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

The camp seemed surprisingly unruffled; they had suffered some casualties but the priests had the injured well in hand. The soldiers were at their ease; Kiernan and Simeon were in the large command tent, leaning over stack of maps, steaming drinks at their side and discussing the next course of action.

Unsurprisingly, they were horrified:

“Coaltongue’s statue? That enormous one? Alive? How?”

Quickly, I said:

“Let me start at the beginning…….”

I related all that had happened; Simeon, ever the Loremaster, was fascinated:

“So, this Festival of Dreams is something that your city has practiced for years? And the trilliths are dreams from the dragon Trilla? Faden, has anyone made a connection with this ritual and the trillith? It seems very coincidental….Do we know just where the dragon is supposedly sleeping?”

I looked at him, mildly exasperated:

“Simeon, you of all people have a very good indication just how I’ve been spending my time; about eight months ago, I arrived at Seaquen, a fledgling mage struggling with the magic in my spell books. Since, then, you’ve had a detailed account of what I have been doing and when; how I have been spending my time, how I have been learning what little magic I know and just what sort of research I have been doing; now, when do you think I have had the time to study or ask the questions which you have just posed?

In fact, I have been asking you the same type of questions you’ve just asked for months!”

He looked a little chagrined as he realised just what he had said:

“Apologies Faden, yes of course I am aware how you have been spending your time; it’s just that this is so fascinating. In all my time of study, I have never heard of something like this; dreams that take form. What a fascinating concept.

However, this study is something for the future; what are you going to do now?”

Longhelim replied to that:

“We have to wait; our presence at Summer’s Bluff would be a distraction more than anything else; as Faden has already said, something seems to have affected Drudge, making him the only person capable to defeating the statue. Ultimately, I think it will come to pure brute force. Both John and Felix stayed behind to heal the ranger and hopefully John will be able to make both himself and the priest invisible; hopefully that will be enough of a defence to keep them safe.

Faden also made Vigilance invisible so the trillith have lost their main target. Somehow, he’s still holding back the majority of the trillith horde. We couldn’t hurt the statue but it can hurt us very badly and very quickly; more importantly, it has that powerful ability of being able to summon Vigilance at will; if we stayed, we would just become an added burden to the healers.

Now, onto another matter; how did things turn out between you and the Ragesians?”

Kiernan replied to that:

“Well, as per your instructions, we engaged as little as possible and bearing in mind that this was an expeditionary force, there were remarkably few casualties; it seemed as if the Ragesian forces were reluctant to engage us; so, for some time, we just glared at each other across a field although there were a few skirmishes here and there. Then, of course, after that first day, they began to withdraw; now we know why.”

We continued to answer questions as well as ask our own but after a little more time, began to feel some anxiety as none of the others made a return.

Then, Longhelim asked me mentally:

“Should we go back? I am beginning to get concerned.”

I replied:

“No point; as we said to Simeon, our presence will make little difference; we cannot hurt the statue; Gods know, we tried; I cast everything at it and you and Victor hit it as hard as you could; and did nothing. Don’t worry, I think that win or lose, they’ll be back.”

Although in reality, it was only a brief period of little time, the waiting felt much longer, especially as there was no mental communication from John; that meant that he was either far too busy or dead.

We had all left the camp and were anxiously looking in the direction of Gate Pass.

Then:

“They’re back!”

It was Victor who saw them first but that changed very quickly; a few moments after, even I was able to distinguish three figures moving towards us; Drudge was running; there was no mistaking that loping stride; Felix and John were flying. Vigilance, in the form of a stag, was with them.

Our reunion was joyous; there was lots of hugging and back slapping. Drudge, thankfully, was now normal size and the others looked bruised and battered but able to move around.

Eagerly I asked:

“So, what happened? Drudge, how did you get so big? Did the statue get destroyed? What happened to the Trillith?”

Drudge just grinned and replied:

“It was Metamorphosis; as I was at the bottom of that shaft, I heard a voice in my head: Take my Boon it said. After that, I suddenly felt a jolt of magic and became enormous. Then, I just beat up the statue.”

John looked at him a little quizzically:

“Hold on! It was a little more involved than that. I think you’re skipping a few things. Faden, you’re going to write this down aren’t you?

Right, this is what happened:

After you lot scarpered………”

John stopped at that point as this time, both Victor and Longhelim looked levelly at him.

Clearing his throat, he continued:

“All right, all right, after we all decided that your presence at Summer’s Bluff was more likely to be a liability as opposed to an advantage…….?

“Better”, Longhelim said steadily.

John resumed:

“Drudge found that he couldn’t touch that thing with his bow, so he drew his axe; you should have seen his first blow! It took the statue’s head clean off! Then he smashed the Torch as well!”

I frowned:

“One blow! That’s it! All right, you weren’t that long, but if that’s all it took……”

John was shaking his head:

“Ummm, that didn’t stop it at all; the headless torso was still happily trying to smash Drudge into little pieces; I think its head was just there for decoration; in fact, if anything it made things worse because when the head came off, a figure flew out of it; it was armoured and masked, carrying two scimitars. It tried to slice Drudge into pieces but had about as much luck as Victor and Longhelim had against the statue; I couldn’t help but laugh at that; little taste of its own medicine; anyway, after that, it decided to give that up as a bad job and came after Felix and I.”

I couldn’t contain myself:

“What did it look like?”

John replied:

“It was as I described; an armoured figure; I couldn’t see its face; it was wearing a full helm; but judging by the fact that it came out of the statue, it must have been a trillith; but one of the named ones; it didn’t look like one of the primeval ones. This one seemed far more developed, like Vigilance or Metamorphosis.

Anyway, it was trying to turn us into diced carrots so Felix and I had to turn invisible, which left it to its own devices until Drudge had had enough and basically stepped on it. That was pretty much the end of him….or her……it.”

Victor spoke then:

“And the statue?”

John took a drink from a canteen that I had offered to him:

“I was getting to that; Drudge took it on; it looked very odd at first, basically, this headless thing the size of a small mountain fighting a titanic Drudge; anyway, the fight settled into a pattern; Drudge would approach it; oh, before I forget, that was something else; imagine the enormous Drudge, striding in the air and even more importantly, doing back flips, summersaults and swerves to avoid blows as he closed on the statue…..all in mid-air. I am never going to forget that! I’ve never seen anything like it…..and we’ve seen some very strange things recently.

Anyway, Drudge would charge in, thump the statue with his axe; it would hit back and then move away but not before Drudge gave it a good thump as it retreated. Every so often, Drudge had to stop to either allow us to heal him, or heal himself but when he did that, the statue would pick up a house and throw it at him. Yes, you heard right; it picked up houses and threw them. The trillith must have been watching the dragon do that.

A couple of times that was very awkward because we were next to Drudge and although it couldn’t see us, the house was so big we were covered in rubble anyway. So we got trapped. That was really annoying.

That went on for a while; the statue seemed to be single-handedly trying to destroy the whole district; not only was it picking up houses to throw but it was also wading through them as it moved away. Drudge and it moved so far that Felix even had to teleport us next to the ranger at one point; that was one of the most annoying bits because as we arrived, a house landed on top of us.

Anyway, we were just wondering how much more of this we were going to take; it was getting very dangerous; finally, Drudge made one more charge and smashed the axe into the statue again and it just toppled over; there was this very strange…..difficult to describe it; like a scream, but with no sound, yet you could definitely hear it in your mind; there was also something like a bang, but again, one could only feel it in the head; I think it must have been something to do with the trillith; anyway, the statue stopped glowing and moving. Drudge smashed it up!”

