Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
From the Diary of Doorag Marzipan
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="cthulhu42" data-source="post: 6587864" data-attributes="member: 6792361"><p>Rdyr’t 23</p><p></p><p> Today began innocuously enough. Surprisingly we were not attacked during our </p><p>rest and neither were the soldiers barricaded in the front entrance. It remained quiet.</p><p>Too quiet, but given the situation there was no winning. I slept hard, determined not</p><p>to wonder why our enemy would not try to take back the temple’s lower level. </p><p></p><p> We set out again this morning with the intention to check the few doors left on</p><p>this level that we had left last night. All went relatively well, though our search was </p><p>not without its hiccups. For one thing, Caribdis’ stay in the realms beyond has done</p><p>nothing to temper his impulsiveness, and we are having to work hard to acclimate</p><p>ourselves once again to his nature. For the last several months we have become </p><p>something of a well oiled machine, at least when it comes to checking strange doors</p><p>for potential traps in dangerous lairs. Generally Happy will scour them for suspect</p><p>traps while Griff watches her back. Taklinn will watch from a short distance, ready </p><p>to heal or fight as the case may be, and I do my best to stay well clear of any blast</p><p>radius’ that might occur. </p><p></p><p> All of that is fine, and we began in just that manner this morning, with Griff </p><p>opening a couple of doors after Hap’s announcement of safety. We found a room</p><p>that had obviously once belonged to a cleric of Illugi, and Hap began to</p><p>meticulously search it out. A bit too meticulously for Caribdis’ taste, apparently, for </p><p>no sooner had she begun to go to work on a chest that had turned up than Caribdis</p><p>began opening more doors with no thought given to safety or strategy. Anything</p><p>could have been protecting those doors, and anything could have lurked behind </p><p>them. Only his good fortune kept him from yet another untimely demise before we</p><p>could stop him. I had a brief but stern conversation with him concerning letting</p><p>each of us do our jobs where applicable, particularly in the case of unchecked </p><p>doors. The common sense of letting her check them is so cut and dry, so obvious,</p><p>that I could hold my tongue no longer and I made my point as succinctly as I could.</p><p>Caribdis, of course, rolled his eyes, but I think the look on my face gave him an </p><p>idea of my seriousness, and he backed off from the doors, waiting impatiently. </p><p></p><p> In the meantime Griff was fast learning what it meant to be in the service of</p><p>Clangeden, for in the god’s service he was. Earlier in the morning, over breakfast, </p><p>we had all caught a glimpse of his hands; they were branded now with the runes</p><p>that grace the haft of Taklinn’s axe, burnt forever there as he had sworn his fealty to</p><p>Clangeden in exchange for Taklinn’s life. I do not know if it was that oath that </p><p>brought Taklinn back, or simple coincidence on the part of Caribdis’ timing.</p><p>Perhaps it is a bit of both. I must believe now that Griff’s words played a part, for I</p><p>do not think that Clangeden would hold him accountable for a gift he did not </p><p>provide. </p><p> </p><p> Griff had shrugged off our comments about his branded hands, but later, there in</p><p>the orcish cleric’s room, while Hap disabled a trap on the chest and while I shook a </p><p>disapproving finger at Caribdis, Griff caught his first glimpse of evil.</p><p></p><p> There was a statue in the room of Illugi, grim and horrible as any other we have</p><p>seen, but when Hap announced that the trap was disarmed and looked up at her </p><p>husband she saw him standing there, stock still, staring at the statue with wide eyes,</p><p>utterly frozen to the spot with a look of terrible awe on his face. We all noticed it as</p><p>Hap ran to his side and shook his arm, which seemed to break the spell that had </p><p>come over our warrior. </p><p></p><p> “Griff, what is it?” She asked. “What’s wrong? What do you see?”</p><p></p><p> Griff stared at her for long seconds until he seemed to return to himself again. </p><p>“Nothing!” he gruffed. </p><p></p><p> Happy was not buying it and would not let the matter drop, but Griff turned and</p><p>stomped away, refusing to discus the matter further, which, of course, put Happy </p><p>quite beside herself! Oh, was she angry! But nothing she could say would make</p><p>Griff admit that he had seen something out of the ordinary. </p><p></p><p> I didn’t believe him either, but thought better of saying anything. Griff, I have </p><p>found, will tell you his secretes when he is good and ready and not a moment</p><p>before. Asking him only guarantees you more of a wait. Besides, it was time to</p><p>move on. </p><p></p><p> There was a fine find in the chest. A book concerning Illugi, much of it esoteric</p><p>rituals for his worship, but I caught glimpses within it that might reveal more to us </p><p>about the nature of our enemy should I have a chance to study it later. I wrapped it</p><p>up and secured it away.</p><p></p><p> Hap finally gave up on Griff and stormed back to an unchecked door in a huff. </p><p>She checked it a little too quickly for my taste, but she was right in saying that it</p><p>was not trapped. We checked the room beyond and then repeated the procedure</p><p>until we had cleared out the lower level. Only one way to go: Up. </p><p></p><p> Or so I thought.</p><p></p><p> We made our way back to the main entry hall and the spiral staircase that rose up</p><p>into darkness there. Standing at the bottom, looking up, one could almost smell the </p><p>evil that drifted down from above. With weapons drawn, we began our climb as</p><p>Major Throst and the Havilah soldiers watched us. </p><p></p><p> Round and round we climbed, into a stone shaft lined with steps that circled ever </p><p>upward. We climbed for what seemed a long time through a mist that tumbled like</p><p>smoky water down and around our feet, until Taklinn suddenly stopped. </p><p></p><p> “What is it?” Griff hissed. </p><p></p><p> “Shh!” Taklinn held up his hand for silence, his head cocked, straining to hear</p><p>some sound that only he could. Slowly he reached out and touched the stone wall,</p><p>closing his eyes, listening. And then his eyes snapped open. </p><p></p><p> “She’s gonna give!” he managed to cry before the crack appeared, racing down</p><p>the stairs between our feet. Then another and another, spiderwebbing their way</p><p>down the walls as a tremendous rumble began and the earth began to shake. We </p><p>struggled to keep our feet as a chunk of stone gave way and fell from the wall above</p><p>us. We dodged as it tumbled down and around the stairs, narrowly missing</p><p>Caribdis. </p><p></p><p> “Back!” Taklinn yelled above the din, but there was to be no turning back, for</p><p>when we turned it was just in time to see the lower stairs crumble and fall away.</p><p>And the steps continued to break apart one by one, chasing us as we turned and fled </p><p>upwards. But it was a race we could not win, and I at last felt the stone fall from</p><p>beneath my feet. </p><p> </p><p> I was, of course, under the effects of an ‘overland flight’ spell, so I was able to </p><p>keep from falling. Hap, too, used her armor to fly. But the rest of the crew had no</p><p>such means and we could only watch helplessly as Caribdis, Griff and Taklinn fell</p><p>with the rubble, down to the temples first floor and beyond, for the floor had given </p><p>way as well and the staircase, along with our crew, fell through the gaping maw</p><p>below. </p><p></p><p> Without thought, without warning, Happy flew down after them. With a curse, I </p><p>was hot on her heels, flying into inky blackness. </p><p></p><p> For a moment I lost sight of Hap, and there was the sensation of floating instead</p><p>of flying. I lost sight of which way was up or down, and I let myself fall, but still </p><p>there was the sensation of drifting, and I no longer saw the exit through which we</p><p>had fallen. All was darkness and silence.</p><p></p><p> Until I felt gravity grab me again! I had to do a quick pull up, kicking in my flight </p><p>again just in time to slow my descent even as I heard the splashes of rubble and</p><p>crew into water below. I looked about wildly, and was relieved to see Happy. She</p><p>was still flying straight down, toward the sounds of splashing, calling out Griff’s </p><p>name.</p><p></p><p> I came in low and fast, skimming the black water, my eyes wide open for any </p><p>signs of trouble. Happy circled anxiously around the spot where our friends had hit</p><p>and finally we saw them. First Caribdis, then Griff and Taklinn rose from the water</p><p>with gasps, staggering and sputtering, obviously all a bit the worse for wear from</p><p>the fall. The water appeared to be only three feet deep or so, and the three of them </p><p>had no trouble standing in it. Taklinn waded to Griff and laid his hands on him</p><p>while Caribdis healed himself. </p><p></p><p> “What the hell was that all about?” Hap demanded, a little too loudly. Her voice</p><p>echoed off the water and seemed to carry a long way. </p><p></p><p> “It was an ‘earthquake’ spell.” Taklinn answered grimly. “And I’d bet my beard </p><p>that I know who was behind it!”</p><p></p><p> “You think it was Scylla?” I asked.</p><p></p><p> “Aye! It has her grubby hand prints all over it. Only a powerful caster could have </p><p>done it, and she’s obviously wanting to toy with us, otherwise she’d have tried to</p><p>kill us out right. Instead, she’s dumped us here.”</p><p></p><p> “So where do you suppose ‘here’ is?” Caribdis wondered aloud. </p><p></p><p> It was a good question. We had to assume that if Scylla had indeed dropped us</p><p>into this pit that there would be no easy way out. I flew upwards to have a look</p><p>around, but all was such blackness that my darkvision could not penetrate far </p><p>enough to tell me much, at least until I reached the roof of the cavern. Many feet</p><p>above the water I found a roof of glistening stone, yet I found no shaft, no hole</p><p>through which we had fallen. It was as if the earth had spat us out and then closed </p><p>up behind. There would be no flying back out of this prison.</p><p></p><p> I flew back to the crew and gave them my report. </p><p></p><p> “That’s just great!” Griff said, spitting into the water. “What about one of your </p><p>teleports, Doorag?”</p><p></p><p> “I don’t know,” I said slowly, rubbing my chin, “I have to think that Scylla would</p><p>have thought of that too and would put us out of teleport range. I have the sneaking </p><p>suspicion that we have fallen through a gate of some kind. We may be on another</p><p>planet or another plane. I’ve a feeling that a teleport won’t do us much good.</p><p>Besides, I don’t have it memorized today.” </p><p></p><p> “So what do we do?” Hap asked, still flying in circles around us.</p><p></p><p> “Well, the first order of business is to get out of this water!” I said, nervously</p><p>looking at the dark surface of the underground lake, knowing that anything could be </p><p>lurking below. All heads nodded in agreement, though there was no telling which</p><p>way might lead to dry land. I had found no walls in this chamber, and for all we</p><p>knew this shallow lake might go on for a very long time indeed! There was not </p><p>much else to do but pick a direction and begin wading.</p><p></p><p> Hap’s fly spell wore off quickly and she was soon riding Griff’s shoulders. She</p><p>renewed her inquisition as to what he had seen earlier, but he refused to even </p><p>acknowledge her questions, which, of course, made her all the more angry. We had</p><p>to shush her several times. </p><p></p><p> Hours passed as the crew sloshed through the water. Fortunately it got no deeper, </p><p>though Caribdis did manage to find a hole at one point, dropping below the surface.</p><p>We had a bad moment trying to find him, but he finally popped back up, thrashing</p><p>and sputtering. Still we trod on, led unerringly straight due in no small part to the </p><p>uncanny directional senses of Griff and Taklinn, until at last, the water began to get</p><p>lower and lower as the ground beneath began a gentle rise that gave way to dry land</p><p>within our sight. </p><p></p><p> All this time I had been nervously scanning, always on guard for some unseen</p><p>menace gliding below the surface of those black waters to attack and pull one of us</p><p>under. But now that land was in view, I breathed a sigh of relief. </p><p></p><p> Too quickly.</p><p></p><p> A sudden splash and a flash of movement followed by a fast moving ripple in the</p><p>water, then a hiss and the echo of wicked laughter from another side. Something </p><p>was out there, skimming below the surface. </p><p></p><p> Griff and Taklinn took stances, weapons up. Caribdis drew back his bow and I</p><p>could see his lips moving in verse. Hap drew her feet beneath her, ready to spring </p><p>from Griff’s back in a flash, and I flew tight circles overhead, straining to catch a</p><p>glimpse of this new danger. </p><p> </p><p> I banked tightly to the left, keeping myself no more than twenty or thirty feet from</p><p>the rest of the crew as they stood, waist deep in water, in a tight, defensive, knot. It </p><p>was then that I saw it, a nasty head protruding from the water attached to a</p><p>serpentine body that roiled beneath the surface. It was only a glimpse, but what I</p><p>saw was enough to send a chill down my spine, for I recognized it immediately as a </p><p>naga. In a flash, the abomination sank back beneath the oily water and was gone,</p><p>though I was certain that it hadn’t gone far. </p><p></p><p> Naga’s, I thought. Of all things! I became suddenly quite cross, angry at Scylla </p><p>for dumping us into such a pit, and put out that these beasts should give us a scare.</p><p>We had come too far and through too much to let them slow us down. If it was a</p><p>fight they wanted, they would have it, but I decided to give them fair warning first. </p><p></p><p> I flew back to the crew and circled above them, clearing my throat and putting as</p><p>much force into my voice as I could as I shouted, “Hear me, you pond scum! We</p><p>are the band of the Broken Blade, and we eat the likes of you for breakfast! If </p><p>you’re that eager to die, then come get some! Otherwise, move on and let us pass!”</p><p></p><p> The crew looked up at me, eyebrows raised, but they said nothing. We waited in</p><p>silence for several moments, poised for a fight, but it never came. The last sound we </p><p>heard from the Naga’s was a subdued splash in the distance. After that, all was</p><p>clam. I looked back down at the crew and shrugged. “Shall we?” I said.</p><p> </p><p> When we were sure that the silence was no ruse, we continued toward the bank of </p><p>the lake, the water growing steadily more shallow until we at last stood on dry land.</p><p>I used a ‘prestidigitation’ to dry my friends out as we surveyed the area. What we</p><p>saw was not promising, though our vision was severely limited. What we could see </p><p>was nothing but black, unforgiving, volcanic, stone. A plane of it that stretched far</p><p>beyond our straining eyes. </p><p></p><p> “Well,” Hap sighed, “What now? Which way do we go?” </p><p></p><p> I scratched my head. “I have no idea.” I admitted.</p><p> </p><p> “I do!” The voice cackled out of the darkness and we all whirled, swords drawn,</p><p>spells at the ready, once again falling into defensive postures against unseen </p><p>dangers. We strained our ears to hear, and then the voice came again.</p><p></p><p> “I know the way! Ah yes, Neekesh knows the way home, he does!”</p><p></p><p> It was the voice of an old man, though there are plenty of creatures that can </p><p>imitate such things, and we let our guard down not a minute. </p><p></p><p> “Show yourself!” Griff growled. </p><p></p><p> We held our breaths, waiting for what seemed like many moments, before a timid </p><p>figure appeared at the edge of our vision. He was, in fact, an old man. Dressed in</p><p>rags, his beard well down to his chest, a wary grin containing only a handful of</p><p>teeth plastered across his face. He stopped, poised like a rabbit, ready to run. </p><p></p><p> “Don’t kill Neekesh!” He pleaded. “Been here long time! So long. Don’t kill me,</p><p>I know the way… home!”</p><p></p><p> Thus began our acquaintance with Neekesh. When we had at last convinced him </p><p>that we meant him no harm, he approached and we were able to get his story from</p><p>him. He was an Edik native who had, apparently, displeased a higher up in the</p><p>Illugi clergy and had been exiled to this terrible place. He had no idea how long he </p><p>had been here, but guessed that it must be years. He had survived by hiding for</p><p>most of his days and scavenging for what small bits of food the predators that</p><p>roamed these rocky planes left behind. He was in sore shape, painfully thin and </p><p>perhaps a bit mad from darkness and seclusion. But he claimed to know the passage</p><p>back to Edik, though when we asked why he had not left he shuddered and nearly</p><p>came to tears. </p><p></p><p> He told us that the way off of these planes was guarded by three terrible beasts.</p><p>He called them dragons, though I could hardly believe that such was the case. It </p><p>would be unlike three dragons to remain in one spot to guard something other than</p><p>their own treasure. Perhaps this is another case of mistaken wyvern identity. </p><p></p><p> We set out at once, picking our way across the rock, following Neekesh’s </p><p>directions after we had vowed that we would take care of the “dragons” and bring</p><p>him back to Edik with us.