Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions (final update posted 02.14.10)

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #451] Meeting Noxin

"It depends on who you are!" Huzair yelled upwards as he dried his head with a cloth. "If you are one of those nasty little dwarves I am going to kick your ass into next Freeday!"

"No, my friend. I've broken them all into little pieces" the voice resonated down the hole, gruff and deep. "Little bastards drugged me and were going to sacrifice me to some snakes. I guess they were not friends of yours either…"

Huzair looked quickly at Morier and Anania, an expression of skeptical optimism on his face. Shamalin was casting Detect Magic and missed the exchange.

"Do you know how to get the stairs back up?" Huzair shouted.

"Huh?" the big voice grunted back. "What stairs?"

"There were stairs in this shaft," the mage explained. "But there was a trap and they disappeared."

"Huh!" the voice said again. "That's somethin' ya don't see every day."

"Didn't you use the stairs to get up there?" Huzair asked.

"Well, to be quite honest, I haven't a recollection how I got down here," the voice replied. "I was drugged."

"Great..." Huzair hissed looking again at the others. Shamalin met his eyes this time.

"I sense no magic," she told him.

"There's a lever here on the wall," the voice called down.

"Yes, there is a lever, but the stairs will collapse when-" Huzair's explanation was cut off by the CHUNK! CHUNK! CHUNK! sound of the stairs extending from the central column. He looked at the others and sighed.

"Crap. Anyone who kills all those dwarves cannot be all bad," he said. "I am going up to hold the lever so the trap does not reset. Wait for my whistle." He boosted himself up onto the wall, taking no chances as he began Spiderclimbing. Before he disappeared from sight he called back, "Perhaps Ahlear should hang back out of sight to not spook this guy."



When Huzair climbed out into the chamber above, lit now by the glow of Everburning Flame, he thought that perhaps he needn't have worried about spooking their new acquaintance. This guy was huge! Huzair had known Feln for a time, and the half-ogre had been larger. But then Feln was a giant. The newcomer looked mostly human, but has certainly the largest human that the wizard had even seen. He towered two feet taller than Huzair and outweighed him by perhaps a factor of three.

His muscular torso was packed into a worn but well-maintained chain shirt. A massive sword was strapped across his back; it was half-again as big as the one that Morier wielded, but on this guy it only looked slightly oversized. In his left hand he held a hammer with a handle as long as Huzair was tall and a head the size of a small anvil. It was this weapon that shed magical light about the room.

The giant man stepped forward extending his right hand in greeting as he came. Huzair saw that he wore one pair of leather and brass goggles high on his substantial brow and a second pair hung around his neck.

"Noxin," the big man grinned as he engulfed Huzair's hand in a crushing grip. "Thought I wouldn't see a friendly face again."

"I am Huzair," the wizard answered, extricating himself from the punishing handshake.

"Well, I'll tell ya, Huzair," Noxin grinned, shaking his head and running his thick fingers through his curly black hair. "Wakin' up naked in the dark with the damn room full of snakes... Thought it was all over." Huzair looked up from massaging his hand and smirked at Noxin.

"Why is it that when we find some new guy, they are always naked?" he mused. "I remember finding Morier frolicking buck naked through the forest save for these tiny leaves with which he covered himself." Noxin smiled.

"Who's Morier?" he asked. In response, Huzair snapped his fingers and whistled down the staricase. Then he moved over to the lever and leaned against it so that it stayed firmly in the upright position.

"Listen, Noxin. You get a free pass about the spitting on me because you killed the dwarves and because you are freaking big... but please do not ever spit on me again, my friend," Huzair said, grinning. Then he hit Noxin in the arm in what he hoped was a tough, barbarianish fashion. It felt a bit like punching a slab of granite. He decided to settle for offering Noxin a cigar.

The big man grinned as he took the smoke carefully between forefinger and thumb. His coppery eyes twinkled in the flickering light.

"I prefer a strong pipe, my friend," he admitted, "but I think a cigar would calm my nerves after my escapade... many thanks." He popped the cigar in his mouth, clamping it tight in his huge teeth and began fishing in his pack for a tinderbox.

Grinning, Huzair lit the smoke with his thumb. Noxin laughed at the display of minor magic and began puffing away to get the cigar going, so by the time the others arrived, the small chamber was hazy with smoke.

As they came up - first Anania, followed by Morier - Noxin greeted them as he had Huzair, sharing his name and offering each a bone-crushing handshake. When Shamalin appeared, clanking and puffing up the stairs, Noxin squinted at her appraisingly.

"What have we here?" he asked as he extended his hand. "A black knight... but such a kind face. Have to watch out for you!!" He snorted laughter and pumped her hand. The laughter died as Ahlear's mummy stepped into the doorway.

Noxin had his hammer in a two-handed grip at once and he held it between himself and the undead. Ahlear stood his ground, but raised his hands in a gesture of peace.

"He's with us," Huzair said and Noxin turned a wondering eye to the wizard.

"You travel with the undead?" he marveled. "I can see why you keep to caves."

"It was either the caves or the giants," Ahlear rasped. "The caves seemed the lesser threat at the time." Noxin turned his eye back to the mummy, seeming confused to hear it speak. After a moment, he lowered his hammer and pulled smoke thoughtfully from his cigar.

"I wouldn't worry too much about the giants... if they waited around long enough for me to free myself I'll be surprised," the big man told them. Then he shrugged. "If they did wait... they might have work for you. We are headed to battle."

