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The Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions
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<blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1018903" data-attributes="member: 2323"><p><strong>[PLAIN][Realms #230] The Portal[/PLAIN]</strong></p><p></p><p>"We go forward, toward the portal," Ledare said matter-of-factly as she reloaded the single spent quarrel from her crossbow. "But be ready. That thing was robbed of his dinner, and I don't imagine he's too happy about it."</p><p></p><p>Draelond nodded and added, "Although it may require us to move more slowly, I think we should stick fairly close together from this point on."</p><p></p><p>"No argument there, Draelond," Ledare said as she reholstered her hand crossbow.</p><p></p><p>"Ledare, I am a little leery about slipping by that monster without attacking," Ruze voiced his concerns. "Those tentacles are pretty quick."</p><p></p><p>"But we've got him on the run!" Ixin countered, shaking her morningstar for emphasis. "We must strike now. It is our best chance."</p><p></p><p>"Why do we have to fight a monster?" Vade whined, peeking out from behind Ruze's leg.</p><p></p><p>"I say we all move forward," Ixin asserted, looking reproachfully at the halfling. Vade ducked out of sight behind the Battleguard.</p><p></p><p>"You're right that we should move forward, Ixin," Ledare disagreed. "But we shouldn't lose sight of our goals in these caves. Our first priority is to find and cleanse the portal. Then we need to see what can be done about Kirnoth. And lastly, make it out of here alive."</p><p></p><p>"That's our LAST priority?" Vade squeaked but Ledare ignored him as she went on.</p><p></p><p>"Fighting the Devourer - unless we have to - doesn't immediately help us meet any of these goals," the Janissary concluded.</p><p></p><p>"And we should also be on the lookout for the man in black," the cleric reminded. "I have a feeling he is skulking around these caves. He sounds like a very powerful wizard and I fear he will use that magic to our detriment."</p><p></p><p>"He didn't seem all about sunshine and flowers at the jail," Draelond deadpanned and Ruze turned to regard Ixin.</p><p></p><p>"Tell me more of your magic," he began. "Are you able to protect us from spells? For instance: darkness?"</p><p></p><p>The mage shook her red mane. "I have a spell that can illuminate natural darkness in a variety of ways, but magical darkness would quench that spell along with our torchlight were it employed against us. How much divine energy is left in you?"</p><p></p><p>"I've used most of my more powerful miracles," the Battleguard confessed. "But I still have a handful of lesser. Sometime over coffee and cakes you and I can trade information on our spell-making abilities."</p><p></p><p>"I don't think that now is the time," Ledare chided. "We should press on."</p><p></p><p>"Agreed," Draelond said, readying his blade. "Can anyone detect the energy as we get nearer the nexus?"</p><p></p><p>"I can," Ixin informed him. "I guess that means I should probably be in the lead, right? Since I can feel it and I have dark vision." She slipped her morningstar inside her Cloak and drew out her heavy crossbow.</p><p></p><p>"Before we go, I want to tell you all something," the Janissary said. "I am indebted to you all. Most especially to you, Ruze. The healing powers of your queen have brought me back from the edge of this life once again."</p><p></p><p>The Battleguard blushed and nodded his head. "My new mission in life is to not let you die," he told her. "You are the last of the original group who was called to stop this evil."</p><p></p><p>Draelond seemed to share this opinion, but Ledare would have none of it. She laid her hand on Ruze's mailed shoulder and shook her head. "If I fall, then you all will go on with our purpose. It's that simple," she said and purposefully turned her gaze on each of the others in turn - even Vade. "You are all involved in this now, for better or worse. I am of no more import than any of you"</p><p></p><p>"Gee, I bet you will be nicer now that I helped save you from the big old monster," Vade said with a wide grin as he ambled forward. "Sometimes stuffy knight types don't always like me at first, but when I get them out of a jam, they usually warm up. I am glad you are okay." He wrapped his tiny arms around Ledare's armored thigh and pressed his cheek against the platemail.</p><p></p><p>For the space of three heartbeats, there was an awkward silence. Then Ledare cleared her throat, pried the halfling's arms away and drew her sword. "Ixin, you know more about this portal than any of us," the half-elf said. "Will you lead us?"</p><p></p><p>The mage nodded and ducked through the bent bars.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It was an easy matter for Ixin to follow the pull of the nexus across the foul-smelling natural cavern. And even if it had been, there was a rather obvious footpath winding through the offal and night soil that had been cast down through the holes in the ceiling above. It began at the bent bars and branched off a few paces away, one branch leading southeast and the other leading west. They followed the wester branch and eventually came within sight of another set of bars that blocked a narrow passage deeper into the earth.