</p><p></p><p> Neekesh assured us that the gate to Edik was only a days march away, but he </p><p>warned us of the dangers of this place, glancing nervously about as he did so. His</p><p>warning was not without merit, for we had walked for no more than an hour when</p><p>we were besieged by monsters. </p><p></p><p> I figured later that they were barbed devils, a very nasty sort of underworld</p><p>denizen. They came at us out of the darkness without warning and it was all we</p><p>could do to meet them even as Neekesh howled in terror and curled up on the </p><p>ground in the fetal position. </p><p></p><p> I took a claw to the face and Griff got hit pretty hard as well, but in the end they</p><p>were no match for us, and within less than a minute, nine of them lay scattered </p><p>across the black rock, sliced and scorched and pierced with arrows. These devils</p><p>had had the misfortune to tangle with us while we were at our full compliment of</p><p>powers and spells and were in no mood to be detained. We slaughtered them. </p><p></p><p> Neekesh rose from ground with a grin spread from ear to ear, cackling with glee</p><p>as he surveyed our handiwork. We got the idea that he had been living in abject fear</p><p>of such creatures for some time and was delighted to see them suffer for a </p><p>change. </p><p></p><p> We pressed on across the porous rock, and as we did so, Griff fell into step next to</p><p>me. He glanced quickly over his shoulder to make sure that no one would over hear </p><p>him and seemed satisfied to see Happy involved with a conversation between</p><p>Taklinn, Caribdis, and herself. </p><p></p><p> “Doorag,” He muttered, “Can I, uh, can I talk to you for a minute?” </p><p></p><p> I looked up at him, eyebrows raised in curiosity, “Sure Griff, of course. What’s on</p><p>your mind?”</p><p></p><p> Griff took another furtive look at his wife to make sure she was still out of </p><p>earshot, and lowered his voice. “Back in the cleric’s quarters yesterday, that statue,</p><p>you remember it?”</p><p></p><p> “Yes,” I nodded, “The one of Illugi. You seemed a little freaked out by it.” </p><p></p><p> “Yeah, well, I could… see it.”</p><p></p><p> “Right,” I said slowly, “We could all see it. It looked like all the others we’ve</p><p>seen.” </p><p></p><p> “No,” Griff whispered urgently, “I could see IT! I could SEE it!” I could tell he</p><p>was struggling for the words.</p><p></p><p> “See what?” I asked. “I’m not following you.” </p><p></p><p> Griff sighed, frustrated. “I could see… evil.” He said at last. </p><p></p><p> I looked up at him and blinked, and I could tell that he was deadly serious, and</p><p>quite uncomfortable with this revelation. He had obviously come to me as a last </p><p>resort. “Describe to me exactly what you saw, Griff.” I prompted him.</p><p></p><p> Griff took a deep breath. “I looked at the statue and just sort of… concentrated. I</p><p>don’t know exactly why. But the point is, after I’d stared at it for a few seconds, I </p><p>started to see this black cloud thing hanging all over it-“</p><p></p><p> “Like an aura?” I interrupted him.</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, whatever.” He said. “An aura. Anyway, it was strong! I couldn’t take my </p><p>eyes off of it! It chilled me worse than almost anything I’ve ever seen! Made my</p><p>stomach flip!”</p><p></p><p> “Hmmm,” I mused, “Interesting. It almost sounds as though you were seeing the</p><p>statues evil aura. I don’t have that power myself, but I understand that its quite </p><p>similar to the ability to see detect magical auras. But that would mean…” I stopped</p><p>in mid sentence, looking at Griff with wide eyes. </p><p></p><p> “What? What does it mean?” Griff demanded. </p><p></p><p> I blinked. “Well, generally speaking, the power to see evil and/or good auras is</p><p>restricted to those who have chosen a divine path. Taklinn, for example, has </p><p>probably been able to do it since he was able to hold an axe. It’s usually a spell or</p><p>an innate ability granted by…”</p><p></p><p> “Granted by what?” Griff asked urgently. </p><p></p><p> “A deity.” I finished. </p><p></p><p> Griff moaned and rolled his eyes, pressing his hand to his forehead as if trying to</p><p>digest that. “What have I gotten myself into?” He asked himself. </p><p></p><p> “This may have something to do with your promise to Clangeden.” I said.</p><p>“Though it would be strange for a dwarven god to grant such powers to a human.</p><p>Tell me, do you feel any different otherwise?” </p><p></p><p> “Actually I do,” He admitted. “I feel… I don’t know how to describe it.” He</p><p>struggled for the word, and finally settled on one. “Pure?”</p><p></p><p> “Really? How fascinating!” </p><p></p><p> “What? Why is that fascinating?”</p><p></p><p> “Well, and please bare in mind that I’m just guessing here, but it almost sounds as</p><p>if you have been accepted into the role of a holy warrior. Generally speaking, the </p><p>power to detect evil is limited to priests, druids, and…” I trailed off.</p><p></p><p> “And what?” Griff hissed. </p><p></p><p> “Paladins.” </p><p></p><p> Griff groaned again, but I continued quickly. “I have to doubt that you have</p><p>suddenly shifted from fighter to priest. That sort of thing is usually a conscious</p><p>decision and requires much forethought and dedication, and I just don’t see you </p><p>filling that role, not to mention that it would be patently unheard of for a dwarven</p><p>god to accept a human as one of his clerics, especially a god like Clangeden.</p><p>However, the idea that you may now be a paladin is not so farfetched. Its unlikely, </p><p>but I suppose its not out of the realm of possibilities. Tell me, have you felt</p><p>anything else strange or odd?”</p><p></p><p> Griff was silent for a long time, but finally he sighed and nodded. “I can heal </p><p>myself.” He admitted. “Just a little while ago, after that battle with those, what did</p><p>you call them, barbed devils, I still had a few cuts after Taklinn healed me, and… I</p><p>don’t know, I just kind of knew I could take care of them. I put my hand on my </p><p>wound and concentrated. When I took my hand away, the wound had closed.” Griff</p><p>looked at me with a discomfort I had rarely seen on his face. “What does it mean?”</p><p></p><p> I chuckled, but quickly hushed myself when I saw just how upset he was by his </p><p>admission. “I think it means that I’m right, Griff. The abilities to fight well, see evil,</p><p>and perform minor acts of healing are all earmarks of a paladin, which, by the way,</p><p>is almost entirely unique. I would be interested to know when the last time a </p><p>dwarven god accepted a human to carry his standard was. Still, you're hardly the</p><p>average human, and you did make quite a promise to Clangeden while holding that</p><p>axe. Stranger things have happened.” </p><p></p><p> “Well that’s just great!” He said, sourly. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?</p><p>I don’t know how to be a paladin!”</p><p></p><p> “I’m sure you’ll work it out, Griff.” I said, shrugging. “The fact is, I’m hardly the best </p><p>person to ask. We have with us one who is far better suited to answering questions</p><p>about Clangeden.”</p><p></p><p> Griff glanced over to Taklinn and sighed. “You’re probably right. I just wanted to </p><p>get your take on this. I just know that Taklinn is going to see this as some kind of</p><p>victory for his god or something. He has a tendency to gloat about these kinds of</p><p>things.” </p><p></p><p> I shrugged. “Well, you can’t really blame him. His life is devoted to Clangeden,</p><p>so the fact that you may now serve Him will probably grease Taklinn’s wheels to no </p><p>end. Though I will add that your motivations are nothing to be ashamed of, Griff.</p><p>What you did was one of the purest examples of friendship I have ever seen. You</p><p>can be proud of that, and no matter how Taklinn reacts to your news, you can know </p><p>that he is forever in your debt.” I looked over my shoulder to where Taklinn was</p><p>deep in heated debate with Happy and Caribdis. “The real question,” I said, “Is how</p><p>will Happy deal with this?” </p><p></p><p> I saw Griff shudder, and he refused to even look toward his wife. “Yeah,” He</p><p>nodded. “That is the real question.” He sighed heavily. “Thanks, Doorag. Can we,</p><p>you know, keep this between ourselves for the time being?” </p><p></p><p> “Of course.” I said, “And you're welcome. Anytime, my friend. Anytime.”</p><p></p><p> On we trekked across the black rock with only ourselves and the occasional whiff </p><p>of sulfur to keep us company. With no sun or moon in the sky to denote the passage</p><p>of time we soon lost track of how long we had traveled, though I began to measure</p><p>our progress by the amount of times Neekesh repeated that we were “almost there!” </p><p> Neekesh was obviously half mad and not an entirely pleasant guide, but he proved</p><p>to be true to his word, for after what seemed like many hours of walking we at last</p><p>spotted a faint glow in the distance, at which point Neekesh began to jump up and </p><p>down excitedly and proclaim that our destination was at hand. Cheered at the</p><p>prospect of leaving this dark place, we pushed on with renewed vigor, the glow</p><p>becoming steadily brighter the closer we got. </p><p></p><p> We would not reach the glow without some conflict, of course, but the attack,</p><p>such as it was, highlighted just how far we have come since our early days. </p><p></p><p> We had walked for perhaps another hour (Neekesh had exclaimed that we were </p><p>“almost there!” six more times, which seemed to equal about an hour) when</p><p>suddenly the rock beneath our feet began to shudder with what felt like heavy and</p><p>fast footfalls. We all felt it at the same time, and there was no doubt that it was </p><p>growing rapidly stronger, as if something large was charging straight for us, which,</p><p>in fact, proved to be the case. </p><p></p><p> I shot into the air, straining my eyes, while the rest of the crew drew weapons and </p><p>assumed a now familiar defensive posture. Mere seconds passed before it</p><p>materialized from the darkness, a hulking brute of a beast bearing down upon us at</p><p>a dead run. </p><p></p><p> It was a bulette, and a big one at that. Its stubby legs bore its massive bulk across</p><p>the rock at surprising speed, and I suppose most creatures that got in the things way</p><p>were made short work of. Bulette’s are feared across every land that I have ever </p><p>heard of, for they are fearsome and savage predators with a seemingly endless</p><p>appetite for meat and a penchant for burrowing underground only to surface</p><p>beneath the feet of their prey. Fortunately the hard rock surface of this place did not </p><p>allow such a maneuver, but even without that element of surprise, the sight of it</p><p>charging full speed, its maw lined with hundreds of jagged teeth, would have turned</p><p>the knees of most men to jelly. </p><p></p><p> Not only are bulette’s feared for their ferocity, but also for the difficulty one has</p><p>in fighting them, for their protective carapace can withstand the mightiest of sword</p><p>blows. Many have died while trying in vain to penetrate that thick shell. All of these </p><p>thoughts flashed through my mind as it closed the distance, and I hurriedly called</p><p>up a spell.</p><p></p><p> But I would never cast it. </p><p></p><p> Griff, almost serene in his economy of movement, stepped forward to meet the</p><p>beast head on. He set his back foot, held his sword aloft, and at the last possible</p><p>second, brought it down with enough force to cleave through an oak in one swing.</p><p>His blade struck the bulette between its beady eyes and carved through that </p><p>legendary carapace like butter, shearing through brain and lower jaw, splitting that</p><p>mighty head with almost casual ease. Griff stepped nimbly aside as the bulette’s </p><p>knees suddenly buckled and it plowed into the ground, skidding to a shuddering</p><p>stop, dead before it had even stopped moving. </p><p></p><p> I remembered the way the crew had looked at me the day I had ‘disintegrated’ the </p><p>armorer on the shadow plane. Now it was Griff’s turn to be stared at in awe as he</p><p>wiped his blade clean and slid it into his scabbard as if nothing out of the ordinary</p><p>had happened. He nudged the bulette once with the toe of his boot and then turned </p><p>without a word to keep walking toward the glow.</p><p></p><p> We followed and the glow got brighter and brighter until it seemed that it must</p><p>now be no more than a mile or two away. I decided that now might be a good time </p><p>to see if we could get a look at it, and to that end I borrowed Taklinn’s telescope</p><p>and flew high into the air, pressing the eye piece to my eye and focusing in on the</p><p>glow. </p><p></p><p> As the image sharpened, I let out a gasp! Neekesh had not been telling tall tales at</p><p>all, for there, surrounding what had to be an interplanar gate, squatted not one, not</p><p>two, but three dragons! Two blacks and a red! </p><p></p><p> I blinked with disbelief and pressed the telescope to my eye again to make sure I</p><p>had seen correctly, and to my dismay, saw that my eyes had not deceived me. The</p><p>three great reptiles, large even at this distance, paced in a tight circle around the </p><p>gate, seemingly at ease with one another and their task of guarding the exit. </p><p></p><p> As I continued to watch them and study their movements, it became clear to me</p><p>that these were not normal dragons. Though it was difficult to see from this </p><p>distance, I began to catch flashes of things that betrayed their true nature. I saw</p><p>ragged holes in wings and missing scales. I saw long swaths of bone, and patches</p><p>where flesh hung in flaps and strips. In a flash I understood. These were dragons, </p><p>yes, but they were no longer alive by normal standards. These dragons were</p><p>undead, which explained how they could remain in place for so long and not turn on</p><p>each other. I shuddered. What sort of power must it have taken to raise such </p><p>creatures from their eternal slumber for such a purpose? I almost felt sad for them,</p><p>for though they were evil in life, at least they controlled their own destinies, and for</p><p>all their wicked ways, one cannot deny the majesty of even an evil dragon. These </p><p>things I saw in the telescope were perverse parodies of true dragons, and I resolved</p><p>to free them of such a humiliating end. </p><p></p><p> I flew back to earth and related what I had seen. Much discussion followed as to </p><p>what strategy we should take, and though Caribdis was all for taking them on right</p><p>then and there, we decided to take a day to prepare. Undead of any sort have certain</p><p>weaknesses that we could exploit, given time, and we knew that to go after them </p><p>half cocked would be a fools errand. I cast a mansion and we entered, gathering</p><p>around the massive dining room table as we usually do, to formulate our strategy</p><p>while Neekesh wandered the halls, head tilted in unrestrained awe. </p><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> Rdyr’t 24</p><p></p><p> I wish that my writing skills could convey my agitation! We should be well past </p><p>those undead dragons and through the gate back to (hopefully) Edik even now, yet</p><p>due to miss-communication and utter ineptitude, we are forced to remain in this god</p><p>forsaken hell hole yet another day! </p><p></p><p> This is such an amateur mistake that I can barely bring myself to relate it here, but</p><p>for the sake of continuity I will at least give the bare bones of our problem.</p><p></p><p> One of the cornerstones of our plan in dealing with these dragons is a clerical</p><p>spell called ‘heroes feast’. Now ordinarily such a spell falls under Taklinn’s </p><p>domain, and ever since our fight with Acessiwall he had pretty much been casting it</p><p>regularly each morning. It is a nifty spell to say the least, with a multitude of </p><p>effects, not the least of which is that it conveys immunity to magical fear effects, an</p><p>invaluable asset when dealing with dragons, since even being near one can cause</p><p>grown men to flee in panic. We had to assume that these dragons, even undead </p><p>though they may be, still had the power to cause fear in even the staunchest of</p><p>hearts, and therefore it was standard operating procedure that we would, of course,</p><p>partake in a ‘heroes feast’ this morning to ward off such a thing. </p><p></p><p> Well, this was discussed last night, along with what other spells might come in</p><p>handy, several of which would be cast by Taklinn, his divine powers being</p><p>particularly effective against undead. The problem lay in the fact that the ‘heroes </p><p>feast’ would take up what could potentially be another effective spell to use against</p><p>the dragons, and to that end Caribdis revealed that HE could cast ‘heroes feast’, and</p><p>volunteered to do so, thereby freeing Taklinn to cast another spell. </p><p> </p><p> So this morning we gathered at the table, fully expecting Caribdis to cast the feast</p><p>for us, only to find out that he had used that slot up to cast some other damnedable</p><p>spell that I can’t even remember now! Of course Taklinn had already prayed for his </p><p>spells earlier, which meant that we would have no ‘feast’, and that we were now</p><p>quite unprepared to face even one dragon, let alone three! </p><p></p><p> I was beside myself! Not only had Caribdis set us back a day, he acted as if he </p><p>had done nothing wrong, and could not understand why we all looked at him and</p><p>shook our heads. I was disgusted, and stormed out of the room, going back to my</p><p>own chambers where I stew even now. There is nothing for it but to wait until </p><p>Taklinn can prepare a ‘feast’ of his own, which means another twenty-four hours</p><p>here. </p><p></p><p> Oh, but that boy is infuriating! </p><p></p><p></p><p> Rdyr’t 25 </p><p></p><p> We gathered this morning almost exactly twenty-four hours after finding out that</p><p>Caribdis had neglected his ‘heroes feast’ duties. As is typical for our crew, the day </p><p>started with confusion and consternation. Last night, after Caribdis’ failure to cast the</p><p>‘feast’ Taklinn announced that he would not leave that spell to chance again and</p><p>would cast it today. Of course that meant that this morning Caribdis DID have the </p><p>spell prepared and ready to cast, as did Taklinn, which defeated the purpose of</p><p>allowing Taklinn an extra spell entirely, but at this point we were all too tired of the</p><p>argument to flog it further. Taklinn cast the feast and we ate it in silence, eager to </p><p>finally be on with the day. </p><p></p><p> Neekesh joined us at the table, and if there is any among us who hasn’t minded</p><p>the additional day here it is him, for he has been enjoying the mansion immensely, </p><p>wandering its halls, eating its food and getting good and drunk on its wine. I take it</p><p>it has been some time since he has had access to alcohol and he has been enjoying it</p><p>with a vengeance. Last night I was roused by a clamoring and stepped from my </p><p>room to see a naked and drunk Neekesh dancing down the hall.