The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign

As I watched the ground pass under us, lost in my own thoughts, I felt someone gently tugging at my back. It was Drudge; I turned around just as John asked me:

“Faden? Are you with us? We were just discussing what we should do next.”

I was still thinking about everything that we had learned in Castle Korstull, the creatures we had met there, the ramifications of the Shahalesti making an alliance with a Ragesian army and the startling conclusions that Victor had made, suggesting that Leska’s moves had been planned months in advance.

However, I had also thought a little about our short term goals, so I was able to answer that question quickly:

“Well, we have found some treasure in the Castle; normally, I would suggest getting to Seaquen as soon as possible but unfortunately, there is nothing to buy there. It may have the Lyceum there but it is still a village; or was, last time we were there anyway.

Anyway, what I am thinking is that we should use this sled for as long as it lasts; when it lands, we should continue heading west until nightfall; we camp for the night, learn spells the next morning. Felix then casts his spells which allow us to change into vapour; once we achieve that, we fly to Bresk; at the speed of that magic, it shouldn’t take us too long. Once we get there, we purchase what we can and then fly down to Seaquen as soon as possible. Hopefully, with their assistance and their research, we may be able to make some sort of sense out of this cryptic scratching that Darius left behind; even if they can’t, I can guarantee you they will send us somewhere else almost immediately.

Oh, also, if possible, Felix, I think we should use your life giving magic on Grellfinn. He has been a good companion and lost his life in our defence.”

Longhelim looked at everyone:

“Well, that’s pretty much to the point; anyone else have any other ideas? If not, then Faden seems to have summed things up fairly well.”

Everyone else, especially the gnomes, were nodding.

The sky sled flew on for some time but finally, it began to glide down gently and we landed. On the ground, John stared thoughtfully at it; then he turned to us:

“Do you think we could carry it maybe?”

We all looked at him. He already knew the answer to that. It was just too big and awkward to carry any distance. John looked at it again and sighed. Then he hunted out some nearby shrubs and put some branches on it, trying to make it look part of the landscape. It didn’t really work but it made him happy. He did make sure to pull out the diamond out of the face of the sun carved on its front. The stone may have lost its magic but it was still valuable.

Dusting ourselves down and getting into order, we moved out. Victor and Longhelim carried Grellfinn’s body and Drudge ranged far and wide. The land was rolling country side, very green with various shrubs and growths but no proper trees. It was also deserted; John still looked back at the sky sled regretfully every so often then he seemed to accept its loss. Unfortunately, it was so visible, even from a distance, that unless this area was completely deserted, then someone or something would spot it fairly quickly.

We travelled until dark and then set up camp near a stream. Tents were erected and rations brought out and shared with the gnomes, who unfortunately had left all of theirs in their wagon. Once the food was consumed and we all lay around the fire, Longhelim puffing his usual pipe, I asked the others:

“So, about tomorrow.”

I took out a map of the lands we knew and pointed to the location of the city.

“We should prepare spells tomorrow to do the following: we need to help Grellfinn, also we need to find out what all of our magic does and finally we need to be able to get to Bresk and then to Seaquen as soon as we finish; this should all be within our abilities.”

Felix was nodding:

“Certainly, I can learn the spells that will get us to Bresk and Seaquen as fast as the wind; can’t do anything about finding out the functions of all the curious things from the Castle. However, I can do something about Grellfinn, but as we know, it will be expensive.”

Longhelim looked at him and said:

“He can have my diamonds.”

Both Jorine and Oller looked both grateful and awed by that gesture. It was a lot of diamonds.

“And providing we can find a suitable piece of jewelry, I’ll be able to work just what does what, from the castle.“

After that, the conversation was mostly about what everyone had seen in Castle Korstull; their impressions, their thoughts and what they believed was happening. Jorine wanted to know what had happened to everyone after the unfortunate incident in the lift shaft; I asked everyone about Ernest, the halfling that turned out to be a trillith but as usual, no one could tell me anything. There had been no indications that Ernest was anything else but what he claimed to be: a halfling hireling.

Soon it was time to go to sleep and after watches had been set, everyone retired.

The next morning, we all prepared for the day. Felix produced his usual sumptuous breakfast; it is said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and the priest was certainly proving that. Once we finished, Felix again produced that most astonishing of miracles; I watched in fascination as the cleric performed his ritual and some time later, Grellfinn stirred and breathed again. It really was quite extraordinary magic.

Grellfinn had to be healed and he was given some Felix’s special breakfast. After that, the priest cast his last spells of the morning on all of us; then, as per his instructions, we turned into mist and flew high into the sky.

Again, Felix’s spell was quite incredible. Of course, I was familiar with the sensation of flying but never at this speed. The wind seemed to seize and propel us like arrows through the air; it was dizzying. Thankfully, Drudge, with his uncanny sense of directions, was able to guide us over the landscape. I am not sure how visible we were from the ground but I loved the sensation of speeding through the blue sky and seeing the landscape unrolling under me.

In a lamentably short time, we saw a large city in the distance and a few moments later, it took the unmistakable shape of Bresk with its large castle and huge walls.

We landed nearby but out of sight and then walked in.

My word, the city was different than both previous times we had entered publicly. The first time, King Steppengaard was insane, both with grief and driven so by his gnome advisor, Nina Glibglamer, who proved to be a trillith described appropriately as Madness. Having an insane king had driven the city a little mad as well, mostly by the King’s behavior; no one knew who was going to be arrested next, what capriciousness was going to be declared as a law and how the ruler was going to react to normal, everyday life.

The second time, we entered as part of the entourage of Duke Gallo of Gallo’s Fend just when a state of war existed between the King and his Duke; that led to some tension as well. That sequence of events led to a bloodbath in the King’s Banqueting Hall.

This was the first time we entered into the city as normal travelers.

There were crowds of people walking, on horseback and on carts and carriages; everyone was talking or shouting and there was hustle and bustle everywhere; in other words, it looked as if the city was getting on with its normal life. I was delighted as it meant that no new crisis had hit Bresk while we had been away.

Still, despite this, we determined to stay here incognito as asking for an audience with Steppengaard would inevitably result in a delay which we could ill afford. Frankly, I was surprised we had not received a magical message from Seaquen asking for a progress report already. If Steppengaard had known we were here, he would certainly want a full report about events in Castle Korstull; and rulers operated on a different timeline than anyone else.

So, dodging people, horses and children, we arrived at a reputable inn where we rented a room. Once settled, we set out to find a reputable jeweler, which was not difficult. Once I made my request to him for the very specialized eyepiece that I needed for my spell, he sent me to a colleague who stocked that type of item. It took a little while but I finally obtained a beautiful sapphire set in a gold ring and with a handle made of ivory. The whole piece was expensive but it was needed for my new magic.

Once we returned to the inn, I took out my prize and we began to discern the nature of not only the pieces which we had found in the Castle but also various others which we had collected previously; and there were a fair few. There is no need to go into the details of all the pieces which had found, with one exception.

The exception were the soul gems; as predicted, they proved to be receptacles used in magic which trapped the soul. It was a type of ritual that was so above my knowledge at this time that I had only heard about it; oh, I knew some of the theory but the practice was both unknown and abhorrent to me. The one gem which we examined contained the soul of an old and gentle Ragesian; what the poor being had done to offend Coaltongue was unknown but no one deserved to be trapped in a gem forever like that, waiting until someone decided to use him to power a chariot. However, as we had no knowledge as to how to free them at this time, we had to keep the gems with us until an opportunity arose to do so.

We sold all the other items, including the fount of all chocolate, despite Jorine’s wistful looks; it raised a surprising amount of money; thankfully the new funds allowed us to purchase various items of equipment, especially for the warriors, including poor Victor who had lost so much when his magical bag was burned in the Dark Pyre.

So, both Longhelim and Victor both received a new set of plate mail, highly magical. Victor also obtained a strange new shield, one which, once activated, floated in front of him and acted as normal shield for all intents and purposes. It only lasted for a short period of time and then had to be activated again but it was a fascinating and powerful piece of magic nonetheless. Drudge obtained a new set armour, as did John and Felix obtained a new magical shield. I managed to secure some money which I determined to save to purchase inks which would allow me to scribe new spells into my spell book; when I had the time of course; lack of time for spell scribing seemed to be my main problem right now.

Many of the items were purchased at the most eminent magical armourer in the city; there was a possibility that we may have been able to bargain a little harder somewhere else, but we did not have the time for that. As it was, this establishment worked in the manner that the prices were fair but set; if you wanted to bargain, there were plenty of other establishments but this one had the best reputation for quality.

Best of all for Victor, we managed to obtain a magical falchion for him. John was kind enough to hunt one down for him while he was being fitted with his armour; Victor was a little unhappy that he wasn’t able to choose his own weapon but the armourer was adamant that if he left now, the armour would not be ready.

When John returned to the armoury, the package that he held was wrapped; Victor was dressed in two arm greaves and the front half of his breastplate while the armourer was trying to fit the rear. The rogue waited until the armourer had finished and then grinning, handed the package to the warrior. Victor hefted it and then, looked at John, his face wordlessly asking a question.

“Well, open it!” exclaimed John.

Victor did so and as he revealed the weapon my eyes widened. It was a falchion; but the metal that it was made of; it was adamantite; we had seen so much of it in Castle Korstull that we all recognized it immediately. Despite its many appearances in the Castle, it was incredibly rare and hugely prized; for John to have been able to find a weapon made out of it in such a short time was a great boon.

Victor looked at the rogue and inclined his head: “Thank you. Thank you very much indeed.”

The other major pieces we purchased were a set of powerful healing wands; one of these was also for the gnomes. Although we had already spent a great deal of money in bringing back all of them from the dead, we felt that it was fair that they had some ability to heal themselves.

So, once we had spent all of our money and obtained all of our items, we all sat down for a mid afternoon meal. Once that was over, Longhelim turned to the three gnomes:

“Now that we have finished here, we are planning to fly to Seaquen; you are very welcome to join us or this would be a convenient place for you to plan a journey back to Sindaire. We would certainly speak to the Resistance about your contribution and your abilities but at the same time and I don’t doubt for one moment that they would dearly like you to become members but we don’t want to influence you unduly. You have to want to join.

So, have you thought about what you would like to do next?”

Jorine answered without hesitation:

“We certainly have thought about it and we want to join the Resistance! The Ragesians have to be stopped and your behavior puts us in huge debt to you although please don’t think that we are doing this purely from a sense of obligation. We think we can make a difference and we think the cause is just!”

Longhelim smiled:

“So be it! Welcome! We’ll all fly back together and then we will introduce you to the leadership.”

Saying that, we paid our bill and left the inn; once we were out of sight of the city, we turned into mist and began the flight South to Seaquen.

What a nice session, no nasty nastiness, everyone does what they set out to do, and everything works. Can you have a word with my GM? ;-)

Not surprisingly, this flight was uneventful; I hoped that using this mode of travel from now on would save us a great deal of time and trouble. We flew at such speed that it would be difficult to imagine that anything could catch us. We also flew at such a height that we were reasonably inconspicuous; not invisible, but definitely hard to spot from the ground.

As we approached the town of Seaquen, the first thing we noticed were the two armies encamped nearby. They flew the flags of Sindaire and Dassen. That was a pleasant surprise. If Dassen could afford to send an army to Seaquen, that meant that Gallo’s Fend was holding the Ragesian army that was poised at Alydi’s Gap; not only holding it but defying it. Even more impressively, if there was an army from Sindaire here, it meant that somehow, the Ragesians had been defeated in that country and again, that realm felt confident enough to send an army to support Dassen and the Resistance.

As previously, we landed out of sight but nearby and then walked into Seaquen; this time, slipping into town inconspicuously was out of the question. As soon as we began to walk through the outlying houses, a cry went up:

“It’s them! They’re back! They still live! The heroes are here!”

People began to point at us and cheer; it seemed as if we were still remembered; that was pleasantly gratifying. Unfortunately, we could not tarry but I think it was important for people to see us. If we were going to be heroes of the Resistance, then we needed to be seen. There were reasons for that.

