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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: 6164066" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>I led her to the entrance of the chamber with the sky sled and showed it to her. She was just as puzzled about it as I was.</p><p> </p><p>Then I asked her:</p><p> </p><p>“You know about the army outside?”</p><p> </p><p>She nodded grimly and replied:</p><p> </p><p>“Let’s discuss that later. The sled, well, never seen anything like it.”</p><p> </p><p>I was disappointed but not surprised; I spoke to her about my next idea:</p><p> </p><p>“Would you be willing to do your fast divination on it? Just to see what it can do? Felix has got a miracle which will protect you against the harm inside the room. We have to make sure that it lasts long enough so that you’re not hurt of course but if that’s the case, would you be willing to do it?”</p><p> </p><p>She thought and then said:</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, I’ve got that spell available and I’ll certainly cast it on that floating carriage.”</p><p> </p><p>Felix and Jorine consulted, making sure that his spell would protect her for long enough; thankfully, that was the case and so, duly protected, the gnome entered the room and cast her spell. Fortunately, the procedure went without a hitch and Jorine returned to us, wide eyed and pale.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, that was a surprise! I need a drink.”</p><p> </p><p>I handed her a water bottle. She swigged it and then spat the contents out!</p><p> </p><p>“I mean a drink! I’m thirsty, not dirty!”</p><p> </p><p>Oller grinned and handed her another water bottle; this one was much smaller. She swigged that one and then said:</p><p> </p><p>“That’s better! Well, that sky sled is quite something! Come on everyone, I need to show you some things!”</p><p> </p><p>She led us to the entrance and began to point out features on the carriage.</p><p> </p><p>“First: size; it will fit eight people as a last resort; and a driver but there won’t be any room to move. We can make people stand on the runners; for those inside the carriage, there are some very good protections, against fire and weapons. I’m not sure if those count against people standing on the runners though. The carriage flies, not very fast and not very high; about the speed of a heavily armoured warrior and at about the height of a three storey house at the most, so as I said, not very well really. It also maneuvers like a flying cow. Finally, it allows people to fly next to it. Not very far away but you don’t necessarily have to be in it to fly. It’s also quite handy in that if someone doing that strays too far from the carriage, he or she can either try to fly back or if unable, then they’ll just float down gently.”</p><p> </p><p>I was looking at her with raised eyebrows:</p><p> </p><p>“That’s all quite impressive. If we use it, we’ll be swamped by wyvern knights but apart from that, it seems quite safe; and the protections sound nice as well.”</p><p> </p><p>She looked at us.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I haven’t got to the bad bit yet.”</p><p> </p><p>She pointed at the sled:</p><p> </p><p>“Do you see that sun with a face that it has etched on the front? Well, to power it up, you have to put a soul gem in its mouth. Once you do that, then the runners start to crackle and a team of griffins appear and give the appearance of pulling the sled and giving it all its abilities.”</p><p> </p><p>I gaped.</p><p> </p><p>“A what in its mouth?” I asked, just to make sure I had heard right.</p><p> </p><p>“A soul gem” she replied.</p><p> </p><p>I turned to Felix but Longhelim was ahead of me.</p><p> </p><p>“Is that what I think it is? It sounds more like your realm than the wizard’s.”</p><p> </p><p>The priest thought for a moment and then replied:</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I’ve never actually seen one but theoretically, yes, I have heard of receptacles for souls.”</p><p> </p><p>I asked the priest: “That sounds like very nasty necromantic magic. What’s involved in taking a soul and putting it in a gem?”</p><p> </p><p>“Probably everything that you’re imagining and more,” was the priest’s reply.</p><p> </p><p>Grellfinn spoke up at this point, sounding a little desperate:</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe it’s the souls of criminals, or volunteers. We don’t know for certain.”</p><p> </p><p>He seemed keen to use this carriage. I didn’t know why, bearing in mind what we had just found out. I would have thought he would have wanted to smash it up there and then.</p><p> </p><p>The paladin continued:</p><p> </p><p>“Look, it may be the only way for us to get out of here. You say you’re protected from the winds but we’re not!”</p><p> </p><p>I thought I had already explained the situation, especially the very likely presence of wyvern knights in the army below; obviously, I had not made it clear enough.