Shackled City Epic: "Vengeance" (story concluded)

[Lazybones]

Here we are already at chapter 200... in just over 420 days since the story started last June, a pretty brisk pace if I do say so myself. I may never get Sepulchrave's # of views, but at least I can drown him in volume.

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Chapter 200

Seeing the salamander destroy her friends, one after another, Zenna felt her heart freeze in her chest. The thing was wounded, seriously it seemed, but with their three warriors all dead or dying—no, she saw, Hodge somehow still clung to consciousness, kneeling almost at its “feet”—how could they withstand its power?

Even as that thought filled her mind, she was rushing forward, inexplicably, to try and save one of them. To her own surprise she ran toward Morgan, who was closer, true, as Arun lay nearly on the far side of the creature, as well a thousand leagues away. She’d watched the cleric struck down, and knew that she only had a few seconds to do anything, if it was not already too late.

But she underestimated the salamander’s reach. She saw too late the glowing red spearhead, threw herself forward as pain exploded across her shoulder and back.

Strangely, it was not as bad as she’d thought. She was lying on the ground—could not remember how, there was a gap of a second or two between when she’d seen the descending spear and now. She could not see the salamander, but knew it was close, perhaps already lifting the spear to end her life. But she saw Morgan, lying on the ground just a few feet ahead of her, looking at her, the light in his eyes already fading, blood covering his lips.

She would never know why she did it, why she chose to save him, of all people, instead of herself. But she reached out, and as she touched him, life flowed from her fingertips, and she knew that he would live.

For a heartbeat, at least... before the salamander killed them both.

But the salamander was having its own difficulties. Three arrows now jutted from its body, and it turned from its spear-work to deal with the elf. Safely thirty feet away, Dannel was out of the immediate reach of the spear, but as the creature lifted a hand to point at him, the flames building in its grasp, he knew that this time, dodging aside would not be enough to save him.

Then a tiny form darted out from the shadow of the rubble along the edges of the great hall. The salamander saw her, but like so many foes before it, deemed her a lesser threat than the other foes that had already hurt it. Indeed Mole looked puny in contrast to the deadly monster as she ran up, holding her little mace. But then, to everyone’s surprise, especially including the salamander, she bounded up into the air, landing atop Hodge’s back, and using the startled dwarf as a springboard, arced out in an unbelievable leap. The salamander twisted around, but too late, now, and as the gnome passed it, she drove her mace with the full force of her tiny body and the inertia of her leap into the side of its head.

There was a loud crack.

Mole cried out, dropping her weapon as the searing heat of the monster passed through it into her hand. She landed in a smooth roll, however, and her knife came out as she regained her feet.

It wasn’t necessary. The salamander gyrated in place, unsteady, its deadly spear falling from its hands. Then another arrow slammed into it, sinking six inches into its chest.

The monster tottered, and fell in a smoking heap.

 

[Dwarf_Paladin]

Mole saves the day! Thats awesome.

 

[Lazybones]

I do like Mole, even though I admit she's probably the least-developed character in my ensemble. If it weren't for her, the party quite possibly might not have any treasure at this point... And I'm learning how effective a 3.5e rogue can be, when combined with high mobility skills.

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Chapter 201

They spent the better part of a full day in the cathedral, tending their wounds and slowly recovering their strength.

Morgan and Arun had both come close to death, only the quick application of a potion from Mole drawing the paladin back. Zenna recovered consciousness, thanks to Dannel’s own healing bard song, and she was able to summon enough divine magic to bring all of them back far enough to be safe from the lingering temptation of death.

They secured the cathedral as best they could, and rested.

Mole explored the side rooms, finding a few valuables of celestial origin in one. Morgan frowned at her when he saw her examining an ancient oil painting of a winged celestial, but he didn’t say anything. The other room contained a welter of animated books, flying tomes that launched themselves at her threateningly, but she was able to close the door before any of them reached her.

