As we began to check our spells, I noticed that Oller had retreated into a corner and was saying nothing and doing even less. I looked at Grellfinn and he just shook his head. It became obvious that the rogue would not participate in anything else we were going to do here in Castle Korstull. He had lost heart, hope and will. I hope he regained these at some point but I suspected that it would not be soon. Despite this, we still put our spell of fire protection on him, just in case. We also put that spell on everyone else as well as various other spells on individuals that would aid, boost, defend and prevent.
It was at this point that John, Felix and I all noticed a very strange peculiarity. All of our spells seemed to roll off our tongues incredibly fast. It was as if we were able to incant our spells at two or three times the normal speed. It was glorious! I felt I could cast all my spells in a fraction of the time it usually took. Immediately, I began to act out my movements and mouth the words of the magic; I sneaked a look at the others and saw John and Felix with the same look on their faces.
Simultaneously, I realised the danger; it was such an intoxicating feeling that it would be very easy to cast all of my spells immediately, just to see how they worked. I steeled myself and acted as if my spell casting was normal; I determined to use this ability as needed instead of just blasting off spells uncontrollably.
Turning to John and Felix, I asked:
“Any ideas? Explanations?”
Felix shook his head:
“This place is very strange; no, I don’t have the slightest idea as to what is happening here; never read, heard or come across anything like it.”
I thought very hard and then said:
“There is a technique which duplicates this but it is very advanced; only the most powerful practitioners of magic even attempt it; it means that one can cast spells almost instantaneously but it usually makes simple spells hugely more complicated. Here, it looks as if the spells remain simple but can still be cast at miraculous speed.”
As I was still conversing with Felix, I heard Victor saying to Drudge:
“Do you have any ideas what they are talking about?”
The ranger answered: “I think they can cast spells far faster than usual and they have no idea why. Faden is trying to work it out but not getting very far.”
Longhelim cleared his throat at this point:
“Gentlemen, I realize this is all very interesting but we must go. Hopefully, there’s a nice torch waiting for us here somewhere.”
I was quite flustered:
“Longhelim, you have no idea how important this is; if we can isolate the reasons why this place is producing this effect, we may be able to reproduce it and it could give us an incalculable advantage in the war.”
“Will you be able to work it out in the next few moments? Because that’s probably about as long as we can spare in this room.”
“Well, no but……”
“Then we’ve got to go. Now!”
So, despite the curious magical anomaly in the area, we finished casting all the necessary defensive spells and as soon as that was done, John’s invisible friend opened the door which was on the other side of the lift room. It opened into a narrow corridor; and……..
at the other end of the narrow corridor, there they were: the welcoming committee.
Two skeletons: one orc wearing the usual spiked armour and shield, while the other looked to be one of those which previously had been human; they both had the usual fiery aura and burning tears on their skulls.
John reacted first; he moved onto the lift and then a wall of flame to appeared in front of everyone else. I was eternally grateful that we had decided to learn our spells, despite the discomfort; otherwise, things would have been very sticky from the outset.
Victor obviously thought that speed was of the essence and as such, he moved forward through the wall. After that, there was a shout:
“Something has just gone off on me in the corridor! Some sort of magical trap! My ring has just countered its spell! There are also arrow slits; archers on each side! Pentagram drawn on the floor just ahead of me!”
We all piled onto the lift platform and saw Victor just at the entrance of the corridor and the two skeletons still in view.
I shouted at Felix:
“Cast your air walking spell on Victor!”
As I said this, I stepped up and cast my flying spell on Longhelim. The paladin immediately began to fly to the far end of the corridor. Felix used his power to try to destroy the skeletons, but as he did so, he shouted:
“It’s much harder to destroy them here! Something’s protecting them!”
Despite this, we did notice that there were not as many arrows blazing through the slits as there should have been if they had all been manned. The warriors followed Longhelim as he engaged the lead skeleton and then John stepped to the lift end of the corridor and cast a strange spell: as he finished, he put his hands on the side wall and rapidly he began to mould it as if it was clay; the stone had literally softened under his magic; within moments, he had created a hole which allowed access to the parallel passage beyond. Nothing loth, I stepped forward and as I did, I saw three skeletons in this new passage. Immediately, lightning crackled from my hands and they were enveloped in electricity; one of them blew up immediately; the other two managed to dodge to a limited extent and one of them moved up and stuck his axe into me, which hurt.
