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

The next day was spent in spell learning and mostly in recovery. John and I spent the day doing the former while Felix and Longhelim indulged in the latter. Victor and Drudge did leave the Lyceum and returned in the afternoon with some shocking news. A bedraggled refugee had staggered out of the swamp with a horrific tale. He had been part of a large group of other refugees, men, women and children as usual; then, out of the sky, a huge beast flew at them and with one breath, wiped out the whole lot of them with the exception of this one survivor. This poor wretch, now with the Hospitallers, kept screaming about her wanting her egg back and “where’s my egg”. It did not take a genius to understand that Your Mightiness had raised the stakes and was getting impatient. We would have one chance tomorrow. I really hoped we managed to catch the thief.

The next day, Longhelim and Felix were well on the way to recovery and we discussed our plan for the meeting with John’s thief and came up with a novel idea. There was a strange spell; one which created a small demi plane; tiny really, only big enough to house a few people. In a slightly eccentric twist, the only way to access this planar pocket was with a rope that hung from it; this was what had caught my eye about this formula in the first place. I had never read of anything like it and it intrigued me; a rope hanging from the air? It seemed so absurd; apparently, once you climbed up the rope, you could actually gather the rope up and store it up there with you….for some reason. Anyway, the whole point was that once anyone entered this planar pocket, they became invisible; ideal for hiding groups of people. It lasted quite some time and even better, it could be dismissed instantly.

So, our plan was simple. We would purchase a scroll of this spell. John would cast it a fairly long time before the meeting. We would climb up into the pocket. John, as the caster, would also be able to dismiss the spell when it was convenient. Once that was done, we would try to catch the thief.

As with most simple plans, the initial idea was quickly sketched and then some time was spent in working out the details, several spells to cast on people before the actual event and a brief discussion of what actions should be taken initially once John dismissed the spell. One could not cover all eventualities but certainly the most likely ones were discussed. That took the early part of the morning and then everyone left.

In the middle part of the afternoon, John and I were sitting in the library, discussing the spell which would allow me to see him when he was invisible, when Longhelim appeared at the door.

“Is it time?” this from John.

Longhelim just nodded and we collected all of our things and followed him out of the Lyceum.

We traveled to the meeting point in the ruins and ascended to the pocket plane created by John’s scroll. It was quite cosy; despite this, we held several discussions within about how to try to convince the various factions to co-operate, how to deal with the dragon, about the situation in Gate Pass, the Shahalesti blockade and their motivation for supplying Gate Pass while it was being assaulted by the Ragesians. Thus, the time passed very quickly until suddenly, Drudge, who had been watching through the narrow opening in the pocket, suddenly stiffened and held his hand up. We all stopped talking and tensed. The warriors readied, I tensed and then, the spell ended.

Unfortunately, the drop, although not unexpected, was still tricky to manage, especially for the warriors in their armour and the result was that we all ended up in a heap on the floor. Looking around, I could see John just in front of us, close to another individual matching his previous description, who was now cursing and unlimbering his bow with expert speed. I was able to cast my speed spell and Victor jumped up and lurched forward, swinging with his falchion. He was still off balance and thus did not connect. The thief’s hands blurred and suddenly, John’s body sprouted several arrows. He really was an expert archer. Longhelim also rose to his feet and tried to hit him only to miss. Then Drudge stepped up and also loosed several arrows at him, one of which did hit.

The thief shot again and this time John slumped, bursting in flames. This allowed Drudge to shoot also and this time the thief cried in pain, as he was hit by two arrows. Longhelim also managed to strike and then with a grunt, Victor clouted him around the head with the flat of his blade. The thief fell.

We stripped him of his equipment and then tied him up. While this was being done, Felix healed John and once we were all ready, Felix healed our captive.

“You treacherous scum!” he spat, looking at John. “Let me go and give me my things back, otherwise you will never see the egg.”

John replied: “Where’s the egg?”

“Somewhere you’ll never find it. Let me go now. You don’t know who you are dealing with. I’ve got some very good friends; powerful friends. I’m warning you”.

John turned to Longhelim: “I don’t actually know what to do here. Normally, we would exchange his life for the egg but the dragon wants him as well and his delivery was part of the bargain.”

There was a yelp from the thief: “What! You can’t do that! She’ll kill me! Let me go and give me my stuff for the egg. You have to do that!”

I chimed in at this point: “The bargain was for him and the egg. This is an evil dragon we are talking about. We are taking a massive risk in dealing with her in the first place and we are playing for the highest of stakes here. If we only turn up with the egg, we don’t know what the consequences are going to be. At best, she will turn around and declare that we did not keep our part of the bargain, take the egg and keep the lyre; at worst, she will take the egg and then turn around and kill us in a temper; she didn’t look happy the last time we saw her.” An understatement if I ever uttered one.

Longhelim was looking troubled by this discussion. I am not sure quite why but I think he was only realizing now just what kind of bargain he had made with Your Mightiness.

The thief was bleating again: “Look, I found the egg on the lake shore and I wanted the money to feed the refugees.”

Well, at least he didn’t say “honest” at the end of that statement.

Victor, quiet as usual, had been looking dispassionately at the thief. Then he leaned forward and spoke so softly that we all had to stop talking and lean forward to hear what he was saying.

“You’re a miserable thief who stole a dragon’s egg. In the process, you managed to enrage the most powerful creature in the swamp; a swamp that is being used as a thoroughfare by hundreds if not thousands of refugees every day. She has already killed the first group, screaming for her egg. She is a mother who has had her child stolen; and she is also an evil dragon; she will kill again; and you are claiming that you did it for the refugees?”

He then leaned even further forward until he was almost nose to nose with the thief.

“What I can’t work out yet is whether you are just stupid; or stupid and evil; or stupid and you just don’t care. Either way, not only did you just steal someone else’s child, but yesterday you also directly caused the deaths of a whole column of refugees.”

“We are wasting time here. Let’s do what Diogenes did to Sherliss at Gabal’s School in Gate Pass”.

John’s face brightened: “Got it!”

Then he ran off towards the Lyceum.

Longhelim’s face, which had been troubled, hardened once he heard Victor’s statement. Victor had a way of stripping situations down to essentials; actions, reactions and consequences; motivation was irrelevant as it was guided by interpretation and perception.

Longhelim turned to the thief and then he shook his head slightly. The thief opened his mouth again but Drudge gagged him.

We waited for a little time and the John returned with a wand. Rapidly, he began using it and almost immediately, there was a total change in the demeanour of the thief. In short order, he suddenly became very friendly and led us to his hiding place for the egg, one of the caves on the shore in the ruins. After that, he was knocked unconscious again and we began to get ready for an expedition to the swamp. The sooner Your Mightiness received her egg, the sooner she would stop killing.

We rested in the Lyceum and the next morning we set out to the swamp, picking up our boats along the way. The journey to the lake was uneventful, in fact very quiet, as if all the creatures knew that there was a dragon in a very bad mood around.

Arriving on the shore, we laid the egg down and threw down the body of the thief. Then we had a brief discussion as to what to do next and then decided to go and wake up the dragon. So, Felix cast the spell which allowed us to breathe underwater and Victor and Longhelim set out under the lake.

We waited for a little time and then suddenly, we saw Your Mightiness erupt from the water, with Longhelim and Victor clutched in her claws. As before, I felt the primitive fear induced by her presence but again I managed to suppress it. Drudge and John were not so lucky and they curled up in a foetal ball next to me.

“Is that him?” she roared as she spotted the form of the thief on the ground. Without waiting for an answer, she landed, threw Victor and Longhelim aside and scooped up the body. Then she began a minute examination of the egg.

“Ummph, it seems all right” was her verdict. “Now wake him up!”

Felix healed the thief and this poor unfortunate became conscious in the claw of the mother dragon from whom he had stolen an egg; harsh justice but justice nonetheless.

“How dare you!” she roared at him and squeezed; he became limp again.

“Heal him again!” was her immediate reaction. Felix did so.

“Do you know how much pain you have caused me?”Another squeeze and he went limp again.
“And again,” she said to Felix.

He answered: “Look, he is a thief and he caused you much distress but I will not continue to do this. Yes, he deserves his punishment but we don’t need to be here as you mete it out. We have kept our bargain; lend us the lyre and we will be gone and after you may decide on the punishment of the thief who stole your child.”

“Heal him now!”

“Keep our bargain!”

She stared at us and then her mouth opened; I steeled myself and prepared for a lot of pain; then abruptly, she wheeled around, dropped the body and dove into the water. A few moments later, she re-appeared with a lyre and gave it to Longhelim.

“You have a month; now heal him and leave!”

Felix did so and we hurriedly left, clutching the instrument which we hoped would the life for most of the refugees in the Seaquen peninsula. As we did, we could hear screams in the distance.

This had all been very distasteful. If the thief had not been so idiotic…..yet as we floated back, I did wonder at the irony of it. The thief had stolen the egg which, according to his claim, he wanted to sell so that he could buy food to save as many refugees as possible; by his actions, no matter how misguided, he had potentially saved an enormous amount of refugees albeit in a different way; far more than he could have saved if he had sold the egg and actually done what he claimed he would do; the theft of the egg had forced the dragon to make a deal for the lyre. It would have been unlikely that it would have had any interest in any bargains otherwise. So now, thanks to the efforts of the thief, the lyre was now in our hands and with it we would save a lot of refugee lives.

Somehow, I doubt the thief saw it that way though; thieves seldom do. Their mindset is that stealing solves everything.

We hurried back to Seaquen, where we first approached the Ragesian Druids, showed them the lyre and told them of our plan. They were very impressed with the idea and immediately began to help with the planning of a settlement for the refugees. As discussed previously, we had decided to use the stone from the ruins of the old city and this was most acceptable to them as it meant that the building material was already available and there was no need to reclaim more.

Next, we visited Votberd and sought permission for a new settlement for the refugees, a much more permanent and safer one. His approval was grudging at best:

“Why? There are so many of them already. It will only encourage others to come. Well, I suppose we should put this in front of Simeon, but no good will come of it; mark my words.”

I found this attitude a little difficult to take, bearing in mind that we had risked our lives to move this scheme forward but at least he wasn’t digging his heels in completely.

Simeon, when told what we had been doing and what we planned, was far more amenable to the idea. In fact, he was positively enthused; probably because he knew about the abilities the lyre and realised what a rare opportunity it represented. He immediately suggested sending a note to Guildmaster Sheena Larkins asking to hire her best lyre player to get the most use out of the magical instrument.

One look at Simeon’s enthusiasm convinced Votberd that any objections he may have had should lie dormant.

After that, things really began to move. Various experts were summoned; planners, builders, artists and skilled labourers were told of the abilities of the lyre and that the plan was to build a permanent shelter for the refugees using the stone from the ruins of the old city. Soon, a building was picked as the headquarters of this new enterprise and runners began moving in and out at great speed. Longhelim then suggested that the power of the lyre could be aided by the refugees themselves. They may not have been skilled builders, but they could still carry things. Soon, a veritable army of men, women and children began carry stone about, under the direction of the builders; as soon as everything was in place, the musician began to play the lyre and it was…….magical. Stone disappeared and then appeared as if it had been placed by a master builder or artist; roads, floors, drains, walls, windows, rooves, doors all began to appear in a miraculous way. In its own way, it was sight that was as wondrous as any I had seen so far, with the exception of the panoramic views of the planes of fire and water.

On and on played the lyre; for almost all the daylight hours until the poor musician had to stop because he was feeling faint due to lack of food and water; by then though, the foundations of a new settlement, in fact a large town were well and truly laid.

We went to the Lyceum very contented that night and as we walked back, we realised that almost no one was sleeping. Everyone was still gazing in wonder at the foundations of the settlement and people were already planning what would go where next. Everyone was talking and children were shouting and laughing in excitement. Suddenly, the whole atmosphere in the town had changed; instead of desperation we now had expectation.