Breathlessly, I asked:

“So, what happened then?”

Drudge shrugged and replied:

“I went back and got my bow.”

John shook his head again:

“No, Drudge, again, the story was a little different; you actually smashed it up several times before you did anything else.”

Longhelim nodded and said:

“Good thought; we’ve had bad experiences with things coming back after we thought they were dead.”

John continued:

“We all helped Felix from under a load of rubble; he’d been stuck under the last house the statue had chucked at us; then Drudge turned back to normal size, which was the greatest indicator that the statue was well and truly dead…..we hoped. It was then the Drudge ran back to get his bow and then we joined him; after that, Vigilance turned up again and told us that now that the Festival of Dreams was over, he’s managed to compel the nightmare trilliths to go back underground; but that he won’t be able to hold them forever.”

We looked at each other. It had been a very close run thing; if the nightmares had managed to come this close to taking a foothold on the surface world then they would be trying again very soon.

Longhelim spoke to everyone:

“This is going to need some careful thought and decisions; we need to go back to camp and speak to Simeon and Kiernan; Vigilance, would you be so kind as to turn into your human, or orc form, I should say.

There is much to discuss.”

We walked back to the camp; on the way there, I managed to get a few more details of the epic struggle between the two titanic figures of the Coaltongue statue and Salubrious Drudge; this was something that would down in legend, even if Gate Pass ceased to exist as a city. Magic and power of that magnitude could not be forgotten so easily.

As we entered the camp, there was a huge cheer; we saw that the Resistance had been augmented by a huge proportion of people from Gate Pass. People must have seen Drudge fighting because he was immediately recognized; there were even calls for a statue to be raised to the ranger at Summer’s Bluff.

Drudge was being dubbed the Defender of Gate Pass and the Guardian of Gate Pass; I glanced at him and it was obvious that he was uncomfortable with the attention. Personally, I thought that a statue to him would be very appropriate; didn’t say that out loud to him of course; he had shot me once today already.

We went to Simeon’s tent; Kiernan and he were already there, sitting down, waiting for us; Simeon joined him, rushing from outside. As soon as he arrived, the Loremaster began:

“We have just achieved a momentous victory; but we must continue; we have momentum and we must not lose it. Let’s list the things we have to achieve and prioritise accordingly. We are still vastly outnumbered by the Ragesian armies; the Torch is our great equalizer. So, let’s start.”
Longhelim began:

“We need to listen to our friend Vigilance; he made some very salient points.”

The old orc looked around and began speaking quite slowly:

“My…….brethren will not take this defeat for long; this will have come as shock to Freedom; everything she has set out to do, she has achieved; she will be furious; we know that she has already allied herself with the Ragesians. I do not believe that we will be able to resist her next assault. It is imperative that an expedition is mounted deep underground, through the Dreamlands to wake up our mother, Trilla.”

I frowned at him:

“That’s all very well; but last time we heard about her, she was smuggled underground in the Haunted Forest of Ycengled; and there is a large Ragesian army there at the moment. We can probably sneak our way through, but it would help if we had a better idea where exactly she was.”

Vigilance had the grace to look a little uncomfortable:

“Actually she’s deep underground here.”

I looked at him blankly:

“Here?”

He nodded:

“Yes, here; under Gate Pass; or at least the entrance to the Dreamlands is here. Why do you think that the Festival of Dreams is such an important event each year. Why do you think people’s wishes and dreams came true; did you really think that the gods did it?”

Suddenly all sorts of strange events clicked into place:

“You mean all this religious ritual around the Festival is just a mask? To disguise the fact that Trilla’s dreams are so powerful that they can be given reality; or that other dreams and wishes can also be given reality due to her influence? That’s genius! Whose idea was that?”

His silence provided the answer.

Something else came to me:

“You kept this from Coaltongue as well didn’t you? When he was here in the city. And Leska? If they had known, they would have torn this place apart stone by stone, looking for her, and damn the consequences!

Vigilance, I don’t know what to say; if anyone should have a statue dedicated to them at Summer’s Bluff, it should be you!”

I looked at the old orc in admiration; the others just looked stunned as the full ramifications of the conversation suddenly became apparent to them.

Longhelim took out his pipe; I liked that; it brought a sense of comfort and familiarity; we always reached our best decisions when Longhelim had his pipe in his hand:

“So, Trilla, or I should say the entrance to her realm, is under the city; and we have to put a high priority to going there and waking her; Freedom will attempt to stop us and we will have to deal with that. Vigilance, do you know exactly where she is?”

“No. The network of tunnels under the city leading to the entrance is very extensive and you could be down there for a long time.”

I frowned:

“So, how do we find it then?”

Felix spoke at this point:

“It would be difficult but there is powerful divine magic which may be able to get us to the right point; especially if we can get at least an indication of where it may be.”

Vigilance also continued:

“There are also two beings who would be able to tell you immediately where she is: The Elder Elemental Lords; The Worldshaper Worm and the Tidereaver Kraken. If you knew how to summon them, they would be able to tell you; for a service, I suspect.”

I was thinking hard:

“The Elder Elemental Rulers are capricious; they do not even approach our level of thinking; their needs and desires are so alien as to be incomprehensible; trying to ask them anything is….well I wouldn’t even describe it as risky because it will be completely unpredictable.”

John spoke at this point:

“Be that as it may, but does anyone know how to even talk to them; or get them to talk to you?”

Rather reluctantly, I was remembering:

“When we explored the steam tunnels under Seaquen and found that mad druid….what was his name……?”

I rummaged through my pack to find my diaries when John said:

“Never mind his name; yes, we know what you’re talking about Faden; the steam tunnels under Seaquen; we stopped him from summoning an elemental army that was going to take over the world; or so he said. What about it?”

I was still looking for my diaries and spoke as I was rummaging:

“The druid, he had a collection of books about the planes; I read them and written there was a theoretical ritual as to how to summon the Elder Elemental Lords or whatever you want to call them; though bear in mind that the first thing that the ritual said about that was……don’t!”

Longhelim was looking blank:

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t try to summon them; but if you have to…..then this was the way to do it. It’s long, it’s complicated, it’s hard work, but it is possible if we absolutely have to.”

Longhelim took a puff:

“Well, it looks as if we must. Do we need anything?”

“From what I read, we don’t actually need anything material; we need to be very polite, very respectful and we also need to have the ability to be able to do whatever service it or they will require of us. Apart from that, the best place to do the ritual is in a place where the water meets the land on a vast scale.”

Kiernan spoke:

“You mean like Seaquen maybe?”

I nodded at him:

“Yes, actually, Seaquen would be ideal.”

Longhelim stood up briefly:

“So, that is agreed; we summon the Elder Elemental Lords and try to obtain the information from them. Then, we go and wake up Trilla and hopefully get her to control her dreams; Vigilance, is it even possible for her to control her creations once she is woken?”

The orc shrugged:

“I cannot tell you what will happen. Mother waking up is unprecedented; Freedom has spent a very long time making sure that does not happen though; that means that she at least suspects that something bad would happen to them.”

Longhelim smiled, if a little humourlessly:

“What other recourse do we have left; you say that that it will only be a little time before the trillith are back; we have to do this.

Now, the other matter on the horizon is an expedition to find the Aquiline Heart; that is the source of Leska’s power. Etinifi would have taken us there and according to him, we have to destroy it.”

Simeon’s attention sharpened at this:

“Etinifi? That rather strange character who has been wondering around with you? What does he have to do with this?”

Longhelim replied:

“We rescued him from the Scourge; he’s Leska’s ex boyfriend. They found the Aquiline Heart together but he abandoned her when they couldn’t get to it because its defences were too strong; she didn’t take very kindly to that; somehow, she gained access to the power of the Heart, found him and threw him into the Scourge.”

