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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6111757" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>Victor was the first to react as he calmly chopped the fishman in front of him; that creature promptly fell over in two pieces; then I stepped up and positioned myself in line with the minotaur; I cast a spell which caused a black ray to erupt from my hand and then strike it; the others had all seen this ray before; it was a weakening spell; Felix incanted his spell which caused a great column of fire to engulf the minotaur; this time the creature roared in pain as it was fully caught in the conflagration. Longhelim also had a fishman in front of him of whom he disposed quickly. The minotaur stepped forward and whirled that hammer again with devastating effect; I noticed that the weapon glowed as it struck the glass tanks; as it swept through in a circle, it struck Victor and Longhelim as well as ensuring that two more fishmen join our little party; John was also in its range but for some reason, the creature did not attempt to strike the rogue. However, then it was the turn of the warriors; Victor stepped up and struck the minotaur deeply with two strong blows.</p><p> </p><p>I stepped back and cast my spell of speed.</p><p> </p><p>As I did this, I noticed that one of the fishmen stepped forward and attacked one of his comrades; so, they seemed to be fairly mindless. The minotaur looked as if it had had enough and flew up into the air. This gave me the opportunity to envelop him in a ball of fire; the powerful one. It managed to dodge some of the fire but not all of it; even though he had partially dodged it, it was very apparent that he had still been burnt rather badly, especially after Felix’s spell earlier; just as well. It was noticeable that Victor’s weapon was partially resisted every time it slipped past the minotaur’s defences; this, together with Victor’s inability to find vulnerable portions in its anatomy, as well as its ability with that huge hammer, meant that this was a very skilled and powerful opponent.</p><p> </p><p> Unfortunately, my spell meant that the minotaur bellowed and fixed its stare on me; I had had to move previously to make sure that I would be able to envelop it in the ball of fire; maybe it was this slight distraction that allowed Victor to fly up; as the warrior did so, he unleashed three powerful blows which bit deeply into the minotaur’s torso, despite its defences. In a fury, the creature whirled that hammer again and this time unleashed a devastating blow onto Victor; the poor warrior immediately folded and burst into flames. It then turned around and fixed its stare on me again; it flew over and hovered, getting its hammer ready.</p><p> </p><p>This was not good; one blow from that weapon would completely ruin my day. So, I ducked down and cast another spell; this one would make me invisible; it was the more complicated version, which would allow me to take whatever actions I wanted without any danger of the spell being negated. Then I scurried out from under it. Despite my invisibility, the minotaur’s uncanny senses served it well and it swung a ponderous fist with the hammer, managing to get me with a glancing blow. Oh my, that hurt! If that was its strength after it had been weakened, I dreaded to think what it must have been like at full strength.</p><p> </p><p>As I moved rapidly away, I saw that both Felix, John and Longhelim were around Victor, casting spells. I presumed that they were healing him; there were also several of the fishmen milling around and taking swipes at people including each other; but although they were unpleasant, they paled into insignificance in comparison with the flying minotaur.</p><p> </p><p>I moved up again and this time I threw a series of force missiles at him which served to drive him into an insane fury. Victor, nothing loth, had flown full speed and struck another powerful blow. This time, something seemed to break and the minotaur gave out a mighty bellow; it suddenly changed into a raging whirlwind, tearing everything in its path; including Victor, several more tanks and me. Victor was knocked prone as was I and the tanks were smashed; as this cacophony finished, the minotaur could be seen on the ground, shaking its head and panting. Drudge, quickly nocked an arrow and fired; except that with Drudge, it was never just one arrow; another followed, followed by another and another. One seemed to sink into its flesh right up to its fletching while the others also sank deeply into its torso. This time, its magical protections seemed to be no longer in place.</p><p> </p><p>With one last groan, the creature sank onto the ground, leaving us panting almost as strongly as it had been. In our case though, it was mostly relief.</p><p> </p><p>Slowly, I moved towards it, making sure that it was actually slain; up close, it was quite an extraordinary amalgam. To all intents and purposes, its upper body looked very much like the minotaur which we had seen during the Battle of Gallo’s Fend; rather brusquely described as a “big cow” by John; it was solid flesh and the horns felt….well, like horns; but the lower half would best be described as an air elemental; the vapour was still present below its waist; I gingerly put my finger into it but it reacted like smoke. I could only think that this strange addition to its metabolism would explain its ability to fly, the strange resistances and also the power to become a raging, destructive whirlwind. It was truly strange; I had never read about anything like this.