The night passed uneventfully and the next day, Longhelim left on a mysterious errand and returned shortly with an enchanting kitten. It was white and ginger, curious and playful in the manner of kittens. It was not at all afraid and was already mock fighting and paw swiping at fingers and anything else that happened to be within reach. We fed it and then everyone bar me left to visit the Ragesian Druids. It was time to urge them to join the communal Temple.

This time, the absence of the rest of the group was very short. I had barely settled to study my latest formula, a method for me to fly, when I heard everyone else returning.

Longhelim strode through the door:

“Success! The Druids are now behind the project. They had little choice by this stage of course. By the time Ferox finished with the head druid, he was putty in our hands. He couldn’t say yes fast enough!”

“Ferox?” I asked.

“Yes, Ferox, the mighty feline warrior!”

“You called that kitten Ferox? What did it do to deserve that sort of responsibility?”

“Just wait! In a few years, Ferox will be the king of cats around here. Especially after the Druid…..boosts it a little. Legends will be told of his deeds throughout Cat Kind.”

Longhelim seemed to be in such a good mood he was being a little silly. Still, it was good that we had now convinced the Druids to join us.

“Right,” he continued. “Next, it’s the Order of Echoed Souls. You are going to have to come with us on this one, Faden. This lot worship the god of sorcery so it will give our discussions a boost of they can see that we have an arcane caster among our number. Ferox was so welcome by the Druids that they even gave us their bear cub.”

Grumbling, I got up. I felt like a trophy to be held up while Longhelim did the talking but I saw the necessity of it. I was thinking of better things I could be doing though.

We had been told that the Order had set up a camp in a forest clearing some distance apart from the other Sindarian camp; we had not realised just how different this Order was from all the other refugees. Upon entering their camp, the first feeling was one of serenity and peace. There seemed to be no sense of crisis or urgency. The monks obviously had all their families with them but everything was being done in a calm silence; even the children just watched or performed their chores and errands in silence. What also looked obvious is that these people really didn’t need anything. They seemed to have all their supplies and logistics in place. It made a very pleasant change from the utter chaos of the Ragesian camps.

We were quickly welcomed by Dreams No Sorrows, a woman who looked as if she was middle aged but with old eyes. She gravely accepted the bear cub with a smile and commented that it would be treated with the respect that such an important symbol deserved. Then she politely enquired about our affairs.

Longhelim said: “As I am sure you have seen, the situation in the refugee camps is desperate. People such as the Ragesian Hospitallers and Laura Beck Adelsberg have been doing their utmost to alleviate their suffering. Recently, we have also managed to achieve a few deeds which we hope will save lives; however, much more would be achieved if they refugees united and the first step to that would be a shared building, a place where all the factions could meet and discuss; could plan and execute; in short, a place that could act as a central point for refugee affairs. We have the permission of Magister Lord Votberd to build on the Southern Shore of the Peninsula and we already have the support of most of the factions. The only ones we have yet to approach are the Dwarves and the Ragesian Savages; we seek your support and participation. Will you join us?”

I have to say, that although I did not say anything, even I found Longhelim’s presentation a little flat.

Dreams no Sorrows looked at us silently for a long time and then smiled gently:

“Honoured guests, you respect us greatly with your request. We are aware of the chaos and confusion that is reigning outside our encampment daily. It is for this reason that we will withhold our participation at this time. Although we understand the need of this alliance and we are aware of your worthy efforts, we feel this alliance you are forging is yet fragile and all it would take is one misstep and suddenly sides would become apparent; we would be asked to take a side and even if we refused, by not taking one, it would be perceived that we would manufacturing our own side. Please take this as a temporary refusal; but at the moment, we feel that we would like to wait until your alliance is stronger.”

Longhelim replied: “Thank you for your time. I hope we will be able to speak again soon.”

Disappointed we returned to the Lyceum.

After eating lunch, we then managed to get to a livestock dealer and purchased a goat. We were planning to visit the Dwarves and remembered that they felt that goats made a particularly appropriate sacrifice to their god.

Again, my presence was requested for this diplomatic maneuvering as I was a dwarf. This time Longhelim managed to put his speech across far more forcefully. He also spent hours reciting his ancestry, going into a genealogical spiral which had me agog. I had not realised that he could trace his ancestors to that extent. He was so convincing that I couldn’t tell if they were actually real or not. It did not matter. He convinced the dwarves, who enthusiastically promised to form part of the central Temple.

This took the rest of the day and it mitigated our failure to recruit the Order of the Echoed Souls. So, we still managed to go to bed with a sense of achievement.

The next morning, we had one final faction to approach. Our research had shown that the Ragesian Savages should be approached either first or last for our purposes, otherwise they would be greatly offended. They worshipped the God of Strength and believed that the mightiest were the greatest. Physical prowess was a manifestation of might and therefore desirable. Their philosophy was quite simple really.

As it was unlikely that my presence would aid Longhelim’s conviction, unlike yesterday, I decided to stay in the Lyceum and continue my spell research. Everyone else left in the early morning but were back by early lunch.

Longhelim quickly spoke to me: “This particular expedition was one of the simplest really. The Savages are led by a huge barbarian, incredibly strong; a half orc, Smashes Skulls by name. Despite the fearsome name, he is quite a nice chap. We connected fairly quickly. I think that as soon as he saw that Victor and I were warriors as opposed to diplomats, we were half way there. I spoke to him about the usual aspect of unity but I used the analogy of strength in numbers and layers as opposed to weak individuals and he got it straight away. We still had to show him that we could actually lift our swords but once he heard that we had managed to convince everyone else apart of from the Order, he was with us. I don’t think he gets the Order so it didn’t matter that much if they were in or not.”

“So, what then?” I asked.

“We went to see Laura. She couldn’t believe it. She had been trying so hard to get something going for months but as she said, there was only one of her. Poor thing, she burst out crying; she said that finally they could begin to get things going; that rather than people just dying, attempts could be made to better everyone’s lot. She began talking about setting up a school, a hospital……”

I had thought about the new situation a little further:” Votberd could still be a problem. His attitude seems to have hardened a bit; but that’s a political problem now. Lots of people here are better at politics than we are. Just so long as Idiot Pickins Frankart doesn’t get anywhere; mind you, I don’t think that Simeon considers him a problem, otherwise…..”

Longhelim replied: “Well, I don’t know about Frankart, but I tell you, if we decided we wanted to branch out in that direction, it wouldn’t be too difficult. I am not sure how but everyone seems to know what we have been doing and how we did it. We are quite the kings of the hill around here right now.”

I thought about it a bit.

“I don’t know for certain but that would most likely be Katrina. After all, it’s her job to sell us for Gate Pass and that girl is very good at selling. She’s also been very good at keeping people away from me when I am studying. Everyone here is hell bent on dueling; don’t know why. They’re all much better than I am. They’ve been practicing for years. Anyway, magic is more than about just using it for fighting. I’ve just worked out how Felix manages to fly and I’ve got this idea about these magical horses…….”

“Yes, all right, very good; Faden, you know that as soon as you start talking to me about things like that, I lose you after about the third sentence. Anyway, little more to tell you except that more refugees are still coming but that the trip through the swamp is not nearly as dangerous as it was. The lyre is still not ready to be used again but work is still being continued on the new settlements. Victor, Drudge and I are planning to go the Wayfarer’s Theatre this afternoon; not sure what Felix and John plan to do”.

With that, he left me to studies. I immersed myself in the magic and that night I dreamed of ghostly horses, riders and storms.

The next day, everyone left to mingle with the refugees, inspect the construction works, talk to various factions, soothe ruffled feathers, heal sick and ailing refugees, guide newcomers to potential allies and friends, distribute food and supplies; the tasks were endless but satisfying. Of course, I continued with my research and then everyone returned for a brief lunch. Victor, Longhelim and Drudge were full of their experience of the play. They found it hugely enjoyable if very fanciful and were most impressed by the magic of the ship.

John was a little more serious:

“I went to the Lost and Found Society as it has been dubbed; I asked about the disappearing girls in South Shore and was told in no uncertain terms to keep my nose out of things that did not concern me. That explains some things. If the Society is involved then our chances of catching anyone have become even more difficult. As we discussed, better leave this to the locals.”

With that, everyone left for the afternoon.

This pattern was repeated for the next several days. Longhelim and the others said that they had gone to Simeon to see if there was anything urgent that was suited to our particular talents but were told that considering our most recent achievements, we should enjoy our rest. We “rested” by undertaking all the tasks that I mentioned previously.

I indulged in the luxury of the Lyceum magical library. I doubted that I would get such a chance again and I wanted to seize as much knowledge as possible with both hands. I used all of the magical inks I had been generously granted by Simeon and then spent most of the funds I had accumulated to purchase some more. In a rather embarrassing situation, I found myself devoid of money.

It was as I realised this that I was told that this was the evening of the great gala invitation to the dignitaries of Seaquen and the Lyceum to attend the Wayfarer’s Theatre. I had actually been planning to stay and continue my research as I had little interest in the legendary adventures of a half orc druid; however, I had run out of both money and ink and I was very curious about the magic being used in the performance which everyone had mentioned. So, changing my mind, I put my best robes on and joined the others on the way to the performance. Everyone else was also looking their best. It was unusual to see Victor, Longhelim and Felix without their armour. John of course never wore visible armour, and Drudge was in armour that was not out of place in a theatrical performance. His leather shone magnificently. Everyone was armed of course. It would have been a step too far for the Wayfarers to ask everyone not to bring their weapons but the warriors were making an attempt to be discreet with cloaks or clothing hiding pommels and scabbards where possible.

Katrina was also with us, attired glamorously in a very revealing dress, blue this time. I am not sure if she was nervous or just tense, but she did seem to be talking a lot tonight, even by her standards; or maybe I had just forgotten what it was like travelling with her. Anyway, she decided to stay with us as we boarded the small boat which rowed us to the large ship, the Wayfarer’s Theater. As usual, it was quite windy, with the row over the harbour waters being fairly rough and wet.

Once aboard the ship, the pitching had abated noticeably and we were dried off by that little cantrip that was also being used in the Lyceum. Then we were led downstairs into the Theatre proper. As had been mentioned previously it was an impressive piece of extra planar magic. It was one thing to be told about it, and another to actually experience it. The seats were beautifully upholstered and very comfortable. The floor was carpeted and the walls were painted with scenes which I assumed were from myths and legends. They certainly looked like it. I presumed that there were cunningly hidden magical lights there, as well as sound emitters.

It seemed that we were one of the last to arrive as the play began almost as soon as we sat down. We were sitting at the back and I watched the story unfold. It was quite preposterous and my attention was quickly distracted by a very interesting commentary that Katarina was making about the performance we were seeing. Her interpretation was very good and it likened the play to the current political situation; with Ragesia, mighty and powerful, facing a lone hero who defies her for centuries and finally triumphs. Not everyone seemed to agree with Katarina’s interpretation though, as I saw several people turn and either look at her pointedly or even audibly tell her to keep quiet.

Then I became distracted by the various magical effects that were being used to enhance the play; the lighting, the sounds and the various illusions. Again, these were of a masterly standard. I tried to point this out to Drudge sitting next to me, but he told me to keep quiet as he was watching the play. He sounded quite grumpy. One had to hand it to these Wayfarers, even if they couldn’t use their planar magic any more, they were still great actors. I was trying to work out how it was all put together, twisting and turning in my seat, when the first act finished. Drudge quickly asked Victor if they could swap seats for some reason.

During the break, there was a slight altercation. Apparently a few people really did have a problem with Katarina’s commentary and in no uncertain terms were telling her that she was being objectionable. Katarina being Katarina was giving as good as she got and maintained that the true meaning behind the play was just as important as the overt version; and that she was sure that more people appreciated her version; and that as soon as they realised how accurate her interpretation was, that the people objecting to her commentary would also be grateful for her words.

Before more could be said, the lights dimmed again and the curtain went up. Defiantly, Katarina continued with her version. The second act of the play continued much like the first; then the lights went up again and as we relaxed, John stiffened and looked behind us. I followed his gaze and saw a figure step stealthily from the wall and go up the stairs, the exit nearest to us. As he turned, I caught a glimpse of his face and a flash of red on his clothing; I had seen enough in the past to realize that that was blood. The face belonged to Giorgio, the leading man and second in command of the Wayfarers.