We managed to get through to the town, smiling, shaking hands and intermittently answering questions without saying anything; we were under no illusion that this place was still a nest of spies. Once inside the town, more changes became apparent immediately; the first was the sense of unity and co-operation; it was no longer a land divided; the various factions were pulling together now. Instead of a variety of groups all with their own agendas, it now looked as if these agendas had been overridden by a desire to build a new Seaquen and for everyone to become part of this new settlement. The tension that had been so prevalent before was gone and there was a much greater feeling of harmony; again, this was very gratifying. It was good to see all that hard work that we had done yielding some results.

We had gathered quite a throng which was following us to the entrance of the Lyceum.

“Turn around and wave!” I hissed at the others as I did so myself.

The others followed suit, some more awkwardly than others but we still managed this maneuver decently enough that it elicited another cheer before we entered, only to be met by another throng, this time of students, clamouring to know where we had been, what had we been doing, why were we back, and a further flurry of questions.

Finally, Kiernan came out and shooed everyone away; we were immediately ushered into Simeon’s study, with its scrolls and maps and comfortable seats. The loremaster himself was seated casually behind his desk although I was a little shocked by his appearance; he looked tired and lines had began to appear on his face. The strain of leading the Resistance had become very apparent. I hoped that others had told him that he was possibly overdoing it. Also present were his usual advisors, Kiernan, Katarina, the sorceress from Gate Pass and representative of the Resistance as well as Sheena Larkins, the head of the Wayfarers; we also spied the Sindarian ambassador, Cranston Snord as well as his Dassenian counterpart, Kiefer Numhaut. On a far happier note, Torrent, the warrior priestess who accompanied us on that never-to-be forgotten trip from Gate Pass to Seaquen, was also present.

We hurried over to her and I exclaimed:

“Torrent! Where’ve have you been? We’ve been trying to get in touch with you but there’s never been an answer. “

She smiled at us and replied:

“I’ve been with our allies in Sindaire, helping them against the Ragesians.”

Simeon cleared his throat:

“Torrent is being very modest. She has been instrumental in establishing Sindaire as an ally of the Resistance. It is as a result of the efforts of her and her team that the army you saw outside has been able to join us.

Now, please, what can you tell us? The Torch has gained even more importance now. Do you have it?”

Longhelim succinctly told the audience in the room exactly what had happened to us, from the time we had been transported to Ostalin until we arrived back at Seaquen. No one interrupted until the end and then Simeon said:

“Disappointing but not very surprising. So, you say that dark elves probably took the Torch? Shalosha is making an alliance with a Ragesian general? And she still wants to make a treaty with us? You also said you had a cryptic poem? May I see it please? And you saw yet another trillith?

These creatures are very vexing; I realize that we cannot know everything but I find it difficult to believe that that many creatures of such great power had escaped notice previously.”

John was thinking out loud:

“All of the trilliths we have met are named after emotions or their names are descriptive in some way; so far we have met Deception, Madness, Balance and Indomitability that we know of. They seem to be able to possess people and animals; it is impossible to detect them. They are not evil, or at least Longhelim does not detect them as such. They are extremely strong, both physically and magically; Madness was also very strong spell caster; and their ability to walk through walls is most powerful.”

The rogue was silent and the others were obviously thinking about what he had said.

I decided to add my own thoughts to his:

“John, I still think that there is a connection between the gold dragon and the trillith. When Deception was giving his little speech before his grandma nearly ate us, he definitely referred to Syana as his grandmother. That has to be a connection somehow; calling someone a grandparent is a very specific thing. We very much need to research this Syana, and Ycengled, which was what or who she was defending. “

I turned to the others.

“John has his doubts that there is a connection here; he may be right but we need to eliminate this one way or the other. We were also both speculating whether these trillith are emotions or dreams of something, but it would have to be something of such power that it beggars belief.”

Longhelim and others had already heard our speculation so they did not react but the others in the room looked intrigued and hopeful.

Simeon spoke:

“You mention these writings that this man Darius left?”

I went over and handed them to the loremaster. He looked at them and frowned:

“Yes, in their current form, they are difficult to understand.”

Then he smiled and his countenance changed:

“However, I’m a loremaster; solving cryptic puzzles and allegorical prose is what I do and there are several magical tricks we can try on this. May I keep this? I do not have the correct spells today but I will certainly be able to cast something on this tomorrow morning which will hopefully make this more lucid.”

I was intrigued. The abilities of a loremaster were legendary. They were able to take a vast morass of seemingly disparate information and tease extraordinary knowledge out of it; or look at incomprehensible tomes of lore written when the world was young and translate it into language comprehensible to the modern world; and Simeon was famed as being one of the foremost of this Age in this peculiar discipline. Thus, I was very interested to know what he would be able to do with our cryptic prose.

Simeon then continued:

“On a different subject, you say that when you spoke to Shalosha, she stated that she was still interested in an alliance with Seaquen. Did she mention any terms?”

Longhelim answered that question:

“I spoke to her about that. Yes, she still wanted an alliance; the Shahalesti are desperate for any help against the Ragesians; there’s any army wondering around Northern Shahalesti as we speak and Gate Pass has become a battlefield between the two nations.

As for terms, I made sure I did not let it get that far. I felt that once I began to speak of terms, then, in principle, I would have committed Seaquen and the Resistance to something; I made it quite clear that I did not speak for Seaquen in matters such as these.”

I saw several of the diplomats nodding; it was very true: once terms were heard, then the initial hurdle of whether the Resistance wanted or needed this alliance was crossed; and we had no idea as to what the policy of the Resistance was in this case; for all we knew, the Dessanians had insisted that the price of their co-operation was no alliance with the Shahalesti; especially, as initially, the Shahalesti had tried to annex a chunk of what was officially Dessanian territory; until they had lost most of their fleet that is.

Simeon looked thoughtful:

“I understand your reluctance; still, Shalosha was right in one thing; your opinion does have weight. You mentioned that you would recommend an alliance with them.”

Longhelim replied:

“I did say that; but my exact words were: I would recommend an alliance with the Shahalesti………at that time: that time meaning when we were all half burned to death, dripping blood, out of spells and healing, faced with a healthy, powerful elven spell caster and her warrior bodyguard.

That was yesterday: today? Well, today, how shall I put it? If you take the tallest, strongest, heaviest being in Seaquen and then ask a six year old girl how far she could throw him? That is how far I would trust the elves. They wiped out a whole tribe of their kin in the Living Forest of Innenotdar; to the last woman and child. That type of complete eradication takes a particular kind of ruthlessness. We should consider this before we come to any agreement with them.”

Simeon nodded:

“We shall take everything you say under consideration. Now, you say that Shalosha also saw the writings of Darius?”

Longhelim shrugged:

“Yes, we showed them to her; she couldn’t make head or tail out of them either with the exception of a few lines where she suggested that it was us sailing in the sky sled; I didn’t get it myself but as we said, who could tell?”

Simeon shook his head:

“Unfortunately, Shalosha is a powerful spell caster herself and she would have been able to memorise those writings. The elves also have access to spell casters such as I with a strong bent towards divination. They may not be able to obtain as much information I will be able to but they will be able to obtain enough.”

“Enough for what? I am still confused as to what that is supposed to be,” I said.

“If I am right, then that is a series of clues to the whereabouts of the Torch; the strategic end of this game has not changed; whoever gains the Torch will have a decisive advantage in the coming war,” replied Simeon.

I frowned:

“I hope you’re right; because then all the grief we went through in Castle Korstull will have been worth it.”

“Believe me, Faden, your efforts and those of your companions are hugely appreciated; what I was trying to get at is that it has now become a race; the elves will soon have similar information to that which I hope to gain on the morrow. Therefore, it is imperative that you are ready to travel tomorrow. As before, Ms. Larkins is willing to magically teleport you to the closest place which she can.”

I tensed at this:

“Apologies for my reluctance, but last time we attempted to teleport, it left us in a very vulnerable position. I have not studied those strange nodes but they are very powerful and dangerous magic. Wherever it is that you need us to go, well, we would prefer to make our own way there.”

Simeon smiled and replied:

“Your caution is merited, Faden, and I agree, the node magic is a new and disturbing development; but now that we know of their existence, we can at least augur if they will interfere with our movement.”

He looked at me:

“Trust me in this. It will work.”

Rather dubiously, I said:

“So be it. I hope you’re right.”

Simeon settled back in his chair and looked at Kiernan. The latter just gave a tiny shake of his head. I presumed that that meant that the dwarf did not have any further questions. So, Simeon then turned to Jorine, Oller and Grellfinn:

“You have been gallant and brave companions; your attempt to investigate Castle Korstull was extraordinary. I hope you will be kind enough to let me have the name of the alchemist who provided you with the coating which protected your wagon from the Firestorm. Something like that would be incredibly useful to us. I wasn’t even aware that something like that existed. It may even allow us to use magical transport for the time being.

You have expressed a wish to join the Resistance; well, we would be very pleased to have you, if that is still the case. You will be valued members.”

All three of them nodded. They were quiet, looking around them, obviously trying to assimilate faces; as soon as Simeon finished, they were approached by the Sindarian ambassador; I had no doubt that they would in for a thorough debriefing later.

Simeon called the meeting to a close:

“We have done enough here for tonight. Let us retire and convene again early morning. We should be able to glean something from the information you found by then, hopefully.”

We were very tired at that point and we all retired to our rooms in the Lyceum.

The next morning, we all met in Simeon’s map room again; we had all prepared spells which we would need in case we had to make a journey far away; we had also had Felix’s usual breakfast. This time around, only Sheena, Katrina, Torrent and Kiernan attended the loremaster. He looked more refreshed after a night’s sleep and once we sat down, he began to murmur to himself; everyone kept quiet at this point, watching him, except for Drudge, who whispered to me:

“What’s happening?”

I whispered back to him:

“He’s spell casting.”

The magic seemed to last only a moment but the physical effect was immediately obvious. Simeon became much paler; in fact, the pallor turned gray and he drew his breath in sharply, several times. Then he opened his eyes and said:

“I don’t want to do that too many times; it’s a very powerful spell and also a very taxing one; in all sorts of ways!

Now, where’s that prophecy or whatever it is.”

Saying that, he snatched the paper we had brought back, glanced at it and then leaned over a blank scroll and began scribbling furiously, muttering as he did so. He wrote at an extraordinary speed, a byproduct of the magic he had cast, no doubt; sometimes he closed his eyes when he was writing, as if remembering. By the time he had finished, several scrolls were covered in his small, neat notes.

We all watched in silence until he finished; then when he stopped and read what he had written, he said:

“My oh my, what have we stumbled on to?”

After that, he turned to the rest of us, frowned and scratched his chin:

“Hmm, how to begin this so that it makes sense? It is a convoluted tale of greed, treachery and the everlasting lust for power.

Well, let’s start with the name Ycengled.

Ycengled Phuurst is the name of a forest on the northern border between Shahalesti and Ragesia. It is now said to be haunted but previously, it was settled by a tribe or kingdom of elves named the Taranesti; from what my spell can tell me, these were driven into exile by the Shahalesti. However, even before the Taranesti settled this forest, it was once the home of the drow, who themselves fled underground, ‘with the dawn on their backs’; no reason is given as to why they had to flee. That part seems hazy even to the power of my spell.

Anyway, this forest is large and is crossed by five rivers at various points. One of these is named the Taryaver which means black in elven. Its named such because the water appears as if it is black and legend has it that it bears the souls of fallen elves into the underworld. Another river, the Nallanthes, does actually flow underground for part of its course several times and the drow are said to have fled down the tunnels made by it when they disappeared, presumably deep into the earth.”

I opened my mouth at this point but Simeon looked at me and raised his hand, indicating there was more to come:

“Now, as to Syana; yes, Syana. She was the protector of this forest. She was said to have lairs on all five rivers somewhere; even more importantly, she had a daughter……”

Simeon then waited for a moment, with a dramatic pause that would make an actor jealous:

“…..her name was Trilla!”

