Arcanis: Gonnes, Sons, and Treasure Runs (COMPLETED)

[talien]

Chapter 36: Soul of the Serpent - Introduction

This is a Freeport adventure, “Soul of the Serpent” by Graeme Davis, set in the Arcanis setting. You can read more about Arcanis at Onara Online. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

· Dungeon Master: Michael Tresca (http://michael.tresca.net)
· Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter) played by Joe Lalumia
· Kham Val’Abebi (val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (http://www.ninjarobotstudios.com)
· Sebastian Arnyal (dark-kin sorcerer) played by George Webster
· Vlad Martell (human fighter) played by Matt Hammer

Jeremy’s been playing D&D with me so long that he can second guess plot points with ease. He confidently stated, “the snake people must be good guys, because that’s the only way you can get the other PCs back into the adventure.” Of course, he was right.

There were still some plot points even he didn’t foresee, though. I was pleased that there were enough surprises to keep him (and the other PCs) on their toes. This adventure moves quickly and doesn’t give the heroes a lot to do; mostly they fight ssanu and watch the madness unfold.

This is also a farewell to Freeport, of sorts. The PCs won’t be returning for some time. Somehow, I don’t think anyone minds.

 

[talien]

Soul of the Serpent: Prologue

They were surrounded.

Kham kept a tight grip on both of his pistols. The ssanu were everywhere, but they were stoically silent, keeping spears at the ready. Nobody made a move.

“Don’t look at their eyes,” whispered Kham to Ilmarė.

“I know how to deal with the serpents,” replied the elorii. “But something isn’t right.”

“Squeak!”

Kham blinked. “Wait a minute. That’s…” He looked around for the source of the squeaking noise.

“Squeak!”

A tiny ssanu half-slithered and half-hopped up to Kham’s foot.

“Emric?” asked Kham. “What are you doing here?”

“Squeak,” said Emric.

“We’re not sssure, but we think he found a Ssethregoran portal,” came a sibilant voice. The ssanu visibly relaxed. “Be at peace, brothers. This is a guardian of the Chosen One.”

“Yeah,” Kham holstered his pistols and lifted the amulet of Yig. “See? I’m part of the club.”

A ssanu slithered forward, dressed in blue robes. “Hello Kham. It’sss good to sssee you again.”

“Good to see you too…uh…”:

If the ssanu had been capable of smirking he would have. “K’Stallo. I know, to your kind we all look alike.”

Kham cleared his throat but didn’t add anything to K’Stallo’s observation.

“You ssstartled usss. As you can sssee, we’ve been renovating the ancient temple of Yig. Through the glory of the Mother Goddessss, ssshe kept it intact after Beldin made hisss great sssacrifice.”

Ilmarė took another look around. “I thought this placed looked familiar.”

K’Stallo nodded. “Apparently, the Valossssan ancessstorsss usssed thisss room asss a portal to Carcosssa.” He frowned down at the yellow sign inscribed in the floor. It was slowly fading away. “Had I know sssuch a thing exisssted, I would have dessstroyed it. We mussst cleanssse thisss room.”

“So you’re really anti-Hast—errr, Unspeakable One?”

K’Stallo nodded. “Pleassse, join me in our reception room.” The ssanu formed an honor guard of sorts behind them as they began to climb down a series of spiraling steps. “You sssee, there are two sssects of Yig worssship, just asss you have many variationsss in worsssship of your own godsss.”

Ilmarė pushed back some of her purple and silver hair. “Yeah, Larissa’s got more than one cult I’m acquainted with.”

K’Stallo bobbed his head. “I had heard you were captured. I am pleasssed to sssee you essscaped unsssullied.”

Ilmarė muttered something but it was inaudible.

“I teach the way of Hitthkai. It isss a peaceful path, and emphasssizesss learning and wisssdom through Yig. But there isss another ssanu teaching…a different path.”

“A different path?” Ilmarė arched an eyebrow. “How different?”

“The Sskethvai,” said K’Stallo. “A new priessst, Ffashethh, hasss begun preaching the way of Sskethvai. He believesss it is the ssanu’s manifessst dessstiny to wage war on all the lesssser racesss.”

“Join the genocidal club,” said Kham. “The val protect humans against all the other races. And I’m pretty sure the elorii plan to kill everyone, eventually.”

“It’s true,” said Ilmarė. “We do.”