“Quick, let’s follow him!”a loud whisper from Katrina.

We all followed her lead, up the stairs.

Almost immediately, I heard shouts and the clash of swords from above. I couldn’t see what was going on; the stairs were spiraling and I could only see Drudge and John in front of me. They were not moving, obviously blocked by the shouting and clashing swords above. Drudge and John finally moved but then suddenly, the stairs just disappeared. Everyone else was gone; I was just preparing to follow them when I found myself with nothing to ascend; most frustrating.

The shouts and sounds of combat had attracted more of the audience as well as the presence of a truly beautiful woman. She was moving towards me with stately grace when the stairs disappeared. The grace went out the window and a full fledged sprint replaced it. She looked at the absence of stairs in disbelief:

“What? No one should be able to do that!”

I presumed this was Guildmaster Sheena Larkins.

She made several magical passes and cast several spells in quick succession. I studied what she did but a great deal was very much beyond me.

Other parts of the audience were becoming very restless as they suddenly realised that they were trapped. Those stairs were the only way out.

“Oy, woman! What kind of messed up play are you running here! What’s happened? Where have the stairs gone?” Votberd’s distinctive voice rang out in the hall.

By this point, I couldn’t hear anything from above because there was so much noise from down here. Several people seemed to be conferring with Sheena and finally she nodded.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she began, “my apologies for this impromptu interruption in the performance. Please give me a little time and I am sure I will be able to restore both the exit and the performance shortly.”

After that, she began to perform a long, powerful and complicated ritual. I watched her closely. I could only catch a part of it before I lost track of her magic but despite this, I was able to follow bits here and there; it was magic of a very high order. I was to the side and saw Simeon watching her and once or twice make a small hand motion, as if prompting her.

After some time, the stairs appeared again and there was a rush upstairs.

I finally managed to get up there and saw……a mess. Victor, Longhelim and Felix were a mess, with torn, bloody clothing and the corpse of a half orc next to them. It must be said that they looked little better than corpses themselves. Katarina was an unconscious figure next to them, with a huge bump on her head.

Victor was the first person I saw: “What happened?”

Victor, being Victor, said: “They had full plate armour; we didn’t.”

Seeing that Simeon and Sheena Larkins had both approached as well, Longhelim stepped up:

“We emerged on deck to see Giorgio doing something in the cabin over there.” He motioned to a cabin behind him.

Sheena, paled and involuntarily uttered: “No” as she lurched forward.

“Don’t worry,” continued Longhelim, “John stopped whatever it was he was doing there. We assumed he was setting up the ship to teleport and fry us all.”

“Anyway, Giorgio had several friends; a big barbarian, a cleric wearing full armour and a gnome. There was a fight and they crucified us. Victor and I both came very close to death. The only reason why we won was because we outnumbered them quite badly. If it wasn’t for that, we would now be finding out what happens to us when the ship teleports. Oh, by the way, he also disappeared in a flash of flame, much like our friend Mr. Beard from the Fire Forest. I don’t know if Giorgio was a “child of Hell” as Katrina would say but he certainly acted very similar to one. Oh yes, there is also a small boat tied down there. I am not sure what is in it but there are several shapes tied in canvas sacks down there. Now, I would like to leave this damn boat as quickly as possible.”

Sheena looked stricken. She also looked very worried. I was not surprised. If she had that sort of treachery happening under her nose and had no suspicions, well, she was not much of a Guildmaster. The full leadership of Seaquen had almost perished because her second in command was a traitor; and she obviously had had no idea, as she would have been one of the victims.

I was still looking around, when I noticed that everyone was making their way to the small boats at great speed; the ship was also pitching much more than previously. Oddly, I had not noticed it because I was not feeling the pull of the wind; at all. No doubt about it; the wind had definitely picked up but it was not making any difference to me; I was impervious to it. So were Drudge, John, Longhelim, Victor and Felix; in other words, this seemed to be part of the changes that we had felt since our exit from the Forest.

Nevertheless, like everyone else, we left the Wayfarers Theatre and rapidly returned to the Lyceum.

Once there, all of us were quickly shunted into a room where several healers were sent to deal with the injuries suffered by everyone; and all the others were very banged up, none more so than Katarina. Apparently, she had been shunted over the deck rail and fell down to the small boat tendered next to the ship.

All this healing, by wand, potion and spell took a little time and then everyone went to the library, waiting for any news. A little time later, Simeon and Kiernan both came in, looking serious; in fact Simeon looked shocked. Kiernan just looked as if he wanted to crush rocks.

“I don’t know where to start,” he said. The slowly, as if ordering his thoughts he began. Just as he did so, I noticed Torrent entering.

“From what we can piece together, Giorgio’s plan was to teleport the ship with all of us aboard. If it hadn’t been for Katarina and yourselves noticing……. well, I don’t think I need to elaborate.

The small boat tendered to the Wayfarer’s ship was full of dead elven bodies. Except that they weren’t elves; they were humans, who had been changed. We think we know where.”

I blurted out: “That shop….what is it called; down in South Harbour. The one that changes people for money?”

“Yes indeed, Faden. Majestic Creations is responsible, we believe. I understand the scheme was to teleport the ship and then everyone would find the a boat full of dead elves floating where the ship had been, immediately casting suspicion on the Shining Lands of Shahalesti; as it is, rumours are already gathering that the elves are responsible for trying to kill us all and everyone is shouting for retribution against them. Considering that the Shahalesti are in a fleet on the high seas, I am not sure just what they will do but never let the facts stand in the way of a good riot. However, I do have people working to dampen this speculation down already. Also, the weather seems to be getting worse, much worse.”

Longhelim cleared his throat: “Very wise. The last thing we all need at the moment is conflict with Shahalesti. Ragesia is the real enemy; the fact that the Shahalesti were set up for this tells us a lot as to who is most likely responsible.”

“Indeed” said Simeon and then he hesitated. “This brings me to my next point. I don’t know how to say this. There is no easy way. I worked with the man for years; we all did. I cannot understand what made him do it.” He shook his head. “I am getting ahead of myself.”

“We performed several spells on the poor wretches who had been changed into elves. They are human. With the help of our priestly colleagues, we were able to speak with the corpses; the man who was responsible for this whole plot was Lee Sidoneth!”

I stared at him, stunned. If it was true then it was catastrophic. Lee had been privy to the War Council; as harbour master, he had been powerful and highly placed in the bureaucracy of Seaquen but it wasn’t just that. It was also all the information that he would have picked up while living here; the layout of the Lyceum; its leaders and students; their names, families; the strengths and weaknesses of the mages; of Kiernan and Simeon. The general knowledge he would have been able to pick up in the town. The information that would be flowing through Seaquen would have provided priceless material for whichever intelligence service was his master; I assumed it was the Ragesians. Everything, and I mean everything of any sensitivity that had been discussed in the Lyceum and Seaquen would now have to be considered as compromised.

By looking at their faces, I could see that both Simeon and Kiernan had both realised this. Another aspect was that if Lee had made his move, assuming that this was the attempt to assassinate the leadership of Seaquen, then all of his plans had to be in place; which meant he would have most likely already reported everything and he would have been given instructions or permission to enact this plan.

Kiernan and Simeon were probably remembering nearly every sensitive piece of information or potentially indiscreet comment they may have made to Lee over the years. It must have been horrible.

It was betrayal of the worst kind.

On a more personal note, no doubt descriptions, names and details would have been relayed to his masters about the abilities and powers of the representatives of the Resistance of Gate Pass. I remembered the length of the narrative given to him by Torrent detailing our adventures during the journey from Gate Pass. Then I suddenly remembered, Torrent had been sent to Gate Pass to make contact with the Resistance there. She would have given him all the information she had gathered about them within the city; no doubt, this information was on its way to General Deneva at this very moment, if it wasn’t already with him.

What a disaster!

Torrent sagged: “No! That can’t be! He sent me to Gate Pass to muster the Resistance! I don’t understand! Are you sure?” Tears began to stream out of her eyes; she looked devastated. No doubt she was just beginning to realize the enormity of this just as I was.

“The dead cannot lie. Not all of them, all the time. Think of his advice as Harbour Master as well. Ships should not be tethered in harbour just in case they need to make a quick getaway? And now, the grandmother of all storms is brewing up out there? A second point; think about it; what is the best way of getting to know who is in The Resistance in Gate Pass? Basically, he sent you to muster it to find out who was in it; and we all fell hook, line and sinker for his schemes.

At the very least, we should bring him in to answer questions. Would you be willing to do that? Kieran and two of his students are planning to go.”

Longhelim answered: “Of course we will go.”

“As will I,” said Torrent. “I have to get to the truth of this.”

I thought quickly about this. “The first place to look is his house but if he is there, it will be a fortress; and he has got that nasty squid. I bet he has let it loose. Does everyone remember how to get to his house? Over a rickety wooden walkway above the sea? Imagine if you are a warrior in plate armour and that thing grabs you with one of its tentacles and pulls you over; in full armour. That will not be pleasant. “

John frowned: “I see that. It is a nasty approach and he could also have trapped it.”

I turned to Simeon: “Felix has this very useful spell that allowed us to walk on water; but he has no spells left after that fight on the Wayfarer’s ship. That could at least neutralize the biggest danger from that damn squid. Could you let us have two scrolls of that?”

Simeon nodded.

“Right, if so, then we will get ready to go.”

So, an expedition consisting of Torrent, Kiernan and his two students as well as our group set out. It was immediately apparent that the storm had markedly increased in intensity. There were still a few people out but they were running for shelter and the winds were whipping up any loose materials. Many of the ships in the harbour looked to be in great danger.

It was also immediately apparent that no one of our group or Torrent were affected by the winds, something which was of great curiosity to Kiernan.

However, we had business first. Approaching Lee’s house, we cast what few spells we had. I also watched Kiernan cast his defensive spells and was awed at the magic he demonstrated. Some of it I recognized but there were also spells which were beyond me, far, far beyond me; but they did give me ideas…….

Thus bolstered, cautiously and slowly, we walked over the walkway, John at the front, checking for any nasty surprises, especially squid tentacles rising out of the sea.

Nothing happened.

Reaching the house, it was immediately apparent that it was deserted. A detailed search was performed which revealed nothing. Drudge pointed at a bit of ground and as usual, I just saw wet earth, but he assured us that he could see Lee’s trail. It led to a path leading to a small cove on his island and ultimately into the water. We knew that Lee, as a druid, could change shape so frankly, it was obvious that he could be anywhere. Especially, since by his reckoning, Drudge said that it was some time since he abandoned the island.

We returned to the Lyceum. The storm had grown stronger, very quickly. By this stage, we had become suspicious. I cast a spell and realised that this storm was magical. It looked as if Lee also had an alternate plan.

We reported to the Lyceum where Simeon told us that he was already aware that the storm was magical. He advised us to cram our spells.

“This isn’t over yet” was his mutter as he walked out the door.

We feverishly learned our spells. As usual, it felt as if I was stuffing wool into my eyes and ears but it was necessary. We could ill afford to go after a powerful druid without defenses.

Sometime later, Simeon returned, looking grim but satisfied:

“Well, we tried to scry him but as you can imagine, that didn’t work. There are lots of ways to shield yourself against that and he knows most of them. However, we then tried to think differently and we have come up with a plan by which we can magically guide one of you to go to the centre of the storm. If this storm is so magical then Lee has to near there somewhere. Look, it’s now too dangerous for any of us to go out there because of the storm; you are not affected by the winds. I have no idea how you are managing that and I would love to find out once you return but first, please go out and get that………person, please?”

Victor and Longhelim just nodded and the rest of us wearily rose and began to trudge into the storm.

The guiding magic was put on Victor.

Once out, we were in a full, furious storm of such magnitude that even large chunks of stone were flying in the air. Much of the work we had done on the permanent shelters had been undone and I winced at what was happening to the refugee shelters. It was too late for them. The casualties were going to be extensive and bloody.