I jumped in at that point. I couldn’t help it.

“Trilla…..trillith……grandmother…….that’s it! That’s the connection!”

I looked at the others but I could see that they perceived this just as quickly as I had. Simeon then held up his hand again, forestalling any more interruptions.

“Yes, Trilla was or is indeed Syana’s daughter and she was captured by Drakus Coaltongue while he was on an expedition to the forest. Syana helped her daughter escape but lost her life in the process; even my spell was unable to discern what happened to Trilla but as you say, Faden, the connection is now firm and it cannot be a coincidence that the names Trilla and Trilliths are so similar. Exactly what they are is difficult to know but you’re right, there has to be some connection.”

Another thought had occurred to me:

“Could they be agents of Trilla? Maybe they killed Coaltongue in revenge for the death of her mother?”

Everyone was quiet as they considered the ramifications of what I had suggested but then John slowly said:

“The actions of the Trilliths are too random; think of where we met them; in the Fire Forest, in the Monastery of the Two Winds, in Dassen, in Korstull. If they were intent on just revenge, then they would concentrate their resources on harming Ragesia.”

Victor then spoke quietly:

“Well maybe they are; militarily, the nations of Dassen and Sindaire as well as the Shahalesti elves are now arrayed against the Ragesian Empire and on the brink of war; an Empire that was single handedly founded by Drakus Coaltongue, who is now dead; while at the same time, the most important Ragesian military artifact, which gave them a priceless strategic advantage, was stolen; by drow elves, according to all appearances; but who could easily have been possessed by trilliths.”

The others were speechless as they absorbed Victor’s reasoning. It was obvious that none of them had even considered it from that light; neither had I to be truthful. It was Torrent who broke that heavy silence:

“Victor, are you suggesting that our fight for freedom is the result of manipulation by the trilliths? And that the trillith are agents of a Golden Dragon which is seeking revenge on an Empire for the death of her mother?”

The warrior looked at her for a time and then answered:

“I don’t have proof one way or the other; but it looks as if someone or something is engineering a confrontation between empires. Is it Trilla? We don’t know. Is it Leska? Certainly, she would have the power and she is the leader of the Inquisitors but she patently does not have the Torch, which suggests that even if she was behind Coaltongue’s murder, something went very badly awry along the way. It could be a completely unknown faction that has been magnificent at disguising its actions. For example, we still are not sure just where Lee Sidoneth fits into this puzzle; but the man destroyed the whole of Seaquen as well as a large part of the Shahalesti fleet by raising a storm of such magnitude that has not been seen in generations. There is only one place that we know of which has such mastery over the winds. Which reminds us, have there been any emissaries from either the Monastery of the Two Winds or Ostalin?

But anyway, back to my previous point; what I am suggesting is that this is possible. My words made you think in a direction which no one has mentioned before; but we need to start considering this and other possibilities.

I will tell you something else that suddenly begins to make sense though. Leska’s orders for an army to march into Northern Shahalesti? Into the middle of nowhere? I would put good money on a bet that that army is in the vicinity of the Ycengled Forest; and that they are looking for the Torch. I also suspect that that army has got some of the best specialist teams in the whole of the Ragesian army; teams that explore caves, rivers and forests.

As usual, everyone thought that Leska was a bad general who had no idea what she was doing with her armies; and as usual, Leska has been ahead of everyone for several months.”

Longhelim said, around his the pipe in his mouth:

“While this is insightful, does it help us in our next course of action?”

Simeon joined in:

“Indeed, Victor, you have given us much to think about; but there is more to tell you. My magic made reference to a lost city in Ycengled: its name was Phorros Irrendra; this is a city hidden from the Shahalesti. It was first a drow city and then was inhabited by the Taranesti. It could be that some of them live there still.”

“That could be potentially very useful information,” said Longhelim.

But Drudge spoke up this time:

“If the Shahalesti have been looking and cannot find it in their own forest, then I don’t rate our chances. Yes, it would be nice to be able to find it, but let’s not count on that.”

Simeon continued:

“I was able to find one reference to one of the lines on Darius’s writings. An order of paladins swept into the Forest; one of their members had been ensorcelled by a Taranesti witch, a diabolist or so the legend goes and they wished to rescue him. Her sorcery must have been strong as the paladin died to protect the witch, with whom he had a son by this stage and who was also now his wife according to Taranesti rites. The son, Rhuarc, became a powerful being who fought for the Taranesti cause; namely survival. Supposedly he still lives and bears a scimitar named Shaalguenyaver, which in the elven tongue means Bright Shadow. Now, as I am sure you remember, the first line of Darius’s writings read:

The Bright Shadow returns to its homeland and the sky may burn for its last time.”

I murmured quickly to Longhelim:

“Ah, I was wrong about that one. I thought that line referred to the Torch; you know, Bright Shadow, torch causing a shadow and also making the sky burn; didn’t the Torch make the sky burn?”

Longhelim whispered:

“Later.”

Simeon then continued:

“Finally, my magic also revealed some more aspects of the Order of Echoed Souls.”

It was John that interrupted this time:

“The Order of Echoed Souls; aren’t they the bunch of monks that settled nearby? Mystical with a bit magic? Wasn’t Ravens a member of the Order? So, shapeshifters as well?”

Simeon had not finished:

“Their original Temple was on that coast of Northern Shahalesti. The monks of the order have strange beliefs, and as you have already seen, powers. They have been driven into exile by one of their own but……I had better begin with their beliefs. The monks believe that through meditation, they could reshape their souls, change their nature. The true masters transcended their physical bodies and now exist as something called echoed souls in their original Temple.”

Another pause, but everyone kept quiet this time:

“However, there were also those, who attempted this transformation but were found lacking; those are said to still exist in the Temple, but this time as phantoms. One other thing I gleaned is that the number eight is highly significant to the order; they believe in the four physical elements and the four ethereal elements. They also believe that for someone to achieve transcendence, they need the help of eight others.”

This time, Simeon looked as if he had finished.

Longhelim jumped in first:

“I know what the four physical elements are but what are the four ethereal elements?”

I knew that one. They were often used in magical lore:

“Death, life, space and time.”

I then asked Simeon my own question:

“Do you know what an echoed soul is? Or what these phantoms are, the ones who failed?”

Simeon shook his head:

“No, that is all my magic will tell me.”

It was at that point that realization struck us that what Simeon had told us was what would be available as information to us. The only reason why it had been unearthed at all was due to very powerful divination magic; certainly no mundane means would result in such a useful block of knowledge. That suddenly led me down another thought process:

“Simeon, you say that Shalosha will ultimately be able to do the same magic as you?”

Simeon smiled:

“I flatter myself that her information will not be as complete and that it will take her a little longer but ultimately yes. The elves have several loremasters available to them; they are of lesser ability but there are more of them than we have here. That is why I am urging you to use Miss Larkins’s generous offer of magical travel. I suspect that Shalosha will be in the general area at some point but hopefully, it will take her longer to work out where to go and what to do.”

All six of us looked at each other; despite my reluctance to use this type of travel due to the nodes, I could see the necessity this time.

Longhelim spoke for all of us:

“We will be ready to leave shortly.”

So it was that we gathered all our things and hurried back to the study. I barely registered what I was doing. The new information that had been revealed opened up so many avenues of thought and actions that I almost took a wrong turn and ended in the student’s canteen. Ultimately, an exasperated John grabbed me by the shoulders from behind and pushed me along; after pouring out all my equipment from my magical bag onto to the floor, just to make sure that I had everything I needed; like my spell books. Thankfully, they and everything else was all there. I was a little offended; I wasn’t that bad, was I?

Sheena met us in the study and Kiernan cast all his spells of protection against fire on us. We aided these with our own.

Then, as we were making our final preparations, Simeon approached and said to us:

“There is one final piece of information which is very relevant to your journey. The Forest of Ycengled is famous for being a zone in which no divination magic works. We have not been able discover why but be warned: divination spells will fail within.”

I nodded as did John and Felix. Then Sheena cast her spell and we were sucked into the tunnel of fire that was now becoming familiar; except that it seemed so much longer this time; and of course, the longer it was, the hotter it became and the more it burned. We all felt that we would almost all suffer some burns before we landed but thankfully, we just about managed to reach our destination a little toasted but otherwise unharmed.

This was the outskirts of a small village; well, former village. It had been burned out. We also surprised a Ragesian garrison of a few soldiers but we managed to deal with these very quickly. Once that was finished, it was obvious that the village had been burned out some time ago and that, judging by the garrison, the Ragesians were the most likely party responsible.

As we looked around at the desolate region and the stormy sea crashing against the rocky shore, the remoteness of the place struck us:

“Ye Gods! Who lives in a place like this?” murmured John rhetorically.

Drudge had disappeared, to try to find out if there was anyone nearby and if so, where. He returned fairly quickly though:

“No one here except our dead friends that is; hasn’t been for some time. I took a look around. A large army did march through though; Ragesian I presume. Oh, I found some nice boots, but that’s it. So, now what?”

I said to Longhelim:

“Syana was supposed to have a lair on each of the rivers flowing through the forest; the Ragesians will also need water, as will everyone else. I think the rivers are the most important feature in this place; I suggest we find a river mouth further south and follow it into the wood.”

Drudge nodded approvingly:

“Our dwarven magician is right; I’ll make a ranger out of him yet; should have thought of that myself. Yes, the water is the one constant that will draw animals, people, armies and others. The only thing it won’t draw is phantoms.”

Longhelim nodded and said:

“Well, let’s turn into mist and fly down; saves time that way.”

We were all able to use the magic and fly down the coast at great speed, until we saw a river mouth. As arranged, we turned back into material form once we reached it.

We were now closer to the forest and I was looking at it dubiously. The trees, dark and with almost nonexistent foliage, were twisted and bent in a very unnatural manner. Some of them looked as if they were trying to avoid some massive blow aimed at them, while others were literally looming menacingly towards strangers and outsiders coming into their realm. The branches were all twisted wood and nightmare shapes. Some of them looked as sharp as spears and the sense of malevolence and gloom they projected was almost physical.

Above all, there was an aura of ancient, bad power surrounding the forest. It was at once magnetic and repellent, which is a contradiction, I realize that; what I meant to say is that it was fascinating but not in a good way and I knew that strange things would happen as soon as we went in there.

Longhelim was looking at it with even more distrust than I was and then he turned to Drudge:

“What is that?”

The ranger looked at the wood and replied:

“I have no idea. It shouldn’t be like that. In fact, looking at it, it shouldn’t even be alive; but it is. I don’t know what lives inside there. Listen!”

I didn’t hear anything but that wasn’t particularly unusual.

But Victor, with his hearing augmented by his magical earring said:

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly,” answered Drudge. “There should be birdsong and the rustling of the odd animal here and there; I’ve trained myself to hear these things; but, as you say, there’s nothing.”

“Oh good,” interrupted John, “we’ve got a dead forest with trees that look like they want to kill you; and we’re going to walk straight into it, aren’t we, Longhelim?”

“Unless you’ve got any better ideas? Which river is this, by the way?” replied the paladin.

“I think this is the Taryaver River,” said Drudge.

“Oh even better,” said John, “that’s the black one isn’t it? The one that’s supposed to take elven souls to the underworld?”

“Yes”, I replied and then added:

“Cheer up, John; you’re not an elf. It probably wouldn’t want you.”

Longhelim drew himself up:

“Well, we’d better go in.”

Quickly, we formed into our usual marching order, with the two warriors in the front, followed by Felix and I with John and Drudge at the rear but with the proviso that they would move as and when needed. The whole forest became even more oppressive the closer we approached and Victor suddenly put up his hand; we all stopped:

“I hear some sort of metal; like clanking; but I can’t see anything.”

Saying that, he strained to hear further.

Then, as we walked a little closer, Drudge whispered:

“Look, the chains. On the trees; the trunks are wrapped in chains.”

Straining my eyes, I could see what Drudge was talking about. The tree trunks were indeed wrapped in chains; some of these were also wrapped around the branches and hung, swinging in the wind; if there had been a wind. As it was, they were just swinging; like gibbets.

