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

[Cafu]

All of us, including Kreven and his cohorts, stood motionless and speechless for a few moments, taking stock of what had just happened. The ground had settled and stabilized but the crevices were still there; thankfully, they were now visible and motionless and therefore easily avoided. Most of the temporary towers on the right side of the room had been completely destroyed. They had never been meant to withstand magic of such scope and power.

In the far corner, Koren and her bodyguard stood up and dusted themselves; the Wayfinder looked disgusted and her face twisted with hate as she looked towards us. She began singing; it was a discordant but strangely hypnotic tune; repugnant to me but the remaining archers and others in the room were listening raptly. As if guided by this song, these archers, as one, turned their bows on Longhelim and loosed. Despite his heavy armour, several of the arrows hit the paladin this time. They were immediately followed up by another forked lightning bolt from Kreven which drove Longhelim to the ground, a burning, unconscious body yet again. Thankfully, the flames proved that he still lived although considering the punishment he had just undertaken, it must have been a miracle.

Guthwulf stepped forward and cast a spell of magical silence over Koren, silencing her cacophony, although unfortunately, it seemed to linger in the air. John rushed forward and tapped Longhelim with a wand. Mysteriously, an arrow flew past the ear of the last Inquisitor and I knew that Drudge must have been somewhere in the room, stalking. Unfortunately, not even I could see him as he still had most of his magical defences, one of which prevented my magical sight from penetrating his veil of invisibility; particularly ironic as I had put in on him in the first place.

What was more interesting though was that by putting the magical silence on top of Koren, Guthwulf had trapped her behind the magical wall. I was quite happy to leave her there but Guthwulf shouted:

“Faden, get rid of the wall!”

He had seen my spell hitting the Obelisk and my scrolls. I was not sure just what he had in mind but I presumed that there was a plan. In the meantime, another wave of magic arrived, stripping us of yet more spells; I really had almost nothing left. This was followed by more frantic healing from Longhelim and John both on the paladin and Guthwulf on himself. We all knew what was coming imminently.

I took out my scroll and fired my ray, hitting the magical wall and making it disappear. I really hoped that Guthwulf had some sort of plan in mind as I had just turned Koren loose.

There was a shout from inside the room:

“Kreven’s disappeared!”

As that was happening, I saw Guthwulf cast a spell but this time aiming it at the archers. I suspected something unpleasant was heading their way. I could not see Longhelim at this point either but I presumed he was inside the room.

In the meantime, Felix was dragging Victor’s body from the entrance to one side of the corridor and then I saw him taking out a scroll. He knelt over the warrior and read from the scroll; Victor stirred. He looked around a little wildly and Felix spoke to him quickly and quietly. The warrior rose immediately but he must have been still befuddled a little as he strode past his weapon and shield which were still on the ground. He also disappeared into the room.

Something happened after that which became very worrying. Suddenly Koren and her bodyguard appeared almost next to me. She was wielding a staff and had a couple of arrows sticking out of her. Her face was twisted with anger and she looked at me with a twisted smile.

Immediately, I tried to slip past her but she caught me with a whack of her staff; eventually, my effort was useless as the bodyguard chased me down and caught me; several blows of his hammer later, everything went black……..

I groaned inwardly and tried to move; everything still hurt from that damned hammer. I thought I groaned aloud as well but it was impossible to tell as it became immediately apparent that I was still in the magical silence. John was next to me and was pointing imperatively towards the large room. Glancing in that direction, I saw yet another magical invisible wall in front of the Obelisk. There were strong odds that Kreven was behind it.

Simultaneously, I also caught a glimpse of a new form on the ground: Guthwulf. He was still. I could not see anyone else. There was also a new wall sealing off a large part of the right side of the room. That was the last area where I had seen Victor, suggesting that it was very likely that the warrior was trapped behind it.

Sadly, it looked as if I would never get to find out what Guthwulf’s master plan was going to be.

Suddenly, I saw a group of arrows appearing in mid-flight, streaking towards some unseen target. Good; that meant the Drudge was still around and active.

John was still jabbing at the wall so I got up and retreated out of the magical silence. As I did so, I saw another corpse, this time of Koren; she was filled with arrows; there was no sign of her bodyguard.

Kreven was not going to be happy that we killed his wife; I suspect that he was not happy with us full stop. There must have been something going on in the other room as John was sprinting back there but it was impossible to tell as the magical silence was impeding all sound.

Well, one thing at a time; my primary concern was to free Victor so I took out my last precious scroll and cast it, casting a beam which hit the wall blocking Victor. As I had estimated, the warrior was indeed behind it.

Now I really had absolutely no spells, scrolls or wands with which to contribute to the combat. So, rather gingerly, as I was still badly hurt, I made my way through the magical silences towards the entrance in the main room again.

Once I reached the doorway, I beheld a scene of devastation which took my breath away; I had already seen the remains of what Guthwulf’s spell had done to the room; various piles of rubble now appeared in the place of the platforms which flanked the Obelisk; the strange metal gantries which served as platforms for the archers were also wrecks on the right side of the room.

There were corpses everywhere; most of the remaining archers had perished in one way or the other; here and there were signs of the Inquisitors with their bear masks, together with three of the bodyguards.

In the left side of the room, Longhelim was standing as if poleaxed; Felix was panting and looking down at the fallen figure if the last powerful, hammer wielding bodyguard. I could not see Drudge at all, but then again, I was not surprised for the reasons explained above. John was next to the priest. They were both moving towards the paladin, who looked badly hurt as well as incapacitated.

Victor was making his way to the group. He also looked badly hurt, moving slowly and carefully. I saw Felix take out a scroll. I thought he was going to cast it at Kreven even though the magician was nowhere to be seen; strangely, the priest cast the spell at Victor. I am not sure what had aroused Felix’s suspicion but thank the Gods the something did because as soon as he finished casting the spell, Victor shouted:

“Kreven’s done something to my mind. He was telling me to hurt or stop you; I had no control of myself.”

I knew the spell. It was not particularly complicated but in the hands of a powerful and skilled wizard, it could be deadly; and when it was supported by the Obelisk…….

Just then, another magical wall appeared at one end, sealing the far side of the room.

Felix shouted:

“He’s sealing himself in! Everyone, get close! It’s a good time to heal everyone!”

We all rushed to the cleric and wands began to be brandished by John and Felix. I still couldn’t see Drudge and if I couldn’t then it was unlikely the Kreven could; which was all to the good because the Inquisitor must have realised that as soon as he exposed himself then a volley of arrows would be heading his way.

He must have done so as then, I wall of flame appeared over the pit from which the Obelisk rose; suddenly I reasoned that Kreven must have realised that the pit represented a weakness in his magical defences as Drudge could just climb under his wall. I prayed that the ranger had done just that and that he was already stalking the magician on his side of the walls.

As I was speculating about this, Felix and John worked their healing magic on everyone, including me. The bleeding of my wounds was tended, bruises and crushed muscles from the battering the hammer had given me, were healed and made whole and the lumps in my head were bandaged. Suddenly I was feeling much better; and in the midst of all of this, Longhelim shuddered a little and began to move and speak normally.