K’Stallo hissed softly. It might have been a laugh.

They had arrived in a room with many pillows on the floor. The walls were hung with faded and poorly repaired tapestries. A large rug, in similar condition, lay on the floor, upon which stood a marble pedestal holding a beautifully-carved snake made of jade.

Kham flopped onto one of the pillows. “Got any wine?”

“I believe your arrival isss a sssign. I fear that Ffasheth has ssset into motion a terrible plan. I believe he will sssacrifice humansss and ignite a war acrossss Onara. He will ssseek to connect with Ssethregore and begin a full-fledged war from Freeport’sss sssewers. He mussst be ssstopped.”

“And you want us to stop him?” asked Ilmarė. She hadn’t relaxed.

“No, no, wait.” Kham put two fingers to his forehead. “My psychic powers tell me you want us to take care of this little problem because it would look bad for a priest such as yourself to get involved. You don’t want any more ssanu on ssanu violence; but if outsiders handle things, it will be much easier to overlook.”

K’Stallo’s black orbs widened. “Your powersss are impressssive.”

“No,” said Ilmarė. “He’s just a wiseass.”

“I mussst asssk one favor of you, Kham.” K’Stallo sounded apologetic. “I need the amulet back.” He pointed one long, clawed finger at Kham’s chest. “It isss unssseemly for a human to wear sssuch holy regalia.”

“Fine.” Kham took it off his neck and tossed it to K’Stallo. “It was just a matter of time before Finn took that from me too.”

“Worry not.” K’Stallo handed him a holy symbol in the shape of Yig. “Show thisss to alliesss of the Hitthkai and they will know you are our friend.”

Kham sighed. “Just what I need, another trinket.” But when K’Stallo turned away, he carefully placed it in a pocket.

 

[talien]

Soul of the Serpent: Part 1a – The Holding Area

Beldin, Vlad, Sebastian and Kham crept through the sewers.

“You sure this is the spot?” asked Vlad.

Kham shrugged. “It’s where K’Stallo said Ffashethh was holding the sacrifices.”

“It is.” Beldin traced his stubby fingers along one wall. “There’s a door here.”

“Too bad the elf didn’t come with us,” said Kham. “I can always count on her in a pinch.” He let the jab hang in the air.

“I get the impression Ilmarė would rather research this Sskethvai sect in a ssanu library than do their dirty work,” said Sbastian.

Beldin pushed on the wall and it slid open. “We already told you: we didn’t see the portal when the storm whipped up. You got pulled into Carcosa and we didn’t. The snowstorm was so bad that we had to go back to the Bloody Vengeance.”

Kham shrugged. He pulled out two pistols from his shoulder hostels. “What can I say, Hastur likes me.”

Beldin stood in the doorway, Sebastian behind him.

“See anything?” asked Vlad. As the lone pureblood human amongst the group, he was the only one who couldn’t see in the dark.

“No,” said Beldin. He edged tentatively into the corridor with battleaxe in hand. “Nothing.”

A giant wasp flashed into existence.

“We’ve got an invisible caster,” said Sebastian. “Keep your eyes open!”

“See,” Kham drew a bead on the wasp’s head. “THIS is why we need the elf.”

 

[talien]

Soul of the Serpent: Part 1b – The Holding Area

“Where’s the caster?” shouted Vlad. He blocked a scimitar blow with the flat of his longsword and retaliated by clubbing the opposing ssanu with his shield.

“It’s here somewhere!” snarled Beldin. He beat back another ssanu’s attack. His armor was still smoking from the scorching that the invisible caster’s spell had inflicted on the dwarf.

Kham growled. “So this is the Sskethvai cult, huh?” He leaped past the pair of ssanu and rolled to his feet, his scimitar Talon in one hand, Coomb’s stiletto in another.

Vlad went slack-jawed, suddenly switching to a defensive position. He backed up.

“I told you not to look in their eyes!” shouted Sebastian. “Whatever they just told you, resist!”

Vlad shook his head, unable to look away. The ssanu turned away from Vlad, no longer considering him a threat. It joined its companion in attacking Beldin.

Sebastian shook his head. “Fine, if you can’t resist through force of will alone… medicates privates!”

Vlad lowered his sword and shield and stared at Sebastian.

“Get back in there and kill those ssanu!”

Beldin fell backwards. Just as one of the ssanu was about to skewer the dwarf, Vlad crashed into it with the full force of a warrior embarrassed by his show of weakness. The snake man went down in a flurry of hacks.