As Victor led us, we wound our way into the ruins until we came to the old street system. The warrior led us right to the shore until we came to a rusty gate. Eerily, the weather here was clear and calm; we had reached the epicenter of the storm. We could see through the gate. It led to a dilapidated court yard, one side of which was bordered by the sea. Ghastly gargoyles leered at us from a semi ruined roof and a set of stairs led into the water.

I groaned: “Not the bloody stairs…..”

Victor nodded: “I’m afraid so”.

“Well, we had better cast what spells we can now because we won’t be casting anything after we go down there. I hate going under the water.”

So, various spells were cast, including the one that allowed us to breathe underwater. After that, with torches in hand, gingerly we stepped into the water. Initially, it didn’t cover us and it became obvious that we had entered into the remains of a substantial house that had partly slid into the sea. The water was already up to my neck, which meant it was up to everyone’s else’s waist.

Cautiously, Victor, in the front, entered into a room when he stopped and shouted: “Ware enemy!”

I squinted into the darkness, trying to see this “enemy” that Victor was shouting about. I was stuck behind Longhelim, who in turn, was second behind Victor. Initially, all I could see were two shapes moving rapidly towards Victor.

As they came into the torch light, I saw that they most closely resembled turtles; I had read about turtles, although I had not actually seen one in the flesh. This particular pair certainly did not match any description I had read; for a start, they had several more limbs than they were supposed to have; these limbs ended in claws. They also had vicious looking jaws, beaks almost; finally, they surged forward in a most un-turtle like manner, with crunching claws and snapping jaws.

With the water almost to my neck, I was in no great shape to cast spells, so I retreated up the corridor, letting the taller and more useful Felix take my place. There was a lot of shouting from the front with a great deal of cursing from Victor and:

“…..just what are these things armoured with……?” from Longhelim, slightly breathlessly and pausing at various times as he was obviously hitting them with his sword.

Cautiously, I moved forward again and this time I could see both Longhelim and Victor flailing with their weapons. They did not seem to be very adept at fighting waist deep in water; Victor was swinging wildly while Longhelim did managed to hit the turtle but mostly on its carapace, doing no discernible damage. Drudge, also finding it difficult to use his bow in the water, moved in with his sword and, not wearing metal armour, managed to get his arm badly snipped by one of the claws.

Longhelim finally managed to hit one properly, and once he managed to get under that carapace, it was surprisingly soft, requiring only a couple of solid cuts before it stopped moving. Drudge also hit the one next to Victor and Victor finally connected with the Living Blade of Innenotdar, managing to shear its head off completely.

As we entered the room, I looked at the corpses curiously. As I stated previously, they may have resembled turtles but that was as far as it went. I wondered if Lee Sidoneth had used his friends at Majestic Creations to change them as well…….

“Faden, stop looking at the corpses and concentrate! You can’t afford to drop your guard here of all places!”

I started guiltily at this admonition from Longhelim; he was quite right. No matter how interesting this new species was, this was neither the time nor the place for study. I looked around me and saw a large semi-submerged room, with an opening to our left, which was south, a corridor and two doors straight ahead of us, which was west and a door to our right, which as North.

Everyone else was looking at the various access points in Victor raised his falchion and pointed it in the direction of the open corridor ahead of us:

“The spell is pointing me that way.”

John spoke up then:

“Should we not check what is behind these other doors first? It’s just that if we move forward, meet something nasty ahead and then get hit from behind…….”

What he said made sense, so we decided to go to the Northern door first; Victor was going to open it and we positioned ourselves to support him should something nasty be on the other side. Opening it, a horde of swimming rats erupted from the door. However, rat hordes were something Victor was familiar with and he swung rapidly with his sword, dispersing the rodents; suddenly, the few remnants were doing their best to swim as far away from him as possible.

A brief inspection of the room beyond revealed nothing of interest; it was obviously derelict.

We decided that the next door to open would be the one just north of the open corridor. Everyone got into position again and when Victor opened it, another strange room was revealed. The water was a little shallower here and dead fish floated all over the place; consequently, it stank; there was the glint of coin through the water but at the far end of the room, there was a large, iron bound chest. Victor called everyone over and I first looked into the room, to make sure that there were no creatures lurking under the water. My vision in the darkness was greatly superior to anyone else’s, thanks to my dwarven heritage.

Once that had been established, John moved forward, cast a little spell and waited expectantly. Out of all of us, I knew what he was waiting for. I had managed to perfect the spell that allowed me to see invisible beings so I could see the shapeless force that he created. He willed it over to the chest and it seemed to envelope it for a brief moment but nothing happened.

With a mutter, John noisily stomped into the room and reached the chest. Then he took out his picks and began to do what he usually did when suddenly he gave a yelp and began to tug at his hand frantically. It seemed to be stuck to the blasted thing. Suddenly, the chest grew a tentacle which sped towards John and a mouth full of teeth appeared in its body.

I silently fumed. Half eaten fish….we should have known.

Too late now; Victor moved forward, followed by Drudge and Longhelim. The three of them surrounded the “chest” or whatever it was but it was remarkably tough. Hitting it was no problem, although Victor was having trouble keeping his balance in the water, but penetrating through that “wood” was another matter entirely. Then suddenly, the tentacles it produced previously flew out again and in moments, Drudge, Victor and John were all stuck helpless to this chest. No matter how much they struggled, they could not move. That left Longhelim who was hitting it with his sword and finally he seemed to be chipping away at it. In fact, it looked to be hurt quite badly.

It swung out one last tentacle at Longhelim but it missed and the paladin was able to hit it one last time and it slumped, letting go of the other three. John and Victor had been slightly hurt but it was more their pride than anything else.

Once recovered, the coins turned out to be nothing more than silver and copper although as we looked around, we could see that there was a shelf full of bottles with some kind of liquid; lots of bottles; we put those away into various containers.

Vacating this room, we then looked into the southern opening. This again led into a large room; the only unusual feature there was a body floating in the far corner. The invisible force that John had summoned could now carry our torch so we sent it forward to illuminate further but that was all it seemed. The force then poked the body a bit to see if there was a reaction but with no results. So, carefully, Victor advanced until he reached the far end. Again there was no reaction and a cursory examination revealed a partly decomposed corpse with a golden necklace; spoils of war.

The final door in this room revealed a brief corridor with a lever in the middle of the northern wall. John couldn’t resist. He sent his force in and pulled the lever down; nothing visible happened so we left the room and prepared to go down the corridor.

With John’s invisible friend holding the torch, we sploshed our way in; it became rapidly obvious that we had stumbled into an old cellblock. The corridor was narrow and as before the whole place stank of sea water and decaying debris. There were small spaces everywhere, divided by bars although these had seen much better days. They were pitted, many of them corroded all the way through, ending in jagged stumps due to age.

Any thought of stealth was pointless so we just went as quickly as possible. Then, as we neared an intersection, Victor stopped and pointed: a horrific skeleton was rising out of the water, dripping water, and other stuff. Like the bars, its bones were pitted and encrusted with mollusks and weeds. There was nothing wrong with its claws though as it slithered through the bars and launched itself at Victor. It was quickly joined by several others emerging from the water in various nearby cells. As Victor prepared, suddenly there was a plague of these skeletons stretching back beyond the light.

Then several of the nearest burst into shards as John waved his odd little mask around shouting:

“Roll them bones!”

I thought it was quite an unusual challenge but it seemed to work.

This didn’t stop the others though as they replaced those that had been destroyed. Victor was dodging and weaving until there was a deeper, more profound cry from Felix:

“In the name of The Traveller, you are released!”

This magic was a little more impressive as all the skeletons in sight suddenly burst into shards; we could even hear others bursting beyond our sight. Then four others ran into the light and surrounded Victor, squeezing impossibly through the bars and despite his weaving, one of them managed to scratch him. Then Felix called out the same imprecation and the last few were released, to use his own words.

Victor’s magic pointed him South or to our right and a corridor conveniently led that way. It led to a door but there was a significant change in the depth of water as this corridor sloped down; or the water depth increased; the end result was the same: I was under water and pretty much useless.

We reached the door and by this stage, everyone was under the water. Thankfully, Victor had no trouble opening it, revealing a large space. In front of us was a pathway leading East, or to our left; another diagonal bridge led southeast and Victor was pointing to this bridge, signaling that his magic was urging him that way. Cautiously, he stepped forward onto the bridge, stopped and then pointed down; as he did so, three creatures swum upwards at great speed.

I could make them out only dimly as underwater they were just shapes, but they swarmed around Victor who certainly did not have any trouble in hitting them. He managed to hit one and it stopped moving immediately, an inky cloud rapidly spreading around it. One other swum towards Longhelim and Felix. The former, nothing loth also swung and engaged his enemy; unfortunately, he was viciously attacked and scratched quite badly. These creatures were almost frenzied in their willingness to hurl themselves at us. The final creature had swum onto Victor and was at his head height, ripping with its claws and biting with its jaws. Victor used his left hand to rip it off his head and as it swum back at him with fanatical viciousness, he caught it with his sword with such a perfect stroke that he cut it in half.

Longhelim did not deal with his quite so spectacularly but he did manage to hit is several times and it finally floated down to the bottom, inert.

Victor turned around and, now surrounded by his own inky pool, he pointed determinedly to the exit, walking back the way we came.

Once we were out of the water he was his usual succinct self:

“We won’t get an opportunity to heal underwater. We better do so while we have the chance. The spell pointed me to a door on a level under the bridge.”

Felix and John healed both the warriors as this was likely to be their last chance.

As this magic was being performed, curiously I asked:

“What were those things?”

Victor grimaced: “I have no idea. They looked like men who had been turned into fish; or fish who had been turned into men. They were humanoid, with spines, large bulbous eyes and must also have gills as they had no trouble breathing underwater. They also had very sharp claws and teeth and certainly swum like fish. Oh, and they also had spines along their backs.”

Once the healing was finished, we strode under the water again, keeping a wary eye out for fishmen.

However this time we moved onto the bridge without any hindrance and jumped down next to the door. Once every one was ready, Victor opened the door. It revealed a room with a large shaft in the floor. Due to the changes wrought in us, we were unable to feel it, but the shaft looked fiery so presumably there was heat coming out of it. There was also a pulley system set up, obviously to lower people or things down the shaft.

There was no help for it; we would have to go down this hole.

I am afraid that will be it for a little time. This is as far as we have got at the moment. I will keep this up as well as I can but more sporadically from now on.

Maybe we'll catch up on you then. We're at start of the burning forest part, I just need to find the time to connect the player logs into a story.

I hope you manage to put together the player logs. I will be interesting to see what your players did and how they reacted to various situations.
As for catching up with us, I suspect that won't be difficult. We don't play that often.
Hope you are having as much fun with the game as we are.

As I watched while the others looked down the glowing shaft, I briefly contemplated that out of all the things that I wanted to be doing right now, standing underwater in the rooms of a long forgotten pyromancer, staring down a fiery shaft and deciding who was going to jump down it first, was pretty much at the bottom of the list; the only slight silver lining in this whole situation was that it was not going to be me.

So it proved, as Victor swung himself over the edge and dropped down; he was quickly followed by Longhelim, then Felix and then Drudge motioned me forward; blasted water; not only was it impossible to cast spells, one couldn’t even complain properly. So, casting caution to the winds, I moved forward and jumped down the shaft.

The red glow tended to limit vision even more than the darkness did and it was impossible for me to calculate just how far I dropped when suddenly and impossibly, the water just…..stopped. I fell down through the air for a short distance and then landed on something hard which grunted. I realised that I was in fact on top of Victor. Quickly, I moved and looked around me.

We were inside a huge cave, lit with yet more eerie red light, this time coming from a large fissure bisecting the whole floor, with a bridge over this chasm uniting the two halves of the space. However, that was all I could immediately discern as more urgent matters grabbed my attention; such as a group of figures on the far side of the bridge pointing cross bows at us; behind them, another figure, this one wearing a bear skull mask; finally, the whole area in which we were standing was unnaturally silent, thereby prohibiting spell casting, again.

