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Story Hour
Dear Mom - Mishap Adventures of a Mommy's Elf
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<blockquote data-quote="Lwaxy" data-source="post: 5983622" data-attributes="member: 53286"><p>Short update, but should be regular again now. </p><p></p><p>----------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p></p><p>Flip held his breath as he poured the vinegar over his naked self after ditching the skunked clothes. For a while, neither he nor his hobgoblin friend spoke. Then, when they finally had to breathe again – vinegar was in itself not the best smell to Flip – the halfling looked accusingly at Gurt. "You just had to poke it, hadn't you? It was sleeping nice and deep, not minding anyone or anything, and you just had...to...poke it!"</p><p></p><p>Shaking off the vinegar and pouring some stale water over himself, Gurt looked at him, slightly confused. "I neededs to know if it was alives," he said in his defense.</p><p></p><p>"Whatever for? It is not like it is your favorite pet or something. It would be as good to me dead, well, no, even better dead so it wouldn't have reacted to your poking!"</p><p></p><p>"But if it was dead, I'd haves to finds a new guard for that entrance,you see. It's part of my duties." Gurt nodded wildly at that. "And evil wizard guy or not but I needs to protect our home."</p><p></p><p>Grunting some sort of non-answer, Flip, now clear of stink, followed the hobgoblin out of the storage room past some old tomb and a few traps Gurt knew his way around and finally to the cave the ogre had made into his room. Even from far away, you could hear an awfully loud snoring. </p><p></p><p>As Gurt carefully shoved the old wooden door open, Flip could see the ogre slumped over at the table, face in his food. An empty bottle was in his hand, and there were more on the ground. While he still had his cracked leather armor on, his immense club was leaning against the wall in the back of the room where a bed made of furs was. Flip sneaked up to the snoring Blogg and poked him with a little needle he had prepared. "Just a mild poison," he explained. "Preventing him from waking up before the morrow."</p><p></p><p>Gurt brightened visibly even in the dim light provided by some candles. "Good thinking! Do we then goes and finds the wizard right away?"</p><p></p><p>"Yeah." Flip frowned, thinking about how to best go about this wizard problem. For some reason, he knew he could not be charmed, but that was definitely not true for his new friend. "Where does he usually go around this time of night? I doubt he'd be in bed."</p><p></p><p>"No, he woulds be in his lab, or goes about all this dark stuffs in his ritual chambers. Come on, I knows where the traps are and can gets us past all save."</p><p></p><p>"I hope so. Do you think maybe the wizard has put new traps in you don't know about?"</p><p></p><p>"Nah." Gurt shook his head so quickly it made Flip dizzy. "He's too frail for a human his age to do much. Some sickness of sorts. And, Blogg woulds only gets confused by new traps, and the dwarf maybe's too."</p><p></p><p>"Dwarf?" Again Flip frowned, although the hobgoblin couldn't see that, walking in front. "What dwarf now?"</p><p></p><p>"Wizard charmed towns smith, he is," Gurt explained. "Mostly harmless. Does his works and not bothers anyone if we just leaves him alone."</p><p></p><p>"Are there any more people I need to know about?" Carefully, Flip climbed down some stairs after Gurt while the hobgoblin deactivated the trap on it. </p><p></p><p>"Just the prisoners he needs for doings of dark ritual stuff. They ares not too bad, yet," the hobgoblin said. "If there is any mores, I do not knows."</p><p></p><p>Flip, who had to help the hobgoblin with deactivating several of the more complicated traps, was trying to form a plan to deal with the situation. They should have done that before they decided to embark on this errand, but maybe after what made him lose his memory, he didn't have all his faculties together just now. The halfling thought it even more foolish to turn back now though, especially as they could already smell the alchemy lab the wizard had, according to the hobgoblin, constantly been working in not too far ahead. </p><p></p><p>"This charmed dwarf, where is he, usually?" Flip wanted to know. </p><p>"In the caves with the prisoners, making more cages for thems." Gurt shook his head. "I already trieds to gets him out and to help, but he is convinced the wizard is his friend. Darn magics."</p><p></p><p>"Have you tried telling him his, err, friend wants something from him? Like coming with him?"