</p><p> </p><p>As I was conducting my examination, I saw Victor walk over the hammer and pick it up with a grunt. Even with his prodigious strength, he was obvious having some difficulty in wielding it. Quickly I cast a cantrip and announced:</p><p> </p><p>“That hammer is magical!”</p><p> </p><p>Victor just looked at me and nodded. Then John said:</p><p> </p><p>“Have a look at that big door on the opposite wall. Is that magical?”</p><p> </p><p>“No,” I said, as I looked at it, “the door is normal.”</p><p> </p><p>Then Drudge’s voice came from behind us: “Look at this!”</p><p> </p><p>Quickly we looked around, expecting trouble; instead, he was staring into one of the tanks. We joined him and saw what he was looking at: in the tank, blurry but still discernible, was one of the clerics from the House of Healing in Eresh. The mystery deepened; how on earth did one of these clerics end up here? The figure inside seemed to have been slightly mutated which suggested that it had only been in the tank for a short period of time; this tallied as we had only seen these clerics a few days ago ourselves.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim said: “So, now we know why there are legends of people disappearing from the town. Now, I think we’ve found out what we can in these rooms; let’s go and see what is beyond those doors.”</p><p> </p><p>John carefully searched the steps in front of them for any traps but thankfully there was nothing; then surprisingly, Drudge stepped forward with his set of strange, delicate little instruments and quickly picked the lock. Following that, John conjured his invisible friend and then opened the door just a little.</p><p> </p><p>Beyond, part of a large room was revealed. It was luxurious, with a thick carpet just in front of the door and parts of elaborate, beautiful furniture just visible through the door crack. At the far end of the room, there was stairway spiraling upwards along the wall.</p><p> </p><p>We all approached cautiously, creeping closer to the entry and pushing the door slightly wider; as we did so, our attention was grabbed by a beautiful sculpture suspended by chains above the entry. It was a stylized scene of an eagle being chased by a dragon; another reference to the myth of the two great elemental spirits and their eternal chase until the dragon lured the eagle into a cave and defeated it, ripping out its heart. The sculpture seemed to be a mixture of metal and another material, possibly ceramic and very finely made, from what we could tell.</p><p> </p><p>John then quietly instructed his invisible friend to roll up the lush carpet; as it touched the cloth, the fibres grew and began attempting to grasp whatever was touching it. If someone had been standing on it…….</p><p> </p><p>As we stared at this in fascination, we were startled to hear a voice:</p><p> </p><p>“You don’t understand the concept of Forbidden Valley do you? Others have come before you but they were not as advanced. The best they have done is being able to serve as the guards to the entrance. You, however, if you survive, will be far more useful. I shall enjoy crafting your new forms.</p><p> </p><p>A pity; if you had not come here, you may even have been able to retrieve the Torch of the Burning Sky; with that in the hands of my Master, we would be invincible! There is too much suffering in this world; it is time to put a stop to it!”</p><p> </p><p>Victor looked around at us and whispered loudly:</p><p> </p><p>“That’s Caela’s voice; from the Temple!”</p><p> </p><p>He had no time to say anything else as a woman appeared floating in mid air in the room; she was a striking figure, dressed in simple trousers and shirt, small, slim and fair of skin, her dark hair in a ponytail; two whips were undulating behind her, suspended in mid-air.</p><p> </p><p>Then she turned into a lightning bolt! Streaking through the air, she went through John, who managed to sidestep her attack; then she appeared next to me; I received a very powerful punch which nearly knocked all my teeth loose, as well as an incredibly powerful electric shock.</p><p> </p><p>As she turned solid, on the other side of the entrance, we could see that there was a crackling of electrical energy in front of her; some sort of magical shield. Felix managed to cast a spell at her; I recognized it as the spell which dissolved spells but it seemed to bounce off her and then she moved almost impossibly fast again turning into a lightning bolt again; bouncing from person to person, literally almost going through them. She became solid again next to me with another clout; at this point, everything became black!</p><p> </p><p>I woke up as I was healed, only to find her gone. Felix whispered:</p><p> </p><p>“Victor and Longhelim are now flying. They both struck her and she was substantially wounded but she disappeared in a puff of flame. She’s gone somewhere. John’s looking for her on the balcony.”</p><p> </p><p>I got up and followed the priest into the room. Earlier I had cast the spell which allowed me to spot the invisible and I saw her high in the room, above a large balcony. Longhelim and Victor were both there, as was John. I shouted:</p><p> </p><p>“She’s right at the top!”