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<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6249900" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>Felix was healing himself with the help of Drudge; Victor was helping John and Longhelim was ready to go forward. I noticed that the Torch now had an axe head. At Longhelim’s nod, Shalosha negated the magical wall and we rapidly moved forward. John was finally able to move forward on his own; he was as weak as a kitten but at least the Torch was not trying to devour his soul any more.</p><p> </p><p>Practical as ever, we first moved to the bodies of our recent enemies and I cast a small cantrip which showed us their magical equipment; as one can imagine from such a powerful group, there were several pieces all of which we appropriated; this was done quickly and then we readied to go through the portcullis.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim went first but we followed him up immediately; John could still barely move so he was last. Beyond a short corridor was another room, in the middle of which was a small shrine. The walls of this room bore huge mirrors in which we glimpsed a whole myriad of atrocities which seemed to be happening at this moment. There was one exception; one of the walls looked like a cracked white wall with the fissure going into the horizon.</p><p> </p><p>The shrine was an open structure with no walls but four columns on each corner which supported a pointed roof.</p><p> </p><p>The figure of Forty One stared at us as we entered and immediately attacked Victor mentally, who thankfully managed to shrug off the effect, whatever it may have been; we could also see an aged withered figure balancing perfectly on the point of the roof of the shrine.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s the real Forty One!” I shouted, pointing upwards.</p><p> </p><p>Victor and Longhelim were already ahead of me with the former grabbing the latter and flying to the level of the old figure; Longhelim needed just one swipe to topple the figure over. As soon as that happened, the figure on the ground winked out of existence and there were no more visible threats.</p><p> </p><p>Warily, we waited for several moments, ready for anything. It was difficult to believe that after our ordeal, this may have been the end of it; still we waited but soon realised that there were no more threats. Slowly we relaxed and I began to look around further. The atrocities shown on the walls were unpleasant; Ragesians armies were certainly laying waste to everything they could and being typically Ragesian.</p><p> </p><p>Looking up, I saw that there was a huge collection of scrolls in the shrine. Again, I cast my cantrip and was overjoyed when they all radiated an aura of magic; this was a veritable treasure trove!</p><p> </p><p>We searched the area thoroughly but did not find anything else. So we moved back to our combat arena and collected all the pieces we had taken from the Ragesian expedition. Then Longhelim turned to Shalosha:</p><p> </p><p>“Your Highness, we plan to return to Seaquen now; would you like to come with us or would you prefer to return to your father?”</p><p> </p><p>Her reply was immediate:</p><p> </p><p>“You have scored a notable victory here; we have exposed the traitor and you have the Torch. Use your advantage quickly and wisely. Anything that you do will force the Ragesians to divert resources and weaken their attack on my people. Be careful though; Leska will do anything to get the Torch; she will use assassins, spies, thieves, diplomats and above all magic; she will not think twice of sacrificing any of her armies if she believes that there is a chance to retrieve it. You must not allow that! If she gets it, all will be lost! Look to your families!”</p><p> </p><p>I must return to my people; they are sorely pressed but this news will change everything!”</p><p> </p><p>I nodded; I did not expect anything else. I hoped that her father would not be hard on her; I had no doubts that Shaaladel had instructed her to take the Torch away from us if she could. Thankfully, she had not and judging by the fact that the elven mage had attacked us directly and one of the visions had connected him directly with the King, suggested that Shalosha had made her own interpretation of her orders during the battle.</p><p> </p><p>What she had said about our responsibilities in carrying the Torch had also provided food for thought.</p><p> </p><p>As I was mulling all this over, we willed ourselves to the front room with the mirror and the rings on the floor.</p><p> </p><p>At this point, I said to Longhelim:</p><p> </p><p>“We need to be careful; there may or may not be a whole contingent of enemy out there waiting for us; I think we need change into mist form and be ready to fly out and full speed.” </p><p> </p><p>The paladin replied:</p><p> </p><p>“No need; we’ll use the Torch; it’ll transport us magically.”