NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3816213" data-attributes="member: 3448">We proceeded onwards, turning from an easterly direction back to north after a few hours of travel.  Sometime after noon, a horned demon appeared directly in front of Sergeant Cilorean.  The demon asked if this was the Sergeant’s herd and complimented him on it after the Sergeant said that it was.  It then said that it hoped that the Sergeant was impregnating plenty of them, on the ground that that would produce better results than if they were allowed to impregnate themselves, in which case they produce more of the same.  The Sergeant simply replied that that was not his mission.  After a short conversation, the demon disappeared.  I hope that someday Lord Paranswarm will grant me sufficient power that I will be able to destroy such creatures whenever we encounter them, but for now we had to be contented with having escaped without conflict.We continued marching.  With the delay of the detour, it was not at all certain that we would reach the Shadowline by nightfall.  But even before the sky darkened from the bleak gray to a darker shadow, we had another strange experience.  A boy, perhaps thirteen in age, flew over our tribe on a bright orange carpet.  Even more remarkable than that, however, were his eyes, which were completely orange and glowed with a light of their own.  He addressed us, confirming that we were “the sergeant, the magus, and the flighty lord they thought their power word would destroy.”When we assented, the boy explained that he was one of the Orange Mage’s apprentices, before the invasion.  He had been delivering messages for the Orange Mage when Caldefor actually fell.  Since he would have been about six at the time, I suspect the Orange Mage arranged for the boy to be busy outside of Caldefor to keep him safe.  The boy explained that after Caldefor fell, he crossed back across the Shadowline to help the defense, before retreating to one of the charging stations, where he helps the automata resist and keeps them in repair.He wanted to know if we were planning on invading, and we informed him that we had already begun the invasion that will liberate Caldefor from the Shadow and bring it back into Orderly Darkness.  He was pleased to hear this and asked if we were planning on using the tunnels.Spring said that we were, which surprised me, since this was the first I had heard of the tunnels.  He then said that we needed more information about the tunnels--where to enter them, where they exit, and so forth.  The boy said that he knew where they were and could tell us.  He described a large network of tunnels, with entrances on both sides of the Shadowline.  The network connects in three places with what he called the “underfoot”--I’m fairly certain he meant the Underdark--but that even without using the Underdark, the tunnels reach almost anywhere in Caldefor.  He described three major connections between the tunnels and the surface within Caldefor:  one under Caldefor City, one under the coastal dragonhold, and one in the mountains near the Palood, where the deeper Shadow lies.  He also said that there is a major entrance on the other side of the Shadowline, in Tarkenia, and many small entrances scattered about Caldefor, including at most of the charging stations. With some additional cajoling, we convinced him to accompany us back across the Shadowline.  Since he could use the power of the Orange and had important strategic information, he was too valuable a resource to risk by leaving in Caldefor at present.  His magic crafting abilities alone would make him tremendously valuable, but he also seemed to know secrets about Caldefor that few others had access to.The Sergeant asked what the boy’s name was, and he said that he was Teller.  He had been Teller Smithson, but the Orange Mage told him when he began his apprenticeship that the Orange Pool would give him a new surname when next he needed one.  We welcomed him to our group and proceeded onwards.Because of the delay from the detour, night fell before we could reach the Shadowline.  We briefly conferred, but concluded that the danger of another night in the Shadow outweighed the increased risks of traveling at night, and so Sergeant Cilorean gave the order to press on.  If anything, we tried to pick up the pace, with safety nearly at hand.  The trueborn were clearly exhausted and struggling to continue, but order comes naturally to them, and they did not complain or shirk their duty but obeyed without question.  After about four hours of hard night marching, we finally reached the Shadowline.</blockquote>

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