The Ingaran Adventures
Episode 25
“The Guardian of the Bone – Part II”
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                                    Alexander: The Gauntlet of Athena
                                    Zografos: An Ingaran painter going under the name of Domnhall
                                    Flower: An Elven girl caring for a human child named Hannah.
                                    Issic:  Half Human, Half Gold Dragon Warrior
                                    India: A gypsy girl
                                    Phaidon:  A local Tamer of the Beasts

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 The Time: Summer, Nemed 12

The Places:    Lotharia – Lotharia is a Lamapachan village of about 432 persons.  The village is a satellite of Visaria, and is under the protection of Visaria's lord, Doctor Richard Dalby.  Lotharia is renowned for its gargoyle-crafting industry.  Its stone masons and artisans specialize in the creation of fantastic gargoyles for castles, manors, mansions, dungeons, and other places.  Recently, the Lord's Tower was purchased from Dr. Dalby by Baron Villam Larbius III and was converted into a temple of Marush Hob. 

      They stood on a hill.  It was beginning to rain.  Zografos knew something was in those woods... and he had a good idea what that something was.  The unicorn was already vanished.  "Foolish Elf girl!  Do you not know there are wolves in the woods!" he said as he stepped around the gargoyle corpse.  "Call her back!"

      In the woods overlooking Lotharia lurked horror.  Ammi the unicorn, obeying the instructions of Flower had ran into those dark woods.  As Issic, India, Zografos, Flower, and Alexander battled the gargoyles, Ændryal watched the unicorn.  She sent her wolves and werewolves to catch it.  Silently, the wolves ran through the woods toward the little unicorn.

      Just as the wolves reached the unicorn a pair of black panthers appeared in front of it.  And behind the panthers stood a man with curly blonde hair.  The man was six feet tall, dressed in brown armour, and carried only a bow. Ændryal was impressed.  It had been many years since someone had actually snuck up on her.  The man and his panthers attacked and began slaughtering the wolves.  Some of the wolves cried out in pain and anger.  Others growled and snarled as they pressed the attack.  Arrow after arrow slammed home from the bow of the man.  The panthers attacked with ruthless efficiency. Ændryal decided to withdraw with most of her werewolves.  She was not one to fight an unknown foe, especially one that could sneak up on her.

      "Come on!" shouted Zografos when, from those dark woods, they heard the horrible squeals of the terrified unicorn, and the growls and cries of the wolves.  Zografos suspected werewolves, so he drew his silvered dagger as he ran toward the sounds.  Flower ran at full speed with little heed toward the squeal.  She screamed as she ran to everyone, "Please help me, poor Ammi is in trouble!"

      India drew her shadowy blade and followed, singing a song of courage as she ran.  Alexander and Issic remained behind, watching the town.

      Suddenly, just as the three of them set foot in the woods, the sounds stopped. Only the sound of the water dripping from the leaves to the leafy humus could be heard. The droplets sounded loud in the silence.  Flower called to Ammi.  Zografos held his breath and listened for the sounds of wolves.

      A panther appeared. It was sleek, black, and watchful.  A second panther, unseen by Flower, Zografos, or India watched nearby.  The blonde man with the bow stood hidden in the shadows opposite the second panther.

      Flower, a small Elvish child, naked besides a petal in her hair, her feat grassstained, her cheeks and legs and arms currently rather dirty, her hair was sleek and straight, untangled and almost shiny, faced the panther, shoulders squared in its direction, and said,  "I see you. Do not think that I am food."

      Then the blonde man stepped out into sight. "Hello, little one," he said to Flower.  Flower jumped, startled, and scampered into a tree.  The blonde man smiled and asked, "Is this your friend?"  They saw Ammi standing unharmed behind the stranger. They saw thirteen dead wolves also.

      Flower jumps down from the tree and in a high, angry, but almost musical high voice cried out, "Don't you hurt him!"

      "I wouldn't dream of hurting her," said the blonde man. "I was protecting her from the wolves.  This forest is a very dangerous place."

      "Really?" asked Flower.  She looked at Ammi questioningly.

      "My friends and I slew the wolves before they could do harm," said the blonde man. The man mentally called Antaeus and Axylus to his side. The panthers moved next to the man, their long fangs bared, but more in preparedness than in threat.  The man rubbed his hand over their silken fur, first one panther, then the other.  The great beasts calmed down with his touch.  Their keen eyes took in each of the newcomers facing the man.

      India, a pretty girl in a gypsy dress with a shadow sword, said, "Thank you for protecting the unicorn. I am India."  The man noted that she spoke with an Ingaran accent.