</p><p> </p><p>He turned to Shalosha:</p><p> </p><p>“Princess, be careful! What Faden says holds true for you as well. There may be an ambush waiting outside.”</p><p> </p><p>She smiled at us:</p><p> </p><p>“I realise that; that’s why I plan transport myself and Rihalles some distance and do that at least twice more to evade any pursuers. Good luck; we shall meet again no doubt.”</p><p> </p><p>After that, she disappeared.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as she had gone, Longhelim quickly said:</p><p> </p><p>“Good. Now she’s gone, let me tell you about the powers of the Torch:</p><p> </p><p>This is in case I should fall and someone needs to pick it up. Anyone else who does touch it will need to be a strong warrior and a mentally powerful to master it. Insofar as it can be mastered, it reacts best to a warrior. I would suggest either Victor or Drudge. Now as to its abilities: it acts as an incredibly powerful weapon in two forms; as an axe and a morning star. Its abilities are legendary. I can transport myself a short distance very quickly or, taking a little longer, I can transport myself and my companions a much longer distance, pretty much anywhere in the world. The wielder and his companions can travel magically with no ill effects from the Burning Sky. Finally, three times a day, it can transport armies; this power needs souls to power it; an intelligent, evil creature needs to be sacrificed before activation. The last is distasteful but if it means the salvation of Gate Pass at the risk of damming my soul, so be it. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, it can blast out a huge fire spell three times a day; and when I say its enormous, it really is enormous.”</p><p> </p><p>Yet again something powered by souls. First Coaltongue’s carriage, then Bright Shadow, which thirsted for souls, now the Torch which needed souls for its most powerful ability. There was definitely a pattern developing here.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim continued:</p><p> </p><p>“I suggest we transport ourselves just outside Seaquen as previously and then walk in. We don’t want everyone to know we have retrieved the Torch.”</p><p> </p><p>We nodded and made ready but before Longhelim was able to activate it, we saw one last vision. We were back in the room with the shrine and the mirror which had previously shown a blank wall suddenly showed an image; the masked figure of an Inquisitor prostrated herself in front of Coaltongue sitting on his throne. He looked down. Her voice could clearly be heard:</p><p> </p><p>“My Emperor, the quest is complete: the lost secret of immortality. The Aquiline Heart is ours.”</p><p> </p><p>Then the vision fade and Longhelim activated the Torch.</p><p> </p><p>We went through the familiar fiery tunnel but this time the flames did not touch us and we landed in a field a short distance outside Seaquen.</p><p> </p><p>As we walked through the countryside, we could see that the armies from Dassen and Sindaire were still there. As previously, our entrance into the town was nothing short of tumultuous. People cheered us, our names were shouted and there were even calls for Longhelim to be declared the leader of the Resistance. We greeted several people we had seen before but we made our way into the Lyceum as quickly as possible. There, another welcome awaited us, this time from the students who also cheered our arrival, shouted questions and called out our names.</p><p> </p><p>As we reached the inner sanctum of the building, Kiernan the dwarven mage was waiting for us. He quickly took us to Simeon, who was in his study with his usual bevy of advisors. As soon as we arrived, these were ushered out, leaving only us, Kiernan and a few others, including Torrent. Simeon went to the point immediately, his voice very grave:</p><p> </p><p>“We’ve finally managed to decode the papers you brought to us from Gate Pass all those months ago. They revealed that we have a traitor high up in our councils; we have to find this individual as quickly as possible. Our whole war plans could be compromised! We dare not continue anything until this is resolved!”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim smiled thinly:</p><p> </p><p>“Well, apart from the Lee Sidoneth, the other traitor was Katrina; we retrieved the Torch but in the process met a Ragesian group who tried to stop us. Katrina was among them……..”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim then went on to briefly detail what had happened to us since we departed for the Haunted Forest of Ycengled.</p><p> </p><p>Several questions from everyone in the room quickly followed after the paladin’s report:</p><p> </p><p>“So Shalaadel slaughtered a whole tribe of his people?”