</p><p> </p><p> One thing he has not taken advantage of, however, is the mansions bathing</p><p>facilities. He is as dirty and ripe as the day we met him, and several times I have </p><p>thought to tactfully ask him if the bath in his room is in working order. Taklinn has</p><p>wondered if he might not cast a cleaning spell on the old man, but Neekesh still</p><p>seems a little distrustful, especially of we spell casters, so Taklinn decided against </p><p>it. </p><p></p><p> We finished the ‘feast’, feeling the now familiar properties of its magic wash over</p><p>us, and discussed our plan, which more or less consisted of a hard and fast attack </p><p>led by the most powerful spells we could muster, followed by a physical assault by</p><p>Taklinn and Griff. Not pretty, but its worked for us in the past. </p><p></p><p> Had there been a sun, its rising would have seen us leaving the mansion and</p><p>heading toward the glow that still shone less than a mile away. I cast my longer</p><p>lasting preparatory spells like ‘mind blank’ and ‘overland flight’ on the way. </p><p></p><p> As we drew near enough to actually catch sight of the dragons we bid Neekesh to</p><p>stay behind and await our return. We had to promise him several times that we</p><p>would return for him, but he relented at last, anxiously pacing back and forth and </p><p>watching us as we walked on.</p><p> </p><p> Undead or not, a dragon is a fearsome creature, and the prospect of facing three of</p><p>them didn’t do much for my confidence. Still, I was heartened by the knowledge </p><p>that we’d had ample time to prepare and were well geared to take them on. </p><p></p><p> We made it to within several hundred feet of them before they took notice. They</p><p>stopped their incessant circling of the gate to swing their great heads around as one </p><p>to search us out with dead eyes. For a moment we braced to receive a charge, fully</p><p>expecting them to attack us on sight, but luck was with us. These dragons were truly</p><p>guardians, and it appeared that they would not leave their post. The three merely </p><p>placed themselves between us and the gate, snorting and scratching at the rock as if</p><p>in warning. I’m sure that whatever residual draconic instinct still remained in those</p><p>dead brains was screaming at them to attack us, but the magic’s that held them in </p><p>place was too strong, and they held their posts.</p><p></p><p> This gave us a golden opportunity and we took it. We were still well out of range</p><p>of their breath weapons, but quite within range of some of the key spells we’d </p><p>decided to use. Taklinn and I both unloaded. I cast my first ‘sunburst’, illuminating</p><p>the dragons area and catching the red and one of the blacks in the burst. That spell</p><p>is doom for undead, and these fellows were no exception. I could tell it hurt them, </p><p>and quickly cast a second ‘sunburst’ to catch the same pair. Taklinn was also</p><p>casting even as he and Griff ran forward. Caribdis launched arrow after arrow as he</p><p>too closed the distance. Unfortunately for Hap, she could do little in this fight since </p><p>undead have no vital areas in which to strike. Her particular style of fighting</p><p>would mean little against these foes. </p><p></p><p> We walked forward at a determined pace, pounding them with spells which took a </p><p>terrible toll on the dragons. When Taklinn was within range he unleashed</p><p>‘sunbeams’ upon them while I rained fireballs onto the blacks from my position in</p><p>the air. Just as Taklinn and Griff came within range of their breath weapons, the </p><p>pair charged, Griff wielding his blade in two hands and Taklinn now twice his size</p><p>and glowing with divine power, his axe held high. </p><p></p><p> All three dragons immediately unleashed their breath at our warriors and they </p><p>were both caught in blasts of fire and acid, but we had prepared for just that event</p><p>with ‘protection from energy’ spells, and they were able to withstand much of the</p><p>damage. </p><p></p><p> Griff reached them first, colliding with the red, bringing his sword around in</p><p>wicked arcs again and again, faster than the eye could follow. Taklinn reached a</p><p>black and buried his holy axe to the haft in the creatures neck. </p><p></p><p> Below me Caribdis sang his verse, imbuing Taklinn and Griff with heightened</p><p>combat prowess even as he sent his arrows into the fray. His shafts left his bow in</p><p>rapid succession, and I swear that I counted three of them in the air at one time, </p><p>following each other in a straight line until they thunked home in the flank of a</p><p>black dragon only a hand span apart. </p><p></p><p> Happy, unwilling to let Griff face such danger without her at his side, raced across </p><p>the rocks and nimbly danced around the perimeter of the fight, hurling dagger after</p><p>dagger. </p><p></p><p> I flew in a wide circle, my staff at the ready, eating up its charges with one</p><p>fireball after another, knowing that the beasts were highly resistant to such magic’s, </p><p>but also knowing from long experience that every little bit helps. I also worked a</p><p>‘disintegrate’ into the mix in the hopes that it might take. It didn’t, but one never </p><p>knows unless one tries. </p><p></p><p> The red dragon clawed at Griff and bit several times, but our warrior retreated not</p><p>a step, standing his ground and hacking away with his blade. Taklinn, like a turtle in </p><p>a shell, was so very hard to hit, and the black dragons attacks had a very hard time</p><p>finding their marks. Taklinn stood back to back with Griff, swinging with both</p><p>hands, reciting prayers and bellowing praises to Clangeden. </p><p></p><p> Taklinn’s black, already weakened by our spells, was the first to go down,</p><p>followed swiftly by the red that Griff had been working on. Our spells had done</p><p>their work, and the trio of beasts were severely wounded. The last black dragon, </p><p>scorched by fire and light and pierced by nearly two dozen of Caribdis’ arrows, not</p><p>to mention Hap’s daggers, was little match for Griff and Taklinn by the time the</p><p>two of them turned their full attention on him. It got in one good bite before Griff </p><p>rammed his blade home, twisting it in to the hilt and ripping it free. The wurm</p><p>sagged back, stumbled and finally fell, heaving its last gasp before sinking into real</p><p>death. </p><p></p><p> The entire fight had taken less than a minute, but we had taken our lumps. Griff</p><p>leaned against the carcass of the black, breathing heavily, and Taklinn bled from</p><p>several nasty bite wounds. He quickly began his healing, as did Caribdis when he </p><p>reached them.</p><p></p><p> I landed near them. “Nice work.” I complimented. </p><p></p><p> Griff stretched as Caribdis healed yet another wound on him. “They were no </p><p>Acessiwall.” Was all he said.</p><p></p><p> A moment later a very excited Neekesh came scampering over the rocks, crowing</p><p>with glee at the sight of the three dead guardians. When we had finished healing we </p><p>all stopped and regarded the glowing circle that lay on the ground amongst the</p><p>carcasses. It was indeed a gate, though we now had to face the very real knowledge</p><p>that we had no idea where it led. </p><p></p><p> “Well,” said Taklinn, “Shall we?” </p><p></p><p> When we had properly prepared, we stepped through, Taklinn leading the way.</p><p></p><p> ***</p><p> </p><p> I followed Taklinn through the gate, stepping into its luminescent glow and</p><p>feeling myself fade swiftly from the underground land of rock and darkness, only to</p><p>wind up in another place of stone and gloom. </p><p></p><p> As I appeared in a small, man made, stone chamber, Taklinn was already in</p><p>pitched battle with what I quickly pegged as a wraith; a nasty undead to be sure, but</p><p>no match for Taklinn, who raised his axe and invoked the name of Clangeden, </p><p>turning the wraith away easily. The horrid thing sank into the stone walls, wailing</p><p>and hissing. It would not be the last we’d see of him.</p><p></p><p> Just as the wraith disappeared, Griff and Happy, then Caribdis, then Neekesh </p><p>stepped into the room, seemingly from thin air. No trace of the gate was to be found</p><p>on this side, and it was obvious that there would be no returning even if we’d</p><p>wished to. </p><p> </p><p> The room we found ourselves in bore a faint familiarity. We had not actually</p><p>been there before, but the architecture and feel of its stone was deeply reminiscent of</p><p>Illugi’s temple on Edik, and we hoped against hope that that was where we were. </p><p></p><p> It struck us then that no doors were in this room, only bare walls, and for a bad</p><p>moment I wondered if we’d stepped into some sort of trap from which we would</p><p>have to extract ourselves. Fortunately I had prepared a ‘detect secret doors’ spell </p><p>and now seemed a fine time to cast it. </p><p></p><p> Sure enough, the moment I concentrated on the far wall I could see the reddish</p><p>outline of a door crafted to look just like the stone. I pointed it out to Hap and she</p><p>immediately saw it too. She swiftly began checking it and soon announced that it </p><p>was safe. Taklinn was in a mood to take the fight to the enemy and threw the door</p><p>open with no fanfare. He stepped into the revealed room, axe at the ready, but I </p><p>don’t believe he was quite prepared for the stone golem that waited there to greet</p><p>him. </p><p></p><p> The guardian, a hulking man crafted of earth and rock, took a heavy step toward </p><p>Taklinn and swung, catching him off balance. The massive rock fists pummeled our</p><p>dwarf, slamming him into the wall. Griff stepped in, placing himself between the</p><p>golem and Taklinn, slamming the thing with well placed sword blows. </p><p></p><p> Against such a construct there was little Hap, Caribdis or I could do. This was yet</p><p>another foe without vital organs for which Hap might aim. It was also immune to</p><p>nearly all magic’s, though I did have a trick or two up my sleeve for it. Caribdis </p><p>began his verse and did his best to distract it with arrows, though it seemed not to</p><p>even notice them, instead concentrating on our fighters. Even as it waded in,</p><p>hammering at Taklinn again, I demonstrated how even lowly spells can hamper </p><p>dangerous foes. My ‘grease’ slicked a sizable area beneath the golems feet and</p><p>down it went with a heavy thud, allowing Taklinn to gather himself, and for Griff to</p><p>get into a better position and even strike it as it tried to get up. </p><p></p><p> The golem was not without its attacks though, and it used innate magic to cast a</p><p>‘slow’. Suddenly Griff, Hap and myself seemed to move as if through mire.</p><p>Frustrated, I cast a second ‘grease’, keeping it trapped in one area, barely able to </p><p>stand. </p><p> </p><p> As it crawled to the edge of the ‘greased’ area Taklinn and Griff fell upon it,</p><p>slamming and hacking with their magical blades, chipping great chunks of stone </p><p>from its body. It got in one more good hit on Taklinn before Caribdis stepped</p><p>forward and fired three arrows into it at point blank range. It had been on the verge</p><p>of death, and finally it crashed to the ground, nothing more than an inert statue. </p><p></p><p> Taklinn winced and worked his arm inside his armor where he had been hardest</p><p>hit. He tended to his own wounds while I used my spell to continue to scan the</p><p>walls, for there were no visible doors in this room either. </p><p></p><p> But there were secret doors, and my spell sniffed them out. As before, I let Hap</p><p>check it. This time we opened it and entered the room beyond more carefully. </p><p></p><p> The room was empty and nearly identical to the last two rooms we’d been in. </p><p>Bare, no doors, dry and more or less sterile. We entered, again looking for the way</p><p>out. Just as I spied yet another secret door, the wraith that Taklinn had turned when</p><p>we’d first arrived, appeared again, cackling as it rose through the floor and trying to </p><p>hit any of us it could. Griff was quick to slash at it, but the incorporeal abomination</p><p>was difficult to hit and he missed. Taklinn cast a ‘sunbeam’ and attempted to put it</p><p>down, but he missed as well. Before any of the rest of us could attack it, it had </p><p>glided through the floor again. </p><p></p><p> This happened twice more! The wraith had an amazing string of luck for as long</p><p>as it lasted. Twice more we located secret doors; twice more we entered cautiously </p><p>only to have the wraith appear from the stone and attack one of us, and twice more</p><p>did all of us fail to hit it at all! Fortunately it was as poor a shot as we seemed to be</p><p>and it was more of an annoyance than anything. In the end its luck ran dry and </p><p>Taklinn’s ‘sunbeam’ found its mark, burning the thing out of existence. </p><p></p><p> All of these secret doors had finally led us to a spacious room with a few normal</p><p>doors, and we could now tell by the architecture and the very feel of the place that </p><p>we were indeed back in Illugi’s temple. I would never have thought that being back</p><p>in such a place would be a relief. </p><p></p><p> Hap diligently went about the task of checking a door, but in the meantime </p><p>Caribdis had wandered. He’d found his way to an unchecked door to the west, and</p><p>opened it right up, sauntering through it as though we were out on holiday. Most of</p><p>us were concentrating on Hap and we did not at first notice that Caribdis had gone</p><p>until Hap’s head suddenly jerked around. </p><p></p><p> “Shhhh!” She hushed us. We all fell silent, straining our ears. “There!” She</p><p>shouted, pointing at the door through which Caribdis had gone. We now saw that it </p><p>was ajar and that our bard was nowhere to be seen. Hap bolted for the door, Taklinn</p><p>hot on her heels. Before she could reach it though, Caribdis reappeared, running</p><p>back into our room, his face as white as a sheet, obviously scared witless. He </p><p>slammed the door shut behind him and looked at us wide eyed. </p><p></p><p> “What is it?” Taklinn demanded.</p><p></p><p> “Very bad!” Caribdis babbled. “Very bad, very, very, very bad! Demons! Devils! </p><p>Not sure which, but oh so bad!”</p><p></p><p> I saw Taklinn’s eyes narrow at the mention of demons and devils. I knew we were</p><p>in for it now. With set jaw set, already casting, Taklinn stepped forward and put his </p><p>boot to the door, kicking it wide. He stepped in, beginning to swell and grow from</p><p>the ‘righteous might’ and other divine spells he was casting on himself. </p><p> </p><p> “Neekesh will wait right here!” The old man yelped, sinking back into one of the </p><p>rooms we had left behind. As for Griff, Hap, and myself, we followed Taklinn.</p><p>Even Caribdis overcame his fear, and with a gulp, he followed us in as well.</p><p></p><p> We found ourselves at one end of a mighty hall adorned with carvings and </p><p>tapestries depicting every evil and perverse deed imaginable. It positively made the</p><p>stomach roil to see such things, and I could see the effect it had on Griff. At the far</p><p>end of the hall stood a massive set of double doors, black as onyx and already </p><p>opening. Taklinn set his feet and faced the doors, ready for whatever came through. </p><p></p><p> But not all of our attackers would enter through those doors. As quick as thought,</p><p>the hall began to fill with vrock, teleporting in. The evil things hopped and flapped </p><p>their pathetic wings, clamoring and cawing for our blood even as the double doors</p><p>swept open to reveal their masters. </p><p></p><p> The Hezrou entered first, all teeth, spines and claws, it was a true demon, a walker </p><p>of the abyss, leagues more dangerous than any batch of vrock. But it was the thing</p><p>that followed that gave me serious pause. </p><p></p><p> It was a Nalfeshnee. Like some hideous cross between a bore and a bear, the thing </p><p>shambled into the room. Though it looked like a simple monster, all tusks and teeth,</p><p>I knew full well that, of those of us in the hall, its intellect was probably inferior</p><p>only to mine. Not only was it incredibly strong and could rip any one of us limb </p><p>from limb, it also possessed a host of magical attacks, not the least of which was an</p><p>unholy smite that could have us all wandering, dazed and unable to act for whole</p><p>minutes. </p><p></p><p> To make matters worse, I could see that the vrock all bore the now familiar black</p><p>sheen that could only mean that they were under the effects of an ‘unholy aura’</p><p>spell. </p><p></p><p> The vrock closed in as the Hezrou bellowed its challenge which Griff was happy</p><p>to accept. The two charged at each other, meeting in a clash of claws and steel. </p><p></p><p> Hap had blinked out and was invisibly circling to get into position to help Griff. </p><p>Caribdis, his voice quavering but holding fast, sang his verse and let fly a half</p><p>dozen arrows at a vrock. I, of course, took to the air, casting furiously. I let fly a</p><p>‘greater dispel’ into the midst of the vrock, knowing that the ‘unholy aura’ they </p><p>possessed was almost more dangerous than they were. I had a bit of luck and the</p><p>‘dispel’ shed the dark sheen from three of the five vrock. </p><p></p><p> At least two vrock were pressing in at Taklinn, keeping him from charging the </p><p>Nalfeshnee or aiding Griff with the Hezrou. Not to be denied the opportunity to</p><p>stand toe to toe with such evil, Taklinn bellowed a ‘banishment’ spell, sending three</p><p>of the vrock immediately back to their infernal homes. </p><p></p><p> From my position in the air I could see Caribdis duck the claw of a vrock. He</p><p>came up dancing away, smoothly dodging the little demons attack even as he</p><p>pumped a volley of arrows into the Hezrou, which was giving Griff a hard time</p><p>indeed. Griff was holding his own, but the demons thick hide resisted his blows </p><p>time and again, and Griff was already bleeding from several places where the</p><p>Hezrou had made contact. I wanted to help, but I kept my eye on the danger at the </p><p>end of the hall. The Nalfeshnee was casting. I could see its hairy arms waving, its</p><p>piggish face contorting as it summoned dark magic. The demon began to pulse with</p><p>an inner glow, and I feared that it was preparing to ‘smite’ us. Knowing how deadly </p><p>such a thing might be, I focused my attention