Longhelim whispered:

“What’s the point of doing that? Someone went to a lot of trouble doing all this.”

I had been trying to work it out and said to the paladin:

“Normally, metal does not affect this, but if those chains have a high lead content and if they are wrapped around a lot of the trees then that is what could be affecting the ability to use divination spells in here. These are not normally affected by metal but they are affected by lead.”

Longhelim nodded and we marched on. Soon we broached the edge of the tree line and as soon as that happened, Felix seemed to stagger and then he stopped:

“Whatever has power in this place, it has just affected many of my spells. I feel as if my connection to my magic has just gone; well not quite but it’s almost gone. I have a horrible feeling that I’m going to find it difficult to cast a lot of my spells here.”

That was very bad news; if something was blocking our priest, then it was very likely that healing magic was going to be affected. I just hoped he hadn’t lost it completely.

Then we were beyond the tree line, following the river. There was a game trail, but the path was slippery, the rocks muddy and it was barely discernible. It was only due to the uncanny eyes of Drudge that we were able to follow it; otherwise, we would have strayed off it immediately. There were other disturbing effects as well. The trees swayed in the wind…..but in the wrong direction or when we could not feel any breeze. Some of the trees looked as if they had a visage and we had to avoid several branches swinging into our faces. The place was also dank and dark; if we had been able to feel the cold, we would have been even more miserable; as it was, we were just generally irritable. There was some weak sunlight filtering through the canopy, but it was barely there and did not appear frequently. Then, as we moved, Drudge suddenly stopped us. Then he bound forward but returned quite quickly:

“I found a fairy ring,” he explained. We looked at him blankly.

He went on:

“It’s a ring of mushrooms. It is said that either it is an entrance to the fairy realm or that fairies dance around it. Its presence suggests that fey live in this forest.”

“Well, I suppose someone has to,” muttered John as he looked around the trees with distaste.

“We’d better be on the lookout for them; they can be unpredictable,” said Longhelim.

We had already met several fey, including a whole tribe of them in the Fire Forest, namely the Seelah and also the group in the forest near Gallo’s Fend. Thankfully, several members of the group spoke Sylvan so at least we could communicate with them; theoretically.

Then, just as we were about to set off again, there was a soft curse from Victor. I looked at the warrior and saw him looking at his falchion, which was bleeding copiously. Yes, large amounts of blood were flowing out of the blade and dripping onto the forest floor. Strangely, there, the blood was being absorbed immediately. Everyone stared at this in fascination for some moments and then the bleeding began to abate.

The warrior was shaking his head and we carried on.

I debated whether it was worthwhile putting up some more defensive spells but none of those which I had learned lasted sufficiently long to warrant casting while we were tromping through the forest. Then, as I was thinking how to counteract this tomorrow, Drudge called out softly again. This time, he sped forward and returned almost immediately:

“There’s a body ahead; half buried in the ground.”

Felix also whispered at this point:

“We should take care. The feeling in this place…..it is somewhere where undead would thrive. This corpse could be a trap.”

So, with weapons drawn and spells ready to cast, we moved to the spot where Drudge led. Indeed, there was a corpse half buried in the ground. Carefully, the warriors uncovered the debris from the top; quickly, it became apparent that it was a dwarven corpse; it had been stabbed in the back repeatedly. It was dressed in a robe; the biggest surprise came when we turned it over and it bore my face! We all stared at it in stupefaction until the whole body shuddered, split and turned into a nest of snakes. These hissed and writhed and then disappeared and turned into leaves.

Turning to the others, wide eyed, pale and shaken, I said:

“I tell you, divination may not work here and there may be problems with healing but illusions? Those work really, really well!”

Quietly, we all began to move back to the river. This forest was a truly unsavory place. I suppose if it was the site of a genocide then there were bound to be consequences.

Just as we turned a bend, Drudge yet again stopped us and pointed at something in the distance; the ranger’s sight was almost miraculous. If we had not had him with us, we would have been oblivious to nearly everything that we were moving towards or that was coming towards us. This time, after he pointed it out, we could just see a small figure in the distance, standing there, watching us.

Again, we approached and as we came closer, we could see that the figure was an elven child, wearing tattered clothing. It turned around and began walking into the deeper forest; its feet did not touch the ground. We hurried and tried to catch the figure but it always remained tantalizingly ahead.

After a short distance, we came to a clearing. The child had disappeared but as soon as we saw our destination, we realised that it was nothing but a lure. The clearing contained a large pool which had several massive trees around it. This would be nothing unusual except that they looked distinctly humanoid, with branches that looked like hands and roots like feet; they also moved. As did several other trees behind us as soon as we appeared. I managed to see that one of these trees had the corpse of an elven child chained to its trunk and suddenly I knew where the small figure with the tattered clothes had originated. After that, we had to look after ourselves as branches, trunks and roots flew at us from all directions.

Drudge had stepped into the water which was quite shallow if black and nasty looking. As I looked around me quickly, I could see that what I had thought were normal trees were also coming alive. These were different than those which looked like humanoids; they acted the same though, swaying and swinging their branches at us. Due to their size, they were able to reach us almost everywhere we moved; and moving was actually very dangerous as so many of their branches swung around that there was already a good chance of being hit by this arboreal web. Poor Drudge; every time he tried to load his bow and fire it, a branch swung into his face, spoiling his aim. In the end, he drew his sword.

The humanoids seemed to be staying back, letting the trees do all the fighting. In fact it was almost as if they were directing them.

I cast my spell of speed at everyone, managing to avoid swinging branches and then I shouted:

“It’s the ones that are standing back; they’re controlling the others. We have to……urgh!”

The last exclamation happened as two branches hit me squarely in the belly and head. I knew fairly quickly that I would not able to stand another pair of strikes like that so I also made myself invisible. Then there was a shout of Longhelim:

“I can’t do healing magic!”

That was very bad. I could see that the trees had struck Felix several times and he attempted to cast his spell but for some reason his complicated hand movements could not manifest the spell. He must have done something wrong somewhere. This made everything more desperate. Felix was badly hurt and although both Longhelim and Victor stepped in front of him, those trees could reach so far that it was impossible for them to defend the priest. I moved to Drudge and cast a spell. Then I whispered in his ear:

“You can fly!”

He took off immediately and began to rain arrows down on the trees. He concentrated his fire on the humanoids that were standing back and he managed to turn one into deadwood. This in turn stopped several of the attacking trees; they just stopped moving, becoming normal trees again. Thankfully, several of those were those closest to Felix, who managed to scramble away again, limping badly. He was very badly hurt.

Longhelim and Victor concentrated on keeping a barrier of steel between the other trees and Felix and John but the main person who was able to hurt the enemy was Drudge, as he flew out of their reach and produced an archery master class. He was able to slay them all that way, shooting arrow after arrow after arrow; I did cast several spells, amongst them my fog cloud, but it was fairly ineffectual; my bolt of lightning hit one of the tree humanoid as well as most of its cohorts; that helped to weaken them which was fortunate as Victor then hit two of the trees in quick succession, managing to split them down the middle.

Two things were gleaned from this: trees really did not like lightning bolts and Victor was relishing that new falchion of his. However, as I mentioned previously, there was no doubt that the most effective person against these creatures was the flying archer. His volleys were unerringly aimed at the humanoids and every time one of them slumped, several of the trees stopped moving.

Once we were able to re-group, a search of the area revealed nothing; the child corpse chained to the tree trunk was long desiccated and there was little else of note in the clearing. One thing we did find though was that although healing wands needed the same sort of complicated procedure to make them work here, John was very good at discovering the method of doing so.

“It’s like having to learn the spell over again; it is complicated but it works. You have to break it down, memorise different parts of it and then you can cast it again. I am not sure if Felix can do that as well as I; his disciplines lie in different directions.”

So, John was able to heal the wounds of everyone else. We did make one final gesture in this clearing. Slowly and carefully, we unwound the chains from the corpse of the elven child and dug a shallow grave, putting the remains to rest. I am not sure if this gesture would make any difference to anyone else but it made us feel better.

Then we moved on.

We did not need to Drudge to find the next beings we met in this benighted place. Flickering through the forest, dashing through the trees we saw a group of phantoms; they were of human shape and it was obvious that some of them were wearing the clothes of women and others of men; there were also noted differences between adults and children. The group moved as rapidly as the child ghosts were able; it looked as if the men surrounded the women while they in turn ushered the children. The whole picture showed a community in desperate danger, moving in its entirety and being pursued by a ruthless enemy.

“The ghosts of the Taranesti,” whispered Felix. “Let’s follow them!”

Moving as quietly as possible, which was not very, as I have stated numerous times before, we followed the phantoms. They became aware of us fairly quickly but did not seem to react for some time. Then several of the men halted and seemed to wait for us until we approached, watching us carefully. Something very odd happened then.

They may have stared at us for a few moments or for a long time; it was a timeless moment as they looked into the very depths of our souls; or that was what it felt like to me. Then, there came a wave of approval, a sense of well being and a lifting of the gloom that was prevalent through this forest. Suddenly, the sense of oppression that I had felt since entering tree line was lifted and I felt that there was a chance that we would succeed in here after all. I glanced at the others and I saw the same effect on them; lines of worry that were present on their faces smoothed; signs of tension eased and a new purpose seemed to fill us. We were going fulfill our mission here and then leave to aid the Resistance.

The phantoms stared at us for some time and I could have sworn that they nodded at us and then left at a much faster pace that we could match.

“Well, that was interesting,” whispered Felix.
The whispering came naturally after such an experience..

“We should still follow the trail,” added Drudge, also whispering.

So we carried on again the then Drudge stopped us as usual. He looked ahead intently and then whispered:

“More corpses on the floor. I can’t tell whose. Let’s be careful.”

So we advanced, slowly and with great care. Soon, we were able to see the corpses but they did not stir or give any further intimation of being hostile. Closer examination revealed them to be elves, all of whom had been stabbed or slashed. A couple had died in different manner though; it seemed to be quite a recent occurrence as well. John, ever practical, managed to obtain several more pairs of high quality boots and then we carried on.

As John was doing this, I walked over to Drudge and asked:

“Any idea who they are?”

“That is Shahalesti equipment; this is most likely a patrol that met something which didn’t like them; some of those wounds look as if they were made by an animal of some type; looks like the wounds a dog or wolf would make. The others were hit with slashing weapons though; and arrows.”

As we marched through the undergrowth, again, we were stopped by Drudge, who whispered:

“There’s an elven ambush just ahead.”

Slowly and carefully who drew back. Then Longhelim asked:

“How many?”

Drudge answered:

“I saw three but there’s bound to be more. Even the Shahalesti would not have such a small patrol in this place. I would say there’s going to be at least six, probably more than that.”

“Do you think they saw us?”

“Oh yes; we are many things but we are not stealthy forest scouts. They know how many of us there are and exactly where we are.”

“And they did not hail us; we don’t look like your average Ragesian patrol; this is very close to hostile intent.”

I chimed in at this point:

“I think that allowing the Shahalesti to know we are already here would be a grave mistake. It would negate any advantage Simeon has given us with his skill as a loremaster. Shalosha should not be here yet, but as soon as she realizes we are here, then she’ll be coming as fast as her priests can get her here.”

Longhelim slowly said:

“So be it. They did not hail us and their knowledge of our presence risks too much. We cannot allow them to attack us. They die. It is necessary.”

It was a harsh decision; that was something else I realised; not so long ago, we would have either attempted to talk to these elves or gone around them. However, in this case, we decided to initiate the combat. The stakes had changed; it wasn’t just us anymore. There was so much and so many people depending on our success now. We did not know where all those elves were. If one of them escaped and reported, the Shahalesti would be here in force. We had to try to do as much here as we could before Shalosha arrived with her entourage.

