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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: 6335680" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>As we watched Longhelim and Drudge approaching, suddenly I heard a voice in my head:</p><p> </p><p>“My name is Metamorphosis; I need your help; my Master, Vigilance, has been captured by the Ragesians and must be rescued. He has to be here before the others come!”</p><p> </p><p>Judging by their stunned faces, Felix and John had also received the same message.</p><p> </p><p>John shouted:</p><p> </p><p>“Who are you? Show yourself!”</p><p> </p><p>I was trying to keep an eye out on the approaching wyvern knights as well as looking around for the source of this mysterious voice. A moment later, a figure stepped out from one of the alleys nearby; it looked like a lady, and judging by the shape of her ears, she had a heavy mix of elven blood. The only clothes she wore were a shimmering shawl of red and gold which covered her body; she also had a bandaged knee. There was something very odd about her face though.</p><p> </p><p>Calmly, she took flight towards us.</p><p> </p><p>Another movement caught my eye; Drudge, not realizing what was happening, was tracking her with his bow.</p><p> </p><p>Quickly, I shouted:</p><p> </p><p>“She claims to be a friend. Hold you fire!”</p><p> </p><p>Thankfully, no volley of arrows flew towards us yet; Longhelim and Drudge began to move towards us as fast as they could, although I could see that the ranger was also healing himself with one of his wands.</p><p> </p><p>As the flying newcomer approached, I was able to discern another very disturbing aspect; her countenance seemed to melt and change continuously, as if unable to settle on one set of features; Metamorphosis indeed! It was very unnerving. As I thought about her name, something was tugging on the back of my mind.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as she landed, John challenged her brusquely:</p><p> </p><p>“Who are you then?”</p><p> </p><p>She seemed to gather her shawl around her face, making it easier to look at her directly and replied:</p><p> </p><p>“I am Metamorphosis, a Trillith; as I said, I serve Vigilance, who has been captured by the Ragesians and it is most important that he is rescued.”</p><p> </p><p>Something about the way she said that, or about the names continued to niggle at the back of my mind.</p><p> </p><p>John brusqueness changed to interest:</p><p> </p><p>“So, just exactly what is a Trillith? This is the first time we have been able to talk to one of you. Usually, you tell us things and then try to rip our throats out.”</p><p> </p><p>She looked at him steadily and said:</p><p> </p><p>“I will answer all your questions but first I would aid you to defeat your enemies. I can make you fly magically amongst other things; I can also make you larger or smaller. Do any of you wish to any of these enchantments?”</p><p> </p><p>John blew a breath through his cheeks and then tentatively said:</p><p> </p><p>“Flying would be good.”</p><p> </p><p>She cast a spell on him which I recognized as the magic of flight. As the spell finished, I felt myself relaxing slightly and I put away my spell components; Victor had also been deceptively close to her and I could see that he lowered his falchion slightly.</p><p> </p><p>I said to her:</p><p> </p><p>“All help is welcome; our two friends are on their way but I think we should also get Rantle here; he is one of the leaders of the Resistance and they have made careful plans; I doubt that these have factored in the trillith. At this precise moment, men and women of Gate Pass are losing their lives while they rise against the Ragesians. If their sacrifice is to be worth anything, we have to hold this Gate as long as possible.</p><p> </p><p>From what you are saying, you are going to ask us to abandon it, so you need to tell him why.”</p><p> </p><p>She looked at me, her ever-shifting countenance unreadable; it was impossible to tell if this was something that had occurred to her; the fact that she would have to explain her actions to anyone.</p><p> </p><p>She replied:</p><p> </p><p>“I will be very happy to explain to you who we are and why I need your help but I think that it would be best if everyone was here. In the meantime, please allow me to help you deal with the Ragesians who are on their way here.”</p><p> </p><p>At this point, Longhelim and Drudge arrived and Rantle was also on his way up to the top of the Gatehouse. Introductions were made quickly but time was running out; in fact, as I turned around I saw that time had run out.