It was difficult to tell what was going on except that I still heard sounds of fighting beside me and suddenly I saw a wall of flame appear in the passage next to me, which meant that everyone else was in it as that was the main passageway to the skeletons.
Well, they would have to take care of that themselves; I had my own skeletons to worry about. Or, I thought I did but then several arrows flew in into through the arrow slit and one collapsed.
“Nice one, Drudge!” I called out.
That allowed me to cast my spell of force missiles at the other skeleton in front of me, causing it to collapse as well. That left this corridor clear to the end, a blank wall, which gave me an idea:
“Victor, get in here!” I shouted above the din.
A few moments later, I saw the warrior come up behind me; as soon as he appeared I cast a spell which opened a gap in the stone wall, right in front of another skeleton, who turned his head and looked at me. If a skeletal face could look surprised, that one did as Victor surged forward and hit it with his sword; I took the opportunity to retreat but not before I saw another wall a short distance in front of me. Again, it had several arrow slits, and there were was definitely signs of movement on the other side of them.
I took the opportunity to shout:
“More archers behind wall in front!”
There was a shout from Victor just after mine:
“More skeletons! Two short swords, breastplates!”
Longhelim shouted back:
“Sargeant attacking!”
It was becoming very difficult to see anything through all the walls of flame; these were appearing everywhere. I saw Grellfinn join Victor in the corridor as the latter dispatched the skeleton in front of him. Then I saw Victor attacking the enemy around his corner. For some reason, he seemed reluctant to step into the corridor in front.
A moment later I heard him shout:
“Ware! Skeletons stepping back! Trap!”
Then Victor stepped through the gap my spell had created and I heard an exclamation as well as seeing what looked like a thousand arrows as soon as the warrior stepped through:
“Good gods! Faden, get up here! We need your wall! Hurry! There are enough skeletons here for a small army!”
Just as he did so, a wall of flame blocked the view at the end of the corridor.
Despite this I sped up, past a bemused Grellfinn and through the same gap that Victor had just vacated……and skewered myself on the spike of the battleaxe of one of the orc skeletons! That was not pleasant but then I suddenly saw what had caused Victor such consternation!
Behind me was a wall of flame, although I could see Longelim within it, fencing with the orc skeleton. Victor was also hitting it but it was the sight to right of me that immediately required my attention.
The corridor opened into large room with several columns as supports. Two staircases led to a balcony which in turn contained two doors but the most arresting feature was the large trophy mounted on the wall. It was the skeleton of an enormous lizard like winged creature, almost certainly a dragon.
Just to add to the sense of strangeness, there were various bits of debris and rubbish just floating in the air, drifting aimlessly; and finally, there was another welcoming committee. This time there I could see at least two more of the orc skeletons and several more ranks of soldier skeletons; I didn’t have the time to count them but there must have been at least twenty. Another wall of flames appeared, right behind me this time; thankfully, although this one cut me off from the sight of my friends, it also blocked the sight of the orc skeleton who was next to me.
Using all the magical speed that was available in this strange place, I cast my spell, placing an indestructible, invisible barrier across the doorway! It left a tiny gap as I couldn’t block the flame wall which was already there, but it served to defend us against the massed ranks of crossbowmen who were aiming in our direction. Literally as I finished the spell a mass of bolts bounced off this newly created wall. I sighed in relief when I saw this and was about to move when I heard the ominous cranking of a ratchet being wound behind the wall next to me; I recognized that sound: it was a heavy crossbow being loaded!
My new course of action was fairly obvious; getting skewered by a very heavy crossbow bolt was not part of my plan today, so I scurried through the wall of fire, past Grellfin and back into the corridor.
Quickly I took stock, reviewing my options, mentally sketching a rough map of the area:
A thin corridor ran vertically for some length; this vertical corridor had arrow slits on each side, thereby, it was obvious that there were other corridors running vertically parallel to this one; we had accessed one of these parallel corridors through John’s magic.
All these vertical corridors led onto to a wider, horizontal corridor, leading left and right, the far wall of which also had arrow slits, meaning that there had to be another corridor, this time running parallel horizontally to the wider corridor. The right end of the wide horizontal passage opened up into a large circular room which had rank upon rank of enemy skeletons; thankfully, this was not blocked off; the other end showed a closed door.