Felix and John began healing him and Victor also began to tell him urgently what had happened.

At this point, another wall of flame appeared, this one on top of the magical wall already in place, effectively leaving only a small gap to the ceiling.

We were almost all recovered when Longhelim suddenly said:

“We need to split up now. We make a really juicy target as a group for him if he decides to go on the offensive.”

That was what we did; Victor went to the edge of the magical wall; John went to one of the corpses of the bodyguard and began to search it; Longhelim followed him up and I went to stand under the gantry.

A little time went by; Kreven was either watching us or plotting something or shoring up his defences. I suspected it was a combination of all three; he was very aware that as soon as he became visible or vulnerable in any way, a volley of arrows would go flying his way.

Suddenly, Victor moved; he quickly ran back into a magical silence. Clever Victor; he realised that there, he would not be subject to Kreven’s mind bending spells since he would not be able to hear them. Quite correctly, he surmised that if Kreven was able to compel him to attack the rest of the group, then it was a question as to how fast Drudge would be able to fill him with arrows, hoping to incapacitate; or how fast would we be able to run from there. Neither option was particularly appetizing.

The efficacy of Victor’s tactics was quite clearly audible as a very nasty word could be heard from the other side of the magical wall. It seemed as if Kreven had been readying a spell for exactly that and Victor escaped just in time.

So, another wall of flame appeared, this time sealing Felix within it. This also added the problem that we were not able to even see the magical wall.

Suddenly, there was a shout from beyond:

“Kreven’s gone to the corner!”

This allowed us to not only to realise that Felix was still alive, but also gave us an indication that Kreven was still beyond his walls. Then I saw John rushing back, with one of his wands in his hand; he reached the space next to me under the gantry and speculatively aimed his wand at the Obelisk; he shook his head and expertly climbed up the gantry.

Immediately, I replaced him in the magical silence and began to strip the body of one of bodyguards, or Claws as Guthwulf had called them. Victor was still in his own position within the magical silence and was also moving towards us when I saw John aim and fire his wand at the Obelisk; something streaked out of it and a tiny amount of dust rose from the surface.

At this point, judging by the reaction of the others, Felix may or may not have been shouting something but I could not hear it. I was still busy stripping items from the body but I was still looking around; John aimed another shot of his wand at the Obelisk; I recognized what they were now; bolts of acid; and the Obelisk was vulnerable to them! This was great news; I knew that wand; John could do that all day.

Suddenly, there was activity from the far end of the room as I saw Kreven fly from his end of the room to the entrance. He was abandoning the Obelisk! Leska would flay him alive! However, before I started rejoicing about the wizard’s failure, we had other problems as he put an invisible wall right across the entrance. We were all trapped inside the room!

The wall of flame had ceased by this point and Felix was pointing at the Obelisk; we still couldn’t hear anything but I could see it shattering into thousands of knife-like crystal shards, shooting across the room. Thankfully, the vast majority of them hit the magical wall, protecting us.

I saw John kiss his wand and put it back in his pack, before jumping down from the gantry.

Then, turning back to the Obelisk, I watched with horror as a black miasma began to roil out of the shattered stone and fill the room. I didn’t need magical knowledge for this; instinct told me that getting touched by that……stuff would be a very bad idea; turning to the others, I saw that they were very much of a like mind and Victor was already carving his way through the wall next to the magical barrier.

His adamantite sword went through the stone like a hot knife through butter but it was slowed down slightly by the metal lining the walls. He needed to move fast as well; the cloud was spreading fast.

Moments later, the hole in the wall was big enough for John to squeeze through, quickly followed by Drudge. I followed up and was met with a very nasty surprise; there was a wall of flame just outside the hole where I had to exit; obviously another nasty surprise left by Kreven and one I could not see because of the magical barrier in front of the door; and then to top it all off, there was another right behind the first one: this was going to burn. So be it; I could not stop and hold up the others, not with that cloud behind us. So I went through.

I could see both Drudge and John ahead of me; I was also out of the magical silence and I could just see Kreven move out of the end of the corridor.

“I’ve got a plan!” John was shouting as he raced up the corridor. Drudge was following him up and I was getting away from the flaming walls. Just as I did so, a burnt Felix came out of the wall, followed by an equally burned Longhelim.

“What about Victor?” I shouted.

Longhelim replied grimly:

“He had stay behind and chop a bigger hole for us; because of our armour. I hope he makes it!”

Just then, Victor just about stumbled out of the wall of flame. If someone who had just almost been burned to death could look as pale as death, then that was the warrior right now.

Grimly, he said:

“Don’t get caught by that dark thing. You wouldn’t like it.”

Felix then went to him and tapped him with a wand just as we heard another shout, from Drudge this time:

“John, what in all hells are you doing?”

“Oh, Kreven’s not such a bad old stick really; and Leska is going to do for him anyway. I think we should just let him go.”

“What! No! Get out of the way!”

Longhelim said quite calmly as he strode forward:

“What’s he done?”

“He’s locked the bloody door!”

Longhelim looked at me with a question and I answered:

“Kreven’s bespelled him; either he just told him to lock the door or he did it on his own because Kreven’s now his best friend and asking him to attack may break the spell; whatever it may be, Kreven has now bent John’s will to his own.”

“Right! Just leave him for the moment. We’ll deal with that later. Victor, we need you!”

 

[carborundum]

He can't get away, the scumbag, he just can't!

 

[Cafu]

As the badly burned warrior was moving forward, I could see the black miasma following us out of the hole we had made in the wall.

Victor still looked quite ill as he strode forward, albeit not quite on death’s door. Effortlessly, he smashed the door with his falchion and it splintered almost immediately. There was no sign of Kreven in the balcony room, but before anyone could prevent it, John slipped out and rushed down the stairs. This time he closed the door leading into the lower room.

Everyone else moved through the new doorway and Drudge let out a groan of frustration as we all looked at a grinning John. Victor again looked wordlessly at the rogue and strode forward to cut a hole in the door. John was the first to slip through the door again but this time he was pursued by Longhelim who tackled him to the floor. John, of course, was on his way to the next door.

The prisoners, who were still being pulled out of the prison below, were looking at us until Felix and I began screaming at them:

“Move! Move! You’ve got to get out now! Death is coming!”

They didn’t know what we were talking about but our urgency connected and there was flurry of activity as the escapees began to scramble frenziedly up the rope and through the hole, while others began running out of the door. In despair, I saw that there were still hundreds of them below. There was no way all of them would get out before the black miasma came and covered them all.

There was nothing that could be done; helping to the last moment we all began pulling people up but then came a time when had to run. I was determined not to think about the consequences for those left behind and put it down to yet more crimes committed by Leska and her perverted Empire.

Before we left, quickly we shouted:

“An old man! In robes! Which way did he go?”

Wordlessly, one of men pointed towards the door.

Hurriedly, we joined the stream of prisoners moving through the corridor. They also sensed our urgency and ran as if all the devils of hell were after them; which they probably were.