      "Greetings," said the blonde man.  "My name is Phaidon.  Seems I was in the right place at the right time."

      Zografos, a short, 5'5" man with a slight build, dressed in traveling leathers with a chain shirt and shield, stepped up beside India.  He wore a Drychtnothian warsword across his back.  There were paint supplies at his hip along with several daggers.  He said, "I am Domnhall."  Phaidon noted that this man also spoke with an Ingaran accent.

      "Nice to meet you all," said Phaidon.  "Are you from Ingara?"

      "Domnhall and I are," said India.  "From where do you hail?"

      "I, too, am from Ingara originally," said Phaidon. "I, however, moved to Lamapacher with my uncle when I was six because my parents were slain by Mind Flayers."

      "Are you from around here?" asked India.  "Why are you in these dark woods at night?"

      "The woods are our home," replied Phaidon.  "Well, most of the time.  My uncle lives in Ortenau about five miles from here."

      Zografos kept his eyes on the stranger but scanned the woods with his peripheral vision and kept his ears open.  Flower ran to Ammi, hugging him and making sure the unicorn wasn't hurt.  She whispered, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know. I didn't think. I'll never let you get hurt. I'm sorry." Wiping away a tear, Flower frowned, "Are you mad at me?"  The unicorn seemed genuinely happy to see Flower.

      Flower ran at Phaidon and hugged his leg.  "Thank you for saving, Ammi.   She is very dear to me."   The huge panthers retreated at her approach, their fangs bared, ready to leap and rend her at a motion from Phaidon.

      Phaidon patted Flower on the head and said.  "You are most welcome." 

      Flower whispered, "She is a unicorn!" as if it were a secret no one knew.  Phaidon whispered to Flower, "I wasn't quite sure."

      Zografos saw Ændryal briefly through the trees and brush.  She smiled, pointed to a spot at her feet, and then vanished.  Zografos noted that the spot looked freshly dug.  He ignored the hint that she had buried something for him there and continued to be watchful.

      "You must be a 'good-guy' to have gained the trust of him," said Flower, gesturing to one of the sleek panthers flanking Phaidon.  The large, savage cats eyed Flower warily.  Flower could tell these were not tame, civilization-bred cats, but savage, wild beasts that would tear her apart with their long, bloodied talons if it were not for the presence of this human.  "Are you not scared?" she asked.

      "It takes a lot to scare me.  Antaeus and Axylus have been my friends for three years.  I saved them from a gargoyle when they were newborns."

      "You can fight gargoyles?" asked India.

      "I've fought a few, but not many. Maybe three.  Vile creatures.  I like the stone ones much better."

      Flower smiled at Phaidon. "YOU fought gargoyles? Three years ago?       You must be brave! And old."

      Phaidon smiled at Flower and said, "I fought one three years ago and I'm only 21."  Phaidon wondered at this comment because usually elves don't consider three years to be much time.

      "So are you old?" asked Flower. "Zografos tells me humans only live for a little bit and get old very fast." 

      "Compared to you, we do.  Compared to other humans, I'm not very old."

      Zografos looked the dead wolves over.  Five of the wolves were now people, dead people.  He looted the corpses.  One of them had a Lamapachan Knife in his belt.  Another had a bola.  The knife had a polished wood handle, a copper pommel.  The blade itself was heavy.  One side was a sharp blade, the other was a jagged saw edge.  The words "Dak ak Dek noj Rargada" were engraved along the blade.  "Death and Destruction to all my Enemies," said Zografos to himself.  He showed the blade to India.

      "It is the old credo of the founder of Lamapacher, Lord Komaaks," said India. "It was the cry of unification for all of Lamapacher 60 years ago or so."

      India said to Phaidon, "We are getting ready to fight the gargoyles of Lotharia, and bring down the temple in the tower."

      "Do you need help fighting the gargoyles?" asked Phaidon.  "The boys and I don't take kindly to them and wouldn't mind removing a few."

      Flower ran her fingers through Ammi's hair and said, "We need to get to safer place, like the man said. I think he must be smart also." Flower walked with Phaidon and Ammi and whispers in Ammi's ear, "Did you actually let him touch you?" She then asked Phaidon, "Will you help keep Ammi safe? I didn't do a very good job last time."

      "I will help you as much as I can.  I will always try and keep Ammi safe as long as we travel together."  Phaidon mentally told his beasts to stay close and listen for more creatures of the night.  The panthers circled around Phaidon, emitting low, menacing growls while they kept their flaming eyes riveted on the forest around them.

      "You said there were other wolves in the forest, stranger?" asked Zografos.

      "There could be others.  I figure those were part of a pack.  However, I did not expect to find Werewolves as well."