</p><p></p><p>"It's through there," Ixin informed them. She gestured passed the bars, in the direction her humming blood told her the nexus lay.</p><p></p><p>"Looks like another trap," Ledare said and turned to the halfling. "Vade?"</p><p></p><p>The halfling was crouched down and poking with the point of his shortsword at something mired in the pile of detritus at his feet. He looked up with a start at the mention of his name. "I'm not doing anything!" he said loudly. His voice echoed in the chamber, making him cringe.</p><p></p><p>"Would you mind checking the bars for any traps?" the Janissary asked with a dubious expression on her face. "You can do that, can't you?"</p><p></p><p>The halfling smiled so wide that half his face seemed to be teeth. "You know I can," he said, sheathing his little sword. As he trotted up to the bars, he fished in his pack for his Open Kit. It took his keen eyes no time at all to spot the telltale seams in the floor and wall around the bars and he went to work with the tools of his trade. A few moments later there was a soft click followed by Vade saying, "Uh-oh!" as the bars and the floor around them rotated quickly and locked into place in the same way that the other set of bars had done. Luckily, Vade had made a point of staying off of the trapped section of floor while he worked, so he remained where he was. The halfling sighed and wiped non-existent sweat from his brow as he went about the business of securing his Open Kit and slipping it into his pack.</p><p></p><p>"I took care of the trap," he said a trifle sheepishly as he got to his feet.</p><p></p><p>Draelond sheathed Ravager and stepped forward. "Let's see if I can take care of the bars," he said, spitting into the palms of his hands. He grasped the centermost bars and strained against them. The seconds ticked by as the iron-hard muscles warred against iron itself. In the end, the bars surrendered with a loud wrenching sound that Draelond enjoyed immensely. He managed to wipe the grin off his face before turning to face his companions. "Shall we proceed?" he asked.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Beyond the bars, the corridor met up with another tunnel on the left and continued on in a more northerly direction. Before they'd gone too far, they spotted a sickly green glow up ahead. The glow eventually resolved itself into a 10-foot wide by 10-foot tall archway filled completely with glowing green mist. The arch was composed of 29 stones. The two stones at the base were unadorned, but each of the other 27 was carved with a rune. The rune on the keystone was larger, inlaid with iron and corresponded to one of the other stones; its rune was the only one duplicated.</p><p></p><p>"Well, this looks familiar," Draelond muttered.</p><p></p><p>"What do you mean?" Ixin asked and they filled her in on the mission during which they had stolen a baby that was about to become a vessel for evil and Kirnoth had gotten infected with lycanthrope. "Well, this is definitely the power nexus," she informed them after they were done with the recounting. "I can feel the energy coming off it like heat from an oven."</p><p></p><p>"Stand back," Ruze said, shouldering his way to the front. He brandished his holy symbol in one hand and extended his other toward the portal, palm outward. "Shaharizod, my Queen, bless me with thy virtue so that I might cleanse this portal of evil that serves thy enemies." The tunnel filled with a hushed stillness as the cleric channelled positive energy into the bilious green vapors. Outwardly there was no apparent effect.</p><p></p><p>"Is that it?" Ixin asked and Ruze nodded. "Then let's see what happens when I anchor to it," she said and touched one of the stones with her right hand. She went rigid as an orgy of magical energy flooded her body. Her face split into a toothy grin as the raw mana sizzled through every fiber of her body and soul. Ixin's fiery shock of hair seemed to be moving as if it were stirred by a strong breeze although the air was very still.</p><p></p><p>"Are you alright?" Ledare asked and Ixin looked at her dreamily. It took the mage a moment to recognize the Janissary but when she finally did, she nodded her head.</p><p></p><p>"I'm fine..," she began. "It's pretty powerful. I'd say it's rated an eleven... or twelve... Twelve. Definitely twe-"</p><p></p><p>Draelond jerked her away suddenly from the nexus and Ixin looked at him angrily. "It wasn't hurting me!" she growled and the overly-muscled warrior said nothing but pointed grimly at the portal.</p><p></p><p>The rune etched into the stone where Ixin had placed her hand was glowing and the mist in the archway was beginning to thin. Shapes began to resolve themselves out of the green vapor and after only a moment, they were looking out into a clearing amidst a forest of bronzewood trees. Ancient standing stones stood tall at the treeline. The sky filled with scudding white clouds with Orin's Shield visible behind them midway through its climb to the vault of heaven. A lone mountain peak thrust up behind the uppermost branches of the bronzewoods on the far side of the clearing. In the center of the open space squatted a black sacrificial alter such as both Ruze and Ledare had seen in the sewers beneath Barnacus. The ground around it was bare of vegetation and stained dark with years of blood-letting.</p><p></p><p>"I don't like the looks of that," Vade said, peeking out from behind Ruze's leg.