"WE?" Huzair asked. "You're with the giants?" Noxin sighed, considering and then ultimately shrugged his massive shoulders.

"Allright... let me play it straight here... I ain't no good at spinnin' stories anyway, so I'll just tell you... and if you rob me blind... so be it," the huge man began. "I am a treasure hunter - a good one too, and I been scouring this region for an ancient treasure. Well... you gotta do a lot of things as a treasure hunter, and one of 'em's eatin', so I got hooked up with this giant, Hargnar Slamfist. Well, of course, shortly after I started working with him, Cerrakean, a little hob-goblin...well, she's a warrior - if you can call a little thing like that a warrior - called in some old debt I know nothin' about."

"Cerrakean," Shamalin said, turning the word over in her mouth. "I've read that name before. In Ledare's notes I think." Noxin looked at her and shrugged again.

"Anyway... from what I remember, this giant has aligned himself with a guy name Demius Wiverly Eyes or something," the big man went on, not noticing Morier jumping a bit at the familiar name. "Anyway, this Demerius Wevern Aye is gathing an army... come to think of it, I am not sure what for... I think it's to storm a keep... but I may have dreamed that."

"Sounds like a good way to spend an afternoon," Huzair chuckled. "Any wizards or spell users among the lot?"

"Not that so's you could tell," Noxin told him. "Let me tell you, though... I think there may be treasure in these caves... Of course, I can't be sure. The poem I am thinking of seems to allude to a place like this...and I was off from the group a bit when the dwarves grabbed me... so who knows what Hargnar is doing. He may have left. He may be searching for me...not sure. It's not like we are kin, but he seemed decent enough."

"We're not here to find treasure," Shamalin said and Noxin looked at her as if she'd just asked him to punch her in the head.

"Huh?" he grunted. "If ya ain't lookin' for treasure than what are ya doin' way out here?" Shamalin ignored the question and turned to the others.

"Unless Noxin, here, has an escape route he knows about, we should just go back out the way we came in," she said and eyes turned expectantly to the big man. Again, he shrugged.

"I don't know how exactly I came down into these caves, but I am pretty sure those pale little things didn't drop me down no cliff," he laughed, ashing on the floor. "There has to be a way back up and through the top. And I would not worry about the giants on top; they fight for money... mostly. Do you have any money??"

Shamalin raised an eyebrow at this. "Money?" she asked.

"Yeah. Money," Noxin repeated. "You know... coins! Gold pieces. Silver pieces... Money!" Shamalin looked disapproving and turned to Morier, a question on her lips.

"We have money," Morier said to Noxin before the cleric could speak.

"Good!" the big man grinned.

"What does your pull have to say now, Whitey?" Huzair asked and Morier looked around at them all.

"Now we spread out and try to find a way up and out of this warren," he said and his words were met by nods. But as the others spread out, Shamalin clutched his arm and drew him close so she could softly voice her concerns.

"Is our cause now a mercenary one?" she asked him. "Do we now enlist the aid of those who might not have a passion for our purpose?" The albino sighed and shaking his head, drew a pale hand through pale locks.

"No, Shamalin, I don't think our own cause is a mercenary one... but I think you and I may be the only two left here who even have a cause...or understand and remember what our cause is, let alone pursue it with any passion," he told her. "I don't know, possibly Huzair understands, he seems... somehow different lately... His exterior makes it all too easy to underestimate him. But even if we count three of us, our odds are still pretty poor. So we enlist 'hired swords'... then I suppose you can use the word mercenary... but they serve as the means to our end. They all know what we're doing, and they all pay lip service to the end we seek before we allow them to join us." He started to turn away and then looked back at her, his eyes not quite meeting hers.

"It troubles me some to hear myself say the words out loud that show how cheaply I consider the lives that appear to take up our cause, but I rest more easily about it knowing that we have persuaded no one to join us," he said grimly, a cold, hard edge in his voice. "They have sought to travel with us and we have told each of them about the dangers involved."

 

[Burningspear]

Wheehee... , anyway (love the smilies)...

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #452] Sometimes a Snake isn't Just a Snake

"My exterior. Damn right I am not just a pretty face," Huzair said loudly, purposely jostling Morier so that he nearly collided with Shamalin as the two conferred in whispers. "I am going to be one of the greatest wizards of the next decade or two."

"If I let you live that long," Morier said under his breath, scowling at the wizard. Huzair scowled right back, pointing a thin finger at the albino's pale face.

"Also I do really want to save the world. Too many beautiful women in it to let some rot queen destroy it." Huzair smiled, looking lustfully at Anania, but the elf maid did not notice, she was splitting her attention between checking the walls for secret doors and keeping her eye on Ahlear. Morier caught the look and shook his head.

"See, Huzair, that's exactly why I-" the eldritch warrior began, but Huzair waved him off.

"I could be more agreeable, Morier, but who else would keep you on your toes?" he smirked.

"We could hire someone," Shamalin deadpanned. "Apparently we're taking on all sorts of mercenaries now."

"My people are not mercenaries, little knight," Noxin said, turning from his work to regard Shamalin plainly. "We are skilled craftsman... only our craft is war. I don't take on any fight I don't want to, and money is not the only criteria... usually treasure helps though." He added a wink with that last and favored the half-elf with a smile.

"Fair enough, Noxin," Morier said. "But I do not think that Shamalin's words referred solely to you and your fellows." The big man shrugged and pitched the butt of his cigar down the stairwell.

"Lets go meet your friends, Noxin," Huzair suggested and Noxin shouldered his greathammer with a nod.

