Shilsen's Eberron SH (Finished - The Last Word : 9/20/15)
shilsen
Adventurer
Gurr’khan looks around at the members of the Guardian Angels, looking even more dyspeptic than he normally does around them. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Nameless died, visited Xoriat, and returned with a possible portal to it in his chest. You visited someone called the Fleshweaver, and decided it would be a good idea to let him experiment on you. And according to him, if Nameless dies or is in one place too long, then the portal activates and Xoriat is once more in contact with Eberron.”
He sighs, looking older and grayer than his years and orcish heritage make him, and then gives Korm a dirty look. “Normally, I’d be really interested in a Gatekeeper evincing aspects of various aberrations, but it seems that’s a minor problem right now. Assuming you are correct.” He looks at Nameless, studying him with a combination of concern and fascination, which overlays a faint sympathy. “You are sure you actually went to Xoriat? You, if anyone, should know that is impossible.”
“I know,” says Nameless. “But I’m quite certain that I did.”
“And that you returned with that portal inside you?”
“Actually, that’s something we only really have Mordain’s word for, but he is by far the most powerful spellcaster we have ever encountered. I’m by far the most skilled arcanist in Sharn, and he’s significantly ahead of me.” For now. “He was quite certain about it. And extremely helpful. I trust him, and even if I don’t have a way of verifying what he said, one thing is certain – I have an extremely potent magical aura in my chest.” After a moment of thought, he adds, “If nothing else, we know that after I was quite clearly dead, I was brought back via a reincarnation which evidently didn’t work, since the materials utilized in it were not used up, and returned without any of the ill effects that normally attend being brought back by that spell.”
“Other than the ‘ill effect’ of coming back all screwed up!” snorts Luna. She looks at Gurr’khan and jerks a thumb at Korm. “I still say it’s because these idiots made a fake, aberration-loving druid bring him back.”
“Hey!” says Korm, half-indignantly and half-amused. “Says the person with two symbionts inside her! I’m just using their abilities against them, like you do.”
Gurr’khan cuts the two off hastily. “I never thought I would say this after what happened with you and the Key, but this is more serious a situation than I’ve ever encountered, and I’m not in a position to make any decisions or really suggest anything. You need to contact Saala and meet her as soon as possible. Perhaps she can suggest a way to deal with the situation.”
“That sounds reasonable,” says Nameless. “And we are relatively free right now. I’ll be able to do so tomorrow.”
* * *
Luna looks around irritably from where she lies sprawled on the floor of the Cathedral in the form of a large hound. “You know,” she says, or more precisely the tongue-tentacle does in its tinny voice, “We’ve been waiting here for hours now?”
“Actually,” says Gareth looking out of a window, “I think it’s been just under three-quarters of an hour.”
“Bah! That’s long enough. You think she’s just blowing us off?”
“I doubt it, but she may be making us wait a little longer on purpose. She wasn’t that happy with me last time. Of course, she could just really be busy.”
“Well, I’ve had enough.” Luna sits up, raises her muzzle and howls. It’s loud, long and very, very penetrating. Only a few moments later, an acolyte hurries into the room, trying to keep a long suffering look off his face. “Is there a problem?”
“No,” growls Luna, while Gareth tries to give the impression that he is somehow completely unconnected with the large animal sharing the chamber with him. “I’m just bored. Isn’t she done yet?”
“I shall check. If you would just wait until I return…?”
“Sure,” says Luna. The acolyte turns away and then his shoulders sag slightly as a querulous howl follows him out the door. He returns only minutes later to say that the Archierophant will meet them now.
The meeting, as expected, is frosty. Ythana Morr eyes the pair – and especially Gareth – coldly, and her voice is no warmer. “Greetings. What can I do for you?” The expression doesn’t improve as Luna says, “Hey! How’s it going?” and then sprawls on the floor, lifting a leg and scratching herself thoroughly.
“I wished to let you know that we had returned,” says Gareth, producing the Tome of Undead Transformation and sliding it across the desk. “And I brought you this relic for destruction, as I had promised.”
Ythana doesn’t make a move towards the book. “Thank you. Is there anything else?”
“No, that was the main reason. But since I am here and we do seem to be free right, I wanted to double check – are you certain you do not need Nameless?”
“Hey!” says Luna. “Don’t be volunteering him!”
“That’s all right,” says Ythana, the tone of voice indicating precisely the opposite, and turns slightly to make it clear that she’s addressing Luna. “As I told Gareth earlier, I have received instructions from Flamekeep that Nameless does not need to go there. So the matter is closed.”
“Yeah, Gareth said something about that.” Luna gives the paladin a big canine grin and adds, “He’s just upset because you’re pissed off with him.”
Before Gareth can speak, Ythana says, “I am not ‘pissed off’ with him. I simply do not think any further discussion of the subject is needed. But,” she says decisively, “I shall let you know if I need anything. And please, let me know if you think I can help you in any way.” The Archierophant rises, indicating that the meeting is over.
As her two visitors leave, Luna’s voice clearly floats back to Ythana, “You were right. She’s pissed!”
* * *
Late that night, Six sits alone in his chamber, working on a sculpture of the Angels with King Boranel. The king of Breland had been quite amused and agreed quickly when Six had asked permission to make sketches during their meeting. The warforged warrior glances at the door to his room, wondering idly if all his companions are sleeping. Though he understands it in theory, the phenomenon of sleep is wholly alien to him. And though he is mostly joking about his suspicions that sleeping, eating and excretion is the reason his companions are at least partially insane, it is still mostly. The group’s experiences with quori have him especially concerned about the issue.
On the bright side, he reminds himself, We haven’t had anyone trying psionic contact for the last week. The warforged emits on of his rare metallic chuckles as he recalls Nameless’ response to the last message, when the group was still in the forests of Q’barra. “I’m receiving a psionic message,” the alienist said, before casting a dispel magic on himself. Then he explained to his bemused companions, “The message was ‘Nameless, we attempted to contact…,’ or at least that’s what I got before I ended it. Hopefully that’ll give them a hint.”
The warforged returns to his sculpture. A few seconds later, he looks up in surprise as four figures appear inside the room. Two of them are human, wearing full plate decorated with symbols that Six now recognizes as those of the Emerald Claw. Between them is a figure he has never seen before. This individual wears very traditional Karrnathi heavy armor, topped by a skeletal head, with thick and greenish skin pulled tight over the bones of its throat and body below. He wields a shield and a longsword, lambent green flames running along the blade.
Though Six doesn’t recognize any of the three, the fourth intruder is one he easily remembers, from the deadly gleam in her deep-socketed eyes to her skeletal face to the stylishly feminine red robes she wears. Emrena the Red has returned, with backup. She looks exactly the same as before, except that she is blinking in and out of existence.
Sh*t! The figures haven’t appeared for longer than a second before Six is moving. He leaps for the door, grabbing up his chain as he goes, opening it and running into the corridor outside. As he passes near the creature with the flaming sword, Six feels a strange sense of despair wash over him, but it ends as soon as he puts a little distance between the two of them. Not wasting time wondering what it is, he shouts as loud as he can, “We’re under attack! It’s the lich!” His harness reacts instantly to the alarm too, wreathing him in shadow.
The four enemies rush after him, flying magically through the air, but three are slowed down by their heavy armor and Emrena stops to hammer the warforged with a series of magic missiles. Six doesn’t even pause to wince as the spell blasts into his back, continuing to shout and rushing full-pelt for the stairs at the end of the long hallway outside his room, passing first Korm’s and then Nameless’ door. From inside their rooms he can hear startled cries and swearing, followed by the sounds of hasty spellcasting. The Emerald Claw attackers do so as well, and they take up ready positions, the two priests and the unusual undead warrior forming a rough arrowhead with Emrena behind them.
On the floor above, Gareth also wakes at the shouts. Thanking the Silver Flame and his own forethought, he speaks a word of command as he leaps out of bed, and his armor appears magically around him. The paladin hurriedly begins to cast a number of protective spells.
Two floors below Six in the basement level, Luna’s preternatural hearing also brings her awake. The giant bear growls, wondering for a moment if she should rush upstairs, and then decides to bring a little backup. She casts and three large earth elementals appear around her. Luna begins to growl some simple commands in the rumbling language of the creatures, explaining to them that two should travel upstairs, while she will transport one magically with her.
Others have heard the alarm too, and as Six reaches the top of the stairs, he hears the metallic pounding sound of warforged feet from the guards on the main floor. A second later, the door next to Six opens and Nameless appears. The mage’s gleaming blue eyes flicker past the warforged to the enemies lined up in the hallway and he shouts, “Six – get out of the way!” The warforged complies, simply leaping down the stairwell and making a perfect landing ten feet below. Seeing the two warforged at the bottom of the stairs, Six shouts, “Get the other guards too!”
Above him, Nameless grins and says, “Bad mistake, Emrena!” and casts one of his most powerful spells. Seven shimmering, intertwined, multicolored beams of light spray from his hand. One of the two Emerald Claw clerics screams in pain as an orange beam strikes him, spraying his flesh with acid, but he is the lucky one. A green beam strikes his compatriot in the chest. The man staggers, clawing at his chest and throat even as a similar pallor shoots up his face, and then collapses, dead on the spot. A similar green beam strikes the figure with the flaming sword, but his undead form has nothing that poison can affect. Two beams, both blue in color, shoot towards the lich. Emrena blinks out just as one passes through the spot where she was, and then in again an instant later as the second beam hits. For a moment a stony gray color shoots up over her form, but then she focuses and throws off the effect.
