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

[Cafu]

“Wait!” I called out to them but all I could see was the darkness in the trees.

John turned around and asked:

“What did you want to speak to them about?”

“Well, she obviously knows Rhuarc; it would have been good to find out just what he is, if possible. His father was a paladin and his mother was a diabolist, whatever that is; probably something to do with demons or devils by the sounds of it though; he also has an extremely powerful weapon that is subject to legends of its own. Is he a magician, a warrior or both? What do his companions do? Are they really drow? Where did they come from? There are so many questions.

Also, she is aware that the Torch had been stolen so she may have been able to tell us just how they managed to do that. Let’s not forget; this group somehow infiltrated Castle Korstull, managed to get past skilled security teams and killed the most powerful emperor of the known world; the half orc who defeated a golden dragon single handed. That’s quite a feat. Put it like this John, I don’t think our group of six would come close to doing what they did and there were only three of them.”

Victor added quietly:

“As you mentioned previously though Faden, if they were trilliths then they could just walk through the walls.”

John said just as quietly:

“I really, really hope that those are not three trilliths we’re going after.”

Longhelim began to load up Grenadier with his old gear.

“Well, one way or another we’re not doing anything at the moment. Points well made all around but ultimately, we have to go in there and face the drow and Rhuarc or whatever they are.”

With that, he dismissed his horse and we shouldered our packs.

The paladin turned to the rest of us:

“I suggest we follow the river and find this cave with a beach of black sand; after that, we’ll land there and decided what to do.”

We all turned into mist and flew along the river. Now that we had a destination, it was a much easier task. Looking down upon the banks of this water way, I shuddered to think what it would have been like if we had had to follow the trail on foot; unpleasant would be a succinct way of putting it. Fortunately, due to Felix’s spell, it was actually quite easy and some time later, we found our destination: as described, a large, wide cave mouth with a beach of black sand in front of it.

One important thing I did notice is that we were now outside the Haunted Forest of Ycengled so certain magic was available.

We landed and as soon as we were our solid selves again, we looked inside; it was pitch black.

“Well, there it is; as described,” said Longhelim. “Should we go inside now or wait until morning?”

Felix replied: “If we think that there are undead spirits inside, and Fayne hinted as much, then I don’t have the right set of spells at the moment.”

“Considering what we may be facing, I wouldn’t mind being able to change my spells either; but,
let’s not forget; the situation beyond the forest is fluid and there is a Ragesian army and a whole group of powerful Shahalesti magicians who are probably searching furiously for us at the moment,” I added.

We set up camp and thankfully, the night again passed uneventfully.

The next morning, we prepared our spells. As the sun rose behind us, it lit up the entrance to reveal a long passage into the darkness and we were able to see that we cast long shadows down it. That gave us an idea of just what to expect. As usual, we spent some time lingering over Felix’s special breakfast and after that we cast various other spells which boosted, aided or defended. Finally, we were prepared.

We built a bonfire behind us and waited until it lit the passage, using our shadows to guide us as instructed. We followed them into the cave. It was a dark passage but quite pleasant in its underground way; dry, wide and spacious. It was certainly more pleasant than the sewers of Dassen or the steam tunnels of Seaquen. As mentioned, the passage into the cave began by being very wide but then narrowed although it still allowed us to move two abreast.

The guiding shadows from the entrance seemed to last for an inordinately long time but they finally blended into the darkness and we had to put a light spell on a pebble. This was quite powerful magic that equated the light of day and it was being carried by John’s invisible friend behind us; so, again, we were casting shadows in front of us. As we went deeper, the noise made by the river strengthened; the tunnels became large and uniform with level floors and fairly tall ceilings. They would have been quite frightening if it hadn’t been for the magical light; now, instead, they became easier to survey as the light rolled back the darkness and Drudge was ever alert with his bow in case something objected to our presence.

We came to our first intersection and the shadows danced around the entrances to three separate tunnels; one going straight ahead and two veering east and west; one of these, the one going west, had something a little darker etched on its wall, a strange symbol which was just visible.

Cautiously, we approached and, keeping the light behind us, examined the mouths of the tunnels. As we saw, the one to the west revealed a small symbol on the wall. Strangely, as soon as the shadows moved off the wall, the symbol would disappear, making all the tunnel mouths identical. We had a brief discussion, debating the semantics of Fayne’s instructions, but finally deciding the follow the tunnel with the signs.

Again it was dry and dark although as soon as we entered, we felt a strange sensation as if we had walked through a physical barrier and our ears popped. I had a feeling that we may have somehow entered another plane, although my theory was based on a tome written by a source now discredited; labeled insane in fact. I spent a little time wondering if readers of my journals, should I be fortunate enough to have any, would judge me insane after the accounts of the events in the Monastery of the Two Winds and the Eternally Burning Forest of Innenotdar. It must be said that if I was in their shoes, I would certainly…..

I bumped gently into Victor who had stopped in front of me; peeking around him, I saw Drudge staring intently ahead; as I looked at the direction which had drawn his attention, I could vaguely distinguish two figures; they looked as if they were just standing there. We approached more slowly and carefully and as we came closer, Longhelim whispered:

“Ware! These beings are evil!”

The beings in question were a pair of stunningly beautiful dark elves. Even by the standards of their race, they were of outstanding pulchritude, with willowy figures, beautiful, dark skin and the famous white blonde hair; we dwarves do not generally find elves very attractive, so I was able to resist their charms with slightly more ease but even so my thoughts were suddenly running in a direction that was most unusual and a little disturbing.

“Aaaaah, heroes! Help us!” one of them cooed, in a voice that promised………everything.

I had thought that Longhelim’s voice could be persuasive when he wanted but in comparison to her….well he obviously still had a lot to learn. That tone and timbre added a whole new dimension to the physical attraction she projected.

The other joined in:

“Yes, please help us. We’ve been in these caves for a long time; we’re trying to get back to our city. We’re sure it’s this way! We would be ever, ever, ever, ever soooooo grateful!”

It really didn’t take a genius to work out just how grateful they would be, especially judging by her sinuous movements. For the time being both Longhelim and Victor were not responding; instead Longhelim asked:

“How exactly did you get here?”

The same drow responded:

“Ooooh, that naughty Rhuarc! He’s given the Torch to the Shahalesti, you know; and he’s just left us here. He’s so, so, naughty, isn’t he sister?”

Then it suddenly struck me! Rhuarc had two drow accomplices when he conducted the raid upon Castle Korstull. Could this be them?

I turned around to Longhelim to ask what he thought when Drudge’s voice behind us, behind us, said:

“I think we should help them.”

I turned to him and then realised that a third luscious lady had appeared and she was already draped around the ranger, whispering in his ear. He had a strange expression on his face and a rather distracted grin, as if her voice was the only one he could hear and it was telling him everything he wanted to hear.

Rhuarc had had two accomplices not three, according to our witness, although they could have been wrong of course; but there was something very wrong here; drow were known for a lot things but lasciviousness was not one of them. However, there was one creature that was particularly well known for this type of behavior and they were also capable of changing their appearance!

Obviously, I wasn’t the only one with suspicions as John moved to Drudge and gave him a little pat. As soon as he did that, Drudge shouted out:

“They’re trying to take over my mind! Get them!”