</p><p> </p><p>I felt flattered. It seemed that this time the Ragesians had sent a whole squadron of Wyvern Knights against us; two ranks of four flying reptiles arrowed their way towards the Gate with their riders aiming crossbows at our positions.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as they were in range, they fired but the bolts made little impression on our improvised stronghold.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim was healed by Felix and Drudge had already healed himself so the ranger stepped up to the arrow slit and returned fire; as usual, where he aimed, a figure fell.</p><p> </p><p>Metamorphosis quietly continued to cast magical flying on everyone and the rest of us conserved our energy while Drudge picked off the knights. Changing his tactics, he began to spread his arrows. Despite their losses, the knights continued to shoot; they were also quite good, with several bolts sinking into the ranger or glancing off his armourr; they must have been highly trained to shoot from the back of a flying reptile; thankfully Felix was able to take care of any hurts that Drudge suffered.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, the Ragesians arrived at our position but by this point their strength had been severely diminished as two of the knights had fallen under Drudge’s arrows and all the others were hurt; this allowed one volley from Victor this time to down a third knight leaving five and seven wyverns; Drudge had also shot down one of the wyverns.</p><p> </p><p>The remainder now flew around our makeshift shelter either landing behind us or to the side; several others were flying by, attempting to snatch the unwary off the battlements; I was using my wand of lightning bolts. It was ideal for this situation, leaving scorch marks on the beast against which I aimed. One attacked Victor; poor thing, it was the last action it ever took. Another also closed with Longhelim and the paladin proceeded to smash it silly. It didn’t quite drop but it staggered around and did not look as if it wanted any more part of this fight.</p><p> </p><p>There were three which were trying to scrabble their way through the walls of the Gate, attacking through the arrow slits between the crenellations; one of them scratched me quite badly but thankfully, I had Drudge next to me. Longhelim and Victor also braced themselves for more battle.</p><p> </p><p>I moved away from the edge and stayed in the background; I had a feeling that my spells would be needed later in the day.</p><p> </p><p>What followed was a systematic destruction of a squadron of the feared Wyvern Knights. By this point, there were five of them left with only three knights but they were well trained; they followed up on targets such as John or I with little or no armour. Both of us were hurt yet it was nothing in comparison to how Victor and Longhelim carved through their ranks. They could barely get through their armour and even when they managed to scratch or stab the warriors with their tails, Felix's spell was able to render their powerful poison harmless. </p><p> </p><p>Simultaneously, Drudge concentrated on the three remaining knights. These tried to fire their cross bows at him but the ranger shot them as fast as he could reload his bow. Ultimately, this destruction did not take that long and as the last wyvern dropped to the ground, Felix and John were already moving through the rest of us, healing. I was badly hurt as the wyverns seemed to go instinctively for a target that was unarmoured. </p><p> </p><p>As Felix was tapping me with a wand, I watched Rantle scrambling up to our makeshift strong point: </p><p> </p><p>"Well, that was impressive; I don't think I have ever seen a squadron of wyvern knights destroyed either so quickly or so thoroughly. They don't have too many of those either!"</p><p> </p><p>Then he turned to Metamorphosis and immediately, I could see the charm oozing out of him: </p><p> </p><p>"And who is this beatiful.....?"</p><p> </p><p>Metamorphosis's countenance chose to change at this moment, obviously disconcerting him; he wasn't expecting to see anything like that.</p><p> </p><p>“………lady?”</p><p> </p><p>He finished rather tentatively. </p><p> </p><p>I made the introductions: </p><p> </p><p>''Rantle, please be known to Metamorphosis; she is a trillith; and before you ask, she is just about to explain to both you and we just what a trillith is.''</p><p> </p><p>I turned expectantly to her and as did everyone else.</p><p> </p><p>She looked at us and she suddenly took the guise of a half orc; I recoiled slightly: I was never really going to get used to that. Then she said: </p><p> </p><p>''Now that the danger is over, I can tell you what I know as quickly as I can. The trillith are the dreams of the psionic dragon Trilla.''