</p><p> </p><p>However, Longhelim was always telling me that I had to be more diplomatic, I had to phrase things differently; that if I acted in rude, then people were more likely to be rude in return.</p><p> </p><p>So, bearing all this in mind, I turned to him and said quietly and gently:</p><p> </p><p>“I do take your point about the winds and your safety into account Grellfinn, but unfortunately, as Jorine said, the sled only flies at the speed of an armoured man under a fly spell and at the height of a three story building. We’re considerably higher than that. She also said that although the passengers would be protected from fire and weapons, the wind would still be problem, whether outside or inside the sled; so even if you are inside it, that gale outside is still likely to affect you. So, if we decided to use the sled as our means of escape, we would have to use this window, drop like a stone for a considerable distance, hope that that won’t harm the sled or us, then fly slowly and serenely at a low altitude above the Ragesian army, hope they don’t have dragons, or wyvern knights, or soldiers with potions of flying, or troops with missiles or spell casters with lightning bolts or any other ranged spells for that matter.</p><p> </p><p>To be frank, I think you’re better off taking your chances with the winds.”</p><p> </p><p>Grellfinn was looking at me thoughtfully; obviously he hadn’t taken offence but he was also just realizing the enormity of what we would be facing outside if we went out via the sky sled.</p><p> </p><p>Then Victor spoke. He didn’t speak often unless answering questions but…..:</p><p> </p><p>“So, that thing up there is powered by the souls of conscious beings trapped in gems. From your description Jorine, it bears all the hallmarks of a trapping of Drakus Coaltongue; an accessory to be precise. Think about it! It’s his imperial carriage; he flies slowly and at a low altitude in front of the general populace to awe them. The souls he uses aren’t from criminals or volunteers. They’ll be from people who have been torn from the arms of their loved ones in the middle of the night by inhuman Inquisitors wearing bear masks. The same unfortunate people will have been taken to the dungeons of Castle Korstull, held down on some unholy altar and the inquisitors will have cut open their chests and taken out their beating hearts. Then, using some gruesome rite, they will have forced their souls into those gems just so Drakus Coaltongue could fly in his carriage and look powerful. After that, their souls are destroyed forever. </p><p> </p><p>I’m not setting foot on that thing, not matter what anyone says!”</p><p> </p><p>My oh my, Victor didn’t speak a great deal but when it mattered to him, he could be very eloquent; and he put it far better than I could. I kept forgetting, there was a very agile brain in that warrior’s head. It hadn’t occurred to me but he was almost certainly right; it did have all the hallmarks of a trapping of the emperor.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone was quiet for some time, left to ponder their own thoughts after these revelations; and probably rather shaken by the brutality of Victor’s analysis.</p><p> </p><p>Then Longhelim called out:</p><p> </p><p>“Right! We need to go. Casters, can you sort out the usual magic for everyone. Victor, you’ve at least got a falchion? Yes? Good. After that, which direction do we want to try first?”</p><p> </p><p>I had an answer to that:</p><p> </p><p>“The secret door you mentioned in the room beyond those two doors. Secret doors are usually there for a reason so let’s find out why it’s there.”</p><p> </p><p>The others nodded, and then Felix, John and I began to cast a whole variety of magic on various individuals. Once that was done, we set out, John scouting at the front.</p><p> </p><p>The room beyond the double doors was empty but a fierce fire had raged there at some point. There were burnt remains on the floor and walls and there was a clear trail of humanoid footprints leading up to the point where John had indicated as the location of the secret door. John checked the room thoroughly and reached the opposite wall; he pressed a certain section several times and a previously unseen door swung open; it was a handy wand he had; I determined to get one myself at some convenient point. Looking inside, he said:</p><p> </p><p>“Long, thin corridor; looks quite dangerous; I’m going in.”</p><p> </p><p>We followed him up and watched as he carefully checked the corridor for traps but again found nothing. It opened up into another room with a pair of doors opposite; more checking, again finding nothing and we joined him in this latest room. Then John asked his invisible friend to open these doors. As he did so, he revealed a big impressive new room.