We could already see the black miasma rolling down the stairs. Slippery John was still wriggling in Longhelim’s grasp as we moved past them; I was running as fast as I could but I was still nowhere near as fast as Drudge; Longhelim then let the rogue go as he joined the stream of prisoners himself, although he was slowed by his armour. Full plate armour is not great for running either. The last person in our group was Felix, who was readying his holy symbol:

“Go!” he shouted.

“I’m going to try to stop this stuff. It may react to the holy power of Farlanghn!”

I wasn’t sure that was going to work but was too busy running to indulge in a theoretical discussion on divine magic. Felix wasn’t stupid; he would try until it became unsafe for him and then he would scarper with the rest of us.

So it proved. Running through the entrance, I managed to join the throng of prisoners milling outside; I could see Drudge already there as well as John; he seemed to be looking for someone and he was not looking in the direction of the fortress; more to the horizon.

Longhelim came running out, followed finally by Felix; they and everyone else ran forward as fast as we could; not a moment too soon as there was a dreadful explosion from behind us and as I turned my head around, I could literally see that the black miasma erupting from the door, enveloping the fortress and then seemingly almost suck the whole into itself while evaporating with the dreadful sound of a thousand screams of agony together with the unearthly sound of stone being crushed to powder in a moment.

It was a sound of such horror, agony and despair that I hoped I would never hear again.

Everyone stared at this spectacle stunned speechless. No one had seen such utter destruction on such a scale before. It was breathtaking.

After a while, the dust settled and everyone was looking at each other in slight bewilderment, as if unable to believe that they were still alive. I could not imagine what the prisoners must have gone through; thrown into a hole; struck by bouts of intense agony totally randomly; being unable to track time; not knowing how long they had been gone; and growing steadily weaker and weaker. I shuddered; that was the fate that may well have overtaken me if I had stayed in Gate Pass.

Longhelim looked around him; we could see that despite all that had happened, we had still managed to rescue a goodly number of prisoners; it would never be enough but we had to deal with reality. The paladin began to shout:

“Listen! Listen up! The Ragesian army is on its way back here. It was drawn out by a decoy maneuver and when they realise that it was a diversion, they will be out for blood; especially when it becomes apparent that they failed in their charge. Leska will have their commanders tortured to death as soon as she finds out! And decimate the troops! If they’re lucky! If they re-capture us, she may just commute that sentence.

So, we have to get out of here now!”

If there was one thing Longhelim could have said that would make the crowd pay attention, it was the prospect of being re-captured by the Ragesians. It concentrated their mind wonderfully and it took them only a few moments to get organized.

We moved quickly for a little time until Longhelim called a halt. Then he gathered us around him and said:

“These people are still very weak; we may be able to outrun the Ragesian army but we won’t be able to outrun their forward elements and in the state that we are all in, that is all that they will need to deal with us. We’re all still very weak.”

Felix said:

“Let’s get in touch with Pilus; he should be able to tell us exactly how far away the army is and how long we’ve got to plan.”

Slightly sheepishly, as if he had forgotten about him, Longhelim took out the strange mask; Pilus’s voice could be heard immediately:

“Where are you? You’ve really stirred up a hornet’s nest! Every Ragesian under the sun is running back to the fortress! Whatever it is that you’re planning to do, you’d better to it fast! They will be on you very soon.”

“How long?”

“You’ve got about an hour until the first group reach you.”

“Thanks Pilus!”

Longhelim then turned to us:

“We can get away with the power of the Torch; I have two more uses left for the day; but……I can only take us. Using the ability to transport a whole group requires a soul for the Torch; and one of some power as well.”

Felix grimaced:

“As awful as this is, we can ask; I don’t know if anyone among the crowd can do it but we can ask.”

So Longhelim shouted at the crowd:

“Listen up! The Ragesians are coming! They will be here in an hour or so! I can get us out of here by using the Torch of the Burning Sky; but…..I stole this from the Ragesians; and since Coaltongue made this out of a Devil’s thigh bone, it needs a sacrifice before I can get us out here. Will one good man give his soul for the lives of many? Will one person save hundreds!”

Volunteers did come forward; not surprisingly, most of them were from the Sons of the Resistance; unfortunately, when they were vetted for suitability by the Torch, none of them were of enough Power to trigger the ability needed.

I mused:

“Agony must have drained them of so much energy; we will be hard pressed to find any Souls suitable for what we need.

So, we’ll just have to do it differently; we’ll have to go use the Torch to get a suitable soul ourselves and then come back and use it here.”

Longehelim stared at me:

“Of course! We can still use the Torch twice a day; once to get there and once to come back here!”

I continued:

“I suggest we go back to Simeon’s camp. They’re bound to have prisoners there; they were fighting a battle after all.”

The paladin made an instant decision:

“We’ll do it!”

He called to the closest of the escapees and explained the plans; then we all gathered around him and after the usual tunnel of fire, we appeared in the Seaquen encampment, just behind our lines. We were not spotted initially as all the focus was towards the enemy in front but almost immediately there was a shout and guards converged upon us. We were recognized immediately and taken to Simeon and Kiernan, who looked upon us expectantly:

“We saw and heard the huge explosion; please tell us that the Obelisk is gone.”

Longhelim nodded and began a report:

“Yes, the Obelisk is gone but unfortunately Kreven escaped…….”

Quickly he went through the course of events, finishing:

“…..so we need a prisoner to return with the spell casting escapees. They may not all stay but some will and we think that they will be a great asset to the Resistance.”

Simeon and Kiernan looked at him blankly:

“Prisoners?”

They looked at each other and Kiernan shook his head and said:

“I don’t think we have any; we didn’t give instructions to take prisoners; we didn’t think to. After all, this is a diversionary raid to give you time destroy the Obelisk.”

Longhelim stared at them:

“But you always take prisoners on military raids; it’s a golden opportunity to gather information about enemy strengths and weaknesses, logistics, disposition, officers and their personalities……..never mind; so, just to be clear, there are no prisoners?”

Simeon and Kiernan shook their heads. Then the dwarven magician brightened up:

“However, I do have a spell which may help. I can cast a spell to give an animal, such as a horse, conscious thought; this may be sufficient for the Torch.”

Longhelim looked at me.

I shrugged:

“Theoretically, that should work but who knows? If we don’t have any prisoners, we may as well try it and see if it is acceptable to the Torch.”

Commands were barked out and a horse was brought forward; Kiernan cast his spell as I watched with interest; I realised what he had done; I had heard of the spell he was attempting to cast but what I had not realised was that he was in fact substituting a powerful arcane spell for a less powerful spell from a different discipline; namely the druidic. I could follow the magic he was casting quite easily now and made a mental note to add it to my book when I had the time.

The spell finished but I could not see any difference to the creature, though I would be the first to admit my ignorance about horses. Longhelim approached it, waited briefly and then nodded:

“Good. This is going to work; we have to get back to the casters; there is little time left. We’ll be back very soon.”

The sequence of events followed as planned this time. We managed to get back to the former victims of Agony and sacrificed the horse; the power of the Torch was activated and everyone hurried through; Drudge was the last rear guard and as he stepped through, told us that advance elements of the Ragesians were literally within yards of the teleportation event when it ceased.