</p><p></p><p>"No..." Gurt grinned at the halfling in admiration. "You are very clevers! That coulds work!"</p><p></p><p>"Are there any empty crates down here?" Flip jumped over a small pit, trying to keep up. </p><p></p><p>"Oh, plenties. What woulds you wants it for?"</p><p></p><p>Flip decided he'd need to talk to Gurt about his language issues while his mind was spinning wild with the possibilities of the current situation. "I have a plan. Kind of. Depends on where the wizard is. Listen..."</p><p></p><p>Gurt listened, and a wide goblin grin spread over his face. </p><p></p><p>A moment later, they reached the alchemist's lab. The cave it was in was rather big, stretching left and right, filled with tables laden with things one would need to go about alchemical work. There was also a wall set up as library, and on some tables were more books even. Most of the material looked to be fairly new. The stench usually coming with such activities was faintly in the air. Gurt pointed to another room going off the lab. Rhythmic clangs on metal could be heard. That was, so he had explained, where the captives were and the dwarf worked. </p><p></p><p>The wizard was nowhere to be seen, but they could hear his more or less melodic chanting from another cave nearby. He would, so Gurt assured Flip, be busy trying out his spells and formulas until early morning. Gurt went towards where the dwarf could be heard working, but flip shook his head and pointed at the tables. "Let's see if we can find some notes first, to see what exactly the guy... what was his name again... is doing."</p><p></p><p>"Suto," Gurt said. "Crazy lookings guy, too, for being that young. Why bother with notes? Need to get rids of him, anyway." He was obviously burning for some action, whipping back and forth on his toes. </p><p></p><p>"We better find out what exactly he's trying to summon, no? There are plenty of different demon types vulnerable to different things, just in case he succeeds." Flip started going through the books and notes on the nearest table. </p><p></p><p>"Oh, alright. You are clever." Gurt grinned. "I can't reads well, so you tells me what I need to looks for?" He frowned. "And how do we fight a demon, vulnerable or not?"</p><p></p><p>Flip stopped flipping through the pages of a journal with current entries and thought about that for a second. He hadn't given it much thought, but he realized it was a bit naive to believe an opportunity would just present itself out of nowhere. "Look for any weird long names, it usually means a demon," he said, basing this on what he had heard somewhere. If he could just remember where... "As for how to fight one, we wil see in the unlikely event this Suto succeeds." Maybe it was not so unlikely, he thought, seeing all the research, but he dared not mention that. </p><p></p><p>"A name like.. Flaburr... Flabbarr.." Gurt tried. He held up a tattered looking scroll. Flip scanned it and nodded. With the luck of the naive, Gurt had come upon a summoning scroll that seemed very unfinished. "Flabburkanadzar," Flip read. "Let's just call it Flab." He turned to a tome on demons to look the name up. </p><p></p><p>"Flab," Gurt giggled. "Flab and Flip!" For some reason, the halfling found that a lot less amusing. </p><p></p><p>"Here," he exclaimed after a while. "Demon of wishes and bad luck. For each wish it makes come true, someone else you need to specify will be struck with bad luck and worse. Guess the wizard does not only want something for himself but also revenge something or the other."</p><p></p><p>"Sounds not too bad," Gurt mused. "Get what you want and make your enemies suffer for it."</p><p></p><p>"Except demons tend to fulfill their end of the bargain with some twists and turns that would make you wish never to have wished, so don't even think about it." Flip placed everything but the unfinished scroll back – better not take a chance for it to be completed soon – and waved for Gurt to pay the dwarf a visit. </p><p></p><p>The Dwarf, Master Durbin, was hammering away happily, humming to himself. In the cages along the long wall of the crude cave were several villagers – 2 human women, a male gnome, a half-orc child and what looked to be a mix of dwarf and halfling. They were in various states of shock and despair, as far as Flip could tell. </p><p></p><p>"Master Durbin," Flip started. "We need your help. Our friend Suto needs us to move his lab stuff to another room for now." He smiled widely as he neared the charmed prisoner. "You are Suto's friend, are you not?"