Drudge moved up stealthily and let loose with a barrage at a patch in the undergrowth. I couldn’t see anyone myself but he obviously did as an elf stood up and began to fire back. That acted as a signal to others and more arrows began to fly towards Drudge; inwardly I smiled; they didn’t know it yet but in an archery duel, there would be only one winner. I quickly cast a little spell on Drudge that made his arrows more potent but apart from that, I saved my magic. I could barely see anyone, never mind find someone to target with a spell. Longhelim and Victor moved down the path, trying to distract some of the elves from firing back at Drudge; our archer had already skewered a couple of them but now that they were all moving around, I counted at least ten of them. Victor and Longhelim split and closed on several of the scouts, when one of them took something out of his belt and threw it at Victor. The warrior stopped momentarily, as if glued to the ground. This allowed another nearby elven warrior to slash at Victor while he was struggling in this manner. Then, with an angry grunt, he tore through whatever that was and then slashed the nearest elf in the chest. Longhelim had been attacked in the same way but he managed to dodge the missile thrown at him. It looked like a pouch or bag.

Longhelim began to fence with his opponent but again it wasn’t much of a contest. The elves may have been expert archers but they were certainly not expert swordsmen; as both the warriors were proving. One of them belatedly decided that he should try and escape but Drudge immediately saw the danger and with almost supernatural skill, shot the elf as he was running through the trees. The arrow flew with uncanny accuracy and literally pinned him to a tree. At this point, there were only about three left and these were quickly dispatched by the warriors. They were obviously scouts and not warriors.

Quickly, we gathered the bodies and put them in the bushes. I suspected that it would not be long before the Haunted Wood of Ycengled would claim them in some manner.

Despite Drudge’s abilities, he had still taken a few glancing gashes from arrows fired at him; Victor was wounded more seriously but when John stepped forward with his wand and tapped Victor, he stopped:

“The wand seems to be functioning normally now. I don’t need to try to work through the mechanics of the spell any more. Felix, you try yours, see if you feel any different.”

Rather dubiously, the cleric stepped forward and also tapped the warrior; his face lightened and he said:

“Yes, you’re right; the wand seems to be working instinctively for me again. I wonder what has changed?”

Thinking back to what had happened to us, I said, slowly:

“Could it have been the phantoms? When they looked at me, I felt, well, better? As if this place wasn’t as oppressive anymore? Maybe it was the forest that was making it so difficult for you to cast healing spells. It is odd that it was only healing spells. It is as if this place was a focus for…I don’t know…..whatever the opposite of healing is.”

Felix just frowned:

“Well, you’re not using the most elegant terms I have ever heard but I think I know what you’re getting at. The terms you are looking for are positive energy and negative energy. Interesting idea; that this forest is a focus for negative energy or under the influence of one. If that is true, I wonder where the fulcrum is.

Anyway, Faden, what you are suggesting is that we have somehow been favoured by the phantoms and they are protecting us from the effects of the negative energy present in this forest. You may well be right.”

Longhelim stepped in at this point:

“Gentlemen, we should be going.”

Victor was healed and then we formed up again and set off, attempting to follow in the same direction as the phantoms. We hoped they would lead us to a settlement from where they had originated. We walked for quite some time, Drudge using his almost supernatural powers of observation but thankfully nothing stalked or attacked us.

We were almost thinking that we would have to return to the river as we had not found anything when a huge animal of some sort padded from the undergrowth, sat in the middle of the trail and looked at us calmly with large, yellow eyes.

We all stopped and Drudge whispered:

“That’s a fox but it’s a very, very big one!”

Indeed, it was the size of a wolf. It opened its mouth and I saw rows of very sharp teeth, including four large canines and suddenly my mind went back to the dead Shahalesti patrol we had found some distance back, several of whom looked as if they had been savaged by a large animal. I wondered if we had found our animal; or it had found us to be more exact.

This staring contest carried on for a few moments although the fox looked a little bored. Then, just behind it, another figure stepped out, soundlessly and seemingly without disturbing any of the undergrowth; it was another elf, but very different from the Shahalesti; her face was much stronger, without the supercilious air that seemed to be such a common denominator with the Shahalesti. Her hair was the same russet colour as that of the fox and she had the same golden eyes, which were watching us just as keenly. I could see a bow over her shoulder and a large curved blade in her hand; it looked like an oversized sickle. Then she spoke in a pleasant contralto. Unfortunately, not one of us could understand her.

John quickly drew a helmet out of his bag and then muttered:

“Damn! I can’t put this on! I’m already wearing a headband. The helmet won’t work! Anyone not wearing anything magical on their heads?”

In a way it was a ridiculous situation; Longhelim took a step towards John when the same contralto said the following in the common tongue but with a heavy accent:

“I said it is obvious that you are no friends of the Shahalesti.”

For convenience, I will narrate her conversation as if she spoke without the accent. It is to be noted that the lady was extremely patient with us when we had to ask to repeat something that we did not understand due to her peculiar diction. This worked both ways of course, as there were several times when she had to ask us to repeat ourselves slowly.

Longhelim, as usual, using his magical voice, began the conversation:

“Greetings, lady! We had heard that the Taranesti were no more than legend. May we know your name? And what you are doing here, in this part of the forest?”

The elf looked at him expressionlessly for a few moments and then replied:

“Very well; I am Fayne and I was curious about you. You’re obviously not Ragesians nor are you Shahalesti; from your actions, you are their enemies; we, the Taranesti, despise them. I would know who you are and what you are doing here?”

This was it; possibly our whole mission depended on winning the confidence of the Taranesti elves; I think that it would be almost impossible for us to attempt to carry on further without their help.

Longhelim took us off the trail and we sat down with our rations; we did not need to eat after Felix’s spell of this morning but we offered her rations and it would have been rude for us not to partake as well. The fox curled itself near Fayne and ate anything anyone cared to give it. Then Longhelim took out his pipe only for Drudge to gently take it away from him:

“The smell”, he said, in a low voice.

Fayne looked at this by-play and then nodded as if confirming something to herself.

“I hunt the Shahalesti,” she told us. “Our paths may coincide but before I say anything else, please tell me what you do here.”

Longhelim put his unlit pipe in his mouth anyway and then replied:

“We are members of the Resistance and we are from the Free City of Gate Pass. Not long ago, we were invaded by the Ragesians…….”

After that, he gave her a brief outline of what had happened. She looked at him, without expression but when she heard that Coaltongue was dead her eyes widened. When she was told that the Shahalesti were seeking an alliance with the Resistance, she didn’t say anything but she smiled when she was told that a large part of the Shahalesti fleet had been lost at sea. Then she was told that the Torch was missing and that possibly the drow were responsible. She whispered to herself:

“So much; so much has happened. That’s why the Ragesians are here! They look for the Torch.”

Then, fiercely, she said:”They’ll never find it!”

She came out of her reverie and spoke to us in turn:

“We had an alliance with the Shahalesti once; when we fought against the Empire of Morrus; and our greatest general was Shalaadel; we fought; oh, how we fought to rid ourselves of this Empire; and in the end we won; for Shalaadel had another alliance, you see; with the Ragesians. And Drakus Coaltongue found the Torch of the Burning Sky; with his ability to move armies at will, he was invincible; there were never as many of us as the Shahalesti but no matter; we did not care because we thought we were free; then Shalaadel grew jealous of Coaltongue, who was founding a mighty empire. The Shahalesti lord wanted his own Torch so he could found his own Empire; he became convinced that there was another one here and that we knew where it was. So he declared a crusade against us!”

That sounded familiar; it seems as if Shalaadel had a habit of doing that. He had declared a crusade against the elves in the Forest of Innenotdar as well.

Fayne continued:

“We didn’t stand a chance. They outnumbered us by scores; almost all of us died; but still he didn’t get our last city; that is where he wanted to go! What he wanted to find more than anything else! The city of Phorros Irrendra; finally, he even took our children and staked them the trees of the forest; he ordered his crusaders to do this to every child they captured but still no one talked; for they knew; they knew that if Shalaadel found the city, the Taranesti would be no more.”

I remembered the desiccated corpse of the child we had found in the clearing where we fought the trees and suddenly I was very glad we buried the little corpse; it was too little too late but at least we had made the gesture.

She stopped talking and stared into the distance as if remembering the crusade. Longhelim looked at here and then gently said:

“We cannot undo what has been done; nor can we go against the might of the Shahalesti; what we can do is make sure that the Resistance is aware of everything you have told us before they make any agreements to ally with them; we can try our utmost to make sure that if the Torch is in the vicinity, it will be given to the Resistance, not the Shahalesti; we will also use what little influence we have to ask the Resistance to contact the Taranesti; I realise it’s not much but we have little power; our parents are not kings or nobles; we do not have rich or powerful families; we do this because our city, like yours, is in danger and is being used by both the Shahalesti and the Ragesians as a battle ground. We want that to stop!”

Fayne did not seem to hear those words at first but then she nodded to herself as if coming to a decision.

“I will help you. You are the first I have seen for a long time in these woods, who are neither Ragesian nor Shahalesti; the Ghosts of the Forest did not attack you; you attacked a Shahalesti ambush; but……before I help you, you must help me.

There is another Taranesti nearby; her name is Liat; she was captured is being held in the Shahalesti camp. You must rescue her. The camp is their main military headquarters in the area; it is their base against the Ragesian army, which is also nearby.

There is one further task: about one half day’s travel away is a henge sacred to the Taranesti; our filthy cousins have set up a small camp there and their very presence profanes the henge; even worse, they perform rituals there which make the spirits groan in anger and humiliation; being Shahalesti, they are doing it to convert the henge to ‘the one true path’ as they term it.

If you stop them from profaning the henge and rescue Liat, I will help you.”

She was spitting out the words as she described her “cousins”; obviously, she found their presence as offensive as that of the Ragesians, if not more so. In fact, she was remarkably unforthcoming about the latter, which I found a little odd.

Longhelim looked at his unlit pipe and said:

“Can you give us a few moments alone please?”

Obligingly, she withdrew, taking her fox with her.

The paladin then spoke:

“Well, what does everyone think?”

John replied:

“It’s the best offer we’ve got.”

Drudge muttered at that:

“It’s the only offer we’ve got!”

Victor then added:

“It’s a test; the Ghosts have already proved to her that we mean no harm to the Tarenesti, I think; but she doesn’t know if we are good enough to help them much; we could be a bunch of incompetents; if we do manage to achieve these tasks for her, then it proves that we could be of some use; otherwise, if we get captured or killed or both, she hasn’t lost anything apart from we knowing of her presence in the forest, which I doubt is much of a secret. It’s good tactics.”

I added in at that point:

“Whatever we decide, we must move fast; so far our presence here is unknown to the enemy but as soon as that changes, and it will, then Shalosha will be here as fast as she can be. She’ll be here soon anyway, and our presence here is bound to give her a strong indication that something important is happening in this region; especially, as Leska’s forces are already here.

I say we help her; I’m beginning to like the Shahalesti even less than I did before; I have a thing against child killers.”

A series of agreements came from the others and we then went to find Fayne, who looked at us with her golden eyes.

Longhelim simply said:

“We agree.”

Oh goodie

She smiled and then took out a rolled cloth which portrayed a very good map of the forest region and the rivers as well as the surrounding land; laying it on the ground, she said:

“Copy this roughly; now, let me show the position of the henge, which is here; the last reported position of the camps of the Ragesians and Shahalesti are here and here; they are temporary and can be moved but they haven’t done so for a little time. They could be waiting for something. Finally, the one major building in this region is the Temple, which is here.”

Looking at the position of the various locations I asked:

“Is there anyone in the Temple?”

“No, but it is supposed to the haunted, like everything else around here; and it probably truly is, like everything else around here,” was her answer.

John then said:

“I’m not sure what the Ragesians are waiting for but the Princess Shalosha could be coming here.”

Fayne raised her eyebrows:

“The Princess? Coming here? She’s not supposed to be as bad as her father, or so it is said.”

I snorted at this but didn’t say anything.

Finally, Longhelim said:

“If we complete these various tasks, how do we find you?”

“I’ll find you,” was the answer; and then she disappeared into the undergrowth, leaving no trace of her passing and with her fox padding silently beside her.