They had secured some other treasure as well; both of the spears they’d taken from the succubus and the salamander radiated strong magic. Zenna took custody of the shorter weapon that the succubus had carried, for now; although she did not look very threatening with it, perhaps it might give a careless foe pause. Morgan refused the longspear, so Hodge carried it, though he looked a bit foolish lugging around the cumbersome weapon. It grew cool after the salamander’s death, indicating that the heat it bore was simply transferred through the metal haft, but Zenna insisted that the enchantment upon the blade was considerable, so they were not foolish enough to simply leave it.

They slept at the far end of the cathedral, away from the statue. The stone monolith was carved into the shape of a huge, bloated, roughly man-shaped figure with a head vaguely like that of a ram, clutching a massive mace with a skull for a head against its breast. It was disquieting, and none of them wanted to spend much time near it.

On the far side of the statue, they found a staircase that descended into darkness under the cathedral. The location of the first test, according to Kaurophon, but none of them wanted to consider such right now.

They didn’t speak much of their confrontation with the salamander; well, all but Mole, who happily chattered about her triumphant defeat of the monster. Finally even patient Arun sent her off to “search for hidden treasure”.

They rested, and slowly regained their strength. They had little healing left, just a few potions and a handful of charges in their wands, and Zenna insisted on husbanding those resources. The occasional shifts of their environment—Kaurophon called them “flashbacks”—were disorienting, but preferable to the wilds outside the cathedral, and Zenna even discovered that their healing powers were augmented during those brief interludes, facilitating their recovery.

They had almost nothing left in the way of supplies. Mole had brought some of the bison-meat, which was nearly rotten, in her magical bag. Zenna purified it with her magic, and they found some old wood and tattered parchments to serve as fuel to cook it, but the meal was poor, and they ate mechanically, without pleasure.

Finally, their bodies restored, if not their souls, they returned to the stairs.

Kaurophon left them at the threshold of the staircase. “There is a ward here, that I cannot pass,” he told them. “It bars one of my ancestry.”

For a moment, Zenna was afraid that she would be restrained as well, but only felt a faint tingle against her skin as she moved onto the staircase.

“I thought you said that you’d failed at the first test,” Morgan said, his voice tinged with a hint of anger. “You said that there were two doors, a demon behind one, and a celestial behind the other, and that the tester has to kill once to win past.”

“That is true, I promise you,” the sorcerer assured them. “My knowledge of the first test is not first-hand, I admit, but I assure you, it is accurate!”

“What, did you get another band of gullible fools to essay this far before us, only to be destroyed by the test?” the knight asked, his voice rising almost to a shout.

Kaurophon vehemently denied the charge, and offered as a gesture of goodwill the loan of his wand of magic missiles to Zenna, to use in the first test. Zenna took the device, but saw that Morgan was not convinced; in fact the cleric’s eyes shone with the same distrust that he’d evidenced on their first meeting. Even though she had saved his life several times now, she wasn’t sure if he still felt that way about her now. Did he still consider her little better than the sorcerer? Or even better than the fiends they were battling in this place?

Ultimately they had to press on; they had come too far to turn back now, in Zenna’s estimation. In any case, their resolve to keep a wary eye on their “patron” had been redoubled, for all he’d proved helpful to their cause thus far. Over the course of their journey, Zenna had covertly used her magic to scan the sorcerer, and she knew that he carried a variety of objects of power, ranging from minor to considerably potent. They would be fools to trust him blindly, and yet there was a part of her that wanted to believe his claims, needed to believe because of the implications that Kaurophon’s quest held for her own mixed heritage, and the meaning of who and what she was.

They made their way down the stairs, alert for any sign of danger. Dannel conjured up a magical light to brighten their steps, although Arun’s glowing sword made that more a convenience than a necessity. Morgan had the poorest dark vision of all of them, so the elf placed the spell atop Alakast, transforming in the staff into a beacon that guided them forward. As they descended, the walls changed from the faded white marble of the cathedral to a dense gray stone, slightly slick with condensation.

