“Wait!” I called out to them but all I could see was the darkness in the trees.
John turned around and asked:
“What did you want to speak to them about?”
“Well, she obviously knows Rhuarc; it would have been good to find out just what he is, if possible. His father was a paladin and his mother was a diabolist, whatever that is; probably something to do with demons or devils by the sounds of it though; he also has an extremely powerful weapon that is subject to legends of its own. Is he a magician, a warrior or both? What do his companions do? Are they really drow? Where did they come from? There are so many questions.
Also, she is aware that the Torch had been stolen so she may have been able to tell us just how they managed to do that. Let’s not forget; this group somehow infiltrated Castle Korstull, managed to get past skilled security teams and killed the most powerful emperor of the known world; the half orc who defeated a golden dragon single handed. That’s quite a feat. Put it like this John, I don’t think our group of six would come close to doing what they did and there were only three of them.”
Victor added quietly:
“As you mentioned previously though Faden, if they were trilliths then they could just walk through the walls.”
John said just as quietly:
“I really, really hope that those are not three trilliths we’re going after.”
Longhelim began to load up Grenadier with his old gear.
“Well, one way or another we’re not doing anything at the moment. Points well made all around but ultimately, we have to go in there and face the drow and Rhuarc or whatever they are.”
With that, he dismissed his horse and we shouldered our packs.
The paladin turned to the rest of us:
“I suggest we follow the river and find this cave with a beach of black sand; after that, we’ll land there and decided what to do.”
We all turned into mist and flew along the river. Now that we had a destination, it was a much easier task. Looking down upon the banks of this water way, I shuddered to think what it would have been like if we had had to follow the trail on foot; unpleasant would be a succinct way of putting it. Fortunately, due to Felix’s spell, it was actually quite easy and some time later, we found our destination: as described, a large, wide cave mouth with a beach of black sand in front of it.
One important thing I did notice is that we were now outside the Haunted Forest of Ycengled so certain magic was available.
We landed and as soon as we were our solid selves again, we looked inside; it was pitch black.
“Well, there it is; as described,” said Longhelim. “Should we go inside now or wait until morning?”
Felix replied: “If we think that there are undead spirits inside, and Fayne hinted as much, then I don’t have the right set of spells at the moment.”
“Considering what we may be facing, I wouldn’t mind being able to change my spells either; but,
let’s not forget; the situation beyond the forest is fluid and there is a Ragesian army and a whole group of powerful Shahalesti magicians who are probably searching furiously for us at the moment,” I added.
We set up camp and thankfully, the night again passed uneventfully.
The next morning, we prepared our spells. As the sun rose behind us, it lit up the entrance to reveal a long passage into the darkness and we were able to see that we cast long shadows down it. That gave us an idea of just what to expect. As usual, we spent some time lingering over Felix’s special breakfast and after that we cast various other spells which boosted, aided or defended. Finally, we were prepared.
We built a bonfire behind us and waited until it lit the passage, using our shadows to guide us as instructed. We followed them into the cave. It was a dark passage but quite pleasant in its underground way; dry, wide and spacious. It was certainly more pleasant than the sewers of Dassen or the steam tunnels of Seaquen. As mentioned, the passage into the cave began by being very wide but then narrowed although it still allowed us to move two abreast.
The guiding shadows from the entrance seemed to last for an inordinately long time but they finally blended into the darkness and we had to put a light spell on a pebble. This was quite powerful magic that equated the light of day and it was being carried by John’s invisible friend behind us; so, again, we were casting shadows in front of us. As we went deeper, the noise made by the river strengthened; the tunnels became large and uniform with level floors and fairly tall ceilings. They would have been quite frightening if it hadn’t been for the magical light; now, instead, they became easier to survey as the light rolled back the darkness and Drudge was ever alert with his bow in case something objected to our presence.
We came to our first intersection and the shadows danced around the entrances to three separate tunnels; one going straight ahead and two veering east and west; one of these, the one going west, had something a little darker etched on its wall, a strange symbol which was just visible.