Emrena doesn’t even spare a look at her dead ally, all her attention focused squarely on Nameless. “This is for Arkhandus, you swine!” she says, as she casts one of her usual enervations. But just as she completes it, Korm flings open his door and rushes out, catching her in the shoulder. The unexpected blow swings the much smaller and lighter figure off balance, and her spell goes awry, the coruscating beam striking the unfortunate cleric instead*. He screams and falls back against the wall behind him. Emrena snarls in anger, stepping away from Korm, and snaps, “Sorry!” before pointing at Nameless. “Kill him!” She underlines the words with an incredibly quick set of scorching rays, two of which sear Nameless’ chest.
The undead with the flaming sword looks at Korm almost wistfully and then says, “Very well,” before turning and charging Nameless. As he flies forward, the green flames along the sword flare with increased virulence. As his aura reaches Nameless, he too feels the same surge of despair that Six had earlier, and he suddenly realizes what the creature is. Death knight! Nameless opens his mouth to yell a warning to the others, but it’s too late.
The skeletal skull looms over him and the sword flashes down in a perfectly aimed stroke**. It bites through the layers of magical protection and Nameless’ magically hardened flesh parts beneath the edge, muscle and bone and flesh simultaneously cleaved and scorched by the unholy blade. Ribs crack and shatter, and Nameless’ right lung collapses as shards of bone are driven into it. Blood fountains from the wound, spraying Nameless and the death knight, droplets spattering on Six’s metal face as he looks up from the stairs below.
The horrendous wound, probably the worst that the alienist has suffered in a career with many deadly injuries, would have dropped him anyway. But there is another factor at work. A death knight’s soul rests in its blade, just as a lich’s does in its phylactery, and it reaches hungrily for the life contained within any flesh it physically touches. Now, as the sword’s blade does its deadly work, something within it extends cold fingers of unlife, draining warmth and energy from Nameless. The combination is far beyond what the alienist can endure and he collapses, blood pooling around his still form.
Sh*t! If he’s dead...! Knowing that even if Nameless is alive he’s too far gone for a healing spell to bring him back to consciousness and functionality, Korm shouts, “Six – get him out of here!” Then he raises his voice and bellows as loud as he can, “Gareth! Luna! Get your asses here NOW!”
On the floor above, Gareth hears him, but after a moment’s thought, decides a little more protection is in order, and begins to cast more spells before heading out the door. Luna, conversely, hears Korm, shouts, “Sh*t!” and orders the two elementals to rush upstairs and activates her belt, dimension dooring with one elemental to the floor where the battle is occurring.
At least that’s her plan. Unfortunately, Emrena has a greater anticipate teleportation in effect, and Luna and her elemental are held in temporary stasis rather than appearing where the druid planned. Though the lich realizes what happened, she has more important matters in hand. Even before Korm finishes his shout, Six rushes up the stairs, whirls Nameless’ body up and leaps back down again. “Change of plan,” Six calls to the warforged guards, rushing after them. “Get the door open!”
Emrena hurls a fireball after them. Six agilely evades the blast, but the magical flames envelop Nameless. The warforged looks down, expecting to find himself carrying a charred corpse, but the alienist’s body has suffered no more harm. Emrena’s earlier attack had activated a contingency he had previously cast, and now Nameless’ body is protected from heat of all kinds.
As Six continues to rush down the stairs, Emrena snarls her frustration and flies after them. Right now, all the lich can think of is her dead lover and the fact that Nameless was the one who cast the spell that slew him. The existence of other enemies is immaterial to her in the quest to ensure that the alienist at least is dead. Of course, some of the enemies are not as happy to be ignored. As she flies forward, Korm reaches out and grabs her shoulder. “Not so fast,” he says, channeling the positive energy of a heal into her.
To his surprise, the lich doesn’t even flinch, only a flicker of dark energy appearing around her form to absorb his spell’s effect***. And then she blinks out of his grasp and is flying down the stairs, yelling, “Keep them busy!”
The death knight calmly says, “Very well,” and turns to Korm, raising his sword in a martial salute and adding, “This is an honor!” The cleric, clearly much less happy with the arrangement, shouts, “Emrena – don’t leave us!” Then, with no other option, he casts an enervation at Korm, which dissipates harmlessly against the death ward the Gatekeeper put up before emerging from his room.
Korm growls at the death knight and takes a step back, using the shamanistic power of the evil eye on the cleric, sending him cowering back in terror. Then he rushes in, meteoric blade meeting death knight’s soul-sword. The combatant’s exchange blows, quickly reaching equilibrium, Korm’s greater skill and strength well matched by his enemy’s resilience and apparent ability to heal his wounds over time.
The balance changes abruptly, as Gareth finally joins the battle. The first sign of his arrival is the headless body of the unfortunate cleric, which tumbles down the stairs he was fleeing up when he met the paladin going the other way. Gareth’s hurries down the rest of the way, to be greeted by a growl of “About time you showed up!” from Korm.
The death knight too spares him a quick glance and says, sounding appreciative, “The paladin. This is truly an honor!” He then walks over towards Gareth, almost ignoring Korm, until he has to bring his shield up to catch a brutal slash from the Gatekeeper’s sword. “Don’t turn your back on me!” says Korm, unleashing a series of hammer blows. The meteoric sword strikes the raised shield once, twice and a third time, each blow further bending the magical metal surface, till it finally cracks and breaks in half.
The death knight flings away the useless shield and hurriedly slashes at Korm, laying his side open, but this leaves him unable to guard himself from Gareth. The paladin glares, recognizing him for what he is, and says, “A death knight! Your ‘honor’ is a foul sham!” Then he steps up behind it, calling on the Silver Flame, and smites it again and again. The combination of the Endless Blade and Gareth’s divinely granted abilities allow him to ignore most of the creature’s unnatural resilience, and the silver fire that envelops his sword burn deep holes in its undead flesh. Each blow bites deeper, and like Korm did to its shield, the third crumples it in half, severing the death knight’s spine. He falls without a word, crumbling into a fine dust as he does so.
Gareth snaps, “Destroy the sword!” indicating the sword near Korm’s foot, which still burns with the green flames. “Sure,” says the Gatekeeper, and brings his blade down. There’s a terrific crack and an explosion of dark energy, which washes harmlessly over the two Angels, accompanied by a faint scream at the edge of their hearing, swiftly dwindling into nothingness. And then all that remains are the shattered metal fragments.
“So - where’s Nameless?”
Meanwhile, below them, Six rushes for the doors, Emrena flying in pursuit. As he reaches the doors, which his warforged guards have just opened, the craggy forms of two elementals rise through the floor. Impelled by the magic of Luna’s spell, they move to block the lich’s path, boulder-like fists swinging at her. Taking advantage of the interruption, Six leaps through the door, shouting, “Shut the doors!” Before he can clarify that they should follow him and then do so, the two guards comply from where they stand, shutting themselves in with Emrena and the elementals.
Damn! Six turns to the remaining pair of warforged guards, who are advancing on him from their guard post beside the skybridge that connects their mansion to the rest of the main tower it is on, and shouts, “Stay back!” Even as he speaks, there is a tremendous explosion and the double doors behind him explode outwards in a burst of wooden shards, twisted metal and a sheet of fire. Six looks back to see the lich flying through the huge hole. Behind it lie the two twisted forms of the warforged guards who had remained inside, scorched and battered beyond recognition, and the badly burned shapes of the two elementals. The summoned creatures strike at Emrena with little or no effect, but she gives them no attention, focusing purely on her quarry.
Realizing that heading for the other end of the skybridge will never work, Six simply leaps over the side instead. A startled Emrena rushes after him, but when she looks down, instead of seeing his shape dwindling into the depths of Sharn to crash and die, she finds him only sixty feet below. The skybridges of Upper Tavick’s are all built to activate a feather fall effect on anyone who falls over them, and Six uses it to land on a lower level. Though this too is an open skybridge, it leads into one of the huge open-air markets that fill the inside of an entire tower. And though there are no crowds at this time of night, the few people in the area screaming and running from the explosion and the strange figures of the shadow-draped warforged and the lich, Six knows that once inside he can hide easily.
Emrena flies after him, but as his feet hit the skybridge Six breaks into a run. Realizing that she may not be able to reach him before he gets under cover, she unleashes another spell. An arc of lightning loops back and forth between Six and Nameless’ still form. The warforged ignores the pain, but the alienist’s body leaps in his arms and then falls back.
Emrena laughs in triumph and opens her mouth to shout something, when a strange apparition appears near her. It is a large black stag, with hooves seemingly made of smoke, appearing as a spectral form and growing steadily more solid as it gallops through the air towards her. Korm and Gareth ride it, seemingly solidifying like the mount. The Gatekeeper has summoned a phantom stag and used its ability to turn ethereal to reach their target, and as he guides it past the startled lich, Gareth swings the Endless Blade (now appearing as a large two-handed club) into her side with shattering force.
The lich is hurled back at the impact. She looks back and forth for an instant between the stag and its riders, and Six as he disappears into the darkened tower interior, and then makes a decision. “I will deal with you later,” she says, with a half snarl and half laugh, “But I have my revenge!” With that, she casts a spell and disappears.
“Has her revenge?” asks Korm. “I hope that doesn’t mean what I think it does.”
Well hidden below them, Six can vouch for her words. Once there is no longer any pursuit, he lays Nameless on the ground and tries to pour a healing potion in his mouth. But it dribbles out uselessly, and when he checks for breath or pulse or heartbeat, there is nothing.
Nameless is dead****
…again.