The battle was still raging around the Needle but as soon as we arrived, the orders were given for a fighting retreat and for Sheena Larkins to provide another powerful piece of transport magic which would allow the army to retreat. For the time being the refugees from the Scourge would accompany us back to Seaquen where they would then make their own decisions as to their future.

Thankfully, again, we managed to achieve this as planned. There was a lull in the fighting and our forces withdrew; I didn’t ask about casualties. I didn’t really want to know; on an intellectual level, I was aware that the Resistance was willing to sacrifice the whole of the raiding force to destroy the Obelisk and in the grand scheme of things, it would be perceived as a great success, but I found that difficult to reconcile with the screams and moans of the wounded and the dying.

 

[RangerWickett]

You granted intelligence to a horse with awaken,

and then you tore its soul out to power an artifact?

Wow.

 

[carborundum]

I second the wow. That was... a "needs of the many" situation, but still... wow. I foresee repercussions.

 

[Cafu]

Well, we didn't do it. Kiernan did. We had no spells left whatsoever after the battle.
We may have taken part in the discussion but it will be Kiernan going to hell or the abyss after that deed.
The sacrifice bit...yes well, an unfortunate requisite of using the Torch that.

 

[Cafu]

I glanced up from my books; all was quiet in the library with the exception of a few groups of students who were whispering to each other while taking notes or reading from my tomes; or at least I assumed that it was to do with the information from my tomes. Others were quietly reading other, ancient works while a few were even practicing movements with their hands while mouthing verbal incantations at the same time.

Glancing towards the end of the table I looked at John, who was just as deeply immersed in his books as the students.

Briefly, I thought back to our return; although the majority of the raiding force returned and the plan had actually worked as conceived, there was little sense of triumph. The damage to Seaquen was still too recent and too raw. The ice from the devastating attacks of the elementals had melted but the destruction was still readily apparent. Thankfully, due to the enormous influx of people as well as the foreign armies who had camped nearby, there were plenty of hands willing to help in the clearing up; unfortunately, this did not replace the dwellings that had been smashed in the magic and yet more people and families had joined the refugee camps. Fortunately, Seaquen was now accustomed to refugees from all parts of the land and although the infrastructure was strained, it had not broken.

Despite the destruction, misery and deprivation, there had been a mighty cheer when news of the Obelisk’s destruction had proliferated throughout the city; everyone had been acutely aware of the threat it had represented; and it had been more than reinforced by the appearance of a pair of titanic elementals.

We ourselves had gone straight to bed; we were exhausted in every single way imaginable. Etinifi, the immortal Seelah had come with us; he still tended to ramble in verse but one of the few understandable comments he made was that he felt that we were his best opportunity to defeat Leska so he would stay with us for the time being. While I was a little uneasy around him, there was no denying that his Song of Forms was an incredibly powerful weapon against the Trillith.

The next morning, I went to the library immediately; I was not surprised to see a throng of students waiting for me; it was not a secret that we had returned and I felt eager to return to my books; I felt I had made a breakthrough; ironically, it was something in the way Kreven had cast his spells; he reminded of something that I had been missing; that last piece in the jigsaw; I felt I had really cracked it this time but I could not be sure until I began to write down the formulae.

So, I took out all my books, invited the students to make use of them while I worked on my spells and theories; I was so excited that my quill literally flew on the scrolls as reams and reams of formulae began to fill the paper. Yes, if I did it this way, it should work; if I copied what I had seen Kreven do and adapt it to my own spells it would work; if I added this element and this phrase to these spells it would make them more complicated but I would be able to bend them around the others; but still affect the enemy!

I glanced up and saw John; I did not see any of the others but I was not concerned; they knew where to find me; I wasn’t exactly unpredictable; I continued to concentrate on my formulae to the exclusion of everything else. Then, in the early afternoon, I looked up and asked for a couple of volunteers:

“Please, I need to see if my spells are going to work the way I need them to; I want to cast a ball of fire at you; I am going to try to bend the ball around you; it should work, but just in case it doesn’t I also plan to give you magical protection against fire.”

The students looked apprehensive but then nodded. Initially, I only wanted to take the pair with me but unfortunately, all the others wanted to see so we gathered an entourage. Nearly everyone went, except John who was still immersed:

“John, I’m going out to the garden for a little while to try something out; I’ll be back shortly.”

He just nodded.

So, we went to the Open Area; the Lyceum was full of open areas like this, somewhere where mages could test their spells away from causing danger to others; after all, I was certainly not the first try something like this. As promised, I warded the two volunteers against flames and then left them standing in the testing ground. I walked back and then came the moment of truth; I cast the ball of fire at them, attempting to shape it around the two, leaving them unharmed; it was complicated and I almost failed at one point but the spell went off, creating a ball of as usual but with my improvised twist.

As soon as it was over, we ran over to my volunteers, both of whom were cheering and hollering:

“Master Faden, it worked! The fire didn’t touch us! There were two holes where we stood and the fire didn’t touch us! That was amazing! How did you do it?”

“ I want to try it again few more times, using different spells; if that works, then we’ll go back and I will attempt to explain it; I have to warn you though, it’s very complicated magic.”

The next spell I tried was a mildly poisonous cloud, not deadly, but one that would make one feel a little unwell for a little time but again, I managed to create holes within it, sparing the volunteers a few uncomfortable moments. Finally, I tried the same again with my viscous fog and again I managed to fit it around the volunteers. My theory worked!

Oh, it was complicated; really complicated magic; so complicated in fact that I would not be able to carry a full complement of spells to accommodate all the changes but I felt that it was definitely worth it. The ability to cast spells which could be bent around my friends was an incredibly useful ability.

We returned to the library. As I entered, I was grinning and John glanced up; when he saw my face, he gave me a thumbs up.

I sat down and began to write; I had an awful lot of writing to do; and explaining and showing. The students were eager to find out how to perform this kind of magic. It helped me a great deal as well; I found that the explanation organized my thinking and simplified the concepts of this new knowledge. Unfortunately, although some of them followed the principles a little longer than others, ultimately, my new methods were beyond all the students in the room. In the end, I was left alone as I wrote down formula after formula.

I am not sure just how long I was there when there was a noise from the doorway and I saw that Felix had poked his head inside the room:

“Faden, John, it’s dinner time; and after, there is news; lots of news.”

We went to the dining hall and ate; we were surrounded by the student population as well as other mages so it was a cheerful and noisy gathering. My two volunteers had quite a crowd around them.

I told everyone how my day had gone; about being able to bend spells; about the new formulae I was acquiring. Everyone else was quiet except for John who asked many questions; I suspect that he was the one who understood the most as well.

After dessert, we retired to the library again but this time we settle down in our usual places, hot drinks in hand; as usual, Longhelim lit up his pipe, Drudge took out several arrows he was in the process of making and I took out my journals and a quill, ready to make notes and also to refer to previous entries, in case we needed to be reminded of something.

Longhelim began:

“I don’t really know how this works; Felix cannot really explain but I had a very strange dream last night. It showed a young woman who turned to me and…..”