</p><p> </p><p>It was massive, portrait in shape and with three pairs columns. The walls were covered by a series of stunning tapestries; I was no expert in these matters but from the entrance, the workmanship looked exquisite. A raised dais stood at the far end, on which sat a throne.</p><p> </p><p>Just in front of the door were several bodies, one of which was curled in a fetal position and also had a mace next to it. We were immediately alert, waiting for the bodies to animate but fortunately, nothing happened. I was curious as to why they hadn’t turned into skeletons like the others but there was probably some sort of magic in the room. There was an intricate image on the ceiling that seemed to shift subtly and there were torch sconces on the columns that were shining brightly, obviously magical. The whole place was beautifully clean and unspoilt, especially in comparison to the semi burnt other parts of the castle. There was one blemish: an area around the nearest body which had some strange scratching on the floor. There was also another pair of doors at the far end of the room.</p><p> </p><p>For a few moments, we just looked at this place in wonder and waited for the bodies to move. When neither happened, I moved up to John and whispered:</p><p> </p><p>“Do you think this is Coaltongue’s audience chamber?”</p><p> </p><p>“Probably. Put a rope around me. I’m going in.”</p><p> </p><p>I grasped his hand and whispered again: “Let me put up a divination before you do anything. Let’s see if there’s anything magical in there apart from the sconces.”</p><p> </p><p>I cast the little cantrip and wasn’t surprised to see that the whole space radiated magical energy, especially the throne.</p><p> </p><p>“The whole place shines like a beacon. I can’t tell much more than that. I have to keep concentrating to see what happens.”</p><p> </p><p>John thanked me and then tried to move into the room only to find that he was impeded. Something inside his shirt was stopping him from going in. A little investigation later, we found that his snake familiar was unable to enter into the room; oddly, John could but the snake couldn’t. Therefore, John gave his snake to Drudge for safekeeping and then entered.</p><p> </p><p>The rogue looked around carefully, especially at the corpses and then he approached the figure with the mace.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, this one’s alive!”</p><p> </p><p>John retreated and readied but relaxed a few moments later. Then he approached him again and was looking at the floor with great interest.</p><p> </p><p>“He’s written something here in blood; scratched it; can’t make head or tail out of it.”</p><p> </p><p>I spoke to him from the doorway:</p><p> </p><p>“Get a piece of paper and some charcoal and make a rubbing of it; we’ll look at it later. See what else you can find.”</p><p> </p><p>Just then John seemed to slip a little and looked at his gloves.</p><p> </p><p>“Umm, that’s not so good. I don’t think my gloves are working here.”</p><p> </p><p>That was bad news. If his gloves didn’t work, then that meant that it was unlikely that my skullcap would work; I depended on my skullcap to be able to learn various spells and if it stopped working in that room I would lose them; Felix also had a periapt and faced the same problem.</p><p> </p><p>I spoke to John, telling him the problem.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll keep the doors open and scream like a girl if I get into trouble.”</p><p> </p><p>I’d heard that one before.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as John moved to the doors at the far end, I noticed that the three gnomes had gone into the room. Inquisitive as ever, both Jorine and Oller looked around everything while Grellfinn stood guard. Once they found nothing new, they joined John, who had already opened the far doors.</p><p> </p><p>We couldn’t see what they revealed but thankfully John was providing a running commentary:</p><p> </p><p>“Gods, what a bedroom! The Emperor really appreciated his comforts. That bed would sleep a normal family. Shame about the blood splotch though; that would put most people off. Oh, there’s also a holder for a torch next to the bed; a really big torch; empty by the way.”</p><p> </p><p>“If you had to guess, do you think that’s where our Torch of the Burning Sky would normally live?” I shouted at him.</p><p> </p><p>“No idea but it’s a fairly obvious place to put a torch so you decide. It’s empty anyway, as I said.”</p><p> </p><p>In a normal voice, I spoke to Longhelim and the others:</p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t think it would be here; too many devils and other things that could move magically. Only the gods know where that torch is now; frankly, it could be anywhere.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim frowned:</p><p> </p><p>“He hasn’t finished searching yet; though it’s looking unlikely I grant you.”