The other ssanu looked on in surprise, unprepared for an opponent it though neutralized. Then Beldin’s axe severed its spinal cord.

With a lunging stab, Kham speared the air in front of him. A human-like face contorted in rage was frozen in ice as Coomb’s stiletto froze the invisible foe. Kham spun with Talon and backhanded the ice sculpture, shattering the frozen head into a thousand pieces.

A bloody snake stump shimmered into existence. It writhed a few times and then fell to the ground.

“What the hell was that?” asked Vlad, staring at the corpse. “A human-headed snake?”

Kham sheathed Talon and the stiletto. “They all look alike to me.”

“I found something,” said Beldin. “Marks on the wall indicate there were prisoners held here not long ago. We must have just missed them.”

“They were priests of Althares,” said Sebastian, his face grim.

“How can you tell?” asked Kham.

Sebastian tossed Kham a wooden hammer, the holy symbol of Althares.

“We’ll never find them down here,” said Vlad. “The prisoners could be anywhere.”

“Sarish’s ass,” muttered Kham. “I know where they are.”

“Where?” asked Vlad.

“This guy Gresty has a crazy theory,” explained Kham. “He said that several of the temples in Freeport were actually built over ssanu breeding pits. That’s why they keep attacking the temples; humans are trespassing on their sacred ground.”

“And that temple would be…”

“Egil’s Temple of Althares,” said Kham.

Sebastian turned to Beldin. “Can you figure out how to get to the Temple of Althares from here?”

“Are you part devil?” said Beldin gruffly. “Of course I can, I’m a dwarf!”

They took off at a sprint.

 

[talien]

Soul of the Serpent: Part 2 – Guard Room

“Incendiares globus!” shouted Sebastian.

A ball of flames blossomed in the center of a band of ssanu.

Beyond the guard post, Ffasheth preached his own particular brand of racial hatred to a crowded arena packed with ssanu. “The manifessst dessstiny of our people isss to rule the world, asss we did in the daysss of the Valossan Empire!”

“That should take care of the guards,” said Kham. He began to holster his pistols.

“It isss our divine right to enssslave all racesss in the name of Yig!” preached Ffasheth.

Two muscular, hulking ssanu came pounding out of the smoke and flames. They were easily twice the mass of the usual ssanu they had encountered.

“What the—“ was all Vlad got out before one of the large ssanu nearly spun him completely around with a blow from its warhammer.

“The catclysssm that brought about the collapssse of the Valossan Empire wasss due to Yig’sss dissspleasssure at the fact that we had become sssoft and complacent; we were content with our mighty empire, and no longer ssstrove to bring the whole world under Yig’sss rule. Now we hide from the world, hunted by sssurface dwellersss as punisssshment for our failure to complete our missssion of world conquessst. In order to regain our former greatnesss, we mussst resssume the ancient practice of sssacrifice. “

Beldin blocked one of the blows from the larger ssanu with his shield. The blow reverberated through his entire body, rattling his teeth. Some of the stone tiles beneath his feet cracked from the impact.

In the arena, the crowd began howling for blood.

More ssanu came pouring through the entryway to the arena. Kham fired both pistols, holstered them, and drew two more. “They’re going to sacrifice the prisoners!”

“Thessse sssurface dwellersss will be sssacrificed to Yig the Dessstroyer,” shouted Ffasheth. “Their blood will be the firssst to be ssspilled in the great war of liberation that we will wage until Freeport—and the whole of the Ssserpent’sss Teeth—isss once again in the hands of the ssanu.”

Vlad drove his sword right through the ribcage of one of the crazed ssanu. It would have normally been a fatal blow.

The snake-thing hissed and smacked Vlad across the skull with the back of its hammer. Only his helmet saved him from a concussion.

“Once the remnantsss of ancient Valossa are recovered, a crusssade will spread to all cornersss of the world,” shouted Ffasheth, “until the new Valossan Empire rulesss all and the warm-bloodsss are put in their proper place—as ssslaves to the ssanu and sssacrificesss to great Yig!”

“We have got to end this, fast!” Kham drew Talon and Coomb’s stiletto.

Sebastian took a step back. “I already unleashed a fireball on them. I…”

“Don’t you have anything else?” asked Kham. He blocked a warhammer blow by crossing Talon and the stiletto together. It nearly knocked him off his feet.