</p><p> </p><p>“This Rhuarc was the assassin?”</p><p> </p><p>“How did he do it?”</p><p> </p><p>“What? You have the emperor’s head and body with you? Show us!”</p><p> </p><p>“Can we see this scimitar?”</p><p> </p><p>“Can you describe this Ragesian group? I have heard of Etienne. She is or was I should say, one of Leska’s most trusted advisors.”</p><p> </p><p>The questions went on and on; but it was established that Katrina was traitor. I also reminded Simeon and Kiernan that it was Rantle, her brother who first asked us to find her and take her to Seaquen; this may or may not have been significant but should be at least be investigated. Rantle was a well known figure in Gate Pass but it could be a perfect cover if he was also in the pay of the Ragesians; after all, being in the councils of the Resistance seemed to work very well as cover for both Lee Sidoneth and Katrina.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, after a long report and debriefing we were allowed to return to our rooms. Just before we left, Simeon told us:</p><p> </p><p>“You have given us priceless information and just as importantly, you have dealt with the traitor. I can say that I can think of no one else who could have done this. On behalf of the Resistance, I thank you. I also want to thank you personally. We can now go ahead plan our campaign. We will hold a war council in two days. We would welcome your attendance.”</p><p> </p><p>I couldn’t help but be a little skeptical of his words; not his gratitude; that I felt was sincere; my skepticism was about the presence of more traitors within Seaquen; we had dealt with Katrina but she was the second highly placed individual in the Lyceum that was revealed to be in the pay of the enemy; the first was Lee Sidoneth as Longhelim had mentioned; unfortunately, Seaquen was a magician’s academy and ill suited for counter espionage; it had become the headquarters of the Resistance by dint of geography and default; as such, the mages were ill equipped to root out spies in their midst; we could only hope that Simeon realised this as well and restricted the campaign plan to very few individuals on a need to know basis.</p><p> </p><p>As we were going to our rooms, Longhelim said:</p><p> </p><p>“Right, Faden, please learn your divination spell tomorrow that will reveal the properties of all those pieces of equipment we collected. Once we understand what they do, we need to distribute them.”</p><p> </p><p>That night, I found it difficult to get to sleep. The events we witnessed were momentous; not only witnessed but instigated; if the course of events continued like this, history would be changed. If we could move the armies that were here with the Torch, then Leska would have to rethink her strategy. I just hoped we would be fast enough.</p><p> </p><p>My mind began to go through what I remembered about the visions we had had in the Temple in more detail. If they were true, and the unmasking of Katrina as a traitor suggested they were certainly so, then they were an absolute treasure trove of information. It was almost as if Forty One had been able to pluck knowledge and memories not just from us but also from the Ragesians and Shalosha. Some of the visions seemed to be obvious while some were still a mystery.</p><p> </p><p>The vision where Coaltongue created the Torch was hugely important; not only did it tell us how the Torch was made but it also suggested that part of Trilla’s soul was somehow connected or trapped within the Torch. That was a mystery still to be investigated but at least some of it was revealed. It was obviously also something that had happened in the past. </p><p> </p><p>The vision of the ballroom, also in the past, confirmed that Katrina was a spy and that she had been a servant of Leska; also that Leska’s relationship with Shalaadel was certainly quite close in a competitive way; the implication was that they were both subordinate to Coaltongue and rival to each other at one point.</p><p> </p><p>The vision that showed a woman with monk’s robes flying down to speak to one of the Inquisitors as he was assaulting a Shahalesti stronghold was mysterious. I had not worked out the implications or meaning of that one.</p><p> </p><p>The vision which showed Etienne and Leska having a conversation while the former was braiding the hair of the latter was troublesome; I had gone through my journals and found the name Kreven; he was the second most powerful Inquisitor; or at least he was the second in command in the Inquisition which suggested that he was second most powerful Inquisitor. The vision told us that he had collected six hundred spell casters for the Scourge, some sort of ritual which would allow Leska to achieve her goal without the Torch; I remembered that one of the reasons for my rather hurried exit out of Gate Pass was fear of this Scourge; that was very concerning, especially as a very tight timeline of only a month had been mentioned. I made a note to ask Simeon to see if he had been able to find out anything about The Scourge.