That was enough for the others. Longhelim’s sword flamed up, casting yet another shadow, this time in front of us and it sliced into one of the drow, who looked at the paladin with feminine appeal, before lashing out like lightning with her own fists and slamming him into a wall. They certainly seemed to be very strong for innocent drow maidens.

The one next to Drudge was not so lucky, as the ranger stepped back and put three arrows into her torso; it was obvious that the arrows were not penetrating as deeply as they should have done but she was still hurt.

As soon as that happened, she disappeared from sight to everyone but me; I could see that she had stepped into the ethereal plane and did not bother to maintain her drow form any longer. Now, she was still a stunning female but this time with large bat wings; I quickly turned around that saw that her two sisters had also had enough and emulated her actions. Victor had some sort of liquid dripping from his falchion so he must have struck one of them; I suspect that they didn’t like that. Victor has that effect on people; as a point of interest, I noticed that although they still looked very similar in bodily shape, one was a red head, the other raven haired while the final one was white blond; with large batwings, of course; oh, and even the small horns they sported were sweet and quite charming.

“I can see them! They’re in the ethereal plane! And they’re Succubi!”

Drudge looked shocked:

“What? They were demons?”

I looked at him and grinned:

“Yes, Drudge, these are real proper demons; and you nearly got kissed by one. You really wouldn’t like being kissed by one of those.”

Longhelim interrupted at this point:

“Right, Faden, what’re they doing?”

“Basically, making abusive signs and gestures as well as offering themselves quite blatantly to me but not getting any closer.”

“Well, since you can see them, keep an eye on them and let’s carry on.”

As I fulfilled Longhelim’s instructions, well let us just say that I suddenly realised that yet again there were large gaps in another part of my education.

We carried on walking down the corridor; the succubi watched us malevolently but made no move to follow. I lost them in the darkness fairly quickly but I still kept glancing behind me quite nervously. After a little time, I relaxed as we carried on. The pattern repeated itself as we kept the light behind us and used the shadowed marks to guide us.

Then, in the distance, we saw an opening; carefully, Drudge went ahead to take a look but as soon as he did, he turned to us and beckoned. When we arrived at the opening, we saw a familiar black beach and a forest which we recognized. We were back where we had started!

“It was for that one moment when I held the fiery sword and the shadows reversed; that’s what threw us!” grumbled Longhelim.

I kicked at a bit of sand in disgust and said:

“We should have realised that something was not right when the succubi didn’t follow us. They knew we were going out.”

Well, Fayne had warned us that we had to keep the light behind us all the time. If that changed at any time, then the magic was broken.

 

[Cafu]

Still grumbling and irritated, Longhelim and Victor returned back into the tunnels and we started again. The path was familiar as we passed the same junctions and moved down the same tunnels; except that Drudge swore that the markings were on different tunnels this time.

I wasn’t sure just what the Taranesti had done but the magic that they must have used to hide their city was puzzling and extraordinary; usually, there were several very powerful spells which would find the way to a location, no matter how well hidden but these were known spells and the Shahalesti must have tried them over the years; yet, here, we could see why Phorros Irrendra had stayed hidden for so many years. The directions had changed as soon as we tried them again; it was fascinating and as I was walking, I tried to theorise as to how it could be done. Just as I was tying together the threads of an idea, John suddenly said:

“Stop!”

Then he took out a wand and pointed it at Drudge.

“There! Now here’s hoping that you’ll like me more than pretty drow ladies you meet at the bottom of caves in the middle of a haunted forest!”

With that, John grinned at the ranger and bounced on.

Drudge sidled up to me and asked:

“What was that all about?”

“He cast a spell on you which makes you his very good friend; and I mean a really, really good friend.”

“But I’m already very good friends with him.”

“Yes, but he’s speculating that if you’re magically very good friends with him, that will counter any other spells of that type that could be cast on you; such as the one the succubi almost certainly cast on you previously. It’s a clever thought; he’s most likely correct. Trust me, my friend; no matter how wonderful she may have seemed, you would not want to have been kissed by her.”

“Uh, thanks for that…..I think.”

We carried on walking through the caverns; as previously, they were wide, dry and quite pleasant. They seemed to be remarkably free of any obstacles or places where we had to do any potential climbing. As previously, we were walking when a voice spoke out of darkness:

“Finally, men not afraid to wield the power of the Burning Sky!”

The voice was gravelly, deep and inhuman; it had a strange, menacingly hypnotic quality to it.

We moved forward more cautiously when we saw that the path was broken by a small gap, where the river flowed into the cavern wall; beyond the gap, we could see a creature waiting for us; and what a creature! I recognized it immediately but only from descriptions and drawings from books; I had hoped never to meet one face to face myself.

It was an enormous humanoid, as tall as a legendary giant and with matching muscles denoting great strength; it had four arms, two ending in pincers and the other pair were clawed; its head was that of a vicious dog in proportional size, as were its teeth; and at the moment, it was beckoning us with one of its pincers.

“Come! Come closer so I can see you!”

It was a glabrezu, an evil outsider from the pits of the Abyss. Supposedly, they were powerful spell casters as well as highly resistant to weapons unless they had been anointed by prayers from the forces of good; and finally, with four arms and powerful jaws, they were formidable combatants; just about the last being I wanted to meet down here.

I began to shout this out to the others, much to the amusement of the glabrezu who began to laugh as he rumbled:

“Very good, little dwarf, very good. You know my kind well! Have we met before?”

However, his laughter stopped as Drudge let loose a barrage of arrows at it, which must have caused some damage, despite the glabrezu’s unholy protections; in retaliation, the creature fixed a baleful stare on his aggressor and literally barked at him which affected the ranger disastrously as his eyes suddenly turned upwards, the balls showing pure white in their sockets and rendered motionless, his bow now on the floor next to him; the bark was a word of power; however, this gave the rest of us time to react; I cast a spell on Victor which allowed him to fly; and Longhelim cast a spell on the warrior’s sword, blessing it with the power of Heironeous; the former immediately flew at the glabrezu who watched him approach with glittering eyes and then lazily swiped with a claw; it hit but Victor ploughed on and struck the creature in return.

As I have stated in the past, when Victor strikes someone, it is often quite spectacular and the demon’s eyes widened as the warrior’s falchion bit deeply into his torso. The glabrezu had not been expecting to feel that and even he quickly realised that there was a real opponent facing him.

It was at this point that the three succubi stepped out of the ethereal plane where they had been hiding and decided to attack us. They immediately engaged the rest of us in physical combat with only some success. Mostly, we recognized the relative dangers of the opponents and decided to ignore them.

Felix quickly cast a flying spell on Longhelim who also flew at the glabrezu while the rest of us faced the three ladies. Thankfully, they may have had very powerful feminine wiles but they were not very good physical combatants; John did a spell of speed on the warriors, while I threw force missiles into the glabrezu; his unholy protections tried to stop them but I managed to force them through. The demon himself then cast another spell; I recognized it; it was the same spell that we had encountered in the strange elevator shaft in Castle Korstull; the one which made the victim act uncontrollably; thankfully, that experience seemed to add some sort of resistance to the group as no one seemed affected.