Simeon grew very excited:

“This Etinifi is a former lover of Leska in her youth? And they found the Aquiline Heart? Where is he? He will be a fount of priceless information. We have to find him at once.”

Longhelim looked at him with raised eyebrows:

“If you can find anything out from him, you are a better man than any of us. He does come across as quite insane. All of us, especially Faden, have asked him numerous questions which he just ignores or replies with nonsensical poetry or rhyme. To be frank, the only reason why we keep him around with us is because he claims that the will be able to guide us to the Heart; he can’t even tell us what the Heart does, apart from vague things like providing Leska with her power.”

The paladin looked at me:

“Where is Etinifi anyway?”

I remembered:

“Last time I saw him, he was flying above the statue of Coaltongue as it was trying to smash us into pieces, shouting that he would guide them to the Aquiline Heart; oh, and how to beat us up. However, the trillith were paying him about as much attention as anyone else did; so none.

We should find him I suppose. He’s probably hiding somewhere; for all that he comes across as being mad, he’s still quite cunning when it comes to saving his own skin. He also seems to have become a lot less trustworthy. If he was telling the trillith how to defeat us, then frankly, I wouldn’t trust him to take us anywhere.”

Longhelim sat down and grunted at this:

“Now, what about the city?”

Victor had been quiet up to this point, but he spoke up:

“That is difficult. Diogenes and Erdin Menash have both gone. No telling if Rantle is still alive but even if he was, I am not sure if he’s more suited to be a hero of the Resistance than a civic leader; I am finding it difficult to imagine Rantle deciding what budget to allocate to the sewage system of the city for the next six months for example. Everything is in chaos at the moment and we are already planning to leave. None of us have even had a chance to find out if our families are alive; my brother is dead but I have not been able to find out about my father.”

I also thought about my extensive family; I knew my father was dead, turned into a wraith by Gabal but I had no idea about the rest; in fact I was trying not to think about them but it was time to begin.

Then, something else occurred to me:

“Actually, the very first thing we have to do is transport the elven army to Northern Shahalesti; we promised that in the agreement with Shaaladel. In fact, I am quite surprised that the King has not sent a messenger to us yet. Maybe, they had a little more trouble with the trillith. They seemed to be under quite a heavy assault as they were leaving; possibly, they were followed?”

I could see by the faces of the others that in the excitement of what had been happening, they had forgotten about the agreement but that it was coming back to them now.

Goody. Now we start to get to the "weird sh*t" part of the campaign.

We talked further. Although it was only mid afternoon, we were exhausted. Despite this, there were still many things which we had to decide.

Victor spoke up; he was usually very quiet but in this, he sounded very determined:

“As we discussed before, albeit briefly, the leadership of Gate Pass is gone. They were the first targets for the Ragesians during the initial assault. Having made some inquiries, I have discovered that both my father and brother were killed very early in the conflict. Their bodies were then cremated, making it very difficult to revivify them; it would take sorcery of the highest and most powerful degree return them.

I would suggest that we examine the remains of Diogenes and Erdin Menash and see if we can revivify them. Although I have a great deal of admiration for Rantle and believe him to be a gifted commander, I don’t think he is civic leadership material. Menash excelled at that and Diogenes can begin to restore Gabal’s Tower.”

I looked at the soldier sharply at that last comment. Longhelim tapped his pipe to rid it of the burnt tobacco and turned to me:

“Look Faden, I know that you want to do that but when exactly were you going to do it? Was it before or after we went looking for Trilla? Or maybe after we looked for the Aquiline Heart? We will also have to confront Leska? And you know we are going to have to do that as some point.”

“All right! All right!” I grumbled, ”point taken. I can’t be in all those places at once; and Diogenes will be able to devote his full attention to the Tower’s restoration while Menash will be able to immerse himself in the city’s bureaucracy, something that he will love.”

John slipped out of the tent before re-appearing almost immediately:

“I’ve asked someone to find the bodies of the two gentlemen and bring them here. So, we’ll be able to address that problem first thing tomorrow after Felix learns his spells.

Now, since we have helped to solve the civic leadership crisis , what else do we need to think about?”

I stroked my beard:

“Well, as I mentioned, we need to think about transporting the army and the elves to Northern Shahalesti to confront the Ragesians there.”

Simeon looked startled but then recovered:

“Ah, yes, I had forgotten that we had reached that agreement. Our army has suffered quite badly. Although we didn’t really have that much of a battle against Danava’s soldiers, we had to face the huge demon that Leska sent.”

Suddenly, I remembered the rather garbled story that Leska herself had sent an enormous demon to help her army against the forces from Seaquen.

I looked at Simeon and asked:
“I remember hearing a little about that. What kind of demon was it?”

Flatly, the loremaster answered:

“A Balor!”

I gaped:

“A Balor! The Empress sent a Balor? And you managed to defeat it?”

Kiernan grimaced and replied at this point:

“Yes, although it was touch and go for a while; and the creature caused some horrific casualties before we managed to banish it; we got very lucky there.

It’s one of the reasons why we are a little reluctant to go with the elves; we have suffered more casualties than you think, Faden; however, we did make the pact with Shaaladel and without him, we would not have re-taken Gate Pass so we will go as agreed and trust mightily in Shaaladel’s experience.”

Felix spoke:

“Ultimately, we will have to use the Torch but I have a magical answer which will lessen the artifact’s more……distasteful demands.”

Simeon leaned back into his chair, nodded without asking any details and then said:

“So, that’s where we’ll be going. Now what about you? What are you going to do next?”

Longhelim lit up his pipe again:

“Once we get back here from Northern Shahalesti, we will have to collect several items and scrolls; once we have them, we’ll make some preparations and then perform the ritual to summon the Elemental Lords and bargain with them to guide us to the entrance of the Dreamlands of Trilla; once there, we’ll go in and wake her up.”

Simeon looked at the paladin:

“Sounds simple enough.”

John grinned:

“Easy as pie!”

Simeon’s lips twitched and he just nodded at us.

“I think that will do for now. We all have our plans. Now, we should be getting back to make them happen.”

We left the tent and John went to see if he could find the people who had gone to search for Menash’s and Diogenes’s bodies. Thankfully, he found them quite quickly. Felix went with him to make sure that his spells tomorrow were going to be sufficient for our purposes.

I, for that matter, went to see if I could find any dwarves amongst the remaining population of the city; I wanted to try to find the remains of my family; or at least try to find some news.

I did have success in finding dwarves although it was a pitiful remnant of the once thriving community of Gate Pass. I was told some dreadful news and some better news: my father had been captured by the Ragesians. This I knew already as we had been attacked by him as a wraith. I also heard that my brother had been captured and of him there were no news. However, I was told that so far as anyone knew, my mother and sisters had not been detained; no one knew where they were but they had not been captured and they were not in the city.

I determined to try to find them tomorrow.

That was the last thing I could do this day as we were all exhausted and decided to have an early night.

We settled down and all fell asleep almost immediately.

The next day, we all awakened and learned our spells; as I was doing this, suddenly I had an idea. It would mean a slight delay in our plans but it would be extremely useful in the very near future.

Our first action was for Felix to conjure up our usual splendid breakfast. We invited Kiernan, Rantle and Simeon to join us. As we mentioned before, this breakfast had all sorts of pleasant magical effects which lasted the whole day and it was during this period of relaxation that I broached my idea to the others:

“Simeon, there is a particular spell that I have read about; it is an unusual and powerful piece of magic; from the best of my knowledge, it allows one to succeed at one particular task; it is as if one is able to supernaturally discover information, accomplish a task or succeed at a feat of power; I have heard it even allows one to shrug off the power of inimical spells or make a particularly telling attack or blow. Also, part of this magic allows you to time its activation at the precise moment when you need it the most.