</p><p></p><p>"Why yes, yes I am." The dwarf started at them in confusion, then back to his work and shrugged. "But I need to finish those, Suto asked so nicely for them!" </p><p></p><p>"Yes, I know, I know," Flip assured him. "But Suto needs his lab stuff moved now as he is expecting visitors who might accidentally damage the equipment. He said you would be the right man to help and the guard all the stuff while finishing the cages in another cave." Still smiling, Flip came closer and pointed to the prisoners. "We don't need to take them, they are no friends of Suto."</p><p></p><p>"No, no, they are not. And I can finish the work in the new place?" It was obviously very hard for the dwarf to shift his focus.</p><p></p><p>"Of course, Suto needs the cages, remember? He just needs the lab stuff moved first. We already brought crates." </p><p></p><p>Gurt nodded and pointed to the boxes he had just brought out of storage. "We cans be quick and all do our other works for Suto again."</p><p></p><p>"Alright, then." Still hesitating, the dwarf dropped his utensils. "Let's hurry up then so I can finish." </p><p></p><p>Flip released his held breath. He hadn't be sure that this would be working. Luckily, the wizard had not thought to make his orders more specific. Likely, he felt very secure down here, no wonder with all the traps they had gotten rid of. They worked in silence; the dwarf because talking meant slowing down, the halfling and the hobgoblin so no strange noise would alert their foe. </p><p></p><p>Once the dwarf and the equipment was safely in a much smaller cave, Durbin immediately got back to work on the cages for 'his friend' while the others locked the door behind him without him even noticing it. "Now," Flip announced, "it is time for your part. Are you sure you are up to it?" </p><p></p><p>Gurt blinked, obviously worried. "No, but we haves no choices. And I'm afraids well enough so the wizard will not thinks me trying to tricks him." </p><p></p><p>Flip nodded, wondering if his plan was sound enough. "You remember what to say?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, I does. Almost the truth, too, rights?" Gurt grinned and rushed on towards the cave the wizard was in, </p><p></p><p>Flip followed almost as quickly. He readied his small arsenal of throwing weapons, coating several of them in a larger amount of the same poison he had used on the ogre. It might not be enough but it was all he had with him. </p><p></p><p>Gurt already started calling out. "Master Suto, Master Suto, come quicks, we're attacked by the villagers and peoples in shining armors! There's peoples in the dungeons stealing your stuffs. And Blogg is all drunks and passed out again." Gurt managed to sound real panicked, maybe because he was. He banged at the door to the cave where Suto was doing whatever he was doing, and it just occurred to the halfling then that the wizard might have a good spell at the ready. But it was too late to worry about that now. Flip stayed right behind Gurt, holding his right arm with the left as if he was injured, trying to look dazed. The left hand concealed a poisoned dart. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>At the same time, back in the camp near the temple ruins, a goblin standing watch beyond a cloud covered sky noticed a strange light emanating from the remains of the buildings. The big ones had cleaned it out earlier, so the paladin had assured him, which made him more curious than worried at first. The islands they were living on sometimes had strange swamp lights and other phenomena which were usually not dangerous unless one was foolish enough to follow them. </p><p></p><p>Krock, as his name was, wasn't foolish, just a bit lazy and not the bravest. Because of that, he didn't dare go nearer, and he hesitated to wake the others. Waking them could mean being left in the camp alone while they would go investigate. And the last think Krock wanted was to be alone around here. </p><p></p><p>The light slowly intensified, turning from a dark green to light green and then to yellow. A low, almost inaudible rumble started. The goblin had never seen a swamp light do that, and he was contemplating sounding the alarm when the temple suddenly seemed to explode in light and sound, without any of the remaining walls really being damaged. Krock started to yell in panic, and the next moment the group's half-orc fell over him as he rushed, naked of all things, out of his tent. </p><p></p><p>The 3 elves were almost as quick, but they had taken the time to throw on their robes and armor respectively. All of them, Uthas still