At this point, I heard a bellow from the demon; Victor had just struck him three times in quick succession with such power and precision that even the gigantic outsider was shaken. He immediately reacted by casting a spell which created eight other shimmering images which whirled around him. It was a simple but annoying little spell and Longhelim immediately set about destroying as many of them as possible. He did get rid of several and then another barrage of arrows reduced the images even further; Drudge had recovered from the demon’s bark! Then Victor tried a new tactic as he seemed to slow slightly and then just at the right moment, he timed it the he actually struck the demon, causing yet another scream of outrage.

Then Felix cast his own Word of Power, this one calling on his God; the glabrezu was unaffected but it had a devastating effect on the three succubi who all disappeared with a despairing wail.

“Pah! Lightweights! Useless women!” barked the glabrezu and struck at Victor with his claws, pincers and jaws. The warrior was hurt but he returned the strike and again, Longhelim’s spell was making a great difference as the falchion bit deep; with a last amused rumble the glabrezu spoke:

“I go home now from this place but seek the one you want in the fane of fallen hallows!”

Victor was still in the same position when he struck the demon but then he recovered; slashed, wounded and bleeding, he looked into the darkness and quietly said to himself:

“There seems to be an over abundance of demons on this place. I wonder if that’s why so many good outsiders have allied themselves to the Shahalesti.”

Felix then went to him and began to look after his wounds.

I was scratching my head; looking at Longhelim, I asked:

“What’s a fane of fallen hallows?”

Shaking his head, the paladin replied:

“I have no idea. I don’t know what a fane is, nor a fallen hallow; but I am assuming it is a place, considering what the demon said.”

Frowning, I wondered; considering the nature of demons, it could actually be anything; I hoped it was obvious when we saw it; demons lied; they lied a lot.

Once everyone had been healed and patched up, we carried on down the corridor. I was getting a little tired of the travel down here but it could have been worse. The spell of light behind us was most helpful in alleviating the potential danger of the cave system, which was why I was so perturbed when our spell suddenly stopped working, leaving us in total darkness. My eyesight immediately adjusted and a moment later a flurry of dust, debris and wind was caused by a multitude of ghosts and phantoms who screamed as they flew towards us with fury and rage; I knew that we were magically protected from the wind and the screams but it was still disquieting.

John cast a spell and another beacon of light lit up to reveal a creature of legends; a huge reptile, black as night, with eight legs and an enormous jaw with protruding teeth jutting out of it. Its lambent eyes glowed green as it stared at Victor!

I recognized it immediately:

“It’s a basilisk! Their gaze can petrify; and that’s the biggest one of all; from the Abyss! Don’t bother hitting it with cold or fire; they are very resistant to the elements!”

The ghosts were still swirling around and moaning, making it impossible for Drudge to fire any of his arrows at it so I cast my spell of speed on everyone, allowing Longhelim and Victor to reach it quickly and engage. Even Drudge, drew his sword and moved to flank it, since he was unable to fire his arrows; both of the warriors managed to strike it but it was a tough opponent and it quickly bit Longhelim; it had a particularly nasty bite as it caused a dreadful rent and gash in the paladin’s armour and torso. I moved around and I cast my own spell; a black ray shot out of my hand and weakened it.

Unfortunately, that caused its attention to turn to me and……..

When I came to, I was in front of a grotto of green. It was a mass of trees! The tunnel had gone! Wildly I looked around me to see that everyone was watching me with an air of expectancy and Felix had just finished reading a scroll.

“What…what happened?” I croaked.

John……of course it would be John, answered immediately:

“Well, you made a lovely statue; all black and shiny.”

Longhelim gave the rogue a look and then explained:

“We managed to send that hellish monster back to whatever pit it came from but unfortunately, not before it turned you into a stone statue; as soon as the beast was killed the ghosts fled; Felix tried to bring you back but failed; that thing, basilisk I think you called it, was indeed a truly demonic opponent; we carried you along for a time and arrived here.”

At this point, he motioned with his hands at the scene in front of me. There were cliffs around us, carved with sigils and symbols of ages past. There was also a set of stairs carved into the cliffs, zig-zagging along the stone. There were also two tiers, possibly walkways, carved into the cliffs. The whole thing was an extraordinary achievement. Just the fact that there was some sort of grotto full of trees in front of us……Looking upwards, I could also see that there were also several small tunnels leading into the cliff.

Longhelim continued:

“Felix then remembered that he had a scroll that could possibly help you; that is what he has just used.”

Still looking at the trees and greenery in front of me, I said:

“Thank you, Felix. Converting me back from a stone statue is most mighty magic indeed; and I am most grateful you have access to it. By the way, succubi, a glabrezu, an abyssal basilisk; presumably we’ve all noticed a pattern here?”

John nodded:

“Yes, someone here certainly has or had an expertise in demonology.”

The priest also nodded and then we decided to ascend the stairs to see where they led. We had to be careful as the stairs hugged the wall; I kept getting distracted by the strange plants and shapes on the cliffs until the stairs finally finished on a platform overlooking the valley.

This cliff revealed a stunning panorama of a valley full of magnificent trees and dwellings. However, there was no sign of people. The whole area looked utterly deserted. Oh, there were signs of the city being inhabited previously, but not now.

Light was coming from above from some mysterious source and the cliffs behind us rose up to much greater heights. As we took in the sight, we began to make out one or two further details: a copse of much taller trees there; some sort of structure in that direction; a glint of a waterfall in the far distance; finally, we decided to turn into mist and overfly the whole area to give ourselves a better view.

Thankfully, we were able to glide over the sky without any hindrance and we did make out several features in the valley; there was an open area with a series of stone sculptures; a strange tree with stone spikes jutting out of its trunk; by far the largest structure was a large tower on top of a tree, near another group of trees with leaves the colour of emeralds; towards the far end of the valley, there was indeed a waterfall falling down the cliff into a tunnel leading underground; there was also another structure near the roots of an enormous tree and finally, another structure or house on built safely within the embrace of another large tree; this also looked like a substantial house.

Once we had returned to the cliff side, we became flesh again and I asked:

“So, what is the best course of action now? I must confess, I have few spells left after our journey through the caves. I hope we would be able to rest now.”

Felix added:

“I’m in the same situation; very few spells left and the situation below is unknown. I would also advocate rest.”

“I’ve got my little hut,” said John. “We can use that in combination with any other spells to make our camp as secure as possible.”

“Combine it with my magical stone wall,” said Felix.

I watched with interest as a low shelter was set against the cliff face and then John conjured his cottage around it. It really was quite effective.

After this had been constructed, we settled down for the day, resting and recuperating. Drudge was keeping a watch on the city below but there was no movement. I joined him for some time and also watched; then I let out a short laugh. The ranger looked at me inquisitively:

“There’s no one below, is there? Leska has sent a whole army looking for this place, Shalaadel has committed numerous atrocities trying to force anyone to reveal its location and for what?
This isn’t the last refuge of the Taranesti; I think they’re actually far sneakier than that. They have another refuge somewhere but they leaked the secret of this one so that the Shahalesti and the Ragesians spend so many resources looking for it, they don’t even realise there is another. I wonder where the real one is?”

Longhelim had come up behind us, staring at the panorama below:

“That’s an interesting theory, Faden; do you have any proof with which you can back it up?”