* Result of a swashbuckling card that made an enemy strike an ally instead
** The other players did this to him. The death knight hit Nameless for substantial damage as well as two negative levels, so someone played a card to make me reroll the attack. I said, “If this now happens to crit, I’ll die laughing.” And promptly rolled a natural 20 on the reroll and a natural 19 to confirm.
*** Life Ward is a beautiful thing
**** In our game, even though you can use three swashbuckling cards to keep a PC alive at -9, if he takes further damage then he’s dead. And Emrena nailed Nameless with that last spell.
He sighs, looking older and grayer than his years and orcish heritage make him, and then gives Korm a dirty look. “Normally, I’d be really interested in a Gatekeeper evincing aspects of various aberrations, but it seems that’s a minor problem right now. Assuming you are correct.” He looks at Nameless, studying him with a combination of concern and fascination, which overlays a faint sympathy. “You are sure you actually went to Xoriat? You, if anyone, should know that is impossible.”
“I know,” says Nameless. “But I’m quite certain that I did.”
“And that you returned with that portal inside you?”
“Actually, that’s something we only really have Mordain’s word for, but he is by far the most powerful spellcaster we have ever encountered. I’m by far the most skilled arcanist in Sharn, and he’s significantly ahead of me.” For now. “He was quite certain about it. And extremely helpful. I trust him, and even if I don’t have a way of verifying what he said, one thing is certain – I have an extremely potent magical aura in my chest.” After a moment of thought, he adds, “If nothing else, we know that after I was quite clearly dead, I was brought back via a reincarnation which evidently didn’t work, since the materials utilized in it were not used up, and returned without any of the ill effects that normally attend being brought back by that spell.”
“Other than the ‘ill effect’ of coming back all screwed up!” snorts Luna. She looks at Gurr’khan and jerks a thumb at Korm. “I still say it’s because these idiots made a fake, aberration-loving druid bring him back.”
“Hey!” says Korm, half-indignantly and half-amused. “Says the person with two symbionts inside her! I’m just using their abilities against them, like you do.”
Gurr’khan cuts the two off hastily. “I never thought I would say this after what happened with you and the Key, but this is more serious a situation than I’ve ever encountered, and I’m not in a position to make any decisions or really suggest anything. You need to contact Saala and meet her as soon as possible. Perhaps she can suggest a way to deal with the situation.”
“That sounds reasonable,” says Nameless. “And we are relatively free right now. I’ll be able to do so tomorrow.”
* * *
Luna looks around irritably from where she lies sprawled on the floor of the Cathedral in the form of a large hound. “You know,” she says, or more precisely the tongue-tentacle does in its tinny voice, “We’ve been waiting here for hours now?”
“Actually,” says Gareth looking out of a window, “I think it’s been just under three-quarters of an hour.”
“Bah! That’s long enough. You think she’s just blowing us off?”
“I doubt it, but she may be making us wait a little longer on purpose. She wasn’t that happy with me last time. Of course, she could just really be busy.”
“Well, I’ve had enough.” Luna sits up, raises her muzzle and howls. It’s loud, long and very, very penetrating. Only a few moments later, an acolyte hurries into the room, trying to keep a long suffering look off his face. “Is there a problem?”
“No,” growls Luna, while Gareth tries to give the impression that he is somehow completely unconnected with the large animal sharing the chamber with him. “I’m just bored. Isn’t she done yet?”
“I shall check. If you would just wait until I return…?”
“Sure,” says Luna. The acolyte turns away and then his shoulders sag slightly as a querulous howl follows him out the door. He returns only minutes later to say that the Archierophant will meet them now.
The meeting, as expected, is frosty. Ythana Morr eyes the pair – and especially Gareth – coldly, and her voice is no warmer. “Greetings. What can I do for you?” The expression doesn’t improve as Luna says, “Hey! How’s it going?” and then sprawls on the floor, lifting a leg and scratching herself thoroughly.
“I wished to let you know that we had returned,” says Gareth, producing the Tome of Undead Transformation and sliding it across the desk. “And I brought you this relic for destruction, as I had promised.”
Ythana doesn’t make a move towards the book. “Thank you. Is there anything else?”
“No, that was the main reason. But since I am here and we do seem to be free right, I wanted to double check – are you certain you do not need Nameless?”
“Hey!” says Luna. “Don’t be volunteering him!”
“That’s all right,” says Ythana, the tone of voice indicating precisely the opposite, and turns slightly to make it clear that she’s addressing Luna. “As I told Gareth earlier, I have received instructions from Flamekeep that Nameless does not need to go there. So the matter is closed.”
“Yeah, Gareth said something about that.” Luna gives the paladin a big canine grin and adds, “He’s just upset because you’re pissed off with him.”
Before Gareth can speak, Ythana says, “I am not ‘pissed off’ with him. I simply do not think any further discussion of the subject is needed. But,” she says decisively, “I shall let you know if I need anything. And please, let me know if you think I can help you in any way.” The Archierophant rises, indicating that the meeting is over.
As her two visitors leave, Luna’s voice clearly floats back to Ythana, “You were right. She’s pissed!”
* * *
Late that night, Six sits alone in his chamber, working on a sculpture of the Angels with King Boranel. The king of Breland had been quite amused and agreed quickly when Six had asked permission to make sketches during their meeting. The warforged warrior glances at the door to his room, wondering idly if all his companions are sleeping. Though he understands it in theory, the phenomenon of sleep is wholly alien to him. And though he is mostly joking about his suspicions that sleeping, eating and excretion is the reason his companions are at least partially insane, it is still mostly. The group’s experiences with quori have him especially concerned about the issue.
On the bright side, he reminds himself, We haven’t had anyone trying psionic contact for the last week. The warforged emits on of his rare metallic chuckles as he recalls Nameless’ response to the last message, when the group was still in the forests of Q’barra. “I’m receiving a psionic message,” the alienist said, before casting a dispel magic on himself. Then he explained to his bemused companions, “The message was ‘Nameless, we attempted to contact…,’ or at least that’s what I got before I ended it. Hopefully that’ll give them a hint.”
The warforged returns to his sculpture. A few seconds later, he looks up in surprise as four figures appear inside the room. Two of them are human, wearing full plate decorated with symbols that Six now recognizes as those of the Emerald Claw. Between them is a figure he has never seen before. This individual wears very traditional Karrnathi heavy armor, topped by a skeletal head, with thick and greenish skin pulled tight over the bones of its throat and body below. He wields a shield and a longsword, lambent green flames running along the blade.
Though Six doesn’t recognize any of the three, the fourth intruder is one he easily remembers, from the deadly gleam in her deep-socketed eyes to her skeletal face to the stylishly feminine red robes she wears. Emrena the Red has returned, with backup. She looks exactly the same as before, except that she is blinking in and out of existence.
Sh*t! The figures haven’t appeared for longer than a second before Six is moving. He leaps for the door, grabbing up his chain as he goes, opening it and running into the corridor outside. As he passes near the creature with the flaming sword, Six feels a strange sense of despair wash over him, but it ends as soon as he puts a little distance between the two of them. Not wasting time wondering what it is, he shouts as loud as he can, “We’re under attack! It’s the lich!” His harness reacts instantly to the alarm too, wreathing him in shadow.
The four enemies rush after him, flying magically through the air, but three are slowed down by their heavy armor and Emrena stops to hammer the warforged with a series of magic missiles. Six doesn’t even pause to wince as the spell blasts into his back, continuing to shout and rushing full-pelt for the stairs at the end of the long hallway outside his room, passing first Korm’s and then Nameless’ door. From inside their rooms he can hear startled cries and swearing, followed by the sounds of hasty spellcasting. The Emerald Claw attackers do so as well, and they take up ready positions, the two priests and the unusual undead warrior forming a rough arrowhead with Emrena behind them.
On the floor above, Gareth also wakes at the shouts. Thanking the Silver Flame and his own forethought, he speaks a word of command as he leaps out of bed, and his armor appears magically around him. The paladin hurriedly begins to cast a number of protective spells.
Two floors below Six in the basement level, Luna’s preternatural hearing also brings her awake. The giant bear growls, wondering for a moment if she should rush upstairs, and then decides to bring a little backup. She casts and three large earth elementals appear around her. Luna begins to growl some simple commands in the rumbling language of the creatures, explaining to them that two should travel upstairs, while she will transport one magically with her.
Others have heard the alarm too, and as Six reaches the top of the stairs, he hears the metallic pounding sound of warforged feet from the guards on the main floor. A second later, the door next to Six opens and Nameless appears. The mage’s gleaming blue eyes flicker past the warforged to the enemies lined up in the hallway and he shouts, “Six – get out of the way!” The warforged complies, simply leaping down the stairwell and making a perfect landing ten feet below. Seeing the two warforged at the bottom of the stairs, Six shouts, “Get the other guards too!”
Above him, Nameless grins and says, “Bad mistake, Emrena!” and casts one of his most powerful spells. Seven shimmering, intertwined, multicolored beams of light spray from his hand. One of the two Emerald Claw clerics screams in pain as an orange beam strikes him, spraying his flesh with acid, but he is the lucky one. A green beam strikes his compatriot in the chest. The man staggers, clawing at his chest and throat even as a similar pallor shoots up his face, and then collapses, dead on the spot. A similar green beam strikes the figure with the flaming sword, but his undead form has nothing that poison can affect. Two beams, both blue in color, shoot towards the lich. Emrena blinks out just as one passes through the spot where she was, and then in again an instant later as the second beam hits. For a moment a stony gray color shoots up over her form, but then she focuses and throws off the effect.