</p><p> </p><p>I glanced at John briefly. In previous conversations, we had speculated about the nature of the trillith and he had hit the nail on the head. How he had done it was beyond me but that was exactly what he had said. </p><p> </p><p>Longhelim then asked Metamorphosis: </p><p> </p><p>''Please start at the beginning; although we are aware of who Trilla is, Rantle is not; and since he and his people have been fighting, spying, lying, dying and waiting for us to return, it is he whom you will have to convince to allow us to abandon the mission with which the Resistance have tasked us.''</p><p> </p><p>Metamorphosis turned her disturbing face to the commader: </p><p> </p><p>''Trilla is a great golden dragon with powerful psionic powers; she is the daughter of Syana, a powerful defender of the elven people in the Haunted Forest of Ycengled, far to the North of the Shining Lands of Shahalesti. When Trilla was a young dragon, she was captured by Drakus Coaltongue and tortured by one of his allies, a Bone Devil; although she was rescued, Syana lost her life and Trilla was spirited away by some of her elven allies into the Underdark to heal and recover; the trauma she suffered would have driven almost all other beings mad. </p><p> </p><p>She was taken to a cave deep in this underworld realm where she went into a slumber and as she slept, some of her dreams took a solid shape. In the beginning, they dissipated when she woke but there came a time when they became a part of her consciousness. They were aspects of her life, of her thoughts, her desires, her impulses and above all, her emotions. That is why the names we give ourselves are descriptive. They also describe our abilities.</p><p> </p><p>Time passed but our poor mother did not get better; the trauma caused by the death of her own beloved mother, the torture she suffered without even knowing why, the loneliness of her new existence all combined to drive her more and more into a dream world that was given greater reality by the power of her psionics. </p><p> </p><p>One of the most powerful trilliths or dreams that Trilla first created was Freedom; it was her most powerful impulse as what she wanted above all was to be free of the Underdark, of torture, of Drakus Coaltongue and his Bone Devil; but she knew that if she left the cave, Drakus was seek her out again.</p><p> </p><p>Freedom first followed the thoughts of his creator but as time went on, he realised that he was able to manipulate Trilla's thoughts and dreams to create more trilliths, but of a type that he wanted, that he could command. It reached a point where Freedom was keeping his creator continuously asleep or in a stupor and controlling her dreams. This gave him the power to create trilliths. This ability affected his sanity; the combination of an insane being in control of a psionic dragon which can give its dreams reality......well, you can imagine how the rest of this goes. </p><p> </p><p>Many, many of my brothers and sisters are now mad and actually born of nightmares. They wish to invade this reality for want of a better and term and convert it into Trilla's dreams; to do this, they will invade the minds of the people of Gate Pass; that is how they plan to cross over.''</p><p> </p><p>I murmured:</p><p> </p><p>''The Festival of Dreams......''</p><p> </p><p>Metamorphosis nodded and continued: </p><p> </p><p>''Indeed; the Festival of Dreams is a moment when the people of Gate Pass are most vulnerable to an attack from our world. </p><p> </p><p>Vigilance is another powerful trillith created by Trilla a long time ago. Somehow, she must have realised that there was a danger of her dreams permeating into this reality and she created him to prevent this by watching over the people here.''</p><p> </p><p>John asked: </p><p> </p><p>''What about all the others we met?''</p><p> </p><p>''Those were just individuals; think of what would happen if a whole legion of beings such as the ones you met invaded Gate Pass and the surrounding lands; and worst of all, many of them have allied with the Ragesians. I don't know what the details of this alliance is but I can guarantee you that whatever it is, it will mean the conquest of Gate Pass.''</p><p> </p><p>Rantle interrupted at this point: </p><p> </p><p>''I hope you will excuse me but this is a little difficult to take in; we are in the middle of a life and death struggle against the Ragesians and you're trying to tell me that there is another danger that is just as great lurking in some dream world?''</p><p> </p><p>He turned to us: </p><p> </p><p>''You've met these Trillith? Can you tell me what to expect?''