Chapter 33: Bedeviled (Part 1)
General Hammond sat back uneasily at the head of the briefing table as the rest of the staff filed out. SG-2 had returned from their latest mission with a message from the Tok'ra. The power of the gou'ald Anubis was growing. Twice the returned System Lord had attempted to attack Earth. Shortly after SG-1 had gone missing, the gou'ald had used an Ancient device to attempt to destroy Earth by overloading the Stargate. Only the quick thinking of Jonas Quinn had saved them. Then Jonas and SG-2 had been captured and used against the Stargate Command, only for the miraculous return of SG-1 to prevent Anubis from invading Earth through the Stargate.
Now there were reports that Anubis was secretly destroying lesser gou'ald, and absorbing their armies into his own. For now, he was working covertly. He was carefully supplanting alien rulers with underlings allied to him. In one instance, he had craftily maneuvered one minor ruler into attacking another, after forging a treaty with the one being attacked. Anubis stepped in, only to absorb both forces into his own, in the end forcing his "ally" to swear allegiance to him.
The Tok'ra suspected that he was building his armies in an attempt to overthrow all of the System Lords and emerge as the sole power in the galaxy. If he succeeded, he would be a hundred times more terrible in his reign than Ra had been. Somehow, Anubis was accumulating power and technology beyond that of any previous gou'ald.
This most recent mission brought even more worrying news. Rumors were being unearthed pointing to a new super weapon Anubis was busy searching for. Unfortunately, all they were getting were scattered fragments of information and symbols that made little sense. The best linguists among both the Tok'ra and Earth were trying to decipher it, but it was taking too long.
George Hammond shook his head. Where was Daniel Jackson when you needed him?
.
Daniel glanced up from his book to look at the monitor screens. They were uneventful, just as they had been the last time he had looked at them. Captain "Black" Ballard stood alertly by the stairs leading to the second floor of Lord Tavorick's estate mansion, two of his men stood with him. Blacklake District City Watch veterans Guff and Wetherly stood watch at the inner doors, Guff pacing back and forth in the foyer that served to greet guests to the house. Upstairs, Lord Tavorick was in his chambers, sleeping soundly.
Lord Nasher had ordered Tamil to protect Cyran Tavorick. It had been Sam's idea to use the recording equipment SG-1 had brought their first time to Faerȗn as security cameras, setting up one of the unused upstairs rooms as a makeshift security room. Being the only ones with any training in the use of technology, each member would take a shift monitoring the computers.
The Tavorick estate was not a bad place to stay. The wealthy lord had quite a lavish place. The lower floor had once been where the nobleman had hosted large social gatherings, with a wide foyer for receiving large numbers of guests leading into a great hall with a high roof enough space to accommodate hundreds of guests at once. A line of fine banquet tables lined one corner of the hall, the space mostly intended for dances or mingling.
The mansion was now fairly empty, but Tavorick still had the best stock available. His storerooms and kitchens were stocked with cured meats and fine wines. At his advanced age, the eccentric nobleman was free with his possessions, and all members of the force guarding his life were given a taste of the nobleman's life. Of course, this might have been more of an attempt to woo Squire Tamil Farlong, whom the unrepentant lecher had fawned all over as soon as she showed her fair face.
Khelgar had insisted on joining this mission, too, though not out of any desire to enjoy the fineries of a mansion. He had bemoaned having been left out of the fight with the cultists and was spoiling to lay either fists or hammer to whomever might be coming after Lord Tavorick. At the moment, the Ironfist dwarf was in one of the upstairs bedrooms snoring away, still dressed in his armor. His shift had come and gone uneventfully, be he would be prepared for action as soon as the call came.
Casavir and Grobnar were currently on watch. The paladin had volunteered immediately upon hearing Tamil's task, considering the protection of the weak one of his knightly duties. He had abandoned the politics of Neverwinter, but the good of its people continued to be his primary concern. Grobnar had jumped at the chance to see something new and possibly life threatening. He was hoping miniature gigantic dragons or perhaps space hamsters were involved. The gnome had been even more excited when he had found a pair of barrels containing blast globes that hadn't been opened in decades. The pair took turns patrolling the storerooms and south of the building.