on the beast, waiting until the last</p><p>possible second to cast the most powerful spell at my disposal. Just as the last</p><p>utterance left the demons mouth, I unleashed my own dweomer: ‘Mordenkainen’s </p><p>Disjunction’. Fortunately none of the crew were near the Nalfeshnee at the time,</p><p>and even then I had to center the spell well behind the demon, such is the radius of</p><p>the effect. I laughed triumphantly as I watched every bit of magic be stripped from </p><p>the beast, including the build up of magic that was leading to its ‘smite’. The</p><p>Nalfeshnee screamed in fury while I laughed triumphantly. It’s hellish eyes found me</p><p>and burned with hate, but it would have no chance to seek revenge, for Taklinn had </p><p>finally arrived to deal with it. The Nalfeshnee roared in pain and surprise as our</p><p>cleric slammed his axe across its belly, opening a gory wound. The demon</p><p>responded with a flurry of claws and snapping teeth, but Taklinn just sneered and </p><p>took the pounding on his armor and came back with still more swings of his axe. </p><p></p><p> I glanced down to see how the rest of the crew were faring. Griff was holding his</p><p>own, dodging and slashing, keeping the Hezrou at bay. Caribdis got off arrow shots </p><p>between leaping away from the claws of a vrock. The final vrock had somehow</p><p>found Happy, invisible though she was, and was pressing her, gibbering and</p><p>rending with wicked claws. </p><p></p><p> Caribdis must have caught wind that Hap was in trouble, for he swiftly turned his</p><p>bow from the Hezrou to Hap’s vrock, ignoring his own. He let fly with too many</p><p>arrows to follow with the naked eye, and the vrock, already wounded, shrieked and </p><p>fell. This gave Caribdis’ vrock an opportunity and it seized it, slashing at our bard,</p><p>but Happy was quick to return the favor, taking a quick step forward and hurling</p><p>daggers that caught the vrock three swift times in the throat. It gurgled oily blood </p><p>and tried in vain to free the daggers from its throat with weakening hands. It loosed</p><p>only one of them before it died. </p><p></p><p> I swooped around, searching for a target, only to see the Nalfeshnee fall first </p><p>under the fury of Taklinn’s axe. The demon was no match for the holy might</p><p>infused in the axe. Its knees buckled and it fell, face first, screaming its defiance</p><p>even as it died. </p><p> </p><p> Griff had also finally gotten the best of the Hezrou. Now filled with at least a</p><p>dozen of Caribdis’ arrows and half as many sword cuts, the demon fell back, doing</p><p>its best to defend itself. But Griff pressed on grimly, uppercutting with his Talon, </p><p>shearing through muscle and bone, bringing the Hezrou to its knees and then</p><p>running it through the eye with a yard of steel. </p><p></p><p> They were gone. Dead or banished, the demons no longer howled, and all was </p><p>silent except for our labored breathing. </p><p></p><p> At the far end of the hall the double doors yawned open, beckoning. </p><p> </p><p> I set down on the stone near where Taklinn and Caribdis were already laying their</p><p>hands on the wounded. I stared toward the doors. All beyond was shrouded in</p><p>shadow. </p><p></p><p> “So you suppose that’s it?” I asked, referring to the inner temple where we were</p><p>supposed to defeat Illugi’s avatar. </p><p></p><p> “If it isn’t I’m not sure I want to know what’s guarding the real thing!” Caribdis </p><p>said, and for once I could not agree with him more. </p><p></p><p> “One way to find out.” Taklinn said as he finished a final healing spell on Griff.</p><p>He hefted his axe. “Shall we?” </p><p></p><p> I withdrew the pair of ‘Mordenkainen’s disjunction’ scrolls from my haversack,</p><p>wanting to be ready to cast them as soon as possible. I hoped that the ‘disjunction I </p><p>had already cast had hit not only the Nalfeshnee but the walls of the temple as well.</p><p>Whatever the case, I wanted those spells near at hand.</p><p></p><p> The five of us staggered ourselves in an uneven line and walked slowly toward </p><p>the doors, ready for the final conflict. I quickly cast what protective spells I had left,</p><p>but was disheartened to have so few. Still, we could ill afford to bypass this chance</p><p>to finish our mission here. The possibility of Illugi further fortifying this temple was </p><p>too great. </p><p></p><p> We stopped in the shadow of the doorway, peering in. Our hunch had been</p><p>correct. This was indeed the temple where we had battled demons so long ago for </p><p>Melesandre’s orb. The coal-black statue of Illugi still stood in the chambers center</p><p>and a palpable malevolence hung in the very air of the room. </p><p></p><p> Yet, something was different. Something was amiss. The walls that had once </p><p>shrieked and boiled with the trapped souls of the dead now showed only empty,</p><p>smooth, blackness. Not a sign was left to suggest that this room once contained</p><p>score upon score of tormented souls, harnessed by the evil god for his own designs. </p><p>Indeed, except for the statue of Illugi, the room was empty. </p><p></p><p> Or so we thought. </p><p></p><p> “I assume that was your disjunction, Doorag?” The voice came from the deep </p><p>shadow of the chambers far end, and was strangely familiar in its sibilance. She</p><p>stepped from the shadows, scimitar hanging at her waist. </p><p></p><p> Sensesi! </p><p></p><p> “You’ve come a long way, my wizardly friend.” she said, walking toward us,</p><p>“And I thought that polymorph you hit me with was inconvenient! You’ve just</p><p>managed to strip me of nearly my entire collection of magical items!” </p><p></p><p> “Not another step!” Griff shouted, his sword raised. Indeed, at her appearance a</p><p>small armory worth of steel was aimed in her direction. Arrows, daggers, sword and</p><p>axe were all pointed her way, not to mention the spell I was making ready. </p><p></p><p> She stopped. “Calm down.” She said. “I’m on your side, though you probably</p><p>won’t believe me this time either. For your own sakes though, I hope you at least</p><p>hear me out.” </p><p></p><p> “What are you doing here, Sensesi?” I asked, getting straight to the point. </p><p></p><p> “What I do best.” she smiled. “Infiltrating, spying, keeping track of Illugi and his</p><p>little game. I had a feeling that you would come and I wanted to be part of it when </p><p>you did.”</p><p></p><p> Griff’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”</p><p></p><p> “Take a look at my world, Dorjan.” She said. “Edik is a wasteland and my people </p><p>are a brainwashed army. I realized it when Melesandre held power here and I</p><p>realize it now that Illugi has taken center stage. That and I have an even more</p><p>personal fight here. My daughter has been corrupted. I will see her dead before I </p><p>watch her become the next Melesandre.”</p><p></p><p> “Scylla?” Happy asked. </p><p></p><p> Sensesi nodded. </p><p> </p><p> “Why should we trust you?” I demanded, still ready to cast at the first sign of</p><p>deceit. </p><p></p><p> “Well,” she laughed without humor, “I can think of several reasons, but foremost </p><p>among them is that the inner temple you seek, the nexus of Illugi’s power here,</p><p>along with the trapped souls, has been moved, and I know where.”</p><p></p><p> “And you’re willing to take us there?” Griff asked. </p><p></p><p> “Smart and good looking.” She quipped dryly. </p><p></p><p> “How do we know we can trust you?” I said. </p><p></p><p> Sensesi shrugged. “Take me prisoner, cast truth spells, detect for evil or lies or</p><p>whatever you want. You can have my weapons and whatever items might have </p><p>escaped your blasted disjunction. Polymorph me again if you have to, but just leave</p><p>me a way to point the direction you need to go. Doorag, I’ve been slithering through </p><p>this temple for years spying on Illugi’s minions. I’ve watched Anvie sink into a</p><p>wickedness unworthy of yuan-ti honor, and I’ve had to witness my Scylla let herself</p><p>be infected with a lust for power and a depravity the likes of which you’ve never </p><p>seen. How do you know you can trust me? You don’t. You have only my word. But</p><p>the fact is, you also have no idea where Illugi’s inner temple is, but I do. So you can</p><p>either kill me and take up wandering these halls full time or let me come with you.” </p><p></p><p> Five sets of eyes glanced at each other as we tried to gauge her sincerity. Caribdis</p><p>lowered the arrow in his bow and let the string straighten. “She makes a pretty good</p><p>point.” He said. </p><p></p><p> “Humph.” Griff muttered, but sheathed his sword. “I said it before and I’ll say it</p><p>again. Screw us and I’ll cut you down.”</p><p></p><p> “Duly noted.” Sensesi said with a slight nod. </p><p></p><p> “What say you, Doorag?” Taklinn asked, looking at me. </p><p></p><p> I narrowed my eyes at Sensesi, not wanting to trust her in the slightest. But</p><p>Caribdis was right. Her points were valid. We could not afford to blindly search this </p><p>temple and hope we found Illugi’s chamber. For all we knew, the chamber was not</p><p>even in this building anymore. “Very well,” I sighed, “We have to take a chance on</p><p>her. Hap, what do you think?” </p><p></p><p> Happy screwed up her mouth with distaste, the memory of Sensesi’s attempt to</p><p>kill her obviously still fresh in her mind. “Whatever,” She spat, “Just remember:</p><p>take another poke at me and Griff will be the least of your worries. Got it?” </p><p></p><p> “Got it.” Sensesi said quietly. </p><p></p><p> Taklinn chuckled. “It would seem we are in agreement then. Sensesi, consider</p><p>yourself under an uneasy truce. Let us put the past behind us and form an alliance </p><p>against the real enemy. I only hope, for your sake, that you are telling the truth.”</p><p></p><p> Sensesi gave us her best serpentine gaze, level, cold, and very hard to read. “You </p><p>will know this much soon, with or without me: the path to the inner temple is</p><p>constantly in shift. It changes from hour to hour. I, however, have found a way that</p><p>always leads true. Unfortunately it is… problematic.” </p><p></p><p> “How so?” I asked.</p><p></p><p> Sensesi was silent for a moment, then said, “The way I know is no more than a</p><p>rift in the structure of the temple, a mere rat hole, or… snake, if you will. It is no </p><p>more than inches in diameter.”</p><p></p><p> “Humph,” I sniffed, “Leave that to me. For now we need to hole up. We’ve got a</p><p>new ally with new information, and we’re already beat up and low on spells. </p><p>Another handful of demons could come around here at any minute.” I headed out of</p><p>the deserted temple to find a suitably out of the way anti-chamber. “You’re</p><p>welcome to bunk with us, Neekesh.” I said to our nervous guide. The old man had </p><p>crept to within the doorway of the temple and now hunkered in the shadow of the</p><p>place, wide eyed with awe and barely constrained terror. </p><p></p><p> “Nay, Master Doorag!” Neekesh whispered hoarsely, “I’ve done found the stairs </p><p>down to the lower levels and the sweet outsides! I’ll be off now if you’re all up with</p><p>old Neekesh!”</p><p></p><p> The old man was already backing up toward the door, ready to break into a dead </p><p>run in his haste to get out of the temple, and before Happy had even finished asking</p><p>him if he’d like us to escort him out, he was off, legs driven by even the suggestion</p><p>that his obligations to us were at an end. In a flash, he was gone. </p><p></p><p> “I suppose he’ll be back if he runs into trouble.” Taklinn sighed. </p><p></p><p> “It is a short distance to the outside,” Sensesi said, “And you have already killed</p><p>most everything down there already. He will be fine.” </p><p></p><p> “But if we’re on the upper level, won’t he be stopped by the destroyed staircase?”</p><p>Caribdis pointed out. </p><p></p><p> Sensesi smiled. “The temple, Caribdis, the temple. You forget, it is alive with</p><p>Illugi’s energy. The temple heals itself.”</p><p></p><p> I raised an eyebrow at the thought, “Must admit, that’s a pretty fine domicile! </p><p>Speaking of domiciles…” I cast a mansion and opened the door. In we walked,</p><p>disappearing into thin air and appearing into a beautifully arched entryway with</p><p>gleaming marble floors. We continued our discussions as we stepped into the ankle </p><p>deep carpet of the sitting room, a fire already burning merrily, glasses already being</p><p>filled at the bar. Within seconds we had gone from blood-freezing evil to sinking</p><p>into luxurious leather chairs. I kicked off my boots and curled my toes into the </p><p>carpet for the sheer delight of it, as I do every time. It never gets old.</p><p></p><p> Taklinn took his usual seat by the fire in the overstuffed lounger I always make</p><p>sure to provide for him. There was also Happy’s couch that she landed in to lay </p><p>back, feet up, hands behind head, stretching like a cat. </p><p></p><p> And of course, Griff stood at the bar, leaning against it, one hand going to the</p><p>drink waiting for him there. Griff would sometimes sit, but he rarely chose the same </p><p>chair twice. I had taken to simply peppering the room with three or four different</p><p>seats, from day couches to milking stools, though in general Griff was a hard chair</p><p>man. </p><p></p><p> I was acutely aware that this was only Caribdis’ second time in the mansion, and</p><p>had yet to find a seat that he liked. He was another stander, though he would rather</p><p>pace or stroll around the room as he conversed, ever on stage. </p><p></p><p> Sensesi took a leather chair similar to mine near the fire and crossed her legs</p><p>demurely. </p><p></p><p> “So what’s the plan?” Griff got straight to the point, taking a drink from his cup. </p><p>“It sounds like we’ve got a drain pipe to squeeze through. Sounds like your</p><p>territory, Doorag.”</p><p></p><p> I nodded. “There are a number of options,” I said, “Some of which are even at my </p><p>disposal, though some of them involve form shifting, which I know you’re just</p><p>crazy about, Griff.” </p><p></p><p> Griff smirked at me as I continued. “There are alternatives, like the gaseous form </p><p>route, but anything like that is going to be costly in spells to get us all there.” I</p><p>thought for a moment. “I may have another way. Sensesi, you’ve been to the inner</p><p>temple?” </p><p></p><p> “No,” She admitted, “But I have gotten as far as its antechambers and I am</p><p>positive that the temple lies beyond.”</p><p></p><p> “Good enough.” I said, “Can you describe the place for me? In detail?” </p><p></p><p> “Of course,” She laughed, “I was spy, remember? My memory is impeccable.”</p><p></p><p> I took a sip of woodberry wine. “Well then, we may be able to circumvent the</p><p>small passage entirely. I would need you to draw me a detailed map of the area </p><p>we’re going to, but if planar travel is possible here then ‘greater teleport’ should</p><p>take us right there for the price of only one spell.”</p><p></p><p> “What about the temple and the way it shifts around?” asked Happy, “Will that </p><p>throw off your spell?”</p><p></p><p> I frowned. I had not thought of that.</p><p> “It might be okay.” Sensesi said, thoughtfully, “The temple seems to solidify as one </p><p>nears the inner chambers. The room that I can describe to you has remained largely</p><p>unchanged in months.”</p><p></p><p> “It’s worth a try.” Taklinn said, gesturing with his tankard. “But you might want </p><p>to have a plan B, lad.” He winked at me.</p><p></p><p> “True,” I said. Then, I mused to myself and started an odd ball rolling. “If only I</p><p>had that blasted spell component!”</p><p></p><p> “What component?” Caribdis asked, his interest piqued. </p><p></p><p> “Oh, it’s a circlet. I have to wear it for the ‘shape change’ spell. To be honest, I</p><p>hadn’t thought that I would have mastered such a dweomer before we faced Illugi, </p><p>but here I am, the spell learned, in my book, and ready to go, and me without the</p><p>focus!”</p><p></p><p> “What sort of a circlet is it?” Happy asked, sitting up and crossing her legs under </p><p>her.</p><p></p><p> “Jade.” I replied. “About 1500 gold worth of it.</p><p></p><p> “And what if you had it?” Hap said, her curiosity always getting the better of her </p><p>when it came to magic. “What could you do if you had that spell?”</p><p></p><p> “Oh, I don’t know,” I said, “Morph from an ancient white dragon to a ferret to a</p><p>solar to whatever I choose. It would at least enable me to get through the hole, and, </p><p>well, its just a spell that I’ve been wanting to cast for a very long time, and now that</p><p>I actually can, I’m flummoxed that a simple piece of jewelry stands between me and</p><p>it.” </p><p></p><p> “I’ll get it for you!” Caribdis suddenly said, excitedly. </p><p></p><p> We all looked at him. “What are you talking about, Caribdis” I asked, warily.</p><p></p><p> “Simple!” He grinned, “I’ll ‘plane shift’ back to Havilah and get you a circlet! I </p><p>need to go there anyway!”</p><p></p><p> I looked at him askance. “Caribdis, you can’t just zap off to Havilah!”</p><p></p><p> “Why not?” he asked. </p><p></p><p> “Well, for one thing, a ‘plane shift’ will get you close, but you’ll still more than</p><p>likely end up a fair distance from the city, and that’s where you would need to be to</p><p>obtain the sort of thing I’m looking for. There are specialty shops that sell precisely </p><p>the thing I need there. The point is, you would only have a matter of hours to</p><p>accomplish your task, since time here moves so much faster than it does on</p><p>Havilah. For every hour you spend there, some ten fly by here on Edik. We can’t </p><p>afford to stay here longer than a couple of days. That’s hardly time enough for you</p><p>to find transport to Havilah, then find the sources I know of, and still accomplish</p><p>whatever you need to go to Havilah for, and…” I paused, catching myself. “Say, </p><p>Caribdis, what exactly do you suddenly have to go to Havilah for?”</p><p></p><p> Caribdis’ eyes rolled toward the ceiling as if in deep thought. He seemed to</p><p>ponder the question for some time before slowly replying, “Something…?” </p><p></p><p> “It’s a bad idea, Caribdis.”</p><p></p><p> But he was not ready to let go of the plan. “Wait a minute,” He said, “It could still</p><p>work. All I need is a way to teleport to Havilah! I can’t cast it, but I can read it off a </p><p>scroll! You have to have an extra teleport scroll laying around, don’t you?”