"I don't mind leading the way here, if you all don't want to," he said, looking around at the group. "I got a pretty thick skin and most things turn the other way when they see me comin'." Huzair barked laughter at that.

"Hell! I do not blame them for going the other way!" the mage chuckled. "A thick skin and a big freaking hammer would make me think you would be skilled in battle."

"I am at that." The man smiled down at Huzair.

"Out of curiousity, what race are you?" the wizard asked. "Or did you just mean your tribe of people earlier?"

"I am a giant, my friend... Well, I am a human and a giant, I guess... So maybe you could call me a huma-giant... or a giant-human," Noxin speculated, pondering and scratching head. "I don't know, I guess. I just know I got kin of both types." Huzair nodded sagely despite the fact that he'd never before heard of a human-giant hybrid race.

"Are you from around here?" the mage asked. "Do you know the area well? Any large cities close by?" Noxin sniffed and shook his great head.

"Not too familiar with the area," he said, moving towards the exit. "I have been wandering really, looking for a particular horde of treasure, but have not had any luck finding it."

"We have something in common. I like treasure too," Huzair ginned, whacking the half-giant's arm again with equally painful results. "Actually let's cut the small talk and get the heck out of here and find your friends."



Noxin lead them out through the only unexplored exit in the chamber: the door in the corner. It opened onto a set of stone steps that curved back and up to the right. The half-giant turned and grinned down at Anania who was ready behind him.

"Up," he said cheerfully. "Up is good." She nodded non-committally and they pressed on to the top of the stairs.

It opened into the side of a chamber. For a moment, the shape of the chamber was baffling, but then they realized the makers' intent; the place had been fashioned into the form of a serpent's head. To the right, at what would have been the snake's neck a dark passageway sloped upward. To the left, the floor dropped away into a chill darkness from which rose a cold wind and the dull roar of falling water.

In the center of the chamber was a worn altar of some kind around which was coiled a vast ashen serpent with scales yellowed and cracked with age. Beyond the altar, in the far wall was a set a familiar arch of stone filled with a curtain of luminous green mist. Unlike the others that the group had seen, this arch was surrounded by a riot of magical glyphs and symbols drawn in what looked like dried blood.

"Well that's something ya don't see every-" Noxin started to say when a sibilant voice spoke from the empty air somewhere ahead.

"Ssspeak the name of the one I ssserve or die," it hissed, a sound full of malice..

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

"Also I do really want to save the world. Too many beautiful women in it to let some rot queen destroy it." Huzair smiled, looking lustfully at Anania, but the elf maid did not notice, she was splitting her attention between checking the walls for secret doors and keeping her eye on Ahlear. Morier caught the look and shook his head.

Advice for Huzair - Construct Familiar. That'll take care of that problem.

"Are you from around here?" the mage asked. "Do you know the area well? Any large cities close by?"

"good brothels, reccomended red light districts, succubi, a countryside eager to be repressed, Maglin's Famous Pleasure Golem, a myopic deaf venerable dragon with a hoard that would give a rust monster a heart attack - because I got to look good for the publicity shots when I stab the dragon with my sword after someon else kills it, chaotic neutral drow?"

"We have something in common. I like treasure too," Huzair ginned, whacking the half-giant's arm again with equally painful results. "Actually let's cut the small talk and get the heck out of here and find your friends."

"the quicker we find the gold the faster my progeny can conquer the world, any way you can move faster than that? In fact can you just carry Morier, he'll just slow us down, if we meet resistance you can dwarf toss him into the fray."

 

[Kristeneve]

"the quicker we find the gold the faster my progeny can conquer the world, any way you can move faster than that? In fact can you just carry Morier, he'll just slow us down, if we meet resistance you can dwarf toss him into the fray."[/quote]

Marvelous stuff! You channel Huzair so perfectly...

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #453] Who Knew Snakes had such Bad Breath?

The group exchanged glances. Well, except for Huzair who simply activated the Ring of Invisibility and vanished. All of them seemed to believe that Aphyx was the correct answer, but no one seemed willing to speak the Rot Queen's name. As the silent moment swelled uncomfortably, Ahlear took a shuffling step forward.

"Aphyx...?" Ahlear rasped as he scanned the room for the invisible speaker. The response was a horrible keening wail that sounded like the death screams of a thousand innocent souls. It was followed up immediately by a cone of utter cold that originated from somewhere above and behind the altar and bathed the entire party in its chill.

Ahlear thought for an instant that he saw the shape of an enormous invisible serpent rimed in frost as the breath weapon discharged, but then he was engulfed in the swirling cold and could see no more. When the ice cleared a moment later, where he thought he had seen the snake's head there was nothing save empty air.

The mummy reacted first, jumping back from the altar and rasping a few curses. He pulled a potion vial from his belt saying, "Guess that was the wrong answer!" Behind him, invisible and clinging to the mortal coil only by virtue of the False Life spell he had cast earlier, Huzair snorted.

"Wrong answer?" he sniped. "I guess!" Sarcasm dripped heavily from his words and as Ahlear opened his mouth to say something more, the wizard quickly shrieked, "DO NOT answer again!"

Anania staggered to the side, aimed her bow at the spot where the cone of cold had originated and loosed an arrow. It clattered against the ceiling and then fell to the floor. There seemed to be nothing there, but an instant later she was lifted violently off the ground, and blood exploded from beneath her armor as something ravaged her flesh, while leaving her covering unmarked. She screamed even as she reached for another arrow from her everfull quiver, but before she could raise it to her bowstring, she was hurled violently against the left-hand wall. She struck with the force of a battering ram and slid bonelessly down the hole there, falling into the dark chamber below.