Neeshka and Teal'c were also in the mansion, though it was not yet their turn for watch duty. Teal'c was meditating in the room with Khelgar, while Neeshka slept in a separate room. It would be their turn to take a shift soon enough. Elanee, Shandra, and Sand had been the only members of the group who had not asked to join this protective detail mission, the druidess wanting to take some personal time in the wilderness surrounding Neverwinter. The farmlands were tamed areas, but she still preferred them to staying enclosed in a stuffy mansion for extended periods. Shandra felt like her body needed a break from the intense physical training she was undergoing, and Sand just didn't have any interest in guard duty.
Daniel looked back down at the chapter he was reading about the Illefarn elven dialects. He had run across a number of scripts which were difficult for him to read, only for Sand to explain that these were from an ancient empire that had once existed primarily to the south of Neverwinter. The nation of elves and dwarves and faded out of history many years ago, but there were many ancient texts written in that variant of Elven still in this area that Daniel might come across.
He was so engrossed in his reading, Daniel didn't notice the monitors when the torches in the halls began to burn a ghostly blue.
"About time for my turn in that chair," Major Carter said as she came up behind the archaeologist.
Daniel turned to her, about to reply, when a red light began flashing on the screen.
"Something's tripped the sensors in the foyer…" he was saying when another indicator went off. "And in the storage rooms on the main floor," he quickly spun back, grabbing the walkie-talkie.
"Uh, guys, this is Daniel. We've got movement in the house. Main entrance and the lower store rooms…"
Colonel O'Neill's voice came back over the radio. "Alright, all clear up here so far. Get down to the lower level and check things out. I'll stay up here with Deorwin and and Finn." The two he mentioned were two of the four men under Ballard's command also tasked with protecting the nobleman.
Daniel and Sam raced downstairs, joined by the dwarf, the tiefling, and Teal'c. Captain Ballard stood at the steps with a pair of his guards, but there was a cry coming from the foyer. Grobnar burst out of the northwestern storage chamber with a cry of alarm.
"YIPES!" called out, "A bunch of flying, stinging creatures are after me! They just appeared in the middle of the room!"
No sooner had the gnome yelled out his warning than Guff and Wetherly emerged from the foyer with a similar report. Except that they had seen something big and nasty in addition to the small flying imps and mephitis, but had been smart enough not to stick around on their own to find out. Major Carter ordered the pair of veteran soldiers back to the steps to use their bows. Casavir was nowhere to be seen.
"Casavir!" Carter called out as the first of the winged creatures began flying out from the open doors.
The sound of battle came from the second store room. The paladin apparently refused to give ground to an evil enemy. He would rather die than retreat from them. He was battling several winged creatures who had suddenly appeared in the room just as he was inspecting it.
"Casavir!" Sam cried again. "We need you out here!"
With a last stroke of his hammer, the paladin abandoned the store room. He would sooner die than retreat from battling evil, but he would rather be slowly tortured to death than fail to protect his friends. The paladin ran into the manor's great hall and saw to his dismay that the room was also filled with flying imps and fire mephits.
Dr. Carter and Dr. Jackson took aim with their alien weapons and fired a barrage of energy into the creatures. After several misses, Carter managed hit one of the flying creatures, but the beast just turned a baleful glare towards the astrophysicist and continued flying. The creatures were immune to fire, which also shielded them from the energy build up from the zat'nik'tel that would caused unconsciousness, death and finally disintegration.
"It's no good," Carter said with a shake of her head. "Zats won't hurt them."
Fortunately, Casavir was having a much better time with his hammer. The paladin could feel the weapon's eagerness to battle the imps, creatures aligned with chaos and disorder. The paladin channeled the holy power of Tyr within him to inflict even more damage on the creatures.
Unfortunately, against the swarming, flying monsters of the Abyss and the Hells, handguns were not particularly effective. Their haphazard flight patterns were difficult to track. Daniel gave up after a couple of wasted shots.
"I heard gunfire," Jack's voice came over the radio. "Should we come down to join you?"