Cautiously, we approached and, keeping the light behind us, examined the mouths of the tunnels. As we saw, the one to the west revealed a small symbol on the wall. Strangely, as soon as the shadows moved off the wall, the symbol would disappear, making all the tunnel mouths identical. We had a brief discussion, debating the semantics of Fayne’s instructions, but finally deciding the follow the tunnel with the signs.
Again it was dry and dark although as soon as we entered, we felt a strange sensation as if we had walked through a physical barrier and our ears popped. I had a feeling that we may have somehow entered another plane, although my theory was based on a tome written by a source now discredited; labeled insane in fact. I spent a little time wondering if readers of my journals, should I be fortunate enough to have any, would judge me insane after the accounts of the events in the Monastery of the Two Winds and the Eternally Burning Forest of Innenotdar. It must be said that if I was in their shoes, I would certainly…..
I bumped gently into Victor who had stopped in front of me; peeking around him, I saw Drudge staring intently ahead; as I looked at the direction which had drawn his attention, I could vaguely distinguish two figures; they looked as if they were just standing there. We approached more slowly and carefully and as we came closer, Longhelim whispered:
“Ware! These beings are evil!”
The beings in question were a pair of stunningly beautiful dark elves. Even by the standards of their race, they were of outstanding pulchritude, with willowy figures, beautiful, dark skin and the famous white blonde hair; we dwarves do not generally find elves very attractive, so I was able to resist their charms with slightly more ease but even so my thoughts were suddenly running in a direction that was most unusual and a little disturbing.
“Aaaaah, heroes! Help us!” one of them cooed, in a voice that promised………everything.
I had thought that Longhelim’s voice could be persuasive when he wanted but in comparison to her….well he obviously still had a lot to learn. That tone and timbre added a whole new dimension to the physical attraction she projected.
The other joined in:
“Yes, please help us. We’ve been in these caves for a long time; we’re trying to get back to our city. We’re sure it’s this way! We would be ever, ever, ever, ever soooooo grateful!”
It really didn’t take a genius to work out just how grateful they would be, especially judging by her sinuous movements. For the time being both Longhelim and Victor were not responding; instead Longhelim asked:
“How exactly did you get here?”
The same drow responded:
“Ooooh, that naughty Rhuarc! He’s given the Torch to the Shahalesti, you know; and he’s just left us here. He’s so, so, naughty, isn’t he sister?”
Then it suddenly struck me! Rhuarc had two drow accomplices when he conducted the raid upon Castle Korstull. Could this be them?
I turned around to Longhelim to ask what he thought when Drudge’s voice behind us, behind us, said:
“I think we should help them.”
I turned to him and then realised that a third luscious lady had appeared and she was already draped around the ranger, whispering in his ear. He had a strange expression on his face and a rather distracted grin, as if her voice was the only one he could hear and it was telling him everything he wanted to hear.
Rhuarc had had two accomplices not three, according to our witness, although they could have been wrong of course; but there was something very wrong here; drow were known for a lot things but lasciviousness was not one of them. However, there was one creature that was particularly well known for this type of behavior and they were also capable of changing their appearance!
Obviously, I wasn’t the only one with suspicions as John moved to Drudge and gave him a little pat. As soon as he did that, Drudge shouted out:
“They’re trying to take over my mind! Get them!”
That was enough for the others. Longhelim’s sword flamed up, casting yet another shadow, this time in front of us and it sliced into one of the drow, who looked at the paladin with feminine appeal, before lashing out like lightning with her own fists and slamming him into a wall. They certainly seemed to be very strong for innocent drow maidens.
The one next to Drudge was not so lucky, as the ranger stepped back and put three arrows into her torso; it was obvious that the arrows were not penetrating as deeply as they should have done but she was still hurt.