Emrena doesn’t even spare a look at her dead ally, all her attention focused squarely on Nameless. “This is for Arkhandus, you swine!” she says, as she casts one of her usual enervations. But just as she completes it, Korm flings open his door and rushes out, catching her in the shoulder. The unexpected blow swings the much smaller and lighter figure off balance, and her spell goes awry, the coruscating beam striking the unfortunate cleric instead*. He screams and falls back against the wall behind him. Emrena snarls in anger, stepping away from Korm, and snaps, “Sorry!” before pointing at Nameless. “Kill him!” She underlines the words with an incredibly quick set of scorching rays, two of which sear Nameless’ chest.
The undead with the flaming sword looks at Korm almost wistfully and then says, “Very well,” before turning and charging Nameless. As he flies forward, the green flames along the sword flare with increased virulence. As his aura reaches Nameless, he too feels the same surge of despair that Six had earlier, and he suddenly realizes what the creature is. Death knight! Nameless opens his mouth to yell a warning to the others, but it’s too late.
The skeletal skull looms over him and the sword flashes down in a perfectly aimed stroke**. It bites through the layers of magical protection and Nameless’ magically hardened flesh parts beneath the edge, muscle and bone and flesh simultaneously cleaved and scorched by the unholy blade. Ribs crack and shatter, and Nameless’ right lung collapses as shards of bone are driven into it. Blood fountains from the wound, spraying Nameless and the death knight, droplets spattering on Six’s metal face as he looks up from the stairs below.
The horrendous wound, probably the worst that the alienist has suffered in a career with many deadly injuries, would have dropped him anyway. But there is another factor at work. A death knight’s soul rests in its blade, just as a lich’s does in its phylactery, and it reaches hungrily for the life contained within any flesh it physically touches. Now, as the sword’s blade does its deadly work, something within it extends cold fingers of unlife, draining warmth and energy from Nameless. The combination is far beyond what the alienist can endure and he collapses, blood pooling around his still form.
Sh*t! If he’s dead...! Knowing that even if Nameless is alive he’s too far gone for a healing spell to bring him back to consciousness and functionality, Korm shouts, “Six – get him out of here!” Then he raises his voice and bellows as loud as he can, “Gareth! Luna! Get your asses here NOW!”
On the floor above, Gareth hears him, but after a moment’s thought, decides a little more protection is in order, and begins to cast more spells before heading out the door. Luna, conversely, hears Korm, shouts, “Sh*t!” and orders the two elementals to rush upstairs and activates her belt, dimension dooring with one elemental to the floor where the battle is occurring.
At least that’s her plan. Unfortunately, Emrena has a greater anticipate teleportation in effect, and Luna and her elemental are held in temporary stasis rather than appearing where the druid planned. Though the lich realizes what happened, she has more important matters in hand. Even before Korm finishes his shout, Six rushes up the stairs, whirls Nameless’ body up and leaps back down again. “Change of plan,” Six calls to the warforged guards, rushing after them. “Get the door open!”
Emrena hurls a fireball after them. Six agilely evades the blast, but the magical flames envelop Nameless. The warforged looks down, expecting to find himself carrying a charred corpse, but the alienist’s body has suffered no more harm. Emrena’s earlier attack had activated a contingency he had previously cast, and now Nameless’ body is protected from heat of all kinds.
As Six continues to rush down the stairs, Emrena snarls her frustration and flies after them. Right now, all the lich can think of is her dead lover and the fact that Nameless was the one who cast the spell that slew him. The existence of other enemies is immaterial to her in the quest to ensure that the alienist at least is dead. Of course, some of the enemies are not as happy to be ignored. As she flies forward, Korm reaches out and grabs her shoulder. “Not so fast,” he says, channeling the positive energy of a heal into her.
To his surprise, the lich doesn’t even flinch, only a flicker of dark energy appearing around her form to absorb his spell’s effect***. And then she blinks out of his grasp and is flying down the stairs, yelling, “Keep them busy!”
The death knight calmly says, “Very well,” and turns to Korm, raising his sword in a martial salute and adding, “This is an honor!” The cleric, clearly much less happy with the arrangement, shouts, “Emrena – don’t leave us!” Then, with no other option, he casts an enervation at Korm, which dissipates harmlessly against the death ward the Gatekeeper put up before emerging from his room.
Korm growls at the death knight and takes a step back, using the shamanistic power of the evil eye on the cleric, sending him cowering back in terror. Then he rushes in, meteoric blade meeting death knight’s soul-sword. The combatant’s exchange blows, quickly reaching equilibrium, Korm’s greater skill and strength well matched by his enemy’s resilience and apparent ability to heal his wounds over time.
The balance changes abruptly, as Gareth finally joins the battle. The first sign of his arrival is the headless body of the unfortunate cleric, which tumbles down the stairs he was fleeing up when he met the paladin going the other way. Gareth’s hurries down the rest of the way, to be greeted by a growl of “About time you showed up!” from Korm.
The death knight too spares him a quick glance and says, sounding appreciative, “The paladin. This is truly an honor!” He then walks over towards Gareth, almost ignoring Korm, until he has to bring his shield up to catch a brutal slash from the Gatekeeper’s sword. “Don’t turn your back on me!” says Korm, unleashing a series of hammer blows. The meteoric sword strikes the raised shield once, twice and a third time, each blow further bending the magical metal surface, till it finally cracks and breaks in half.
The death knight flings away the useless shield and hurriedly slashes at Korm, laying his side open, but this leaves him unable to guard himself from Gareth. The paladin glares, recognizing him for what he is, and says, “A death knight! Your ‘honor’ is a foul sham!” Then he steps up behind it, calling on the Silver Flame, and smites it again and again. The combination of the Endless Blade and Gareth’s divinely granted abilities allow him to ignore most of the creature’s unnatural resilience, and the silver fire that envelops his sword burn deep holes in its undead flesh. Each blow bites deeper, and like Korm did to its shield, the third crumples it in half, severing the death knight’s spine. He falls without a word, crumbling into a fine dust as he does so.
Gareth snaps, “Destroy the sword!” indicating the sword near Korm’s foot, which still burns with the green flames. “Sure,” says the Gatekeeper, and brings his blade down. There’s a terrific crack and an explosion of dark energy, which washes harmlessly over the two Angels, accompanied by a faint scream at the edge of their hearing, swiftly dwindling into nothingness. And then all that remains are the shattered metal fragments.
“So - where’s Nameless?”
Meanwhile, below them, Six rushes for the doors, Emrena flying in pursuit. As he reaches the doors, which his warforged guards have just opened, the craggy forms of two elementals rise through the floor. Impelled by the magic of Luna’s spell, they move to block the lich’s path, boulder-like fists swinging at her. Taking advantage of the interruption, Six leaps through the door, shouting, “Shut the doors!” Before he can clarify that they should follow him and then do so, the two guards comply from where they stand, shutting themselves in with Emrena and the elementals.
Damn! Six turns to the remaining pair of warforged guards, who are advancing on him from their guard post beside the skybridge that connects their mansion to the rest of the main tower it is on, and shouts, “Stay back!” Even as he speaks, there is a tremendous explosion and the double doors behind him explode outwards in a burst of wooden shards, twisted metal and a sheet of fire. Six looks back to see the lich flying through the huge hole. Behind it lie the two twisted forms of the warforged guards who had remained inside, scorched and battered beyond recognition, and the badly burned shapes of the two elementals. The summoned creatures strike at Emrena with little or no effect, but she gives them no attention, focusing purely on her quarry.
Realizing that heading for the other end of the skybridge will never work, Six simply leaps over the side instead. A startled Emrena rushes after him, but when she looks down, instead of seeing his shape dwindling into the depths of Sharn to crash and die, she finds him only sixty feet below. The skybridges of Upper Tavick’s are all built to activate a feather fall effect on anyone who falls over them, and Six uses it to land on a lower level. Though this too is an open skybridge, it leads into one of the huge open-air markets that fill the inside of an entire tower. And though there are no crowds at this time of night, the few people in the area screaming and running from the explosion and the strange figures of the shadow-draped warforged and the lich, Six knows that once inside he can hide easily.
Emrena flies after him, but as his feet hit the skybridge Six breaks into a run. Realizing that she may not be able to reach him before he gets under cover, she unleashes another spell. An arc of lightning loops back and forth between Six and Nameless’ still form. The warforged ignores the pain, but the alienist’s body leaps in his arms and then falls back.
Emrena laughs in triumph and opens her mouth to shout something, when a strange apparition appears near her. It is a large black stag, with hooves seemingly made of smoke, appearing as a spectral form and growing steadily more solid as it gallops through the air towards her. Korm and Gareth ride it, seemingly solidifying like the mount. The Gatekeeper has summoned a phantom stag and used its ability to turn ethereal to reach their target, and as he guides it past the startled lich, Gareth swings the Endless Blade (now appearing as a large two-handed club) into her side with shattering force.
The lich is hurled back at the impact. She looks back and forth for an instant between the stag and its riders, and Six as he disappears into the darkened tower interior, and then makes a decision. “I will deal with you later,” she says, with a half snarl and half laugh, “But I have my revenge!” With that, she casts a spell and disappears.
“Has her revenge?” asks Korm. “I hope that doesn’t mean what I think it does.”
Well hidden below them, Six can vouch for her words. Once there is no longer any pursuit, he lays Nameless on the ground and tries to pour a healing potion in his mouth. But it dribbles out uselessly, and when he checks for breath or pulse or heartbeat, there is nothing.
Nameless is dead****
…again.