      Flower made sure Vulmea was not amongst the werewolves.

      Zografos asked, "Would you be willing to help us find the others and destroy them?"

      "If your cause is just, I will gladly help in any way I can," said Phaidon.

      Flower said,  "We are here to save my friend, Shanagra. He is trapped by a monster inside the tower," said Flower.  "Well, part of him is trapped in the tower, at least." 

      "These wolves are working in concert with a vampiress that is hunting us and I am tired of being hunted," said Zografos.

      "Where is this Vampiress?" asked Phaidon.

      "That I don't know, she has her wolves and were-creatures track us for her."

      Flower looked around with concern, "Where is my demon? My demon hates Sharyss for some reason, but I don't know why. He hates a lot of things though. Be careful, sometimes he gets real hungry. So don't stand to close to him. If we find him that is, he gets lost a lot."

      "I say we get out of these woods, and get going on our objective," said India.  "Alexander and Issic are waiting for us."

      "Very well, lets go get them and then kill these blasted wolves," said Zografos.  He led the others back to the clearing over Lotharia. Phaidon's panthers followed, slinking through the trees like deadly ghosts.  India had heard that panthers could drag carcasses three times the panther's weight into trees to devour them.

      Flower whispered to Phaidon so that Ammi didn't hear, "Can I RIDE your panthers later?" She smiled.

      Phaidon whispered to Flower, "I'll ask them later, they might like it." He smiled back.  The panthers, every sense alert, continued to glide through the dark forest, ready to kill anything their friend wanted dead.

      Upon arriving at the clearing, they were surprised to find that Alexander and Issic were nowhere to be seen. Below, the town waited in silence and darkness.  The gargoyles circled above the city.  The tower windows, however, were lit.

      "What kind of tracks would your friends leave?" asked Phaidon.  He looked around at all the dead gargoyles.  India showed Phaidon the tracks of Alexander and Issic.  "It looks like they went airborne," said Phaidon.  The rain started to fall harder, cutting down on visibility.

      "Should we find them," asked Flower, "or do as Alexander said and go into the tower?"

      "Do as Alexander said," said India.  "Perhaps they were captured.  Perhaps Issic flew Alexander somewhere else.  Either way, they will expect us to go on with the plan."

      Zografos snorted, but grudgingly agreed.  I would rather track those damn wolves down now, though, he thought.

      Flower said to India, "Do you have another pretty dress like that?    Shanagra said I should wear clothes; I don't want him to be upset at me when we go get him." India took out her pack, and pulled out a blue skirt and a white blouse, handing them to Flower.  The elf dressed quickly.  She pulled the blue skirt up over her slender hips.  The skirt, which would have hung just past India's knees, hung down to her ankles.  She pulled on the frilly blouse and tied the front tie.  She didn't fill it out like India filled out hers, but it was comfortable.  The arms, which were puffy, felt weird.

      "Thank you, India. We wouldn't want Shanagra to blush again." 

      Zografos and Phaidon led the way toward the tower, using trees and buildings to keep the gargoyles from spotting them.  Zografos hoped that when Issic flew back they wouldn't mistake him for a gargoyle.  In flight, from a distance and in the rain, he mightn't look that different from one.

      Flower said,  "My demon holds light in his sword, Light is sight of the oracle.  My candy."  Flower reverently opened her hand for the bright ball of light to appear. The ball of light appeared in her hand.  All the gargoyles in the air above the city turned instantly in her direction.  Fifty of them began to converge on the party.  The sleek cats that kept an eye on the forest for wolves growled at the revealing light.  Phaidon made a fast gesture that held the cats at bay, and so Flower, by the grace of Phaidon, survived.

      Zografos covered the light in the elf's hand.  "You ignorant girl!  Are you trying to get us killed?"

      "Take cover!" hissed Phaidon, hoping he didn't make a mistake in restraining his savage beasts.  He wanted just as much as his animals to rend the girl apart for the error.  He had lived with his animals for so long he often thought like they.  Kill the stupid and the weak so that the entire pack isn't killed because of them.  But she was just a child.  "We don't want to get spotted."  Yet Phaidon knew they had been seen. 

      "Into the tower," said Flower, sulking, after she doused the light. "They won't all be able to come at us in there."

      However, the brief flash of light allowed Issic and Alexander to find them.  Issic landed and put Alexander down.  Phaidon couldn't help but stare at Issic's draconic features and massive batwings.  For a second, if it hadn't been for Flower's earlier description, he would have thought Issic to be a giant gargoyle.  Alexander and Issic knew they were in trouble.  Not only had they seen Flower's light, but the gargoyles behind them had seen it.