</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim nodded to me and and I gave him a short account of our encounters with Indomitability in the Fire Fores; the trillith that we only knew as Ernest the halfling in Castle Korstull, who had ultimately possessed the skeletal body of Syana; and Madness in Dassen; I was about to launch into our encounter with Agony when Rantle stopped me. </p><p> </p><p>He looked at me in horror: </p><p> </p><p>''So the eternal fire in the Forest of Innenotdar was caused by one of these things? And they walk through walls? And they’re strong combatants? And they cast poweful spells? And they possess people or monsters or skeletons? Gods, is there anything they can't do?''</p><p> </p><p>I looked at him: </p><p> </p><p>''They're dreams and nightmares. I don't really know what they can do.''</p><p> </p><p>He looked at us, obviously thinking hard: </p><p> </p><p>''So what can we do?'' </p><p> </p><p>Metamorphosis spoke again: </p><p> </p><p>''Vigilance would help; if we are to hold the nightmares at bay, his presence is essential. He is also very powerful and he has defended this world for years; but, he has been captured by the Ragesians.''</p><p> </p><p>Rantle interrupted at this point: </p><p> </p><p>''How has he been captured? How do you capture someone who can go through walls?''</p><p> </p><p>Almost absently, because my mind was on something else, I answered Rantle: </p><p> </p><p>''Probably lots of ways we don't know and several ways I can think of at the moment; someone could be keeping him in his corporeal form through the Song of Forms; even I have managed to research magic which can force an incorporeal being into a corporeal state. I have a spell which has a small chance of succeeding; it’s certainly not guaranteed but if I can do it, then it is certain that Ragesian magicians have also found ways of capturing and imprisoning someone like Vigilance.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim, by the way.......</p><p> </p><p>I stopped as I saw everyone else staring at me: </p><p> </p><p>''What?''</p><p> </p><p>John said: </p><p> </p><p>''Magic to turn a trillith corporeal? What magic is that and when did you have time to research it? We have been together most of the time and we’ve barely had time to sit down never mind try research a spell like that; and you never mentioned this once!''</p><p> </p><p>I shrugged:</p><p> </p><p>“I analysed the magic of the Song of Forms from the Seelah; then I duplicated it to suit my purposes; as I said, it’s not a very powerful spell; I haven’t had the time to refine it and study it in depth; it was a makeshift solution but it’s the best I have at the moment.</p><p> </p><p>Anyway, Longhelim, as I was saying, isn't a lot of this sounding familiar from your dream? That bit which was talking about a vigilant one, and one who will change......''</p><p> </p><p>Rantle was also looking at me and interrupted: </p><p> </p><p>''It sounds like you know far more about these trillith than you give yourselves credit for; you've already began researching them.....</p><p> </p><p>Drudge interrupted at this point: </p><p> </p><p>''We've company coming!''</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6335680, member: 6692807"] As we watched Longhelim and Drudge approaching, suddenly I heard a voice in my head: “My name is Metamorphosis; I need your help; my Master, Vigilance, has been captured by the Ragesians and must be rescued. He has to be here before the others come!” Judging by their stunned faces, Felix and John had also received the same message. John shouted: “Who are you? Show yourself!” I was trying to keep an eye out on the approaching wyvern knights as well as looking around for the source of this mysterious voice. A moment later, a figure stepped out from one of the alleys nearby; it looked like a lady, and judging by the shape of her ears, she had a heavy mix of elven blood. The only clothes she wore were a shimmering shawl of red and gold which covered her body; she also had a bandaged knee. There was something very odd about her face though. Calmly, she took flight towards us. Another movement caught my eye; Drudge, not realizing what was happening, was tracking her with his bow. Quickly, I shouted: “She claims to be a friend. Hold you fire!” Thankfully, no volley of arrows flew towards us yet; Longhelim and Drudge began to move towards us as fast as they could, although I could see that the ranger was also healing himself with one of his wands. As the flying newcomer approached, I was able to discern another very disturbing aspect; her countenance seemed to melt and change continuously, as if unable to settle on one set of features; Metamorphosis indeed! It was