* Result of a swashbuckling card that made an enemy strike an ally instead
** The other players did this to him. The death knight hit Nameless for substantial damage as well as two negative levels, so someone played a card to make me reroll the attack. I said, “If this now happens to crit, I’ll die laughing.” And promptly rolled a natural 20 on the reroll and a natural 19 to confirm.
*** Life Ward is a beautiful thing
**** In our game, even though you can use three swashbuckling cards to keep a PC alive at -9, if he takes further damage then he’s dead. And Emrena nailed Nameless with that last spell.
carborundum
Adventurer
shilsen said:
Oh sh**!
carborundum
Adventurer
Oh my God, they killed Eberron!
There goes the neighbourhood!
<insert cliché of choice>
There goes the neighbourhood!
<insert cliché of choice>
Vorput said:
Actually, while it didn't come across in the write-up, Nameless was really yo-yo-ing between down and up there. Due largely to the swashbuckling cards. The attack from the Death Knight actually came before the Lich's attacks on Nameless (Shil changed that in the writeup for dramatic reasons) and would have dropped him. Mostly due to the 4 negative levels it hit him with. We used a card to keep him from going past -9 and another to let him stay conscious. Then we used a card to make the enervation she cast hit her ally, so that didn't drop Nameless. The Scorching Ray was going to drop him, but I remembered that he has a Ring of Greater Counterspells. That give you a free counterspell attempt once a day, but I rolled a one on that. So Nameless went down, but then I remembered the Contingency [Prot Energy : Fire], but then Shil told me that he doesn't let Contingency trigger to protect you from an attack like that (Which I think kinda is the whole point of the spell that it does, but the card that we used to switch the Enervation target technically wouldn't have applied so I didn't argue the point further) and thus Nameless went down for a final time.
Vorput said:
I don't think Horatio reads the story hour, but he used to bump Sepulchrave's SH regularly.
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shilsen
Adventurer
We've handled some stuff via the forums we use for the game, so a lot of the following is from there:
* * * * * * * * * *
Nameless opens his eyes, to find himself lying at the bottom of a strange cylindrical chamber, six feet in diameter and ten feet deep, lit by a continual flame torch. One look at the featureless black surface that makes up the ceiling, the strange combination of an impassable barrier and not really present on the same plane, identifies the location. I’m inside the portable hole! I wonder what happened. Last thing I remember was the death knight...oh!
The alienist rises and looks down at the remnants of the wound in his chest and shoulder, slowly healing as Mordain’s modifications do their work. Then he sits down on the small stool in the corner, next to a small pile of books, a pack of cards, and a magical bottle which contains an infinite amount of air. I guess they put me in here to keep me safe. I hope they get me out soon.
As he sits down, Nameless’ brow furrows. Something feels different. Then he realizes what it was and hurriedly looks down…
* * *
“You’re sure he’s dead? Like dead dead?”
“Yes, Luna – I’m sure,” says Six. “I checked. And I don’t always get how your bodies work, but I’m fairly sure.”
“This is really not good,” says Gareth. “Damn it! I knew we shouldn’t have had Nameless wandering around.”
“I also knew we shouldn’t have been taunting liches,” says Six flatly. “Anyway, the question is – now what do we do?”
“Depends on what happens, doesn’t it?” says Korm. “I don’t see any portals opening up anywhere.”
“It couldn’t have opened up inside the portable hole, could it?” asks Gareth.
“I don’t know, but we need to get him out. This time I’m bringing him back!” says Luna, giving Korm a dirty look.
Six says, “All right.” He places the portable hole on the floor, opens it and looks in. To see a worried looking Nameless looking back up at him. There is a pause and then Six says, “You’re alive?”
“Usually. Why?”
As Nameless rises into the air and out of the hole, Six says, “You were dead. At least I’m quite sure you were dead. Really dead.”
“Damn!” says Nameless, “That explains it. When I woke up, I was quite sure I had just died. But I never saw Xoriat, nor did I have any ill effects from having returned to life. Other than that the aura in my chest is gone. What happened? Was it the death knight’s attack that killed me?”
Six quickly explains what happened. When he has done so, Nameless says, “We need to check the location where she ‘killed’ me. If the seed is planted presumably that would be the location.” He heads downstairs, along with the others, and out onto the skybridge. Six indicates the spot below where Emrena hit him with the final spell, but Nameless’ arcane sight shows nothing.
“Okay, I have to think about this,” says the alienist, heading back in. As they enter, Fett finally makes a cautious appearance from his room. He shrugs apologetically as he sees the Angels and says, “I heard all the shouting and fighting, and figured it was better if I didn’t get in the way. What happened?”
“We got attacked by the lich,” says Korm.
“The lich you put the ad in the paper making fun of?”
“I see a certain advantage to being human,” says Six. “I can’t roll my eyes.”
“Quiet, you!” says Luna. “It was funny!”
Gareth sighs and says, “Anyway, we have some issues that came up, Fett. We’ll catch you up on them later, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure.” Fett watches curiously as the group heads upstairs, looks at the shattered doors, and then heads over to talk to the warforged guards.
Upstairs, once they are inside one of the rooms, Gareth begins to pace the floor thoughtfully. “First things first – Nameless, Luna – can either of you contact the group of people who were trying to ‘help’ us? If so, we need to find out if they did this switch or if the portal actually opened. If they switched, then we handle it one way. And if the portal was opened, then what I’m about to say applies.”
Gareth looks around at the others, his face serious. “We need to tell certain people what has happened, but we don’t want to cause mass public hysteria. Most of the population will not be able to help, but will only get themselves hurt – and worse, probably lead to rioting, looting, and pillaging. I don’t think aberrations will start pouring in instantaneously – but I don’t think we have much time either, so we need to act fast.”
Despite the circumstances, the others exchange amused glances as the paladin keeps talking. “We need to use our contacts, starting with those in Sharn and working outwards to save time. I will go to both churches and also inform the Archierophant that I need to get an audience with Flamekeep; she is upset with me, but she will have to put that aside. The Church is the most organized group available to combat these forces. I will contact Cedric too, because we need a powerful ally with us. I will inform Lalia, who can speak with the Deneith enclave; they can help keep the population in check and safe from weaker aberrations. We also need to contact the Citadel. They specialize in information and we should ask them to get us information about the lich. She will attack again, I’m sure, and we need to take her out before she can attack us at an inopportune time. I’m not sure how many more times we can get lucky, and while we were not lucky tonight, at least we are all alive now.”
“Korm, Luna – you should notify your druidic circles. Nameless – you should notify Trillia and your mage circles, plus whatever other contacts you have. Then we need to send out messages to our contacts in other realms – Karrnath, Aundair, the Lhazaar principalties, etc. The highest ranking officials we know. If someone is not high enough, we bypass them to save time.”
“Nameless can you find a way to contact the dragons? We have no relations with them, but we did help one of their kind before. We have drunk of their blood, so maybe they can sense that in us. We will need their help if Xoriat is upon us. You also had a plan for us to get groups of weaker adventurers to work for us. We need to step this up. I am going to the newspaper, and without saying why I am making a call to all clerics and paladins. I will be putting them through extensive screenings, but we need to muster more support. These support units can help protect cities and towns, but can also go on missions that we do not have time to go on, especially if we are on other larger and more dangerous missions that only we can handle. And then…”
He falls silent as Luna collapses on the floor, laughing hysterically. “Paranoid much?! And you want us to get help from dragons because we’ve drunk the blood of one?” Anything else she might have said dissolves into laughter.
Nameless smiles, a trifle grimly, and says, “Luna is right. I don’t recommend we do anything rash or cause alarms to start ringing, or at least avoid running across Khorvaire going, ‘Xoriat is coming! Xoriat is coming!’ And not only because the vast number of people out there have never even heard of it. I am going to get some answers. There is a certain cost to what I am about to do, which is why I have not done it up until this point. But certainty of answers is what we need now.”
Gareth scowls at Luna and then turns to Nameless. “What do you have…”
There’s a knock on the door. Gareth’s scowl deepens and he walks over to open it. “Sorry,” says Fett, at the door, “But it’s a bunch of Deneith guards here to check on the trouble. You guys need to come out and explain. I tried to, but they want to speak to you. Plus, I don’t really know exactly what just went on.” He grins. “Hint, hint.”
Gareth sighs. “I think I should handle this. My ties to the Deneith enclave provide me some extra assistance when dealing with these people. Stay here.” He looks particularly at Luna and then heads downstairs.
The guards, standing on the skybridge leading to the house, consist of a dozen men wearing the insignia of the Deneith Blademark, led by a captain. Not too far away behind them are a few people, whom events outside the Gray House have attracted even at this time of night. A couple of the closest tower mansions have lights on and people watching from windows and balconies too. Gareth walks outside to meet them. “I am Gareth Byron Deneith, holy paladin of the Silver Flame. How can I be of assistance?”
The captain salutes and says, “I believe there was some kind of disturbance here, sir,” looking meaningfully at the shattered remnants of the main door to the house. “Can you tell me exactly what happened? And do you need any assistance?”
“Please come inside, captain. Out here in public is not the best place to speak.” As Gareth and the captain walk into the foyer of the Gray House, Nameless is waiting, standing to the side of the door so that he cannot be seen from outside, hat drawn low over his face. As the captain’s men enter the building, he quickly turns away and precedes Gareth and the captain into the living room. Fett, who is also waiting, follows them.
Gareth shuts the door and walks over to the bar to pour a drink. “Would you like a drink? We do not need any assistance at this point, and I believe the problem has been quelled for now. We were attacked by members of the Emerald Claw. We killed all but one of them, who managed to flee.” Pausing for a moment to let the captain absorb the news, he adds, “My sincere apologies to anyone who was disturbed.”