At this time, the wide horizontal corridor was full of skeletons. Simultaneously, various flame walls ran across all the corridors, severely limiting vision as well as burning everyone; fortunately, we had managed to put magical fire defences which were saving our bacon. Oh, and just to add to the fun, there was a dragon skeleton mounted on the wall of the large circular room. I was expecting that to animate at any moment and join in the fun.
The main battle at this time was between Longhelim and a squad of skeletons as well as their orc commander. Thankfully, I knew that Felix had cast a powerful spell on the paladin’s sword which was particularly inimical to undead; now the very touch of the weapon was deadly to the skeletons.
Then Victor’s voice rang out:
“New enemy! Humanoid! Incorporeal! Bear mask! Tears of fire. Coming in!”
There was something familiar about that description. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it, but something was tugging in the back of my mind. Then, as I was looking forward, I saw Grellfin jump through the flame wall blocking my view of the front. Then there was a shout from Longhelim:
“Keep hitting there Victor! You’re getting him; he’s swaying!”
That sounded as if Victor was hitting through the wall of flame. I remembered the strange exercises on which the two warriors spent so much time; whereupon they would blindfold themselves and rely on their other senses. It seemed as if they were paying off now.
“The orc is down! There’s a gap in that space now!”
Immediately, I saw that the wall of flame in the main corridor ceased, allowing me to see John; the others were still beyond a wall of flame.
Longhelim’s voice rang out again:
“Good blow Longhelim, they’re dwindling……what the……so that’s where it is! John, get up here! There’s a secret door in the wall opposite. We need your wand to see if there are any more!”
Then Grellfin’s voice could be heard:
“The masked one is behind the wall! It’s spell casting!”
This last word was almost drowned out but a huge bang just ahead and a groan from one or two of others ahead.
“How’s he getting the spell through the wall?” was Drudge’s shout.
“I couldn’t seal the corridor completely. There was a wall of flame in the way. There’s a tiny gap at one edge. He must be able to see that!”
That was a shout from me. This must be a formidable enemy and then suddenly I remembered where I had seen that figure. As we first approached Castle Korstull and the black lightning crashed into the courtyard, the flames on the cliff parted briefly and I had caught a glimpse of someone or something watching us with undisguised hatred and malevolence. It was this thing!
Then there was another admiring shout from Drudge:
“Three of them at once, Longhelim; that’s cleared a path…….what the….”
The rest was drowned by a shout from Felix:
“Oh my gods! That’s a wall of blades; a very powerful priest spell! Victor, get back here! You’ve been slashed to ribbons!”
It was very frustrating. I couldn’t see anything but it sounded as if there was some very heavy magic being thrown around there. I had to move up to support. I cast a spell of invisibility on myself, and then determinedly, I moved forward, through the wall of flame.
To the left, I could see the wall of blades, whirling dangerously all along the breadth of the corridor. More importantly, I could see Drudge, Longhelim and Grellfinn on the other side of it, separated from us. That was not good.
To the right, my indestructible barrier was visible to me due to the nature of the magic which I had cast on myself earlier, but I could see the gap through which the creature was casting its spells. Strangely, I couldn’t actually see the creature itself as it was behind the wall. However, I could see rank upon rank of skeletons so I cast the spell which had worked so well against the ghouls; tentacles sprouted from the ground and began to grasp the tentacles. I could only see a little through the gap but it looked as if they were causing a certain amount of havoc.
I heard some spell casting behind me and I hoped that Victor was being healed; he had suffered quite badly in this wall of blades; it looked as if it had almost been dropped on top of him; it also sounded as if Longhelim was still fighting the skeletons. Victor was shouting:
“Longhelim is going after the crossbows!”
Then I frowned as I saw that my tentacles had disappeared. It seemed as if my unseen enemy had dissolved the magic. So, I began to cast one of my more powerful spells, the lightning bolt which could target more than one being when I received my biggest surprise! I heard my motions being twisted, subverted, my words were corrupted and the spell was turned back on me! Everyone near me was hit by a bolt but I suffered by far the worst hurt; I was also mortified. It had been staring me in the face! Not only was our enemy undead, incorporeal and a powerful priest, he was also an Inquisitor and looked as if he had the same powers of a spell duelist! It seemed that being dead was not a barrier to being an Inquisitor. Just what had we stepped into here?
Almost in desperation, Felix stepped forward and cast his spell of magical silence through the gap.
“There! That should keep him quiet for a few moments!”
And he was right; an eerie silence suddenly filled the gap.
Except that it didn’t; a moment later, Felix whirled around with a cry:
“Aaargh! Get away from me!”