very unnerving. As I thought about her name, something was tugging on the back of my mind. As soon as she landed, John challenged her brusquely: “Who are you then?” She seemed to gather her shawl around her face, making it easier to look at her directly and replied: “I am Metamorphosis, a Trillith; as I said, I serve Vigilance, who has been captured by the Ragesians and it is most important that he is rescued.” Something about the way she said that, or about the names continued to niggle at the back of my mind. John brusqueness changed to interest: “So, just exactly what is a Trillith? This is the first time we have been able to talk to one of you. Usually, you tell us things and then try to rip our throats out.” She looked at him steadily and said: “I will answer all your questions but first I would aid you to defeat your enemies. I can make you fly magically amongst other things; I can also make you larger or smaller. Do any of you wish to any of these enchantments?” John blew a breath through his cheeks and then tentatively said: “Flying would be good.” She cast a spell on him which I recognized as the magic of flight. As the spell finished, I felt myself relaxing slightly and I put away my spell components; Victor had also been deceptively close to her and I could see that he lowered his falchion slightly. I said to her: “All help is welcome; our two friends are on their way but I think we should also get Rantle here; he is one of the leaders of the Resistance and they have made careful plans; I doubt that these have factored in the trillith. At this precise moment, men and women of Gate Pass are losing their lives while they rise against the Ragesians. If their sacrifice is to be worth anything, we have to hold this Gate as long as possible. From what you are saying, you are going to ask us to abandon it, so you need to tell him why.” She looked at me, her ever-shifting countenance unreadable; it was impossible to tell if this was something that had occurred to her; the fact that she would have to explain her actions to anyone. She replied: “I will be very happy to explain to you who we are and why I need your help but I think that it would be best if everyone was here. In the meantime, please allow me to help you deal with the Ragesians who are on their way here.” At this point, Longhelim and Drudge arrived and Rantle was also on his way up to the top of the Gatehouse. Introductions were made quickly but time was running out; in fact, as I turned around I saw that time had run out. I felt flattered. It seemed that this time the Ragesians had sent a whole squadron of Wyvern Knights against us; two ranks of four flying reptiles arrowed their way towards the Gate with their riders aiming crossbows at our positions. As soon as they were in range, they fired but the bolts made little impression on our improvised stronghold. Longhelim was healed by Felix and Drudge had already healed himself so the ranger stepped up to the arrow slit and returned fire; as usual, where he aimed, a figure fell. Metamorphosis quietly continued to cast magical flying on everyone and the rest of us conserved our energy while Drudge picked off the knights. Changing his tactics, he began to spread his arrows. Despite their losses, the knights continued to shoot; they were also quite good, with several bolts sinking into the ranger or glancing off his armourr; they must have been highly trained to shoot from the back of a flying reptile; thankfully Felix was able to take care of any hurts that Drudge suffered. Finally, the Ragesians arrived at our position but by this point their strength had been severely diminished as two of the knights had fallen under Drudge’s arrows and all the others were hurt; this allowed one volley from Victor this time to down a third knight leaving five and seven wyverns; Drudge had also shot down one of the wyverns. The remainder now flew around our makeshift shelter either landing behind us or to the side; several others were flying by, attempting to snatch the unwary off the battlements; I was using my wand of lightning bolts. It was ideal for this situation, leaving scorch marks on the beast against which I aimed. One attacked Victor; poor thing, it was the last action it ever took. Another also closed with Longhelim and the paladin proceeded to smash it silly. It didn’t quite drop but it staggered around and did not look as if it wanted any more part of this fight. There were three which were trying to scrabble their way through the walls of the Gate, attacking through the arrow slits between the crenellations; one of them scratched me quite badly but thankfully, I had Drudge next to me. Longhelim and Victor also braced