The stairs gave way onto a bottle-shaped vault, the entry at its neck, carved from the stone in smooth lines. The two doors they’d expected were evident, one to each side, but their attention was drawn to the elaborate desk situated between them, at the far side of the room.

The desk was carefully crafted from a dark, almost black wood, and looked quite heavy. A few random artifacts were positioned on its surface; some papers, a quill and ink dispenser, a few aged tomes, and some glass objects that were not immediately identifiable. But of more immediate import was the figure seated behind the desk, who looked up as they entered.

It had once been a man, perhaps. Whatever it was, it was clearly dead, its flesh desiccated and sunken, clinging to its bones under a layer of funerary wrappings bound tightly about its limbs and torso. It wore plate armor fashioned in an archaic style. Its head was a terrible mask, a skull covered by dried skin, its eyes points of fire that fixed them with grim immediacy.

“Undead,” Morgan said, his hands tightening around Alakast. For a moment she thought that the cleric would rush blindly into battle with the creature, for all that it had made no threatening gesture toward them, but then, with an effort, he mastered himself. The mummy regarded them without concern for a long moment, and then it spoke.

“Adimarchus, Most Potent Ruler of Occipitus, bids you welcome to the Test of the Smoking Eye. If you are here, then Occipitus lies fallow, without a strong hand to guide its development. Know then that you are pretender to Adimarchus’s throne. If you are worthy, step forward and undertake the Test of Judgement.”

A withered hand pointed to the door on their left. “Behind that door lies Thatnak the bebilith.” Gesturing to the other door, he went on, “Behind that door lies Halalia the avoral guardinal. Choose one door, slay the occupant behind it, then pass through the door on the other side. I will meet you there.” With that, the creature waved its hand, and vanished.

For a moment the five stood there in silence. “Well, thus far, it’s as Kaurophon said,” Mole observed. “But which door do we choose?”

“I am not going to slay a celestial to pass some demon’s game,” Arun declared. “However, destroying a demon does have its appeal to me. Come on.” He started toward the left door.

“Wait!” Zenna warned. “We have the advantage of being forewarned, for once. Let us not waste the opportunity.”

The suggestion was too reasonable to refuse, so they made their preparations. Zenna considered going back up to Kaurophon, to beg a few spell protections from him, but ultimately rejected the idea. The others were already too on edge when it came to him; no sense in provoking another confrontation between them.

So she handled the preparations herself. She’d adjusted her spell selections somewhat earlier, and she hoped that they would prove effective against whatever lay beyond the door. Kaurophon had mentioned the bebilith, but the word had no meaning for her.

If she’d known its significance, then she might have been less willing to pass the door.

When they were ready, Arun opened the door. The portal led to a broad platform, nearly thirty feet square. To their right, the chamber opened out onto a great chasm, crossed by several oddly-fashioned bridges of wood and rope. The bridges twisted and turned over the chasm, attached to dozens of mountings from both above and below, and connected with another ledge barely visible on the far side.

The area on and above the bridges were choked with thick webs. A big, heavy shape, amorphous in Zenna’s darkvision, hung in those webs, filling her with a sense of foreboding. The mystery of its identity was quickly revealed, as Morgan stepped forward, boldly presenting Alakast, shining the light at its tip out over the chasm. The shadows withdrew, revealing the dark shape. It seemed to fold outward as Zenna watched, long, slender legs reaching out to the surrounding webs, drawing out the body beneath.

It was a spider, but unlike any spider that Zenna had ever seen. It was horrible, massive, maybe fourteen feet from where one leg touched to its opposite, with fangs like huge scimitars. Its body was all plates and edges, as if it were clad in armor.

For a heartbeat the demon and the companions confronted each other. Then, as the companions reached for their weapons, the bebilith rushed forward to meet them.

The first part of the Test of the Smoking Eye had begun.

 

[Broccli_Head]

Hey LB. Caught up and have been liking the battles. Can't wait to see how they do against the demon.