It was getting dark and we decided to set up in camp in this location; I wasn’t looking forward to spending the night here but this place was as good as any. So we set up our camp as usual and with watches.

As it was, we didn’t need watches really; close to midnight, we all heard howling in the distance but rapidly drawing closer. This served to wake everyone up, just in time to see a group of blue figures streaking towards us through the air. As they approached, we could see that they had elven features and wore wolf pelts.

These certainly did not act as benign phantoms as they arrived at speed and dove into attack!

Tents were kicked over, weapons and shields were grabbed and I began to prepare spell components.

It was at this point that Felix shouted:

“Specters!”

My blood froze; amongst the most dreaded of all undead; mysterious, incorporeal, vicious and incredibly dangerous. From my scant knowledge, I knew that they preyed on life force; especially that of priests or paladins but they were also desirable of magical energy; heck, in the end, they would prey on anyone who lived.

The way these creatures flew, they were pouncing like animals in mid-air and within moments, we each had one next to us. The enemy nearest me immediately reached out and I felt magical energy leaving my body. The specter seemed to grin at me as it visibly swelled, leeching my spells; I almost wept with frustration as I felt the spells leaving my memory, again. Be that as it may, I had to make the best of it and I stepped away and cast a spell of lightning against this creature; it didn’t like that.

Swiftly I looked around and saw that everyone was engaged.

I was doing my best to dodge my enemy when I heard an exhortation from Felix, banishing the creatures from his sight. His faith was strong that night, as two of them flew away from the priest as fast as possible. Drudge was shooting into his own enemy; he was having some success, as some of the arrows were definitely penetrating and leaving ragged holes in the apparition. Unfortunately, there were many arrows which just shot through the specter as if it wasn’t there.

Victor and Longhelim managed to combine to slay one as I glimpsed it floating into the ground and seemingly just sink. Then, I was again too busy trying to dodge my own enemy; too late; he tapped me and yet again I felt yet as if I needed to make an even greater effort to function. More magic left me but I managed to shoot three fiery rays into the creature; two of them were ineffectual; thankfully, the other did leave a smoking hole in its translucent torso, making it recoil, until it tapped me again and the hole seemed to close up substantially.

Felix then managed to cast a spell on himself; I couldn’t see what it was but I hoped it was useful.

Victor and Longhelim had managed to gang up on another of the specters and dispatch it when another bone-chilling howl was heard and a new creature flew from the sky. This was one was very strange, with the appearance of a huge dog, with a half a dozen swirling, flying figures of wolves within its translucent body; it was the most peculiar thing. It had the same spectral nature as our existing enemy and was just as deadly if its strike on Victor was anything to go by. It lunged with its large mouth and seemed to almost sink itself into Victor’s flesh and then withdraw, with some ethereal substance in its jaws. Seeing Victor sagging like that, it was obvious that the effect was just as vicious.

Drudge then shot another specter when the one facing me struck yet again; my situation was getting desperate when John arrived, tapping my back with one of his wands. Immediately I felt as if all that I had lost had returned; although my spells did not return, I felt as if I had the capability to learn them again; thus bolstered, with a wave of my hand and a whisper of my lips, a quintet of force missiles thudded into my enemy, which was still stubbornly pursuing me. Very annoyingly, it refused to dissipate and swiped at me again, although this time I managed to duck.

Then, two more enemies joined the fray; with a howl, yet another of these strange spectral dogs landed next to Longhelim and bit the paladin; and from the ground, a misty figure rose to materialize into another huge dog, snowy white with a shocking red stain around its neck; however, this one looked solid. Immediately, it tore into Longhelim with its teeth, causing a tearing, ragged wound. It seemed to take a moment to lick the blood spurting from the paladin and I had a dreadful suspicion.

I tore another set of force missiles at my specter and it finally dissipated but it was too late for Longhelim, who was thrown to the ground by the white wolf. Despite this, Longhelim had managed to land a powerful blow against this new abomination; no matter, though; his weapons barely penetrated into the unnatural body of the creature. Then Victor also hit it only for him to be hit in turn by one of the incorporeal dogs.

Then, just to make things even worse, yet another of the spectral dogs appeared, making three in number.

The situation was getting desperate now. Both the warriors were incredibly weak, having been almost smothered in specters. Felix was having the greatest trouble in doing anything; it seemed as if the paralysis on his healing spells or anything to do with positive energy had returned with a vengeance and I could see him trying and trying but unable to affect the fight in any way. The white wolf turned around and contemptuously barged Victor to the ground with one shrug of its bulk. The warrior was so weak that the beast barely expended any effort at all; things were even worse now, as both warriors were fighting from the ground; Victor did manage to strike a couple of blows into the blue dog but this was almost a last stand; or fall as the case may be.

Felix yet again was failing to act when John tried to move around the white wolf and touch the paladin with his wand; unfortunately, the wolf again was wise to that and bit him badly; then, when John did finally reach the paladin, he was unable to get the spell to work due to the nature of the environment in the haunted forest.

I managed to hit the white wolf with a spell that weakened it but I had a horrible feeling that it was too little too late. As if to confirm this, I could hear Felix muttering a prayer in the background; I wasn’t sure if it was a magical prayer or one of supplication to Farlaghn.

Whichever one it was, it did seem to bolster us a little and Drudge fired three arrows into one of the spectral dogs which dissipated into the night; that left two and the white wolf. John tapped Longhelim with his wand again, but this time the gods smiled on us and Longhelim was visibly bolstered, even if he was fighting from the ground. Suddenly, one of the hounds moved in my direction and I had to scurry away. Victor was able to get to his feet, now that the white wolf and the spectral hound were away from him, and that made him far more combat effective, especially as John tapped him with his wand, allowing the warrior to recover as well. The white wolf was threatening Drudge but the ranger was keeping his distance and firing into the dogs; with their abilities, they were far more dangerous.

The other dog abandoned stalking me and ran back to the warriors where he immediately attacked Longhelim, causing yet more damage. Victor was swinging his sword but it seemed to be going through the torsos of the dogs without affecting them. I maneuvered into position and managed to fire another weakening ray into the white wolf. This one was far stronger and it was obviously affecting the creature. It looked at me, as if assessing the situation and seeing if I was a worthy target but then decided to pursue the ranger. Drudge had easily moved away from it and was still shooting into its spectral cohorts.

Another of these succumbed, driven into oblivion by blows from all three warriors. Poor Felix was still attempting to cast his spells but he was finding it impossible. Then, for some reason, John had drawn his rapier and jumped in to attack the last dog; he was wielding the rapier which was now the Limb of the Living Forest of Innenotdar and as he hit the creature, the rapier effortlessly punctured its torso. In fact, that was the last blow it suffered as it also dissipated into the air.

At this moment, a hail of arrows flew over our head and several of them struck the white wolf. This creature, weakened and wounded, looked at us malevolently for one last time, as if remembering our faces and then transformed itself into a swarm of tiny snakes which burrowed into the ground. The warriors swiped at these as fast as they could but the reptiles were so small and nimble that they had little success.

John immediately began to use his wand on everyone who was still affected by the specters, which was most of us to a greater or lesser degree; as this was happening, we saw a rank of elven archers emerge from the darkness. One of them shouted something out in elven. We had another scramble for John’s magical helm but before Drudge could put it on his head, the archer shouted again, this time in heavily accented common:

“Come with us if you want to live! Those creatures will be back and there will be more of them! The Taranesti spawn of evil lives forever and everywhere in this benighted place. We will take you to a camp where there are more of us. You will be safe there!”

As he was saying this, his archers were walking around, and keeping a careful watch; I could see that they were nervous and tense, ready to fire at anything untoward in the darkness. Longhelim glanced at all of us and nodded imperceptibly; we were in no shape to say anything to these elves. I didn’t think they would take “no” for an answer.

Despite their peremptory attitude, this could still work out for us; we were all aware that one of the promises we made to Fayne was to try to rescue another Taranesti, named Liat, who was being held prisoner at this camp. So, we followed Longhelim and set out with the archers.

The journey took some time; I could not see where we were going but they were obviously moving on a path; it was also obvious that they were slowing down to make sure we could keep up with them. John, in the meantime, was using wands to heal us as we were travelling. This slowed us down a little more, to the irritation of the elves; they really didn’t like being out here in the night; I couldn’t blame them for that though; I had only been here one night and I hated it already.

Finally, after a long time, we were suddenly able to discern flickering light in the distance; as we approached, we entered into a grove. In front of us, we saw a ring of stones. These were massive monoliths, about half as tall again as Longhelim and made of a black stone. The light danced on them briefly but they seemed to absorb it. They were rectangular and covered in ivy; in the brief flashes of light, we could see that the ivy had formed into strange runic shapes. Some of the stones seemed to have suffered some sort of abuse, having been pushed over, but not one looked to have been affected by time.

More figures appeared out of the darkness and there was an unintelligible exchange in elvish.

Quickly I looked around; we had been mistaken. We were not in the main Shahalesti camp; rather we were with the group that was desecrating the henge as Fayne would have it. If we negotiated a halt to these activities, then that was one of the tasks that would convince her to help us reach the hidden city of Phorros Irrendra.

As this was running through my mind, a figure became apparent; a serene, elven lady who moved with the fluid grace characteristic of her race. She resembled an aristocrat even by elven standards and she scrutinized us carefully. She was not armed although she wore a chain shirt of silvery metal, mithril unless I was mistaken.

In light but accented Common she addressed us:

“Welcome and well met! Shalosha has told us of your presence and your mission here. Have you found it?”

Rather guardedly, Longhelim asked:

“Found what?”

“The path to the hidden city of the Taranesti!”

This last name was said with some vehemence.

Then the conversation switched to another language and John whispered to Longhelim:

“She’s speaking in Sylvan. Put your necklace on. I’ll translate for Faden, Felix and Victor.”

At this point, several other figures stepped forward and I started as I realised that two of them were not elven: one resembled a humanoid but it had wings instead of arms while the other was again a humanoid but with the head of a lion. I recognized them immediately; the former was an avoral while the latter was a leonal. They were both powerful, good outsiders. Both of them looked at us steadily but did not say anything. A further figure was another elf; this one heavily armoured in a breastplate, wearing a great sword; he looked just like Shalosha’s bodyguard in Castle Korstull.

While I was looking at them, the lady elf was rattling on in Sylvan and John was providing helpful commentary:

“She’s saying her name is Lkendreis and the tough looking elf is Turovist; the bloke with the lion’s head is Manrik and the other funny one is Chaeluk.”

I whispered back at this point:

“They’re both good outsiders of some power. Don’t take them lightly.”

John continued:

“She’s saying Shalosha warned them we were coming; she’s repeating if we have found a way to get to Phorros Irrendra. What is that Faden?”

“That’s the hidden city of the Taranesti,” I replied.

Longhelim replied in Sylvan and there was another quick exchange with Lkendreis.

John was still interpreting:

“Longhelim is saying he has no idea where it is and she’s asking him whether we at least have a clue; he replied that there’s nothing we can tell them at the moment. She doesn’t look very happy.”

John himself then exchanged several sentences with Lkendreis. Whatever he said, it did not go down well as her answers became shorter and the tone of her voice more clipped. She gestured at the henge and the forest several times and then stepped to one side, as if offering a path to the centre of the stones.

Longhelim said:

“Right, we need to rest. It has been a long day and night and we need sleep to recover.”

We set up our sleeping spaces and we saw that the elves were keeping watch so we all decided to rest at once, without our own watches; there was no point; we were so weak that such a strong group of Shahalesti would overpower us in moments if they wished.

However, once we were in our blankets, Longhelim began to whisper:

“None of them are evil; not surprising; I am very surprised to find the outsiders here but they are definitely allied to these Shahalesti. In fact, the leonal even warned us that one of his strongest spells is a word of power which affects only those who are not good.

Can anyone think how the elves got them here through the planes?”

I answered:

“They must have been here before the problems with magical travel; now they’re stuck. This could work for us. I wonder how they feel about elven children staked to trees?”

Everyone looked at each other, thinking about that and John and Drudge nodded their thanks to Longhelim for the warning about the leonal.