As soon as that happened, she disappeared from sight to everyone but me; I could see that she had stepped into the ethereal plane and did not bother to maintain her drow form any longer. Now, she was still a stunning female but this time with large bat wings; I quickly turned around that saw that her two sisters had also had enough and emulated her actions. Victor had some sort of liquid dripping from his falchion so he must have struck one of them; I suspect that they didn’t like that. Victor has that effect on people; as a point of interest, I noticed that although they still looked very similar in bodily shape, one was a red head, the other raven haired while the final one was white blond; with large batwings, of course; oh, and even the small horns they sported were sweet and quite charming.
“I can see them! They’re in the ethereal plane! And they’re Succubi!”
Drudge looked shocked:
“What? They were demons?”
I looked at him and grinned:
“Yes, Drudge, these are real proper demons; and you nearly got kissed by one. You really wouldn’t like being kissed by one of those.”
Longhelim interrupted at this point:
“Right, Faden, what’re they doing?”
“Basically, making abusive signs and gestures as well as offering themselves quite blatantly to me but not getting any closer.”
“Well, since you can see them, keep an eye on them and let’s carry on.”
As I fulfilled Longhelim’s instructions, well let us just say that I suddenly realised that yet again there were large gaps in another part of my education.
We carried on walking down the corridor; the succubi watched us malevolently but made no move to follow. I lost them in the darkness fairly quickly but I still kept glancing behind me quite nervously. After a little time, I relaxed as we carried on. The pattern repeated itself as we kept the light behind us and used the shadowed marks to guide us.
Then, in the distance, we saw an opening; carefully, Drudge went ahead to take a look but as soon as he did, he turned to us and beckoned. When we arrived at the opening, we saw a familiar black beach and a forest which we recognized. We were back where we had started!
“It was for that one moment when I held the fiery sword and the shadows reversed; that’s what threw us!” grumbled Longhelim.
I kicked at a bit of sand in disgust and said:
“We should have realised that something was not right when the succubi didn’t follow us. They knew we were going out.”
Well, Fayne had warned us that we had to keep the light behind us all the time. If that changed at any time, then the magic was broken.
John turned around and asked:
“What did you want to speak to them about?”
“Well, she obviously knows Rhuarc; it would have been good to find out just what he is, if possible. His father was a paladin and his mother was a diabolist, whatever that is; probably something to do with demons or devils by the sounds of it though; he also has an extremely powerful weapon that is subject to legends of its own. Is he a magician, a warrior or both? What do his companions do? Are they really drow? Where did they come from? There are so many questions.
Also, she is aware that the Torch had been stolen so she may have been able to tell us just how they managed to do that. Let’s not forget; this group somehow infiltrated Castle Korstull, managed to get past skilled security teams and killed the most powerful emperor of the known world; the half orc who defeated a golden dragon single handed. That’s quite a feat. Put it like this John, I don’t think our group of six would come close to doing what they did and there were only three of them.”
Victor added quietly:
“As you mentioned previously though Faden, if they were trilliths then they could just walk through the walls.”
John said just as quietly:
“I really, really hope that those are not three trilliths we’re going after.”
Longhelim began to load up Grenadier with his old gear.
“Well, one way or another we’re not doing anything at the moment. Points well made all around but ultimately, we have to go in there and face the drow and Rhuarc or whatever they are.”
With that, he dismissed his horse and we shouldered our packs.
The paladin turned to the rest of us:
“I suggest we follow the river and find this cave with a beach of black sand; after that, we’ll land there and decided what to do.”
We all turned into mist and flew along the river. Now that we had a destination, it was a much easier task. Looking down upon the banks of this water way, I shuddered to think what it would have been like if we had had to follow the trail on foot; unpleasant would be a succinct way of putting it. Fortunately, due to Felix’s spell, it was actually quite easy and some time later, we found our destination: as described, a large, wide cave mouth with a beach of black sand in front of it.
One important thing I did notice is that we were now outside the Haunted Forest of Ycengled so certain magic was available.
We landed and as soon as we were our solid selves again, we looked inside; it was pitch black.