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, there were the visions with the Shahalesti, showing both the ruthlessness and single-mindedness of Shalaadel for his people to triumph. That kind of fanaticism was corrosive and ultimately just another side of the coin to Ragesian the philosophy that might is right.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, the last vision was the most telling and significant of all. It suggested that Leska had found the Aquiline Heart and she was planning to make herself immortal, if she wasn’t already. I remembered that Coaltongue was also supposed to have been immortal and wondered if that had something to do with it.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly I remembered something else; I knew that it would worry me so I got up and went to Felix’s door. I knocked on it. I had to do it several times until there was an answer.</p><p> </p><p>“Who is it?” Felix’s voice came from inside. He sounded a little put out; maybe he was praying.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s me. I’m writing up my journal. You said that Longhelim’s mum saved us, back in the Temple. What did you mean?”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m getting ready to sleep. Can’t this wait until the morning?”</p><p> </p><p>“You know what it’s going to be like tomorrow morning. Everyone is going to ask me to cast the divination on the equipment; every time I’m going to ask you to tell me, then someone will want something else and it will be put off and put off again until it will just be forgotten.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, very well; come in and I’ll tell you.”</p><p> </p><p>The priest opened the door and poured us both a hot drink. Then he began:</p><p> </p><p>“I am afraid that we lost you after Katrina blasted you with her fire. You were then also burned from the wall. That left only the four of us. A new vision appeared. It showed Longhelim as a boy, lying on the bed, unconscious and a woman praying at his bedside. In her prayer, she pledged her life and soul in exchange for her son’s. Heironeous must have heard the prayer; Longhelim began to stir but as he did, she collapsed. That was in the vision; in the room, both you and Drudge were returned to us, while the rest of the group was cured of all wounds and ills.”</p><p> </p><p>I gaped at him, wide eyed:</p><p> </p><p>“You mean I died? I don’t remember any of this!”</p><p> </p><p>He smiled gently at me:</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t think you’re supposed to remember it; and you were only gone for a short while; I don’t even think your soul had a chance to leave your body yet, but yes, you left us, even if for only a few moments.”</p><p> </p><p>I stood up shaken and thanked the priest. Then, I stumbled back to my room, still overwhelmed by what Felix had told me.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6249900, member: 6692807"] Felix was healing himself with the help of Drudge; Victor was helping John and Longhelim was ready to go forward. I noticed that the Torch now had an axe head. At Longhelim’s nod, Shalosha negated the magical wall and we rapidly moved forward. John was finally able to move forward on his own; he was as weak as a kitten but at least the Torch was not trying to devour his soul any more. Practical as ever, we first moved to the bodies of our recent enemies and I cast a small cantrip which showed us their magical equipment; as one can imagine from such a powerful group, there were several pieces all of which we appropriated; this was done quickly and then we readied to go through the portcullis. Longhelim went first but we followed him up immediately; John could still barely move so he was last. Beyond a short corridor was another room, in the middle of which was a small shrine. The walls of this room bore huge mirrors in which we glimpsed a whole myriad of atrocities which seemed to be happening at this moment. There was one exception; one of the walls looked like a cracked white wall with the fissure going into the horizon. The shrine was an open structure with no walls but four columns on each corner which supported a pointed roof. The figure of Forty One stared at us as we entered and immediately attacked Victor mentally, who thankfully managed to shrug off the effect, whatever it may have been; we could also see an aged withered figure balancing perfectly on the point of the roof of the shrine. “That’s the real Forty One!” I shouted, pointing upwards. Victor and Longhelim were