The paladin continued:

“The Shahalesti have been conducting rituals here. They believe, or so they say, that it is only those rituals which are keeping the evil of the forest at bay. They said that the specters which we met are very typical of the kind of creatures that roam this place at night; horrors released and commanded by the Taranesti. From my own recollection, this place is important to the religion of the Taranesti but it is more where to with the concept of balance, which needs to be achieved. The Shahalesti seem bent on destroying this balance.”

John then joined in the whispering:

“I asked her about the Taranesti genocide……”

I interrupted, whispering incredulously. It is difficult to shout while speaking in this manner but I gave it a good try:

“You did what?”

“I asked her about the genocide and she gave me the same spiel she gave Longhelim about the evils that the Taranesti were fostering in the forest. She also stated that the Taranesti were a threat so they had to be eliminated.”

Once I heard that last sentence, something coalesced for me regarding the Shining Lands of the Shahalesti. I had always had a worrying concern about them but I was finally able to structure mentally just what this was.

The Shahalesti practiced the philosophy of the absolute. They dictated, they ordered, they stated and they forced; they did not compromise, they did not ask, they did not suggest and they did not tolerate. Once you were within their sphere, they made all the decisions and if you did not follow them then you were deemed a threat and eliminated; like the Taranesti.

I whispered after listening to John:

“We’re going to have to make a decision as to what we are going to do next; without healing, we become much weaker and this is a very strong group. Shalosha will know in a very short while that we are here, if she doesn’t know already; and this lot aren’t going to leave this henge voluntarily.”

Longhelim grunted and whispered back:

“Yes, I know. Let’s sleep on it. We’re between the devil and the deep blue sea as usual.”

After that we all slept.

We were so exhausted after our conflict the previous night that we woke up when the weak sun was at its zenith in the sky. That meant the Felix could not access a new group of spells yet although John and I were able to learn our arcane magic.

We were still feeling out of sorts; the whole area was fairly depressing; the elves were not exactly forthcoming although I did notice that Victor and Longhelim were in deep conversation. The warrior had his falchion out and was showing the paladin several positions and stances, as if trying to convey some new techniques to him. Longhelim was attempting to duplicate them but they did not look suitable for his type of sword.

Then Lkendreis approached us; however, before she reached us, she stopped and went to one side of the henge, where she seemed to be looking askance into thin air several times. Then she approached us and we offered to share our meal with her which she accepted. As we were eating, she looked directly at John and said:

“I will think on what you said.”

I raised my eyebrows and looked at him but decided to say nothing for the moment. I was very intrigued though.

As she sat down and took some of the food, she asked:

“So, what is your plan? Do you know what you are going to do next?”

Longhelim took a puff of his pipe and a sip of his drink; then he turned to me.

“Faden, I don’t doubt for one moment that you have been thinking about our next steps. Would you mind thinking out loud?”

Longhelim knew me too well. Of course I had been thinking about our future course of action and of course, I couldn’t reveal it completely to Lkendreis as then I would immediately be labeled “a threat.”

So, I began to speak quietly:

“We were badly hurt last night; the Taranesti specters almost succeeded in wiping us out. Our priest is still without his spells and John is also severely weakened. Leaving this comparatively safe haven would be a mistake at this time; I think we should rest here at least one more day, until our priests regain their spells.

Our other major obstacle is that spells which deal with positive energy, as it is called, are very difficult to cast in this region; somehow, they’re almost prohibited. I have been trying to find out the reason for this but so far I have not been able to resolve this conundrum. Lkendreis, do you know if there is any way around this? You and your allies have been here far longer that we; have you managed to cast these spells without hindrance? Or maybe Shalosha has found a way?”

I looked at her expectantly.

She frowned and then slowly said:

“I am afraid my expertise is more in the arcane arts, which are not governed by these energies, although I do know what you allude to as regards priestly spells. Strange you should mention Shalosha; I was in touch with her magically a short while ago and she was also keen to find out your future plans. However, as regards your initial question, no, we have not found a way to circumvent this strange magical prohibition that is prevalent in this place; it is a legacy of the curse left by the Taranesti and outside our scope of knowledge.”

I grimaced. It was the answer I expected but not the one I had hoped to hear. So I continued:

“Unfortunately, this magical anomaly limits us severely as it plays havoc with Felix’s ability to heal us, especially the warriors. This proved almost fatal last night; therefore, it is very difficult to decide just how to proceed. We could continue to the travel into the forest but it is likely that we would be attacked by undead again; also, as your scouts have not been able to find the Lost City, I do not think that we would be able to do so; as such, there seems to be little point in wondering into the forest at this time.

We could go to visit to the Temple of Echoed Souls……”

John interrupted me at this point:

“You’ve mentioned this Temple several times; just what is it and where does it feature in this place?”

“The Temple is the former home of the Order of Echoed Souls; according to legend, it is supposed to be empty as the monks left for some unspecified reason. Anyway, it is also supposed to be full of Echoed Souls; honestly, I have no idea what that is.”

Longhelim took his pipe out of his mouth.

“Wasn’t it also supposed to be full of undead?”

“Yes,” I replied. “Apparently, it is said that it is also full of phantoms who failed to become Echoed Souls; they’re probably very unhappy about this.”

Although I didn’t voice it, but I had a suspicion that the specters which attacked us last night were more likely to be the phantoms from the Temple rather than any remains of a Taranesti curse but I had no proof either way; it did seem odd that the specters all looked like barbaric elves though.

Then I summed up.

“To be honest Lkendreis, I don’t actually know what we are going to do next at the moment although for the very short term, we would like to rest another day until our priest at least prays for his spells. Then we will make a decision.”

She nodded and spent a little more time with us, sharing our food, chatting about inconsequential things. Then she stood up and joined the leonal.

When she left, I spoke quietly to the others:

“What I said to her was almost all truth; I really don’t have much of an idea as to what we should do next. John, what was that first part about? What is she thinking about?”

John was very serious when he replied:

“If it works, you’ll know very soon. If it doesn’t, then you’ll be no the wiser. More importantly, if you don’t know anything then you won’t have to tell any lies; and the outsiders are very good at knowing when anyone is lying to them; also, much as I hate to tell you Faden, you’re not a very good liar.”

Then he stood up and wondered off, in the direction of the avoral, Chaeluk. He sat down and began speaking to her. A little bemused, I sat down, took out my spell book and began to make various annotations in it; there were several things that had occurred to me which I needed to record in my books; theoretical ideas about spells mainly. Soon, I lost myself in this task.

I wasn’t paying any attention to what the others were doing until I noticed that John had returned and the others had gathered all around him, with the exception of Drudge who was roaming around somewhere.

John began to talk quietly:

“Well that was interesting. Chaeluk seems very nice and was quite willing to talk.

The guardinals have both been here for a very long time, long before the Burning Sky, as they call it; but they have only joined the Shahalesti quite recently and Chaeluk feels a personal bond to Lkendreis; she didn’t go into details about that. I don’t know if Manrik the leonal feels the same but it could be safe to assume that this is the case. She doesn’t know the details about the Taranesti Crusade and doesn’t seem to be very interested in finding out; nor is she interested in finding out about the Resistance. She is very much allied to the Shahalesti in general and Lkendreis in particular. I suspect the Manrik feels the same on that score as well.“

Victor spoke quietly, glancing up from where he had been honing his falchion:

“I hope your plan, whatever it is, works. I would find it very difficult to confront these outsiders.”

“As would I,” added Longhelim.

“It should work! It will work!”

With that, John went to find Drudge.

I glanced at Chaeluk. The avoral seemed quite affable, according to John, so after a few moments thought, I rose and approached her.

“Lady Chaeluk, my name is Faden and I would converse with you.”

“Sit, sit, dwarf Faden; it is some time since I have been among your folk, but I have always found them to be a good and hardy people. So, what can I do for you?”

That was encouraging. As reported, she seemed very affable and willing to converse. So, I told her a little about our adventures beneath the tunnels of Seaquen, the strange passage which led to the Planes of Fire and Water, with the room that provided the vast, panoramic views of the two planes.

Then I continued:

“So, this has left me with a great curiosity about other planes of existence. The Burning Sky prevents us from going to any of these planes ourselves, but if you could spare a few moments of your time to tell me a little about the Plane of Elysium, then I would be most grateful.”

The Avoral was nothing loth and began almost immediately; she was obviously very proud of her plane:

“The plane of Elysium is a place of goodness and light, where consideration, tolerance, forbearance and forgiveness are paramount. It has four layers, all connected by the mighty river, Oceanus; the first is Amoria, with its colour; you have never seen so many shades of all the colours in the world. They positively shimmer. The second is Eronia with its huge mountains and beautiful waterfalls as Oceanus meanders through the high ground; then we have the third layer, Belierin, the great marsh which teems with life and finally, there is Thasasia the last layer, where Oceanus meets the sea. Thasasia is mostly islands where great heroes rest after lives filled with striving for good.

I hope to return there one day.”

I sat there, entranced by her verbal portraits. She had a melodious voice and a wide vocabulary which suited the description of the marvel that was Elysium. We had a long, pleasant conversation about the plane and I resolved to write it all down as soon as we finished so that I forgot as little as possible.

So, some time later, I thanked her for the time and returned to our section of the henge. Longhelim just looked at me while I told him about Elysium but he smiled as I immediately took out my journal and began to write it all down.

I really hoped I would be able to visit there one day.

John and Drudge returned and the ranger said quietly:

“The scouts are getting ready to leave.”

I looked up and sure enough, a goodly portion of the elves were shouldering packs, readying quivers and bows for travel and were about to set out. That left only the outsiders, the warrior and Lkendreis in the camp, so far as I could see. Drudge then sat down amongst us:

“Good, they’re distracted. This will make it easier. I took John’s helm and had a look at those pictographs on the stones. They’re instructions for the ritual that has to be conducted at the henge every month: basically, an arcane and a divine spells caster have to walk in a specific direction, surrounding the henge while someone else dances with two swords in the middle; oh, and it has to be done in complete darkness. That will restore the power of the henge.”

John frowned:

“That doesn’t seem to be particularly sinister.”

I had another thought:

“Restore the power of the henge? Power to do what exactly?”

No one had an answer to that question.

Drudge handed the helm back to John:

“No, it’s not sinister at all and I have no idea what kind of power or what it did. My knowledge of this kind of magic is scant.”

As was mine for that matter. We had a brief discussion which was inconclusive and then the elven scouts left. It was dusk by this time and we began to prepare the evening meal. We were finally beginning to relax; I just hoped that the night would pass uneventfully.

My wish came true. We shared another meal with Lkendreis and her bodyguard and then slept undisturbed during the night, which was a very pleasant novelty. The next morning, when we woke up, we found that Lkendreis and the others were packing and getting ready to leave. They turned around, waved to us and then abandoned the henge. I was very surprised but endeavoured to make sure that it did not show on my face. Whatever it was that John had planned, well, it seemed to have worked.

As soon as they had gone some distance, I whirled around to the rogue and almost demanded:

“Right, so, just what is going on? Why did they leave? Just what did you finagle here?”

John looked smug and said:

“Let’s leave it for a while. They may still return and my comment from previously still holds. Just remember, Faden, as I’ve said before, it’s all a game; the greatest game in the world!”

I grumbled and muttered but Longhelim just smiled and lit his pipe. Then Felix called out:

“Right, let’s sit down to breakfast.”

He conjured the usual miraculous meal and as I was munching, I said:

“Well, now we have achieved this, we’d better get to the main elven camp and see if we can rescue the Taranesti they have captured. What was his name again? Liat? Yes, Liat, that’s it. I need to get the map out to see just how long it’s going to take us to get there. We’re approximately here and their camp is there so…….”

I was interrupted by John, who was looking a little perturbed:

“Right, we need to lower our voices now.”

Whispering, he added:

“Aren’t we going to find Fayne now? And look for the city?”

Longhelim turned to John and, at the same volume, replied:

“Not yet. As Faden is saying, the arrangement was that we have to rescue Liat from the Shahalesti camp; once we have achieved this, she will find us and then hopefully either lead us or tell us how to get to Phorros Irrendra.”