“Well, apart from the fact that this so-called last refuge of the Taranesti is completely empty, no. That in itself is a strong indicator though; we’ve been told time and again that everyone is obsessed with the location of Phorros Irrendra right from the start; the Shahalesti were willing to release an important prisoner to try to discover its position; the Ragesians have sent a large army, although that serves a dual purpose in that it also menaces that Shahalesti capital.

So, from looking below, either there is another refuge or Fayne, Liat and Rhuarc are what remains of the Taranesti race…….”

Longhelim grimaced:

“All of a sudden, I prefer your refuge theory, Faden.”

Drudge stayed at his lookout point while the paladin and I moved back to the camp and settled down.

 

[Cafu]

Drudge stayed at his lookout point while the paladin and I moved back to the camp.

We settled down for the night, wrapped in our night clothes and night armour.

It felt as if I had only just gone to sleep when suddenly there was a shout and I blearily opened my eyes; there was activity all around me; violent activity; I was never a quick riser although I had improved since I began doing dangerous things like leaving Gate Pass but suddenly I heard Felix shout his usual imprecations to drive away undead which quickened my reactions quite noticeably.

“What happened?” I shouted at Felix, who was still holding his holy symbol.

John replied:

“I was keeping watch when I saw a translucent hand brush through Victor; I shouted to alert everyone as it looked as if we were being attacked by undead but Felix seems to have driven it away and there’s no sign of any others.”

I grunted:

“That’s annoying; this interruption is going to affect my spell tutorial; I’ll have to rest longer now.”

Grumbling, I went back to sleep again. This time, I slept longer, but still not long enough, as I was woken again, this time very unpleasantly as I saw an undead apparition in front of me; I recognized it immediately; it was the same type which we first met in the graveyard outside of Bresk in the kingdom of Dassen, and then more unpleasantly, in the sewers underneath the castle in that same city; it was a shrouded figure and from past experiences, looking under the shroud revealed a kaleidoscope of features or souls, all screaming in eternal torment.

And this one touched me, causing the usual unpleasant effect which drove one of my most powerful spells from my memory. Spell casting rapidly, I put a lightning bolt through its torso which definitely affected it and it shrieked in rage and pain with a multitude of voices. Judging by the shouting and moaning from the other room, there were others and they were also engaged. I saw that Longhelim was in the same room as I but getting ready to join the melee by attacking the one which had drifted into this room. Seeing it in such straights, he sprang forward and managed to hit it several times so effectively that it dissipated.

“Get thee hence to the hell where you belong!”

Another imprecation from Felix to drive them away by the power of this god. Then I glanced at the doorway and saw that at least three of them had lined up, faced by Victor, Felix and Longhelim, who had moved into the other room. Drudge would no doubt be firing arrows from some convenient location; moments later, Victor swiped his falchion three times through the torso of one only for it to be totally unaffected. Thankfully, Longhelim strode forward and managed to strike the same one; seeing this, John managed to move away only for them to begin brushing their shrouded arms against the warriors. We already knew what the effects of their touches were and it was imperative for them to be either driven away or dissipated as quickly as possible. None of us would be able to stand against them for too long.

Then, suddenly I saw one of them stagger as this time Victor struck it three times; it shuddered and dissipated. Longhelim also struck his although it still managed to retaliate and hit him. Victor then joined in and concentrated on the last two remaining apparitions and these were quickly dispatched.

We looked around cautiously for any other opponents and then I asked:

“What happened? Where did they come from?”

Drudge answered:

“I was watching while we waited for you to finish sleeping; I heard someone chopping wood and then I saw a figure chopping at a tree; judging by the description, it was this Rhuarc: a figure in a cowled cloak with a huge scimitar. I actually saw his face; he looks human, with a moustache that goes around his chin to form a short beard. He saw me as soon as I saw him and we engaged in an archery duel. He was losing so he made those undead things appear with his scimitar; after that, he disappeared in front of my eyes; he didn’t use magic either; it’s an ability which uses the owner’s perception to deceive him; it is very difficult to learn and takes a great deal of time and discipline. This Rhuarc must be very powerful.”

It was also quite clear that instead of us looking for him, he had found us instead; and had made his hostile intentions quite clear right from the beginning.

John interrupted at this point:

“Faden, we’re not going to get enough time for you to rest and regain your spells; he’s going to hound us continuously; I suggest you cram.”

I was very reluctant to do this; especially with so many of the creatures around which damaged physical faculties. I debated this for some time but ultimately, bowed to the inevitable and had to cram, with the usual unpleasant aftershock of physical weakness and mental sluggishness.

Felix also crammed and then we sat down to his magical breakfast. After we finished, we put various other spells on ourselves and decided to turn into mist and fly down to the central tree which contained a variety of cunning dwellings inbuilt in its trunk.

After we landed at its root, I was struck by its enormity; I guessed it must have been huge to make such an impression on us from the distant cliff but once we were next to it, its size was truly awesome. One could easily drive two horse carts through its trunk.

We saw various rope bridges winding up its enormous trunk, as connecting the various dwellings and leading to neighbouring gigantic trees, forming an arboreal network. These rope bridges looked old and distinctly unsafe; I was certainly no climber and looking at the heavy armour of the warriors, I was sure neither were they; and the dwellings seemed to be very high up.

These seemed to be literally tree houses; they were circular in shape to accommodate the shape of the tree and built around the central trunk with a walkway around their outer edge; most of them looked dilapidated and abandoned, with one exception. One of them looked as if it had been cleaned and inhabited recently.

Victor and Longhelim were looking at the bridges with concern as well.

“I don’t like the look of those at all,” muttered Longhelim.

Victor had advanced to the foot of one of these bridges at the lower part of the tree and was giving it a shake. It wobbled alarmingly.

Turning, to us, he shook his head and said:

“Using these bridges in armour, is just asking for trouble; they’re just too unstable. We may not fall at first, but sooner or later, someone will.”

I looked up to the house which looked inhabited and stared at the walkway.

“Felix, if you can make Longhelim fly, I will put the same magic on Victor; they can take the rest of us up. We can land on that walkway.”

The warriors perked up considerably at this idea.

Drudge was only one who made an alternate suggestion, saying:

“Don’t bother carrying me; I’ll climb up there.”

So, Felix and I cast the magic on the warriors and Longhelim held me under my arms, while Victor held John in the same way while Felix hung on the warrior’s back. In this manner, we all flew onto the walkway. Due to the heavy burden, the flight was quite slow and this allowed Drudge to beat us there. The ranger was waiting for us on the bridge, looking around carefully, just in case there was an ambush nearby.

The walkway, unlike the bridges, was quite firm and moments after we landed, we looked around curiously.

The view from up here was peculiar in an arboreal way; as I stated before, the trees were enormous and majestic; this effect was magnified once we saw them from above; there was a sea of branches all around us; visibility was poor and the ground was barely visible from this height. Even though I wasn’t very good at climbing I couldn’t help but be amazed at this new world we had just entered; for a moment, just a brief one mind you, I almost understood what it was that elves found so attractive about living in trees; actually, I think that this was the highest I had ever been, arboreally speaking.