</p><p></p><p> “As a matter of fact I do,” I said, “But what about the return trip?”</p><p></p><p> “Another ‘plane shift!’” </p><p> </p><p> “You have a key for Edik?” I asked.</p><p></p><p> “A what?”</p><p></p><p> “A key! The little fork you use to focus on when casting the dweomer! You must </p><p>have a key, tuned to the plane to which you are traveling!”</p><p></p><p> “Oh, well, no.” Caribdis admitted. “But I can get one in Havilah!” </p><p></p><p> “It took myself and Yigil nearly a month to craft a key to Edik.” I said, dryly. </p><p></p><p> “Well then! Fantastic!” Caribdis crowed, “You have one, let me borrow it!”</p><p></p><p> “And what about when you get back to Edik, miles from us?”</p><p></p><p> “Another teleport scroll! I’ll get one in Havilah while I get your circlet! I’ll even </p><p>get you a replacement for the one you give me!” Caribdis grasped at straws,</p><p>suddenly desperate to get to Havilah.</p><p></p><p> “Caribdis,” I said, “Why wouldn’t I just go myself? I can cast all these spell. I </p><p>have the key, and I know where to go to find the circlet. Why would I send you?”</p><p></p><p> “Aw, come on, Doorag!” Caribdis fairly pleaded, “Let me go! I really, really need</p><p>to get back to Havilah. I need to see Nivin.”</p><p></p><p> “Nivin?” Taklinn broke in, “Whatever for?” </p><p></p><p> Caribdis clammed up. “Its private.” He said, crossing his arms. </p><p></p><p> “Caribdis, it’s just not worth it. Time is too short. Even a few hours in Havilah </p><p>could mean days on Edik. We just don’t have the time.”</p><p></p><p> “But it’s a good spell, right? You need it! Look, you’re right, you should be the</p><p>one to go. Just take me with you, just for the time it takes you to get the circlet!” </p><p></p><p> “And leave the rest of the crew here?” I asked.</p><p></p><p> “They’re in the mansion…” He began.</p><p></p><p> “-Which won’t last forever, and which could potentially be dispelled.” I finished </p><p>for him. “No, Caribdis, it’s too risky.”</p><p></p><p> “But!”</p><p></p><p> “No, Caribdis!” </p><p></p><p> “If I may interject,” Sensesi’s voice purred between Caribdis and I, “I have many</p><p>contacts in the cities underground. Given an afternoon I might be able to find what</p><p>you’re looking for.” </p><p></p><p> “I don’t know…” I said.</p><p></p><p> “Suit yourself,” She shrugged, “I can guarantee nothing, but I have been able to </p><p>find nearly anything I need in Anvie, even in these troubled times.”</p><p> </p><p> Happy was suddenly even more interested. “Hey, I could probably help out! Let</p><p>me come with you!” </p><p></p><p> “Oh sure!” Caribdis cried, looking incredulous and hurt, “Let them go out into the</p><p>dangers of a war torn city crawling with monsters, but heaven forbid if I want to</p><p>take a nice, safe, trip to Havilah!” </p><p></p><p> “Oh Caribdis, calm down.” Hap chided, “We’ll just be gone for a few hours. In</p><p>and out, no big deal!”</p><p></p><p> “I haven’t even said that you could accompany me.” Sensesi said archly. </p><p></p><p> “Try and stop me!” Happy answered, taking Sensesi’s words as a challenge.</p><p></p><p> “I work better alone.” The yuan-ti stated flatly.</p><p> </p><p> “Oh ho!” Hap replied, “Just try and keep up with me!” </p><p></p><p> “This is just unfair!” Caribdis wailed. “How come they get to go and I don’t?”</p><p> </p><p> Griff was now ready to put in his two coppers as well. “I don’t know if I like the</p><p>idea of you traipsing around this city, Happy.” </p><p></p><p> By now everyone was talking at once, including me.</p><p></p><p> “I haven’t even said that you should go!” I shouted above the din, “It’s not that</p><p>important! Caribdis, you’re not going to Havilah, and Sensesi and Hap, neither of </p><p>you should be wandering around Anvie right now!”</p><p></p><p> Despite my words, the argument continued for another twenty minutes, and in the</p><p>end only Happy was happy with the outcome. Sensesi was bound and determined to </p><p>seek out the circlet for me, and there would be no dissuading Happy from</p><p>accompanying her. Caribdis’ feelings were hurt, but I refused to provide him with</p><p>the teleport scroll he needed, or the plane shift key for Edik. Griff frowned and tried </p><p>to talk Hap out of going into the city, but she would hear none of it. </p><p></p><p> Finally I simply washed my hands of the whole thing and retired to my bedroom</p><p>where I now sit, contemplating the scope of the personalities I travel with.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="cthulhu42, post: 6587864, member: 6792361"] Rdyr’t 23 Today began innocuously enough. Surprisingly we were not attacked during our rest and neither were the soldiers barricaded in the front entrance. It remained quiet. Too quiet, but given the situation there was no winning. I slept hard, determined not to wonder why our enemy would not try to take back the temple’s lower level. We set out again this morning with the intention to check the few doors left on this level that we had left last night. All went relatively well, though our search was not without its hiccups. For one thing, Caribdis’ stay in the realms beyond has done nothing to temper his impulsiveness, and we are having to work hard to acclimate ourselves once again to his nature. For the last several months we have become something of a well oiled machine, at least when it comes to checking strange doors for potential traps in dangerous lairs. Generally Happy will scour them for suspect traps while Griff watches her back. Taklinn will watch from a short distance, ready to heal or fight as the case may be, and I do my best to stay well clear of any blast radius’ that might occur. All of that is fine, and we began in just that manner this morning, with Griff opening a couple of doors after Hap’s announcement of safety. We found a room that had obviously once belonged to a cleric of Illugi, and Hap began to meticulously search it out. A bit too meticulously for Caribdis’ taste, apparently, for no sooner had she begun to go to work on a chest that had turned up than Caribdis began opening more doors with no thought given to safety or strategy. Anything could have been protecting those doors, and anything could have lurked behind them. Only his good fortune kept him from yet another untimely demise before we could stop him. I had a brief but stern conversation with him concerning letting each of us do our jobs where applicable, particularly in the case of unchecked doors. The common sense of letting her check them is so cut and dry, so obvious, that I could hold my tongue no longer and I made my point as succinctly as I could. Caribdis, of course, rolled his eyes, but I think the look on my face gave him an idea of my seriousness, and he backed off from the doors, waiting impatiently. In the meantime Griff was fast learning what it meant to be in the service of Clangeden, for in the god’s service he was. Earlier in the morning, over breakfast, we had all caught a glimpse of his hands; they were branded now with the runes that grace the haft of Taklinn’s axe, burnt forever there as he had sworn his fealty to Clangeden in exchange for Taklinn’s life. I do not know if it was that oath that brought Taklinn back, or simple coincidence on the part of Caribdis’ timing. Perhaps it is a bit of both. I must believe now that Griff’s words played a part, for I do not think that Clangeden would hold him accountable for a gift he did not provide. Griff had shrugged off our comments about his branded hands, but later, there in the orcish cleric’s room, while Hap disabled a trap on the chest and while I shook a disapproving finger at Caribdis, Griff caught his first glimpse of evil. There was a statue in the room of Illugi, grim and horrible as any other we have seen, but when Hap announced that the trap was disarmed and looked up at her husband she saw him standing there, stock still, staring at the statue with wide eyes, utterly frozen to the spot with a look of terrible awe on his face. We all noticed it as Hap ran to his side and shook his arm, which seemed to break the spell that had come over our warrior. “Griff, what is it?” She asked. “What’s wrong? What do you see?” Griff stared at her for long seconds until he seemed to return to himself again. “Nothing!” he gruffed. Happy was not buying it and would not let the matter drop, but Griff turned and stomped away, refusing to discus the matter further, which, of course, put Happy quite beside herself! Oh, was she angry! But nothing she could say would make Griff admit that he had seen something out of the ordinary. I didn’t believe him either, but thought better of saying anything. Griff, I have found, will tell you his secretes when he is good and ready and not a moment before. Asking him only guarantees you more of a wait. Besides, it was time to move on. There was a fine find in the chest. A book concerning Illugi, much of it esoteric rituals for his worship, but I caught glimpses within it that might reveal more to us about the nature of our enemy should I have a chance to study it later. I wrapped it up and secured it away. Hap finally gave up on Griff and stormed back to an unchecked door in a huff. She checked it a little too quickly for my taste, but she was right in saying that it was not trapped. We checked the room beyond and then repeated the procedure until we had cleared out the lower level. Only one way to go: Up. Or so I thought. We made our way back to the main entry hall and the spiral staircase that rose up into darkness there. Standing at the bottom, looking up, one could almost smell the evil that drifted down from above. With weapons drawn, we began our climb as Major Throst and the Havilah soldiers watched us. Round and round we climbed, into a stone shaft lined with steps that circled ever upward. We climbed for what seemed a long time through a mist that tumbled like smoky water down and around our feet, until Taklinn suddenly stopped. “What is it?” Griff hissed. “Shh!” Taklinn held up his hand for silence, his head cocked, straining to hear some sound that only he could. Slowly he reached out and touched the stone wall, closing his eyes, listening. And then his eyes snapped open. “She’s gonna give!” he managed to cry before the crack appeared, racing down the stairs between our feet. Then another and another, spiderwebbing their way down the walls as a tremendous rumble began and the earth began to shake. We struggled to keep our feet as a chunk of stone gave way and fell from the wall above us. We dodged as it tumbled down and around the stairs, narrowly missing Caribdis. “Back!” Taklinn yelled above the din, but there was to be no turning back, for when we turned it was just in time to see the lower stairs crumble and fall away. And the steps continued to break apart one by one, chasing us as we turned and fled upwards. But it was a race we could not win, and I at last felt the stone fall from beneath my feet. I was, of course, under the effects of an ‘overland flight’ spell, so I was able to keep from falling. Hap, too, used her armor to fly. But the rest of the crew had no such means and we could only watch helplessly as Caribdis, Griff and Taklinn fell with the rubble, down to the temples first floor and beyond, for the floor had given way as well and the staircase, along with our crew, fell through the gaping maw below. Without thought, without warning, Happy flew down after them. With a curse, I was hot on her heels, flying into inky blackness. For a moment I lost sight of Hap, and there was the sensation of floating instead of flying. I lost sight of which way was up or down, and I let myself fall, but still there was the sensation of drifting, and I no longer saw the exit through which we had fallen. All was darkness and silence. Until I felt gravity grab me again! I had to do a quick pull up, kicking in my flight again just in time to slow my descent even as I heard the splashes of rubble and crew into water below. I looked about wildly, and was relieved to see Happy. She was still flying straight down, toward the sounds of splashing, calling out Griff’s name. I came in low and fast, skimming the black water, my eyes wide open for any signs of trouble. Happy circled anxiously around the spot where our friends had hit and finally we saw them. First Caribdis, then Griff and Taklinn rose from the water with gasps, staggering and sputtering, obviously all a bit the worse for wear from the fall. The water appeared to be only three feet deep or so, and the three of them had no trouble standing in it. Taklinn waded to Griff and laid his hands on him while Caribdis healed himself. “What the hell was that all about?” Hap demanded, a little too loudly. Her voice echoed off the water and seemed to carry a long way. “It was an ‘earthquake’ spell.” Taklinn answered grimly. “And I’d bet my beard that I know who was behind it!” “You think it was Scylla?” I asked. “Aye! It has her grubby hand prints all over it. Only a powerful caster could have done it, and she’s obviously wanting to toy with us, otherwise she’d have tried to kill us out right. Instead, she’s dumped us here.” “So where do you suppose ‘here’ is?” Caribdis wondered aloud. It was a good question. We had to assume that if Scylla had indeed dropped us into this pit that there would be no easy way out. I flew upwards to have a look around, but all was such blackness that my darkvision could not penetrate far enough to tell me much, at least until I reached the roof of the cavern. Many feet above the water I found a roof of glistening stone, yet I found no shaft, no hole through which we had fallen. It was as if the earth had spat us out and then closed up behind. There would be no flying back out of this prison. I flew back to the crew and gave them my report. “That’s just great!” Griff said, spitting into the water. “What about one of your teleports, Doorag?” “I don’t know,” I said slowly, rubbing my chin, “I have to think that Scylla would have thought of that too and would put us out of teleport range. I have the sneaking suspicion that we have fallen through a gate of some kind. We may be on another planet or another plane. I’ve a feeling that a teleport won’t do us much good. Besides, I don’t have it memorized today.” “So what do we do?” Hap asked, still flying in circles around us. “Well, the first order of business is to get out of this water!” I said, nervously looking at the dark surface of the underground lake, knowing that anything could be lurking below. All heads nodded in agreement, though there was no telling which way might lead to dry land. I had found no walls in this chamber, and for all we knew this shallow lake might go on for a very long time indeed! There was not much else to do but pick a direction and begin wading. Hap’s fly spell wore off quickly and she was soon riding Griff’s shoulders. She renewed her inquisition as to what he had seen earlier, but he refused to even acknowledge her questions, which, of course, made her all the more angry. We had to shush her several times. Hours passed as the crew sloshed through the water. Fortunately it got no deeper, though Caribdis did manage to find a hole at one point, dropping below the surface. We had a bad moment trying to find him, but he finally popped back up, thrashing and sputtering. Still we trod on, led unerringly straight due in no small part to the uncanny directional senses of Griff and Taklinn, until at last, the water began to get lower and lower as the ground beneath began a gentle rise that gave way to dry land within our sight. All this time I had been nervously scanning, always on guard for some unseen menace gliding below the surface of those black waters to attack and pull one of us under. But now that land was in view, I breathed a sigh of relief. Too quickly. A sudden splash and a flash of movement followed by a fast moving ripple in the water, then a hiss and the echo of wicked laughter from another side. Something was out there, skimming below the surface. Griff and Taklinn took stances, weapons up. Caribdis drew back his bow and I could see his lips moving in verse. Hap drew her feet beneath her, ready to spring from Griff’s back in a flash, and I flew tight circles overhead, straining to catch a glimpse of this new danger. I banked tightly to the left, keeping myself no more than twenty or thirty feet from the rest of the crew as they stood, waist deep in water, in a tight, defensive, knot. It was then that I saw it, a nasty head protruding from the water attached to a serpentine body that roiled beneath the surface. It was only a glimpse, but what I saw was enough to send a chill down my spine, for I recognized it immediately as a naga. In a flash, the abomination sank back beneath the oily water and was gone, though I was certain that it hadn’t gone far. Naga’s, I thought. Of all things! I became suddenly quite cross, angry at Scylla for dumping us into such a pit, and put out that these beasts should give us a scare. We had come too far and through too much to let them slow us down. If it was a fight they wanted, they would have it, but I decided to give them fair warning first. I flew back to the crew and circled above them, clearing my throat and putting as much force into my voice as I could as I shouted, “Hear me, you pond scum! We are the band of the Broken Blade, and we eat the likes of you for breakfast! If you’re that eager to die, then come get some! Otherwise, move on and let us pass!” The crew looked up at me, eyebrows raised, but they said nothing. We waited in silence for several moments, poised for a fight, but it never came. The last sound we heard from the Naga’s was a subdued splash in the distance. After that, all was clam. I looked back down at the crew and shrugged. “Shall we?” I said. When we were sure that the silence was no ruse, we continued toward the bank of the lake, the water growing steadily more shallow until we at last stood on dry land. I used a ‘prestidigitation’ to dry my friends out as we surveyed the area. What we saw was not promising, though our vision was severely limited. What we could see was nothing but black, unforgiving, volcanic, stone. A plane of it that stretched far beyond our straining eyes. “Well,” Hap sighed, “What now? Which way do we go?” I scratched my head. “I have no idea.” I admitted. “I do!” The voice cackled out of the darkness and we all whirled, swords drawn, spells at the ready, once again falling into defensive postures against unseen dangers. We strained our ears to hear, and then the voice came again. “I know the way! Ah yes, Neekesh knows the way home, he does!” It was the voice of an old man, though there are plenty of creatures that can imitate such