already ahead of me with the former grabbing the latter and flying to the level of the old figure; Longhelim needed just one swipe to topple the figure over. As soon as that happened, the figure on the ground winked out of existence and there were no more visible threats. Warily, we waited for several moments, ready for anything. It was difficult to believe that after our ordeal, this may have been the end of it; still we waited but soon realised that there were no more threats. Slowly we relaxed and I began to look around further. The atrocities shown on the walls were unpleasant; Ragesians armies were certainly laying waste to everything they could and being typically Ragesian. Looking up, I saw that there was a huge collection of scrolls in the shrine. Again, I cast my cantrip and was overjoyed when they all radiated an aura of magic; this was a veritable treasure trove! We searched the area thoroughly but did not find anything else. So we moved back to our combat arena and collected all the pieces we had taken from the Ragesian expedition. Then Longhelim turned to Shalosha: “Your Highness, we plan to return to Seaquen now; would you like to come with us or would you prefer to return to your father?” Her reply was immediate: “You have scored a notable victory here; we have exposed the traitor and you have the Torch. Use your advantage quickly and wisely. Anything that you do will force the Ragesians to divert resources and weaken their attack on my people. Be careful though; Leska will do anything to get the Torch; she will use assassins, spies, thieves, diplomats and above all magic; she will not think twice of sacrificing any of her armies if she believes that there is a chance to retrieve it. You must not allow that! If she gets it, all will be lost! Look to your families!” I must return to my people; they are sorely pressed but this news will change everything!” I nodded; I did not expect anything else. I hoped that her father would not be hard on her; I had no doubts that Shaaladel had instructed her to take the Torch away from us if she could. Thankfully, she had not and judging by the fact that the elven mage had attacked us directly and one of the visions had connected him directly with the King, suggested that Shalosha had made her own interpretation of her orders during the battle. What she had said about our responsibilities in carrying the Torch had also provided food for thought. As I was mulling all this over, we willed ourselves to the front room with the mirror and the rings on the floor. At this point, I said to Longhelim: “We need to be careful; there may or may not be a whole contingent of enemy out there waiting for us; I think we need change into mist form and be ready to fly out and full speed.” The paladin replied: “No need; we’ll use the Torch; it’ll transport us magically.” He turned to Shalosha: “Princess, be careful! What Faden says holds true for you as well. There may be an ambush waiting outside.” She smiled at us: “I realise that; that’s why I plan transport myself and Rihalles some distance and do that at least twice more to evade any pursuers. Good luck; we shall meet again no doubt.” After that, she disappeared. As soon as she had gone, Longhelim quickly said: “Good. Now she’s gone, let me tell you about the powers of the Torch: This is in case I should fall and someone needs to pick it up. Anyone else who does touch it will need to be a strong warrior and a mentally powerful to master it. Insofar as it can be mastered, it reacts best to a warrior. I would suggest either Victor or Drudge. Now as to its abilities: it acts as an incredibly powerful weapon in two forms; as an axe and a morning star. Its abilities are legendary. I can transport myself a short distance very quickly or, taking a little longer, I can transport myself and my companions a much longer distance, pretty much anywhere in the world. The wielder and his companions can travel magically with no ill effects from the Burning Sky. Finally, three times a day, it can transport armies; this power needs souls to power it; an intelligent, evil creature needs to be sacrificed before activation. The last is distasteful but if it means the salvation of Gate Pass at the risk of damming my soul, so be it. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, it can blast out a huge fire spell three times a day; and when I say its enormous, it really is enormous.” Yet again something powered by souls. First Coaltongue’s carriage, then Bright Shadow, which thirsted for souls, now the Torch which needed souls for its most powerful ability. There was definitely a pattern developing here. Longhelim continued: “I suggest we transport ourselves just outside Seaquen as previously and then walk in. We don’t want everyone to know we have retrieved the Torch.” We nodded and made ready but before Longhelim was able to activate it, we saw one last vision. We were back in the room with the shrine and the mirror which had previously shown a blank wall suddenly showed an image; the masked figure of an Inquisitor prostrated herself in front of Coaltongue sitting on his throne. He looked down. Her voice could clearly be heard: “My Emperor, the quest is complete: the lost secret of immortality. The Aquiline Heart is ours.” Then the vision fade and Longhelim activated the Torch. We went through the familiar fiery tunnel but this time the flames did not touch us and we landed in a field a short distance outside Seaquen. As we walked through the countryside, we could see that the armies from Dassen and Sindaire were still there. As previously, our entrance into the town was nothing short of tumultuous. People cheered us, our names were shouted and there were even calls for Longhelim to be declared the leader of the Resistance. We greeted several people we had seen before but we made our way into the Lyceum as quickly as possible. There, another welcome awaited us, this time from the students who also cheered our arrival, shouted questions and called out our names. As we reached the inner sanctum of the building, Kiernan the dwarven mage was waiting for us. He quickly took us to Simeon, who was in his study with his usual bevy of advisors. As soon as we arrived, these were ushered out, leaving only us, Kiernan and a few others, including Torrent. Simeon went to the point immediately, his voice very grave: “We’ve finally managed to decode the papers you brought to us from Gate Pass all those months ago. They revealed that we have a traitor high up in our councils; we have to find this individual as quickly as possible. Our whole war plans could be compromised! We dare not continue anything until this is resolved!” Longhelim smiled thinly: “Well, apart from the Lee Sidoneth, the other traitor was Katrina; we retrieved the Torch but in the process met a Ragesian group who tried to stop us. Katrina was among them……..” Longhelim then went on to briefly detail what had happened to us since we departed for the Haunted Forest of Ycengled. Several questions from everyone in the room quickly followed after the paladin’s report: “So Shalaadel slaughtered a whole tribe of his people?” “This Rhuarc was the assassin?” “How did he do it?” “What? You have the emperor’s head and body with you? Show us!” “Can we see this scimitar?” “Can you describe this Ragesian group? I have heard of Etienne. She is or was I should say, one of Leska’s most trusted advisors.” The questions went on and on; but it was established that Katrina was traitor. I also reminded Simeon and Kiernan that it was Rantle, her brother who first asked us to find her and take her to Seaquen; this may or may not have been significant but should be at least be investigated. Rantle was a well known figure in Gate Pass but it could be a perfect cover if he was also in the pay of the Ragesians; after all, being in the councils of the Resistance seemed to work very well as cover for both Lee Sidoneth and Katrina. Finally, after a long report and debriefing we were allowed to return to our rooms. Just before we left, Simeon told us: “You have given us priceless information and just as importantly, you have dealt with the traitor. I can say that I can think of no one else who could have done this. On behalf of the Resistance, I thank you. I also want to thank you personally. We can now go ahead plan our campaign. We will hold a war council in two days. We would welcome your attendance.” I couldn’t help but be a little skeptical of his words; not his gratitude; that I felt was sincere; my skepticism was about the presence of more traitors within Seaquen; we had dealt with Katrina but she was the second highly placed individual in the Lyceum that was revealed to be in the pay of the enemy; the first was Lee Sidoneth as Longhelim had mentioned; unfortunately, Seaquen was a magician’s academy and ill suited for counter espionage; it had become the headquarters of the Resistance by dint of geography and default; as such, the mages were ill equipped to root out spies in their midst; we could only hope that Simeon realised this as well and restricted the campaign plan to very few individuals on a need to know basis. As we were going to our rooms, Longhelim said: “Right, Faden, please learn your divination spell tomorrow that will reveal the properties of all those pieces of equipment we collected. Once we understand what they do, we need to distribute them.” That night, I found it difficult to get to sleep. The events we witnessed were momentous; not only witnessed but instigated; if the course of events continued like this, history would be changed. If we could move the armies that were here