John turned more serious.

“Ah, I’d better tell you about my little arrangement with Lkendreis then; I told her that if they left the henge then we would be led to the city by the Taranesti and they would have an opportunity to follow us. I left the details up to her but if we don’t give her at least an opportunity to follow us, then she’ll be straight back here, doing what she had been doing before.”

Longhelim took his pipe out:

“Is that what you negotiated, John? That was very clever of you. I’m surprised she agreed to it.”

I snorted:

“She didn’t agree to it. Shalosha did! This lot wouldn’t move without Shalosha’s say so. Still, it is a very clever move, John; you managed to make them move without a conflict and this could still work. If what you say is right, then they will set up camp quite close, waiting to track us. So, all we need is to go South first and rescue this Liat; the trick will be to make sure that they cannot see us going in that direction rather than back into the forest.”

Felix interrupted at this point, grinning mischiveously:

“They won’t see us if we are clouds in the sky.”

It hit me:

“Of course, we can fly down there with your spell, Felix. Then, hopefully if we rescue Liat, we can get up here again and set out, walking into the forest, as agreed with Lkendreis. The Shahalesti will follow us but to be frank, Fayne is very wood crafty, much better than the Shahalesti, I think; in fact, it would not surprise me if she was watching us as we are discussing this; she will know exactly where we are, where our Shahalesti trackers are and I am sure she will have a plan as to how to get in touch with us without Shahalesti interference.”

Drudge said:

“You have a lot of confidence in her.”

I replied:

“I do, but with justification; do you remember in the forest? We found a whole Shahalesti patrol, dead, some of them savaged by a large animal, while others bore slashing wounds; that was almost certainly her and that fox; then, Drudge found that other Shahalesti patrol and they were deliberately hiding from us; when she approached us, she already knew that we had fought them, and approached us at a time and place of her choosing. We had no inkling she was anywhere nearby. No, I am certain that lady knows that forest like the back of her hand and she will run rings around any Shahalesti tracking party.

In fact, this explains why she did not set a meeting place after we completed the tasks. She knew that we would be running around the forest like a bunch of amateurs, Drudge excepted; I think she’s even counting on the Shahalesti following us and maybe she has some pleasant surprises ready for them.

So, let’s follow John’s plan and let her sort out any trackers we may have. Remember, to both groups of elves, we’re only the dumb foreigners who are blundering about in a place we really know little about.”

Taking a spoon out of his mouth, Victor murmured:

“That’s not far off the truth. Let’s also remember; if this works out the way we want and we actually manage to obtain the Torch, then both groups of elves will want to get their hands on it.”

Felix dusted his hands and the rose up:

“Enough eating! We have a journey to make!”

So, we packed up and turning into clouds, sped through the sky. At that speed, it didn’t take us very long to reach the area where Fayne had marked the main elven camp; and indeed, in a clearing surrounded by a stockade of sharpened tree trunks, the camp was clearly visible. Flying overhead, we saw a collection of tents and a large contingent of figures; some were relaxing, while others were standing guard. In the middle of the camp was a cage, which held a prisoner. Hopefully, that would be Liat.

Just as we had almost flown by, I saw another strange figure; I almost missed it because it looked like an elf, except for its colour: it was green and it also had wings. I recognized it immediately; it was an archon and judging by what it carried and the wings, it was a trumpet archon. These were very powerful, good outsiders who were normally entrusted to guard a specific plane. What it was doing here with a small group of Shahalesti was anyone’s guess but it added yet another complication to this whole affair.

We overflew the encampment just to confirm the details and then we flew a little further away and landed.

Longhelim was the first to speak:

“The green elf; with wings; what is it?”

I told him.

“Another outsider? Where are they getting them from?”

I judged that to be a rhetorical question.

This proved true as Longhelim carried on speaking:

“Anyone have any ideas of how to proceed?”

John said:

“We could try the same idea by which I convinced the group of elves in the henge.”

I was a little dubious. That may have worked once but I wasn’t sure if it was going to again; or not sure enough to warrant a potential confrontation.

I said the same to John and then suggested the following:

“I have an idea; it is very magic heavy but I could fly in there invisibly, using a spell to turn my body into mist. That will allow me to enter the cage; I would then cast the same spell on Liat and also the spell which would allow her to turn into mist. Then we would be able to fly out.”

John looked at me with wide eyes and said:

“Faden, that’s most unlike you; do you realise how dangerous that is?”

Victor joined in at this point:

“While that’s very courageous and could even possibly work, you have to take this into account: I saw four guards watching that prisoner; they are not slap dash nor are they inattentive. They have one function and that is to watch the prisoner. If they see anything amiss, anything at all, they will sound the alarm. Faden, you said you would need to cast at least two spells on him while they are watching; even if they won’t be able to see you, do you think they won’t be able to hear you? And as soon as they hear any spells being cast, what do you think they are going to do?

Let me tell you what I would do; I would immediately raise the alarm and tell any spell casters to saturate the area with whatever magic they have. How many spell casters do you think they will have there, Faden?”

John added:

“If they think anything is amiss, they’ll blast that whole cage to hell; I would if I was in their place.”

More ideas flowed on from there; they were mostly variations on my initial thought to try to sneak in and turn her into mist. Drudge then suggested that he could use his statuette of an enormous bear and we could make him fly and turn him invisible; then the enormous bear could just grasp the cage and we could just fly away with it but the obstacle that Victor pointed out still stood; how to sneak the cage of prisoner out of the camp in those initial few moments without being blasted into oblivion.

I must add, that while very stylish, the idea with the bear was one of the more flamboyant plans that were bandied around.

Finally, after we bounced various thoughts around again and again and again, Longhelim said:

“We’re not getting anywhere at the moment. The ideas are almost there but they need some refinement. Let’s think about it for a while. I suggest we over fly the Ragesian camp to see what forces they have in the area. We’ll need to do that at some point anyway.”

I was grateful he suggested that. I was racking my brains to find a solution but it was frustrating. So, we turned into mist and sped into the sky.

The flight towards the Ragesians was uneventful. There was also no need to look for them; we could see figures in the sky from some distance ahead; we flew high and looked down onto a swarm of wyvern knights as well as a large red dragon who were patrolling the sky above their forces; and we could see that these were substantial. Instead of a small encampment, such as the one occupied by the Shahalesti, this was a vast camp inhabited by a true army. Ordered blocks of tents in square shapes dotted the landscape; there was a group of command tents in the middle and I had no doubt that there were all sorts of interesting auxiliaries with this army. There must have been thousands of soldiers down there and there was no doubt that the true military power in the region was below us.

We flew on and then landed.

I looked at the others:

“Well, that was an instructive flight. Now that’s what I call a threat! And the Shahalesti keep saying they have this incursion under control? Looking at that army behind us, I wish them all the luck in the world.

While we’re here, I suggest we have a look at that Temple that is around here; well, some distance away but not too much so if we’re flying.”

Longhelim and John both nodded and so we turned into mist and flew towards the Temple this time. Again, it wasn’t that difficult to find. There was a path leading into a cliff face with beautiful, ornate carvings. This was fairly obviously the entrance to the Temple. It was an impressive structure but looked completely deserted.

Now that we had found the Ragesian army and the Temple, we flew back, a little more informed. We decided to land on the plain but close to the Shahalesti camp. As soon as we did so, Longhelim turned to us.

“I have just received some information from Simeon; please forgive me but he has asked me not to divulge it to you yet; however, it is something that could be useful to us; it may well allow me to come to a diplomatic solution to our dilemma.”

I looked at him oddly:

“So what are you suggesting exactly?”

“I plan to ride in and ask them to release her into my care…..politely.”

Everyone else knew that there was far more to this than met the eye but if Longhelim felt enough confidence that it could happen then it was certainly worth a try. Despite my personal feelings about the Shahalesti, they were still not the ones who were besieging Gate Pass.

“So, how do we do this?” I asked.

“I’ll ride in on Grenadier tomorrow morning and talk to them.”

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

“No, but since fighting archons is just something I cannot do, I have to try anything that has even the most remote possibility of working.”

So, we flew on and set up camp as close as we could to the Shahalesti camp without alerting them and then thankfully spent an uneventful night, sleeping in a magical cottage provided by John.

The next morning, as we had planned, Longhelim summoned Grenadier, unloaded him and then mounted. After that, he rode into the forest and out of our sight.

As we were waiting, I asked John:

“So, do you think that Shalosha has finally made a pact with the Resistance in Seaquen? And is that the card the Longhelim intends to play?”

He just shrugged and said:

“It could be anything; it’ll either work or it won’t and he seemed pretty certain that he had a good chance of convincing them.”

We all waited in our own ways; Victor and Felix talked quietly; both John and I were studying our spell books and Drudge was roaming around the forest, out of our view. Some time passed and we heard a horse approaching, making no effort to hide its progress. A few moments later, Longhelim appeared, mounted and with a gagged and tied figure in front of him; it was Liat, and she didn’t look very happy.

That was the first thing I noticed; Liat was in fact a she; and still gagged.

Longhelim wasted few words:

“Come, let’s break camp and move. Fayne said she was going to find us; let’s give her that chance.”

I was looking at Liat and then asked the paladin:

“I realise that Simeon told you something and you were asked not to divulge it but will you be able to tell me just how you managed to do this in the future?”

He nodded and we set out.

We spent the day travelling in the forest; or blundering about to put it bluntly. I presumed that we were being followed by Shahalesti scouting parties but I never caught sight of anyone. In fact, we did not see anyone or anything in the forest on that day apart from the usual creepy trees; there were lots of those. This travel carried on until evening and as we were setting up our camp, Fayne stepped out of one of the creepy trees.

This was powerful druidic magic and seemed not to be part of the Burning Sky prohibition against transport magic. It was also that which made druids so powerful, especially in their own forests.

Fayne spoke in her accented common:

“I see you have succeeded; yet…..why is Liat still tied and gagged? Please release her immediately!”

We all greeted the druid and Longhelim complied with her request. As soon as the Taranesti was released, she ran to Fayne and exclaimed:

“I didn’t tell them anything! But the ones behind me; they have some agreement with the Shahalesti!”

Fayne looked at us:

“I know there were no great battles between yourselves and the Shahalesti; yet you managed to convince them not only to abandon the henge but also to give you Liat; I would hear how this was accomplished.”

John answered at this point:

“I convinced those at the henge to leave; in return I gave them a favour.”

“What favour?”

John just grinned at her:

“I told them they could follow us when we attempted to find the city.”

“Cunning”, she replied although there was a singular lack of concern in her demeanor.

She then looked at Longhelim who said:

“I was given some information which helped me liberate Liat.”

Fayne just nodded and then said:

“I gave you my word and you shall have the secret. Of course, when I tell you this, I have just handed the fate of my people into your hands. I hope you will not treat this responsibility lightly. If these secrets should fall into the wrong hands then the Taranesti will be no more.

To gain access to the entrance of Phorros Irrendra you must do the following:

Follow the course of the River Nallanthes; it goes underground several times but you must follow it until you see it flow into a cave with a beach of black sand. Once you find that, you must create a bright light behind you; then let your shadows guide you. Follow your shadows and then create another light behind you; every time you come to a junction in the passage, your shadows will guide you. Remember though, this guiding light must always be from behind.

A note of caution: the spirits of my people are angry; many of them did not go to the afterlife and they may be guarding our last bastion. These spirits may not be pleased to see you. To reach the city, you may have to destroy them.

Finally, two of those you seek are in a manor near a tree whose leaves shimmer like emeralds. The final, Rhuarc, moves like the wind and could be anywhere in the city.

If you find the Torch, leave! The Shahalesti will also leave. Please remember, what I have just told you has placed the fate of my people directly in your hands; please treat the knowledge with the respect it deserves.”

Liat was looking at us with a mix of emotions, as if she had just realised what her freedom had cost. Longhelim raised his hand in a salute to the two Taranesti as they disappeared soundlessly into the forest.