things, and we let our guard down not a minute. “Show yourself!” Griff growled. We held our breaths, waiting for what seemed like many moments, before a timid figure appeared at the edge of our vision. He was, in fact, an old man. Dressed in rags, his beard well down to his chest, a wary grin containing only a handful of teeth plastered across his face. He stopped, poised like a rabbit, ready to run. “Don’t kill Neekesh!” He pleaded. “Been here long time! So long. Don’t kill me, I know the way… home!” Thus began our acquaintance with Neekesh. When we had at last convinced him that we meant him no harm, he approached and we were able to get his story from him. He was an Edik native who had, apparently, displeased a higher up in the Illugi clergy and had been exiled to this terrible place. He had no idea how long he had been here, but guessed that it must be years. He had survived by hiding for most of his days and scavenging for what small bits of food the predators that roamed these rocky planes left behind. He was in sore shape, painfully thin and perhaps a bit mad from darkness and seclusion. But he claimed to know the passage back to Edik, though when we asked why he had not left he shuddered and nearly came to tears. He told us that the way off of these planes was guarded by three terrible beasts. He called them dragons, though I could hardly believe that such was the case. It would be unlike three dragons to remain in one spot to guard something other than their own treasure. Perhaps this is another case of mistaken wyvern identity. We set out at once, picking our way across the rock, following Neekesh’s directions after we had vowed that we would take care of the “dragons” and bring him back to Edik with us. Neekesh assured us that the gate to Edik was only a days march away, but he warned us of the dangers of this place, glancing nervously about as he did so. His warning was not without merit, for we had walked for no more than an hour when we were besieged by monsters. I figured later that they were barbed devils, a very nasty sort of underworld denizen. They came at us out of the darkness without warning and it was all we could do to meet them even as Neekesh howled in terror and curled up on the ground in the fetal position. I took a claw to the face and Griff got hit pretty hard as well, but in the end they were no match for us, and within less than a minute, nine of them lay scattered across the black rock, sliced and scorched and pierced with arrows. These devils had had the misfortune to tangle with us while we were at our full compliment of powers and spells and were in no mood to be detained. We slaughtered them. Neekesh rose from ground with a grin spread from ear to ear, cackling with glee as he surveyed our handiwork. We got the idea that he had been living in abject fear of such creatures for some time and was delighted to see them suffer for a change. We pressed on across the porous rock, and as we did so, Griff fell into step next to me. He glanced quickly over his shoulder to make sure that no one would over hear him and seemed satisfied to see Happy involved with a conversation between Taklinn, Caribdis, and herself. “Doorag,” He muttered, “Can I, uh, can I talk to you for a minute?” I looked up at him, eyebrows raised in curiosity, “Sure Griff, of course. What’s on your mind?” Griff took another furtive look at his wife to make sure she was still out of earshot, and lowered his voice. “Back in the cleric’s quarters yesterday, that statue, you remember it?” “Yes,” I nodded, “The one of Illugi. You seemed a little freaked out by it.” “Yeah, well, I could… see it.” “Right,” I said slowly, “We could all see it. It looked like all the others we’ve seen.” “No,” Griff whispered urgently, “I could see IT! I could SEE it!” I could tell he was struggling for the words. “See what?” I asked. “I’m not following you.” Griff sighed, frustrated. “I could see… evil.” He said at last. I looked up at him and blinked, and I could tell that he was deadly serious, and quite uncomfortable with this revelation. He had obviously come to me as a last resort. “Describe to me exactly what you saw, Griff.” I prompted him. Griff took a deep breath. “I looked at the statue and just sort of… concentrated. I don’t know exactly why. But the point is, after I’d stared at it for a few seconds, I started to see this black cloud thing hanging all over it-“ “Like an aura?” I interrupted him. “Yeah, whatever.” He said. “An aura. Anyway, it was strong! I couldn’t take my eyes off of it! It chilled me worse than almost anything I’ve ever seen! Made my stomach flip!” “Hmmm,” I mused, “Interesting. It almost sounds as though you were seeing the statues evil aura. I don’t have that power myself, but I understand that its quite similar to the ability to see detect magical auras. But that would mean…” I stopped in mid sentence, looking at Griff with wide eyes. “What? What does it mean?” Griff demanded. I blinked. “Well, generally speaking, the power to see evil and/or good auras is restricted to those who have chosen a divine path. Taklinn, for example, has probably been able to do it since he was able to hold an axe. It’s usually a spell or an innate ability granted by…” “Granted by what?” Griff asked urgently. “A deity.” I finished. Griff moaned and rolled his eyes, pressing his hand to his forehead as if trying to digest that. “What have I gotten myself into?” He asked himself. “This may have something to do with your promise to Clangeden.” I said. “Though it would be strange for a dwarven god to grant such powers to a human. Tell me, do you feel any different otherwise?” “Actually I do,” He admitted. “I feel… I don’t know how to describe it.” He struggled for the word, and finally settled on one. “Pure?” “Really? How fascinating!” “What? Why is that fascinating?” “Well, and please bare in mind that I’m just guessing here, but it almost sounds as if you have been accepted into the role of a holy warrior. Generally speaking, the power to detect evil is limited to priests, druids, and…” I trailed off. “And what?” Griff hissed. “Paladins.” Griff groaned again, but I continued quickly. “I have to doubt that you have suddenly shifted from fighter to priest. That sort of thing is usually a conscious decision and requires much forethought and dedication, and I just don’t see you filling that role, not to mention that it would be patently unheard of for a dwarven god to accept a human as one of his clerics, especially a god like Clangeden. However, the idea that you may now be a paladin is not so farfetched. Its unlikely, but I suppose its not out of the realm of possibilities. Tell me, have you felt anything else strange or odd?” Griff was silent for a long time, but finally he sighed and nodded. “I can heal myself.” He admitted. “Just a little while ago, after that battle with those, what did you call them, barbed devils, I still had a few cuts after Taklinn healed me, and… I don’t know, I just kind of knew I could take care of them. I put my hand on my wound and concentrated. When I took my hand away, the wound had closed.” Griff looked at me with a discomfort I had rarely seen on his face. “What does it mean?” I chuckled, but quickly hushed myself when I saw just how upset he was by his admission. “I think it means that I’m right, Griff. The abilities to fight well, see evil, and perform minor acts of healing are all earmarks of a paladin, which, by the way, is almost entirely unique. I would be interested to know when the last time a dwarven god accepted a human to carry his standard was. Still, you're hardly the average human, and you did make quite a promise to Clangeden while holding that axe. Stranger things have happened.” “Well that’s just great!” He said, sourly. “What the hell am I supposed to do now? I don’t know how to be a paladin!” “I’m sure you’ll work it out, Griff.” I said, shrugging. “The fact is, I’m hardly the best person to ask. We have with us one who is far better suited to answering questions about Clangeden.” Griff glanced over to Taklinn and sighed. “You’re probably right. I just wanted to get your take on this. I just know that Taklinn is going to see this as some kind of victory for his god or something. He has a tendency to gloat about these kinds of things.” I shrugged. “Well, you can’t really blame him. His life is devoted to Clangeden, so the fact that you may now serve Him will probably grease Taklinn’s wheels to no end. Though I will add that your motivations are nothing to be ashamed of, Griff. What you did was one of the purest examples of friendship I have ever seen. You can be proud of that, and no matter how Taklinn reacts to your news, you can know that he is forever in your debt.” I looked over my shoulder to where Taklinn was deep in heated debate with Happy and Caribdis. “The real question,” I said, “Is how will Happy deal with this?” I saw Griff shudder, and he refused to even look toward his wife. “Yeah,” He nodded. “That is the real question.” He sighed heavily. “Thanks, Doorag. Can we, you know, keep this between ourselves for the time being?” “Of course.” I said, “And you're welcome. Anytime, my friend. Anytime.” On we trekked across the black rock with only ourselves and the occasional whiff of sulfur to keep us company. With no sun or moon in the sky to denote the passage of time we soon lost track of how long we had traveled, though I began to measure our progress by the amount of times Neekesh repeated that we were “almost there!” Neekesh was obviously half mad and not an entirely pleasant guide, but he proved to be true to his word, for after what seemed like many hours of walking we at last spotted a faint glow in the distance, at which point Neekesh began to jump up and down excitedly and proclaim that our destination was at hand. Cheered at the prospect of leaving this dark place, we pushed on with renewed vigor, the glow becoming steadily brighter the closer we got. We would not reach the glow without some conflict, of course, but the attack, such as it was, highlighted just how far we have come since our early days. We had walked for perhaps another hour (Neekesh had exclaimed that we were “almost there!” six more times, which seemed to equal about an hour) when suddenly the rock beneath our feet began to shudder with what felt like heavy and fast footfalls. We all felt it at the same time, and there was no doubt that it was growing rapidly stronger, as if something large was charging straight for us, which, in fact, proved to be the case. I shot into the air, straining my eyes, while the rest of the crew drew weapons and assumed a now familiar defensive posture. Mere seconds passed before it materialized from the darkness, a hulking brute of a beast bearing down upon us at a dead run. It was a bulette, and a big one at that. Its stubby legs bore its massive bulk across the rock at surprising speed, and I suppose most creatures that got in the things way were made short work of. Bulette’s are feared across every land that I have ever heard of, for they are fearsome and savage predators with a seemingly endless appetite for meat and a penchant for burrowing underground only to surface beneath the feet of their prey. Fortunately the hard rock surface of this place did not allow such a maneuver, but even without that element of surprise, the sight of it charging full speed, its maw lined with hundreds of jagged teeth, would have turned the knees of most men to jelly. Not only are bulette’s feared for their ferocity, but also for the difficulty one has in fighting them, for their protective carapace can withstand the mightiest of sword blows. Many have died while trying in vain to penetrate that thick shell. All of these thoughts flashed through my mind as it closed the distance, and I hurriedly called up a spell. But I would never cast it. Griff, almost serene in his economy of movement, stepped forward to meet the beast head on. He set his back foot, held his sword aloft, and at the last possible second, brought it down with enough force to cleave through an oak in one swing. His blade struck the bulette between its beady eyes and carved through that legendary carapace like butter, shearing through brain and lower jaw, splitting that mighty head with almost casual ease. Griff stepped nimbly aside as the bulette’s knees suddenly buckled and it plowed into the ground, skidding to a shuddering stop, dead before it had even stopped moving. I remembered the way the crew had looked at me the day I had ‘disintegrated’ the armorer on the shadow plane. Now it was Griff’s turn to be stared at in awe as he wiped his blade clean and slid it into his scabbard as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He nudged the bulette once with the toe of his boot and then turned without a word to keep walking toward the glow. We followed and the glow got brighter and brighter until it seemed that it must now be no more than a mile or two away. I decided that now might be a good time to see if we could get a look at it, and to that end I borrowed Taklinn’s telescope and flew high into the air, pressing the eye piece to my eye and focusing in on the glow. As the image sharpened, I let out a gasp! Neekesh had not been telling tall tales at all, for there, surrounding what had to be an interplanar gate, squatted not one, not two, but three dragons! Two blacks and a red! I blinked with disbelief and pressed the telescope to my eye again to make sure I had seen correctly, and to my dismay, saw that my eyes had not deceived me. The three great reptiles, large even at this distance, paced in a tight circle around the gate, seemingly at ease with one another and their task of guarding the exit. As I continued to watch them and study their movements, it became clear to me that these were not normal dragons. Though it was difficult to see from this distance, I began to catch flashes of things that betrayed their true nature. I saw ragged holes in wings and missing scales. I saw long swaths of bone, and patches where flesh hung in flaps and strips. In a flash I understood. These were dragons, yes, but they were no longer alive by normal standards. These dragons were undead, which explained how they could remain in place for so long and not turn on each other. I shuddered. What sort of power must it have taken to raise such creatures from their eternal slumber for such a purpose? I almost felt sad for them, for though they were evil in life, at least they controlled their own destinies, and for all their wicked ways, one cannot deny the majesty of even an evil dragon. These things I saw in the telescope were perverse parodies of true dragons, and I resolved to free them of such a humiliating end. I flew back to earth and related what I had seen. Much discussion followed as to what strategy we should take, and though Caribdis was all for taking them on right then and there, we decided to take a day to prepare. Undead of any sort have certain weaknesses that we could exploit, given time, and we knew that to go after them half cocked would be a fools errand. I cast a mansion and we entered, gathering around the massive dining room table as we usually do, to formulate our strategy while Neekesh wandered the halls, head tilted in unrestrained awe. Rdyr’t 24 I wish that my writing skills could convey my agitation! We should be well past those undead dragons and through the gate back to (hopefully) Edik even now, yet due to miss-communication and utter ineptitude, we are forced to remain in this god forsaken hell hole yet another day! This is such an amateur mistake that I can barely bring myself to relate it here, but for the sake of continuity I will at least give the bare bones of our problem. One of the cornerstones of our plan in dealing with these dragons is a clerical spell called ‘heroes feast’. Now ordinarily such a spell falls under Taklinn’s domain, and ever since our fight with Acessiwall he had pretty much been casting it regularly each morning. It is a nifty spell to say the least, with a multitude of effects, not the least of which is that it conveys immunity to magical fear effects, an invaluable asset when dealing with dragons, since even being near one can cause grown men to flee in panic. We had to assume that these dragons, even undead though they may be, still had the power to cause fear in even the staunchest of hearts, and therefore it was standard operating procedure that we would, of course, partake in a ‘heroes feast’ this morning to ward off such a thing. Well, this was discussed last night, along with what other spells might come in handy, several of which would be cast by Taklinn, his divine powers being particularly effective against undead. The problem lay in the fact that the ‘heroes feast’ would take up what could potentially be another effective spell to use against the dragons, and to that end Caribdis revealed that HE could cast ‘heroes feast’, and volunteered to do so, thereby freeing Taklinn to cast another spell. So this morning we gathered at the table, fully expecting Caribdis to cast the feast for us, only to find out that he had used that slot up to cast some other damnedable spell that I can’t even remember now! Of course Taklinn had already prayed for his spells earlier, which meant that we would have no ‘feast’, and that we were now quite unprepared to face even one dragon, let alone three! I was beside myself! Not only had Caribdis set us back a day, he acted as if he had done nothing wrong, and could not understand why we all looked at him and shook our heads. I was disgusted, and stormed out of the room, going back to my own chambers where I stew even now. There is nothing for it but to wait until Taklinn can prepare a ‘feast’ of his own, which means another twenty-four hours here. Oh, but that boy is infuriating! Rdyr’t 25 We gathered this morning almost exactly twenty-four hours after finding out that Caribdis had neglected his ‘heroes feast’ duties. As is typical for our crew, the day started with confusion and consternation. Last night, after Caribdis’ failure to cast the ‘feast’ Taklinn announced that he would not leave that spell to chance again and would cast it today. Of course that meant that this morning Caribdis DID have the spell prepared and ready to cast, as did Taklinn, which defeated the purpose of allowing Taklinn an extra spell entirely, but at this point we were all too tired of the argument to flog it further. Taklinn cast the feast and we ate it in silence, eager to finally be on with the day. Neekesh joined us at the table, and if there is any among us who hasn’t minded the additional day here it is him, for he has been enjoying the mansion immensely, wandering