</p><p></p><p>Ledare stepped forward and looked closely at the scene in the portal. She turned her head this way and that as she studied the area. "I know this place," she said at last. "Or at least I know where it is. That peak in the background is the northern face of Little Boy Mountain. This must be the Spiderwood. It's not more than a half-day's walk to my aunt's manor outside of Byr."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jon Potter, post: 1018903, member: 2323"] [b][PLAIN][Realms #230] The Portal[/PLAIN][/b] "We go forward, toward the portal," Ledare said matter-of-factly as she reloaded the single spent quarrel from her crossbow. "But be ready. That thing was robbed of his dinner, and I don't imagine he's too happy about it." Draelond nodded and added, "Although it may require us to move more slowly, I think we should stick fairly close together from this point on." "No argument there, Draelond," Ledare said as she reholstered her hand crossbow. "Ledare, I am a little leery about slipping by that monster without attacking," Ruze voiced his concerns. "Those tentacles are pretty quick." "But we've got him on the run!" Ixin countered, shaking her morningstar for emphasis. "We must strike now. It is our best chance." "Why do we have to fight a monster?" Vade whined, peeking out from behind Ruze's leg. "I say we all move forward," Ixin asserted, looking reproachfully at the halfling. Vade ducked out of sight behind the Battleguard. "You're right that we should move forward, Ixin," Ledare disagreed. "But we shouldn't lose sight of our goals in these caves. Our first priority is to find and cleanse the portal. Then we need to see what can be done about Kirnoth. And lastly, make it out of here alive." "That's our LAST priority?" Vade squeaked but Ledare ignored him as she went on. "Fighting the Devourer - unless we have to - doesn't immediately help us meet any of these goals," the Janissary concluded. "And we should also be on the lookout for the man in black," the cleric reminded. "I have a feeling he is skulking around these caves. He sounds like a very powerful wizard and I fear he will use that magic to our detriment." "He didn't seem all about sunshine and flowers at the jail," Draelond deadpanned and Ruze turned to regard Ixin. "Tell me more of your magic," he began. "Are you able to protect us from spells? For instance: darkness?" The mage shook her red mane. "I have a spell that can illuminate natural darkness in a variety of ways, but magical darkness would quench that spell along with our torchlight were it employed against us. How much divine energy is left in you?" "I've used most of my more powerful miracles," the Battleguard confessed. "But I still have a handful of lesser. Sometime over coffee and cakes you and I can trade information on our spell-making abilities." "I don't think that now is the time," Ledare chided. "We should press on." "Agreed," Draelond said, readying his blade. "Can anyone detect the energy as we get nearer the nexus?" "I can," Ixin informed him. "I guess that means I should probably be in the lead, right? Since I can feel it and I have dark vision." She slipped her morningstar inside her Cloak and drew out her heavy crossbow. "Before we go, I want to tell you all something," the Janissary said. "I am indebted to you all. Most especially to you, Ruze. The healing powers of your queen have brought me back from the edge of this life once again." The Battleguard blushed and nodded his head. "My new mission in life is to not let you die," he told her. "You are the last of the original group who was called to stop this evil." Draelond seemed to share this opinion, but Ledare would have none of it. She laid her hand on Ruze's mailed shoulder and shook her head. "If I fall, then you all will go on with our purpose. It's that simple," she said and purposefully turned her gaze on each of the others in turn - even Vade. "You are all involved in this now, for better or worse. I am of no more import than any of you" "Gee, I bet you will be nicer now that I helped save you from the big old monster," Vade said with a wide grin as he ambled forward. "Sometimes stuffy knight types don't always like me at first, but when I get them out of a jam, they usually warm up. I am glad you are okay." He wrapped his tiny arms around Ledare's armored thigh and pressed his cheek against the platemail. For the space of three heartbeats, there was an awkward silence. Then Ledare cleared her throat, pried the halfling's arms away and drew her sword. "Ixin, you know more about this portal than any of us," the half-elf said. "Will you lead us?" The mage nodded and ducked through the bent bars. It was an easy matter for Ixin to follow the pull of the nexus across the foul-smelling natural cavern. And even if it had been, there was a rather obvious footpath winding through the offal and night soil that had been cast down through the holes in the ceiling above. It began at the bent bars and branched off a few paces away, one branch leading southeast and the other leading west. They followed the wester branch and eventually came within sight of another set of bars that blocked a narrow passage deeper into the earth. "It's through there," Ixin informed them. She gestured passed the bars, in the direction her humming blood told her the nexus lay. "Looks like another trap," Ledare said and turned to the halfling. "Vade?" The halfling was