</p><p> </p><p>John was continuing with his commentary:</p><p> </p><p>“Nothing else in this room so far; I did a little cantrip and the sheets on the bed are magical. There are other doors here by the way; one on each wall, left and right. Oller and I gave this place a good search but there’s nothing else here. I’m going to try the left door.”</p><p> </p><p>We waited for a few moments. Then there was another shout:</p><p> </p><p>“Gods, what a bog! Sorry, I meant garde-robe. All of us could fit into this bath here. Huge cupboard as well. Let’s see what’s in it……. Ah, Victor, got a present for you. Hold on!”</p><p> </p><p>A little time later, a grinning John came out, draped with a sumptuous set of clothes which he handed to the bemused warrior.</p><p> </p><p>“You are never, ever, ever in your life going to wear a finer set of clothes. This should stop that chafing that is bothering you. I know you haven’t said anything but that armour can’t be very comfortable right now.”</p><p> </p><p>The warrior smiled faintly and nodded his thanks to the rogue; then he began to unbuckle his plate mail.</p><p> </p><p>John then turned around to the others:</p><p> </p><p>“There’s a whole bunch of these; they’re also in a cupboard that doesn’t look big enough to hold all of them; I checked and it’s magical as well; I think it’s like our magical bag; holds more than it seems to be able to from the outside; can’t quite work out how to get it out of the castle though; I’ll get the rest of the outfits though; they look as if they’re worth a pretty penny.”</p><p> </p><p>With that, he trotted back into the room and rapidly began to return with the finest collection of clothes and robes I had ever seen. They were simply magnificent; silk, ermine, brocade and the finest cotton dyed in purpure; beautifully embroidered azure caps and hats; in short, clothes fit for an emperor, which they probably were; I wouldn’t have like to have been the tailor who had offended Drakus Coaltongue; I suspect one would soon find oneself in a soul gem if that was the case.</p><p> </p><p>When he had finished bringing out the clothes, John ran back into the bedroom, when I heard:</p><p> </p><p>“No Oller; I know that if we angle the wardrobe this way, it’ll go through the door but it’s getting it out of the castle that’s the problem; and your cart is below us. Sorry, I just can’t think of a way of getting it out!”</p><p> </p><p>Then the John’s voice was raised for our benefit:</p><p> </p><p>“Going to check the other door now.”</p><p> </p><p>Again a little time passed. Longhelim was helping Victor put his armour back on and the latter was looking a little odd as he had sections of very fine clothing peeking out from apertures in his full plate. However, the warrior looked substantially more comfortable now.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, there was a wordless exclamation from the front and suddenly I began to get my components ready as I expected John to come rushing back to us, screaming like a girl and being pursued by something unpleasant. Instead, what I got was:</p><p> </p><p>“Nothing to see here; the room is empty; quite empty, I say.”</p><p> </p><p>Followed by a brief amount of muttering and then another shout:</p><p> </p><p>“Jorine, leave that chocolate alone!”</p><p> </p><p>This made me look at Longhelim in askance and mouth:</p><p> </p><p>“Chocolate?”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6164066, member: 6692807"] I led her to the entrance of the chamber with the sky sled and showed it to her. She was just as puzzled about it as I was. Then I asked her: “You know about the army outside?” She nodded grimly and replied: “Let’s discuss that later. The sled, well, never seen anything like it.” I was disappointed but not surprised; I spoke to her about my next idea: “Would you be willing to do your fast divination on it? Just to see what it can do? Felix has got a miracle which will protect you against the harm inside the room. We have to make sure that it lasts long enough so that you’re not hurt of course but if that’s the case, would you be willing to do it?” She thought and then said: “Yes, I’ve got that spell available and I’ll certainly cast it on that floating carriage.” Felix and Jorine consulted, making sure that his spell would protect her for long enough; thankfully, that was the case and so, duly protected, the gnome entered the room and cast her spell. Fortunately, the procedure went without a hitch and Jorine returned to us, wide eyed and pale. “Well, that was a surprise! I need a drink.” I handed her a water bottle. She swigged it and then spat the contents out! “I mean a drink! I’m thirsty, not dirty!” Oller grinned and handed her another water bottle; this one was much smaller. She swigged that one and then said: “That’s better! Well, that sky sled is quite something! Come on everyone, I need to show you some things!” She led us to the entrance and began