As with all the others, this dwelling was circular, with wooden walls and built around the central trunk. That seemed to act as an architectural anchor. There were a couple of windows and a door in front of us.

Longhelim concentrated first but declared that there were no evil auras from within. Then John looked at the door and was convinced that it was not trapped; unfortunately, he found it was locked. He worked at it for some time with his picks but the lock defeated him. Drudge stepped forward with his own set of picks and managed unlock the door, with John giving detailed instructions from behind his shoulders.

With the warriors in front, John called up his invisible friend and who pushed open the door. It revealed a round, comfortable chamber, possibly some sort of sitting room with two pot plants and three doors, obviously leading to a further three rooms off this main space. In the left part of the room, there was also a circular set of stairs going up, leading to an upper floor.

I cast a cantrip which would reveal any magical auras but there were none.

The warriors flew in, not touching the floor and opened the internal doors. Thankfully, none of them were locked. One led into a study, the other was empty and the final one had only a carpet on the floor.
As the warriors were checking this, I was intrigued by the pot plants. I made my way over to one of them but the floor opened under my weight; I just about managed to keep my balance and sway back from falling into the hole. It was a very nasty trap! I could have fallen down to my death! My yelp drew everyone’s attention and suddenly everyone became far more careful about where they were stepping.

It was for this reason that everyone stood still, while the two warriors flew around the room as they moved without touching the floor. John had also commanded his invisible friend to roll up the carpet, just in case there was an opening underneath it.

Just as we were all watching the carpet being rolled up, something snaked out from outside the door and suddenly I couldn’t breathe; simultaneously, I felt a great pain in my head. I screamed in panic and turned to see a whip wrapped around my neck, and I felt blood pouring down the back of my head. The whip was held by a drow woman with violet hair, dark red leather armour and violet eyes that sparkled madly as she saw her whip wrapped around my throat; in her other hand, she held a rapier; she smiled at me as she yanked the whip, drawing it even tighter. I gurgled to draw more attention.

Everyone else turned around and froze momentarily, with the exception of Drudge and his extraordinary reactions, who moved and shot off several arrows in her direction. She drew back her arm, unwound the whip with an expert movement and in a series of extraordinary flicks she proceeded to whip me raw; or that’s what it felt like but at that point everything went black………

I came to with Felix next to me; the cleric must have healed me as the pain had gone; there were sounds of conflict outside; Victor had gone outside into the walkway; I could hear him shouting:

“….another one! She’s got a two bladed sword! Watch out Longhelim!”

The paladin also stepped through into the walkway and conflict continued. I got up and stepped into a position where I could see everyone; Drudge was already on the rope bridge beyond the walkway while the noise made it obvious that there was combat between the drow women and the warriors. It seemed very intense as well:

“Longhelim, they’re very strong and skilled. Be careful!”

Making sure I could see everyone, I quickly cast my speed spell. This aided the warriors considerably and even Drudge was in the effect, despite being on the tree bridge; which was just as well as a new opponent entered into the fray at that point. A black shade flew through the branch and coalesced next to the ranger, tapping him several times. Drudge screamed and focused our attention on his new plight.

Felix shouted:

“That’s a shadow! Undead! Incredibly dangerous! Will kill unless dealt with very quickly!”

I acted immediately. I cast my wall of flame spell on top of the new arrival; this spell was particularly effective against undead and the creature recoiled visibly, badly hurt. Then Felix himself also responded by casting a cylinder of fire on top of it; when the cylinder was gone, so was the shade; so was the bridge for that matter; and Drudge as well. I hoped he was all right.

At that point, our attention was drawn to the other fight. Longhelim was bleeding very badly while Victor was fencing skillfully against opponent with the two bladed sword; I still couldn’t see the wielder, but I could see the one with violet hair and could also see that she was badly hurt, as she also had several of Drudge’s arrows sticking out of her torso. At this point, Longhelim staggered under the onslaught of her whip and fell over, bursting into flame.

Felix stepped forward to heal Victor, the only warrior he could reach with any safety. The warrior also looked badly bloodied from a previous onslaught. Felix healed him successfully while the warrior fenced with his unseen opponent. Then the first drow flicked her whip from distance and hit Felix, again and again, felling him with swift, accurate blows. Those whips were deceptively deadly. Desperately, Victor stepped over Longhelim’s body, and as she recovered her balance from her assault on Felix, he caught her several times with accurate, powerful cuts; this was too much for her and with a despairing wail, she dropped to the floor. Apparently, from her wailing, the other drow was her sister.

Simultaneously, I could also see Drudge laboriously levering himself up the semi burning bridge and moving to a safe location, from where he managed another shot at the last opponent.

There was a scream from the corner where I couldn’t see and the two bladed sword licked out at Victor with devastating accuracy. Almost simultaneously, three arrows flew out from a mysterious location in the nearby trees, which hit Longhelim, causing him to sink deeper into unconsciousness.

So, Rhuarc was out there as well.

Desperately, I stepped around and finally saw the other drow; unlike her partner, she was dressed in plate mail armour and had an intent, mad expression to her face as she grunted and screamed every time she swung her blades at Victor. Despite her armour, she was badly hurt, with blood pouring out of many wounds. She obviously didn’t care at this point though; she was a berserker. Victor stepped up sliced her around the waist several times, with visibly drastic results as more blood poured out; then Drudge shot her one last time, causing her to fall onto the walkway.

The situation was still deadly though; despite having no melee opponents, Victor was very badly hurt, John was trying to reach the doorway to heal either Longhelim or Felix who were still unconscious on the ground. The unseen menace of Rhuarc was still lurking in the trees, waiting for the next person to show.

In fact, Rhuarc decided to pre-empt the situation and two arrows struck Victor while the third quivered into a tree very close to his head; the warrior turned to us with a stunned look on his face just before he began to float down. Unfortunately, he had been flying over the former location of the bridge that had become a victim of collateral damage.

“Magic’s gone!”

We could hear his shout as he plummeted.

 

[carborundum]

Wow, things are looking pretty grim!

 

[RangerWickett]

I'm evil. I ****ing love Rhuarc. Ari Marmell must have somehow channeled Rambo in First Blood when he wrote this stuff.

 

[Cafu]

He certainly is a nasty piece of work but what really exaggerates his abilities is the aid of the level draining undead.

 

[Cafu]

We could hear his shout as he plummeted.

Damnation! On top of everything else, Rhuarc must have had some more enchanted arrows which sucked magic. Thankfully, both John and I took advantage of that moment of distraction to step out and drag Felix and Longhelim back into the tree house; unfortunately, just as I was finishing pulling the heavy lump that was Longhelim, several arrows struck me as well. Not only did they hurt a lot but just like Victor before me, I felt my magic dissolving and most of my spells disappeared.

Thankfully, just as this was all happening, I saw that Drudge had managed to climb up the swaying end of the obliterated bridge. Unfortunately, just as he climbed up the branch, several arrows struck him as well. The ranger snarled in disgust as he shouted:

“My magic’s gone as well!”

Inside the tree house, Felix groaned as John tapped him with a wand and sat up.

“What happened? Where’s everyone?”

At this point, I heard Drudge shout:

“Got you!” as he let loose several arrows.