on the ground next to Krock, stared at the sight. The ruins were now hanging colors from green to yellow again and again, and the walls seemed to be intact, complete with the tower and fortifications and all, and a moment later back to their real self, to appear overgrown with vegetation the next moment just to be gone completely in the blink of an eye. It happened again and again. And someone was yelling in the building. </p><p></p><p>"Let's go!" Lhess ordered. She said that so matter-of-factly that the others, including a naked half-orc barely remembering to grab his axe, followed without thinking much about it. Uthas found himself wishing they hadn't left Thalla, the orc woman, back at the village to find traces of her kidnapped merchant – an orc – or half-orc – warrior charging into battle naked was a sight any orc female would enjoy. But then, he remembered, he had no idea if there would be a battle or not. In fact, the situation looked to be more magical than anything. </p><p></p><p>The rotation through light and appearances intensified, and Uthas felt a strange sensation, like ants crawling over his skin – a sure sign that there was a lot of magic around, although he had no idea why he could detect some magic that way when most others could not. At the same time, the world seemed to slow down around him and sped up at the next moment, and the elves seemed to move in different speeds, too. At the entrance of the temple ruins, the half-orc could now make out what looked to be a very old human man, staggering out of the building in apparent confusion. The cries came from him. Uthas blinked, as for a moment the man had looked almost young again, and he was sure it has not been a trick of the weird light. </p><p></p><p>Lhess and the others came to a stop well off the entrance. Nev made some movements with his hands and mumbled a spell, and Lhess held up her holy symbol – an eternal knot of wisdom – for protection. Uthas tried to push himself in front of the prince but he could not reach them, as for some reason the world around him either sped up or he slowed down. It was almost like he was stuck in honey. Once more, the human now out of the temple looked to be young, then there was a final flash of light and a bang like a million thunders, and then it was all quiet and dark around Uthas. The only lights he could still see where those dancing in front of his eyes. </p><p></p><p>Lhess and Nev knelt next to the old man in tattered priest robes where he had fallen once the magic dissolved. He looked really ancient now. "Are... they...gone?" he croaked. "All the... undead?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes," Lhess assured him. "The gods helped me take care of that."</p><p></p><p>"Good." The unknown man closed his eyes. "You must... save the library. Very important. Take... key to transport it. Time... and space... it's the key." The hands of the man, aging rapidly now, went up to Nev's robes and grabbed him by the collar. "Time... is of the essence. Space... we need the space. You must be... the destined..."</p><p></p><p>Nev saw the hands losing their grip on him and blinked in confusion. He was about to ask for details but then he noticed the wide open eyes of the human. The unknown priest was dead. Lhess looked at the temple and back at the priest in irritation. "Where did he come from? We searched the whole place, there was nowhere for him to hide, and there certainly was no library!"</p><p></p><p>"But Lhess, this is magic. Arcane magic." Nev, slowly getting up, looked for Orlath. "I don't know what happened exactly, and you are right that we checked the whole place, wolves and all." For a moment, Nev appeared to be embarrassed by the memory of that episode. </p><p></p><p>Orlath appeared beyond the temple entrance. He had gone in once the spectacle seemed to be over. "There was no library when we checked," he nodded. "Not in our time. Nor in our space. But I heard what he said." He pointed at the corpse. "And I believe we have made a very important discovery here. If what he was guarding was as sensitive as I think it was, we better hurry up finding and getting the library out of here and don't tell anyone else about it. At least not for a while. Except, you know, mom." </p><p></p><p>"Alright." Knowing her brother was right, Lhess had no issue with him taking the lead. "But this magic, whatever it was, is gone now?" </p><p></p><p>"Time magic, and space magic. I detected both. It is not completely gone yet, but it is harmless enough now." The prince pointed at the entrance. "Let's go." </p><p></p><p>Uthas, who had gotten up again, blinked the remaining dizziness off. "Mind if I dress first?" he asked. </p><p></p><p>Lhess looked back at him and grinned. "No, but be quick about it."