to point out features on the carriage. “First: size; it will fit eight people as a last resort; and a driver but there won’t be any room to move. We can make people stand on the runners; for those inside the carriage, there are some very good protections, against fire and weapons. I’m not sure if those count against people standing on the runners though. The carriage flies, not very fast and not very high; about the speed of a heavily armoured warrior and at about the height of a three storey house at the most, so as I said, not very well really. It also maneuvers like a flying cow. Finally, it allows people to fly next to it. Not very far away but you don’t necessarily have to be in it to fly. It’s also quite handy in that if someone doing that strays too far from the carriage, he or she can either try to fly back or if unable, then they’ll just float down gently.” I was looking at her with raised eyebrows: “That’s all quite impressive. If we use it, we’ll be swamped by wyvern knights but apart from that, it seems quite safe; and the protections sound nice as well.” She looked at us. “Well, I haven’t got to the bad bit yet.” She pointed at the sled: “Do you see that sun with a face that it has etched on the front? Well, to power it up, you have to put a soul gem in its mouth. Once you do that, then the runners start to crackle and a team of griffins appear and give the appearance of pulling the sled and giving it all its abilities.” I gaped. “A what in its mouth?” I asked, just to make sure I had heard right. “A soul gem” she replied. I turned to Felix but Longhelim was ahead of me. “Is that what I think it is? It sounds more like your realm than the wizard’s.” The priest thought for a moment and then replied: “Well, I’ve never actually seen one but theoretically, yes, I have heard of receptacles for souls.” I asked the priest: “That sounds like very nasty necromantic magic. What’s involved in taking a soul and putting it in a gem?” “Probably everything that you’re imagining and more,” was the priest’s reply. Grellfinn spoke up at this point, sounding a little desperate: “Maybe it’s the souls of criminals, or volunteers. We don’t know for certain.” He seemed keen to use this carriage. I didn’t know why, bearing in mind what we had just found out. I would have thought he would have wanted to smash it up there and then. The paladin continued: “Look, it may be the only way for us to get out of here. You say you’re protected from the winds but we’re not!” I thought I had already explained the situation, especially the very likely presence of wyvern knights in the army below; obviously, I had not made it clear enough. However, Longhelim was always telling me that I had to be more diplomatic, I had to phrase things differently; that if I acted in rude, then people were more likely to be rude in return. So, bearing all this in mind, I turned to him and said quietly and gently: “I do take your point about the winds and your safety into account Grellfinn, but unfortunately, as Jorine said, the sled only flies at the speed of an armoured man under a fly spell and at the height of a three story building. We’re considerably higher than that. She also said that although the passengers would be protected from fire and weapons, the wind would still be problem, whether outside or inside the sled; so even if you are inside it, that gale outside is still likely to affect you. So, if we decided to use the sled as our means of escape, we would have to use this window, drop like a stone for a considerable distance, hope that that won’t harm the sled or us, then fly slowly and serenely at a low altitude above the Ragesian army, hope they don’t have dragons, or wyvern knights, or soldiers with potions of flying, or troops with missiles or spell casters with lightning bolts or any other ranged spells for that matter. To be frank, I think you’re better off taking your chances with the winds.” Grellfinn was looking at me thoughtfully; obviously he hadn’t taken offence but he was also just realizing the enormity of what we would be facing outside if we went out via the sky sled. Then Victor spoke. He didn’t speak often unless answering questions but…..: “So, that thing up there is powered by the souls of conscious beings trapped in gems. From your description Jorine, it bears all the hallmarks of a trapping of Drakus Coaltongue; an accessory to be precise. Think about it! It’s his imperial carriage; he flies slowly and at a low altitude in front of the general populace to awe them. The souls he uses aren’t from criminals or volunteers. They’ll be from people who have been torn from the arms of their loved ones in the middle of the night by inhuman Inquisitors wearing bear masks. The same unfortunate people will have been taken to the dungeons of Castle Korstull, held down on some unholy altar and the inquisitors will have cut open their chests and taken out their