themselves for more battle. I moved away from the edge and stayed in the background; I had a feeling that my spells would be needed later in the day. What followed was a systematic destruction of a squadron of the feared Wyvern Knights. By this point, there were five of them left with only three knights but they were well trained; they followed up on targets such as John or I with little or no armour. Both of us were hurt yet it was nothing in comparison to how Victor and Longhelim carved through their ranks. They could barely get through their armour and even when they managed to scratch or stab the warriors with their tails, Felix's spell was able to render their powerful poison harmless. Simultaneously, Drudge concentrated on the three remaining knights. These tried to fire their cross bows at him but the ranger shot them as fast as he could reload his bow. Ultimately, this destruction did not take that long and as the last wyvern dropped to the ground, Felix and John were already moving through the rest of us, healing. I was badly hurt as the wyverns seemed to go instinctively for a target that was unarmoured. As Felix was tapping me with a wand, I watched Rantle scrambling up to our makeshift strong point: "Well, that was impressive; I don't think I have ever seen a squadron of wyvern knights destroyed either so quickly or so thoroughly. They don't have too many of those either!" Then he turned to Metamorphosis and immediately, I could see the charm oozing out of him: "And who is this beatiful.....?" Metamorphosis's countenance chose to change at this moment, obviously disconcerting him; he wasn't expecting to see anything like that. “………lady?” He finished rather tentatively. I made the introductions: ''Rantle, please be known to Metamorphosis; she is a trillith; and before you ask, she is just about to explain to both you and we just what a trillith is.'' I turned expectantly to her and as did everyone else. She looked at us and she suddenly took the guise of a half orc; I recoiled slightly: I was never really going to get used to that. Then she said: ''Now that the danger is over, I can tell you what I know as quickly as I can. The trillith are the dreams of the psionic dragon Trilla.'' I glanced at John briefly. In previous conversations, we had speculated about the nature of the trillith and he had hit the nail on the head. How he had done it was beyond me but that was exactly what he had said. Longhelim then asked Metamorphosis: ''Please start at the beginning; although we are aware of who Trilla is, Rantle is not; and since he and his people have been fighting, spying, lying, dying and waiting for us to return, it is he whom you will have to convince to allow us to abandon the mission with which the Resistance have tasked us.'' Metamorphosis turned her disturbing face to the commader: ''Trilla is a great golden dragon with powerful psionic powers; she is the daughter of Syana, a powerful defender of the elven people in the Haunted Forest of Ycengled, far to the North of the Shining Lands of Shahalesti. When Trilla was a young dragon, she was captured by Drakus Coaltongue and tortured by one of his allies, a Bone Devil; although she was rescued, Syana lost her life and Trilla was spirited away by some of her elven allies into the Underdark to heal and recover; the trauma she suffered would have driven almost all other beings mad. She was taken to a cave deep in this underworld realm where she went into a slumber and as she slept, some of her dreams took a solid shape. In the beginning, they dissipated when she woke but there came a time when they became a part of her consciousness. They were aspects of her life, of her thoughts, her desires, her impulses and above all, her emotions. That is why the names we give ourselves are descriptive. They also describe our abilities. Time passed but our poor mother did not get better; the trauma caused by the death of her own beloved mother, the torture she suffered without even knowing why, the loneliness of her new existence all combined to drive her more and more into a dream world that was given greater reality by the power of her psionics. One of the most powerful trilliths or dreams that Trilla first created was Freedom; it was her most powerful impulse as what she wanted above all was to be free of the Underdark, of torture, of Drakus Coaltongue and his Bone Devil; but she knew that if she left the cave, Drakus was seek her out again. Freedom first followed the thoughts of his creator but as time went on, he realised that he was able to manipulate Trilla's thoughts and dreams to create more trilliths, but of a type that he wanted, that he could command. It reached a