"Negative," Daniel replied. "They're some sort of demons. Mephits and imps, I think. AND succubi… and that's an Erinyes," Daniel added hastily as several scantily clad female devils and demons entered the fray, firing deadly flaming arrows.
"We're coming down," Jack insisted.
"No, sir. You need to keep Tavorick's bedroom guarded, Jack," Daniel reiterated. "They're all being summoned directly into this building. There's nothing stopping the summoner from sending them directly up to you instead of down here. They're probably just waiting for you to leave the upstairs unguarded to do just that."
Major Carter watched as the battle took place, and realized that things were not going too well. There were too many of the creatures coming from too many directions. Neeshka and Casavir were doing their best, but too many of the creatures were getting past them to attack the vulnerable bowmen. Grobnar's Ironskin chant was protecting the group from some physical damage, but the creatures were sending arcs of flame and unstoppable magical missiles that were taking their toll. Teal'c was healing the guardsman, but had little time to use his staff weapon against the succubi and erinyes.
Sam had just finished casting her best protective spells, rendering her body impervious to all but the most powerful strikes. She now had shields of force and stony skin between her and any potential damage. She sparkled with an aura that absorbed the fire spat by the creatures of the hells, even dousing the flames of a fiery shaft sent her way by one of the devils. She had also invoked the power of the Cat's Grace and Bull's Strength to augment herself. She was ready to step up and join the battle. After one last spell.
"Casavir, Neeshka," she called to get their attention. "Fall back closer to the steps, I'm going to Haste the group," she explained. Obediently, they fell back, allowing the attacking creatures to fully surround everyone. But it was just for a moment that they were giving ground.
Sam completed her casting and immediately the entire group felt a thrill of speed grab hold of them. Neeshka and Casavir redoubled their efforts and the creatures were quickly pushed back away from the steps once more. But to everyone's surprised, the fighting pair were soon joined by Samantha Carter who leaped into the mass of creatures, twirling a magical quarterstaff in her hands while a half dozen copy images jumped in synch with her.
Daniel was speechless, momentarily unable to react to anything at all. Sure, Sam was using some nice defensive spells, including an improved Stoneskin that gave even better protection than what Grobnar's Ironskin chant provided, but that was not what impressed Dr. Jackson the most. It was how she was fighting. Major Samantha Carter was spinning her enchanted quarterstaff and smashing creatures nearly as well as Neeshka was. She dodged out of the way of claws and dodged flaming arrows like something out of a comic book.
Daniel knew the effects of augmenting spells like Bull's Strength and Cat's Grace, having been the one who had made a copy for her, but this was more than that. Carter was good. Unlike Daniel, she was a soldier. She had gone through basic training and despite Daniel's great improvement over the years, Dr. Carter was still more proficient than the archaeologist in combat skills. But this was something else entirely, more than just that.
"Wow, that stone statue creature kicking the bad guys' butts looks an awful lot like Carter," Colonel Jack O'Neill mentioned to Daniel, coming down the stairs from the level above.
"That is Carter," Daniel responded, still shocked.
"Shandra and Tamil did say she was improving," Jack said with an appreciative nod.
"Aren't you supposed to be up there guarding Lord Tavorick's room," Daniel replied. "They might attack up there directly."
"They already have. That's why we came down here."
Before Jack or the other soldiers had a chance to lift a hand, the last of the flying demons and the succubi were destroyed. Freed from having to heal the wounds of the guards, Teal'c had been able to use his staff weapon against those creatures, blowing them back to the hells with some will placed shots. The rest were taken care of by Casavir, Neeshka, and surprisingly Samantha Carter.
There was a brief lull. Lord Cyran Tavorick walked down the steps, followed by Deorwin and Flynn. The group of protectors immediately moved to surround the aging man.
Moments later, upwards of a dozen reddish, winged creatures poured out of the foyer and storeroom doorways. Surprisingly, the creatures did not immediately attack. They were soon joined by several succubi and erinyes, which also did not attack, only took up positions surrounding the group.
Lord Tavorick held up a key. "I have the key to the crypts, supposed to be warded against creatures like this. We could make a break for it." Then Lord Tavorick pocketed the key and pulled out a long sword. "Or, we could just kill them all right here!"