I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 64 - Too Late

Fighting had already broken out at the Grove by the time the party left their camp to re-emerge into the cave speakeasy where they had originally left it. All the wolves and patrons at the speakeasy were gone, even the bartender, leaving only the broken chairs and tables to testify to what had happened there.

They hadn't dwelled on it, but they had hurried out of there to head to the market grotto. The first sign that the tension had bubbled over was when they came across a pair of clerics kicking at a figure on the ground, just at the edge of the market. Based on his clothing of brown and green, the person on the ground must have been a druid.

The clerics were each dressed in a white robe and a black robe, which was the first time Evageline had seen them in such distinct attire. Were these some kind of war robes?

Before Evangeline could make up her mind to just go past or intercede the two clerics looked up, one of them pointing at the group. Despite being outnumbered, they took up fighting stances.

"Let us pass!" Evangeline shouted at them as the party continued to run forward.

Persuasion Skill: Failed.

Both clerics attacked at the same time, casting a sphere of light and dark respectively at the group. Like a pair of twin bowling balls, the light spun with speed toward them.

"Look out!" Valerian shouted, and everything seemed to go into slow motion. In a blink of an eye, Valerian rolled in the air, diving out of the way, the white ball barely missing his chest by inches.

By contrast Sigismund pushed Artmond clear just before the black ball hit her square in the chest, knocking her back.

Then the fight was on.

Trying to avoid being encumbered was now causing a problem, as Evangeline was not equipped with any sort of weapon, and she had no magic as a backup.

"Get behind me!" Hagor shouted, grabbing her shoulder to place her behind his greater mass. And then he did something Evangeline hadn't seen him do in real life before.

He shifted.

Dropping to his hands, his clothing disappeared in a swirl of watery magic as fur burst from his skin. His knees never touched the ground, but instead bent backwards and went slender as hooves appeared on the tips of his toes. From his head, an enormous rack of antlers burst out. Hagor reared up on his new hind legs and trumpeted his challenge to the attacking clerics. For their part, they immediately came up short and skittered back a few steps to avoid being kicked in the face by the flailing hooves of the newly minted elk before them.

"He's got this, keep going!" Valerian shouted to her, as he rolled up beside her and seized her elbow to help her get the idea.

"We can't leave him," she said.

"You can't fight; you're basically encumbered," he argued. "Just run! Hagor's already got it."

Sure enough, Hagor charged and the clerics ran before him, which was the correct reaction someone should have to a charging elk. Especially if they are squishy like a cleric. They didn't even have to wait for him, as Hagor pivoted once he was sure the clerics had escaped to gracefully leap after them.

As they passed through the rest of the market grotto, there were more signs that the peaceful tranquility of the Grove of the Two Trees had boiled over like a brewing potion forgotten on the fire. Evangeline didn't need to make any insight checks to feel it. It was evident everywhere from the harsh, dark glances the party got from the various stallkeepers to the harsher words being exchanged amongst themselves. A few of the vendors were in the middle of packing up their wares, or hadn't even unloaded them in the first place, already escaping the direction the party entered.

"We're too late," Harrowheart said, worry rife in her own voice as they passed through the grotto into the open area surrounding the bases of the two Great Trees. Here the shouting was even louder, a gentle roar as two sides were arguing and gesturing at a similarly yelling group in the middle.

The lines of whose side was who couldn't be more clear, as the two factions of what and black robed clerics were focusing on a circle of green and brown druids. Animals were also standing amongst the druidic group, a handful of deer, wolves, and at least one bear. Whether they were familiars or wildshaped people it was hard to say.

"It's not too late to just leave," Valerian said, offering a polite smile and nod to a passerby who did not return it as they scurried away back down the grotto.

"I think it's too late for that," Hagor said as a line of clerics appeared behind them, blocking their escape.

"I know. I just thought I'd say it," Valerian said, not at all surprised by what was happening.

By some unspoken understanding, the whole party turned themselves, forming up a loose circle where all their backs were to each other. The clerics didn't say anything, just stood there like a frowning wall.

"Harrowheart." Another cleric, one who appeared from the direction of all the shouting, stepped up with another small group of clerics, all in black robes. "The High Cleric of Twilight would like a word with you."

"What do you want, Harrowheart?" Evangeline asked, wishing she had actually done this scenario before and could burn a Meta point to find out the answer. How have I missed this in the game before? Thinking that question did get her a Meta point tingle.

Okay, that is a first, she thought. But she couldn't focus on it as Harrowheart was giving her an answer to her question.