</p><p> </p><p>I was almost entranced by the roof! It was made of glass and I could see the storm raging outside. It was incredible to be able to witness the rage of nature like this; as I watched, my wonder turned to horror as the glass dome shattered, showering the balcony with large shards of glass. Thankfully, John was able to dodge them.</p><p> </p><p>She became visible at this point, allowing Victor to fly to her and strike her deeply with the Living Blade; not at all fazed, she skipped back nimbly and cast a spell! Unbelievable! She was spell caster as well! I even recognized the spell; it was one of Felix’s favourites; the one that dissolved magic. It also bounced against Victor and I remembered that the warrior had a strange magic ring which acted as a fool proof defence against a particular spell. The cunning warrior must have chosen this spell! It certainly made sense.</p><p> </p><p>I saw a grimace of annoyance on her face as this happened and then an arrow from Drudge swished past her; I could hear swearing from the ranger:</p><p> </p><p>“What the…..I hit her, I swear!”</p><p> </p><p> A flying Longhelim slashed her with his sword. Again, she skipped back in the air and then cast the same spell at Victor, this time succeeding and forcing him to fall down onto the balcony; after that, she flew out of the door.</p><p> </p><p>John jumped down the balcony, twirling gracefully in the air and landing without any harm. Victor had to go down the stairs instead. Longhelim flew after her and Drudge also followed.</p><p> </p><p>There was a shout from outside: “She’s hiding among the tanks!”</p><p> </p><p>I was trying to gauge an opportunity to cast some spells but it was almost impossible. She was in the air most of the time. However, Drudge was an expert marksman and was soon shooting accurately at her, despite her best efforts to hide. Still, he was frustrated as I could hear him shouting:</p><p> </p><p>“She’s got some magic against arrows!”</p><p> </p><p>Then, in an almost unbelieving tone: “She’s batting them out of the air with her hands! Just what is this woman?”</p><p> </p><p>I moved out to the doorway and saw her amongst the vats. I cast my spell of force missiles only to see them glance off harmlessly from another magical defence. This was followed by another arrow from Drudge; this one actually stuck into her. Longhelim flew next to her and then struck her with his sword; it was a mighty blow; she stepped back and then dissolved his magic, neutralizing his ability to fly. Then she flew up and disappeared, again.</p><p> </p><p>John and Longhelim immediately ran to the initial entrance to the vat room. The rest of us looked around warily and drunk potions. This lasted for a brief period of time and then John and Longhelim returned. There was no sign that she had been intending to escape.</p><p> </p><p>Cautiously, they entered into the main room again. There was still no sign of her. John moved up to the balcony, where he began to rifle through the desk up there. Suddenly I saw her again just at the entrance and shouted:</p><p> </p><p>“She’s back!”</p><p> </p><p>She was still invisible but she flew through the air and cast a spell; this time there was a puff on the wall and suddenly the chains holding the statue shattered as the huge object fell on top of Longhelim, who just about managed to jump out of the way; she managed to fly through the exit just before the statue fell. This left us with the problem of having the doorway blocked by the statue. Thankfully, I saw John and Drudge slip through a tiny gap; somehow they wriggled through it; I would have had trouble seeing it!</p><p> </p><p>After that, I saw Victor taking off his complicated gauntlet and then hefting the large hammer which I had last seen in the hands of the minotaur; gearing himself up, he swung it and struck the broken remnants of the statue an almighty blow; it shattered even further with an almighty noise. I noticed that the hammer glowed again as it struck; nothing loth, the warrior swung again and this time the statue shattered completely, allowing a path into the room.</p><p> </p><p>There, we saw Caela confronting the others, still in the air. There were a couple of arrows near her, probably deflected. This time, I had another spell ready for her. A black ray sprang from my hand and hit her. She had no defence against this and was now severely weakened. She hissed in annoyance and flew past me into the room, tapping me as she flew by; whatever magic she had on her hand was powerful as I nearly fell to the ground after feeling as if all of my insides had been turned inside out.</p><p> </p><p>The others all chased after her. Drudge shouted at Victor:</p><p> </p><p>“Smash the stairs wall!”</p><p> </p><p>I wasn’t sure why the ranger wanted that but Victor smashed the wall; he now created an open staircase for its lower part. As Longhelim and Drudge fired at her, she deflected one arrow but several others struck her. She flew up to the balcony. Drudge immediately sped after her. As he reached the top, I saw her going down again; Longhelim fired but then I saw the Drudge was falling spectacularly from the balcony and he managed to shoot an arrow at the same time. It flew true; and then he landed like an acrobat, reaching into his quiver and readying another arrow.