Although poor Victor was still on the floor, Longhelim was already on the bridge, preparing the face the enemy. Felix was behind him and I moved forward. As I suspected, the figure wearing the bear skull was an Inquisitor while the figures with the crossbows were warriors with more than a little orc blood; they were also wearing Ragesian uniforms.

I shook my head. This must be some of Lee’s support team. He even had an Inquisitor down here. Victor had finally managed to join Longhelim at the bridge and they both readied to move forward to engage the warriors; unfortunately, at that moment, a curtain of fire literally dropped on them; and on me, as I was standing in line with them, albeit some distance away. It burned. Thankfully, I had my fire protection magic active but I winced as I thought what this must have done to the warriors.

We had seen one of these before, in the Fire Forest of Innenotdar as it was chasing us. So we knew to move back but we were not quite sure what we would do once it hemmed us against the far wall. Then I turned around and saw that clever John had managed to fix a rope to the pulley above the shaft and the end of it was now dangling from the “bottom” of the water, which was actually the ceiling.

So, we all moved back to the far end of the cave and began preparing to climb up the rope. Even when not within it, the heat of the fire curtain was such that it was still dangerous unless one was some distance away; and we were fully expecting that curtain to begin rolling forward.

Then, as we looked, several fiery projectiles burst through the fire but only just managed to penetrate the curtain. I was puzzled for a moment then I realised that the enemy warriors were shooting their crossbows through the magic, not understanding that the spell would just burn them. Then I also realised that the curtain had not moved; so, maybe it was different than the one we had experienced in the Forest. This one was a little less deadly.

We had come to a curious stand-off. We could not see what the enemy was doing but simultaneously, they couldn’t see us either; more importantly, they couldn’t shoot us full of crossbow bolts, a decided advantage to us as far as I was concerned. I watched the curtain nervously and a little later, I saw one of the warriors poke his head through the curtain. He seemed to be unharmed so they must have had some sort of magical fire protection as well. The head withdrew and a concerted rain of fiery projectiles sped through the curtain again. Some of them even fell quite close. I moved a forward a little; due to my magical protection, I was able to stand the fire a little better and the area into which everyone had squeezed was getting a little crowded.

A little more time passed as more bolts failed to make it through the curtain and finally, the fire was extinguished and a group of eight warriors, obviously ready, charged us.

They were screaming, no doubt to try to scare us but the effect became a little comical as their terrifying cries were suddenly cut off when they reached the area of magical silence; nevertheless, they ran at us, straight into Victor and Longhelim’s swords.

I saw one of them being severed almost in half by Victor’s sword; another suddenly dropped when an arrow sprouted between his eyes; Drudge’s handiwork, no doubt. I was next to John, and suddenly I was confronted by a snarling, silently grimacing maniac with a battle axe, which smashed into my ribs. I was just as angry and even managed to clout him around the head with my staff. John then stabbed him with his dagger but that was not enough to slow him and as the axe bit into my side again everything went black……

I groaned; well, that was a good sign. It meant I could hear myself which in turn meant that we were out of that infernal silent zone. Felix was bent over me with his magical wand which was blessedly soothing. Murmuring magic, he used the wand until I was feeling like my old self again and then I looked around me with great interest:

“Longhelim, what happened?”

He grunted, obviously also still smarting: “Tough fight; that Inquisitor had some bag of tricks. After you went down, he first froze Drudge with some sort of magic; not sure what it was. Then he moved to Victor and tapped him his chest; Victor just dropped. Felix said he had a bruise the size of a fist there. I am not surprised; whatever that devil did, it just took Victor out. Things were looking a little tricky at that point. Felix and I were coping with the warriors but the Inquisitor was causing havoc. Then Drudge finally comes out of his spell, or whatever it was and shoots him, several times. Then he begins to shoot the warriors and they don’t like it. Felix got smacked around with those axes a little bit and he took out his magical mace and did something which made everyone feel a little better.

We managed to decimate the warriors by this stage and then I confronted the Inquisitor; then we all realised that thankfully he wasn’t much of a swordsman; he wasn’t very good at dodging arrows either, as Drudge had already proved and ultimately that’s what did for him in the end. There he is over there,” finished Longhelim, pointing at a corpse with several arrows sticking out of it.

“Oh, by the way,” he added, “Victor is positive that our former friends were waiting for us down here. I am not sure how they knew we were coming but I think we can surmise that anything else that may be down here will also be aware of us.”

“Just marvelous” was my thought to that.

Anyway, while Felix and John were looking after the others, I looked around me with a great deal of interest. As I mentioned previously, this was a huge cave; somehow, the water was being stopped from flooding it. My mind was finding it difficult to comprehend this and just what magic was being used to produce this effect. The bottom of the fissure was full of glowing lava which provided the eerie red light prevalent throughout the cave which I had mentioned previously; while we didn’t feel the heat, I think it would have felt uncomfortable for anyone else.

A warding ring of some sort was etched into the wall in silver; I wanted to go and examine it but I knew that we did not have the time to analyse it. This was magic so far beyond me that I did not have the slightest idea just how it was achieving its end. I stared, fascinated; it may have been beyond me but I still wanted to know what it did. Then Longhelim tapped me on the shoulder and pointed wordlessly at the rest of the group who were clustered around a door on the western wall of the cave.

In front of them was a little pile of potion bottles, a wand and the Inquisitor’s mask; John was also putting away a set of keys; spoils of war from what I could tell. The other things were disappearing into magical backpacks.

We positioned ourselves in case trouble erupted and then John’s invisible friend opened the door; a humorous name for a new spell he had learned. It was a useful formula; I would have liked to have learned it, when I had the time……

The door revealed an empty room; three pallets lay on the floor but the most arresting feature in this space was a very realistic and beautifully carved dragon’s head in the middle of the wall facing the door. It looked angry with fierce eyes and there was a mysterious darkness in its open mouth. In fact, it looked so realistic that I tensed, ready to jump in case this disembodied mouth decided to breathe something unpleasant at us.

There were also two doors leading out of this room; north and south or left and right of the dragon’s head. John immediately sent his invisible friend to fiddle with the locks and examine the doors but nothing happened. Then he decided to send it into the darkness surrounding the dragon’s mouth; we baulked a little when he decided to do that and people drew a little away in case something unpleasant happened but surprisingly, nothing did.

Cautiously, we entered into the room again and this time opened the north or right door. It revealed a corridor leading into the darkness. Just on the edge of our light, we could see another door, to the north, or the right; John sent his friend with a torch ahead and then we all followed up behind. The corridor led into another room, this one slightly more sinister than the previous one. Its most salient feature was a large container sitting in a corner. It was surrounded by three other containers, smaller in size. As we approached them, we could see that all the containers were filled with some green, viscous liquid; a closer inspection revealed a figure inside the large container, just lying there; it wasn’t moving even after we shone a light on it so we approached even closer and it was revealed to be one of the bizarre fish men that had attacked us earlier.

I shuddered and spoke: “It’s that blasted Majestic Creations again; they are growing this poor creature, or changing it or something of that ilk. It looks as if they are into this whole mess up to their necks.”

The others didn’t say anything but began looking around. Our attention was grabbed by two pillars of lava running up and down the wall at the far end of the room, the western wall. Again, this was magic that was incomprehensible to me and which broke the natural rules which I had read about in the tomes of learned men. The more I stayed in Seaquen, the more I determined that these men were obviously not learned at all; in fact, from my recent experiences, they seemed to have very little education; yet something more to ponder in the future.


On the opposite wall, to our left or the east, there was a book shelf and as well as another shelf on which sat a whole collection of various bottles. Some of these had strange liquids, others didn’t.

A brief look revealed that the books were reference works on this discipline of Biomancy and a cantrip revealed that one of the bottles on the shelf was magical in some way. There was also another door in the Eastern wall, or to our left, which we suspected led back to the original room with the dragon’s head and another door to the south or straight in front of us.

We continued to examine this room carefully but found little else of interest. So, we returned to the door we passed in the first corridor, the one leading north. John was again able to get his friend to open it and it revealed a plush, luxurious room with a beautiful carpet and which was dominated by an antique desk; however, what drew our immediate attention was an object on the desk. An oval wooden setting, carved with the figures of two wind deities blowing into the universe, held a dark orb; it was made of black crystal with odd, beautiful silver veins tracing a mysterious pattern on its surface.

Another cantrip revealed that this orb absolutely shone with magic. Carefully, we took it and put it into Drudge’s magical backpack, after wrapping it carefully in a spare cloak.

Having finished our search, we confirmed that the door to our east led back to the room with the dragon’s head and then tackled the door to the south. This turned out to be surprisingly simple as it was unlocked. Opening it revealed another huge cavern; again it had a massive chasm which glowed red running through its centre over which a bridge had been created.

Cautiously, we entered. This time there was no hail of cross bow bolts to welcome us. As we edged forward, with John’s friend carrying the torch in front, some sort of man-made features were revealed in the Eastern or left wall of the cave: a door had been built into the cavern wall to our left while in the southeastern corner, there was a series of doors which looked very much like cell doors.

At this point, John motioned us to stop and he turned invisible; mentally, I reminded myself that I had to get that formula off him. I could see him due to my own recently perfected formula which allowed me to perceive invisible beings but I still wanted to be able to go invisible myself.

Anyway, John snuck off, looking into the cells. He stared into the first one for a long time and cast a couple of spells; he also looked into the second one for a little time. The other two merited only a brief glance, suggesting that there was nothing there. Then he made beckoning motions at us.

“Come on, John is telling us to get to the cells”, I said to the others.

“You can see him?” this from Longhelim.

“I know you think I was wasting my time in the Lyceum”, I replied, “but I did manage to put together a few tricks. This is one of them.”

Longhelim looked thoughtful as we moved to the cells.

I told the others that John was waiting for us just at the other side of the bridge.

He reported: “The second cell contains a figure; seems to be dead; could be unconscious; I didn’t check. The first cell is the weird one. It has some sort of obelisk in it. It also reeks of really powerful magic; not just the obelisk, but the whole cell; not really sure what is going on there. Faden, can you take a look?”

Before I could move, the paladin stopped and positioned himself at a little distance from the cells and then concentrated.

“Well, there is no evil coming from those cells. That means that the figure is either dead or unconscious or not evil.”

John then took out the set of keys he had taken from the Inquisitor and they fit the doors. Both cell doors were opened; checking the figure in the cell, it turned out he was one lucky fellow; he was only unconscious, especially as we noticed that the bars to his cells seemed to have been blackened as if burned. We decided to leave him in his current state until we investigated the last door in this cave.

We then began to look at this obelisk; I found it very intriguing; as John had described, at first glance, it looked like an obelisk made out of a light stone; a cantrip confirmed that the whole area was just pulsing with magic of all schools. None of this made sense, especially the location of something that was so highly magical but then I remembered that we were wondering around in a dry cave which was technically underwater and in addition I threw a glance at the chasm which glowed red nearby. Then I told myself to stop trying to make sense what was happening around here and just add this cell to the list of magical wonders.

With a shrug, I turned to the others: “I can’t tell you more than John; highly magical, radiates several different types of arcane schools; I have no idea of its function; in short, do not touch under the current circumstances. I think we can just about look at it but I wouldn’t do that too much either. You never know…..”

Longhelim nodded and then headed towards the door that was more to the east. Another of John’s keys opened this one and revealed a torture chamber; a remarkably sophisticated one to my untrained eye; most of the things there I had never seen before or even read about for that matter.

One of the tables had a figure on it.

Longhelim paused very briefly and then strode forward: “Not evil” he grunted. Felix then moved forward, took her hand, nodded and then began to free her. He administered some healing with his mace and her eyes fluttered open.

Immediately upon opening them, she began screaming.

Longhelim strode forward and gently put his hand over her mouth. Then Felix poured some more healing energy into her; those two twin sensations seemed to almost wake her up and she stopped and looked at us. After Felix had helped her, many of her surface abrasions had disappeared.

“Thank you and my apologies for that” said Longhelim, “my name is Longhelim and these are my companions; the man who just healed you is named Felix. Please, could you tell us your name and what you are doing here?”