Have you heard or read of this power?”

The Loremaster chewed thoughtfully:

“I have heard about it; I have also read about it but unfortunately, I do not have it in my spell book.”

He looked expectantly at Kiernan but the dwarf just shrugged:

“Simeon, you know what I have in my spell books already; and that spell is not there. I would love to get it. Why do you want it, Faden?”

“Well, it would be perfect for my ritual to summon the Elder Elemental Lords; that is really something I don’t want to get wrong; it is such an unusual event that the results are completely unpredictable; the best that I can hope for is that if I fail, nothing happens; but…….it may not be as simple as that. They may turn up, but they could be angry. I really, really don’t want them to be angry.”

Someone else joined our conversation at this point:

“You’re right Faden; it is a powerful piece of magic; it does all that you describe and it would be perfect for your ritual.”

It was Felix, sounding very matter-of-fact.

I was intrigued:

“You know this magic?”

The priest answered:

“Not only do I know it, I can do it; in fact, I have been doing it. We priests are granted this power by our deities, although we do have to gain certain powerful secrets before we do so.”

I became very excited:

“Can you tell me a little more about it? Does it do everything that I have read about? Will it help in the ritual?”

Felix nodded:

“You pretty much summed it up when you described it; and yes, I would definitely recommend getting it if you can; it can make a huge difference.”

Encouraged, I began to make some plans:

“Hmmm, the best place to get it would be Bresk, I think; that is the largest city we have explored and we have made some contacts there among those who deal in that sort of material; I have seen the powerful scrolls that Seaquen had and it was not among them; nor is it likely to be in Gabal’s Tower. Longhelim, can we make a trip to Bresk today at some point please; I have the transport spells and you have the Torch. It’ll take me a day to transcribe it into my book but it’ll be worth it.”

The paladin nodded as he ate.

It took as a little longer to finish and then we began our very busy day.

The first part of our agenda was to transport the armies to Northern Shahalesti. We had sent runners to the elven camp and they returned with the news that it would take the army until the afternoon before they were ready to leave; that timescale was matched by the packing we were seeing from the Resistance Army. Kiernan remarked that if they were going to arrive at their destination in the late afternoon or dusk, this would be less than ideal from a tactical point of view should the enemy decide to attack.

Another message was sent to Shaaladel asking his advice; a scathing but typical reply came back, stating that he would have thought it obvious that if the army was spending the day taking down the camp today then only fools would want to be teleported into unknown territory in the darkness; especially those who could not see in the dark.

Longhelim finished reading aloud and said:

“In other words, we won’t be going anywhere today because the camps have to be taken down; instead, we go first thing tomorrow morning. So, what do we do today?”

I had an answer immediately:

“We go to Bresk; try to find the scroll. If we can get it quickly, I’ll be able to make a start in transcribing it into my book.”

Everyone was amenable to that idea so, we prepared our spells and transported ourselves close to Bresk, capital of Dassen.

The city was certainly far more lively than we remembered; the walls were as imposing as ever but this time, instead of them being forbidding, the open gates and the streams of people going in and out gave the impression of a far more vibrant community. We joined the throng; after all, we were dressed as normal travelers; plate mail armour was uncommon but not completely unknown and to have three people wearing it in one group suggested an experienced group of warriors, more than anything else. Unfortunately, groups dressed like us were becoming increasingly common in these dark days.

Victor had also wisely chosen to wear his more subdued suit of plate armour and forego his preferred set; the one with lime green spikes.

We entered the city and conducted our business without incident. The specialty shops were still there and thriving; my particular scroll took a little hunting but we managed to find it in the end. It took several hours but finally clutching the my prize in my hand, we made our way out of the city to a deserted spot and transported ourselves back to Gate Pass.

It was early afternoon by the point and I immediately sequestered myself in one of our tents and began to prepare my quills, pens and inks to transcribe the scroll into my book. Soon, I was lost in my world of magical algorithms and formulae.

Sometime later, someone entered into my tent. I was concentrating particularly hard so I didn’t glance up and hoped that whoever it was would take the hint and go away but they didn’t; finally, I came to a natural stop and I glanced up to see Diogenes standing in front of me.

I jumped up:

“Diogenes! You’re back!”

He was looking a little drawn and still weak from his ordeal but he smiled and replied:

“Your friend Felix is a powerful priest; he has access to secrets that are available to only a select few.

A bit like you but in many ways, you’re still the same; stick a spell in front of you and you’ll pull it apart, put it back together again, see how it works, how it’s supposed to work and then see if you can improve it.”

I ran around the table to my pack:

“Talking about spells, I kept these for you!”

I took out a stack of books; they were his spell books. He took them and stared at the covers for a long time.

Then he said with fierce determination:

“Things will become normal again! I swear it! Felix brought back Erdin as well. Between us, we’ll put this city back together. Even that rascal, Rantle, has his uses. We owe it to the city and its people!”

I grinned back at him and said:

“Have you been told what has happened? And what we plan?”

“Not yet but Longhelim is meeting with us shortly to do exactly that; we’re trying to find Rantle at the moment and once he gets here, we’ll start. I know what you’re doing so I won’t disturb you any longer but I just wanted to come and say hello.”

I grinned back at him:

“Hello back to you. I’ll come and speak with you and Erdin properly this evening.”

He nodded at me and then left. He sounded unlike the old Diogenes, who had always seemed very world weary. This sounded like a man who had rediscovered a purpose in his life.

Happily I went back to my work, thinking that having Diogenes and Erdin around was small step towards normality. It was also a positive move as it would allow us to leave the city safe in the knowledge that there was at least some sort of civic leadership in place.

I worked until evening; I hadn’t finished but I was about half way in transcribing that spell into my book. It was a fiendishly complicated formula, mostly because it was so general and encompassed so many aspects of magic. It could enhance attacks, resistances both mental and physical, knowledge, manipulation; gods, it could even allow me to dodge attacks and what was even more extraordinary was that it was something that could be used as a reaction. Someone, somewhere long ago had spent a great deal of time researching that spell.

I left the tent, stretched my back and went to join the others for dinner. It was a jolly affair as we were joined by the newly returned Diogenes, Erdin Menash and Rantle, who had finally been located. Vigilance was there as well of course. The fare was meager; we didn’t have better food than anyone else among the population or the army but the three new arrivals threw themselves into plans to start rebuilding the city. Diogenes was already planning how to help using his magic. Although he was debilitated by his ordeal, he was still a very powerful mage and that would help. Erdin, for all of his eccentric behavior, was still a master merchant and Rantle was still well…….Rantle.

Towards the end of the meal, we heard the voices around us quieten as a small delegation of elves approached: it was Shalosha and her usual entourage of bodyguards:

“My father wishes you to know that he will be ready to leave in the morning.”

Then she smiled:

“I do not know what manner of creatures attacked us but they were fearsome foes. We saw your combat against the statue of Coaltongue and it was masterly. Even we elves would have been proud to say we overcame such a foe. Father said it took him back to his youth and he doesn’t say that often.”

Longhelim puffed his pipe and replied:

“They are called trillith and when we return, we will tell you more about them and what they are. Please tell your father that we will be ready but before you go, please join us.”

Shalosha hesitated and but finally nodded assent and so our dinner group swelled again. I shook my head; she had been cold and distant previously but now she seemed to be warm and friendly, for an elf that is. Her entourage looked very uncomfortable. I don’t think they got much chance to dine with humans and dwarves.