"Everyone out of the room!" Huzair's voice shouted, followed by the sound of his feet retreating down the staircase. "Let us regroup outside of the room!"

Noxin raised his hammer in a defensive posture and placed his body in such a way that he defended the doorway leading back the way they came. "Retreat!" he called, looking at Morier briefly before returning his attention to whatever invisible thing lurked in the chamber. "I'll hold the line! Go!" The albino glanced at Noxin and then nodded at Shamalin.

"He's right! We're not prepared to deal with this!" Morier told the cleric, stepping behind the big man's left shoulder and heading down the stairs. Shamalin didn't answer as she was in the process of casting a spell; however once the Sanctuary was in place, she moved to follow the eldritch warrior, leaving Noxin and Ahlear in the chamber.

"Come on!" Noxin shouted at the mummy. Ahlear glanced up.

"But the elf-" the mummy started to say, gesturing to the hole in the floor.

"She's dead!" Noxin barked. "And you may like it, but I got no plans to join the two o' ya!" Ahlear said nothing, but spared the dark hole in the floor another look and then loped quickly out the door and down the stairs. He sensed rather than heard or felt jaws snapping shut in the air behind him.

"We'll be seein' ya!" Noxin grinned up at the empty room, swinging his hammer in a defensive pattern in front of himself despite the fact that he saw nothing threatening. He managed a single retreating step before something slammed into him, or rather it slammed into his hammer. The force, or weight, or whatever threatened to wrench the weapon from his hands, but he maintained his grip and was able to struggle against the unseen thing. It was fantastically strong! Noxin had once, foolishly, challenged a cloud giant to what ended up as a very brief, very humiliating wrestling match. The cloud giant was strong, but this – whatever this was – was stronger still. A lot stronger!

Noxin gave ground and pulled the hammer free with a jerk. As he retreated down the steps, he heard a voice call after him.

"I'll be waiting!" it hissed.



"Why are you so insistent that we not give another name?" Shamalin was asking Huzair when Noxin reached the chamber at the bottom of the stairs. "Couldn't it possibly save us from further attack?" The wizard shrugged and downed a potion.

"I saw what being wrong cost us," he told the cleric as he wiped his lips on the back of his hand. "I guess you could give it a try, if you want." He made a gracious gesture toward the stairs back up to the chamber and smirked with Shamalin looked away.

"Could it be the Animal Lord, Brogine's sister, Dridana that the snake serves?" Shamalin asked, glancing up hopefully at the others. Morier nodded although he didn't look happy with the realization.

"Yes... it must be," the eldritch warrior admitted.

"I could go up and call out: 'You serve the Animal Lord Dridana'," Shamalin suggested. "That might earn us passage."

"I don't know that I'd try that if I was you," Noxin said, massaging his meaty shoulder with one huge hand. "Whatever's up there's awful strong. You all saw what it did to the elf."

"My poor little flower," Huzair said with genuine remorse in his voice. His expression hardened and he shook his fist, his other hand going to his spell component pouch. "I want to Fireball that place out of spite," he growled. "It may also do some good. I cannot miss, that is for sure!"

"No No No NO NO NO !!!" Morier shouted grabbing Huzair's arm at the elbow in a grip that as always seemed out of place on his spare frame. The mage glowered down at him and tried ineffectually to peel Morier's fingers off his arm.

"Have you got a better idea, Whitey?" he challenged.

"Yes. I do," Morier said. "Shamalin can heal me up, I'll buff a bit, and go try speaking Dridana's name." Huzair snorted.

"Be my guest," Huzair said as he stowed his empty potion vial in his Handy Haversack. "In fact, I encourage it. I suggest Ahlear go since he's already dead." The mummy managed to look annoyed despite the limitations imposed by desiccated flesh and obscuring wrappings.

"True, I have touched death once," he hissed, "but I am not happy to suicide just for your convenience." Huzair shrugged.

"Guess that leaves you, whitey," the mage said with a smirk.

"Aw, I don't know," Noxin grinned, raising his hammer to his shoulder. "I am willing to go on the attack."

"That's two," Huzair observed. "Any other takers?"

"I would be much more beneficial to our efforts were we to rest here overnight," Shamalin admitted. "I'm nearly out of miracles. But Anania is out there somewhere and I can't justify leaving her."

"My guess is Anania has passed onto the 100 days walk," Noxin said with a shrug. "I've seen folks take a lot o' punishment an' walk away, but not that much." Huzair glared at him, but the big man did not notice.

"I still want to retrieve her body for a proper burial..." Ahlear rasped. "It is the least..." His sepulchral voice trailed off and Huzair nodded.

"If there is no risk I will go get it invisibly," he offered.

"We don't know where it is," Ahlear reminded and Huzair threw his hands up.

"Whatever!" he scoffed. We still need to address this invisible snake as soon as possible. I do not feel right just lounging about with it up there. "

"I told ya, I am ready to fight..." Noxin said and quaffed a potion.

"Hopefully it won't lead to combat," Morier told him. "But I am glad to have you at my side if it does."

"Just make sure you stay behind him up there," Huzair hissed into Morier's ear. "He's put together a lot more solidly than you are."