The captain nods at Nameless and then waves away the drink, saying, “Thank you, but I’m on duty. The Emerald Claw? That’s unfortunate. I’ve heard about the history of this house and its connection with them. Could you please give me some details about the attack, who you killed and especially the person who fled?” He looks a little apologetic. “I’ll need to write a report when I return, so any details you give me make my life easier.”
Gareth explains, “We were attacked by Emrena the Red, a lich whose boyfriend we had killed during our earlier adventures. She was followed by two clerics and a death knight. They teleported into our home while we were sleeping. Emrena was able to flee; the rest died. In a nutshell, that is what happened. Do you have any questions?”
The captain looks a little surprised. He asks a couple of simple questions and then says, “That’s all. Thank you.”
“Not a problem. Would you do me a favor and please find Lalia d’Deneith for me? I need to speak with her, and it is urgent.”
The captain smiles. “Too late. A messenger’s already been dispatched to her. The Sentinel Marshal has standing orders at the enclave to be informed instantly if you have any trouble.”
Nameless finally speaks up. “I have an additional request. Please announce that I was in fact killed by the lich. That was her aim and, hopefully, that should keep her from trying again until we are ready to deal with her. It may prove useful in other respects to have people believing that I am dead.”
The captain looks a little uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, sir,” he says, “But I can’t make a decision on that matter. I have to report the facts to the enclave, but I can take your request to my superiors. But that shouldn’t be a problem for you, since it’s not as if House Deneith will be announcing anything about the attack. You have connections in the Korranberg Chronicle, right? Maybe they could do that for you?”
“All right,” says Nameless. “That is acceptable.”
The captain excuses himself and leaves with his squad. Once they have gone, Fett says, “Suddenly I feel even better about not having left my room.” As he is speaking, the two warforged guards come up to the trio. One says, “We need to be excused from work tomorrow. We must take our slain colleagues to Smith, in the Cogs.”
“That is not a problem,” says Gareth, “Thank you for your services tonight.”
When Nameless and he head upstairs and tell the others what happened, Six says, “I shall go with them tomorrow. I need to find some things out too.”
“Just wait until I have tried to gain some information in the morning,” says Nameless.
With that decided, Six heads downstairs to speak to the other warforged, while his companions go back to bed.
***
About an hour after the attack occurred, Gareth is woken by a knocking on his door. He stumbles out of bed, reflexively bringing forth the Endless Blade, but then realizes who it might be. Opening the door, he finds Lalia, accompanied by one of the warforged guards, fully armed and armored, and slightly out of breath, as if she’s been hurrying. “All right,” she says without preamble, as he opens the door. “I heard that you got attacked by that lich you idiots were taunting. Is everyone all right? Oh ... and let me in.”
Gareth quickly motions her Lalia inside, closes the door, and gives her a hug. “It's good to see you. Everyone is fine, sort of....” He goes to put on a shirt, adding, “Have a seat, please. We ran into a problem.”
Lalia steps in and hugs him back. She drops into a seat and says, “Yeah, yeah – I’m sure it’s really good to see me after hanging out with Karrn princesses and all.”
Gareth returns with a quizzical look on his face. “You’re the fourth person who mentioned the princess and me. I don't understand? I was guarding her and people are acting odd about it.”
Lalia shakes her head and says, her tone a mixture of affection and exasperation, “Do you ever look at yourself in a mirror? Whether you’re doing anything about it or not, the whole setup of ‘hunky paladin guards young, nubile princess’ has a lot of potential.”
Oh! Is she jealous? Gareth walks over to her and putting both of his hands on her arms. “I didn’t reali…, I mean, nothing happen… I was just guarding her. I swear to you.” He looks into Lalia’s eyes, a worried look in his own.
Lalia takes Gareth's hand and gives it a squeeze. “Relax, Gareth. I trust you. Hells, you have a hard enough time making a move on me!” Gareth blushes, wishing he was wearing his helmet. Though the color on his face makes her grin, Lalia doesn’t take advantage of his discomfiture. Instead, she asks, “So what’s the problem? The lich that got away? And what did you mean ‘fine, sort of’?” She winces. “You’re not going to tell me something screwy happened with Nameless again, are you?”
“Yeah, well – about Nameless. He died....” Pausing for a second, he adds, “We think. We’re not too sure.”
This time, all humor disappears from Lalia’s tone and manner. “You’re ... not sure ... if he died? What the hell does that mean? And what about that whole thing with the portal to Xoriat that you mentioned? Wasn’t him dying supposed to trigger it or something?”
Gareth shrugs. “We don’t know what happened. Emrena the Red killed him, or at least that’s what we thought. Six placed him in the portable hole, and when we went to get him out the aura of the portal was gone. Nameless also said he was sure he died. Now Nameless is going to prepare some spells to see if the portal or portals were released. Those spells are dangerous, and of themselves might kill him.”
Lalia looks first worried and then confused. “So he died and then got better? But that portal ... thingie is gone?” She stops and puts her head in her hands for a moment, before raising it again. “Sometimes – actually, often – I wonder how you guys get into all the trouble you do. Maybe I should have got House Deneith to lock you all up in a small room a long time ago!”
Gareth sighs. “We are not sure if he died, or at least not yet. But I don’t think it would have been a good idea to lock up Nameless. That would have set the portal off in a two week period.” He pauses and a thin smile appears on his face as he realizes Lalia was joking, “And Luna probably faster.”
Despite the severity of the situation, Lalia's smile widens. “Point taken.” Gareth continues, more seriously, “We can’t let everyone know what is going on. Only certain people – you are one of them, and the head of the Deneith enclave. If the general populace knew what may happen, it would cause mass hysteria. The Deneith enclave can help with weaker aberrations if any appear in the city, or other spots – but you need to know what may come out.”
Lalia rubs her nose in thought. “Yeah, I can tell Lord Sadran about it, but I’m not guaranteeing that he’ll buy it. He’ll believe me if I say that you believe it, but that doesn’t mean he'll think you’re right. If you can give me more proof, now or later, that’ll help.”
“If Lord Sadran would like to speak with us I can make that happen, but I do not have any proof. The only evidence earlier was available to people who were able to see the magical aura on Nameless before, and that it is gone now.” Lalia nods thoughtfully, and then asks, “True. Of course, seeing the aura would just prove that there was ... well, an aura. Not that it was actually a portal or something. Right?”
Gareth nods his head in agreement, “Yes, you are quite right. To most it would just be a very powerful aura, but that is all. Any other proof would be a maddening horror appearing and causing havoc. He just needs to be prepared. I will jot down a list of basic things that are common to most types of aberrations – both strengths and weaknesses.”
Lalia nods while he fetches a sheet of parchment. “That should help. The enclave here doesn’t get to run into aberrations on a regular basis, naturally. Maybe a special job by the Blademark cleaning out an infestation in the Cogs, but it’s very rare that we’re called in for such a task. Tasra and I are probably the two who’ve seen the most in the pursuit of our duties, and even we’ve only seen or fought a couple.”
After jotting down some information, Gareth hands over the parchment, “Here. There is not much to it. Be very careful of a creature called a chaos beast. Avoid coming into physical contact with any of these monsters, but especially that one.” His speech slows and then he says, “There’s one more thing that’s even more important. I need to find a way to keep you safe.”
The corners of Lalia’s eyes crinkle as a smile spreads across her face. “You’re sweet. Even if you won’t put out.” She chuckles, and though the laughter fades, there’s a softness in her eyes. “Don’t worry. I can look after myself, and House Deneith has more resources than you might think. And somehow it seems the danger you get yourself into is a lot worse than anything I ever have to deal with. Hells, the last time I almost got killed was when messing with Daask in the Cogs with you, remember?” She cocks her head. “You're going to end up neck deep in this situation, aren’t you? What are you – and the others – planning?”
Gareth blushes again and then his face turns to solid stone, with no trace of mirth or joy in his voice. “The Cogs and Daask is an 8 year old thug compared to what we will encounter. You have never seen, and I pray to the Silver Flame you never will, the horrors that I have seen. Listen to me, my love – these creatures are utter chaos. They cannot be reasoned with or bargained with; they feel no pity, no remorse, no fear – and they will absolutely not stop until all has been destroyed.” He sighs. “I need to keep you safe, but I do not know how to do this when I must travel to unknown parts that are extremely dangerous.” He runs his hands worriedly though his hair. “Leave this place. Come stay at my parents’ home in Karrnath. It is less populated and you will be safe there.”
Lalia listens with complete seriousness and then slowly smiles, albeit also with little humor. “You really have a strange way of trying to get me to meet the folks, you know?” She quickly lifts a hand, to indicate she’s joking, and continues, “But that’s not an option. I can’t just pick up and leave Sharn. This is my home, where I was born and raised, where my family and friends are. And I have responsibilities here. I’ve sworn oaths to serve House Deneith, to protect the people of Sharn, and beyond that to track down and bring criminals to justice wherever in Khorvaire they may go. You have your oaths to the Flame too. Would you turn your back on them just because a situation was dangerous and go off where it was safer? I think not. Neither can – or will – I.”
When Lalia mentions oaths and promises, Gareth smiles grimly. “I love you dearly, Lalia, and part of the reason is the level of commitment that you have, one that most paladins would be jealous of; but I think if there is anything that would ever cause me to break my oaths it would be you. Do not get hurt! Make me that oath, because I don’t know what I would do if you did.”