</p><p> </p><p>A moment later he obviously changed his mind and ran to Victor and throwing a bow and quiver at him.</p><p> </p><p>“Now shoot her!”</p><p> </p><p>The warrior immediately joined Longhelim and Drudge. There was now a peculiar rhythm to the combat. She would fly to the balcony, where she would be chased by Drudge; as she saw him and more often than not deflected his shot; then she would fly down where both Victor and Longhelim would shoot her. She still had her magical defence against arrows but slowly but surely, she was being hit; but this was being offset by her own attacks; as she flew by and tapped me, not only did it feel as if all my insides were being squeezed into nothing, to add insult to injury, she was visibly healing at the same time. It was during one of these passes that she tapped me and I could resist no more. The attack seemed even more severe than all the previous ones and suddenly, everything went black!</p><p> </p><p>I woke up with a potion bottle next to my lips. Everyone looked exhausted, leaning on bows and swords but there was a figure lying on the ground! We must have got her! I had no part in it though; rather I felt sick; whatever magic she had used on me was particularly unpleasant and had lingering effects. The potions were helping though.</p><p> </p><p>As Felix was giving them to me, I asked: “So, who got her in the end?”</p><p> </p><p>Felix nodded towards the paladin: “Longhelim did. She had just deflected one of Drudge’s arrows but Longhelim managed a very powerful shot which did for her in the end.”</p><p> </p><p>Just then, we saw a large chunk of ice land near us. We all looked up in alarm and realised that in the intensity of the fight, we had forgotten that the roof had been broken. The winds by themselves would not have harmed us but the debris flung around by the storm was another matter.</p><p> </p><p>Drudge shouted: “We need to get out of here. Grab her stuff and let’s go!”</p><p> </p><p>I was still staggering more than running but I joined the others as we got out of there, although I did manage to take a small sample of the green liquid from the vats as I moved past. Not a moment too soon, as more and more debris began raining through the floor, smashing the room, the vats and the walkways; snow began to fall in vast amounts into the rooms, swallowing everything; it was almost like an avalanche; I could almost smell the magic on this “storm.”</p><p> </p><p>Aiding each other, we managed run into the spiked pit and climb out of it, being pummeled by flying debris all the way. Unfortunately, our horses were gone; and with them all the equipment. </p><p> </p><p>As we scrambled our way over the edge of the pit, peering with our eyes almost closed in the driving sleet and snow, we watched as the storm assault the complex beneath us with unnatural fury. It was an awesome display of power. Large objects and debris swirled in the powerful wind, lightning crackled incessantly and snow was being driven almost horizontally into the opening. It was only due to the gift we obtained in the Fire Forest of Innenotdar that we were not swept up into its mighty embrace. Then, almost impossibly, we saw a break in the clouds; a moment later, this gap was filled by a mighty shape floating in the sky; it was sleek, almost fish-like in appearance with strange side protruding sections in the head; it was also impossibly huge, larger than any of the dragons we had seen; as we watched this thing in awe and stupefaction, we saw a light disc in it belly; it rotated and for a moment looked as if it was staring at us; this disc by itself looked to be larger than the Green Dragon of Sour Lake Swamp. Then as we watched, the clouds closed and we lost sight of this thing or being, whatever it was.</p><p> </p><p>We looked at each other speechless. I knew that no one would be able to answer my questions about what he had just seen. Yet again we had seen something wondrous, mysterious and almost certainly incredibly dangerous.</p><p> </p><p>We rose quickly and began walk out of the valley. As soon as we reached its border, we camped; we had to rest, recover and learn new spells. It would take us all days to look at the various magical items we had taken from Caela’s body. We set watches but fortunately, the night passed uneventfully.</p><p> </p><p>The next day, John and I spent most of the day researching the items we had found; they were incredibly useful; Caela must have been a highly favoured disciple. Suffice it to say that Felix, Drudge and Victor were very happy after our research. Then in the late afternoon, I approached Longhelim:</p><p> </p><p>“I have a spell which will conjure up some horses; they will be strange and look as they are spirit horses but they will move incredibly fast and allow us to reach Eresh very quickly; I have also made sure that they are not affected by snow.”</p><p> </p><p>He nodded, puffing on his pipe; there was always something comforting watching Longhelim puffing on his pipe. It almost seemed as if so long as Longhelim had his pipe, everything was going to be all right.</p><p> </p><p>I continued: “Longhelim, what do you think was going on? I don’t understand. The Forbidden Valley was being defended by monks among others and Caela was the main disciple of one of the leaders of the Monastery, Pilus. Yet, we found members of the town in the vats; at the same time, you said that the monks were not evil.”