As ever, he sounded unruffled and reasonable, as if finding a semi nude woman in a torture chamber under the sea was something he did every day. I moved in and watched her curiously. Her pointed ears and physique immediately revealed her to be an elf.

She began: “My name is Faquaniel and I was on my way to join the Resistance in Seaquen. We protected ourselves with a ward against fire and then teleported. As soon as we did, the spell was subverted by some strange magic; I was able to work out that it had something to do with that obelisk in the cell. Somehow, it acts like a beacon for planar magic in this region. We landed next to it and set off enough traps to subdue an army.”

She swallowed and Felix offered her some water, which she took gratefully.

“We didn’t stand a chance. My companions were killed and I survived; in some ways I wish I hadn’t;” she continued. “There is a Ragesian Inquisitor here; have you seen him?”

She looked around, still obviously terrified but became calmer when she saw we were alone.

“He was the torturer. At first, he asked the same questions again and again about what I was doing here, what was I planning and everything about me.” She shuddered: “I couldn’t hold out against him and in the end, I told him everything I am telling you. It didn’t seem to stop the torture though; in the end, it was obvious he just liked to torture people.

There was someone else as well; I only saw him once. He came in several hours ago and took something he called a “control wand”. He said he needed in case the weather had to be changed. He was human, tall and totally bald.”

That was the first concrete lead that Lee had been here. Tall and bald matched his description.

“First, the Inquisitor is dead. Second, so you say you are here to join the Resistance?” asked Longhelim.

“Yes, that was my aim until I ended up in this hellish place. Thank you so much for getting me out”, she answered.

Victor, who had been standing in the doorway, joined me in watching her: “Why do they always have to lie?” he muttered. I looked at him. He just looked at her, shook his head slightly and then left the chamber.

Felix then stood up: “Excuse me Faquaniel but I have to attend to another prisoner.”

With that, John and Felix went to the other cell and John, having opened the door, Felix revived the other prisoner. He groaned and was helped to the wall where Felix propped him up. He also showed traces of torture on him.

With gentle prompting, he told the following story:

“My name is Teymour and I was on my way back to Seaquen with a Wayfarer via a teleport spell. Even though we were protected, we ended up here, near this obelisk. The poor Wayfarer was killed.”

Again I stood nearby as I heard this but I wasn’t sure if I believed this Teymour. After what Victor told me about the elf, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if this Teymour wasn’t lying through his teeth as well.

Then he said: “I am only an apprentice mage and I was on my way back to Seaquen.”

That was fairly much all I needed to hear. How did an apprentice mage gain access to a teleport spell? Through a Wayfarer was the obvious answer but how did he convince said Wayfarer to use teleport magic bearing in mind that everyone was aware how dangerous it was; I had to assume that the beacon had come as a very unpleasant surprise but the sheer wealth needed to convince a Wayfarer to use his abilities as well as the magical defences needed for protection suggested that again there was far more here than met the eye.

Well, let them keep their secrets; we had more important things to worry about.

I was fairly certain that everyone else was aware of the missing parts of both the prisoners’ stories as the atmosphere turned decidedly more brusque. I didn’t want to talk to them any further as we would most likely just be told more lies.

We armed them as best as possible from what we found and then asked them to stay outside of the cells as we had more exploring to do

We had only one more potential doorway to investigate and that was the dragon’s mouth, which we had seen in the initial room. That was obviously leading somewhere but we were very cautious. Everyone had a bad feeling about sticking their head into a dragon’s mouth, even if it was a stone one; especially, when that mouth was shrouded in darkness. Ultimately, John asked for a rope to be tied around his waist and stepped through; brave man.

Nothing happened thankfully; he returned and said that he had stepped into a small room which had one door in the wall opposite to his entry point. The door was surrounded by pulsing red runes.

“I really didn’t like the look of those,” he concluded.

Having said that, he then decided that he was going to get his invisible friend to “play with the door” as he put it.

A little later, there was a rumble and a blackened and burnt John scrambled out of the dragon’s mouth.

“Bloody, bloody lava” he shouted, wild-eyed and obviously disturbed, “there was a rain of lava falling out of the ceiling”.

Well, that was….unexpected. We didn’t quite know how to proceed. A little while later, after we had looked at each other, trying to work out what to do next, I told the others:

“I am going to try to get in there, just to see what is happening;” the others looked at me dubiously. I continued: “I still have my spell up.”

So, I stuck my head into the mouth and singed my beard, nose, chin, you name it and I burnt it. The lava was quite obviously still there.

The lava hurt me even through the fire protection although obviously not as badly as John. We waited a little longer and this time decided to poke a stick into the hole to see if it showed charring after we withdrew it. Mentally, I asked myself why we hadn’t done that previously but……never mind.

This time, we were able to withdraw the stick without any sign of burn marks. John went in again saying he would attempt to read the runes; he returned and said that they read as follows: “The Spirit of Damatarian shall destroy those who disturb his rest”; obviously we had found the tomb of the original owner of this villa: the pyromancer, Damatarian.

We cast various divination cantrips to see just what was trapped, what wasn’t and to try to determine just what were we up against. I wasn’t hopeful. It took several tries for John to determine just where the trap actually was, never mind trying to disarm it. Each time he failed, the lava rained down and burnt him, so Felix had to heal him.

Finally, he located the trap and triumphantly he pointed it out to Felix, who then tried to use one of his spell to dissolve the magic; unfortunately, he failed. So, John decided he would try to disable it the old fashioned way but after several attempts he finally gave up.

“I don’t know how they did it but that bloody door is sealed shut to us at this time. I really gave it my best shot but the lock is just beyond my skills at this time,” he muttered between gritted teeth.

“I’m beginning to really hate it here.”

We conferred. We had searched everywhere; if Faquaniel was to be trusted, then Lee had left the complex and could be anywhere watching the storm, ready to intensify it with the control wand; again we had to concede failure. Well, it was always going to be like searching for a needle in a haystack. The magic needed to conjure a storm of this scale and size was of such magnitude that I was really groping in the dark as to its arcane mechanics. There was no reason to assume that Lee had to be in its eye, which is what we had been relying on.

I related this to the others and we decided that we had spent enough time here. There was nowhere else to search. We returned to the cells and said to Teymour and Faquaniel:

“To get here, we had to go through the sea. We have a spell which allows us to breathe underwater but we do not have a spare one, so we cannot take you with us at this time. Also, as you heard, there is a storm of such magnitude raging outside that it is certainly not safe for you to accompany us. So, we have to leave you here but rest assured that we will either return ourselves or send help.”

With that, we turned around and marched to the exit. It was a little cold but we were not too concerned about their opinion; after all, they had been less than forthcoming with us.

Our return to the upper floor was uneventful. It was a very good thing that Drudge and John had set up the rope through the shaft leading out of this cave as without it, we would have had problems but with it, ascending to the exit was easy.

After we had all been pulled up, we left this small chamber and as we exited, we realised that we had not searched this initial large room fully. We had been so anxious to follow the direction of the magic cast on Victor that we had ignored it. Correcting this omission, the room revealed four more cell doors but on investigation, little more of interest except for unidentified mouldy things.

Frustrated again, we left this large room and returned to the surface through the cell block. Unlike our previous experience, this room was now fully underwater but again the journey was uneventful. Finally we walked through the initial entrance hall and to my relief, we could finally see the exit; we were also aware that the water was far more disturbed than previously and even underwater we could hear that the storm had become even more intense. It was difficult to know just where the limit for this weather was. It was already flinging large stone blocks around as if they were leaves; I shuddered to think just what had happened to the general population of the peninsula. By this stage of the storm, it was irrelevant if someone was in a house in Seaquen or a makeshift shelter in a refugee camp; the storm was going to affect them irrespectively. I really hoped that there was enough suitable shelter for everyone but somehow I doubted it. Thankfully, Seaquen had a vast network of underground tunnels, otherwise, I suspected that the majority of the population would have been killed by now.

As for the elven fleet on the high seas…….unless they had some ability to control the winds, well then it was likely that the Shining Lands of Shahalesti had just lost a significant naval asset.

As usual, as I was speculating about this, I almost missed the jerk that Victor gave at the front; there was a flash in the water and a jagged spear of light hit the warrior; a lightning bolt! As soon as it was over, I saw several dark tentacles envelope and snatch him forward. That bloody squid! I knew it was around somewhere!

By this stage we were partly out of the water so I tried to cast a spell at the underwater mass which sprouted the tentacles but with no success. Victor was struggling mightily and Lula was having some difficulty in containing him.

There was a shout from above which we couldn’t make out as the wind was howling; we couldn’t see who was doing the actual shouting but we assumed that it was Lee. Felix quickly moved forward, cast a spell upwards and suddenly all the noise stopped; the howling wind, the splashing, everything. I could still speak so I was obviously out of range but it must have annoyed Lee. Drudge moved forward as well as something dropped from above; we couldn’t hear the splash but suddenly, we were able to make out one of the stone gargoyles from above, swimming towards us with obvious hostile intent.

For a moment I just shook my head….swimming, stone gargoyles.

Lula still had Victor in her tentacles at this point but it was all she could do to keep him enmeshed and Drudge was able to move up to her and make several cuts with his sword. It was still too awkward for him to fire a bow. This gave the gargoyle an opportunity to rip the ranger with her claws and teeth, staining the water red.

I was able to cast my tactically advantageous speed spell, to paraphrase Victor at this point and everyone perked up. With a couple of final blows, Drudge stuck his sword deep into Lula and she became an inert mass, her lifeless tentacles sliding off Victor; the warrior immediately stepped past Drudge and with a whirling combination of blows first sliced an arm off the gargoyle which was then followed by a slice to the neck which promptly decapitated it; not a moment too soon as another one quickly fell and splashed into the water next to Longhelim, who swung at it; it dodged.

Suddenly, the water rose up around us and we were fully submerged; either some druid spell or Lee playing with the storm. Unfortunately, this meant that we were unable to cast any further spells, which was very tiresome. Felix turned and began to move to the stairs that would lead him out of the water. Drudge followed him while Longhelim and Victor moved to the last gargoyle. I moved forward and followed Drudge and Felix; I didn’t think that the gargoyle would last long against the two warriors; moving through the water was slow and I was just able to see Drudge turn the corner in front of me, ascending the stairs.

I was fully expecting Victor and Longhelim to barrel past me any minute so I just kept going; as I emerged from the water, I saw a fairly horrible situation that was not very advantageous to us. The stairs were narrow, with a ruined wall on one side and the storm tossed sea on the other. Lee was there on the top of the stairs; cool, calm and collected in a strange martial pose, his body in a combat position and his fists clenched; his muscles were rigid and he looked as if he was ready to erupt into furious action at any moment; his face was serene except for brief moments when his visage suddenly developed a snout and huge teeth, resembling those of a bear; simultaneously, his fists briefly flashed as huge paws with massive claws; obviously not just a druid. Felix was already slumped in a fiery heap on the floor next to him with Drudge standing over the body and fighting desperately with Lee but finding it difficult to strike the swaying figure.

Tucked into Lee’s belt, I saw a stick, carved with runes: the control wand.

I saw him lean forward in a stylized move, one that he must have practiced countless times and his fists lashed out at Drudge, seemingly everywhere and from impossible angles and distances, striking him with massive force; every time he struck, the bear paws flashed. Drudge staggered as he was punched again and again and again…….

Knowing that the warriors were behind me, I had to run past, knowing the Lee would take a swipe at me but I couldn’t afford to get in the way; the swipe duly came, almost negligently but oh, it really hurt; despite my discomfort, the key thing was that I was past him! Not a moment too soon; even without turning around, I could hear the clanking of armour; I wasn’t sure who it was but it was a warrior of some sort, which was fortunate as at that moment, Drudge was hit again and burst into flame, joining Felix burning on the floor.