Once dinner was over, the conversation continued and the elves left quite late; Shalosha was a very pleasant companion and spoke extensively to Diogenes and Menash. She was very interested in their future plans for the city. She spoke to Rantle as well but it was quite obvious in a rather short time that she didn’t take him seriously.

Menash said happily:

“If she becomes queen or takes a more diplomatic role, dealing with the Shining Lands will be far more pleasant than before. What a fine young lady.”

Finally, at the end of the day, I had one more task to do. I had been dreading it but it had to be done.

Sitting down, I concentrated and began casting a spell. It took some time but finally, I pictured the face of my mother in my mind and began speaking to her. I asked her where she was and if the family was with her. To my joy, there was a reply! A gasp, followed by a sob and then a gabbled reply that she and my sisters were in a camp just outside Seaquen of all places.

I cast the same spell again and asked them not to move and that I would be there the next day.

I rushed back to the others and told them. Everyone was happy for me; our families had not fared well in the war. Victor had lost both his brother and father, Longhelim did not seem to have any great interest in finding his sister or father and Drudge certainly didn’t express any desire to try to track down his family. John just laughed and stated that he had one sister he knew of, and that she was away with the fairies, imaginary, not real ones. As for Felix, he didn’t say anything.

However, they were happy to go with me to Seaquen to try to locate my family with me.

John also said:

“Why don’t you ask them to stay at our place in Seaquen?”

Everyone else agreed that this was a good idea and after that, we went to bed.

We woke up the next morning and went through our usual routine; then we had the unpleasant task of activating the Torch so we could transport the armies to the Shining Lands. I won’t go into details but suffice it to say that the task was accomplished. I did not go with Longhelim to the destination as there was no need and there was plenty of protection at the other end in case of a hostile reception. Thankfully, the transportation of the army went smoothly although as usual it took quite a long time; in fact, bearing in mind that this was a combination of both the Resistance and elven armies, Longhelim and the others did not return until mid-afternoon.

That gave me plenty of time to continue to transcribe the spell into my book; I had not quite finished by the time they returned but I had to stop as we were going on to Seaquen next. The magical travel to the city was uneventful and we arrived.

Seaquen was being rebuilt yet again. It had been badly damaged by the storms caused by the ice elementals which had attacked the Lyceum. Unfortunately, this time we did not have access to the Green Dragon’s Lyre of Building so the work was going far slower. Yet despite the war and the lack of manpower, some progress had been made and already a great deal of the rubble had been cleared away; actual rebuilding had not begun yet but at least the basic preparation was in full swing.

What had also grown were the refugee camps around the city. As Seaquen was the settlement furthest from the Ragesian menace, more and more people congregated there, desperate for a measure of safety and freedom. Thankfully, mostly due to the measures that had been set up by the brave paladin, Laura Beck Adelsberg, Lord Votberd the dwarven mayor of the town, as well as various factions and in a small measure ourselves, the camps were generally clean, well organized and habitable. There was good organization for cleaning and logistics, such as making sure that latrines were dug, rubbish was cleared and burned, food was provided and criminality was kept to a manageable level.

Apart from that, the city was still close to the sea with two ample natural harbours, both of which were crowded with ships, suggesting that there was still plenty of marine commerce. The swamp was far less dangerous than previously, especially now that the Three Witches were gone and there were just too many refugees for the goblins; they had retreated deep into the swamp and did not come out. The greatest danger was the Green Dragon but there had been no sign of her either.

As soon as we arrived at the outskirts, I took some time to cast my spell to ascertain just in which camp my family was ensconced. I received an answer almost immediately and we quickly walked there.

Finally, I saw them!

My mother and my three sisters were waiting! I ran towards them and our reunion was all I hoped it would be. There was crying, there was joy, there were squeals, there were questions and there were tales. The others waited while we finished and then my mother led us to their tent. It was a tidy place, well lit, clean and airy. We all sat down and spoke; I told them everything that had happened to me. Finally, with regret I told them about my father. They were not shocked. They knew had had died a long time ago although they were shocked that he had been turned into a wraith; that was news to them. They also told me that my brother had been with my father when they had been captured so it was very likely that he was another of those countless wraiths which frequented Gabal’s Tower.

Then I offered them our townhouse in Seaquen. Thankfully, it had not been destroyed in the ice storm and with bad weather possibly approaching, I thought it would be better than a tent. I gave them the news from Gate Pass and again they were not surprised. They had known that the Ragesian siege was going to be bad. However, they were not aware of the depredations of the Red Dragon and I was very pleased that my father had taken the precaution of sending them away before the full horrors of the siege and battle had taken hold.

It took them a little while to pack their possessions, which were pitifully few as well as saying goodbye to the friends they had made in the camp. Finally, everything was ready and we walked to the house where they moved in. It was a very substantial residence of three floors so there was plenty of room. Even though we had just reunited, I told them that I would have to go away again very soon.

Finally, my mother gently asked me why I had not been in touch. She wasn’t chiding me but she was quite insistent in the way mothers are.

I thought for some time. On the one hand, she certainly deserved an answer; on the other hand, giving her the answer would put her and my sisters in danger. Still, it was too late now and they were going to be in danger for the rest of her life anyway; the sooner they realised this the better.

I began:

“Mum, while I have given you a very brief accounting of what I have been doing, it is a little more complicated and involved than that. We have set ourselves directly in opposition to Leska and the Ragesian Empire; against the Trillith which are creatures which defy description; a green dragon in the nearby swamp doesn’t like us very much either. In short, we have accrued a remarkable list of incredibly powerful enemies in a short time. There are devils in the Hells who know our names and would happily drag us down to their abode.

Unfortunately, all of this puts our immediate families in grave danger as any of these individuals would want to use you as leverage against us. That is how they operate. You would not believe just how high Ragesian treachery has reached or who they managed to suborn. The main advisor of King Steppengaard of Dassen turned out to be a Ragesian traitor, Katrina the Sorceress…….

She gasped!

“Katrina! That lovely red haired girl! Rantle’s sister! Does Rantle know? He’ll be devastated!”

I shook my head:

“Well, I certainly didn’t tell him but I’m not sure if he knows or not; John may have done. He’s the one who knows Rantle the best out of all of us; even the former harbour master here, Lee Sidoneth who caused the first destruction of the city. He was a Ragesian spy!

Anyway, what I’m getting at is that I tried to spare you this for as long as possible. Now, however, we are too well known in certain circles and you can rest assured that elements of the Ragesian army are searching for our families. Hopefully, here in Seaquen you’ll be safer than in some other places but I will leave you money so that you can at least hire bodyguards. Also, please go and introduce yourself to Lord Votberd; he is an irascible dwarf, bad tempered and proud but he knows this place like the back of his hand and if anything untoward was being planned, he’s the one most likely to find out about it. Please also let him know that you’re my mother. He’ll understand immediately.

I have to go now, but I’m going to leave you my diaries; I will be back tomorrow but read as much of them as you can so you can get an idea of what is going on.”

We still chatted after that and then I said my goodbyes to her and my sisters.

Then I joined the others and we returned to Gate Pass where we gathered our possessions. I had one last short session of transcribing the spell into my book in readiness for the ritual and then we went to bed again.

Building up nicely
What is this incredible spell though?