</p><p> </p><p>He puffed again and took the pipe out of his mouth: “Good questions, Faden; I can’t answer them for you because I don’t know; what I would ask of you is to still them until we have finished dealing with Masters Pilus and Longinus; I have some suspicions and I will share them with you and the others but only after we leave Eresh. In the meantime, I would ask you again not to start asking questions.”</p><p> </p><p>“Alright; I don’t understand, but I will do as you ask.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6111757, member: 6692807"] Victor was the first to react as he calmly chopped the fishman in front of him; that creature promptly fell over in two pieces; then I stepped up and positioned myself in line with the minotaur; I cast a spell which caused a black ray to erupt from my hand and then strike it; the others had all seen this ray before; it was a weakening spell; Felix incanted his spell which caused a great column of fire to engulf the minotaur; this time the creature roared in pain as it was fully caught in the conflagration. Longhelim also had a fishman in front of him of whom he disposed quickly. The minotaur stepped forward and whirled that hammer again with devastating effect; I noticed that the weapon glowed as it struck the glass tanks; as it swept through in a circle, it struck Victor and Longhelim as well as ensuring that two more fishmen join our little party; John was also in its range but for some reason, the creature did not attempt to strike the rogue. However, then it was the turn of the warriors; Victor stepped up and struck the minotaur deeply with two strong blows. I stepped back and cast my spell of speed. As I did this, I noticed that one of the fishmen stepped forward and attacked one of his comrades; so, they seemed to be fairly mindless. The minotaur looked as if it had had enough and flew up into the air. This gave me the opportunity to envelop him in a ball of fire; the powerful one. It managed to dodge some of the fire but not all of it; even though he had partially dodged it, it was very apparent that he had still been burnt rather badly, especially after Felix’s spell earlier; just as well. It was noticeable that Victor’s weapon was partially resisted every time it slipped past the minotaur’s defences; this, together with Victor’s inability to find vulnerable portions in its anatomy, as well as its ability with that huge hammer, meant that this was a very skilled and powerful opponent. Unfortunately, my spell meant that the minotaur bellowed and fixed its stare on me; I had had to move previously to make sure that I would be able to envelop it in the ball of fire; maybe it was this slight distraction that allowed Victor to fly up; as the warrior did so, he unleashed three powerful blows which bit deeply into the minotaur’s torso, despite its defences. In a fury, the creature whirled that hammer again and this time unleashed a devastating blow onto Victor; the poor warrior immediately folded and burst into flames. It then turned around and fixed its stare on me again; it flew over and hovered, getting its hammer ready. This was not good; one blow from that weapon would completely ruin my day. So, I ducked down and cast another spell; this one would make me invisible; it was the more complicated version, which would allow me to take whatever actions I wanted without any danger of the spell being negated. Then I scurried out from under it. Despite my invisibility, the minotaur’s uncanny senses served it well and it swung a ponderous fist with the hammer, managing to get me with a glancing blow. Oh my, that hurt! If that was its strength after it had been weakened, I dreaded to think what it must have been like at full strength. As I moved rapidly away, I saw that both Felix, John and Longhelim were around Victor, casting spells. I presumed that they were healing him; there were also several of the fishmen milling around and taking swipes at people including each other; but although they were unpleasant, they paled into insignificance in comparison with the flying minotaur. I moved up again and this time I threw a series of force missiles at him which served to drive him into an insane fury. Victor, nothing loth, had flown full speed and struck another powerful blow. This time, something seemed to break and the minotaur gave out a mighty bellow; it suddenly changed into a raging whirlwind, tearing everything in its path; including Victor, several more tanks and me. Victor was knocked prone as was I and the tanks were smashed; as this cacophony finished, the minotaur could be seen on the ground, shaking its head and panting. Drudge, quickly nocked an arrow and fired; except that with Drudge, it was never just one arrow; another followed, followed by another and another. One seemed to sink into its flesh right up to its fletching while the others also sank deeply into its torso. This time, its magical protections seemed to be no longer in place. With one last groan, the creature sank onto the ground, leaving us panting almost as strongly as it had been. In our case though, it was mostly relief. Slowly, I moved towards it, making sure that it was actually slain; up close, it was quite an extraordinary amalgam. To all intents and purposes, its upper body looked very much like the minotaur which we had seen during the Battle of Gallo’s