At the end of the sentence, Longhelim’s face became slightly blank and his voice changed eerily, as if a young woman was speaking through his mouth:

“and this I will tell you:

A single vigilant gatekeeper denies the dark
masquerade. He is imprisoned in war, and like
his fellow captives, he is a vital ally. His kin and
mine seek to end his stewardship. Death begets
death begets death, and in war, death lurks
behind many closed doors.
My kin are not all cruel, and some may aid
you. One will seek you who is made to change.
Another seeks justice from a father who cast
him out with nothing but horse and sword.
Others — many others — have allied with the
masked empress, but the elders are not loyal to
her. They must be stopped.
As the throngs share their dreams, they
open themselves to nightmares. The Torch
shall fall from the hand of its wielder, and the
song of the deep shall be no ally. Walk the
line between foes carefully, and beware your
unfulfilled desires.”


I watched in amazement as Longhelim came back to himself and thoughtfully took a puff of his pipe:

“Any ideas anyone?”

I looked up from furiously writing down what Longhelim’s dream had said:

“Well, the suggestion is that it refers to something about the Trillith but bar that, it’s pretty obscure.”

Felix sighed:

“Yes, that’s what Simeon said as well. He’s the foremost Loremaster of his generation and he couldn’t make head or tails out of it either; and to make things even more complicated, when Etinifi heard it, he joined in with his own contribution:

“The city of the gate bars the path of the
warring children of the Mother of Dreams. From
caverns on a sunless sea, they rise now, drooling,
howling, to break the seal, to see the Great Above.
It seems that Agony — o Agony, my brother in
chains — knew of their desire. Their nightmares
ally with Leska’s chill fire, and soon their brother
Vigilance will sleep eternal, and the gate shall
open to hordes infernal. My song, taught in ages
dark by the trilling worm, can keep you from
somnolent harm.”

John snorted:

“Yes, but he’s been speaking like that from the first moment we met him. Was Simeon able to make anything out of that?”

Felix shook his head:

“No; he was just as stumped as we were; about the only thing that he was able to understand was that this is referring to the Festival of Dreams in Gate Pass, which is to be held very soon.”

I started; the priest was right. I had completely forgotten; mostly because I had never taken part of it myself but I did remember it. Quite how the city was going to hold it being besieged by a Ragesian army was another thing but it was a public holiday for the city.

Longhelim puffed again:

“This brings us neatly to another piece of news; Gate Pass has finally been in touch; and it’s not good news. “

The paladin looked at me:

“Your friend Diogenes has been in touch with us magically; he was able to tell us quite a lot through various spells. First of all, the worst news: there has been vast slaughter in the city; almost a third of the population has been wiped out.”

I stared at him in shock; so did John; there were many thousands of people in the city; wiping out almost a third meant that thousands must have perished.

Drudge, Victor and Felix just looked grim; we all had family in Gate Pass and although it was unspoken among us, we all hoped that our families had survived.

Longhelim then continued:

“That is the worst piece of news. However, there is a plan; the recovery of the Torch and the destruction of the Obelisk has been communicated to the population and there is both unrest and sympathy. The Resistance in Gate Pass is now being led by a triumvirate: Diogenes, Erdin Menash and Rantle. As I said, it is the former that is getting in touch with us.

From what he says, the population is willing to rise up in one last attempt at driving out the Ragesians but there is one stumbling block; the Ragesians have Vorax-Hul, their gigantic red dragon sitting in a tower in the main square of Gate Pass, intimidating the population. No one wants to attempt anything with that monster overlooking the town.

It is not possible to just transport an army into Gate Pass; the place is full of those magical defences that we found, you know those rods that tug you into a pit if you travel magically; however, they have found a way to suppress them for a little time; enough time to transport an army to the West of the city, to aid the uprising.

So, we have been asked to deal with the dragon.”

I stayed quiet for a time, remembering what I knew about dragons; especially red ones. Then I said:

“Vorax-Hul is red, right? They breathe fire and are thought to be the biggest and meanest of all the evil dragons. They usually sit on a lot of treasure? They are also often spell casters and quite often have unusual powers?”

Longhelim replied:

“Simeon is waiting for us to return with a set of questions. He plans to contact Diogenes for the answers.”

I grumbled:

“They’re doing the wrong way around. I would much rather they tell us all they know or have seen this dragon do as opposed to wait for our own questions. They have seen the beast in action; they have seen it flying around and in battle; they will know what its most dangerous powers are; or its favourite tactic.”

Longhelim just smiled:

“Well, Faden, the most diplomatic way to handle that is to make the list of questions and then, at the end, put in a question such as: and please also include any other information which you think may be relevant to our task.

In other words, you’re telling them exactly what you said just now, but far more politely, and they can also see that you have made an effort in putting a list of questions together.”

So that was exactly what we did.

 

[Cafu]

We took the scroll with the questions to Simeon; he scanned it quickly and I could have sworn I saw a slight smile as he read the last question. Then he began to cast the spell. It was not particularly complicated magic, just quite long.

Diogenes must have been waiting for our response because the answer to the message began to flow back very rapidly. It took some time and several castings before Simeon was able to answer our questions. The information was haphazard and disorganized, as if Diogenes had a group of people there, all giving him information and he was relaying it to us word for word; these were the pieces that he could give us:

The dragon wore an Inquisitor mask which was said to be inhabited by the spirits of dead Inquisitors. He had shown the powers of Inquisitor including their uncanny ability to counter magic; I groaned mentally at this. The mysteries of the Ragesian Inquisitor masks were getting deeper the more we delved. Quite how they were managing to do this was a magic as deep and impenetrable as any I had ever come across.

Vorox-Hul somehow drained magic upon touching items or weapons and armour. Again, a mysterious, power that had never been recorded for a dragon; as an aside, I wondered if it was also connected with the Mask.

He could sense unseen individuals; unlike the two previous powers, this was a known power of dragons.

He was very resistant to weapons which were not magical; again, this was a known trait of the great beasts but particularly potent if Vorox-Hul was also able to drain weapons of their magical powers.

Finally, the dragon had a fearsome breath weapon; it was fire, but not only normal fire but it was mixed with some strange unholy power; this power was thought to drain the vitality, energy and power of the victim.

Simeon stopped momentarily and as he did, Longhelim turned to and looked at me in particular:

“I am no great expert but this certainly does not sound like a normal red dragon, insofar as any of these beasts could be called normal.”

I was in full agreement with him:

“The first two abilities are nothing I have ever read about; I am not sure just what powers the Ragesian mask gives him but they may be connected with that. The breath weapons worries me as well. It will affect everyone but the spell casters in particular. They may lose many of their spells.”

Felix spoke up at this point:

“I have certain spells that protect against this but if the dragon has Inquisitor abilities, then it is very likely that it could strip these protections from us they way other Inquisitors have done before.”

Simeon spoke up at this point. He was still receiving information from Gate Pass:

The dragon resided on top of a tall tower on the same square as Draco Coaltongue’s statue; incidentally, it was also the same square which contained Erdin Menash’s strange abode.