Morier did not take Huzair's advice, instead leading the way up the stairs to the chamber above. Noxin's glowing hammer cast the eldritch warrior's shadow long in front of him and on the threshold of the altar chamber, Morier looked over his shoulder and said, "Put away the weapon, but be ready." Noxin looked at him as if he were mad and kept the hammer where it was.

"I'm ready," he said. "You jus' say what you gotta say and don't worry about me." Morier nodded and stepped forward.

"You came back," the voice hissed, equal parts menace and surprise.

"I know who you serve," Morier said. "You serve Dridana." The words hung in the air for a moment and then a dry mirthless chuckle filled the chamber.

"You are correct," the voice said. "Long have I waited for sssomeone to ssspeak Her name and free me from my tasssk as guardian of the gate. It isss a pity that you are not that one. A true ssservent of She Who isss All would not have firssst ssspoken the name of Her enemy." That was all the warning that Morier got.

The next thing he knew he felt fangs the size of daggers sinking into his flesh beneath his armor. He felt venom being pumped into his body, but managed to resist the initial shock of it. He could do nothing as he felt invisible coils wrap around him and squeeze the breath from his lungs. He struggled mightily, but even augmented as he was by a Bull's Strength spell, he may as well have been struggling to resist the hand of a god. He squeaked as he felt ribs start to crack beneath the strain.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #453a] Regroup!

"Bloody thing is at it again!" Noxin roared and in the chamber below, Huzair cursed, activated the Ring of Blinking and stuttered his way up the stairs. The scene that greeted him above was shocking.

He saw Morier, suspended in mid-air, his face a rictus of agony. Then he Blinked and saw the same scene on the Ethereal Plane. This time, Morier was completely obscured by the coils of an enormous snake with scales of scintillating gold. Its head loomed above Noxin, opalescent eyes filled with a malevolent intelligence that had no place in a snake's skull. Then he Blinked again and the serpent was gone even as Noxin lunged for it with his bare hands.

The half-giant moved quickly to grab the thing crushing Morier but realized that whatever it was was not just invisible but incorporeal as well. Instead, he grabbed a hold of Morier in an attempt to carry him out of the chamber.

"Come here, boy," he grunted. "We got to get you out of this room!"

Before he could get a firm grip on the eldritch warrior, he felt daggers bury themselves all along his chest and back. Huzair saw the snake dart forward and engulf Noxin's head and half his body in its maw before retracting.

"Patiensss. Time enough for you to die when I finish with thisss one, manling," the serpent hissed.

"Blasphemous invisible snake!" Noxin cursed, pressing a hand against his shoulder where his blood was oozing through the links of his chain shirt. "Everyone out. We can't take this thing on yet!!"

"No ssservant of Aphyx may ssstand before me and live," the serpent told him and Huzair deactivated the Ring of Blinking.

"We are not servants of Aphyx. We only spoke the Rot Queen's name because of the evil you housed here - with those ghastly dwarves attacking us. The appearance of this place was deceptive," the wizard said. "We are on the same side and have the keys to free Dridana! See!" And saying thus he pulled Flameblade from its sheathe and was instantly rimed in flickering flames.

"The scion of fire awakes!" the sword crackled and Morier let out a sighing sound as he sagged in the snake's invisible coils.

"Flameblade?" the serpent hissed, its voice filled with uncertainty.

"Do not be a fool and kill your allies," Huzair pleaded. "Hear us out!"

"Yes, please don't kill him! You must listen," Shamalin implored as she pushed passed Ahlear and clanked into the chamber. "He has been chosen by the guardians of the Grove of Renewal to help in the quest to fight Aphyx! He has a pull in his head that has led us thus far! Our goal is to put the keys in the walls and free Beast's twin!"

"But you bring only one key," the snake said. "The gate will only open with all four keysss." Shamalin drew Waveblade from its scabbard.

"THE SCION OF WATER AWAKES!" it thundered, filling the chamber with the sound of crashing waves.

"And he carries Stoneblade," Shamalin went on, indicating Morier. On cue, the eldritch warrior drew the greatsword.

"THE SCION OF STONE AWAKES!" it bellowed, its voice an avalanche of sound. Morier felt the force around him move away, leaving him alive - but decidedly unwell.

"You bring three keysss when four are required," the snake observed and Ahlear pointed to the hole in the chamber floor down which Anania had disappeared.

"The elf you slew bore Windblade," the mummy rasped accusingly.

"The elf sssought to injure me," the snake told him. "You yourssself, ssspoke the name of the enemy, foul one." There was barely contained menace in its voice as it spoke, and while Ahlear could not see the thing, he sensed that it was looming over him.

"As unlikely as it seems, this one works toward the cause of your goddess even in death!" Shamalin said, grimacing as she acknowledged the mummy. The snake hissed derisively.

"It exissstsss outssside the natural order. It walksss the Rot Queen'sss path," the serpent asserted. "What plassse doesss it have in Her ssservisss!"

'"You would do Dridana a great disservice by preventing this!" Shamalin assured the snake. "Please, I worship the Goddess of Mercy. Trust me."

There was a pause and then the snake hissed, "The White Lady wasss an ally to Dridana in daysss long passst. You have earned my ear. Ssspeak."

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #454] Bargaining for Passage

Shamalin took a breath, steadying herself. Knowing she had mere seconds to persuade the guardian snake to believe them, her mind raced. What more could be said? She thought back to her first days with this party. Morier and their tour of the renovated Manor House with careful regard for her feelings. Huzair and how he had shocked the holy sisterhood by smoking in the temple. Feln. Ixin. Lela. Vade. Finian. Soriah. These last only whisps and fragments - names remembered from Ledare's journal - campfire legends now more than anything else. And yet Shamalin owed them every ounce of courage she could muster in this moment.