Fend; rather brusquely described as a “big cow” by John; it was solid flesh and the horns felt….well, like horns; but the lower half would best be described as an air elemental; the vapour was still present below its waist; I gingerly put my finger into it but it reacted like smoke. I could only think that this strange addition to its metabolism would explain its ability to fly, the strange resistances and also the power to become a raging, destructive whirlwind. It was truly strange; I had never read about anything like this. As I was conducting my examination, I saw Victor walk over the hammer and pick it up with a grunt. Even with his prodigious strength, he was obvious having some difficulty in wielding it. Quickly I cast a cantrip and announced: “That hammer is magical!” Victor just looked at me and nodded. Then John said: “Have a look at that big door on the opposite wall. Is that magical?” “No,” I said, as I looked at it, “the door is normal.” Then Drudge’s voice came from behind us: “Look at this!” Quickly we looked around, expecting trouble; instead, he was staring into one of the tanks. We joined him and saw what he was looking at: in the tank, blurry but still discernible, was one of the clerics from the House of Healing in Eresh. The mystery deepened; how on earth did one of these clerics end up here? The figure inside seemed to have been slightly mutated which suggested that it had only been in the tank for a short period of time; this tallied as we had only seen these clerics a few days ago ourselves. Longhelim said: “So, now we know why there are legends of people disappearing from the town. Now, I think we’ve found out what we can in these rooms; let’s go and see what is beyond those doors.” John carefully searched the steps in front of them for any traps but thankfully there was nothing; then surprisingly, Drudge stepped forward with his set of strange, delicate little instruments and quickly picked the lock. Following that, John conjured his invisible friend and then opened the door just a little. Beyond, part of a large room was revealed. It was luxurious, with a thick carpet just in front of the door and parts of elaborate, beautiful furniture just visible through the door crack. At the far end of the room, there was stairway spiraling upwards along the wall. We all approached cautiously, creeping closer to the entry and pushing the door slightly wider; as we did so, our attention was grabbed by a beautiful sculpture suspended by chains above the entry. It was a stylized scene of an eagle being chased by a dragon; another reference to the myth of the two great elemental spirits and their eternal chase until the dragon lured the eagle into a cave and defeated it, ripping out its heart. The sculpture seemed to be a mixture of metal and another material, possibly ceramic and very finely made, from what we could tell. John then quietly instructed his invisible friend to roll up the lush carpet; as it touched the cloth, the fibres grew and began attempting to grasp whatever was touching it. If someone had been standing on it……. As we stared at this in fascination, we were startled to hear a voice: “You don’t understand the concept of Forbidden Valley do you? Others have come before you but they were not as advanced. The best they have done is being able to serve as the guards to the entrance. You, however, if you survive, will be far more useful. I shall enjoy crafting your new forms. A pity; if you had not come here, you may even have been able to retrieve the Torch of the Burning Sky; with that in the hands of my Master, we would be invincible! There is too much suffering in this world; it is time to put a stop to it!” Victor looked around at us and whispered loudly: “That’s Caela’s voice; from the Temple!” He had no time to say anything else as a woman appeared floating in mid air in the room; she was a striking figure, dressed in simple trousers and shirt, small, slim and fair of skin, her dark hair in a ponytail; two whips were undulating behind her, suspended in mid-air. Then she turned into a lightning bolt! Streaking through the air, she went through John, who managed to sidestep her attack; then she appeared next to me; I received a very powerful punch which nearly knocked all my teeth loose, as well as an incredibly powerful electric shock. As she turned solid, on the other side of the entrance, we could see that there was a crackling of electrical energy in front of her; some sort of magical shield. Felix managed to cast a spell at her; I recognized it as the spell which dissolved spells but it seemed to bounce off her and then she moved almost impossibly fast again turning into a lightning bolt again; bouncing from person to person, literally almost going through them. She became solid again next to me with another clout; at this point, everything became black! I woke up as I was healed, only to find her gone. Felix whispered: “Victor and Longhelim are now flying. They both struck her and she was substantially wounded but she disappeared in a puff of flame. She’s gone somewhere. John’s looking for her on the balcony.” I got up and followed the priest into the room. Earlier I had cast the spell which allowed me to spot the invisible and I saw her high in the room, above a large balcony. Longhelim and Victor were both there, as was John. I shouted: “She’s right at the top!” I was almost