 

[Polynike]

classic build up!

explosive stealth and backstab to use 2e terminology

 

[Lazybones]

Thanks guys!

I'm heading out of town for a long weekend, so this post will have to do as a cliffhanger

* * * * *

Chapter 202

The bebilith’s target was clear from the start; it made a bee-line toward Morgan, who, true to form, stood his ground before its rush.

“Come on, demon!” he cried, brandishing Alakast.

Arun likewise moved forward to intercept, his holy sword glowing brightly. The demon saw the dwarf and his blade. The radiance of the blessed blade seemed to give it pause, and it hesitated in its rush long enough to hurl a compact bundle of webs at the paladin. For all his strength, the dwarf was far from agile, and the sticky bundle caught up his legs, snaring him and binding him to the floor.

“Blast!” he yelled, trying in vain to snap the strands, which held him like steel cords.

Dannel started firing arrows, his quiver already augmented by Zenna’s spell, the aligned missiles tearing through the demon’s defenses. But his initial shots fared poorly, and he scored only one hit, the others glancing off of the demon’s thick body-plates.

Likewise, Hodge thrust at it with his new longspear. The weapon that had inflicted so much damage upon them in the hands of the salamander proved ineffectual here, scratching one of its abdomen-plates but doing no real damage.

The demon resumed its charge, and ignoring Hodge barreled forward onto the platform, seeking its target in the form of the armored knight of Helm. Morgan met it boldly, but as he lifted Alakast to strike the demon lunged in at him with surprising quickness, stabbing its long fangs into his shoulders. The cleric cried out as the vicious pincers penetrated his armor, injecting foul toxins into his bloodstream. But Morgan was made of stern stuff, and he drove Alakast into its head, drawing a chittering refrain from the slavering gap of its mouth.

Now it was really mad.

Mole moved to aid Arun, slicing at the webs holding him with her knife. But the tiny weapon was too small to be very effective. Still, Arun saw the efficacy of the strategy, and turned from trying to break free through brute strength to hewing at the webs with his sword. Slowly, the strands began to part from his efforts.

Zenna added her own efforts to Dannel’s barrage, firing a volley of magic missiles from Kaurophon’s wand. The bolts stung the spider-demon, but the thing was so huge, so imposing, she knew that it would likely take a lot of punishment to bring down.

All they could do was keep up their efforts, she thought, unleashing another series of blasts.

The bebilith was in a rage, now. Another thrust from Hodge did nothing, but the blow from Alakast had hurt it. It lunged again, striking with its foremost limbs at the knight, drawing him up to its foul jaws, the vicious hooks on its legs tearing at the man’s armor. The magical steel groaned before the demon’s strength, bending and twisting like a tin can being torn open by a determined child. The fangs darted in again, and Morgan’s cry was one of anguish, now, blood pouring down his body from the deep punctures. Once again he was nearly on the brink of destruction, helpless in the grasp of an enemy.

But somehow, the former cleric hung on, and his face twisted into a mask of grim determination as he lifted Alakast once more.

With a dwarven roar of triumph Arun finally tore free of the sticky webbing, and charged headlong at the demon. Even as it reveled in the destruction of Morgan it sensed him coming, and another armored leg shot down to greet his arrival. Arun took the stabbing thrust on his shield, and before the arachnid fiend could draw it back he sliced out with his sword, the holy blade sundering the limb from its body.

The bebilith drew back in pain, unbalanced. An arrow slammed into its face, just below one of its eight bulbous eyes, and as its grip on Morgan loosened, the knight drove the end of Alakast into one of those gleaming, unblinking orbs. Now in real distress, the demon reared backward, revealing its less-protected underside. Now finally Hodge was able to add his mark to the tally of damage, thrusting his spear deep into it, driving it backward, until it lost its balance on the edge of the precipice, and fell screeching into the void.

Morgan, his body ravaged, poison burning in his veins, his armor peeled away from his torso, wavered and collapsed.