crouched down and poking with the point of his shortsword at something mired in the pile of detritus at his feet. He looked up with a start at the mention of his name. "I'm not doing anything!" he said loudly. His voice echoed in the chamber, making him cringe. "Would you mind checking the bars for any traps?" the Janissary asked with a dubious expression on her face. "You can do that, can't you?" The halfling smiled so wide that half his face seemed to be teeth. "You know I can," he said, sheathing his little sword. As he trotted up to the bars, he fished in his pack for his Open Kit. It took his keen eyes no time at all to spot the telltale seams in the floor and wall around the bars and he went to work with the tools of his trade. A few moments later there was a soft click followed by Vade saying, "Uh-oh!" as the bars and the floor around them rotated quickly and locked into place in the same way that the other set of bars had done. Luckily, Vade had made a point of staying off of the trapped section of floor while he worked, so he remained where he was. The halfling sighed and wiped non-existent sweat from his brow as he went about the business of securing his Open Kit and slipping it into his pack. "I took care of the trap," he said a trifle sheepishly as he got to his feet. Draelond sheathed Ravager and stepped forward. "Let's see if I can take care of the bars," he said, spitting into the palms of his hands. He grasped the centermost bars and strained against them. The seconds ticked by as the iron-hard muscles warred against iron itself. In the end, the bars surrendered with a loud wrenching sound that Draelond enjoyed immensely. He managed to wipe the grin off his face before turning to face his companions. "Shall we proceed?" he asked. Beyond the bars, the corridor met up with another tunnel on the left and continued on in a more northerly direction. Before they'd gone too far, they spotted a sickly green glow up ahead. The glow eventually resolved itself into a 10-foot wide by 10-foot tall archway filled completely with glowing green mist. The arch was composed of 29 stones. The two stones at the base were unadorned, but each of the other 27 was carved with a rune. The rune on the keystone was larger, inlaid with iron and corresponded to one of the other stones; its rune was the only one duplicated. "Well, this looks familiar," Draelond muttered. "What do you mean?" Ixin asked and they filled her in on the mission during which they had stolen a baby that was about to become a vessel for evil and Kirnoth had gotten infected with lycanthrope. "Well, this is definitely the power nexus," she informed them after they were done with the recounting. "I can feel the energy coming off it like heat from an oven." "Stand back," Ruze said, shouldering his way to the front. He brandished his holy symbol in one hand and extended his other toward the portal, palm outward. "Shaharizod, my Queen, bless me with thy virtue so that I might cleanse this portal of evil that serves thy enemies." The tunnel filled with a hushed stillness as the cleric channelled positive energy into the bilious green vapors. Outwardly there was no apparent effect. "Is that it?" Ixin asked and Ruze nodded. "Then let's see what happens when I anchor to it," she said and touched one of the stones with her right hand. She went rigid as an orgy of magical energy flooded her body. Her face split into a toothy grin as the raw mana sizzled through every fiber of her body and soul. Ixin's fiery shock of hair seemed to be moving as if it were stirred by a strong breeze although the air was very still. "Are you alright?" Ledare asked and Ixin looked at her dreamily. It took the mage a moment to recognize the Janissary but when she finally did, she nodded her head. "I'm fine..," she began. "It's pretty powerful. I'd say it's rated an eleven... or twelve... Twelve. Definitely twe-" Draelond jerked her away suddenly from the nexus and Ixin looked at him angrily. "It wasn't hurting me!" she growled and the overly-muscled warrior said nothing but pointed grimly at the portal. The rune etched into the stone where Ixin had placed her hand was glowing and the mist in the archway was beginning to thin. Shapes began to resolve themselves out of the green vapor and after only a moment, they were looking out into a clearing amidst a forest of bronzewood trees. Ancient standing stones stood tall at the treeline. The sky filled with scudding white clouds with Orin's Shield visible behind them midway through its climb to the vault of heaven. A lone mountain peak thrust up behind the uppermost branches of the bronzewoods on the far side of the clearing. In the center of the open space squatted a black sacrificial alter such as both Ruze and Ledare had seen in the sewers beneath Barnacus. The ground around it was bare of vegetation and stained dark with years of blood-letting. "I don't like the looks of that," Vade said, peeking out from behind Ruze's leg. Ledare stepped forward and looked closely at the scene in the portal. She turned her head this way and that as she studied the area. "I know this place," she said at last. "Or at least I know where it is. That peak in the background is the northern face of Little Boy Mountain. This must be the Spiderwood. It's not more than a half-day's walk to my aunt's manor outside of Byr." [/QUOTE]
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