beating hearts. Then, using some gruesome rite, they will have forced their souls into those gems just so Drakus Coaltongue could fly in his carriage and look powerful. After that, their souls are destroyed forever. I’m not setting foot on that thing, not matter what anyone says!” My oh my, Victor didn’t speak a great deal but when it mattered to him, he could be very eloquent; and he put it far better than I could. I kept forgetting, there was a very agile brain in that warrior’s head. It hadn’t occurred to me but he was almost certainly right; it did have all the hallmarks of a trapping of the emperor. Everyone was quiet for some time, left to ponder their own thoughts after these revelations; and probably rather shaken by the brutality of Victor’s analysis. Then Longhelim called out: “Right! We need to go. Casters, can you sort out the usual magic for everyone. Victor, you’ve at least got a falchion? Yes? Good. After that, which direction do we want to try first?” I had an answer to that: “The secret door you mentioned in the room beyond those two doors. Secret doors are usually there for a reason so let’s find out why it’s there.” The others nodded, and then Felix, John and I began to cast a whole variety of magic on various individuals. Once that was done, we set out, John scouting at the front. The room beyond the double doors was empty but a fierce fire had raged there at some point. There were burnt remains on the floor and walls and there was a clear trail of humanoid footprints leading up to the point where John had indicated as the location of the secret door. John checked the room thoroughly and reached the opposite wall; he pressed a certain section several times and a previously unseen door swung open; it was a handy wand he had; I determined to get one myself at some convenient point. Looking inside, he said: “Long, thin corridor; looks quite dangerous; I’m going in.” We followed him up and watched as he carefully checked the corridor for traps but again found nothing. It opened up into another room with a pair of doors opposite; more checking, again finding nothing and we joined him in this latest room. Then John asked his invisible friend to open these doors. As he did so, he revealed a big impressive new room. It was massive, portrait in shape and with three pairs columns. The walls were covered by a series of stunning tapestries; I was no expert in these matters but from the entrance, the workmanship looked exquisite. A raised dais stood at the far end, on which sat a throne. Just in front of the door were several bodies, one of which was curled in a fetal position and also had a mace next to it. We were immediately alert, waiting for the bodies to animate but fortunately, nothing happened. I was curious as to why they hadn’t turned into skeletons like the others but there was probably some sort of magic in the room. There was an intricate image on the ceiling that seemed to shift subtly and there were torch sconces on the columns that were shining brightly, obviously magical. The whole place was beautifully clean and unspoilt, especially in comparison to the semi burnt other parts of the castle. There was one blemish: an area around the nearest body which had some strange scratching on the floor. There was also another pair of doors at the far end of the room. For a few moments, we just looked at this place in wonder and waited for the bodies to move. When neither happened, I moved up to John and whispered: “Do you think this is Coaltongue’s audience chamber?” “Probably. Put a rope around me. I’m going in.” I grasped his hand and whispered again: “Let me put up a divination before you do anything. Let’s see if there’s anything magical in there apart from the sconces.” I cast the little cantrip and wasn’t surprised to see that the whole space radiated magical energy, especially the throne. “The whole place shines like a beacon. I can’t tell much more than that. I have to keep concentrating to see what happens.” John thanked me and then tried to move into the room only to find that he was impeded. Something inside his shirt was stopping him from going in. A little investigation later, we found that his snake familiar was unable to enter into the room; oddly, John could but the snake couldn’t. Therefore, John gave his snake to Drudge for safekeeping and then entered. The rogue looked around carefully, especially at the corpses and then he approached the figure with the mace. “Hey, this one’s alive!” John retreated and readied but relaxed a few moments later. Then he approached him again and was looking at the floor with great interest. “He’s written something here in blood; scratched it; can’t make head or tail out of it.” I spoke to him from the doorway: “Get a piece of paper and some charcoal and make a rubbing of it; we’ll look at it later. See what else you can find.” Just then John seemed to slip a little and looked at his gloves. “Umm, that’s not so good. I don’t think my gloves are working here.” That was bad news. If his gloves didn’t work, then that meant that it was unlikely that my skullcap would work; I depended on my skullcap to be able to learn various spells and if it stopped working in that room I would lose them; Felix also had a periapt and faced the same problem. I spoke to John, telling him the problem. