossbows. Most of them did not touch him. He had powerful wards of force protecting his body, including one that specifically blocked non-magical projectiles. Herschem let loose with his fourth spell, focusing at the House Vadalis enclave and the bowmen in front of and around it.

A jagged sheet of flame, a wall that if it would have been straight would have been nearly two hundred feet long, settled in and around the men. While not as hot as the military-style fireball spell, it was enough to make the roof and walls erupt in flame, and kill or maim the vast majority of people there.

A crossbow bolt cracked across the wards, almost hitting Herschem’s flesh. The wizard looked at where it came from, seeing an angry dwarf far down on the ground, readying another shot.

Magical crossbow, Herschem thought. The dwarf could get past his protective spells with it. He turned in mid-air, preparing the next spell. It’s Chubat, an ally of Pienna’s, and an early proponent of the rebellion, Herschem realized. This death he would get some satisfaction from.