I wasn’t quite sure what had happened but somehow, this being had affected Felix despite being in a magical silent zone and behind the invisible wall. Hurriedly, I ran to him only to see him with a reddened face; closer, I saw that it was some sort of rash, now spreading across his nose and down his neck! It looked quite repulsive!
Everyone else was still in the same positions though, with that strange whirling wall of swords still keeping Grellfinn, Drudge and Longhelim at the lower part of the corridor. I could not tell what was going on in the large room but I was still keeping some of my spells as I feared that there was a long way to go in this battle.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp stab in my leg; I glanced at myself in surprise and realised that I was quite badly hurt. I had been badly hacked and slashed as I was running around putting up the wall and then when the dastardly priest had turned my spell against me, which had also been very painful. Thankfully, Felix was quite close and tugged at his arm:
“Felix, I know you can’t see it, but I’m badly hurt.”
The priest turned with a grunt and quickly took care of it.
I moved away, past the wall of flames into the corridor again but not before I noticed that Victor had taken his hammer out of the magical container. Suddenly, the corridor nearby shook. I wasn’t at all sure what was going on so I scrambled forward and poked my head through the wall of flame. Victor was poised with his enormous hammer next to the corridor wall. How clever! He had worked out that if he knocked down the corridor wall, Longhelim, Grellfinn and Drudge would be able to bypass the wall of whirling blades that was cutting them off from the rest of us. Unfortunately, the incorporeal had also worked out what Victor was doing and had just tapped the warrior; I wasn’t quite sure what that tap had done but Victor staggered; however, several arrows flew from the arrow slit and struck the incorporeal, making him flinch and flee. I suspect he had been hoping to incapacitate the warrior before getting skewered.
Victor made another titanic effort and this time he and the hammer smashed their way through the wall, creating a hole through which the others could join us. I tried to slip behind the group but the incorporeal turned its dreadful gaze on me! The creature could see through my invisibility! A moment later, it had drifted over to me and as it had done to Victor, gently tapped me on the head. It was horrible! I felt my spells leaving my memory! The powerful spells as well! Somehow, this….this thing was leeching my ability to comprehend and cast spells. It was the worst feeling in the world! Suddenly I realised just what we were facing!
I shouted:
“’Ware! It’s a leech! A power leech!”
As soon as Longhelim stepped through the hole and saw the situation, he shouted:
“Back! Into the corridors! We’ll continue our stand there!”
It was at this point that John, Felix and I all noticed a very strange peculiarity. All of our spells seemed to roll off our tongues incredibly fast. It was as if we were able to incant our spells at two or three times the normal speed. It was glorious! I felt I could cast all my spells in a fraction of the time it usually took. Immediately, I began to act out my movements and mouth the words of the magic; I sneaked a look at the others and saw John and Felix with the same look on their faces.
Simultaneously, I realised the danger; it was such an intoxicating feeling that it would be very easy to cast all of my spells immediately, just to see how they worked. I steeled myself and acted as if my spell casting was normal; I determined to use this ability as needed instead of just blasting off spells uncontrollably.
Turning to John and Felix, I asked:
“Any ideas? Explanations?”
Felix shook his head:
“This place is very strange; no, I don’t have the slightest idea as to what is happening here; never read, heard or come across anything like it.”
I thought very hard and then said:
“There is a technique which duplicates this but it is very advanced; only the most powerful practitioners of magic even attempt it; it means that one can cast spells almost instantaneously but it usually makes simple spells hugely more complicated. Here, it looks as if the spells remain simple but can still be cast at miraculous speed.”
As I was still conversing with Felix, I heard Victor saying to Drudge:
“Do you have any ideas what they are talking about?”
The ranger answered: “I think they can cast spells far faster than usual and they have no idea why. Faden is trying to work it out but not getting very far.”
Longhelim cleared his throat at this point:
“Gentlemen, I realize this is all very interesting but we must go. Hopefully, there’s a nice torch waiting for us here somewhere.”
I was quite flustered:
“Longhelim, you have no idea how important this is; if we can isolate the reasons why this place is producing this effect, we may be able to reproduce it and it could give us an incalculable advantage in the war.”
“Will you be able to work it out in the next few moments? Because that’s probably about as long as we can spare in this room.”
“Well, no but……”
“Then we’ve got to go. Now!”