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll keep the doors open and scream like a girl if I get into trouble.” I’d heard that one before. As soon as John moved to the doors at the far end, I noticed that the three gnomes had gone into the room. Inquisitive as ever, both Jorine and Oller looked around everything while Grellfinn stood guard. Once they found nothing new, they joined John, who had already opened the far doors. We couldn’t see what they revealed but thankfully John was providing a running commentary: “Gods, what a bedroom! The Emperor really appreciated his comforts. That bed would sleep a normal family. Shame about the blood splotch though; that would put most people off. Oh, there’s also a holder for a torch next to the bed; a really big torch; empty by the way.” “If you had to guess, do you think that’s where our Torch of the Burning Sky would normally live?” I shouted at him. “No idea but it’s a fairly obvious place to put a torch so you decide. It’s empty anyway, as I said.” In a normal voice, I spoke to Longhelim and the others: “I didn’t think it would be here; too many devils and other things that could move magically. Only the gods know where that torch is now; frankly, it could be anywhere.” Longhelim frowned: “He hasn’t finished searching yet; though it’s looking unlikely I grant you.” John was continuing with his commentary: “Nothing else in this room so far; I did a little cantrip and the sheets on the bed are magical. There are other doors here by the way; one on each wall, left and right. Oller and I gave this place a good search but there’s nothing else here. I’m going to try the left door.” We waited for a few moments. Then there was another shout: “Gods, what a bog! Sorry, I meant garde-robe. All of us could fit into this bath here. Huge cupboard as well. Let’s see what’s in it……. Ah, Victor, got a present for you. Hold on!” A little time later, a grinning John came out, draped with a sumptuous set of clothes which he handed to the bemused warrior. “You are never, ever, ever in your life going to wear a finer set of clothes. This should stop that chafing that is bothering you. I know you haven’t said anything but that armour can’t be very comfortable right now.” The warrior smiled faintly and nodded his thanks to the rogue; then he began to unbuckle his plate mail. John then turned around to the others: “There’s a whole bunch of these; they’re also in a cupboard that doesn’t look big enough to hold all of them; I checked and it’s magical as well; I think it’s like our magical bag; holds more than it seems to be able to from the outside; can’t quite work out how to get it out of the castle though; I’ll get the rest of the outfits though; they look as if they’re worth a pretty penny.” With that, he trotted back into the room and rapidly began to return with the finest collection of clothes and robes I had ever seen. They were simply magnificent; silk, ermine, brocade and the finest cotton dyed in purpure; beautifully embroidered azure caps and hats; in short, clothes fit for an emperor, which they probably were; I wouldn’t have like to have been the tailor who had offended Drakus Coaltongue; I suspect one would soon find oneself in a soul gem if that was the case. When he had finished bringing out the clothes, John ran back into the bedroom, when I heard: “No Oller; I know that if we angle the wardrobe this way, it’ll go through the door but it’s getting it out of the castle that’s the problem; and your cart is below us. Sorry, I just can’t think of a way of getting it out!” Then the John’s voice was raised for our benefit: “Going to check the other door now.” Again a little time passed. Longhelim was helping Victor put his armour back on and the latter was looking a little odd as he had sections of very fine clothing peeking out from apertures in his full plate. However, the warrior looked substantially more comfortable now. Suddenly, there was a wordless exclamation from the front and suddenly I began to get my components ready as I expected John to come rushing back to us, screaming like a girl and being pursued by something unpleasant. Instead, what I got was: “Nothing to see here; the room is empty; quite empty, I say.” Followed by a brief amount of muttering and then another shout: “Jorine, leave that chocolate alone!” This made me look at Longhelim in askance and mouth: “Chocolate?” [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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