Sebastian swallowed. “I don’t…I can’t…”

“Come on!” Kham stabbed the stiletto sideways into the hulking ssanu’s torso. Ice appeared on its ribcage, but it didn’t react. “You’re part devil, right? Get angry!”

Beldin tumbled across the floor like a discarded toy, clanking as he went. His axe skittered one way, his shield another. The roaring ssanu pounded towards Sebastian.

“I…”

“You sssix are now anointed as acolytesss in the cult of Yig the Dessstroyer!” shouted Ffashethh.

It raised its warhammer. Behind the crazed ssanu, a chant had begun.

Sebastian looked down at Beldin’s unconscious body. He was bleeding from the ears and nose. Vlad and Kham were slowly giving ground. The ssanu were most assuredly going to kill them.

Something snapped.

The dark-kin screamed. It was a scream of anguish and pain, suppressed rage and forgotten nightmares. He arced painfully and bat wings snapped open from the folds of his cloak.

The ssanu paused, dumbstruck.

“FOOLS,” roared Sebastian. His voice was guttural and inhuman. “I WILL SHOW YOU TRUE FEAR!”

The folds of his cloak billowed. Two demonic maws, all teeth and bone, shot out from the dark recesses of Sebastian’s cloak. The two warhammer-wielding ssanu had a moment to look up at their impending doom.

Then the floating jaws snapped shut, decapitating the snake men with one gulp.

Sebastian fell to the ground, gasping. The jaws disappeared. The fire in his eyes went out.

“Althares,” whispered Kham. “And I thought I had issues.”

Sebastian buried his face in his hands.

 

[talien]

Soul of the Serpent: Part 3a – The Arena

The arena was bowl-shaped, large enough to hold several hundred people at a time. Passages led out in all directions, connecting with an even greater network of tunnels.

“There!” shouted Kham.

The sixth brothers of Althares fell, the last in a circle of bodies on the ground. A pool of blood slowly spread out beneath them.

“We’re too late!” Beldin cried.

Up on a dais, the ssanu dressed in yellow robes stood, arms outstretched. Ssanu screamed and hissed from the stands.

Vlad eyed the crowd nervously, sword and shield up. “We can’t take them all on…”

“We don’t have to,” said Sebastian. He was strangely calm, arms at his sides. “Incendiares globus!”

A fireball consumed the six ssanu who had sacrificed the humans. They were instantly incinerated, along with the bodies of the sacrifices.

Ffashethh hissed and pointed. Ssanu guards pounded towards them.

“Time for some race relations.” Two potions later and Kham disappeared.

Sebastian dug a wand out of his robes. “Casses!”

A sticky web spewed from the wand, encompassing much of the arena and the advancing ssanu guards.

There was a collective gasp. Behind Ffashethh, K’Stallo rose up in his blue robes.

“Ffashethh’s teachingsss are heresssy! He isss a samat, one of the mummy kingsss of old. He hasss perverted the teachingsss of Yig! I will ssshow you hisss true nature!”

K’Stallo raised the amulet of Yig. It flashed an emerald green.

In Ffashethh’s place was a massive serpentine being. It had no legs to speak of, its lower torso exclusively consisting of the coils of a python. Its massive jaw hung open in surprise. Two powerful sickles, in the shape of snake heads, were in its hands.

“Ah crap,” said Kham.

“Isn’t that…?” asked Beldin.

“The same snake king that Kham woke up in Freeport?” said Vlad. “Yeah, that’s him.”

Edward, the conniving first mate of Captain Baldric, had transported the ancient mummy king of the ssanu from his temple. Seeking to make a quick buck, Edward had tried to sell the mummy to Elijah Quelch, but Kham got to it first.

Despite K’Stallo’s instructions to the contrary, quite a few of his followers disregarded his orders of noninterference. At various places throughout the crowd, the Hitthkai followers of Yig revealed themselves.

The crowd did not know what to make of the interruption, or of the spectacle of two respected priests of Yig fighting hand-to-hand. For a minute or so, nothing happened.

Then, a full-fledged riot broke out as some of the crowd backed one sect and some the other.

Kham cleared the distance from the arena floor to the balcony in one hop. He made his way over to where the two priests battled.