I moved away quickly and turned around. As I suspected, Longhelim was confronting Lee, followed by Victor; John had followed me and was also beyond the druid. Longhelim was faring better than Drudge and was able to strike Lee several times; I was thankful that my speed spell was obviously still working. Despite Longhelim’s skill though, Lee was still able to bludgeon him with his fists/paws but this time, the warrior withstood the battering and for a few moments was able to give as good as he got. I took out my wand and fired several shards of cold at Lee which seemed to make little difference as he still concentrated on Longhelim; finally, the warrior, like the others who had confronted him, crumpled to the floor, burning.

Victor calmly stepped forward, over the fallen Longhelim, defending him; skillfully, almost casually, his falchion flashed towards Lee; the druid tried to dodge but Victor was ready for this; he must have been studying the druid as he was fighting Longhelim; as Lee twisted and swayed, Victor changed the direction of his blow and his blade bit deeply into the druid’s side; too deeply. Victor’s skill and strength with the weapon was too much for Lee; as the blade was lodged deeply in his ribs, Lee’s face suddenly changed to a bestial snarl and with his mouth twisting, he bellowed in a voice that could be heard even above the screaming wind:

“Master, let your winds destroy them!!”

The storm around the druid intensified even more if that was possible, and Lee began to turn into dust around the Living Blade of Innenotdar; dust that was quickly sucked into an intense whirlwind that had mysteriously appeared next to the struggle. Victor just stood there, in the same position he had taken when he struck his final blow; it was obvious that if we had been affected by the winds, he would have been sucked into the same vortex as Lee.

I rushed forward and grabbed the control wand that had been left behind before it disappeared as well. Desperately, I waved it in the wind and more in hope than in any knowledge I shouted:

“Stop!”

Amazingly, the winds died down, the howling stopped and although the sea continued to be choppy, it was not getting any worse. The clouds began to disperse with uncanny speed. In an extraordinarily short time, the weather calmed and for the first time in months, as the clouds dispersed, we even saw the starry night sky!

We stood and looked at each other in surprise and relief before quickly beginning to administer aid to Felix, Longhelim and Drudge. We revived Longhelim using the potions from the bodies of the soldiers we had met below. We knew they were healing potions as we had seen these before. We poured several into the paladin who finally groaned, having consumed six of them. He must have been very deeply unconscious!

When he was finally awake, he finally took Felix’s healing wand and used it on him, rousing the priest who in turn roused Drudge.

After repairing what damage we could, we began to prepare to return to the Lyceum; there was much to think about. Just before he was turned to dust, Lee called out to a “Master”; so there was another player behind him; Ragesian most likely. Then there was the devastation; even without going into the town, we could see that Seaquen was almost leveled. As I mentioned previously, I dreaded to think what had happened to the refugee camps. Thank the gods we still had the dragon’s lyre on loan; it would certainly help at the moment. I just hoped that Votberd wouldn’t do something stupid like decide to keep it instead of honouring the agreement we had made with Your Mightyness.

That’s all we needed; an angry green dragon deciding it had been robbed…..again!

The whole town would have to be rebuilt. I just hoped that this time they would calculate with the influx of refugees and that this would force the factions closer.

Then we began to walk back to the Lyceum. This time, the journey was even slower mainly because of all the obstacles we had to negotiate; there was rubble everywhere. With a sinking feeling, I looked around me. It was going to take years to rebuild even with the Lyre; and as for the money needed…...I felt that Seaquen’s function as a shining symbol of the Resistance to Ragesia was completely gone. If anything it was the opposite; what was it saying? Resist us and you will be destroyed! And we don’t even need an army to do it! We have agents everywhere! The fact the Lee had been destroyed accomplishing his mission was irrelevant. His mission had been successful.

As I was looking around, trying to remember what had been where, I almost missed Victor’s hissed warning; looking at where he was pointing, I could see a huge flying shape outlined against the night sky. Could Your Mightyness be making a foray to Seaquen, taking advantage of the devastation? Carefully, we readied ourselves. I began to point my staff towards the figure but as it flew closer we realised that rather than assuming a huge serpentine shape, it developed into a huge avian shape; then I remembered that although we had never seen it, Laura Beck Adelsberg’s mount was known to be a giant eagle; and what was approaching was definitely giant and eagle-like or aquiline if one wanted to use a more scholarly term in this case.

The shape landed nearby and then walked towards us, a little awkwardly. As we reached it, we could see that it was indeed an enormous eagle, with an odd weapon in its beak; it looked like a spear but it was not exactly one. Anyway, it tossed it towards us and then spoke:

“Mighty heroes; and you are mighty and heroes; never doubt that. What you have done was something only you could do, by your might, your wits and your magic. The town is destroyed, but houses can be rebuilt, things can be replaced; you have saved thousands of lives and that is the most precious gift of all. The storm was getting stronger and stronger and soon it would have reached even the shelters of the population. If it had, the consequences would have been catastrophic!

But there have been some deaths; there always are. My mistress went out again and again into the teeth of the wind, braving the storms, looking for the weak, the helpless, the children and guiding them to safety. Then she decided to go out one last time and didn’t return. Thus it is my fate, like hers, to go on one last flight. I will not be returning; but before I go, my mistress wanted you to have her favoured weapon. May it serve you as well as it served her.

Fare well!”

With that it took several hops and launched itself into the air. We stared after it; hearing that Laura had lost her life was saddening but she had done exactly what she had been doing all her life; sacrificing herself for others. I hoped that whatever gods looked after her soul would take that into account. I also hoped that if she could, she would take a peek at us now and then and maybe laugh; I remembered that she had laughed often when we had talked.

After that, we walked back to the Lyceum.

When we arrived, we found the place in an uproar. Everyone was running around, carrying, organizing, helping and generally at least beginning to make the place functional again; as we were spotted, I heard a shout:

“It’s them!”

Immediately, Simeon and Kiernan appeared; gently, they took us to an empty room. There, Simeon asked:

“So, what happened? I assume that the abatement of the winds and the clearing of the sky was your doing? Please report and leave absolutely nothing out; it is impossible to tell when the tiniest detail could be of the greatest importance.”

So, Longhelim took the two magicians through our investigations into the villa. As the paladin described the conversation he had with Fanaquiel the elven prisoner, he added:

“……oh, and this maiden was definitely not telling us all she knew; something odd about her story. I suspect that being an elf, it has something to do with the Shahalesti but to be honest, bearing in mind what was happening, we didn’t consider it important to try to find out at the time; it was fairly irrelevant given the current situation. Also I am not sure about the other mage, Teymar; they claimed not to know each other but it does seem to stretch coincidence that two people tried to teleport, bearing in mind the danger of the spell.”

He then continued:

“Fanaquiel and Teymar believed that this obelisk was some sort of beacon that subverted teleport spells, somehow forcing users to its vicinity; I have to say all of that is beyond me. Maybe Faden will be able to explain it better later.”

He then continued with the narration of our investigation: the two mages winced when they heard about the trap guarding the Pyromancer’s tomb and looked at each other when they heard of the epic final battle against Lee Sidoneth.

“Could you repeat again what he said at the end please?” interrupted Simeon.

“Master, let your winds destroy them!” answered Longhelim.

The two mages looked at each other again, as if communicating silently.

Simeon then said: “Please continue with your report.”

Kiernan and Simeon were saddened by the news of Laura’s death and when Longhelim finished his report, sat and looked at us for a long time. The Simeon said:

“May we look at that strange crystal ball you found please? We would like to investigate it together with this control wand you obtained. After that, please go and rest; no doubt we will have many news and further questions for you tomorrow.”

That night, my exhaustion and my spell cramming ensured that my sleep was dreamless. I slept late and still felt tired the next morning. At breakfast, I saw everyone else with the exception of Felix and John; I was told that they were awake but still in the process of their ablutions. They were spell casters as well so I knew exactly how they felt.

The other two duly arrived and as we were finishing our food Simeon himself approached

“First things first: as of this morning, our reports state that there is no sign of the Shahalesti fleet. Bearing in mind the severity of the storm, we fear the worst.”

Another blow although not completely unexpected; if the Shahalesti fleet had been sunk then Lee’s scheme had really succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. The Ragesians would have sacrificed hundreds of agents to sink eighteen elven ships and even possibly drown Crown Princess Shalosha. Having said that, whatever had happened to the fleet, I thought it was unlikely that she would have perished so mundanely.

“Now gentlemen, on a more personal note, I have a proposition for you: Faden, I know that you are like a hound on a scent when it comes to magic so I propose to allow you full access to our library and for the next few days at least, we will support your spell learning fully, including any expenses you may incur for magical inks. I suggest you use the time wisely; John, this offer is also open to you.

As for the rest of you, I know that you have already given much but your organizational skills are going to be needed. We would be most grateful if you aided in the re-building efforts.

Despite the bleakness of the situation, there are other things happening and I do have a task which is very much suited to your skills but I need to do some preparation work first.”

I must confess I had sort of lost him as soon as he told me I had unlimited access to their spell library at their expense. Immediately, I was impatient to get back there and begin to do further research. I had read several spells which I felt would really help the warriors as well as other, more mundane pieces of magic; there was one very handy little spell for example which would open any lock; from a distance no less, thereby avoiding any pesky traps.

So, again, I had the opportunity scour the Lyceum library except that this time it felt that my time here was coming to an end so I became very conscious that I had to manage it far more efficiently. I had also somehow acquired an extra spur of energy and the capability to grasp and write more advanced formulae; as usual, my mind skittered over thousands of paths; that strange shield of fire that Ivellios used to defend himself in the tunnels under Seaquen; a more advanced form of the spell of invisibility; hardening the skin of warriors to make it impervious for most weapons; an invisible scout; all of these seemed to be within my capability now. It was wonderful!

Now, if only I had the time…..

The following days followed the same pattern as those which I enjoyed so much before that fateful performance of the Trials of Toteth Topec; I spent the day in the library with John while the others disappeared. That evening they returned and we had an enjoyable evening meal. Then we retired to the library with hot drinks; Longhelim, seated comfortably and puffing his pipe, began talking:

“Well, it’s pretty much as we feared: the town has been devastated. There are no buildings of any note standing and the damage is such that there is no point in trying to quantify and repair it. It’s just better to start from the beginning. Thank the gods we still have the magical lyre; that is now priceless; a silver lining is that this will help integrate the refugee population into the town as the whole re-building of Seaquen will now become one vast project as opposed to the refugee quarters being separate from the town. That’s small consolation to the hundreds that died, but still…..; another silver lining is that only hundreds died as opposed to thousands; and that we foiled Giorgio’s plot; I shudder to think what would have happened if the leadership of the town had perished. Votberd, for all his idiosyncrasies, has been very effective in this crisis. ”

That reminded me: “Is the Wayfarer’s Theatre still around? Any news on Tiljann?”

Longhelim smiled: “That is one piece of good news, even if small in relation. The Theatre is damaged but floating and Tiljann is alive and thriving. She loves it there.”

“And the elves and their fleet?”

“Ah, there is good news there as well; nothing confirmed but some of the fishing boats report that they have seen them, thank the gods; they think several ships were sunk; most of the others were damaged and are now on their way back to the Shining Lands I presume. I think that Shalaadel is going to have to forget any ideas he may have about Seaquen for the moment; but at least the fleet is not completely lost as we had feared.”

Well, that was better than the complete loss of the elven fleet we had feared.

Another thought struck me: “What is the general mood like?”

Longhelim smiled again: “Surprisingly upbeat. It’s odd; the storm affected everyone so everyone feels the need to help and rebuild. That is helping matters of co-operation; even Votberd is saying that some of the refugees are being useful; that’s real progress and there is a real feeling of unity, as I mentioned. The town is being re-built for everyone as opposed to residents in one part and refugees somewhere else.”

Felix cleared his throat at this time: “Longhelim is too modest to say so but I think we are making a real difference; as usual, everyone seems to know what we did and we are perceived as heroes. So people are very willing to follow Longhelim’s orders; since his orders are generally sensible, things happen and get done.

Victor works in a different way; he doesn’t usually give orders but just goes somewhere and starts doing something. Almost immediately when others see him, they realize that what he is doing needs to be done so they join him and thus his goals are achieved; then someone sees that another similar task needs to be performed somewhere else and so it goes on…..