Moment of Prescience; very handy, especially if you combine with the Archmage power: Spell Like Ability

As we woke next morning, it was a little strange not to wake up in the midst of an army. Everything seemed very quiet. So, relishing the more tranquil atmosphere, we prepared ourselves and I committed my new spell into my memory for the first time. It seemed to work, firmly lodged there among the various other spells and formulae but ultimately, we wouldn’t know if it worked until I tried recall it; and my first occasion to do so would be while attempting to summon the Tidereaver Kraken and the Worldshaper Worm.

As we were eating at the table, John asked me:

“So, Faden, what’s involved in this ritual then; are you going to be running around naked, banging on a tambourine?”

I just looked at him a little strangely and then replied:

“You’ve been reading too many bad books again John; no, the ritual doesn’t have anyone running around naked waving a tambourine; actually, there isn’t a lot to see; I just have to find a proper spot, sit down and recite the correct wording. It’s going to take a long time though; hours. Oh, it would be helpful if you actually joined me in reciting some of the passages. If there are more people reciting them, there will be a greater chance of success.

Hopefully, once they’re here, Longhelim can convince them to help us.”

John shrugged:

“Sure. Which bits will you want me to recite with you?”

I’ll point them out to you before I begin but just in case, I will make sure to signal you when it’s time.”

He nodded:

“That’ll work.”

He finished and got up.

“Shall we go?”

That was a signal for the rest of us. We had all finished and we packed up. This time, we took all of our possessions as we had no idea if the Lords were going to help us at all and if that was so, we would have to do this the hard way.

Once we were ready, we transported ourselves to Seaquen again. We made a side trip to our house where I met my mother and sisters again. They insisted on feeding us but I did say that we would only be able to stay for a short time. She handed over the diaries, looked at me for the longest time and then just nodded. That was good. It showed that she had understood. I said my goodbyes again and we left for the spectacular shore where the land met the sea.

Once we reached a suitable point, a flat area above a distant view over the water, I began the ritual. It was difficult; I didn’t realise how difficult it would be until I tried to do it. Fiendishly complicated, long, in languages that were never meant to be spoken by a dwarven tongue, one had to get it exactly right. Terran and Aquan were fiendishly complicated and I had to recite for hours on end. Thankfully, John did manage to help me a great deal and when the culmination of the ritual was imminent, I activated my new spell.

It was amazing!

Suddenly, it was as if all the different parts of the ritual, the languages, the length, the magic, the conjuration elements, the pleading and summoning all slotted together and I could see how it was supposed finish. Far more hopeful, I finished the ritual with a flourish and waited to see what would happen.

The results were immediate.

It was impossible to describe the forms of the Elemental Lords; mainly because we only saw their avatars, not their true shapes. The Worldshaper Worm looked like a huge pillar of earth; and I mean huge, reaching up into the sky, so high we lost sight of it; but it was a living creature, swaying and shaking, with burrowing worms, animals and trees of all sizes growing out of it. These creatures caused the earth to ripple and move as if the column was a living thing; it was quite unsettling.

Tidereaver Kraken looked like a huge wave that just hovered over our spot; a wall of water sitting behind the column of earth. We could see a myriad of sea creatures within this wall; again, they were of all shapes and sizes; some of them I recognised, while there were others that I had never read about before, never mind see; and frankly, the ones with the big teeth and the huge tentacles I would be very happy not to see again.

Looking at the pillar and the tsunami, I really, really hoped we were going to get this right.

They got right down to business:

“Why have you summoned us?”

The two voices melded. It was impossible to describe them. They were completely alien, inserted into our minds; yet we were able to understand them. It was magic but of a kind that was again completely beyond my scope or ken.

Longhelim began to speak to them, projecting his voice:

“We seek your aid! We need to get to the entrance of the Dreamlands of Trilla. Her trillith are threatening this plane. And if they threaten this plane, they will soon threaten yours as well. We plan to enter her Dreamlands and wake her up.”

There was rumble from the earth column and a splashing sound from the wave as they replied:

“You speak the truth. We grow concerned about the creatures from the Dreamlands; some have even trespassed into our domains. Be in the centre of Gate Pass tomorrow at noon. We will send you to the entrance of the Dreamlands!”

With that, the water subsided and the column of earth sank back into the ground.

We all stared at each other and then I spoke to Longhelim:

“Well that was easy. Almost too easy. I thought we were supposed to do some sort of service for them?”

Felix was grimacing:

“This is bad. This is very bad. Things must be really, really serious if they are going to do it without asking anything in return. Whatever it is in the Dreamlands, this Freedom, must be almost ready to come out; and there must be a lot of trillith in the planes of earth and water; I think that’s why they agreed to it without any sort or bargain. They are aware that there is no time to be lost and if they send us to do some sort of service, we would not return in time.”

Victor spoke quietly:

“They will probably ask for one if we return.”

I nodded as I realised that the soldier was almost certainly right.

Longhelim was already walking back:

“In which case there is no time to be lost. It is quite late and we should be getting back to Gate Pass. We need to be ready at noon tomorrow.”

As soon as we were all touching him, we were all magically transported back to Gate Pass.

It was quite late when we arrived back. We settled down to our usual routine and the night passed without incident. There had been no news from Simeon or Kiernan; in truth I was half expecting a desperate message that something had gone badly wrong. Leska was a terrible and cunning opponent and I had no doubt that she had contingency plans if her army was defeated outside of Gate Pass. We also had not had any news of General Danava’s army. Although it had been defeated, it was still a formidable force. We were not sure if that army was retiring or if it was still camped outside the city. Unfortunately, as we were going to be leaving tomorrow, there was no point following that up. I was sure that this would also have occurred to Diogenes, Rantle and Menash and they would be keeping an eye on the situation.

Then, as we were settling for the night, Vigilance approached. The old orc was still in the city, doing his duty. I have to say, he was looking tired. The trillith must have been putting great pressure on him.

He spoke to us of the Dreamlands but unfortunately, he was not able to tell us a great deal:

“My mother’s realm is different for everyone. I have not been back there for a long time but there are several things I must tell you: First, magic from the school of conjuration is particularly potent there. Second, you will need to fly. That is the only way you can travel in the Dreamlands.

That left us in a quandary. The usual flying spells lasted only a short time. Then John had a very good idea.

“Faden, you know those magical horses you conjured up for us a long time ago; the ones we used in Dassen. Can they fly?”

I got excited:

“You’re a genius, John; usually they don’t but if I adjust my spell a little, I can make them fly! It’ll take me a little while but it can be done.”

The next morning we prepared a little differently, knowing that we could be on our way to the Dreamlands. Therefore, although many spells were prepared, only a few were cast. I had also had a surprise; having now cast the spell which had aided my ritual, I suddenly realised that there was a shortcut I could use. It would mean limiting my other spells a little but it would allow me to use that spell without even memorizing it. All it would need is a little tweak to the process and it should work! As I tried this new technique, I was gratified and amazed that it would work!

During the morning, we made some last preparations. I was able to put the finishing touches to another couple of spells on which I had been working for a long time. They were still experimental but if they worked……even the others would be quite surprised. I also adjusted the spell which conjured my magic horses. I was confident that would work.

Finally, I cast a last spell which allowed me to talk to my mother, warning her that I could be gone for some time and that I did not know when I was going to be back. I received a short reply:

“Godspeed!”

At midday, we were all waiting in the middle of Gate Pass as instructed. The appointed hour arrived and without any warning, the sky and Gate Pass disappeared. The earth had opened beneath us! We fell and fell until we stopped in an extraordinary cave.

We were completely unharmed! Worldshaper magic!

Standing up, we looked around our new surroundings in amazement. It was a cave full of crystals of all shapes and sizes. It was beautiful! Some were tiny, twinkling in the light while others were huge, rising from the floor to the ceiling, columns of beautiful green; others grew from the ceiling. There were stalactites and stalagmites; all crystalline with different colours, mainly white, clear and green. Yet more crystal spears came out from the walls.