General Danava of Ragesia, was possibly amenable to a negotiated peace although he had strict orders from Leska. As such, he was not greatly enamoured of the Empress. Did we feel that there was an opportunity here?

The Shahalesti were uncertain allies, rigid and unbending.

Finally, if we were successful against the dragon, there were many other tasks and problems that we would need to face in Gate Pass.

After this final communication, the magic finally ceased.

Longhelim looked deep in thought and then shook his head:

“The comment about Danava does not make sense; why would the Ragesian general seek peace? We know that Leska ordered him to take Gate Pass. He has no room to maneuver around those orders, short of coming out in direct rebellion against the empress. He has already killed almost a third of the population of the city; his dragon is sitting in splendid isolation above the rooftops, waiting for the Resistance to just show its head before he bites it off. No, this possible peace overture sounds more like a trap than anything else.

I am not a trained diplomat but I do know when one side has no position from which to negotiate.”

John then said:

“And the Shahalesti: Rigid and unbending? I am shocked, shocked I tell you!”

I was thinking ahead:

“Well, they need us tomorrow night or early morning. We have to make plans. Just one thing: What about the Trillith?”

Longhelim grimaced:

“That is just so esoteric at the moment that we have to take that as it comes; I have no idea who or what they are, who the woman is or what she is talking about. From what I can tell, Simeon has about as much of an idea as we do so for the moment, we just concern ourselves with the more mundane, like the dragon.”

Right; so, the mundane dragon which wore an Inquisitor mask, drained magic and breathed unholy fire; very ordinary; with these thoughts rattling in my head, I went to bed.

The next morning, we all woke up early. We were going to be leaving roughly at midnight, so we were going to learn our spells this morning. As usual, there was much consultation, expectation and innovation. All of us had acquired new skills and abilities after we had destroyed the Obelisk; ironically, I had learned much from watching Kreven cast his spells; although I hated the man and knew that he was mad and steeped in evil, I could not deny his spell casting expertise; it far outstripped mine.

Felix talked of spells which had been granted to him recently; one of them sounded very useful, providing an total immunity to certain spells without impeding one’s own casting; another was a very powerful defense against evil, which also had a chance to blind an evil attacker; I was intrigued by this and asked Felix just how that worked. He promised to explain it to me as soon as we had some free time.

Longhelim and Victor discussed tactics upon facing the dragon. Victor had a very interesting idea:

“I say we try it! After all, what do we lose?”

“Do you really think you could break it? It is on its head after all; I think that head will be the size of a cart!”

“I have been looking how to do this for some time; I think I’ll be able to reach it; and I’ll be using normal falchions anyway; I don’t want to risk my adamantite one against its magic draining power. What do you think it is going to do to your Torch?”

I approached them:

“What are you planning? Sounds intriguing.”

Longhelim took his pipe out of his mouth:

“Victor believes he can slice through the mask the dragon is wearing. If it wants to bite us, which it will, it has to get within reach of his falchion. All of the masks we have seen so far would be unlikely to withstand one of Victor’s blows, so there is a chance he may be able to break it.”

I stood still and thought a bit. I honestly had no idea if it was possible and more importantly, what would happen if he succeeded. One thing I was sure of though; it wouldn’t help the dragon to have his mask smashed; at worst, it would not do anything at all.

“It has to be worth a try,” I said to them; “all the masks that we have found so far enhance the wearers’ powers so it is very likely that they do the same thing for the dragon; in fact, John and I were speculating that the spirits in the mask may even act independently of the dragon, so if you can break their vessel, then it is very likely to actively harm them.”

Victor grunted:

“Yes; that’s what Longhelim and I believe as well.”

Conversations of this ilk were taking place all day; sometimes between the group; sometimes between the group and Simeon and Kiernan; Simeon again attempted to try to research the mask magically but was unable to do so; the magic that was used to make them was just too alien for his discipline.

About mid-afternoon, Felix shouted:

“I’ve got it! I know how we can get up the tower to confront the dragon without being assaulted from all sides as we are climbing the clock tower; I was never comfortable with the idea of flying towards it under stealth spells. We have already been told that the dragon had a method of detecting the most stealthy of intruders, no matter what magic hides them. I have a spell which creates a tunnel through ethereal plane; if we put it through the tower and then move to the top, we may gain at least a few moments of surprise.”

This idea engendered a great deal of spirited discussion but ultimately, it was the best one we had to gain a stealthy entry into the tower.

So, finally, the appointed hour came and we began casting longer lasting spells in preparation. This took a little time, especially checking that everyone had the defences and effects that they were supposed to. Once that was done, we all left and met our new raiding force.

I was quite perturbed; it was very small:

“Longhelim; how are we supposed to lead an uprising with such a small force; even if we succeed, the numbers of all the fighting men in Gate Pass together with this group will barely equal the Ragesian army remaining.”

Longhelim just shrugged:

“I am assuming that Seaquen and Gate Pass discussed this amongst themselves and that provisions are being made; it may be that once we deal with the dragon, we will be tasked with getting more men from Seaquen.”

I was dubious about this explanation; I thought it far more likely that as usual, we were not being told the full story here. However, despite my distrust, suddenly, there was no more time as Longhelim activated the Torch.

Our arrival on the other side, through the fiery tunnel, was uneventful. As our raiding force began appearing behind us, we had a little time as we cast a few more spells which were much shorter in duration. Once those were cast, we employed the Torch again, this time to take us to the Tower.

As the magic moved us through the fiery tunnel, I felt a wrench and we were sent tumbling in a different direction. Moments later, we found ourselves in a pit, next to a familiar white column! A teleport disruptor! A wire grate above us was being prevented from falling and a voice said:

“Ah…..things have not gone completely to plan! Please get out of the pit as quickly as you can! This is getting very heavy!”

It was Rantle! Katarina’s brother and now apparently one of the leaders of the Resistance. We could see that he was using his sword to prevent the grate from falling on top of us. He now had a goatee and moustache and was looking at us with a grin. There were four other warriors with him, who threw ropes to us.

Drudge was also flying and he helped to carry us out of the pit.

 

[carborundum]

What? Huh? Oh no, the buffs! How mean is that!

 

[Cafu]

As we arrived at the edge, I asked:

“Where are we exactly?”

Rantle replied:

“In Menash’s house. This teleport trap was a very recent addition and we only just found out about it. We did manage to destroy four others but this one almost slipped through.”

He smiled and continued:

“Ah well, a miss is as good as a mile and we’re here so no harm done. The clock tower is that way!”

He pointed and then handed me a scroll:

“There is a bell on top of it; ringing it will be signal that you have defeated the dragon and when you do so, the population will rise against the oppressors. This is a magic spell that will help you repair the bell should it be damaged in your struggle with the beast.”

Wordlessly I took the scroll. Somehow, I had my doubts that it would be that simple.

The others had been quiet until Longhelim said:

“Thank you for your help. We know the way to the tower; after that, we can only do our best.”