I couldn’t see where they went but he looked satisfied and made a rude sign into the trees. Felix stood up took out a scroll and healed Longhelim. The paladin looked much better; Drudge was still looking around and had actually joined us when there was faint shout from below:

“He’s down here!”

That was Victor’s voice.

Drudge looked at Felix with wide eyes and asked in a tight voice:

“Do you think you could do something for me? I think Rhuarc has poisoned me!”

The priest immediately pulled out a wand and tapped the ranger with it; his colour improved immediately.

“Thanks! That helps a lot. The poison is still there but I’ll have to live with it!”

After that, Drudge began to look down the tree; he was looking at some way of getting off the walkway and jumping down. John guessed his intention and called out to him:

“Hold for a moment and I’ll get the two of us down there safely.”

I moved forward and said to him:

“I’ll make you invisible; that should give Rhuarc something to think about. You won’t go visible if you shoot either. Get him! “

As I was doing the spell, the ranger said:

“Before I get down there, there’s some strange box at the bottom of the house. It’s attached to it somehow; don’t know what it is, but it’s a very strange place to put it!”

Longhelim, now fully healed, flew down to the ground. Then John shouted:

“Drudge, grab me!”

The ranger ran over and they both jumped off the walkway. I presumed John had some sort of magic which would protect them from the fall. There were several of this ilk.

That left Felix and I above while everyone else had disappeared; the priest and I looked at each other and then at the obliterated bridge in front us. We were not going to be leaving that way. Fortunately, there was another bridge leading away from this walkway. We looked at that one dubiously; neither one of us was particularly agile, but there was no help for it. It was just as dilapidated and ramshackle as the other one; more importantly, it swung just as badly. Felix went first and managed to get some distance along it; I followed up but unfortunately, Felix’s stride had unsettled it to such an extent that I had barely set foot on it when I tumbled off it but managed to catch the edge, my feet dangling in the air; otherwise, I would have crashed quite some distance to the ground.

Looking behind him, Felix saw that I was in trouble and moved back to help me when he lost his balance as well and after tumbling off, managed to grasp the other side of the bridge. So, there we were, facing each other and dangling from the sides of a rickety bridge when fate decided to add another little twist to the situation.

There was a flash of flame and appearing in front of us was Rhuarc; obviously, he had the capability of magical travel; he looked surprised at our predicament but then he grinned, took out his scimitar and then began to cut through the rope of the bridge….. slowly.

Desperately, I began to shout and just about managed to pull myself up:

“He’s up here!”

He made a rude sign at me and shot me with arrows. They hurt but more importantly, I could feel what few spells I had left being nullified, which was highly frustrating. I was trying very hard to pull Felix up but it was almost impossible. Rhuarc watched with interest for a few moments and then he took out several flasks and threw them at us; they burst into flames and smoke, obscuring our view momentarily and after the conflagration cleared, Rhuarc had gone!

I had other worries though, as the fires began to eat into the dry structure of the bridge; fortunately, I just about managed to help pull Felix out of the fire and onto a safer part of the bridge, from where we both crawled rapidly onto another walkway; not a moment too soon either, as the bridge collapsed behind us, burnt through.

Felix and I scrambled towards the tree trunk, still on all fours; panting, we looked up briefly at the burning bridge and savoured the sensation of being on a firm, stable surface; then, gingerly, we stood up and looked around. There was a way down but we also heard shouting from below:

“We’re on our way up!”

So, looking around carefully, we waited. There was crashing and grunting from below; John was the first to join us. He leapt nimbly from branch to branch and as soon as he arrived, he took out some rope, uncoiled it and just put it on the ground; he muttered something under his breath and made various signs with his hands, as if winding a rope; the item in question rose up, wound itself around a nearby branch and the other end plummeted down, towards the noise.

As he was doing this, Drudge appeared next to us; he looked livid; his face was flushed and he was waving his bow around:

“That……Rhuarc! I managed to get a good shot into him but he pulled off that disappearing act of his! Just stepped into a shadow and poof……or bang I should say; must be really nice to be immune to fire!”

“What happened?” I asked.

Drudge grimaced:

“Oh, I stalked him. He didn’t see me, thanks to your spell. He was hiding under that big tree branch over there; he must have slippers that allow him to cling to surfaces as well. He was just hanging there waiting to ambush someone I think; I shot him; got several good arrows into him, but as I said we’re going to have to pummel him down completely almost instantaneously or not at all; he’s always going to be able to do his disappearing trick and there’s nothing we can do about that!”

I heard a grunt and I saw that Victor was pulling himself up on the rope, watched by John. As the warrior was levering himself up, I mused:

“This whole city is his play ground; he knows every nook and cranny of this place. He could leave us here and disappear down the caves and we wouldn’t be any the wiser for days! Or he could hide from us for months; he’s fighting us because he wants to and thinks he can win. Well, the only thing we can do at the moment is just systematically explore the areas which interested us from our aerial scout and deal with him as and when he makes a move. The only slight advantage we have is that there are six of us and one of him.”

“That doesn’t seem to have been much of an advantage so far,” muttered the ranger.

I grimaced:

“Well, at least we’ve managed to get rid of his shadow familiar and his two drow girlfriends; hmm, talking about them, let’s go take a look at the bodies when everyone is ready.”

Drudge cheered up at that:

“There’s that strange box under the house as well.”

When Longhelim finally joined us, Drudge repeated his story to the warriors.

The paladin frowned when he heard that Rhuarc could transport himself magically.

“He seems to have a varied and strange group of powers; archery, spell casting ability, stealth and scouting and magical abilities with shadows. Anyone have any ideas what he has studied?”

I had been thinking a little about this:

“Well, some of his abilities are of those of a rogue; and he has definitely arcane powers but I have not come across anyone with undead familiars. He doesn’t have the capability of trying to land a killing blow like that drow who nearly beheaded me with that whip of hers; but that magical transportation and the immunity or high resistance to fire? That sounds positively demonic; he is also obviously acquainted with demons; now we have met him, I don’t think that glabrezu or that basilisk from the abyss were here by accident.”

While we were discussing this, Drudge and Victor were working out a way to get back to the neighbouring walkway with the drow bodies and the strange box. Thankfully, with the aid of John’s magical rope, this was achieved without too much trouble and soon we were standing next to the dead drow. Just in case Rhuarc decided he wanted to return, we moved into the house and then cast a little cantrip which showed us any pieces of equipment which were ensorcelled; there were in fact several of those and these were distributed and put away for later research.

Drudge then squatted down and had another look at this box. Several moments later, he asked John:

“Can I borrow that rope of yours? I think hopefully, if we attached it to this box, we should be able to loosen it and then the two warriors will be able to pull it up.”

The rogue just shook the rope loose and Drudge took one end and went under the dwelling. Moments later, there was a shout:

“Attach it now!”

John duly commanded the rope and then, slowly and carefully, with the two warriors pulling on the other end of the rope, the box was detached, and then pulled up to the walkway.

Longhelim, straining on the rope, said:

“I don’t know what is in there, but whatever it is, it’s very heavy!”

Finally, when it was on a solid surface, John checked it carefully and then opened it. Inside was what appeared to be a coffin! We were all quite taken aback. I wondered if this had something to do with Rhuarc’s shadow familiar and Felix readied his holy symbol. Then Victor and Longhelim carefully opened this coffin.