its halls, eating its food and getting good and drunk on its wine. I take it it has been some time since he has had access to alcohol and he has been enjoying it with a vengeance. Last night I was roused by a clamoring and stepped from my room to see a naked and drunk Neekesh dancing down the hall. One thing he has not taken advantage of, however, is the mansions bathing facilities. He is as dirty and ripe as the day we met him, and several times I have thought to tactfully ask him if the bath in his room is in working order. Taklinn has wondered if he might not cast a cleaning spell on the old man, but Neekesh still seems a little distrustful, especially of we spell casters, so Taklinn decided against it. We finished the ‘feast’, feeling the now familiar properties of its magic wash over us, and discussed our plan, which more or less consisted of a hard and fast attack led by the most powerful spells we could muster, followed by a physical assault by Taklinn and Griff. Not pretty, but its worked for us in the past. Had there been a sun, its rising would have seen us leaving the mansion and heading toward the glow that still shone less than a mile away. I cast my longer lasting preparatory spells like ‘mind blank’ and ‘overland flight’ on the way. As we drew near enough to actually catch sight of the dragons we bid Neekesh to stay behind and await our return. We had to promise him several times that we would return for him, but he relented at last, anxiously pacing back and forth and watching us as we walked on. Undead or not, a dragon is a fearsome creature, and the prospect of facing three of them didn’t do much for my confidence. Still, I was heartened by the knowledge that we’d had ample time to prepare and were well geared to take them on. We made it to within several hundred feet of them before they took notice. They stopped their incessant circling of the gate to swing their great heads around as one to search us out with dead eyes. For a moment we braced to receive a charge, fully expecting them to attack us on sight, but luck was with us. These dragons were truly guardians, and it appeared that they would not leave their post. The three merely placed themselves between us and the gate, snorting and scratching at the rock as if in warning. I’m sure that whatever residual draconic instinct still remained in those dead brains was screaming at them to attack us, but the magic’s that held them in place was too strong, and they held their posts. This gave us a golden opportunity and we took it. We were still well out of range of their breath weapons, but quite within range of some of the key spells we’d decided to use. Taklinn and I both unloaded. I cast my first ‘sunburst’, illuminating the dragons area and catching the red and one of the blacks in the burst. That spell is doom for undead, and these fellows were no exception. I could tell it hurt them, and quickly cast a second ‘sunburst’ to catch the same pair. Taklinn was also casting even as he and Griff ran forward. Caribdis launched arrow after arrow as he too closed the distance. Unfortunately for Hap, she could do little in this fight since undead have no vital areas in which to strike. Her particular style of fighting would mean little against these foes. We walked forward at a determined pace, pounding them with spells which took a terrible toll on the dragons. When Taklinn was within range he unleashed ‘sunbeams’ upon them while I rained fireballs onto the blacks from my position in the air. Just as Taklinn and Griff came within range of their breath weapons, the pair charged, Griff wielding his blade in two hands and Taklinn now twice his size and glowing with divine power, his axe held high. All three dragons immediately unleashed their breath at our warriors and they were both caught in blasts of fire and acid, but we had prepared for just that event with ‘protection from energy’ spells, and they were able to withstand much of the damage. Griff reached them first, colliding with the red, bringing his sword around in wicked arcs again and again, faster than the eye could follow. Taklinn reached a black and buried his holy axe to the haft in the creatures neck. Below me Caribdis sang his verse, imbuing Taklinn and Griff with heightened combat prowess even as he sent his arrows into the fray. His shafts left his bow in rapid succession, and I swear that I counted three of them in the air at one time, following each other in a straight line until they thunked home in the flank of a black dragon only a hand span apart. Happy, unwilling to let Griff face such danger without her at his side, raced across the rocks and nimbly danced around the perimeter of the fight, hurling dagger after dagger. I flew in a wide circle, my staff at the ready, eating up its charges with one fireball after another, knowing that the beasts were highly resistant to such magic’s, but also knowing from long experience that every little bit helps. I also worked a ‘disintegrate’ into the mix in the hopes that it might take. It didn’t, but one never knows unless one tries. The red dragon clawed at Griff and bit several times, but our warrior retreated not a step, standing his ground and hacking away with his blade. Taklinn, like a turtle in a shell, was so very hard to hit, and the black dragons attacks had a very hard time finding their marks. Taklinn stood back to back with Griff, swinging with both hands, reciting prayers and bellowing praises to Clangeden. Taklinn’s black, already weakened by our spells, was the first to go down, followed swiftly by the red that Griff had been working on. Our spells had done their work, and the trio of beasts were severely wounded. The last black dragon, scorched by fire and light and pierced by nearly two dozen of Caribdis’ arrows, not to mention Hap’s daggers, was little match for Griff and Taklinn by the time the two of them turned their full attention on him. It got in one good bite before Griff rammed his blade home, twisting it in to the hilt and ripping it free. The wurm sagged back, stumbled and finally fell, heaving its last gasp before sinking into real death. The entire fight had taken less than a minute, but we had taken our lumps. Griff leaned against the carcass of the black, breathing heavily, and Taklinn bled from several nasty bite wounds. He quickly began his healing, as did Caribdis when he reached them. I landed near them. “Nice work.” I complimented. Griff stretched as Caribdis healed yet another wound on him. “They were no Acessiwall.” Was all he said. A moment later a very excited Neekesh came scampering over the rocks, crowing with glee at the sight of the three dead guardians. When we had finished healing we all stopped and regarded the glowing circle that lay on the ground amongst the carcasses. It was indeed a gate, though we now had to face the very real knowledge that we had no idea where it led. “Well,” said Taklinn, “Shall we?” When we had properly prepared, we stepped through, Taklinn leading the way. *** I followed Taklinn through the gate, stepping into its luminescent glow and feeling myself fade swiftly from the underground land of rock and darkness, only to wind up in another place of stone and gloom. As I appeared in a small, man made, stone chamber, Taklinn was already in pitched battle with what I quickly pegged as a wraith; a nasty undead to be sure, but no match for Taklinn, who raised his axe and invoked the name of Clangeden, turning the wraith away easily. The horrid thing sank into the stone walls, wailing and hissing. It would not be the last we’d see of him. Just as the wraith disappeared, Griff and Happy, then Caribdis, then Neekesh stepped into the room, seemingly from thin air. No trace of the gate was to be found on this side, and it was obvious that there would be no returning even if we’d wished to. The room we found ourselves in bore a faint familiarity. We had not actually been there before, but the architecture and feel of its stone was deeply reminiscent of Illugi’s temple on Edik, and we hoped against hope that that was where we were. It struck us then that no doors were in this room, only bare walls, and for a bad moment I wondered if we’d stepped into some sort of trap from which we would have to extract ourselves. Fortunately I had prepared a ‘detect secret doors’ spell and now seemed a fine time to cast it. Sure enough, the moment I concentrated on the far wall I could see the reddish outline of a door crafted to look just like the stone. I pointed it out to Hap and she immediately saw it too. She swiftly began checking it and soon announced that it was safe. Taklinn was in a mood to take the fight to the enemy and threw the door open with no fanfare. He stepped into the revealed room, axe at the ready, but I don’t believe he was quite prepared for the stone golem that waited there to greet him. The guardian, a hulking man crafted of earth and rock, took a heavy step toward Taklinn and swung, catching him off balance. The massive rock fists pummeled our dwarf, slamming him into the wall. Griff stepped in, placing himself between the golem and Taklinn, slamming the thing with well placed sword blows. Against such a construct there was little Hap, Caribdis or I could do. This was yet another foe without vital organs for which Hap might aim. It was also immune to nearly all magic’s, though I did have a trick or two up my sleeve for it. Caribdis began his verse and did his best to distract it with arrows, though it seemed not to even notice them, instead concentrating on our fighters. Even as it waded in, hammering at Taklinn again, I demonstrated how even lowly spells can hamper dangerous foes. My ‘grease’ slicked a sizable area beneath the golems feet and down it went with a heavy thud, allowing Taklinn to gather himself, and for Griff to get into a better position and even strike it as it tried to get up. The golem was not without its attacks though, and it used innate magic to cast a ‘slow’. Suddenly Griff, Hap and myself seemed to move as if through mire. Frustrated, I cast a second ‘grease’, keeping it trapped in one area, barely able to stand. As it crawled to the edge of the ‘greased’ area Taklinn and Griff fell upon it, slamming and hacking with their magical blades, chipping great chunks of stone from its body. It got in one more good hit on Taklinn before Caribdis stepped forward and fired three arrows into it at point blank range. It had been on the verge of death, and finally it crashed to the ground, nothing more than an inert statue. Taklinn winced and worked his arm inside his armor where he had been hardest hit. He tended to his own wounds while I used my spell to continue to scan the walls, for there were no visible doors in this room either. But there were secret doors, and my spell sniffed them out. As before, I let Hap check it. This time we opened it and entered the room beyond more carefully. The room was empty and nearly identical to the last two rooms we’d been in. Bare, no doors, dry and more or less sterile. We entered, again looking for the way out. Just as I spied yet another secret door, the wraith that Taklinn had turned when we’d first arrived, appeared again, cackling as it rose through the floor and trying to hit any of us it could. Griff was quick to slash at it, but the incorporeal abomination was difficult to hit and he missed. Taklinn cast a ‘sunbeam’ and attempted to put it down, but he missed as well. Before any of the rest of us could attack it, it had glided through the floor again. This happened twice more! The wraith had an amazing string of luck for as long as it lasted. Twice more we located secret doors; twice more we entered cautiously only to have the wraith appear from the stone and attack one of us, and twice more did all of us fail to hit it at all! Fortunately it was as poor a shot as we seemed to be and it was more of an annoyance than anything. In the end its luck ran dry and Taklinn’s ‘sunbeam’ found its mark, burning the thing out of existence. All of these secret doors had finally led us to a spacious room with a few normal doors, and we could now tell by the architecture and the very feel of the place that we were indeed back in Illugi’s temple. I would never have thought that being back in such a place would be a relief. Hap diligently went about the task of checking a door, but in the meantime Caribdis had wandered. He’d found his way to an unchecked door to the west, and opened it right up, sauntering through it as though we were out on holiday. Most of us were concentrating on Hap and we did not at first notice that Caribdis had gone until Hap’s head suddenly jerked around. “Shhhh!” She hushed us. We all fell silent, straining our ears. “There!” She shouted, pointing at the door through which Caribdis had gone. We now saw that it was ajar and that our bard was nowhere to be seen. Hap bolted for the door, Taklinn hot on her heels. Before she could reach it though, Caribdis reappeared, running back into our room, his face as white as a sheet, obviously scared witless. He slammed the door shut behind him and looked at us wide eyed. “What is it?” Taklinn demanded. “Very bad!” Caribdis babbled. “Very bad, very, very, very bad! Demons! Devils! Not sure which, but oh so bad!” I saw Taklinn’s eyes narrow at the mention of demons and devils. I knew we were in for it now. With set jaw set, already casting, Taklinn stepped forward and put his boot to the door, kicking it wide. He stepped in, beginning to swell and grow from the ‘righteous might’ and other divine spells he was casting on himself. “Neekesh will wait right here!” The old man yelped, sinking back into one of the rooms we had left behind. As for Griff, Hap, and myself, we followed Taklinn. Even Caribdis overcame his fear, and with a gulp, he followed us in as well. We found ourselves at one end of a mighty hall adorned with carvings and tapestries depicting every evil and perverse deed imaginable. It positively made the stomach roil to see such things, and I could see the effect it had on Griff. At the far end of the hall stood a massive set of double doors, black as onyx and already opening. Taklinn set his feet and faced the doors, ready for whatever came through. But not all of our attackers would enter through those doors. As quick as thought, the hall began to fill with vrock, teleporting in. The evil things hopped and flapped their pathetic wings, clamoring and cawing for our blood even as the double doors swept open to reveal their masters. The Hezrou entered first, all teeth, spines and claws, it was a true demon, a walker of the abyss, leagues more dangerous than any batch of vrock. But it was the thing that followed that gave me serious pause. It was a Nalfeshnee. Like some hideous cross between a bore and a bear, the thing shambled into the room. Though it looked like a simple monster, all tusks and teeth, I knew full well that, of those of us in the hall, its intellect was probably inferior only to mine. Not only was it incredibly strong and could rip any one of us limb from limb, it also possessed a host of magical attacks, not the least of which was an unholy smite that could have us all wandering, dazed and unable to act for whole minutes. To make matters worse, I could see that the vrock all bore the now familiar black sheen that could only mean that they were under the effects of an ‘unholy aura’ spell. The vrock closed in as the Hezrou bellowed its challenge which Griff was happy to accept. The two charged at each other, meeting in a clash of claws and steel. Hap had blinked out and was invisibly circling to get into position to help Griff. Caribdis, his voice quavering but holding fast, sang his verse and let fly a half dozen arrows at a vrock. I, of course, took to the air, casting furiously. I let fly a ‘greater dispel’ into the midst of the vrock, knowing that the ‘unholy aura’ they possessed was almost more dangerous than they were. I had a bit of luck and the ‘dispel’ shed the dark sheen from three of the five vrock. At least two vrock were pressing in at Taklinn, keeping him from charging the Nalfeshnee or aiding Griff with the Hezrou. Not to be denied the opportunity to stand toe to toe with such evil, Taklinn bellowed a ‘banishment’ spell, sending three of the vrock immediately back to their infernal homes. From my position in the air I could see Caribdis duck the claw of a vrock. He came up dancing away, smoothly dodging the little demons attack even as he pumped a volley of arrows into the Hezrou, which was giving Griff a hard time indeed. Griff was holding his own, but the demons thick hide resisted his blows time and again, and Griff was already bleeding from several places where the Hezrou had made contact. I wanted to help, but I kept my eye on the danger at the end of the hall. The Nalfeshnee was casting. I could see its hairy arms waving, its piggish face contorting as it summoned dark magic. The demon began to pulse with an inner glow, and I feared that it was preparing to ‘smite’ us. Knowing how deadly such a thing might be, I focused my attention on the beast, waiting until the last possible second to cast the most powerful spell at my disposal. Just as the last utterance left the demons mouth, I unleashed my own dweomer: ‘Mordenkainen’s Disjunction’. Fortunately none of the crew were near the Nalfeshnee at the time, and even then I had to center the spell well behind the demon, such is the radius of the effect. I laughed triumphantly as I watched every bit of magic be stripped from the beast, including the build up of magic that was leading to its ‘smite’. The Nalfeshnee screamed in fury while I laughed triumphantly. It’s hellish eyes found me and burned with hate, but it would have no chance to seek revenge, for Taklinn had finally arrived to deal with it. The Nalfeshnee roared in pain and surprise as our cleric slammed his axe across its belly, opening a gory wound. The demon responded with a flurry of claws and snapping teeth, but Taklinn just sneered and took the pounding on his armor and came back with still more swings of his axe. I glanced down to see how the rest of the crew were faring. Griff was holding his own, dodging and slashing, keeping the Hezrou at bay. Caribdis got off arrow shots between leaping away from the claws of a vrock. The final vrock had somehow found Happy, invisible though she was, and was pressing her, gibbering and rending with wicked claws. Caribdis must have caught wind that Hap was in trouble, for he swiftly turned his bow from the Hezrou to Hap’s vrock, ignoring his own. He let fly with too many arrows to follow with the naked eye, and the vrock, already wounded, shrieked and fell. This gave Caribdis’ vrock