Drudge was hunting all day; he won’t tell you but there is a whole group of children who are having their first good meal in days thanks to his skills.”

Longhelim interrupted:” Since we are playing this game, then what Felix is keeping quiet about is that he spent most of the day with Hospitallers; those ladies have even more work than usual at the moment and they very much appreciate Felix’s help; but Felix, no spell cramming. We can’t afford it.”

The priest looked a little guilty and didn’t say anything; with those dark rings under his eyes, he didn’t need to.

The conversation devolved for the rest of the evening into more detail about what everyone was doing; I felt a little left out as every time I began to talk about my research into the arcane, then their eyes glazed over but I consoled myself that they would know soon enough; when I began to use all the new formulae I had acquired.

This pattern repeated itself for the next few days but all good things must come to an end and on the evening of the third day, Simeon approached us during our usual chat and asked us to see him in his study the next morning.

The next morning arrived and as we left our room, I was fairly certain that our existence here in Seaquen was about to change; approaching Simeon’s study on the fifth floor of the tower, we could hear soft conversation from the other side of his door. Having knocked, we opened the door and entered the familiar study; sitting inside were Simeon, Katrina and a stranger.

Simeon stood up: “Ah, gentlemen, welcome. Please, let me introduce you to Balan Bastom.”

The stranger stood up. He was an odd mixture; he had full mutton chop whiskers and a broad, stocky build; yet judging by the shape of his face and his ears, he also had a fair amount of elven blood; possibly even one of his parents may have been an elf. He approached us:

“So good to meet you. Your legend has grown here in Seaquen; I’m a great admirer. Some of the things you have done….well I cannot think of anyone else who could have done them.”

That was laying it on a bit thick but he really did seem to mean it and there was an undeniable charm and magnetism to his manner; even greater than Longhelim’s and that was saying something.

“As Simeon said, I am Balan Bastom, distantly related to House Bastom of Ostalin”; he looked at us expectantly but received blank stares in return. He cleared his throat: “Well, Simeon has asked me to help him; he’s in a spot of bother and he also suggested that you tag along; he believes we would make a fabulous team.”

Simeon made a noise in his throat: “Ah, thank you Balan; if I could continue?”

He took a scroll and unrolled it on his desk, using four massive metal dragon claws as paperweights. The scroll was a map of the region.

“Here is Seaquen on the tip of the peninsula in the South; here, a few days to the North of us is Bresk, the capital of Dassen and nominally the host country of the Lyceum although to all intents and purposes we are an autonomous region; and here, in the furthermost North, are the mountains that separate Dassen from Ragesia; as you can see, there is only one pass of any note through them: here, at Alydi’s Gap, which is defended by the mighty fortress of Gallo’s Fend.

Now, we have learned that an army of forty thousand is massing on the Ragesian side of the mountains. Under the non-aggression pact that Steppengaard has signed with the Empire, we have it on good authority that this army will be allowed through the Gap and then will march its way south to Seaquen.”

I couldn’t believe it. I began talking or babbling if one was being unkind: “What! How is an army of forty thousand going to feed itself as it marches over Dassen? That’s a massive logistical undertaking; Steppengaard doesn’t really believe that they will have supply lines stretching through the Gap into Ragesia does he? The only way they will be able to do it will be to devastate the land; and even if that happens, what does Steppengaard think is going to happen to that army once it conquers Seaquen? Does he think that it’s just going pack up and march out of Dassen the way it came? Is he really that naïve?

“Faden, stop, stop; you’re asking the wrong person. I know all these things but Steppengaard is willing to let it happen under this non-aggression pact he signed. However, the fact that you, as a layman, can see this immediately gives me a little hope. I want to send Balan to Bresk and get him to try to clarify all the points you raised as well as others with Steppengaard; however, asking Kings to clarify their policies has to be done in a certain way; and pointing out to Kings that they are being complete idiots also has to be done in a certain way; take it from me, Balan is very good at doing that. Balan will have an audience with Steppengaard where he will put our case forward and we hope that Steppengaard will realize that letting an army of forty thousand Ragesians into Dassen is not in his best interests and block this crusade.

What I would like you to do is to go with him as his bodyguards and security experts. I suspect that there will be….vested interests, shall we say, that will want to make sure that this audience never, ever happens.

Now, there are certain other matters I have to tell you about Dassen, just so you don’t go in blind:

The land is mostly agricultural and very fertile. In the distant past, the kingdom was divided into eight lands but these were united a long time ago; however, they still retained the names by which they were known when they were independent and the rulers also share the names of their lands. They are as follows: Lord Gallo, who is master of Gallo’s Fend and controls Alydi’s Gap; Lady Timor, who we know is a wizard; Lord Dashgoben, who is a dwarf: Lord Megadon, who controls the coastline of the country; Lord Iz, who is a renowned warrior; Lord Regor, who is the poorest of the great Lords and whose land acts as a major passageway for the refugees; we know he is very hostile to Seaquen; Lady Dene; Lady Namin.

Fifteen years ago, Steppengaard was made King and created another land, Steppengaard. This land also holds the capital, Bresk. Note that one of the major features of Bresk is that only a part of it is above ground.

The eight magnates together with the King form the Council of Nine; each of the Lords and Ladies has one vote while the King’s vote counts for three. It is this Council that decides the policies and government of the Kingdom of Dassen.”

I sat back as I absorbed this information. It was a lot to take in. I glanced at Katrina, who was looking at us. Either she already knew all this or was not coming with us as she did not seem to be paying any attention to what Simeon was saying.

“Steppengaard has a very large family; eighteen children in fact, thus ensuring a smooth succession. We don’t know what kind of reception we will receive but it is imperative that we put our case forward.

Now, any further questions?”

I cleared my throat: “Well, yes, actually but more about other things than our trip to Bresk. Any news on Gate Pass?”

“No change there so far as we know. There is still heavy fighting in the city. The Ragesian army is facing a highly motivated, very efficient and defiant militia who are using their local knowledge to its fullest. I don’t think Deneva expected such resistance; of course, it does help that the Shahalesti are supplying the city as much as they can although that may have to change.”

Victor spoke: “Why so?”

Simeon continued: “The fourth Ragesian army has finally breached the Shining Lands proper in the far north and is skirmishing with the elven forces stationed there. We have not heard of any major battles but the elves will have to consolidate if they have been invaded. This will inevitably mean less support for Gate Pass.”

“I am not sure if I agree with you there, Simeon,” replied Victor. “Calanis, the Shahalesti capital is almost in direct line with Gate Pass. The far north of the country is very far from the capital and if the elves can keep that Ragesian army enmeshed there, they will be very happy; if Gate Pass falls though, then the path to Calanis is open and more importantly, the two cities are relatively close.”

“That is a point, Victor.” He shrugged: “I hope you are right.”

“Anyway, in other developments, the Ragesian fleet has revealed its presence and is blockading Turinn, the Sindarian capital. A Ragesian army is marching towards the city as we speak; in other interesting news, an Ostaliner army is also marching towards the city; we have no idea why that is going there. The Khagan has always been a law unto himself.”

John then asked: “How are Crystal, Torrent and Tiljann”?

Simeon smiled: “Crystal is staying here to study; she is a gifted sorceress. Tiljann seems very happy with the Wayfarers and Torrent has gone on another mission. I think that some time away from Seaquen will do her good; the town holds bad memories for her now.

Oh, that reminds me: just in case we don’t see each other for a long time. We have sent a team to investigate the last known location of the Burning Torch. We have also sent a team to the Monastery of the Two Winds.”

He paused, looking perplexed: “At the moment, we are extremely puzzled by the crystal you found, the dark one with the silver tracing. We have managed to find references to it and through magic, its nature is that of an Orb of Storms, a legendary item which creates and controls storms; the puzzle is that no crystal of this type has ever been able to raise a storm of the magnitude that Lee managed. This together with the physical disciplines he exhibited as described by you suggests a connection with the monastery and so we have decided to send team there. I have hopes that both teams will uncover something.

Oh, one final thing: that strange obelisk that seems to be a beacon which you found underground; it is absolutely fascinating. The amount of magic, the technique in its fabrication, the elegance of its function……..I have never come across anything like it. I have to say, all of you really know how to shake things up; the beacon, the orb, your discoveries under Seaquen in the steam tunnels, those will all provide enough research material for the Lyceum to last several decades if not more. I just wish you hadn’t done it all at once and that the town hadn’t been destroyed at the same time.”

That was all quite a bit to take in. I wished the team attempting to retrieve the Burning Torch all the luck in the world. That sounded tough. I had no idea as to where the Monastery of the Two Winds was or even what it was, so I did not know what to think about that. As for the research the Simeon mentioned, under any other circumstances, I would have given my eyeteeth to be able to join in any of those projects but bearing in mind what was a happening around us at this time, regretfully I knew that this was just not possible.

The meeting had come to a close. I was surprised that Katrina had not said anything; that was unlike her.

Then, a thought suddenly struck me as I was walking out and I let my mind follow this strange line; as I was thinking about our adventures beneath the steam tunnels, I remembered the elven wizard Tomei, who heard voices in his head and had great affinity for the elements; as he died, he had burned into ash and then that ash was washed away by a nearby pool of water; anyway, his body was totally destroyed, beyond recovery and beyond any sort of magical contact. Now, Lee Sidoneth, another individual with seemingly great control and power over an element, air this time, also lost his life and his body was also irretrievably destroyed; he had also cried out to his “Master”; maybe he was hearing voices in his head as well? The similarity of their abilities and their demise seemed almost too strong to be coincidental; and it always seemed to go back to the elements. Did the great Elemental spirits have some sort of Champions?

I had no idea what any of this meant of course and I decided to keep my thoughts to myself for the moment as no doubt there would be a great deal of scoffing about my dreaming again.

As I was thinking, I walked into Victor, who just glanced at me; it wasn’t the first time that had happened.

“…..with winter and snow coming, we’ll have to make sure that we have the right supplies and equipment. We’ll need tents and blankets and……” Drudge was telling Longhelim, who was smoking his pipe as usual.

I asked him: “Why do we need those? We won’t feel the cold anyway so why take up valuable space?”

Drudge turned around: “Because we may not feel the cold but we still don’t want to wake up in the morning underneath a mound of snow. Look Faden, go and pack your books and stuff; we’ll sort out the supplies here.”

I hadn’t thought of that; he was quite right. A little embarrassed, I sped along to my room and began packing. I didn’t have a lot to pack, mostly my books and writing supplies.

We were going to set out the next day so I took one final opportunity to settle in the library. This time, I didn’t research anything, just went and sat there, looking at the books, the shelves, the furniture, the tables, the inkpots, the quills and remembering. Later, the others joined me and we began discussing the ramifications of what we were being asked to do.

Longhelim began: “This is going to be very difficult. Without a doubt, Steppengaard has had his hear bent from all sides as to the pros and cons of allowing the Ragesian army to march through Dassen; what has possessed him to allow this? Faden, you’re absolutely right. Once that army is in the country, it will never leave.”

Victor was succinct as usual: “He probably doesn’t have any choice.”

Longhelim puffed: “What do you mean?”

“Seaquen has committed itself against Ragesia. The Empire has to do something; it cannot allow it to defy the current order, especially as Leska has only so recently ascended to the throne. Dassen was told that if they confront the army’s passage then they commit themselves against the Empire; if so, they are fair game for an army of forty thousand; if they allow the army through, then nominally they are allies. I’m not sure just what that will mean but the latter course must seem hugely preferable to Steppengaard at the moment; I don’t know if Dassen can face an army of forty thousand but even if it could, it won’t be pleasant; problem is, I have no idea what Seaquen can offer Steppengaard as a counterbalance.“

John sipped his tea: “Either way, I really hope that Balan is a skilled orator and negotiator; I also hope that Simeon has some cunning plan up his sleeve since even if Balan succeeds, then that will delay the Ragesians at best.”

We continued to speculate and converse about the coming mission and then went to bed.

Great to see you back on track! Up to now, the group seems to have gotten through the AP withou any major diffuculties. Looking forward to reading how they are going to fare in adventure 4!