      "Where did you guys go?" asked India.

      "We took Alexander's new lackeys to safety," growled Issic.

      India hummed a brief song, and a flare of light popped into existence several hundred feet away.  The swarm of gargoyles head in that direction. India said, "If we are going to get into that tower, now would be a good time, while the gargoyles are busy."

      "Anyone know an easy way into the tower?" asked Phaidon.  He sensed that his panthers were uneasy.  Something was approaching them through the woods.

      "The front door," asked Zografos, smiling.  He was impressed with India.

      "Sounds like a plan," said Phaidon.  "However, towers like that usually have special entrances.  Have you checked it out yet?"

      "Haven't gotten a chance yet."  They ran quickly through the driving rain to the tower.  They reached the base of the tower after ten minutes of hard running.  They saw the head of a lion decorating a section of the curved wall.  Lightning flashed overhead.  They saw the gargoyles flying over the woods, searching for them where India had mislead them.

      In the woods, watching them run, Ændryal ordered her wolves and werewolves to hide.  She didn't want to waste time fighting gargoyles.  The rain ran down her cold skin as she stood watching.  She was angry about losing the unicorn.  She would not fail to kill the next one that wanders off alone, no matter what the cost to her personal forces.  She lifted her bow and shot a gargoyle down.  It crashed through the wet limbs, crashing hard on a log.  With a mental nod, her wolves and werewolves pounced on the hurt gargoyle, shredding it in seconds.  No, she would not fail to kill the next one that strayed.  As she faded away into mist, she had to admit she was somewhat worried about the one they called Phaidon.

      The group looked at the lion's head and the blank wall.  "Gain access through the private, secret door that faces to the south.  Turn the lion until it stares into the glare of the sun, and step on the feet of the titan!" said Issic.  He turned the lion's head toward the east and a secret door opened in the blank wall. 

      Torchlight spilled out of the opening, and inside they saw a small room.  The room had a statue of a nude woman holding a lit torch. Tapestries depicting sexual acts adorned the walls, and a door, made of iron bound oak, was set in one wall. Against one wall in this room, above the ironbound door, was another lion head.

      "Everyone in side now!" commanded Alexander. "In side the room, now, everyone. There is no telling what might be following us."

      Issic caressed the stony breast of the statue.  When he did, a trap door sprung open in the floor, flipping up from the center of the room, revealing a stair case going down to the cellar.

      India went inside.  She looked down the stairway Issic found, and she looked at the lion head.  Behind her, the panthers slid in.  She was surprised at how silky their black fur felt against her legs, and she was impressed by the movement of their muscles under that fur.

      Flower said, "What about turning the lion?"

      "Maybe the lion is a decoy," said Phaidon.

      "Maybe this stairway going down is the decoy," suggested India.

      "Possible," said Phaidon.  India helped Flower usher the unicorn into the room.

      When India closed the door behind the unicorn, Alexander turned the lion's head in the room.  A door opened in the wall, revealing another stair case going down.  The steps looked like toes.

      "The old man did say to avoid the cellar," said Issic.

      "This is the way," said Alexander, pointing to the stair behind the wall.  He did not trust the stair in the center of the room that Issic found.  "If that is where the Shoggoths are being summoned at, that is where we need to go."

      "I agree," said India.  Zografos also agreed.

      "Can you check the stair for traps, Zografos?" asked Alexander.  Phaidon wondered why he called Domnhall by that name.

      "I can," he replied, a little irritated.  He moved slowly down the stairs in the wall.  He checked each step meticulously.  He finally reached bottom, and pronounced the hallway safe for travel. At the bottom was a statue of a man holding a very tiny man in his hands.  A door was next to the statue of the titan. Alexander went down the steps.  The others followed him down.  The panthers went down also, following Phaidon.  They were nervous.  They were not used to being indoors.  They felt trapped.  Phaidon understood how they felt and kept touching them, reassuring them.  India, and Flower went down the steps last, helping Ammi negotiate the oddly shaped steps.

      "He did not say that the Shoggoths were being summoned there but that the Bone was found there," said Issic.

      "Athena will protect you and keep you safe," Alexander said to the half-dragon.

      When Alexander reached the bottom of the stairs Zografos said, "This door, however, is trapped.  As is this statue."

      "So you expect me to take the brunt of these traps?" asked Issic.

      "No, I just thought you would want to have first blood in any fights we are in, since we are here for you."

      Flower said, "We are here for Shanagra!  Not Issic!"

      Zografos, after a bit of work, said, "I don't think that will be necessary, Issic.  I have disarmed the trap on the statue.  I think it opens a secret door here.  I think the feet of this statue is the trigger for the secret door."