“Well, there it is; as described,” said Longhelim. “Should we go inside now or wait until morning?”
Felix replied: “If we think that there are undead spirits inside, and Fayne hinted as much, then I don’t have the right set of spells at the moment.”
“Considering what we may be facing, I wouldn’t mind being able to change my spells either; but,
let’s not forget; the situation beyond the forest is fluid and there is a Ragesian army and a whole group of powerful Shahalesti magicians who are probably searching furiously for us at the moment,” I added.
We set up camp and thankfully, the night again passed uneventfully.
The next morning, we prepared our spells. As the sun rose behind us, it lit up the entrance to reveal a long passage into the darkness and we were able to see that we cast long shadows down it. That gave us an idea of just what to expect. As usual, we spent some time lingering over Felix’s special breakfast and after that we cast various other spells which boosted, aided or defended. Finally, we were prepared.
We built a bonfire behind us and waited until it lit the passage, using our shadows to guide us as instructed. We followed them into the cave. It was a dark passage but quite pleasant in its underground way; dry, wide and spacious. It was certainly more pleasant than the sewers of Dassen or the steam tunnels of Seaquen. As mentioned, the passage into the cave began by being very wide but then narrowed although it still allowed us to move two abreast.
The guiding shadows from the entrance seemed to last for an inordinately long time but they finally blended into the darkness and we had to put a light spell on a pebble. This was quite powerful magic that equated the light of day and it was being carried by John’s invisible friend behind us; so, again, we were casting shadows in front of us. As we went deeper, the noise made by the river strengthened; the tunnels became large and uniform with level floors and fairly tall ceilings. They would have been quite frightening if it hadn’t been for the magical light; now, instead, they became easier to survey as the light rolled back the darkness and Drudge was ever alert with his bow in case something objected to our presence.
We came to our first intersection and the shadows danced around the entrances to three separate tunnels; one going straight ahead and two veering east and west; one of these, the one going west, had something a little darker etched on its wall, a strange symbol which was just visible.
Cautiously, we approached and, keeping the light behind us, examined the mouths of the tunnels. As we saw, the one to the west revealed a small symbol on the wall. Strangely, as soon as the shadows moved off the wall, the symbol would disappear, making all the tunnel mouths identical. We had a brief discussion, debating the semantics of Fayne’s instructions, but finally deciding the follow the tunnel with the signs.
Again it was dry and dark although as soon as we entered, we felt a strange sensation as if we had walked through a physical barrier and our ears popped. I had a feeling that we may have somehow entered another plane, although my theory was based on a tome written by a source now discredited; labeled insane in fact. I spent a little time wondering if readers of my journals, should I be fortunate enough to have any, would judge me insane after the accounts of the events in the Monastery of the Two Winds and the Eternally Burning Forest of Innenotdar. It must be said that if I was in their shoes, I would certainly…..
I bumped gently into Victor who had stopped in front of me; peeking around him, I saw Drudge staring intently ahead; as I looked at the direction which had drawn his attention, I could vaguely distinguish two figures; they looked as if they were just standing there. We approached more slowly and carefully and as we came closer, Longhelim whispered:
“Ware! These beings are evil!”
The beings in question were a pair of stunningly beautiful dark elves. Even by the standards of their race, they were of outstanding pulchritude, with willowy figures, beautiful, dark skin and the famous white blonde hair; we dwarves do not generally find elves very attractive, so I was able to resist their charms with slightly more ease but even so my thoughts were suddenly running in a direction that was most unusual and a little disturbing.
“Aaaaah, heroes! Help us!” one of them cooed, in a voice that promised………everything.
I had thought that Longhelim’s voice could be persuasive when he wanted but in comparison to her….well he obviously still had a lot to learn. That tone and timbre added a whole new dimension to the physical attraction she projected.
The other joined in:
“Yes, please help us. We’ve been in these caves for a long time; we’re trying to get back to our city. We’re sure it’s this way! We would be ever, ever, ever, ever soooooo grateful!”