</p><p></p><p>Not too much later, the party, leaving the goblin to watch the camp again, moved back into the temple in search of the hidden library they were supposed to save. For once, all 2 elves were in agreement as knowledge was the most important thing, or so it had been drilled into them. Uthas was more concerned with the safety of the two wizards. But nothing stirred in the temple again.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lwaxy, post: 5983622, member: 53286"] Short update, but should be regular again now. ---------------------------------------------------- Flip held his breath as he poured the vinegar over his naked self after ditching the skunked clothes. For a while, neither he nor his hobgoblin friend spoke. Then, when they finally had to breathe again – vinegar was in itself not the best smell to Flip – the halfling looked accusingly at Gurt. "You just had to poke it, hadn't you? It was sleeping nice and deep, not minding anyone or anything, and you just had...to...poke it!" Shaking off the vinegar and pouring some stale water over himself, Gurt looked at him, slightly confused. "I neededs to know if it was alives," he said in his defense. "Whatever for? It is not like it is your favorite pet or something. It would be as good to me dead, well, no, even better dead so it wouldn't have reacted to your poking!" "But if it was dead, I'd haves to finds a new guard for that entrance,you see. It's part of my duties." Gurt nodded wildly at that. "And evil wizard guy or not but I needs to protect our home." Grunting some sort of non-answer, Flip, now clear of stink, followed the hobgoblin out of the storage room past some old tomb and a few traps Gurt knew his way around and finally to the cave the ogre had made into his room. Even from far away, you could hear an awfully loud snoring. As Gurt carefully shoved the old wooden door open, Flip could see the ogre slumped over at the table, face in his food. An empty bottle was in his hand, and there were more on the ground. While he still had his cracked leather armor on, his immense club was leaning against the wall in the back of the room where a bed made of furs was. Flip sneaked up to the snoring Blogg and poked him with a little needle he had prepared. "Just a mild poison," he explained. "Preventing him from waking up before the morrow." Gurt brightened visibly even in the dim light provided by some candles. "Good thinking! Do we then goes and finds the wizard right away?" "Yeah." Flip frowned, thinking about how to best go about this wizard problem. For some reason, he knew he could not be charmed, but that was definitely not true for his new friend. "Where does he usually go around this time of night? I doubt he'd be in bed." "No, he woulds be in his lab, or goes about all this dark stuffs in his ritual chambers. Come on, I knows where the traps are and can gets us past all save." "I hope so. Do you think maybe the wizard has put new traps in you don't know about?" "Nah." Gurt shook his head so quickly it made Flip dizzy. "He's too frail for a human his age to do much. Some sickness of sorts. And, Blogg woulds only gets confused by new traps, and the dwarf maybe's too." "Dwarf?" Again Flip frowned, although the hobgoblin couldn't see that, walking in front. "What dwarf now?" "Wizard charmed towns smith, he is," Gurt explained. "Mostly harmless. Does his works and not bothers anyone if we just leaves him alone." "Are there any more people I need to know about?" Carefully, Flip climbed down some stairs after Gurt while the hobgoblin deactivated the trap on it. "Just the prisoners he needs for doings of dark ritual stuff. They ares not too bad, yet," the hobgoblin said. "If there is any mores, I do not knows." Flip, who had to help the hobgoblin with deactivating several of the more complicated traps, was trying to form a plan to deal with the situation. They should have done that before they decided to embark on this errand, but maybe after what made him lose his memory, he didn't have all his faculties together just now. The halfling thought it even more foolish to turn back now though, especially as they could already smell the alchemy lab the wizard had, according to the hobgoblin, constantly been working in not too far ahead. "This charmed dwarf, where is he, usually?" Flip wanted to know. "In the caves with the prisoners, making more cages for thems." Gurt shook his head. "I already