Once he had said that, we all crowded around the paladin and he used the power of the Torch to transport us to the edge of the tower, on the other side of the door; we very much suspected that there was some sort of magical warning on the door. So, on the other side, Felix cast a strange new spell; it created a short corridor into the tower but it looked like a tunnel that went into ethereal plane and then back onto our plane but the other exit ended inside the clock tower. Basically, it was a hugely more powerful variation of the spell that I had, which created doorways into stone or walls; it was longer, invisible and undetectable.

Before Felix finished, I looked around and I was dumb struck by the devastation around the tower. It was one thing to be told that the area had been leveled but it was quite another to actually see it in person. All the beautiful buildings had been either burnt or demolished or abandoned. Some of them looked almost intact until one saw the tell-tale blackened walls while others were just shells with no roofs. The one thing they all had in common was that what was once a thriving part of the city was now completely devoid of people.

I almost cried at seeing the devastation that the dragon had caused.

Felix finished his spell and a doorway appeared in front of us, looking just like a dark tunnel. This was it! This was the first phase of our attack and hopefully the first step in attaining the freedom of Gate Pass.

Suddenly I had a thought:

“We should put a magical silence onto a pebble; I doubt that we will surprise the dragon but there is no need to let him know exactly where we are at all times.”

John did exactly that and now travelled in the middle of the group so as to cover everyone within the silenced area of his magic. Thus warded, we began the slow ascent up the stairs.

We were magically silent although magical means of communication had been cast between Longhelim, Drudge and Felix and I presumed that they were making full use of them.

Finally, after a seemingly endless climb, we approached the last set of stairs which would lead us to the dragon’s lair. Longhelim stopped and made a motion for John to put away the pebble, which he did. Then, quickly and quietly, we cast a couple of last spells before Victor began ascending, his boots loud on the wooden steps.

As the warrior ascended, he stopped at the top and shouted:

“The beast awakens!”

That was all I needed to hear as I nipped past the others and wound my way up the stairs. I had one spell I needed to cast at it desperately. It could potentially make all the difference. Reaching the top and stepping past Victor, I confronted the dragon!

Again, having the monster described to me and actually seeing it in reality were two completely different things. First of all, it was truly enormous! Much bigger than the Green dragon of the Salt Lake Swamp, Your Highness; even bigger than the skeletal golden dragon, Syana, which we had fought so desperately in the skies above Castle Korstull. It was also truly ugly. Its face was scarred and its forked tongue seemed to loll out of the side of its mouth and there were trails of drool from its jaws. This was not a fastidious beast.

There was also a bone mask modeled around its face; it seemed to be made of the bones of human skeletons fastened together by the bones of other animals. This was the mask that held the spirits of Inquisitors. The rest of the dragon’s body was also scarred but its skin shone with fire and its talons and teeth gleamed whitely as if they had been recently well used. The head moved leisurely, watching me, assessing, judging and without any concern.

It was lying on a huge mound of treasure; almost half the room was covered with coins, objects and valuable things. The dragon lolled in one corner.

I cast my spell on the dragon! Only to have it seized and turned on me and Victor. I sagged, suddenly so tired I could barely stand! So, the rumours that Inquisitor spirits were present in the mask were true; even though the spell had been seized and turned back on me, the dragon had done nothing visible! It was done by another entity, and an extremely powerful one at that.

As I finished, I shouted, just as Longhelim ran past me:

“It’s true! There’re spirits in the mask!”

As the paladin reached the dragon, Vorax Hul reared to his full glory and with a snake fast strike, he snapped at Longhelim, causing blood to spray from a horrific wound; this did not stop the warrior though, as the Torch of the Burning Sky flashed and sunk deep into the dragon’s chest. The battle was joined!

The others streamed by me and took their position. Drudge ran past and dashed behind the clock tower; I lost sight of him. Felix came up behind me and John positioned himself in another corner of the room. Victor managed to move forward and despite also being affected by the magic affecting which had been turned on us, he swung at the dragon and struck! Except that his target was not the dragon; instead, with almost delicated skill, his falchion cut deeply into the bone mask! I was no warrior but even I could see that it took almost extraordinary skill with a sword to target a mask this way; and to damage it to such an extent.

Vorax Hul opened his mouth and breathed a huge cone of fire, enveloping most of the room. Although all of us were protected, the intensity of the heat was such that it still hurt; considering the width of the fire, it was almost impossible to dodge the full extent. Then a shimmering magic covered the dragon:

“It’s a defensive spell!” the shout came from Felix.

I had recovered by this point and I tried to cast another spell. I was aware that I had to mask it from the spirits and this time I managed to release it. A powerful bolt of electricity shot out of my hands and struck the creature on its side; it hissed in anger so I must have caused it some damage. Then a volley of arrows came from the other side of the room and this was followed up by a series of skillful blows from Longhelim, who carefully aimed his axe at vulnerable points. The dragon was roaring now, no longer calm and collected; its blood was up and also spraying quite liberally across the room.

Then the unexpected happened; the dragon opened its mouth and a ball of flame enveloped Longhelim but in this case, his defenses held; the beast stretched its talon and almost delicately touched Victor’s falchion……but nothing seemed to happen. Then the dragon disappeared!

We looked around wildly and it was Drudge who pointed and shouted:

“Look!”

We looked out the window and saw the beast on top of a building some distance away; it was grasping a large piece of masonry and detaching it from the rest of the house. Then it took off and began to fly back towards us. Suddenly the devastation of the buildings around this area began to make sense and it didn’t take a genius to work out just what he was going to do with that large chunk of wall!

As it flew towards us, it opened its mouth again and blew out another ball of fire; it moved in mid-air towards us at speed. In a vain attempt, I tried to put my invisible wall across the opening on the east wall; although I did not cover it fully as we wanted some sort of line that would allow us to either fire arrows or cast magic to the outside; then the magical wall actually appeared, obviously affected by some magic that revealed invisibility; the ball of flame leaked around the edges and struck me; thankfully my defences held.

Felix had managed to cure Victor from his magical affliction and then he cast a very powerful defensive spell and not a moment too soon as three powerful columns of fire hit the group; mainly on Felix, Victor, John and I. Thankfully, again, our defenses against fire mostly held although again, due to the nature of the spells and their unholy energy, they did cause us some hurt.

Finally the dragon flashed by and dropped his wall…..only for John to cast a spell and suddenly the wall began to fall down very slowly, as light as a feather! It was a superb piece of spell casting!

As we watched the dragon flying away again, I turned to see Drudge running up the stairs. I believed he was going to the upper, open part of the bell tower to be able to gain a field of fire. The balcony ran on the upper part of this room, plainly visible. Still magically fast, the ranger sped up there and disappeared only for suddenly Felix to perk up and shout:

“Drudge is in trouble!”

We saw him run back, surrounded by a swarm of flying creatures, wielding glaives with blades made of adamantite. These were humanoid, with demonic features, horns and claws; their wings were bat like and their skin colour resembled stone; I recognized them immediately; they were gargoyles!

Although Drudge was swarmed by more than half a dozen of them, he dodged through the swarm and jumped into the mechanism of the clock, where he hid. I just about caught sight of him inside it; he was in constant motion, dodging various levers, wheels and clappers. More importantly, the gargoyles were totally uninterested in chasing the ranger inside that mechanical mess.