It was literally a crystal cave!

As our senses took in these wonders, our eyes were drawn to the bottom of the cave, where there was a clear pool. As we were looking at it, we all heard a grating sound; I looked, trying to find the source when Victor shouted:

“’Ware! Dragons!”

I strained my eyes and finally, as Drudge pointed his bow at one corner of the cave, I was able to discern a huge creature made of crystal. It was a Crystal Dragon! Extraordinary! In all my reading and research, there had never been a hint of mention of something like this. The sound which we all heard had been caused as it turned its head.

Then it struck me! Victor had said: “Dragons!”

I looked at the other corner and yes indeed, another of the creatures had also turned its head. They were obviously aware of us.

Longhelim called out:

“All we want to do is pass! We do not seek your treasure. We do not want to challenge you or fight. We do not hunt you. We just want to pass!”

There was no reaction so we decided to advance. This meant descending a series of natural crystal steps. The dragons did not react to this except to follow us with their diamond eyes. Movement was a little tricky and both Felix and I slipped, gashing our limbs in the process. In the end, Felix had to cast our old and tried spell which allowed Victor and Drudge to walk on air as if it was the very floor. They carried Felix and I while Longhelim was flying and carrying John. Thus advancing, we reached the edge of the pool, where we were stopped by an invisible wall!

Simultaneously, as we arrived at this point, we saw that there was an image of a blue sky with wisps of cloud above the pool. It was a very strange sight.

I cast a spell which would allow me to see invisible things and sure enough, there was a wall in front of us; it reached all the way to the ceiling and although it superficially resembled my spell, I noticed that it fitted the uneven crystalline floor perfectly; something that my wall would not able to do. I also noticed another wall which seemed to be blocking the entrance to another side cave.

I called to the others and we moved, only to find another unusual feature of this wall. It moved with us! My wall certainly couldn’t do that!

I spoke to the others and told them just what the wall was doing and Longhelim just nodded and then motioned us to touch him; a moment later, we were next to the dragon!

As we arrived, it finally answered, roaring:

“None shall pass!”

Well, it was a succinct answer at least.

As we thought briefly about how to proceed, wondering whether we could bargain with it or try to convince it to let us through, I noticed that the wall that had impeded us on the edge of the pool, was moving towards us again; not very fast, but it was moving towards us.

I shouted:

“It’s wasting time! The wall is coming towards us!”

At that, Longhelim moved forward and smashed it with his Torch; as soon as he did that, the flaming axe flashed blindingly all around the cave. Fortunately, we were able to shield our eyes from the glare but it had been a close thing.

The dragon then opened its mouth and a storm of crystal shards swept through us, causing us to duck and weave as we were almost shredded.

Victor swept up in a graceful continuous motion, sweeping with his falchion. The blade skittered madly across the crystal body of the creature but it did catch in several sections of its body, causing chips of it to be torn from the whole. Drudge had also launched his usual volley of arrows at it, although that did not look as effective as usual. The arrows seemed to bounce off.

Longhelim was able to maneuver another set of blows into the creature; cleverly, he had switched the head of the Torch into its morning star form, causing it smash against the crystal body. A morning star is a brutal weapon and it seemed to do more than an axe would; the paladin was able to calculate just exactly where to place the blows. I cast a little spell at, wanting to find out if magic had an effect on it. I was thinking that it may have been a construct and one of the most powerful form of defenses for constructs is their invulnerability to magic. So my little wand discharged and I was please to see a reaction from the creature, suggesting that it was affected.

I was keeping an eye out for the other dragon, the magical walls where were creeping every closer and trying to choose a suitable spell at the same time. Just as I was about to cast a spell, Longhelim managed another set of titanic blows and the first dragon shattered into a thousand tiny shards.

Awesome! This will be quite a ride

There was an anguished roar from the other as it flew in but then one of the magical walls managed to intersect itself between it and us, simultaneously, slowly shoving us against the stone wall. I think that what it was trying to do was to push and crush us against a hard surface.

We all positioned ourselves so that there were stone columns between ourselves and the magical wall but ultimately, Longhelim said:

“We’ve got to get the dragon; there is no point in hiding here.”

Victor just nodded and Longhelim stepped next to him and with a sweep of his magical cape, they both suddenly appeared next to this other dragon. Both warriors were ready and they rained blow after blow against it. It could not stand against such concentrated, controlled aggression and it collapsed quite quickly although Victor did suffer a few scratches.

As soon as the second dragon fell, all the magical, moving walls disappeared. A gust of wind suddenly blew into the cave and wisps of mist began floating down from the ceiling. Curious, I looked up and saw that the strange gap I had seen above the pool led into a sky realm; that would be the best way to describe it. This must be the entrance to the dreamlands. I couldn’t believe it to be anything else.

We wondered about flying up there, especially as I had wanted to take advantage of the rumoured boost to spells of certain types in there but just as I was about to fly up, Longhelim said:

“Faden, you’d better do your spells down here. We don’t know what we are going to encounter up there. There may be something just waiting in ambush next to that hole.”

It was a shame, but he was right; so I settled down on the floor and said:

“John, Drudge, why don’t you search the cave; it’s going to take me some time to cast all these spells. They are not complicated but they do take some time.”

As I mentioned, it took me some time to conjure all the magical steeds but once I finished casting, I was gratified to see that the others had had some success in finding the dragon’s wealth. There was a respectable pile of coins nearby, as well as a suit of red dragon armour, jewelry and other accoutrements.

We distributed those and then finally we mounted; without further delay, one by one, we flew into the opening and had our first look at the Dreamlands of Trilla.

Our first look was literally breathtaking. We landed on a surface, it looked like normal, flat stone but it rose out of the clouds which formed a thick cover below us. This cloud cover stretched into the distance in all directions, making it look as if there was a surface below us; a surface of beautiful, pure white. It was impossible to say what was underneath this pristine white cover; above our heads, again in all directions, we saw endless blue sky with flocks of birds flying in the distance. Among this truly incredible view, there were several strange islands, jutting out of the cover, giving them the look of cloud islands hovering in mid-air.

Further in the distance, a conglomeration of dark, roiling clouds formed a storm with bolts of lightning dimly discernible within. It was very dramatic.
In a different direction, we could see that one of the hovering islands was home to a castle. Yes, literally a castle in the sky. That struck a vague memory; something I read about castles in the sky. I couldn’t quite place it though. This castle had numerous pennants and flags fluttering in the wind.

As we scanned further, another direction showed us a sunset; it was the most dramatic view of all, as it looked like the sky was on fire. Washes of glowing gold cascaded down this horizon, creating visions of golden, fiery waterfalls. It was not quite as dramatic as the panoramic vision of the elemental plane of fire which I had seen in the sewers beneath Seaquen, but it came close.

I cleared my throat, only to find that my voice sounded normal, despite the hefty breeze around us:

“Which way?” I asked.

The others were also looking around and no doubt nearly everyone could see better than I. John was staring at the castle, Longhelim and Victor looked at the storm cloud while Drudge was looking at the sunset.

John was the first to answer:

“It has to be the castle. There will be someone there and hopefully, we’ll be able to talk to them and see what we can find out. Those other places in the horizon are just a little too unnatural for my taste.”

I just looked at him:

“Unnatural? The others are unnatural but the castle in the sky isn’t? Are you listening to yourself?”

“What I mean is that the castle was built by someone or something; castles also usually mean that someone or something is living in them. There is no indication that something is living in either the storm or whatever that is….over there.”