trieds to gets him out and to help, but he is convinced the wizard is his friend. Darn magics." "Have you tried telling him his, err, friend wants something from him? Like coming with him?" "No..." Gurt grinned at the halfling in admiration. "You are very clevers! That coulds work!" "Are there any empty crates down here?" Flip jumped over a small pit, trying to keep up. "Oh, plenties. What woulds you wants it for?" Flip decided he'd need to talk to Gurt about his language issues while his mind was spinning wild with the possibilities of the current situation. "I have a plan. Kind of. Depends on where the wizard is. Listen..." Gurt listened, and a wide goblin grin spread over his face. A moment later, they reached the alchemist's lab. The cave it was in was rather big, stretching left and right, filled with tables laden with things one would need to go about alchemical work. There was also a wall set up as library, and on some tables were more books even. Most of the material looked to be fairly new. The stench usually coming with such activities was faintly in the air. Gurt pointed to another room going off the lab. Rhythmic clangs on metal could be heard. That was, so he had explained, where the captives were and the dwarf worked. The wizard was nowhere to be seen, but they could hear his more or less melodic chanting from another cave nearby. He would, so Gurt assured Flip, be busy trying out his spells and formulas until early morning. Gurt went towards where the dwarf could be heard working, but flip shook his head and pointed at the tables. "Let's see if we can find some notes first, to see what exactly the guy... what was his name again... is doing." "Suto," Gurt said. "Crazy lookings guy, too, for being that young. Why bother with notes? Need to get rids of him, anyway." He was obviously burning for some action, whipping back and forth on his toes. "We better find out what exactly he's trying to summon, no? There are plenty of different demon types vulnerable to different things, just in case he succeeds." Flip started going through the books and notes on the nearest table. "Oh, alright. You are clever." Gurt grinned. "I can't reads well, so you tells me what I need to looks for?" He frowned. "And how do we fight a demon, vulnerable or not?" Flip stopped flipping through the pages of a journal with current entries and thought about that for a second. He hadn't given it much thought, but he realized it was a bit naive to believe an opportunity would just present itself out of nowhere. "Look for any weird long names, it usually means a demon," he said, basing this on what he had heard somewhere. If he could just remember where... "As for how to fight one, we wil see in the unlikely event this Suto succeeds." Maybe it was not so unlikely, he thought, seeing all the research, but he dared not mention that. "A name like.. Flaburr... Flabbarr.." Gurt tried. He held up a tattered looking scroll. Flip scanned it and nodded. With the luck of the naive, Gurt had come upon a summoning scroll that seemed very unfinished. "Flabburkanadzar," Flip read. "Let's just call it Flab." He turned to a tome on demons to look the name up. "Flab," Gurt giggled. "Flab and Flip!" For some reason, the halfling found that a lot less amusing. "Here," he exclaimed after a while. "Demon of wishes and bad luck. For each wish it makes come true, someone else you need to specify will be struck with bad luck and worse. Guess the wizard does not only want something for himself but also revenge something or the other." "Sounds not too bad," Gurt mused. "Get what you want and make your enemies suffer for it." "Except demons tend to fulfill their end of the bargain with some twists and turns that would make you wish never to have wished, so don't even think about it." Flip placed everything but the unfinished scroll back – better not take a chance for it to be completed soon – and waved for Gurt to pay the dwarf a visit. The Dwarf, Master Durbin, was hammering away happily, humming to himself. In the cages along the long wall of the crude cave were several villagers – 2 human women, a male gnome, a half-orc child and what looked to be a mix of dwarf and halfling. They were in various states of shock and despair, as far as Flip could tell. "Master Durbin," Flip started. "We need your help. Our friend Suto needs us to move his lab stuff to another room for now." He smiled widely as he neared the charmed prisoner. "You are Suto's friend, are you not?" "Why yes, yes I am." The dwarf started at them in confusion, then back to his work and shrugged. "But I need to