Ffashethh slammed one of his sickles down towards K’Stallo. Though the samat was nearly five times the diminutive ssanu’s size, he blocked the blow with his warhammer. The amulet around K’Stallo’s neck glowed a brilliant green as each blow was deflected.

“A Hitthkai wearing the accoutrementsss of Yig?” snarled Ffashethh. “Heresssy!”

“You are the heretic!” shouted K’Stallo. “The old waysss nearly dessstroyed our people! Even now, they are killing each other. Is that what you wanted?”

Ffashethh paused. The arena was a roiling mass of serpents biting, clawing, and killing each other.

“Yes,” hissed Ffashethh. “It is.”

With Talon and Coomb’s stiletto extended, Kham leaped from the balcony onto the back of the samat. He plunged both deep into the snake-thing’s hide, up to the hilt. Ice extended around the puncture wound of the stiletto, then melted away just as quickly.

Ffashethh undulated, whipping Kham off of its back. He slammed into the balcony and nearly fell over the edge.

The samat loomed over him. “I remember you,” hissed Ffashethh.

“Long time no see,” replied Kham. “Uh K’Stallo, if you were going to make your move, now might be a good time!”

K’Stallo didn’t answer. Then the samat froze too. It was looking past him at the arena.

Kham turned to look. Behind him, the scorched and bloody sacrificial circle began to bubble.

 

[talien]

Soul of the Serpent: Part 3b – The Arena

The sand-stained blood began to bubble slowly at first. Within a few seconds it was bubbling like the boiling mud near a volcano, creating fist-sized bubbles that spattered blood over the first rank of onlookers. The yellow steam that rose from the boiling blood began to coalesce into a yellow form, taking shape over the heads of the congregation.

The ssanu in the arena from both sects prostrated themselves before what they believed to a manifestation of their ancestral god, Yig.

But it was not Yig.

A soundless flash of yellow strands blasted forth from the tatters of the King in Yellow. Guards that were cutting through the webs were plucked from where they stood, sucked into the yellow folds.

“The King in Yellow,” Kham said wearily. “Again.”

“You fool!” shouted K’Stallo at Ffashethh. “You have doomed usss all!”

Panic broke out; the ssanu choked the exits in their attempt to escape.

“Squeak!”

Kham squinted. He knew the source of that sound. Somehow, it cut through the horrible din of hissing and screaming.

The attacks continued, as the King in Yellow struck the struggling mass of ssanu again and again. Many more were trampled underfoot in the rush to the exits.

The King in Yellow loomed over a tiny figure. That of a baby ssanu named Emric.

“Emric, no!” shouted Kham. There was no way he could save the little ssanu in time.

Yellow tentacles undulated over the tiny ssanu.

The ground trembled. The tremble turned into a shuddering roar as an earthquake racked the temple. Part of the arena wall fell in.

“Run!” shouted Sebastian.

In the midst of the dust and blood, a massive being rose up out of the baby ssanu’s place. It had the head of a hooded snake, two legs, and in place of arms were two more snakes. It hissed a challenge.

K’Stallo froze. “Mother Yig! Ssshe hasss taken mortal form!” He bowed low.

Kham blinked. “Wait…Emric was a she?”

The King in Yellow, its tentacles whipping and snapping, turned to face the new threat. It fired two strands at Yig.

Yig’s snake arms shot forward, catching the two strands in their teeth. Where they bit down, sizzling green acid dissolved the strands.

The King in Yellow arced backwards, as if straining. Then a forest of tentacles burst from its torso, snaking towards Yig.

But the avatar was not to be denied. It opened its maw and spat a glistening gob of bright green fluid. The tentacles melted away.

“Where’s Ffashethh?”

With another roar, Yig charged towards the King in Yellow. Two snake arms clasped onto it, and then the hooded head reared back to deliver a fatal bite.

Kham caught sight of a small snake slithering its way down the steps from the balcony.

Down in the arena, yellow strands fired upwards, spearing the ceiling and the surrounding rock. The cavern cracked and a huge chunk fell to the ground. The whole place was caving in.

“Oh no you don’t!” Kham ran after it. “I brought you into this world, and I’m going to take you out!”

 

[talien]

Soul of the Serpent: Conclusion

Sebastian, Beldin and Vlad were forced to go back as the tunnel collapsed, separating them from the hordes of ssanu.

“We lost Kham,” said Vlad.

“I’m sure he’ll turn up,” said Sebastian.

A tiny snake slithered quickly past them through a crack in the wall. Kham skidded up to them.