an opportunity and it seized it, slashing at our bard, but Happy was quick to return the favor, taking a quick step forward and hurling daggers that caught the vrock three swift times in the throat. It gurgled oily blood and tried in vain to free the daggers from its throat with weakening hands. It loosed only one of them before it died. I swooped around, searching for a target, only to see the Nalfeshnee fall first under the fury of Taklinn’s axe. The demon was no match for the holy might infused in the axe. Its knees buckled and it fell, face first, screaming its defiance even as it died. Griff had also finally gotten the best of the Hezrou. Now filled with at least a dozen of Caribdis’ arrows and half as many sword cuts, the demon fell back, doing its best to defend itself. But Griff pressed on grimly, uppercutting with his Talon, shearing through muscle and bone, bringing the Hezrou to its knees and then running it through the eye with a yard of steel. They were gone. Dead or banished, the demons no longer howled, and all was silent except for our labored breathing. At the far end of the hall the double doors yawned open, beckoning. I set down on the stone near where Taklinn and Caribdis were already laying their hands on the wounded. I stared toward the doors. All beyond was shrouded in shadow. “So you suppose that’s it?” I asked, referring to the inner temple where we were supposed to defeat Illugi’s avatar. “If it isn’t I’m not sure I want to know what’s guarding the real thing!” Caribdis said, and for once I could not agree with him more. “One way to find out.” Taklinn said as he finished a final healing spell on Griff. He hefted his axe. “Shall we?” I withdrew the pair of ‘Mordenkainen’s disjunction’ scrolls from my haversack, wanting to be ready to cast them as soon as possible. I hoped that the ‘disjunction I had already cast had hit not only the Nalfeshnee but the walls of the temple as well. Whatever the case, I wanted those spells near at hand. The five of us staggered ourselves in an uneven line and walked slowly toward the doors, ready for the final conflict. I quickly cast what protective spells I had left, but was disheartened to have so few. Still, we could ill afford to bypass this chance to finish our mission here. The possibility of Illugi further fortifying this temple was too great. We stopped in the shadow of the doorway, peering in. Our hunch had been correct. This was indeed the temple where we had battled demons so long ago for Melesandre’s orb. The coal-black statue of Illugi still stood in the chambers center and a palpable malevolence hung in the very air of the room. Yet, something was different. Something was amiss. The walls that had once shrieked and boiled with the trapped souls of the dead now showed only empty, smooth, blackness. Not a sign was left to suggest that this room once contained score upon score of tormented souls, harnessed by the evil god for his own designs. Indeed, except for the statue of Illugi, the room was empty. Or so we thought. “I assume that was your disjunction, Doorag?” The voice came from the deep shadow of the chambers far end, and was strangely familiar in its sibilance. She stepped from the shadows, scimitar hanging at her waist. Sensesi! “You’ve come a long way, my wizardly friend.” she said, walking toward us, “And I thought that polymorph you hit me with was inconvenient! You’ve just managed to strip me of nearly my entire collection of magical items!” “Not another step!” Griff shouted, his sword raised. Indeed, at her appearance a small armory worth of steel was aimed in her direction. Arrows, daggers, sword and axe were all pointed her way, not to mention the spell I was making ready. She stopped. “Calm down.” She said. “I’m on your side, though you probably won’t believe me this time either. For your own sakes though, I hope you at least hear me out.” “What are you doing here, Sensesi?” I asked, getting straight to the point. “What I do best.” she smiled. “Infiltrating, spying, keeping track of Illugi and his little game. I had a feeling that you would come and I wanted to be part of it when you did.” Griff’s eyes narrowed. “Why?” “Take a look at my world, Dorjan.” She said. “Edik is a wasteland and my people are a brainwashed army. I realized it when Melesandre held power here and I realize it now that Illugi has taken center stage. That and I have an even more personal fight here. My daughter has been corrupted. I will see her dead before I watch her become the next Melesandre.” “Scylla?” Happy asked. Sensesi nodded. “Why should we trust you?” I demanded, still ready to cast at the first sign of deceit. “Well,” she laughed without humor, “I can think of several reasons, but foremost among them is that the inner temple you seek, the nexus of Illugi’s power here, along with the trapped souls, has been moved, and I know where.” “And you’re willing to take us there?” Griff asked. “Smart and good looking.” She quipped dryly. “How do we know we can trust you?” I said. Sensesi shrugged. “Take me prisoner, cast truth spells, detect for evil or lies or whatever you want. You can have my weapons and whatever items might have escaped your blasted disjunction. Polymorph me again if you have to, but just leave me a way to point the direction you need to go. Doorag, I’ve been slithering through this temple for years spying on Illugi’s minions. I’ve watched Anvie sink into a wickedness unworthy of yuan-ti honor, and I’ve had to witness my Scylla let herself be infected with a lust for power and a depravity the likes of which you’ve never seen. How do you know you can trust me? You don’t. You have only my word. But the fact is, you also have no idea where Illugi’s inner temple is, but I do. So you can either kill me and take up wandering these halls full time or let me come with you.” Five sets of eyes glanced at each other as we tried to gauge her sincerity. Caribdis lowered the arrow in his bow and let the string straighten. “She makes a pretty good point.” He said. “Humph.” Griff muttered, but sheathed his sword. “I said it before and I’ll say it again. Screw us and I’ll cut you down.” “Duly noted.” Sensesi said with a slight nod. “What say you, Doorag?” Taklinn asked, looking at me. I narrowed my eyes at Sensesi, not wanting to trust her in the slightest. But Caribdis was right. Her points were valid. We could not afford to blindly search this temple and hope we found Illugi’s chamber. For all we knew, the chamber was not even in this building anymore. “Very well,” I sighed, “We have to take a chance on her. Hap, what do you think?” Happy screwed up her mouth with distaste, the memory of Sensesi’s attempt to kill her obviously still fresh in her mind. “Whatever,” She spat, “Just remember: take another poke at me and Griff will be the least of your worries. Got it?” “Got it.” Sensesi said quietly. Taklinn chuckled. “It would seem we are in agreement then. Sensesi, consider yourself under an uneasy truce. Let us put the past behind us and form an alliance against the real enemy. I only hope, for your sake, that you are telling the truth.” Sensesi gave us her best serpentine gaze, level, cold, and very hard to read. “You will know this much soon, with or without me: the path to the inner temple is constantly in shift. It changes from hour to hour. I, however, have found a way that always leads true. Unfortunately it is… problematic.” “How so?” I asked. Sensesi was silent for a moment, then said, “The way I know is no more than a rift in the structure of the temple, a mere rat hole, or… snake, if you will. It is no more than inches in diameter.” “Humph,” I sniffed, “Leave that to me. For now we need to hole up. We’ve got a new ally with new information, and we’re already beat up and low on spells. Another handful of demons could come around here at any minute.” I headed out of the deserted temple to find a suitably out of the way anti-chamber. “You’re welcome to bunk with us, Neekesh.” I said to our nervous guide. The old man had crept to within the doorway of the temple and now hunkered in the shadow of the place, wide eyed with awe and barely constrained terror. “Nay, Master Doorag!” Neekesh whispered hoarsely, “I’ve done found the stairs down to the lower levels and the sweet outsides! I’ll be off now if you’re all up with old Neekesh!” The old man was already backing up toward the door, ready to break into a dead run in his haste to get out of the temple, and before Happy had even finished asking him if he’d like us to escort him out, he was off, legs driven by even the suggestion that his obligations to us were at an end. In a flash, he was gone. “I suppose he’ll be back if he runs into trouble.” Taklinn sighed. “It is a short distance to the outside,” Sensesi said, “And you have already killed most everything down there already. He will be fine.” “But if we’re on the upper level, won’t he be stopped by the destroyed staircase?” Caribdis pointed out. Sensesi smiled. “The temple, Caribdis, the temple. You forget, it is alive with Illugi’s energy. The temple heals itself.” I raised an eyebrow at the thought, “Must admit, that’s a pretty fine domicile! Speaking of domiciles…” I cast a mansion and opened the door. In we walked, disappearing into thin air and appearing into a beautifully arched entryway with gleaming marble floors. We continued our discussions as we stepped into the ankle deep carpet of the sitting room, a fire already burning merrily, glasses already being filled at the bar. Within seconds we had gone from blood-freezing evil to sinking into luxurious leather chairs. I kicked off my boots and curled my toes into the carpet for the sheer delight of it, as I do every time. It never gets old. Taklinn took his usual seat by the fire in the overstuffed lounger I always make sure to provide for him. There was also Happy’s couch that she landed in to lay back, feet up, hands behind head, stretching like a cat. And of course, Griff stood at the bar, leaning against it, one hand going to the drink waiting for him there. Griff would sometimes sit, but he rarely chose the same chair twice. I had taken to simply peppering the room with three or four different seats, from day couches to milking stools, though in general Griff was a hard chair man. I was acutely aware that this was only Caribdis’ second time in the mansion, and had yet to find a seat that he liked. He was another stander, though he would rather pace or stroll around the room as he conversed, ever on stage. Sensesi took a leather chair similar to mine near the fire and crossed her legs demurely. “So what’s the plan?” Griff got straight to the point, taking a drink from his cup. “It sounds like we’ve got a drain pipe to squeeze through. Sounds like your territory, Doorag.” I nodded. “There are a number of options,” I said, “Some of which are even at my disposal, though some of them involve form shifting, which I know you’re just crazy about, Griff.” Griff smirked at me as I continued. “There are alternatives, like the gaseous form route, but anything like that is going to be costly in spells to get us all there.” I thought for a moment. “I may have another way. Sensesi, you’ve been to the inner temple?” “No,” She admitted, “But I have gotten as far as its antechambers and I am positive that the temple lies beyond.” “Good enough.” I said, “Can you describe the place for me? In detail?” “Of course,” She laughed, “I was spy, remember? My memory is impeccable.” I took a sip of woodberry wine. “Well then, we may be able to circumvent the small passage entirely. I would need you to draw me a detailed map of the area we’re going to, but if planar travel is possible here then ‘greater teleport’ should take us right there for the price of only one spell.” “What about the temple and the way it shifts around?” asked Happy, “Will that throw off your spell?” I frowned. I had not thought of that. “It might be okay.” Sensesi said, thoughtfully, “The temple seems to solidify as one nears the inner chambers. The room that I can describe to you has remained largely unchanged in months.” “It’s worth a try.” Taklinn said, gesturing with his tankard. “But you might want to have a plan B, lad.” He winked at me. “True,” I said. Then, I mused to myself and started an odd ball rolling. “If only I had that blasted spell component!” “What component?” Caribdis asked, his interest piqued. “Oh, it’s a circlet. I have to wear it for the ‘shape change’ spell. To be honest, I hadn’t thought that I would have mastered such a dweomer before we faced Illugi, but here I am, the spell learned, in my book, and ready to go, and me without the focus!” “What sort of a circlet is it?” Happy asked, sitting up and crossing her legs under her. “Jade.” I replied. “About 1500 gold worth of it. “And what if you had it?” Hap said, her curiosity always getting the better of her when it came to magic. “What could you do if you had that spell?” “Oh, I don’t know,” I said, “Morph from an ancient white dragon to a ferret to a solar to whatever I choose. It would at least enable me to get through the hole, and, well, its just a spell that I’ve been wanting to cast for a very long time, and now that I actually can, I’m flummoxed that a simple piece of jewelry stands between me and it.” “I’ll get it for you!” Caribdis suddenly said, excitedly. We all looked at him. “What are you talking about, Caribdis” I asked, warily. “Simple!” He grinned, “I’ll ‘plane shift’ back to Havilah and get you a circlet! I need to go there anyway!” I looked at him askance. “Caribdis, you can’t just zap off to Havilah!” “Why not?” he asked. “Well, for one thing, a ‘plane shift’ will get you close, but you’ll still more than likely end up a fair distance from the city, and that’s where you would need to be to obtain the sort of thing I’m looking for. There are specialty shops that sell precisely the thing I need there. The point is, you would only have a matter of hours to accomplish your task, since time here moves so much faster than it does on Havilah. For every hour you spend there, some ten fly by here on Edik. We can’t afford to stay here longer than a couple of days. That’s hardly time enough for you to find transport to Havilah, then find the sources I know of, and still accomplish whatever you need to go to Havilah for, and…” I paused, catching myself. “Say, Caribdis, what exactly do you suddenly have to go to Havilah for?” Caribdis’ eyes rolled toward the ceiling as if in deep thought. He seemed to ponder the question for some time before slowly replying, “Something…?” “It’s a bad idea, Caribdis.” But he was not ready to let go of the plan. “Wait a minute,” He said, “It could still work. All I need is a way to teleport to Havilah! I can’t cast it, but I can read it off a scroll! You have to have an extra teleport scroll laying around, don’t you?” “As a matter of fact I do,” I said, “But what about the return trip?” “Another ‘plane shift!’” “You have a key for Edik?” I asked. “A what?” “A key! The little fork you use to focus on when casting the dweomer! You must have a key, tuned to the plane to which you are traveling!” “Oh, well, no.” Caribdis admitted. “But I can get one in Havilah!” “It took myself and Yigil nearly a month to craft a key to Edik.” I said, dryly. “Well then! Fantastic!” Caribdis crowed, “You have one, let me borrow it!” “And what about when you get back to Edik, miles from us?” “Another teleport scroll! I’ll get one in Havilah while I get your circlet! I’ll even get you a replacement for the one you give me!” Caribdis grasped at straws, suddenly desperate to get to Havilah. “Caribdis,” I said, “Why wouldn’t I just go myself? I can cast all these spell. I have the key, and I know where to go to find the circlet. Why would I send you?” “Aw, come on, Doorag!” Caribdis fairly pleaded, “Let me go! I really, really need to get back to Havilah. I need to see Nivin.” “Nivin?” Taklinn broke in, “Whatever for?” Caribdis clammed up. “Its private.” He said, crossing his arms. “Caribdis, it’s just not worth it. Time is too short. Even a few hours in Havilah could mean days on Edik. We just don’t have the time.” “But it’s a good spell, right? You need it! Look, you’re right, you should be the one to go. Just take me with you, just for the time it takes you to get the circlet!” “And leave the rest of the crew here?” I asked. “They’re in the mansion…” He began. “-Which won’t last forever, and which could potentially be dispelled.” I finished for him. “No, Caribdis, it’s too risky.” “But!” “No, Caribdis!” “If I may interject,” Sensesi’s voice purred between Caribdis and I, “I have many contacts in the cities underground. Given an afternoon I might be able to find what you’re looking for.” “I don’t know…” I said. “Suit yourself,” She shrugged, “I can guarantee nothing, but I have been able to find nearly anything I need in Anvie, even in these troubled times.” Happy was suddenly even more interested. “Hey, I could probably help out! Let me come with you!” “Oh sure!” Caribdis cried, looking incredulous and hurt, “Let them go out into the dangers of a war torn city crawling with monsters, but heaven forbid if I want to take a nice, safe, trip to Havilah!” “Oh Caribdis, calm down.” Hap chided, “We’ll just be gone for a few hours. In and out, no big deal!” “I haven’t even said that you could accompany me.” Sensesi said archly. “Try and stop me!” Happy answered, taking Sensesi’s words as a challenge. “I work better alone.” The yuan-ti stated flatly. “Oh ho!” Hap replied, “Just try and keep up with me!” “This is just unfair!” Caribdis wailed. “How come they get to go and I don’t?” Griff was now ready to put in his two coppers as well. “I don’t know if I like the idea of you traipsing around this city, Happy.” By now everyone was talking at once, including me. “I haven’t even said that you should go!” I shouted above the din, “It’s not that important! Caribdis, you’re not going to Havilah, and Sensesi and Hap, neither of you should be wandering around Anvie right now!” Despite my words, the argument continued for another twenty minutes, and in the end only Happy was happy with the outcome. Sensesi was bound and determined to seek out the circlet for me, and there would be no dissuading Happy from accompanying her. Caribdis’ feelings were hurt, but I refused to provide him with the teleport scroll he needed, or the plane shift key for Edik. Griff frowned and tried to talk Hap out of going into the city, but she would hear none of it. Finally I simply washed my hands of the whole thing and retired to my bedroom where I now sit, contemplating the scope of the personalities I travel with. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
From the Diary of Doorag Marzipan
Top