finish those, Suto asked so nicely for them!" "Yes, I know, I know," Flip assured him. "But Suto needs his lab stuff moved now as he is expecting visitors who might accidentally damage the equipment. He said you would be the right man to help and the guard all the stuff while finishing the cages in another cave." Still smiling, Flip came closer and pointed to the prisoners. "We don't need to take them, they are no friends of Suto." "No, no, they are not. And I can finish the work in the new place?" It was obviously very hard for the dwarf to shift his focus. "Of course, Suto needs the cages, remember? He just needs the lab stuff moved first. We already brought crates." Gurt nodded and pointed to the boxes he had just brought out of storage. "We cans be quick and all do our other works for Suto again." "Alright, then." Still hesitating, the dwarf dropped his utensils. "Let's hurry up then so I can finish." Flip released his held breath. He hadn't be sure that this would be working. Luckily, the wizard had not thought to make his orders more specific. Likely, he felt very secure down here, no wonder with all the traps they had gotten rid of. They worked in silence; the dwarf because talking meant slowing down, the halfling and the hobgoblin so no strange noise would alert their foe. Once the dwarf and the equipment was safely in a much smaller cave, Durbin immediately got back to work on the cages for 'his friend' while the others locked the door behind him without him even noticing it. "Now," Flip announced, "it is time for your part. Are you sure you are up to it?" Gurt blinked, obviously worried. "No, but we haves no choices. And I'm afraids well enough so the wizard will not thinks me trying to tricks him." Flip nodded, wondering if his plan was sound enough. "You remember what to say?" "Yes, I does. Almost the truth, too, rights?" Gurt grinned and rushed on towards the cave the wizard was in, Flip followed almost as quickly. He readied his small arsenal of throwing weapons, coating several of them in a larger amount of the same poison he had used on the ogre. It might not be enough but it was all he had with him. Gurt already started calling out. "Master Suto, Master Suto, come quicks, we're attacked by the villagers and peoples in shining armors! There's peoples in the dungeons stealing your stuffs. And Blogg is all drunks and passed out again." Gurt managed to sound real panicked, maybe because he was. He banged at the door to the cave where Suto was doing whatever he was doing, and it just occurred to the halfling then that the wizard might have a good spell at the ready. But it was too late to worry about that now. Flip stayed right behind Gurt, holding his right arm with the left as if he was injured, trying to look dazed. The left hand concealed a poisoned dart. At the same time, back in the camp near the temple ruins, a goblin standing watch beyond a cloud covered sky noticed a strange light emanating from the remains of the buildings. The big ones had cleaned it out earlier, so the paladin had assured him, which made him more curious than worried at first. The islands they were living on sometimes had strange swamp lights and other phenomena which were usually not dangerous unless one was foolish enough to follow them. Krock, as his name was, wasn't foolish, just a bit lazy and not the bravest. Because of that, he didn't dare go nearer, and he hesitated to wake the others. Waking them could mean being left in the camp alone while they would go investigate. And the last think Krock wanted was to be alone around here. The light slowly intensified, turning from a dark green to light green and then to yellow. A low, almost inaudible rumble started. The goblin had never seen a swamp light do that, and he was contemplating sounding the alarm when the temple suddenly seemed to explode in light and sound, without any of the remaining walls really being damaged. Krock started to yell in panic, and the next moment the group's half-orc fell over him as he rushed, naked of all things, out of his tent. The 3 elves were almost as quick, but they had taken the time to throw on their robes and armor respectively. All of them, Uthas still on the ground next to Krock, stared at the sight. The ruins were now hanging colors from green to yellow again and again, and the walls seemed to be intact, complete with the tower and fortifications and all, and a moment later back to their real self, to appear overgrown with vegetation the next moment just to be gone completely in the blink of an eye. It happened again and again. And someone was yelling