 

[Lazybones]

Chapter 203

“Hurry, he needs healing, or the venom in his bloodstream may yet kill him,” Zenna said.

She laid another healing spell upon him, while Dannel and Arun held his arms, adding their own power to the seriously injured knight. His wounds closed, but Morgan’s body trembled, fighting off the deadly spider poison. Zenna had held a spell of restoration in reserve, and that had been the first spell she’d cast, but she suspected that the healing power she possessed was like a droplet in the face of the raging flood of the bebilith’s powerful poison.

This place... it’s one nightmare after another, she thought.

Morgan began to stir. Weakly, he opened his eyes. He saw Zenna, bending over him.

“Again... again you pull me back,” he said, blood flaking his lips. He was weak, very weak, but he insisted on drawing himself up, to a seated position.

“Well, that’s one suit of armor that won’t see much more use,” he said, fingering a bent plate.

“I may be able to repair it,” Arun said. “Difficult, though, without a proper forge.”

“We can pack it in Mole’s bag, bring it back with us,” Zenna said. “But right now, I think we’d better move forward. Can you walk?”

Morgan nodded, but he required Arun’s assistance to stand, and wavered even with Alakast to steady himself.

“You know, priest, you’re one crazy warrior,” Arun said. But his voice was warm, and he clasped the knight on his shoulder.

Morgan, uncharacteristically, grinned. “You know, dwarf, I think you may be right.” Summoning his strength, he drew apart from Arun’s supporting arm, and walked away under his own power, leaning heavily on his staff.

“I can help you more tomorrow,” Zenna said.

“Don’t worry,” Morgan said. “I’m fine, I can keep up.”

“Still, maybe you’d better leave the insane frontal assaults to Arun for a day or two,” Dannel suggested.

With the bebilith destroyed, it was a fairly simple matter to make their way across one of the bridges, Mole going ahead to check for traps. On the far platform they found another door, and passed into another chamber beyond. There was another door to their right, presumably to the other chamber of the Test, but again they saw the mummy, waiting for them as it had promised. Once more Morgan tensed upon seeing it, but again the undead creature made no hostile move toward them. Looking around, Zenna saw that the chamber was decorated with frescoes showing a black-feathered angel doing battle with hordes of demons and devils. Where the wall met the ceiling of the chamber, a single sentence was carved in a repeating pattern around the entire perimeter of the room. The words were clearly legible to Zenna, although they did not look like the common speech: KNOW WHO MADE YOU. A dais was visible on the far side of the room, upon which lay a lantern attached to a four-foot pole by a short chain. Glowing red sigils floated in mid-air about the dais, although Zenna could not decipher their meaning without closer examination.

The mummy strode up to the dais, stepping through the glowing runes, and took up the lantern. Crossing the room toward them, it addressed them. “Heed the words of Adimarchus,” it said. “You have passed the Test of Judgment. Attend to the wisdom of Adimarchus! Always deal with rivals first, and enemies second. This lantern shall guide you to the second test: the Test of Resolve.”

It extended its arms to Zenna, who took the lantern. It was heavy, and its narrow beam of light pointed north, back toward the chamber of the bebilith. And with that, the mummy vanished, in a flash of light.

“Well,” Dannel said. “It seems we made the right choice, but for the wrong reasons.”

Zenna was having difficulty juggling the spear and the heavy lantern. “Would you like me to carry one of those?” Dannel asked her.

At first she shook her head, but then she realized that they most likely had more days of walking ahead of them. “Thank you,” she said, offering him the spear.

Mole had poked around the dais a bit, but other than the glowing runes, which didn’t seem to do anything, there didn’t seem to be anything else of note in the place. “Well, we’d better get back up to Kaurophon, I guess,” she suggested.

“Be ready for anything,” Morgan added. “Now that we have this lantern, he may decide that we are no longer necessary.”

“Let ‘im try something,” Hodge growled, the threat apparent in the way he gripped his spear.