But the moment was quickly stolen from her.

"You have the right to claim what is natural whilst you yourself are not even a natural creature?" the Ahlear mummy rasped, striding confidently to the fore. "With what right do you accuse me, who fought with his life for a cause as noble as any, and was unwillingly a pawn of gods?" Huzair reached out with Flameblade, placing the fiery sword in Ahlear's path. The wizard was more than a little pleased to see the mummy flinch back from the burning weapon.

"Dridana's servant was talking to Shamalin, not you," Huzair said, trying to convey with his expression that Ahlear should immediately shut up. Ahlear, of course, did no such thing.

"I will not be wrongly insulted. I still fight the righteous fight, in whatever form Akadi allows me to continue on," he told Huzair and then turned his withered face to the empty air where he supposed the serpent to be. "Be silent 'fake snake' and listen to our honorable Shamalin, who bears her heart heavy with all she has seen and done all in the service of this great goal." The guardian's response was a low menacing hiss. This call was answered by the warning rattle of dozens of snakes from the hole in the floor down which Anania had fallen.

Noxin recognized the sound as the same as the one he'd heard upon awakening earlier, chained to the stone plinth. He also now recognized the sound of falling water and put the two sounds together; below was the chamber in which he'd been left by the dwarves.

He quaffed a potion, and stepped aside, allowing this confrontation to play out without his interference.

"Thisss girl knowsss little about the heavinesss which can weigh on a heart, creature," the snake hissed, its anger in no way concealed. "And you, thing of the pit, know even lesss than she. I have had my goddesss - the one who gave me life - sssnatched away. I have lingered here for agesss untold guarding Her remainsss and waiting for the dessstined to relieve me of my burden."

"In all that time, yoursss isss the firssst group to warrant more than a ssswift death," the serpent said. "But I am confident that you are not the onesss for whom I wait. You lack the purity of ssspirit and body to complete the tasssksss ahead." Ahlear opened his dusty mouth to refute that and Huzair raised Flameblade, silencing him.

"I disagree with my comrade and apologize for his tone," the wizard said. He smiled his best smile and added, "You are wise to protect and even wiser to listen. You are just doing your service to Dridana. I feel your anger and respect your duty. Please let the priestess speak for us." Whether those last words were intended for the serpent or the mummy was unclear.

All eyes turned to Shamalin and she felt the weight of this responsibility pressing down on her like a giant's boot. Swallowing thickly, she took a step forward.

"If the legions stood before you now who have fought and died in an effort to free Dridana's heart, their numbers would stretch beyond your lair. But we alone are left to represent them," she said. She thrust her sword out by the hilt, her arm trembling slightly under the strain. "Guardians. Portals. Keys. Ask the swords what has transpired."

"THE ELFLING SPEAKS THE TRUTH!" Waveblade roared. "SHE MAY BE UNFIT TO WIELD ME IN BATTLE, BUT SHE AND HER COMPANIONS HAVE PASSED THE TESTS SET DOWN OF OLD."

"You must yield the gate, Histah" added Flameblade.

"IT IS YOUR DUTY!" Stoneblade insisted. "JUST AS IT IS OUR DUTY TO YIELD OUR LIVES TO FREE OUR LADY'S HEART!" Histah, the snake guardian, hissed angrily.

"Do not ssspeak to me of duty, ssscion!" the serpent said. "I have remained here, vigilant while you ssslept away the eonsss blisssfully unaware of time'sss unbending presss!"

"IT DOES SEEM LIKELY THAT YOU HAD THE WORSE OF IT, GUARDIAN," Waveblade admitted. "BUT THE FACT REMAINS THAT THESE FLESHLINGS HAVE PASSED THE TRIALS." Shamalin nodded eagerly, her eyes wide with wonder at the strange course that the encounter had taken.

"Countless tests, riddles and poems have brought us to this moment," she said. She cleared her throat and added, "But if there comes a force of good and if their will is understood... I have to believe that we are that force."

"Your wordsss mean little to me, priessstesss," Histah told her. "I know not of thisss poetry."

"I can recite more for you. All of them in fact," she told the snake. "But would that convince you that our hearts are true? I think not."

"In that you are correct," Histah replied. "For wordsss - even thossse asss honeyed asss your own - are in the end asss meaninglesss asss breath. It isss action that movess my heart."

The mummy that was Ahlear made a motion but Shamalin shook her head and continued. "We stand before you in the name of your goddess, Dridana, who once gave her life in battle against the Rot Queen. It is her heart that guides us. If truly you are her servant, then defer to her judgement."

Histah's response was a long rumbling hiss that seemed to fill the chamber.
Noxin's jaw dropped open just a bit. He drank his potion without his eyes leaving the black knight as Shamalin argued her case.

He turned, and in the best whisper he could muster, said to Morier, "I can see why you keep that one with you..." The albino nodded, smiling weakly as he held his injured ribs. Huzair sidled up to the eldritch warrior's other side and softly spoke into his ear.

"You owe me a bottle of Elverquisst, my friend," Huzair whispered as he playfully whacked Morier's sore ribs. The albino barely stifled his cry of pain, and the glare he shot at Huzair would have set the wizard's hair on fire if he'd had any hair.

"Four keysss are required to free Dridana'sss heart," the snake said after a long pause. "And I would hear from Windblade before I make my decisssion."