So, despite the curious magical anomaly in the area, we finished casting all the necessary defensive spells and as soon as that was done, John’s invisible friend opened the door which was on the other side of the lift room. It opened into a narrow corridor; and……..
at the other end of the narrow corridor, there they were: the welcoming committee.
Two skeletons: one orc wearing the usual spiked armour and shield, while the other looked to be one of those which previously had been human; they both had the usual fiery aura and burning tears on their skulls.
John reacted first; he moved onto the lift and then a wall of flame to appeared in front of everyone else. I was eternally grateful that we had decided to learn our spells, despite the discomfort; otherwise, things would have been very sticky from the outset.
Victor obviously thought that speed was of the essence and as such, he moved forward through the wall. After that, there was a shout:
“Something has just gone off on me in the corridor! Some sort of magical trap! My ring has just countered its spell! There are also arrow slits; archers on each side! Pentagram drawn on the floor just ahead of me!”
We all piled onto the lift platform and saw Victor just at the entrance of the corridor and the two skeletons still in view.
I shouted at Felix:
“Cast your air walking spell on Victor!”
As I said this, I stepped up and cast my flying spell on Longhelim. The paladin immediately began to fly to the far end of the corridor. Felix used his power to try to destroy the skeletons, but as he did so, he shouted:
“It’s much harder to destroy them here! Something’s protecting them!”
Despite this, we did notice that there were not as many arrows blazing through the slits as there should have been if they had all been manned. The warriors followed Longhelim as he engaged the lead skeleton and then John stepped to the lift end of the corridor and cast a strange spell: as he finished, he put his hands on the side wall and rapidly he began to mould it as if it was clay; the stone had literally softened under his magic; within moments, he had created a hole which allowed access to the parallel passage beyond. Nothing loth, I stepped forward and as I did, I saw three skeletons in this new passage. Immediately, lightning crackled from my hands and they were enveloped in electricity; one of them blew up immediately; the other two managed to dodge to a limited extent and one of them moved up and stuck his axe into me, which hurt.
It was difficult to tell what was going on except that I still heard sounds of fighting beside me and suddenly I saw a wall of flame appear in the passage next to me, which meant that everyone else was in it as that was the main passageway to the skeletons.
Well, they would have to take care of that themselves; I had my own skeletons to worry about. Or, I thought I did but then several arrows flew in into through the arrow slit and one collapsed.
“Nice one, Drudge!” I called out.
That allowed me to cast my spell of force missiles at the other skeleton in front of me, causing it to collapse as well. That left this corridor clear to the end, a blank wall, which gave me an idea:
“Victor, get in here!” I shouted above the din.
A few moments later, I saw the warrior come up behind me; as soon as he appeared I cast a spell which opened a gap in the stone wall, right in front of another skeleton, who turned his head and looked at me. If a skeletal face could look surprised, that one did as Victor surged forward and hit it with his sword; I took the opportunity to retreat but not before I saw another wall a short distance in front of me. Again, it had several arrow slits, and there were was definitely signs of movement on the other side of them.
I took the opportunity to shout:
“More archers behind wall in front!”
There was a shout from Victor just after mine:
“More skeletons! Two short swords, breastplates!”
Longhelim shouted back:
“Sargeant attacking!”
It was becoming very difficult to see anything through all the walls of flame; these were appearing everywhere. I saw Grellfinn join Victor in the corridor as the latter dispatched the skeleton in front of him. Then I saw Victor attacking the enemy around his corner. For some reason, he seemed reluctant to step into the corridor in front.
A moment later I heard him shout:
“Ware! Skeletons stepping back! Trap!”
Then Victor stepped through the gap my spell had created and I heard an exclamation as well as seeing what looked like a thousand arrows as soon as the warrior stepped through:
“Good gods! Faden, get up here! We need your wall! Hurry! There are enough skeletons here for a small army!”
Just as he did so, a wall of flame blocked the view at the end of the corridor.
Despite this I sped up, past a bemused Grellfinn and through the same gap that Victor had just vacated……and skewered myself on the spike of the battleaxe of one of the orc skeletons! That was not pleasant but then I suddenly saw what had caused Victor such consternation!
Behind me was a wall of flame, although I could see Longelim within it, fencing with the orc skeleton. Victor was also hitting it but it was the sight to right of me that immediately required my attention.
The corridor opened into large room with several columns as supports. Two staircases led to a balcony which in turn contained two doors but the most arresting feature was the large trophy mounted on the wall. It was the skeleton of an enormous lizard like winged creature, almost certainly a dragon.