“Perhaps it would be better if we left him behind us, at this point?” the cleric said.

“I don’t think so,” Zenna said. “He knows this place well, well enough to follow us wherever we go, I suspect. Don’t forget that he has the power to scry, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was carrying a focus on him; all you’d really need is a good-quality mirror. And his knowledge may prove useful to us yet. Better to keep him with us, where we can keep an eye on him.”

Morgan clearly didn’t like it, but ultimately he nodded. Just the effort of standing here, talking, was obviously wearying him.

“Let’s get back up to the cathedral,” Zenna said, not unkindly. “We could all use more rest.”

“Not yet,” Arun said. “There’s one more thing that we need to do first.”

Zenna turned toward the dwarf, curious.

 

[Lazybones]

Chapter 204

The chamber was smaller than the one where the bebilith had waited. The only feature of note was a faintly glowing circle inscribed in the floor, laid with silvery runes that seemed to pulse slightly, and rippled with apparent movement when one turned one’s gaze away, and saw them out of the corner of one’s eye.

Standing within the circle was a seven-foot tall humanoid creature, an odd cross between a bird and a man. It watched them intently with penetrating eyes set in a face resembling that of a hawk, complete to the angular beak and pale feathers that covered its body. Great wings rose out from its torso where arms would have been on a human, but while it was at rest, as now, they folded against its body, revealing small hands at their ends that seemed fully articulated, folded together in a contemplative gesture that was somewhat at odds with the fierce look of the creature.

Its beak opened, and it spoke, something soft and melodic.

Morgan’s face was transformed by the words, and he half-fell to his knees, bowing before the creature. He responded in the same language.

“What’s it sayin’?” Hodge asked.

“It is a celestial,” Arun said, “No doubt imprisoned here by Adimarchus.”

The hawk-man spoke something else again, clearly addressed at Morgan. Before the cleric could respond, however, Arun strode boldly forward, until he stood at the edge of the circle.

“Careful, Arun!” Zenna cautioned.

The dwarf stared intently at the creature, which withstood his gaze with equanimity. Then, as if satisfied, the dwarf extended a booted foot and smeared one of the runes forming the circle.

The glow instantly faded, and the avoral stepped free from the circle. It turned to Arun, and bowed to him.

“I thank you for my freedom, dwarf,” it said, speaking common in a clear and unaccented voice that seemed strange, coming from that beak.

“I’ll not tolerate one such as you being held captive,” the paladin said simply, inclining his head in respect.

“No... no, one consecrated to the Soul Forger would not,” it replied, offering another bow before turning to the rest of them.

“Long have I been trapped in this place, conjured and bound by the dark powers that rule this pit. I had not expected to see wayfarers from the Material Plane here, in the Abyss. What transpires, above?”

They updated the avoral on what had happened, including the departure of Adimarchus and how they had been drawn to this place to match themselves against the evil forces seeking to gain control of Occipitus. The celestial listened carefully, and nodded thoughtfully when they were finished.

“You have embarked upon a dangerous quest, mortals. I will offer what aid I can, but I cannot in good conscience join you in a mission so torn with ambiguities. I would warn you, though, to be wary, and to watch this sorcerer of which you speak with great care.”

“Oh, we intend to,” Arun said.

With the avoral in their company, they returned to the cathedral. Kaurophon was not pleased to see the avian creature, Zenna thought, although he hid his feelings well. The celestial, on the other hand, utterly ignored him. Once the sorcerer learned of the success against the first test, however, he perked up, showing great interest as they described what had happened.

“Then we have a clear path to the second test!” he exclaimed. “Come, we must be on our way immediately!”

“Hold yer horses,” Hodge said. “The priest’s sick, and we can all use a breather ere we start marchin’ back an’ forth across this gods-forsaken pit—no offense, birdie.”

“None taken,” the avoral said, a hint of amusement in its voice.