“Open that door!”

Without asking questions, Beldin hacked at the crack. It crumbled, revealing a crude opening that led to steps going upwards.

One at a time, they half-stumbled, half-climbed the steps.

Kham blinked as he looked around, his eyes adjusting to the flickering torchlight. “Ah, crap.”

“Where are we?” asked Vlad.

“In the Temple of Althares,” said Kham. “The basement, to be precise.”

Across the way, Ffashethh, once again in his larger form, touched a scaly palm to an archway set in stone.

”That’s the portal Egil built to save the Temple in case of emergency!” said Kham. “How did Ffashethh know about it?”

Sebastian pursed his lips. “Because Egil didn’t build it. He found it. If your friend’s theory is right, Kham, this is a Ssethregoran gate. The Altherian priests didn’t understand what they discovered.”

Ffashethh’s tail disappeared through the gate as it glowed bright red.

“After it!” Kham plunged through the portal at a sprint and disappeared.

Sebastian hesitated. “I have a bad feeling about this.” Beldin ran past him into the portal.

“What else is new?” asked Vlad. He put one hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. The portal started to pulse. It would close in a moment.

Taking a deep breath, they dove through.

“No, wait!” shouted K’Stallo as he clambered up the steps.

Egil came running down from the upper level. “Father Thuron? What happened?”

The ssanu slumped. “You were usssing that gate?”

“Y-yes,” stammered Egil. “Why?”

The red light pulsed and faded. Whatever its destination was now closed to future travelers.

“That isss a Ssethregoran Gate,” said K’Stallo. “Samats have complete control over them. I am quite sssure that Ffashethh changed the coordinatesss before he fled to Ssethregore.”

“Changed coordinates?” Egil looked nervously at the gate. “To where?”

“I don’t know, Egil,” said the ssanu wearily. “I don’t know.”

 

[talien]

Chapter 37: On the Red March - Introduction

This is a Year One Living Arcanis Nishanpur adventure, “On the Red March” by Kimberly Wajer-Scott, set in the Arcanis setting. You can read more about Arcanis at Onara Online. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

• Dungeon Master: Michael Tresca (http://michael.tresca.net)
• Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter) played by Joe Lalumia
• Kham Val’Abebi (val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (http://www.ninjarobotstudios.com)
• Sebastian Arnyal (dark-kin sorcerer) played by George Webster
• Vlad Martell (human fighter) played by Matt Hammer

And we’re back in Canceri, just like that. This adventure deals with the plot points we skipped before. Sure, the PCs stopped Akali Vervain from being buried forever. But the Nierites still occupy Canceri. What of them?

I told George to think about how Sebastian felt about his homeland. Sebastian doesn’t love the place, but he certainly doesn’t hate it either. At heart, he understands that fanatics get people killed and that’s never good for anybody.

The question becomes: how far are you willing to go for the greater good? For Kham, it’s never been simpler. For Sebastian, the answer is a lot more complicated.

 

[talien]

On the Red March: Prologue

Kham readied himself for the usual sensation of passing through one Gate and exiting another instantaneously yet hundreds if not thousands of miles away. But the usual tingling, slightly euphoric feeling was missing. In its place was pain like he had never known.

Hundreds of red-hot needles pierced his body for what seemed like an eternity until, as suddenly as it began, it was over. He lay face down, nauseated, on a pitted rocky floor.

Kham struggled to his feet. It was difficult. There was a rumbling in his ears and the world swam.

“Get up,” shouted someone, far away. Only they were very close. “Grab Sebastian, the portal’s collapsing!”

Sebastian was unconscious on the ground. Kham grabbed one arm and pulled.

Garan val’Mehan, the Sarishan diplomat whom he had met in Coryan, dragged Vlad away from the portal. Next to him was Helac val’Mordane, the Blackchanter and member of the Emerald Society, pulling on Beldin’s leg.

They stumbled away, even as the portal groaned under the magical pressure. There was a sudden lack of all sound. Then the air sucked inwards and the portal collapsed upon itself.

“Where are we?”

“Canceri,” said Helac. “Ventaka, to be precise. Ve didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Or for you to use de portal!” grumbled Garan. “It was barely holding up. Ve vill have to dig it out and rebuild…de whole place is falling apart!”

“That’s nice.” Kham fell forward on his knees. The ground rushed at him and all became black again.