with the Torch, then Leska would have to rethink her strategy. I just hoped we would be fast enough. My mind began to go through what I remembered about the visions we had had in the Temple in more detail. If they were true, and the unmasking of Katrina as a traitor suggested they were certainly so, then they were an absolute treasure trove of information. It was almost as if Forty One had been able to pluck knowledge and memories not just from us but also from the Ragesians and Shalosha. Some of the visions seemed to be obvious while some were still a mystery. The vision where Coaltongue created the Torch was hugely important; not only did it tell us how the Torch was made but it also suggested that part of Trilla’s soul was somehow connected or trapped within the Torch. That was a mystery still to be investigated but at least some of it was revealed. It was obviously also something that had happened in the past. The vision of the ballroom, also in the past, confirmed that Katrina was a spy and that she had been a servant of Leska; also that Leska’s relationship with Shalaadel was certainly quite close in a competitive way; the implication was that they were both subordinate to Coaltongue and rival to each other at one point. The vision that showed a woman with monk’s robes flying down to speak to one of the Inquisitors as he was assaulting a Shahalesti stronghold was mysterious. I had not worked out the implications or meaning of that one. The vision which showed Etienne and Leska having a conversation while the former was braiding the hair of the latter was troublesome; I had gone through my journals and found the name Kreven; he was the second most powerful Inquisitor; or at least he was the second in command in the Inquisition which suggested that he was second most powerful Inquisitor. The vision told us that he had collected six hundred spell casters for the Scourge, some sort of ritual which would allow Leska to achieve her goal without the Torch; I remembered that one of the reasons for my rather hurried exit out of Gate Pass was fear of this Scourge; that was very concerning, especially as a very tight timeline of only a month had been mentioned. I made a note to ask Simeon to see if he had been able to find out anything about The Scourge. In addition, there were the visions with the Shahalesti, showing both the ruthlessness and single-mindedness of Shalaadel for his people to triumph. That kind of fanaticism was corrosive and ultimately just another side of the coin to Ragesian the philosophy that might is right. Finally, the last vision was the most telling and significant of all. It suggested that Leska had found the Aquiline Heart and she was planning to make herself immortal, if she wasn’t already. I remembered that Coaltongue was also supposed to have been immortal and wondered if that had something to do with it. Suddenly I remembered something else; I knew that it would worry me so I got up and went to Felix’s door. I knocked on it. I had to do it several times until there was an answer. “Who is it?” Felix’s voice came from inside. He sounded a little put out; maybe he was praying. “It’s me. I’m writing up my journal. You said that Longhelim’s mum saved us, back in the Temple. What did you mean?” “I’m getting ready to sleep. Can’t this wait until the morning?” “You know what it’s going to be like tomorrow morning. Everyone is going to ask me to cast the divination on the equipment; every time I’m going to ask you to tell me, then someone will want something else and it will be put off and put off again until it will just be forgotten.” “Oh, very well; come in and I’ll tell you.” The priest opened the door and poured us both a hot drink. Then he began: “I am afraid that we lost you after Katrina blasted you with her fire. You were then also burned from the wall. That left only the four of us. A new vision appeared. It showed Longhelim as a boy, lying on the bed, unconscious and a woman praying at his bedside. In her prayer, she pledged her life and soul in exchange for her son’s. Heironeous must have heard the prayer; Longhelim began to stir but as he did, she collapsed. That was in the vision; in the room, both you and Drudge were returned to us, while the rest of the group was cured of all wounds and ills.” I gaped at him, wide eyed: “You mean I died? I don’t remember any of this!” He smiled gently at me: “I don’t think you’re supposed to remember it; and you were only gone for a short while; I don’t even think your soul had a chance to leave your body yet, but yes, you left us, even if for only a few moments.” I stood up shaken and thanked the priest. Then, I stumbled back to my room, still overwhelmed by what Felix had told me. [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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