Just to add to the sense of strangeness, there were various bits of debris and rubbish just floating in the air, drifting aimlessly; and finally, there was another welcoming committee. This time there I could see at least two more of the orc skeletons and several more ranks of soldier skeletons; I didn’t have the time to count them but there must have been at least twenty. Another wall of flames appeared, right behind me this time; thankfully, although this one cut me off from the sight of my friends, it also blocked the sight of the orc skeleton who was next to me.
Using all the magical speed that was available in this strange place, I cast my spell, placing an indestructible, invisible barrier across the doorway! It left a tiny gap as I couldn’t block the flame wall which was already there, but it served to defend us against the massed ranks of crossbowmen who were aiming in our direction. Literally as I finished the spell a mass of bolts bounced off this newly created wall. I sighed in relief when I saw this and was about to move when I heard the ominous cranking of a ratchet being wound behind the wall next to me; I recognized that sound: it was a heavy crossbow being loaded!
My new course of action was fairly obvious; getting skewered by a very heavy crossbow bolt was not part of my plan today, so I scurried through the wall of fire, past Grellfin and back into the corridor.
Quickly I took stock, reviewing my options, mentally sketching a rough map of the area:
A thin corridor ran vertically for some length; this vertical corridor had arrow slits on each side, thereby, it was obvious that there were other corridors running vertically parallel to this one; we had accessed one of these parallel corridors through John’s magic.
All these vertical corridors led onto to a wider, horizontal corridor, leading left and right, the far wall of which also had arrow slits, meaning that there had to be another corridor, this time running parallel horizontally to the wider corridor. The right end of the wide horizontal passage opened up into a large circular room which had rank upon rank of enemy skeletons; thankfully, this was not blocked off; the other end showed a closed door.
At this time, the wide horizontal corridor was full of skeletons. Simultaneously, various flame walls ran across all the corridors, severely limiting vision as well as burning everyone; fortunately, we had managed to put magical fire defences which were saving our bacon. Oh, and just to add to the fun, there was a dragon skeleton mounted on the wall of the large circular room. I was expecting that to animate at any moment and join in the fun.
The main battle at this time was between Longhelim and a squad of skeletons as well as their orc commander. Thankfully, I knew that Felix had cast a powerful spell on the paladin’s sword which was particularly inimical to undead; now the very touch of the weapon was deadly to the skeletons.
Then Victor’s voice rang out:
“New enemy! Humanoid! Incorporeal! Bear mask! Tears of fire. Coming in!”
There was something familiar about that description. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it, but something was tugging in the back of my mind. Then, as I was looking forward, I saw Grellfin jump through the flame wall blocking my view of the front. Then there was a shout from Longhelim:
“Keep hitting there Victor! You’re getting him; he’s swaying!”
That sounded as if Victor was hitting through the wall of flame. I remembered the strange exercises on which the two warriors spent so much time; whereupon they would blindfold themselves and rely on their other senses. It seemed as if they were paying off now.
“The orc is down! There’s a gap in that space now!”
Immediately, I saw that the wall of flame in the main corridor ceased, allowing me to see John; the others were still beyond a wall of flame.
Longhelim’s voice rang out again:
“Good blow Longhelim, they’re dwindling……what the……so that’s where it is! John, get up here! There’s a secret door in the wall opposite. We need your wand to see if there are any more!”
Then Grellfin’s voice could be heard:
“The masked one is behind the wall! It’s spell casting!”
This last word was almost drowned out but a huge bang just ahead and a groan from one or two of others ahead.
“How’s he getting the spell through the wall?” was Drudge’s shout.
“I couldn’t seal the corridor completely. There was a wall of flame in the way. There’s a tiny gap at one edge. He must be able to see that!”
That was a shout from me. This must be a formidable enemy and then suddenly I remembered where I had seen that figure. As we first approached Castle Korstull and the black lightning crashed into the courtyard, the flames on the cliff parted briefly and I had caught a glimpse of someone or something watching us with undisguised hatred and malevolence. It was this thing!
Then there was another admiring shout from Drudge:
“Three of them at once, Longhelim; that’s cleared a path…….what the….”
The rest was drowned by a shout from Felix:
“Oh my gods! That’s a wall of blades; a very powerful priest spell! Victor, get back here! You’ve been slashed to ribbons!”