entranced by the roof! It was made of glass and I could see the storm raging outside. It was incredible to be able to witness the rage of nature like this; as I watched, my wonder turned to horror as the glass dome shattered, showering the balcony with large shards of glass. Thankfully, John was able to dodge them. She became visible at this point, allowing Victor to fly to her and strike her deeply with the Living Blade; not at all fazed, she skipped back nimbly and cast a spell! Unbelievable! She was spell caster as well! I even recognized the spell; it was one of Felix’s favourites; the one that dissolved magic. It also bounced against Victor and I remembered that the warrior had a strange magic ring which acted as a fool proof defence against a particular spell. The cunning warrior must have chosen this spell! It certainly made sense. I saw a grimace of annoyance on her face as this happened and then an arrow from Drudge swished past her; I could hear swearing from the ranger: “What the…..I hit her, I swear!” A flying Longhelim slashed her with his sword. Again, she skipped back in the air and then cast the same spell at Victor, this time succeeding and forcing him to fall down onto the balcony; after that, she flew out of the door. John jumped down the balcony, twirling gracefully in the air and landing without any harm. Victor had to go down the stairs instead. Longhelim flew after her and Drudge also followed. There was a shout from outside: “She’s hiding among the tanks!” I was trying to gauge an opportunity to cast some spells but it was almost impossible. She was in the air most of the time. However, Drudge was an expert marksman and was soon shooting accurately at her, despite her best efforts to hide. Still, he was frustrated as I could hear him shouting: “She’s got some magic against arrows!” Then, in an almost unbelieving tone: “She’s batting them out of the air with her hands! Just what is this woman?” I moved out to the doorway and saw her amongst the vats. I cast my spell of force missiles only to see them glance off harmlessly from another magical defence. This was followed by another arrow from Drudge; this one actually stuck into her. Longhelim flew next to her and then struck her with his sword; it was a mighty blow; she stepped back and then dissolved his magic, neutralizing his ability to fly. Then she flew up and disappeared, again. John and Longhelim immediately ran to the initial entrance to the vat room. The rest of us looked around warily and drunk potions. This lasted for a brief period of time and then John and Longhelim returned. There was no sign that she had been intending to escape. Cautiously, they entered into the main room again. There was still no sign of her. John moved up to the balcony, where he began to rifle through the desk up there. Suddenly I saw her again just at the entrance and shouted: “She’s back!” She was still invisible but she flew through the air and cast a spell; this time there was a puff on the wall and suddenly the chains holding the statue shattered as the huge object fell on top of Longhelim, who just about managed to jump out of the way; she managed to fly through the exit just before the statue fell. This left us with the problem of having the doorway blocked by the statue. Thankfully, I saw John and Drudge slip through a tiny gap; somehow they wriggled through it; I would have had trouble seeing it! After that, I saw Victor taking off his complicated gauntlet and then hefting the large hammer which I had last seen in the hands of the minotaur; gearing himself up, he swung it and struck the broken remnants of the statue an almighty blow; it shattered even further with an almighty noise. I noticed that the hammer glowed again as it struck; nothing loth, the warrior swung again and this time the statue shattered completely, allowing a path into the room. There, we saw Caela confronting the others, still in the air. There were a couple of arrows near her, probably deflected. This time, I had another spell ready for her. A black ray sprang from my hand and hit her. She had no defence against this and was now severely weakened. She hissed in annoyance and flew past me into the room, tapping me as she flew by; whatever magic she had on her hand was powerful as I nearly fell to the ground after feeling as if all of my insides had been turned inside out. The others all chased after her. Drudge shouted at Victor: “Smash the stairs wall!” I wasn’t sure why the ranger wanted that but Victor smashed the wall; he now created an open staircase for its lower part. As Longhelim and Drudge fired at her, she deflected one arrow but several others struck her. She flew up to the balcony. Drudge immediately sped after her. As he reached the top, I saw her going down again; Longhelim fired but then I saw the Drudge was falling spectacularly from the balcony and he managed to shoot an arrow at the same time. It flew true; and then he landed like an acrobat, reaching into his quiver and readying another arrow. A moment later he obviously changed his mind and ran to Victor and throwing a bow and quiver at him. “Now shoot her!” The warrior immediately joined Longhelim and Drudge. There was now a peculiar rhythm to the combat. She would fly to the balcony, where she would be chased by Drudge; as she saw him and more often than not deflected his shot; then she would fly down