Lalia looks silently at Gareth for a few moments. Then she says, “I’ll try not to.” Then she takes a deep breath and shrugs. “On the bright side, you’re not really sure when, or even if, this is certain to happen, right? Maybe it won’t be anything like what you fear. But even if it is, I’ve got to stay here. But I really, really appreciate the thought.”
Gareth nods. “Maybe. We will know more in the morning. I’ll send you the information as soon as I can.”
“All right.” Lalia rises, her tone more casual and cheerful now, “But now I should leave, since I might be tempted to thank you for that sentiment, and,” she grins, “That’ll just lead to yelling and screaming. And you look like you could use some rest.” She steps over to Gareth, gives him a strong hug and a long, passionate kiss. Eventually disengaging, she looks down and grins so broadly that the top of her head threatens to come off. “Oh, look – you can teach an old dog new tricks! I knew there was an advantage to you not wearing pants.” Then she laughs, turns and heads out the door.
Gareth looks down too, turning beetroot red and instantly regretting not having put on something over his underpants. With a sigh, he goes back to bed.
* * * * * * * * * *
Nameless opens his eyes, to find himself lying at the bottom of a strange cylindrical chamber, six feet in diameter and ten feet deep, lit by a continual flame torch. One look at the featureless black surface that makes up the ceiling, the strange combination of an impassable barrier and not really present on the same plane, identifies the location. I’m inside the portable hole! I wonder what happened. Last thing I remember was the death knight...oh!
The alienist rises and looks down at the remnants of the wound in his chest and shoulder, slowly healing as Mordain’s modifications do their work. Then he sits down on the small stool in the corner, next to a small pile of books, a pack of cards, and a magical bottle which contains an infinite amount of air. I guess they put me in here to keep me safe. I hope they get me out soon.
As he sits down, Nameless’ brow furrows. Something feels different. Then he realizes what it was and hurriedly looks down…
* * *
“You’re sure he’s dead? Like dead dead?”
“Yes, Luna – I’m sure,” says Six. “I checked. And I don’t always get how your bodies work, but I’m fairly sure.”
“This is really not good,” says Gareth. “Damn it! I knew we shouldn’t have had Nameless wandering around.”
“I also knew we shouldn’t have been taunting liches,” says Six flatly. “Anyway, the question is – now what do we do?”
“Depends on what happens, doesn’t it?” says Korm. “I don’t see any portals opening up anywhere.”
“It couldn’t have opened up inside the portable hole, could it?” asks Gareth.
“I don’t know, but we need to get him out. This time I’m bringing him back!” says Luna, giving Korm a dirty look.
Six says, “All right.” He places the portable hole on the floor, opens it and looks in. To see a worried looking Nameless looking back up at him. There is a pause and then Six says, “You’re alive?”
“Usually. Why?”
As Nameless rises into the air and out of the hole, Six says, “You were dead. At least I’m quite sure you were dead. Really dead.”
“Damn!” says Nameless, “That explains it. When I woke up, I was quite sure I had just died. But I never saw Xoriat, nor did I have any ill effects from having returned to life. Other than that the aura in my chest is gone. What happened? Was it the death knight’s attack that killed me?”
Six quickly explains what happened. When he has done so, Nameless says, “We need to check the location where she ‘killed’ me. If the seed is planted presumably that would be the location.” He heads downstairs, along with the others, and out onto the skybridge. Six indicates the spot below where Emrena hit him with the final spell, but Nameless’ arcane sight shows nothing.
“Okay, I have to think about this,” says the alienist, heading back in. As they enter, Fett finally makes a cautious appearance from his room. He shrugs apologetically as he sees the Angels and says, “I heard all the shouting and fighting, and figured it was better if I didn’t get in the way. What happened?”
“We got attacked by the lich,” says Korm.
“The lich you put the ad in the paper making fun of?”
“I see a certain advantage to being human,” says Six. “I can’t roll my eyes.”
“Quiet, you!” says Luna. “It was funny!”
Gareth sighs and says, “Anyway, we have some issues that came up, Fett. We’ll catch you up on them later, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure.” Fett watches curiously as the group heads upstairs, looks at the shattered doors, and then heads over to talk to the warforged guards.
Upstairs, once they are inside one of the rooms, Gareth begins to pace the floor thoughtfully. “First things first – Nameless, Luna – can either of you contact the group of people who were trying to ‘help’ us? If so, we need to find out if they did this switch or if the portal actually opened. If they switched, then we handle it one way. And if the portal was opened, then what I’m about to say applies.”
Gareth looks around at the others, his face serious. “We need to tell certain people what has happened, but we don’t want to cause mass public hysteria. Most of the population will not be able to help, but will only get themselves hurt – and worse, probably lead to rioting, looting, and pillaging. I don’t think aberrations will start pouring in instantaneously – but I don’t think we have much time either, so we need to act fast.”
Despite the circumstances, the others exchange amused glances as the paladin keeps talking. “We need to use our contacts, starting with those in Sharn and working outwards to save time. I will go to both churches and also inform the Archierophant that I need to get an audience with Flamekeep; she is upset with me, but she will have to put that aside. The Church is the most organized group available to combat these forces. I will contact Cedric too, because we need a powerful ally with us. I will inform Lalia, who can speak with the Deneith enclave; they can help keep the population in check and safe from weaker aberrations. We also need to contact the Citadel. They specialize in information and we should ask them to get us information about the lich. She will attack again, I’m sure, and we need to take her out before she can attack us at an inopportune time. I’m not sure how many more times we can get lucky, and while we were not lucky tonight, at least we are all alive now.”
“Korm, Luna – you should notify your druidic circles. Nameless – you should notify Trillia and your mage circles, plus whatever other contacts you have. Then we need to send out messages to our contacts in other realms – Karrnath, Aundair, the Lhazaar principalties, etc. The highest ranking officials we know. If someone is not high enough, we bypass them to save time.”
“Nameless can you find a way to contact the dragons? We have no relations with them, but we did help one of their kind before. We have drunk of their blood, so maybe they can sense that in us. We will need their help if Xoriat is upon us. You also had a plan for us to get groups of weaker adventurers to work for us. We need to step this up. I am going to the newspaper, and without saying why I am making a call to all clerics and paladins. I will be putting them through extensive screenings, but we need to muster more support. These support units can help protect cities and towns, but can also go on missions that we do not have time to go on, especially if we are on other larger and more dangerous missions that only we can handle. And then…”
He falls silent as Luna collapses on the floor, laughing hysterically. “Paranoid much?! And you want us to get help from dragons because we’ve drunk the blood of one?” Anything else she might have said dissolves into laughter.
Nameless smiles, a trifle grimly, and says, “Luna is right. I don’t recommend we do anything rash or cause alarms to start ringing, or at least avoid running across Khorvaire going, ‘Xoriat is coming! Xoriat is coming!’ And not only because the vast number of people out there have never even heard of it. I am going to get some answers. There is a certain cost to what I am about to do, which is why I have not done it up until this point. But certainty of answers is what we need now.”
Gareth scowls at Luna and then turns to Nameless. “What do you have…”
There’s a knock on the door. Gareth’s scowl deepens and he walks over to open it. “Sorry,” says Fett, at the door, “But it’s a bunch of Deneith guards here to check on the trouble. You guys need to come out and explain. I tried to, but they want to speak to you. Plus, I don’t really know exactly what just went on.” He grins. “Hint, hint.”
Gareth sighs. “I think I should handle this. My ties to the Deneith enclave provide me some extra assistance when dealing with these people. Stay here.” He looks particularly at Luna and then heads downstairs.
The guards, standing on the skybridge leading to the house, consist of a dozen men wearing the insignia of the Deneith Blademark, led by a captain. Not too far away behind them are a few people, whom events outside the Gray House have attracted even at this time of night. A couple of the closest tower mansions have lights on and people watching from windows and balconies too. Gareth walks outside to meet them. “I am Gareth Byron Deneith, holy paladin of the Silver Flame. How can I be of assistance?”
The captain salutes and says, “I believe there was some kind of disturbance here, sir,” looking meaningfully at the shattered remnants of the main door to the house. “Can you tell me exactly what happened? And do you need any assistance?”
“Please come inside, captain. Out here in public is not the best place to speak.” As Gareth and the captain walk into the foyer of the Gray House, Nameless is waiting, standing to the side of the door so that he cannot be seen from outside, hat drawn low over his face. As the captain’s men enter the building, he quickly turns away and precedes Gareth and the captain into the living room. Fett, who is also waiting, follows them.
Gareth shuts the door and walks over to the bar to pour a drink. “Would you like a drink? We do not need any assistance at this point, and I believe the problem has been quelled for now. We were attacked by members of the Emerald Claw. We killed all but one of them, who managed to flee.” Pausing for a moment to let the captain absorb the news, he adds, “My sincere apologies to anyone who was disturbed.”
The captain nods at Nameless and then waves away the drink, saying, “Thank you, but I’m on duty. The Emerald Claw? That’s unfortunate. I’ve heard about the history of this house and its connection with them. Could you please give me some details about the attack, who you killed and especially the person who fled?” He looks a little apologetic. “I’ll need to write a report when I return, so any details you give me make my life easier.”
Gareth explains, “We were attacked by Emrena the Red, a lich whose boyfriend we had killed during our earlier adventures. She was followed by two clerics and a death knight. They teleported into our home while we were sleeping. Emrena was able to flee; the rest died. In a nutshell, that is what happened. Do you have any questions?”
The captain looks a little surprised. He asks a couple of simple questions and then says, “That’s all. Thank you.”
“Not a problem. Would you do me a favor and please find Lalia d’Deneith for me? I need to speak with her, and it is urgent.”