"YOU KNOW WHAT SHE WILL SAY, HISTAH!" Stoneblade thundered.

"There is no decision for you to make," Flameblade crackled. "Your duty is clear."

"I would hear from Windblade!!!" the snake shrieked. "Thisss dead thing hasss talked of Akadi, and a bit of her esssence resssidesss in Windblade. I would hear from the scion of air!"

"We must get Anania, then," Huzair said casting his eyes about, uncertain where the snake was and unwilling to activate the Ring of Blinking in order to find out for certain. "She has Windblade and may still be alive. Is it safe in the pit, oh powerful servant of Dridana? Let us retrieve Windblade and save our beautiful comrade before it is too late!"

"It isss already too late, planetouched," Histah told him. "The elf isss dead, but she bringsss the ssscion of air to usss even now." Huzair seemed to deflate as the guardian pronounced Anania's fate.

"Ahhh... Here she isss now," the snake said and they heard a scuffling step on the stairs behind them. The sort of sound that the light-footed elf maid had never made in life. But, she was clearly no longer alive.

She moved forward - or rather her body did - impelled by the force of dozens - maybe hundreds - of small snakes that had worked their way beneath her armor and clothing. By some insane, coordinated contortion of their bodies they were able to move her up the stairs in a halting, shuffling gait. Her head, lolled hideously on a broken neck. She had lost her bow, but somehow, Windblade remained in the hand, a barely visible wisp of a blade.

"Open the gate, Histah," the sword sighed. "They have passed the tests and come before you. You must open the gate."

There was a silence then in the room, followed by a strangely modulated hiss from the guardian. The snakes that had animated Anania slithered free of her and the elf's corpse collapsed like a marionette whose strings had been cut. The snakes slithered across the floor and disappeared down the hole in the floor, dropping one by one into darkness.

"When the light of Orin'sss Shield ssstrikesss the Ssserpent'sss Eye, I will open the way for you," Histah sighed. "There are ssseveral hoursss until dawn. Ressst now and prepare for what liesss ahead."

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #454a] These Swords Were Made for Talkin'

Shamalin sagged in her armor, releasing in a prolonged hiss a breath she was unaware she'd been holding. Huzair stepped up and put his arm around her.

"Nice job, sweetheart," Huzair whispered with uncharacteristic sincerity. Shamalin looked at him critically as he turned away, lighting a cigar, but then Noxin's big hand was patting her shoulder. She looked up into his broad face.

"Shamalin, I've worked with all kinds... thieves, traders, knights, and even holy men... but you are something different," he said with a grin. "I admire you. And if you need my help, I'll help you with your tests."

Shamalin regarded him silently for a moment, appraising this offer, and then looked to Morier. Meeting his eye she said, "Someone must carry Windblade." All eyes in the room turned to her and Noxin's grin spread into a full-fledged smile that split his face practically from ear to ear.

"If you're serious, and you want someone to be the steward of Windblade, I'll graciously accept," the big man said, pressing a hand to his chest.

"You're going a bit fast, aren't you? Don't you think he has to earn a lot more trust first before being allowed to handle one of the keys?" Ahlear rasped, a note of warning in his gravelly voice.

"If Shamalin finds Noxin trustworthy, I think I would be inclined to trust her and give him Windblade," Morier told the mummy. Turning to look up at Noxin he added, "If only because he looks like he could do some ass-whooping with it." Noxin grinned, but Ahlear balked.

"Is that a proper measure of his worth, Morier?" he asked. "We're struggling to free a nature goddess, not a god of war!" Noxin eyed the Mummy.

"Aye, mummy... It seems like you're no friend to this guardian, but you speak as if you fight for the natural cause," the barbarian asked, squinting down at the mummy, but not getting too close. "How does this happen? No natural force would animate you in such a way and I can't believe the dark gods would animate you to fight against them!" The mummy took a step closer and Noxin gave him ground. The undead creature's face was full of disdain.

"Noxin... you ask questions as if you have a right to get answers about me or the party I am with and its motives," he said. "I assure you, you're no where near that status yet. But I will indulge you-" Before he could say any more, Noxin waved his hand dissuasively.

"You're a little whelp, aren't you?" he said in a deep, booming voice that drowned out the mummy's rasping whisper. "Well, let me save you the trouble. I was asking out of courtesy, to try to better know you... but your insults are not welcome to me."

"Hrrmpf..." the mummy growled with disapproval.

"Save your tongue, boy... and maybe it will save your decrepit hide," Noxin sneered opening his eyes wide in a threatening manner... but then he laughed to the rest. "You are a motley bunch, for sure: An undead whelp, a hot headed wizard, a white elf, and a pure-hearted knight sheathed in dark armor! What I have stumbled into this fine day?" He roared with laughter.

Shamalin looked around at the group and released a barely suppressed giggle. "He's right," she said. "What a sight we must be."

"Hot headed, my friend? You have seen nothing yet," Huzair laughed and whacked Noxin's arm again. Noxin swayed in an exaggerated way from Huzair's blow, smiling and rubbing his muscular arm.

"Take it easy there," he chuckled. "We'll have plenty of fighting when the snake opens this gate." Ahlear snorted laughter.

"I guess the motley bunch found an oaf with a hammer," Ahlear said, his desiccated lips stretched back into a smile. Huzair turned on him, brandishing Flameblade as he had before.