It was lined with lead, explaining the weight; inside was the perfectly preserved corpse of a half orc; peculiarly, the body had been beheaded; the head was still there but separated from the body. There was a sheet of metal between the head and the torso. I looked at this strange apparition and then suddenly there was something horribly familiar about that face. It struck me; the statue in Gate Pass, standing so tall…….

“I don’t believe this! That’s…….”

“……..the Emperor, Drakus Coaltongue,” completed Victor, softly.

John gaped at us and then looked back at the body:

“Are you sure? He doesn’t look much like his statue,” he said dubiously.

I stared intently at the face in front me and replied:

“First of all, he’s dead! He looks very well preserved for someone who’s been dead for months, but he’s certainly dead. Second, if you study any of the iconography devoted to the Emperor, and believe you me there’s plenty of it as he’s never been shy, then you can’t mistake those features anywhere. That’s Coaltongue!”

Longhelim was staring intently at it without saying anything while Felix said:

“Faden, I think you’re both right and wrong; I think that is Coaltongue but I don’t think he’s truly dead. There are aspects of divine magic about which you have no knowledge; I have only the slightest inkling of them myself but there are resuscitation spells available to priests of a higher power which are so powerful they do not even require a body to resuscitate; however, they do require one thing. The recipient must be dead and his soul must have left his body!

I am certain that the Ragesian Empire would easily have access to magic of this power and they have not been able help the emperor. That leads me to believe that Drakus Coaltongue is not technically dead!”

I thought for a bit.

“So you think his soul is trapped somewhere maybe? Or could this could be some sort of powerful construct made to look like him? Now you mention it, there is a branch of arcane magic in which a wizard can build himself an extra body and arrange for his soul to flee there in case of the worst of events. It is a branch of arcane research I have been meaning to look into but as ever, there’s never been enough time.”

Felix looked intrigued:

“Really? There’s an arcane spell that allows you to do that? How does it work?”

“Well, bizarrely, from what little reading I’ve done, you have to obtain snow and ice…….”

Longhelim cleared his throat at this point:

“Gentlemen, gentlemen, this really isn’t the place. The main question we have to ask ourselves here is: what are we going to do with him or it?”

Victor, who had been watching up to this point, said:

“We should take the head as proof; and put the body back where it was. He may have been our enemy but there is no need to disrespect him; he achieved more in his life than we would hope to in a hundred life times.”

Longhelim nodded. Carefully he took the head and put it in one of his spare cloaks. Then he gently put it in his back pack. After that, we put the body back in the coffin, which was attached to the bottom of the house again.

Drudge had participated in the replacement of the coffin; once that had been achieved, he turned to us and said:

“Stay here! I’m going to take a look around; I had a pretty good idea where he was and I hope I can track him. It’ll be hard but there’s a chance.”

As we waited, Felix began:

“So, Faden, about this spell…..”

 

[Cafu]

We could hear his shout as he plummeted.

Damnation! On top of everything else, Rhuarc must have had some more enchanted arrows which sucked magic. Thankfully, both John and I took advantage of that moment of distraction to step out and drag Felix and Longhelim back into the tree house; unfortunately, just as I was finishing pulling the heavy lump that was Longhelim, several arrows struck me as well. Not only did they hurt a lot but just like Victor before me, I felt my magic dissolving and most of my spells disappeared.

Thankfully, just as this was all happening, I saw that Drudge had managed to climb up the swaying end of the obliterated bridge. Unfortunately, just as he climbed up the branch, several arrows struck him as well. The ranger snarled in disgust as he shouted:

“My magic’s gone as well!”

Inside the tree house, Felix groaned as John tapped him with a wand and sat up.

“What happened? Where’s everyone?”

At this point, I heard Drudge shout:

“Got you!” as he let loose several arrows.

I couldn’t see where they went but he looked satisfied and made a rude sign into the trees. Felix stood up took out a scroll and healed Longhelim. The paladin looked much better; Drudge was still looking around and had actually joined us when there was faint shout from below:

“He’s down here!”

That was Victor’s voice.

Drudge looked at Felix with wide eyes and asked in a tight voice:

“Do you think you could do something for me? I think Rhuarc has poisoned me!”

The priest immediately pulled out a wand and tapped the ranger with it; his colour improved immediately.

“Thanks! That helps a lot. The poison is still there but I’ll have to live with it!”

After that, Drudge began to look down the tree; he was looking at some way of getting off the walkway and jumping down. John guessed his intention and called out to him:

“Hold for a moment and I’ll get the two of us down there safely.”

I moved forward and said to him:

“I’ll make you invisible; that should give Rhuarc something to think about. You won’t go visible if you shoot either. Get him! “

As I was doing the spell, the ranger said:

“Before I get down there, there’s some strange box at the bottom of the house. It’s attached to it somehow; don’t know what it is, but it’s a very strange place to put it!”

Longhelim, now fully healed, flew down to the ground. Then John shouted:

“Drudge, grab me!”

The ranger ran over and they both jumped off the walkway. I presumed John had some sort of magic which would protect them from the fall. There were several of this ilk.

That left Felix and I above while everyone else had disappeared; the priest and I looked at each other and then at the obliterated bridge in front us. We were not going to be leaving that way. Fortunately, there was another bridge leading away from this walkway. We looked at that one dubiously; neither one of us was particularly agile, but there was no help for it. It was just as dilapidated and ramshackle as the other one; more importantly, it swung just as badly. Felix went first and managed to get some distance along it; I followed up but unfortunately, Felix’s stride had unsettled it to such an extent that I had barely set foot on it when I tumbled off it but managed to catch the edge, my feet dangling in the air; otherwise, I would have crashed quite some distance to the ground.

Looking behind him, Felix saw that I was in trouble and moved back to help me when he lost his balance as well and after tumbling off, managed to grasp the other side of the bridge. So, there we were, facing each other and dangling from the sides of a rickety bridge when fate decided to add another little twist to the situation.

There was a flash of flame and appearing in front of us was Rhuarc; obviously, he had the capability of magical travel; he looked surprised at our predicament but then he grinned, took out his scimitar and then began to cut through the rope of the bridge….. slowly.

Desperately, I began to shout and just about managed to pull myself up:

“He’s up here!”

He made a rude sign at me and shot me with arrows. They hurt but more importantly, I could feel what few spells I had left being nullified, which was highly frustrating. I was trying very hard to pull Felix up but it was almost impossible. Rhuarc watched with interest for a few moments and then he took out several flasks and threw them at us; they burst into flames and smoke, obscuring our view momentarily and after the conflagration cleared, Rhuarc had gone!

I had other worries though, as the fires began to eat into the dry structure of the bridge; fortunately, I just about managed to help pull Felix out of the fire and onto a safer part of the bridge, from where we both crawled rapidly onto another walkway; not a moment too soon either, as the bridge collapsed behind us, burnt through.

Felix and I scrambled towards the tree trunk, still on all fours; panting, we looked up briefly at the burning bridge and savoured the sensation of being on a firm, stable surface; then, gingerly, we stood up and looked around. There was a way down but we also heard shouting from below:

“We’re on our way up!”