in the building. "Let's go!" Lhess ordered. She said that so matter-of-factly that the others, including a naked half-orc barely remembering to grab his axe, followed without thinking much about it. Uthas found himself wishing they hadn't left Thalla, the orc woman, back at the village to find traces of her kidnapped merchant – an orc – or half-orc – warrior charging into battle naked was a sight any orc female would enjoy. But then, he remembered, he had no idea if there would be a battle or not. In fact, the situation looked to be more magical than anything. The rotation through light and appearances intensified, and Uthas felt a strange sensation, like ants crawling over his skin – a sure sign that there was a lot of magic around, although he had no idea why he could detect some magic that way when most others could not. At the same time, the world seemed to slow down around him and sped up at the next moment, and the elves seemed to move in different speeds, too. At the entrance of the temple ruins, the half-orc could now make out what looked to be a very old human man, staggering out of the building in apparent confusion. The cries came from him. Uthas blinked, as for a moment the man had looked almost young again, and he was sure it has not been a trick of the weird light. Lhess and the others came to a stop well off the entrance. Nev made some movements with his hands and mumbled a spell, and Lhess held up her holy symbol – an eternal knot of wisdom – for protection. Uthas tried to push himself in front of the prince but he could not reach them, as for some reason the world around him either sped up or he slowed down. It was almost like he was stuck in honey. Once more, the human now out of the temple looked to be young, then there was a final flash of light and a bang like a million thunders, and then it was all quiet and dark around Uthas. The only lights he could still see where those dancing in front of his eyes. Lhess and Nev knelt next to the old man in tattered priest robes where he had fallen once the magic dissolved. He looked really ancient now. "Are... they...gone?" he croaked. "All the... undead?" "Yes," Lhess assured him. "The gods helped me take care of that." "Good." The unknown man closed his eyes. "You must... save the library. Very important. Take... key to transport it. Time... and space... it's the key." The hands of the man, aging rapidly now, went up to Nev's robes and grabbed him by the collar. "Time... is of the essence. Space... we need the space. You must be... the destined..." Nev saw the hands losing their grip on him and blinked in confusion. He was about to ask for details but then he noticed the wide open eyes of the human. The unknown priest was dead. Lhess looked at the temple and back at the priest in irritation. "Where did he come from? We searched the whole place, there was nowhere for him to hide, and there certainly was no library!" "But Lhess, this is magic. Arcane magic." Nev, slowly getting up, looked for Orlath. "I don't know what happened exactly, and you are right that we checked the whole place, wolves and all." For a moment, Nev appeared to be embarrassed by the memory of that episode. Orlath appeared beyond the temple entrance. He had gone in once the spectacle seemed to be over. "There was no library when we checked," he nodded. "Not in our time. Nor in our space. But I heard what he said." He pointed at the corpse. "And I believe we have made a very important discovery here. If what he was guarding was as sensitive as I think it was, we better hurry up finding and getting the library out of here and don't tell anyone else about it. At least not for a while. Except, you know, mom." "Alright." Knowing her brother was right, Lhess had no issue with him taking the lead. "But this magic, whatever it was, is gone now?" "Time magic, and space magic. I detected both. It is not completely gone yet, but it is harmless enough now." The prince pointed at the entrance. "Let's go." Uthas, who had gotten up again, blinked the remaining dizziness off. "Mind if I dress first?" he asked. Lhess looked back at him and grinned. "No, but be quick about it." Not too much later, the party, leaving the goblin to watch the camp again, moved back into the temple in search of the hidden library they were supposed to save. For once, all 2 elves were in agreement as knowledge was the most important thing, or so it had been drilled into them. Uthas was more concerned with the safety of the two wizards. But nothing stirred in the temple again. [/QUOTE]
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