where both Victor and Longhelim would shoot her. She still had her magical defence against arrows but slowly but surely, she was being hit; but this was being offset by her own attacks; as she flew by and tapped me, not only did it feel as if all my insides were being squeezed into nothing, to add insult to injury, she was visibly healing at the same time. It was during one of these passes that she tapped me and I could resist no more. The attack seemed even more severe than all the previous ones and suddenly, everything went black! I woke up with a potion bottle next to my lips. Everyone looked exhausted, leaning on bows and swords but there was a figure lying on the ground! We must have got her! I had no part in it though; rather I felt sick; whatever magic she had used on me was particularly unpleasant and had lingering effects. The potions were helping though. As Felix was giving them to me, I asked: “So, who got her in the end?” Felix nodded towards the paladin: “Longhelim did. She had just deflected one of Drudge’s arrows but Longhelim managed a very powerful shot which did for her in the end.” Just then, we saw a large chunk of ice land near us. We all looked up in alarm and realised that in the intensity of the fight, we had forgotten that the roof had been broken. The winds by themselves would not have harmed us but the debris flung around by the storm was another matter. Drudge shouted: “We need to get out of here. Grab her stuff and let’s go!” I was still staggering more than running but I joined the others as we got out of there, although I did manage to take a small sample of the green liquid from the vats as I moved past. Not a moment too soon, as more and more debris began raining through the floor, smashing the room, the vats and the walkways; snow began to fall in vast amounts into the rooms, swallowing everything; it was almost like an avalanche; I could almost smell the magic on this “storm.” Aiding each other, we managed run into the spiked pit and climb out of it, being pummeled by flying debris all the way. Unfortunately, our horses were gone; and with them all the equipment. As we scrambled our way over the edge of the pit, peering with our eyes almost closed in the driving sleet and snow, we watched as the storm assault the complex beneath us with unnatural fury. It was an awesome display of power. Large objects and debris swirled in the powerful wind, lightning crackled incessantly and snow was being driven almost horizontally into the opening. It was only due to the gift we obtained in the Fire Forest of Innenotdar that we were not swept up into its mighty embrace. Then, almost impossibly, we saw a break in the clouds; a moment later, this gap was filled by a mighty shape floating in the sky; it was sleek, almost fish-like in appearance with strange side protruding sections in the head; it was also impossibly huge, larger than any of the dragons we had seen; as we watched this thing in awe and stupefaction, we saw a light disc in it belly; it rotated and for a moment looked as if it was staring at us; this disc by itself looked to be larger than the Green Dragon of Sour Lake Swamp. Then as we watched, the clouds closed and we lost sight of this thing or being, whatever it was. We looked at each other speechless. I knew that no one would be able to answer my questions about what he had just seen. Yet again we had seen something wondrous, mysterious and almost certainly incredibly dangerous. We rose quickly and began walk out of the valley. As soon as we reached its border, we camped; we had to rest, recover and learn new spells. It would take us all days to look at the various magical items we had taken from Caela’s body. We set watches but fortunately, the night passed uneventfully. The next day, John and I spent most of the day researching the items we had found; they were incredibly useful; Caela must have been a highly favoured disciple. Suffice it to say that Felix, Drudge and Victor were very happy after our research. Then in the late afternoon, I approached Longhelim: “I have a spell which will conjure up some horses; they will be strange and look as they are spirit horses but they will move incredibly fast and allow us to reach Eresh very quickly; I have also made sure that they are not affected by snow.” He nodded, puffing on his pipe; there was always something comforting watching Longhelim puffing on his pipe. It almost seemed as if so long as Longhelim had his pipe, everything was going to be all right. I continued: “Longhelim, what do you think was going on? I don’t understand. The Forbidden Valley was being defended by monks among others and Caela was the main disciple of one of the leaders of the Monastery, Pilus. Yet, we found members of the town in the vats; at the same time, you said that the monks were not evil.” He puffed again and took the pipe out of his mouth: “Good questions, Faden; I can’t answer them for you because I don’t know; what I would ask of you is to still them until we have finished dealing with Masters Pilus and Longinus; I have some suspicions and I will share them with you and the others but only after we leave Eresh. In the meantime, I would ask you again not to start asking questions.” “Alright; I don’t understand, but I will do as you ask.” [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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