So, looking around carefully, we waited. There was crashing and grunting from below; John was the first to join us. He leapt nimbly from branch to branch and as soon as he arrived, he took out some rope, uncoiled it and just put it on the ground; he muttered something under his breath and made various signs with his hands, as if winding a rope; the item in question rose up, wound itself around a nearby branch and the other end plummeted down, towards the noise.

As he was doing this, Drudge appeared next to us; he looked livid; his face was flushed and he was waving his bow around:

“That……Rhuarc! I managed to get a good shot into him but he pulled off that disappearing act of his! Just stepped into a shadow and poof……or bang I should say; must be really nice to be immune to fire!”

“What happened?” I asked.

Drudge grimaced:

“Oh, I stalked him. He didn’t see me, thanks to your spell. He was hiding under that big tree branch over there; he must have slippers that allow him to cling to surfaces as well. He was just hanging there waiting to ambush someone I think; I shot him; got several good arrows into him, but as I said we’re going to have to pummel him down completely almost instantaneously or not at all; he’s always going to be able to do his disappearing trick and there’s nothing we can do about that!”

I heard a grunt and I saw that Victor was pulling himself up on the rope, watched by John. As the warrior was levering himself up, I mused:

“This whole city is his play ground; he knows every nook and cranny of this place. He could leave us here and disappear down the caves and we wouldn’t be any the wiser for days! Or he could hide from us for months; he’s fighting us because he wants to and thinks he can win. Well, the only thing we can do at the moment is just systematically explore the areas which interested us from our aerial scout and deal with him as and when he makes a move. The only slight advantage we have is that there are six of us and one of him.”

“That doesn’t seem to have been much of an advantage so far,” muttered the ranger.

I grimaced:

“Well, at least we’ve managed to get rid of his shadow familiar and his two drow girlfriends; hmm, talking about them, let’s go take a look at the bodies when everyone is ready.”

Drudge cheered up at that:

“There’s that strange box under the house as well.”

When Longhelim finally joined us, Drudge repeated his story to the warriors.

The paladin frowned when he heard that Rhuarc could transport himself magically.

“He seems to have a varied and strange group of powers; archery, spell casting ability, stealth and scouting and magical abilities with shadows. Anyone have any ideas what he has studied?”

I had been thinking a little about this:

“Well, some of his abilities are of those of a rogue; and he has definitely arcane powers but I have not come across anyone with undead familiars. He doesn’t have the capability of trying to land a killing blow like that drow who nearly beheaded me with that whip of hers; but that magical transportation and the immunity or high resistance to fire? That sounds positively demonic; he is also obviously acquainted with demons; now we have met him, I don’t think that glabrezu or that basilisk from the abyss were here by accident.”

While we were discussing this, Drudge and Victor were working out a way to get back to the neighbouring walkway with the drow bodies and the strange box. Thankfully, with the aid of John’s magical rope, this was achieved without too much trouble and soon we were standing next to the dead drow. Just in case Rhuarc decided he wanted to return, we moved into the house and then cast a little cantrip which showed us any pieces of equipment which were ensorcelled; there were in fact several of those and these were distributed and put away for later research.

Drudge then squatted down and had another look at this box. Several moments later, he asked John:

“Can I borrow that rope of yours? I think hopefully, if we attached it to this box, we should be able to loosen it and then the two warriors will be able to pull it up.”

The rogue just shook the rope loose and Drudge took one end and went under the dwelling. Moments later, there was a shout:

“Attach it now!”

John duly commanded the rope and then, slowly and carefully, with the two warriors pulling on the other end of the rope, the box was detached, and then pulled up to the walkway.

Longhelim, straining on the rope, said:

“I don’t know what is in there, but whatever it is, it’s very heavy!”

Finally, when it was on a solid surface, John checked it carefully and then opened it. Inside was what appeared to be a coffin! We were all quite taken aback. I wondered if this had something to do with Rhuarc’s shadow familiar and Felix readied his holy symbol. Then Victor and Longhelim carefully opened this coffin.

It was lined with lead, explaining the weight; inside was the perfectly preserved corpse of a half orc; peculiarly, the body had been beheaded; the head was still there but separated from the body. There was a sheet of metal between the head and the torso. I looked at this strange apparition and then suddenly there was something horribly familiar about that face. It struck me; the statue in Gate Pass, standing so tall…….

“I don’t believe this! That’s…….”

“……..the Emperor, Drakus Coaltongue,” completed Victor, softly.

John gaped at us and then looked back at the body:

“Are you sure? He doesn’t look much like his statue,” he said dubiously.

I stared intently at the face in front me and replied:

“First of all, he’s dead! He looks very well preserved for someone who’s been dead for months, but he’s certainly dead. Second, if you study any of the iconography devoted to the Emperor, and believe you me there’s plenty of it as he’s never been shy, then you can’t mistake those features anywhere. That’s Coaltongue!”

Longhelim was staring intently at it without saying anything while Felix said:

“Faden, I think you’re both right and wrong; I think that is Coaltongue but I don’t think he’s truly dead. There are aspects of divine magic about which you have no knowledge; I have only the slightest inkling of them myself but there are resuscitation spells available to priests of a higher power which are so powerful they do not even require a body to resuscitate; however, they do require one thing. The recipient must be dead and his soul must have left his body!

I am certain that the Ragesian Empire would easily have access to magic of this power and they have not been able help the emperor. That leads me to believe that Drakus Coaltongue is not technically dead!”

I thought for a bit.

“So you think his soul is trapped somewhere maybe? Or could this could be some sort of powerful construct made to look like him? Now you mention it, there is a branch of arcane magic in which a wizard can build himself an extra body and arrange for his soul to flee there in case of the worst of events. It is a branch of arcane research I have been meaning to look into but as ever, there’s never been enough time.”

Felix looked intrigued:

“Really? There’s an arcane spell that allows you to do that? How does it work?”

“Well, bizarrely, from what little reading I’ve done, you have to obtain snow and ice…….”

Longhelim cleared his throat at this point:

“Gentlemen, gentlemen, this really isn’t the place. The main question we have to ask ourselves here is: what are we going to do with him or it?”

Victor, who had been watching up to this point, said:

“We should take the head as proof; and put the body back where it was. He may have been our enemy but there is no need to disrespect him; he achieved more in his life than we would hope to in a hundred life times.”

Longhelim nodded. Carefully he took the head and put it in one of his spare cloaks. Then he gently put it in his back pack. After that, we put the body back in the coffin, which was attached to the bottom of the house again.

Drudge had participated in the replacement of the coffin; once that had been achieved, he turned to us and said:

“Stay here! I’m going to take a look around; I had a pretty good idea where he was and I hope I can track him. It’ll be hard but there’s a chance.”

As we waited, Felix began:

“So, Faden, about this spell…..”

 

[carborundum]

Hi. We just happen to have the Emperor's head in a bag but... wait a second, hear me out...

P.S. my tapatalk app thinks you posted the new instalment twice.

 

[Cafu]

Well, our initial cunning plan was to resurrect him to put a crimp in Leska's plans; unfortunately, the authors seemed to have pre-empted us on that one.

I did have to repeat the posting process today. The first attempt produced an error message and asked me to re-try after thirty seconds.