By this point, we were all on our way up the stairs to help Drudge, the way led by Longhelim; the last person was Felix who was still on the treasure room floor. The gargoyles flew down from the balcony and took advantage of his turpitude to surround him. Although he took a few hits, the priest wasted no time and magically transported himself into the middle of the rest of us; that left the whole flock of gargoyles alone and exposed.

We wasted little time; first, I cast a new spell at them; it was a nasty piece of magic that sucked the very moisture out of their bodies; despite the fact that they looked like statues, they were still creatures and they certainly felt that magic, judging by the shrieks of pain and anger that met my spell. Glaring their hatred at us, they prepared to fly and attack when Longhelim loosed the power of the Torch at them. A veritable column of fire came down from the sky on top of them, leaving them little more than piles of ashes.

Once they were finished, Drudge continued up to the cupola; we followed him but of course we were much slower. As we reached, we saw that the dragon had grasped a church steeple this time and was flying towards us again.

This time, there was very little we could do about that and as the great beast swooped past us, he dropped the steeple; although it did not hit anyone directly, it caused a great deal of confusion, collateral damage and all of us took several moments to recover from this ordeal. We realised that we were in fact much safer in the treasure room; exposed on the cupola, the next time the dragon dropped half a building on us could be far more dangerous. So we all went back down with the exception of Drudge; the ranger had managed to escape the debris and was still firing his bow as fast as possible. His arrows were hitting but the dragon was healing, or being healed, probably by his allied spirits.

Then, disaster! I was not sure exactly what happened but as we watched, we saw a flaming figure falling to the ground, or floating to be exact.

John shouted:

“That’s Drudge!”

Then we caught a glimpse of the dragon as he flew away again; Felix took one look at the situation and flew down to the ground, next to the burning figure.

We were all watching the priest below, hoping that he would be able to heal the ranger before the dragon returned; thankfully, Longhelim was watching for the dragon and then he shouted:

“The dragon has disappeared!”

We all turned, straining our eyesight to find it, and when we saw it again, this time it had another wall grasped in its claws. It flew at us; it was difficult to tell, but I was sure that the allied spirits in the mask were throwing spells at Felix and Drudge; we saw that the priest managed to help Drudge on the ground as we saw the ranger stop burning and get up; it was almost too late as Vorax Hul flew by again and dropped the masonry on Drudge and Felix; this time, the ranger managed to dodge but Felix did not.

We watched all of this fairly helplessly from above and I shouted:

“We need to get down there. I’ll get us down!”

Everyone crowded around me and I transported us next to Felix. Drudge in the meantime had collected his bow and was firing continually. Although his arrows were as pinpricks, they still hurt the beast and he was finding that his allied spirits had to use more and more spells to keep him healthy; or so we hoped, otherwise things would get very grim indeed.

The dragon was approaching yet again with another piece of masonry in its claws but we took advantage of those moments as various spells were cast which allowed us to either fly or walk on air; or more importantly, these were cast on Victor and Longhelim. As Vorax Hul approached, he opened his mouth and emitted a huge cone of flame which could fry armies; even though the warriors were protected, some of the burning leaked past the spell and hurt them; than the dragon swooped by aimed the masonry at Felix yet again; it was as if he was particularly vengeful against enemy priests.
However, this put it in reach of the two warriors and they took full advantage; Longhelim managed to strike it with the Torch, causing a few slight cuts but it was Victor who seemed to cause it the most anger as yet again the warrior concentrated his blows on the mask; as the dragon flew by, Victor bided his time and then struck it several times, damaging it to a much greater degree.

The dragon flew away.

By this time, I had cast most of my spells at Vorax Hul with a singular lack of success; either they had been rebuked by his allied spirits or unable to pierce his innate defences. So far, the person who had had the most success in hurting it was Drudge with his accurate archery; the warriors were finding it difficult to close, although Victor was targeting his mask and that was having a great deal of success. It looked to have been heavily damaged. I suspected that until it had been fully destroyed, than the dragon would still be helped by his allies. Longhelim was concentrating on hitting the dragon and although he had wounded it heavily, unfortunately, the beast seemed to have his own personal healers within that mask.

We all looked into the distance as the dragon swooped down for another piece of masonry.

Longhelim shouted:

“Quick, we have to go back to the treasure room.”

Using the power of the Torch, we did exactly that. Once up there, I cast a spell which enabled Longhelim to fly and the paladin flew up to the cupola to watch the arrival of our enemy. Victor stepped out of the window, held up by magic and almost acted as bait for Vorax Hul, while Drudge readied his bow.

The beast approached and opened its mouth, disgorging another gout of flame at Victor; I winced. I knew just how incredibly hot that breath was. I knew that even with his defences, Victor would be badly hurt. It was almost impossible to dodge even part of the flame, due to the sheer size of it. As surmised, Victor looked very badly burned and had to run back to the treasure room; to add insult to injury, Vorax Hul reared back and again struck like a snake, biting Victor just as he was moving away; thankfully, although he stumbled and almost fell over, the warrior managed to get back.

Seeing only Drudge visible, Vorax Hul swooped in just above the ranger and attempted to drop the wall on top of him; thankfully, Drudge was right next to the wall and managed to dodge most of it; unfortunately, that did leave him just below the dragon who then proceeded to rip into him; despite this, the ranger still managed to dodge most of the dragons blows and let loose a barrage of arrows.

I tried another spell only to see it bounce off its defences; it was my ray of weakening. Felix had managed to cure Victor from the wounds that had been done on him and the warrior moved into harm’s way again. This time, the dragon opened its mouth and another blast of flame swept all of the room, catching all of us, excluding Felix, who had wisely stayed on the other side of the room.

It looked as if the dragon decided to make a fight of it this time, though, since upon aligning itself to cause such devastation with its breath, it allowed Victor and Longhelim to close with it. The paladin flew down from the cupola and slashed at it with his axe, creating a deep cut on its back; Victor stayed true to his target and again struck at the mask; delicately, he cut if off the dragon’s head, bit by bit until it finally fell away.

Vorax Hul let out a mighty roar and went berserk!

He opened his mouth and another enormous gout of flame flew into the room, although the main target was Victor. The dragon was concentrating all his efforts on the warrior who destroyed his mask; those allied spirits must have somehow been connected to his survival instincts. Felix was healing everyone furiously and I watched as the warriors were able to engage the beast at close quarters.

It was still a close run thing; Drudge fired his arrows but the most devastating blows were struck by Longhelim and Victor; after the dragon of course. Seeing it in a berserk fury with talons the size of swords and teeth like daggers as well as a tail, it was almost unbelievable that either Victor or Longhelim could survive for very long; and they would not have done so if it was not for Felix and John, who were both doing as much healing as they could.

Finally, after a particularly strong series of blows by Victor, the dragon almost slowly lost control and began spiraling to the ground; as he did so, suddenly there was smoke and then his body was set aflame until rapidly his burning bones were exposed and these crashed onto the ground in a roaring inferno.