It was very frustrating. I couldn’t see anything but it sounded as if there was some very heavy magic being thrown around there. I had to move up to support. I cast a spell of invisibility on myself, and then determinedly, I moved forward, through the wall of flame.
To the left, I could see the wall of blades, whirling dangerously all along the breadth of the corridor. More importantly, I could see Drudge, Longhelim and Grellfinn on the other side of it, separated from us. That was not good.
To the right, my indestructible barrier was visible to me due to the nature of the magic which I had cast on myself earlier, but I could see the gap through which the creature was casting its spells. Strangely, I couldn’t actually see the creature itself as it was behind the wall. However, I could see rank upon rank of skeletons so I cast the spell which had worked so well against the ghouls; tentacles sprouted from the ground and began to grasp the tentacles. I could only see a little through the gap but it looked as if they were causing a certain amount of havoc.
I heard some spell casting behind me and I hoped that Victor was being healed; he had suffered quite badly in this wall of blades; it looked as if it had almost been dropped on top of him; it also sounded as if Longhelim was still fighting the skeletons. Victor was shouting:
“Longhelim is going after the crossbows!”
Then I frowned as I saw that my tentacles had disappeared. It seemed as if my unseen enemy had dissolved the magic. So, I began to cast one of my more powerful spells, the lightning bolt which could target more than one being when I received my biggest surprise! I heard my motions being twisted, subverted, my words were corrupted and the spell was turned back on me! Everyone near me was hit by a bolt but I suffered by far the worst hurt; I was also mortified. It had been staring me in the face! Not only was our enemy undead, incorporeal and a powerful priest, he was also an Inquisitor and looked as if he had the same powers of a spell duelist! It seemed that being dead was not a barrier to being an Inquisitor. Just what had we stepped into here?
Almost in desperation, Felix stepped forward and cast his spell of magical silence through the gap.
“There! That should keep him quiet for a few moments!”
And he was right; an eerie silence suddenly filled the gap.
Except that it didn’t; a moment later, Felix whirled around with a cry:
“Aaargh! Get away from me!”
I wasn’t quite sure what had happened but somehow, this being had affected Felix despite being in a magical silent zone and behind the invisible wall. Hurriedly, I ran to him only to see him with a reddened face; closer, I saw that it was some sort of rash, now spreading across his nose and down his neck! It looked quite repulsive!
Everyone else was still in the same positions though, with that strange whirling wall of swords still keeping Grellfinn, Drudge and Longhelim at the lower part of the corridor. I could not tell what was going on in the large room but I was still keeping some of my spells as I feared that there was a long way to go in this battle.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp stab in my leg; I glanced at myself in surprise and realised that I was quite badly hurt. I had been badly hacked and slashed as I was running around putting up the wall and then when the dastardly priest had turned my spell against me, which had also been very painful. Thankfully, Felix was quite close and tugged at his arm:
“Felix, I know you can’t see it, but I’m badly hurt.”
The priest turned with a grunt and quickly took care of it.
I moved away, past the wall of flames into the corridor again but not before I noticed that Victor had taken his hammer out of the magical container. Suddenly, the corridor nearby shook. I wasn’t at all sure what was going on so I scrambled forward and poked my head through the wall of flame. Victor was poised with his enormous hammer next to the corridor wall. How clever! He had worked out that if he knocked down the corridor wall, Longhelim, Grellfinn and Drudge would be able to bypass the wall of whirling blades that was cutting them off from the rest of us. Unfortunately, the incorporeal had also worked out what Victor was doing and had just tapped the warrior; I wasn’t quite sure what that tap had done but Victor staggered; however, several arrows flew from the arrow slit and struck the incorporeal, making him flinch and flee. I suspect he had been hoping to incapacitate the warrior before getting skewered.
Victor made another titanic effort and this time he and the hammer smashed their way through the wall, creating a hole through which the others could join us. I tried to slip behind the group but the incorporeal turned its dreadful gaze on me! The creature could see through my invisibility! A moment later, it had drifted over to me and as it had done to Victor, gently tapped me on the head. It was horrible! I felt my spells leaving my memory! The powerful spells as well! Somehow, this….this thing was leeching my ability to comprehend and cast spells. It was the worst feeling in the world! Suddenly I realised just what we were facing!
I shouted:
“’Ware! It’s a leech! A power leech!”
As soon as Longhelim stepped through the hole and saw the situation, he shouted:
“Back! Into the corridors! We’ll continue our stand there!”