It really didn’t take a genius to work out just how grateful they would be, especially judging by her sinuous movements. For the time being both Longhelim and Victor were not responding; instead Longhelim asked:
“How exactly did you get here?”
The same drow responded:
“Ooooh, that naughty Rhuarc! He’s given the Torch to the Shahalesti, you know; and he’s just left us here. He’s so, so, naughty, isn’t he sister?”
Then it suddenly struck me! Rhuarc had two drow accomplices when he conducted the raid upon Castle Korstull. Could this be them?
I turned around to Longhelim to ask what he thought when Drudge’s voice behind us, behind us, said:
“I think we should help them.”
I turned to him and then realised that a third luscious lady had appeared and she was already draped around the ranger, whispering in his ear. He had a strange expression on his face and a rather distracted grin, as if her voice was the only one he could hear and it was telling him everything he wanted to hear.
Rhuarc had had two accomplices not three, according to our witness, although they could have been wrong of course; but there was something very wrong here; drow were known for a lot things but lasciviousness was not one of them. However, there was one creature that was particularly well known for this type of behavior and they were also capable of changing their appearance!
Obviously, I wasn’t the only one with suspicions as John moved to Drudge and gave him a little pat. As soon as he did that, Drudge shouted out:
“They’re trying to take over my mind! Get them!”
That was enough for the others. Longhelim’s sword flamed up, casting yet another shadow, this time in front of us and it sliced into one of the drow, who looked at the paladin with feminine appeal, before lashing out like lightning with her own fists and slamming him into a wall. They certainly seemed to be very strong for innocent drow maidens.
The one next to Drudge was not so lucky, as the ranger stepped back and put three arrows into her torso; it was obvious that the arrows were not penetrating as deeply as they should have done but she was still hurt.
As soon as that happened, she disappeared from sight to everyone but me; I could see that she had stepped into the ethereal plane and did not bother to maintain her drow form any longer. Now, she was still a stunning female but this time with large bat wings; I quickly turned around that saw that her two sisters had also had enough and emulated her actions. Victor had some sort of liquid dripping from his falchion so he must have struck one of them; I suspect that they didn’t like that. Victor has that effect on people; as a point of interest, I noticed that although they still looked very similar in bodily shape, one was a red head, the other raven haired while the final one was white blond; with large batwings, of course; oh, and even the small horns they sported were sweet and quite charming.
“I can see them! They’re in the ethereal plane! And they’re Succubi!”
Drudge looked shocked:
“What? They were demons?”
I looked at him and grinned:
“Yes, Drudge, these are real proper demons; and you nearly got kissed by one. You really wouldn’t like being kissed by one of those.”
Longhelim interrupted at this point:
“Right, Faden, what’re they doing?”
“Basically, making abusive signs and gestures as well as offering themselves quite blatantly to me but not getting any closer.”
“Well, since you can see them, keep an eye on them and let’s carry on.”
As I fulfilled Longhelim’s instructions, well let us just say that I suddenly realised that yet again there were large gaps in another part of my education.
We carried on walking down the corridor; the succubi watched us malevolently but made no move to follow. I lost them in the darkness fairly quickly but I still kept glancing behind me quite nervously. After a little time, I relaxed as we carried on. The pattern repeated itself as we kept the light behind us and used the shadowed marks to guide us.
Then, in the distance, we saw an opening; carefully, Drudge went ahead to take a look but as soon as he did, he turned to us and beckoned. When we arrived at the opening, we saw a familiar black beach and a forest which we recognized. We were back where we had started!
“It was for that one moment when I held the fiery sword and the shadows reversed; that’s what threw us!” grumbled Longhelim.
I kicked at a bit of sand in disgust and said:
“We should have realised that something was not right when the succubi didn’t follow us. They knew we were going out.”
Well, Fayne had warned us that we had to keep the light behind us all the time. If that changed at any time, then the magic was broken.