point where Freedom was keeping his creator continuously asleep or in a stupor and controlling her dreams. This gave him the power to create trilliths. This ability affected his sanity; the combination of an insane being in control of a psionic dragon which can give its dreams reality......well, you can imagine how the rest of this goes. Many, many of my brothers and sisters are now mad and actually born of nightmares. They wish to invade this reality for want of a better and term and convert it into Trilla's dreams; to do this, they will invade the minds of the people of Gate Pass; that is how they plan to cross over.'' I murmured: ''The Festival of Dreams......'' Metamorphosis nodded and continued: ''Indeed; the Festival of Dreams is a moment when the people of Gate Pass are most vulnerable to an attack from our world. Vigilance is another powerful trillith created by Trilla a long time ago. Somehow, she must have realised that there was a danger of her dreams permeating into this reality and she created him to prevent this by watching over the people here.'' John asked: ''What about all the others we met?'' ''Those were just individuals; think of what would happen if a whole legion of beings such as the ones you met invaded Gate Pass and the surrounding lands; and worst of all, many of them have allied with the Ragesians. I don't know what the details of this alliance is but I can guarantee you that whatever it is, it will mean the conquest of Gate Pass.'' Rantle interrupted at this point: ''I hope you will excuse me but this is a little difficult to take in; we are in the middle of a life and death struggle against the Ragesians and you're trying to tell me that there is another danger that is just as great lurking in some dream world?'' He turned to us: ''You've met these Trillith? Can you tell me what to expect?'' Longhelim nodded to me and and I gave him a short account of our encounters with Indomitability in the Fire Fores; the trillith that we only knew as Ernest the halfling in Castle Korstull, who had ultimately possessed the skeletal body of Syana; and Madness in Dassen; I was about to launch into our encounter with Agony when Rantle stopped me. He looked at me in horror: ''So the eternal fire in the Forest of Innenotdar was caused by one of these things? And they walk through walls? And they’re strong combatants? And they cast poweful spells? And they possess people or monsters or skeletons? Gods, is there anything they can't do?'' I looked at him: ''They're dreams and nightmares. I don't really know what they can do.'' He looked at us, obviously thinking hard: ''So what can we do?'' Metamorphosis spoke again: ''Vigilance would help; if we are to hold the nightmares at bay, his presence is essential. He is also very powerful and he has defended this world for years; but, he has been captured by the Ragesians.'' Rantle interrupted at this point: ''How has he been captured? How do you capture someone who can go through walls?'' Almost absently, because my mind was on something else, I answered Rantle: ''Probably lots of ways we don't know and several ways I can think of at the moment; someone could be keeping him in his corporeal form through the Song of Forms; even I have managed to research magic which can force an incorporeal being into a corporeal state. I have a spell which has a small chance of succeeding; it’s certainly not guaranteed but if I can do it, then it is certain that Ragesian magicians have also found ways of capturing and imprisoning someone like Vigilance. Longhelim, by the way....... I stopped as I saw everyone else staring at me: ''What?'' John said: ''Magic to turn a trillith corporeal? What magic is that and when did you have time to research it? We have been together most of the time and we’ve barely had time to sit down never mind try research a spell like that; and you never mentioned this once!'' I shrugged: “I analysed the magic of the Song of Forms from the Seelah; then I duplicated it to suit my purposes; as I said, it’s not a very powerful spell; I haven’t had the time to refine it and study it in depth; it was a makeshift solution but it’s the best I have at the moment. Anyway, Longhelim, as I was saying, isn't a lot of this sounding familiar from your dream? That bit which was talking about a vigilant one, and one who will change......'' Rantle was also looking at me and interrupted: ''It sounds like you know far more about these trillith than you give yourselves credit for; you've already began researching them..... Drudge interrupted at this point: ''We've company coming!'' [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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