Kaurophon protested, but he could not sway them; the companions were united in their desire to avoid blundering into danger again unprepared. So they set camp once more in the cathedral, and rested. The avoral proved a boon companion, telling them tales of Celestia and the other higher realms, tales that inspired them in this dark place. His very presence helped keep some of the darkness of the plane at bay, and they had a peaceful sleep for the first time in days.

In the “morning” they prepared to set out once more. Arun did what he could to patch up the knight’s damaged armor, using the limited tools available to him; although it still provided far less protection than it had when whole, it was better than no protection at all. Arun and Zenna both cast spells of restoration upon Morgan, and he looked much better afterwards, though still somewhat pale. Taking their leave of the celestial, they set out on a course that roughly continued their earlier path to the place, following the long beam of the magical lantern.

Ahead, somewhere in the distance, lay the second part of the Test of the Smoking Eye.

 

[Lazybones]

Chapter 205

Zenna cast a long, sweeping glance across the vast plain that surrounded them in all directions. Due to the flat nature of Occipitus, they could see clearly all the way to the surrounding mountains that held the flatlands in their grasp, and the omnipresent skull-mountain that issued smoke and plasms in an unceasing trickle. That long vista gave the place an illusion of compactness, but having walked over a goodly part of the plane since their arrival, she knew first-hand how big this region was.

It was their third “day” since their departure from the cathedral. They counted the passage of time by the number of sleeping-breaks they took, an inexact measure at best. At least the soft, slightly spongy ground and flatness of the plain made their travel very efficient, and they covered many miles in each long march. They had come across another herd of evil bison, who had responded with much the same aggressiveness as the first group. This time there had been no convenient barrier to shelter behind, but there were only fifteen in this herd, and their weapons made short work of the fierce creatures. Dannel had taken a hard hit this time, butted almost senseless by one of the charging beasts, but healing had been quickly forthcoming, and none of the others had been seriously injured in the brief clash.

Occipitus’s sheer... presence continued to weigh upon them, and there had been occasional scenes of conflict on the long trek, but for the most part, they had settled down to a grim equilibrium, marching forward along the path indicated by the lantern.

Occasionally she transferred the device to Dannel, or Arun, or even Mole, but for the most part she bore the glowing lamp herself. Kaurophon did not offer to bear it, perhaps knowing that they would have refused him had he offered. In covert moments, away from the sorcerer, they agreed to always keep at least two of them in proximity to the lamp at all times, and to avoid leaving it unguarded for even a moment. Zenna had shared enough of what she’d learned about Kaurophon, especially his ability to dimension door, so that they could all be on guard against betrayal.

Still, oddly, for all that she found herself liking the quixotic outsider. Kaurophon had a strong presence about him, and his manner was always observant and often friendly. He kept himself apart from them for the most part, recognizing their suspicion of him, but there were times when he told them tales of the varied wonders of the Outer Realms, spoken vividly enough to give Zenna the impression that she’d actually visited some of these places.

She felt stronger now, more comfortable in herself. At the cathedral, during their rests, she focused her thoughts and continued her meditations, extending what she had learned and accommodating it to the altered realities of this place. She felt her consciousness expanding, and felt new avenues of power open to her explorations. She regretted the lack of access to new wizard spells, and the inks, quills, and other supplies to add them to her spellbook. But she could feel the divine magic at her command grow stronger.

“Something’s coming up behind us,” Dannel said, stirring her again from her thoughts. They all turned to look back, staring across the plain. Zenna thought she saw a speck in the distance, along their line of march.

“What is it?” Mole asked, sheltering her eyes with her hand, staring out over the distance.

Dannel didn’t respond for several long seconds. When he finally spoke, however, his words brought a familiar feeling of anticipation, mingled with dread.

“The vulture-demon, it’s back. And this time, it looks like it’s brought a friend along with it.”

 

[Padril]

Just wanted to say the story is as excellent as always Lazybones. Hope you can keep up the pace. You have become part of my morning work routine

• Turn computer on
• Make coffee
• Read Latest instalment