"If you listen, you might not get killed... again," the mage cautioned, his face lit by the glow of the fiery sword. Ahlear met the wizard's gaze despite the fact that the bandages on the mummy's face began to smoke slightly from the weapon's heat.

"Huzair, stop waving that horrible flame-sword in my face just because I give a reprimand in debate," the mummy rasped. "I have just as much right as any of our 'core group' to voice my thoughts and opinions."

"Look here!" Huzair snapped angrily. Then he took a deep breath and mastered himself, calmly puffing and waving his cigar around as he spoke. "You know, Ahlear, there is a time to berate someone and there is a time to hold you tongue. I would suggest choosing to hold your tongue more." The mummy looked at him but said nothing.

"Histah has the right to disrespect you. He is probably 50 feet long and could eat, crush or freeze this party at will... and he is pissed off. That gives him the right," the wizard went on, pointing his finger in the direction of the altar. "I doubt there are many things he has to respect and we are not among them."

"I admit that I went off for a few seconds myself, but that was because he killed my poor sweet little flower. If someone insults your honor or whatever take it easy untill it is worth it.... or you can win by yourself." Huzair continued. "As my master used to say: 'Judge your foe or you will get your ass kicked... again'."

"You are entitled to your opinion," Ahlear said. "Just as I am entitled to mine."

"You could have gotten us all killed defending YOUR DAMNED OPINIONS! If I were Histah I would have bitten your head off and spit it out at your feet. This is not about your service, it is about OUR mission." Huzair exclaimed pointing the hand with the lit cigar in the mummy's face. His body was trembling with emotion, but again Huzair composed himself, much to the other's suprise.

"I know you are thinking I am a hippocrite. I only mouth off to Morier because I know he would never hurt me... or could," he said, favoring Morier with a charming wink. "Notice I have not said anything rude to Noxin... and he spit on my head! He is a bruiser. I would not mess with him... until I know him. Take my words to heart or you may get yourself killed AGAIN." He emphasized the point by sticking the burning end of his cigar in Ahlear's face. The mummy turned his head, scowling behind his black bandages.

"Get that thing out of my face!" he growled angrily and Huzair scowled back at him. Then, without looking away from the mummy's face, the wizard turned the cigar and ground it out in the palm of his own hand. Then he turned away, shaking his head.

"Bah! It is just Garan-Zak's wisdom wearing off on me," Huzair grumbled. "He talks so damned much." His eyes fell on Anania's fallen body and his shoulders slumped.

"Shamalin, would you say some final prayers for Anania? What a crappy way for my little flower to die," Huzair commented with saddness as he walked over to Anania, pulling off his cloak and draping it over her body.

"It is the least I can do," Shamalin sad as she moved to the elf maid's corpse. "I owe her an apology for questioning whether or not her personal allegiances jeopardized the party's safety. There is no doubt about her loyalty to this party now." Delicately, Shamalin took the Necklace of Eyes from around the scout's broken neck, removed one as she had seen Anania do and released it. It bobbed in the air and then began drifting away down the stairwell. Shamalin noted that there were fewer eye stalks on the Necklace than there had been the last time she'd seen the device. She laid it to the side, intending to destroy it later, and went about the business of preparing the body for the afterlife.



"So, what are you all doing on the other side of this gate?" Noxin asked after they'd paid their respects. "Is there a horde a treasure for releasing this god or is it some sort of honor pledge?" Shamalin was tending to Morier as best she could without benefit of her magic.

"I don't know what sort of reward awaits us," Morier admitted. "But we do this because we must. The whole world depends on us." Huzair rolled his eyes, but Noxin nodded, pondering.

"Do you have any idea what we'll face on the other side?" he asked, and the albino met his eyes. After a moment's pause, he shook his head.

"I think we can find out," Shamalin said, drawing Waveblade from its sheath.

"THE SCION OF WATER AWAKES!" the sword, which looked slightly smaller than the last time she'd drawn it, roared. Gravely, Shamalin set Waveblade in front of her and studied it.

"You knew we were coming here," she mused out loud. "You called the snake by name."

"THE WAY BEYOND THE GREEN IS OUR DESTINY," the sword thundered. "WE WERE MADE TO COME HERE AND PASS BEYOND THE GATE. HISTAH IS THE GUARDIAN OF THE GATE. IT IS AS IT WAS FORETOLD." Shamalin nodded.

"What else can you tell us about this task?" she asked. "What lies beyond the gate?"

"DRIDANA'S HEART LIES BEYOND IN ITS PRISON," Wavebade said. "ONLY WE FOUR SCIONS UNITED CAN UNLOCK THAT PRISON AND FREE THE HEART. IN DOING SO WE WILL FORFEIT OUR LIVES - A PRICE WE GLADLY PAY."

"What should we look for?" Shamalin asked. "How best can I prepare?"

"I DO NOT KNOW," the sword admitted. "THE MAGIC THAT SEALED THE GATE IS THE SAME THAT GAVE ME LIFE. WHEN THE PRISON CLOSED I AWAKENED FOR THE FIRST TIME."

"I have looked beyond," Histah's voice spoke out of the air above them. "There isss danger beyond the gate for you."

"Is it going to be combat or cerebral?" Huzair asked.

"It wasss intended to be neither," the snake said. "But Dridana'sss esssence - her demiurge - hasss been trapped there for too long. She hasss become... unpredictable."

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Rescuing the heart of a god gone insane.

Interesting how the party has been quick to replace their trust in Ahlear with Noxin even though technically the party has known both of them a collective 1 month's time.