Longhelim and Victor were already beginning to move towards the castle. We followed them but I was still shaking my head, muttering:

“Right, so the storm and the waterfalls of fire are unnatural but the castle in the sky isn’t…….”

Then I had to stop as my conjured horses picked up speed and I had to keep my concentration to ride them. It was quite an exhilarating experience as the creatures galloped in the blue of the sky, avoiding clouds and the odd protrusion from the lower cloud cover. The gallop was also incredibly fast but the magic made it very comfortable.

Riding on magic horses through the endless skies of a Golden Dragon’s dream……if my journals were ever read by future generations, I had no idea what they would make of this.

I was rudely brought out of my reverie as we approached the castle. It quickly became obvious that it was not a nice place, judging by the flags and pennants. For a start, the building itself was black; never a good sign; then the pennants, flags, even the walls themselves were all marked with infernal runes. I was trying to concentrate to see just what they said but I was distracted by the flocks of flying……skulls as one of them approached quite close.

We rose up above the building but it was pretty much the same from above: black, infernal and with flocks of flying skulls. Ominously, black clouds had begun to converge above and suddenly, a bolt of lightning crackled around us. The electricity did very strange things to my beard. Despite this, we bore through and as we approached, there was a blood curdling wail which erupted from the building. We all managed to shrug off the unnatural wash of magic that had washed over us with that sound but at this point, the skulls began to hone in on us unerringly.

They swarmed towards in a huge flock but Longhelim activated the Torch and an enormous column of fire crashed down upon them, almost shattering the cohesion of the flock. Despite this, they carried on towards us.

Lightning was crashing all around us, bolts flashing very close and the remainder of the flock flew at us incredibly fast, swerving and dodging in a coordinated dance, but Longhelim managed to loose off another column of fire and this time, it did disperse the skulls. Good thing too as I didn’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t done so but I didn’t want to find out.

Once the skulls had been dispersed, we avoided the bolts of lightning and landed on one of the many balconies around the castle. There were doors leading inside and as we all landed, John pushed them open.

They revealed a large round chamber with three figures in the centre. Somehow, magically, we had ended up in the centre of the castle. The three figures were standing still, not making a hostile move but evidently aware of our presence, watching carefully. Slowly and carefully we descended the stairs, also making no sudden moves. As we approached we were able to discern our hosts. I recognized two of them immediately: they looked like Horned Devils, each carrying a pole arm….except that they were mechanical which meant that they were magical constructs made to look like the Devils, a completely different prospect to real infernals.

They stood side by side to another person in the middle and this individual was far more intriguing. For a start, he was wearing a very peculiar robe. It looked very luxurious and it had a set of beautiful patterns: they were all eyes and embroidered so realistically that I swear they were watching me. They were small, large, slanted, square, rectangular and shaped in ways I had never seen before; they were also blue, brown, green and topaz: I even thought I saw several of them blinking. When we finally reached within conversation distance, it was easy to see that the individual in question was certainly not completely human. He looked like a well kept man in his thirties, with the exception of his eyes, which looked much older; however, he did have a small pair of horns growing out of his forehead which was a fairly strong indication of a strong outer planar influence.

I recognized what he was immediately: a tiefling or a mixed blood between a human and in this case most likely a devil. These individuals were often very powerful and certainly judging by his castle and his actual presence, this being should not be underestimated.

He blinked at us curiously and then spoke:

“Good day to you. My name is Sagrimar and this is my abode.”

Longhelim inclined his head and replied just as politely:

“My name is Longhelim and we have arrived here only recently. These are my friends, Felix, Slippery John, Salubrious Drudge, Faden and Victor. We are seeking Trilla the Golden Dragon.”

A visible sigh escaped his body and I could see the tension leaving his posture. It struck me that he had been expecting a possible conflict but had taken a calculated gamble that we would want to talk.

He continued:

“Well, I am sure I will be able to aid you in your search; come, let me invite you to dinner. It has just been cooked and after that, we will talk.”

He turned his back on us and we followed him through a door into a large, decorated dining room; it was dominated by a large table which had already been prepared for seven people. The two mechanical horned devils followed us and stopped on each side of the door. The food was already set on the table, in silver and porcelain tupperware. It was all very civilized.

The warriors carefully sat down and then rather sheepishly stood up and began to divest themselves of their plate armour. It really wasn’t made for sitting down at a dining table. When that was done, dinner was served.

Our host kept up a very urbane flow of conversation and the food was some of the best I had ever eaten. It did not take long to understand that here in his castle, he was cut off from any news. Despite this, he was remarkably well informed, with a good knowledge of both the rulers of each of the important kingdoms of our land as well as their motivations. It was almost as if he had partial access to some information but it was not complete. He also must have had a great deal of historical knowledge; all in all a very interesting individual.

He was interested in everything; not just our recent adventures but also our ideas and interpretations about the various powerful individuals we had met. He also wanted to know about our ideas as to how the future was going to develop. We were quite discreet of course but it still all very intellectually stimulating.

The conversation flowed back and forth and as is usual, used up a great deal of time. It surprised me just how much time had passed. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, so much so that I even saw Longhelim take out his pipe; he only ever did that when he was relaxed. The paladin had been the most active member in the conversation with the tiefling. I had chimed in with the odd fact or two as had John but it was Longhelim who was the most lively conversationalist. The subject matters ranged widely and it was obvious that despite the odd couple aspect of the pair, one infernal, the other celestial, they got on very well.

Finally, over a set of steaming hot drinks, Sagrimar said:

“Ah, thank you my friends. That was the longest conversation I have had for some time, especially with a group as diverse as yourselves. What you have told me about Gate Pass, Dassen, Seaquen and these other places is quite fascinating. So, it is only fair that I reciprocate.

Come with me and I will endeavour to help you on your quest.”

With that, he led us into another room. This one looked more like a study or library; numerous shelves contained scrolls and books, a large window looked out onto the sky and a large desk sat under the window. On this desk stood something covered with a cloth which Sagrimar slid off to reveal a ball of crystal. I recognized it: it was a scrying device.

He activated with a few passes of his hands and then told us to look into it. As we did, several images formed and flashed within rapidly:

A large castle standing on a plain near an ocean.

An elven woman wearing a golden dress which looks like dragon’s wings. She seems to be sleeping but weeping tears of blood at the same time. Suddenly, a roar shakes the ball but it seems to come out of the depths of the ocean.

Sagrimar rapidly threw the cloth over the ball and looked shaken; then he turned to us and asked:

“Do you want to see any more?”

We all nodded so with obvious reluctance, he slid off the cloth again.

This time, the woman is awake and trapped on a rocky crag. She looks in horror as another roar shakes the crystal ball and the stars seem to be falling out of the sky. Whatever is coming, it is monstrous, huge and evil. One last roar and the crystal ball cracks; the image shatters.

Sagrimar looked shaken but then regained his composure and said:

“That is what Trilla’s castle looks like. The other parts of the vision may be her current dream; quite strange; that has never happened before.

Now, to reach the castle, you have to go through that huge cloud bank in the distance.”

He pointed at the enormous feature which I had thought to be the sunset.

The tiefling continued:

“The bank is very dangerous; once you are through it, you will have to focus on the sorrow of your hearts; that focus will guide you to the Abyssal Pillars; this is a group, a maze if you like, of huge stone pillars where the nightmare trillith live. However, if you are fast, you should be able to sneak through. Once you make your way through them, you will reach the Ocean of Stars; that is a fog shrouded ocean which acts as the floor of this plane if you like. On it, you will find a slick of blood; if you follow this slick, it will lead you to the gates of Trilla’s Castle.”