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[Jon Potter]

"Can't be what?" Maleko asked quickly, but Ayremac did not hear him. Instead, he went over to the axe, emotions stirring again, his mind instantly racing to what improbable events could have led the axe to hang on this wall. He had always assumed that Karak had just chosen to move on... into the winter land, even though it was quite unlikely he would have left the party that way.

"It's Karak's axe," Ixin answered the elf, giving Ayremac a chance to examine the weapon.

"Who's Karak?" Maleko asked next, his voice hushed.

"A dwarf who traveled with us for a time," the sorceress told him, her own voice lowered to a whisper as she explained. "Ayremac told me that he disappeared the same night that I was killed."

Maleko looked at her with surprise on his face. Reference to her deaths and subsequent reincarnations was shocking to him and it seemed to stir something unwelcome in Ixin as well. Her lips were set in a tight line and she did not meet his eye.

"Can any of you tell me how this waraxe came to be here?" Ayremac asked as he turned to the group of githyanki. Several of them looked at one another and muttered in their own tongue, but Perragourp, standing a few paces distant from the band shook his head.

"No," the translator replied. "This collection is... was the Gisir's obsession alone. Perhaps it was recovered from a raid. Perhaps it was purchased from a trader. Only the Gisir would know for sure."

"Do you have any dwarven prisoners here?" Maleko asked, earning a glare from Perragrourp.

"No," the githyanki answered. "In warfare, the githyanki ask no quarter and grant none. In matters of law, Githyanki justice is swift. We have no need to keep prisoners for long."

“Does anyone know where this weapon came from?” Ayremac asked, managing to sound casual despite his curiosity. He looked at the githyanki arrayed behind Perragourp as he pointed at the dwarven axe. The warriors looked at one another and then at Perragourp, speaking in their native language with confused tones.

"My warriors do not speak your tongue, celestial," Perragourp told him, his own tone one of restrained anger. "If it will hasten your departure, I will circulate the question among the troops. Then you can take the axe and be gone from Avik-tchai."

“I have made my choice,” Ayremac stated plainly although he was careful not to indicate which weapon might be his choice. “But I believe I recognize this waraxe from a previous battle. I would like to know if one of your warriors can tell me the tale of the one who carried it.” They could almost hear Perragourp's teeth grinding from across the chamber.

"Your stalling tactics try my patience, celestial," the githyanki growled, his grip tightening noticeably on the handle of his sword.

“Tell me that story, and it will hasten my departure,” Ayremac said with amicable gentility. Without another word to the outsiders, Perragourp turned, barked some orders at his men and flew from the throne-room



Ayremac and Ixin went back to speculating on the axe and the whereabouts of the dwarf who had owned it. As Del did not know Karak, he just watched and listened to the theories as they were bandied about. Maleko seemed quite interested in their musing and he was devoting his attention to the pair as they conversed. Cerrakean was splitting her own time between watching Morier and the githyanki guards left at the door. For his part, the marshall was suitably impressed by the Gisir's weapon collection, and he found himself sipping from his flask and admiring the gleaming display. Here was a maul big enough for no one smaller than a storm giant to use. Beside it was a double scimitar such as he had seen used by certain weaponmasters in Hule, but this one was suitably sized for an ogre. He briefly considered the damage one of the Iron Gut ogres who defended the Borderlands could do with a double scimitar of such proportion and shuddered at the image his mind created.

"We need to be away from this place," Morier said to him, his voice low but not quite a whisper. "The githyanki make me uneasy, and I would just as soon be away from them as soon as possible." Del tore his eyes away from the weaponry and glanced over at the posted guards. They were staring back with open animosity on their faces and Del could well imagine the zeal with which warriors would lay into them were Perragourp to give such an order.

"I'm not one to run from a fight," Cerrakean offered, "but in this case I think we're pushin' our luck hangin' around here. If it comes to crossed swords, I think we'll be in real trouble." Del looked at the hobgoblin and nodded.

"Let's make sure it doesn't come to that," he said.



Perragourp returned not too much later and began speaking at once, eager to be rid of these interlopers.

"The axe was recovered from an illithid nautiloid that was seized by a githyanki boarding squad near the Chain of Tears," the commander relayed. "There were no dwarves aboard the vessel and no indication of how the axe came to be in the illithid's possession."

"Illithid?" Ixin muttered, confused. Maleko leaned in to her ear and whispered two words that sent a chill up her spine.

"Mind Flayers."