The captain smiles. “Too late. A messenger’s already been dispatched to her. The Sentinel Marshal has standing orders at the enclave to be informed instantly if you have any trouble.”
Nameless finally speaks up. “I have an additional request. Please announce that I was in fact killed by the lich. That was her aim and, hopefully, that should keep her from trying again until we are ready to deal with her. It may prove useful in other respects to have people believing that I am dead.”
The captain looks a little uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, sir,” he says, “But I can’t make a decision on that matter. I have to report the facts to the enclave, but I can take your request to my superiors. But that shouldn’t be a problem for you, since it’s not as if House Deneith will be announcing anything about the attack. You have connections in the Korranberg Chronicle, right? Maybe they could do that for you?”
“All right,” says Nameless. “That is acceptable.”
The captain excuses himself and leaves with his squad. Once they have gone, Fett says, “Suddenly I feel even better about not having left my room.” As he is speaking, the two warforged guards come up to the trio. One says, “We need to be excused from work tomorrow. We must take our slain colleagues to Smith, in the Cogs.”
“That is not a problem,” says Gareth, “Thank you for your services tonight.”
When Nameless and he head upstairs and tell the others what happened, Six says, “I shall go with them tomorrow. I need to find some things out too.”
“Just wait until I have tried to gain some information in the morning,” says Nameless.
With that decided, Six heads downstairs to speak to the other warforged, while his companions go back to bed.
***
About an hour after the attack occurred, Gareth is woken by a knocking on his door. He stumbles out of bed, reflexively bringing forth the Endless Blade, but then realizes who it might be. Opening the door, he finds Lalia, accompanied by one of the warforged guards, fully armed and armored, and slightly out of breath, as if she’s been hurrying. “All right,” she says without preamble, as he opens the door. “I heard that you got attacked by that lich you idiots were taunting. Is everyone all right? Oh ... and let me in.”
Gareth quickly motions her Lalia inside, closes the door, and gives her a hug. “It's good to see you. Everyone is fine, sort of....” He goes to put on a shirt, adding, “Have a seat, please. We ran into a problem.”
Lalia steps in and hugs him back. She drops into a seat and says, “Yeah, yeah – I’m sure it’s really good to see me after hanging out with Karrn princesses and all.”
Gareth returns with a quizzical look on his face. “You’re the fourth person who mentioned the princess and me. I don't understand? I was guarding her and people are acting odd about it.”
Lalia shakes her head and says, her tone a mixture of affection and exasperation, “Do you ever look at yourself in a mirror? Whether you’re doing anything about it or not, the whole setup of ‘hunky paladin guards young, nubile princess’ has a lot of potential.”
Oh! Is she jealous? Gareth walks over to her and putting both of his hands on her arms. “I didn’t reali…, I mean, nothing happen… I was just guarding her. I swear to you.” He looks into Lalia’s eyes, a worried look in his own.
Lalia takes Gareth's hand and gives it a squeeze. “Relax, Gareth. I trust you. Hells, you have a hard enough time making a move on me!” Gareth blushes, wishing he was wearing his helmet. Though the color on his face makes her grin, Lalia doesn’t take advantage of his discomfiture. Instead, she asks, “So what’s the problem? The lich that got away? And what did you mean ‘fine, sort of’?” She winces. “You’re not going to tell me something screwy happened with Nameless again, are you?”
“Yeah, well – about Nameless. He died....” Pausing for a second, he adds, “We think. We’re not too sure.”
This time, all humor disappears from Lalia’s tone and manner. “You’re ... not sure ... if he died? What the hell does that mean? And what about that whole thing with the portal to Xoriat that you mentioned? Wasn’t him dying supposed to trigger it or something?”
Gareth shrugs. “We don’t know what happened. Emrena the Red killed him, or at least that’s what we thought. Six placed him in the portable hole, and when we went to get him out the aura of the portal was gone. Nameless also said he was sure he died. Now Nameless is going to prepare some spells to see if the portal or portals were released. Those spells are dangerous, and of themselves might kill him.”
Lalia looks first worried and then confused. “So he died and then got better? But that portal ... thingie is gone?” She stops and puts her head in her hands for a moment, before raising it again. “Sometimes – actually, often – I wonder how you guys get into all the trouble you do. Maybe I should have got House Deneith to lock you all up in a small room a long time ago!”
Gareth sighs. “We are not sure if he died, or at least not yet. But I don’t think it would have been a good idea to lock up Nameless. That would have set the portal off in a two week period.” He pauses and a thin smile appears on his face as he realizes Lalia was joking, “And Luna probably faster.”
Despite the severity of the situation, Lalia's smile widens. “Point taken.” Gareth continues, more seriously, “We can’t let everyone know what is going on. Only certain people – you are one of them, and the head of the Deneith enclave. If the general populace knew what may happen, it would cause mass hysteria. The Deneith enclave can help with weaker aberrations if any appear in the city, or other spots – but you need to know what may come out.”
Lalia rubs her nose in thought. “Yeah, I can tell Lord Sadran about it, but I’m not guaranteeing that he’ll buy it. He’ll believe me if I say that you believe it, but that doesn’t mean he'll think you’re right. If you can give me more proof, now or later, that’ll help.”
“If Lord Sadran would like to speak with us I can make that happen, but I do not have any proof. The only evidence earlier was available to people who were able to see the magical aura on Nameless before, and that it is gone now.” Lalia nods thoughtfully, and then asks, “True. Of course, seeing the aura would just prove that there was ... well, an aura. Not that it was actually a portal or something. Right?”
Gareth nods his head in agreement, “Yes, you are quite right. To most it would just be a very powerful aura, but that is all. Any other proof would be a maddening horror appearing and causing havoc. He just needs to be prepared. I will jot down a list of basic things that are common to most types of aberrations – both strengths and weaknesses.”
Lalia nods while he fetches a sheet of parchment. “That should help. The enclave here doesn’t get to run into aberrations on a regular basis, naturally. Maybe a special job by the Blademark cleaning out an infestation in the Cogs, but it’s very rare that we’re called in for such a task. Tasra and I are probably the two who’ve seen the most in the pursuit of our duties, and even we’ve only seen or fought a couple.”
After jotting down some information, Gareth hands over the parchment, “Here. There is not much to it. Be very careful of a creature called a chaos beast. Avoid coming into physical contact with any of these monsters, but especially that one.” His speech slows and then he says, “There’s one more thing that’s even more important. I need to find a way to keep you safe.”
The corners of Lalia’s eyes crinkle as a smile spreads across her face. “You’re sweet. Even if you won’t put out.” She chuckles, and though the laughter fades, there’s a softness in her eyes. “Don’t worry. I can look after myself, and House Deneith has more resources than you might think. And somehow it seems the danger you get yourself into is a lot worse than anything I ever have to deal with. Hells, the last time I almost got killed was when messing with Daask in the Cogs with you, remember?” She cocks her head. “You're going to end up neck deep in this situation, aren’t you? What are you – and the others – planning?”
Gareth blushes again and then his face turns to solid stone, with no trace of mirth or joy in his voice. “The Cogs and Daask is an 8 year old thug compared to what we will encounter. You have never seen, and I pray to the Silver Flame you never will, the horrors that I have seen. Listen to me, my love – these creatures are utter chaos. They cannot be reasoned with or bargained with; they feel no pity, no remorse, no fear – and they will absolutely not stop until all has been destroyed.” He sighs. “I need to keep you safe, but I do not know how to do this when I must travel to unknown parts that are extremely dangerous.” He runs his hands worriedly though his hair. “Leave this place. Come stay at my parents’ home in Karrnath. It is less populated and you will be safe there.”
Lalia listens with complete seriousness and then slowly smiles, albeit also with little humor. “You really have a strange way of trying to get me to meet the folks, you know?” She quickly lifts a hand, to indicate she’s joking, and continues, “But that’s not an option. I can’t just pick up and leave Sharn. This is my home, where I was born and raised, where my family and friends are. And I have responsibilities here. I’ve sworn oaths to serve House Deneith, to protect the people of Sharn, and beyond that to track down and bring criminals to justice wherever in Khorvaire they may go. You have your oaths to the Flame too. Would you turn your back on them just because a situation was dangerous and go off where it was safer? I think not. Neither can – or will – I.”
When Lalia mentions oaths and promises, Gareth smiles grimly. “I love you dearly, Lalia, and part of the reason is the level of commitment that you have, one that most paladins would be jealous of; but I think if there is anything that would ever cause me to break my oaths it would be you. Do not get hurt! Make me that oath, because I don’t know what I would do if you did.”
Lalia looks silently at Gareth for a few moments. Then she says, “I’ll try not to.” Then she takes a deep breath and shrugs. “On the bright side, you’re not really sure when, or even if, this is certain to happen, right? Maybe it won’t be anything like what you fear. But even if it is, I’ve got to stay here. But I really, really appreciate the thought.”
Gareth nods. “Maybe. We will know more in the morning. I’ll send you the information as soon as I can.”
“All right.” Lalia rises, her tone more casual and cheerful now, “But now I should leave, since I might be tempted to thank you for that sentiment, and,” she grins, “That’ll just lead to yelling and screaming. And you look like you could use some rest.” She steps over to Gareth, gives him a strong hug and a long, passionate kiss. Eventually disengaging, she looks down and grins so broadly that the top of her head threatens to come off. “Oh, look – you can teach an old dog new tricks! I knew there was an advantage to you not wearing pants.” Then she laughs, turns and heads out the door.
Gareth looks down too, turning beetroot red and instantly regretting not having put on something over his underpants. With a sigh, he goes back to bed.
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