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="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1683147" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 190Kaurophon felt a wash of hot, dry air surge over him as he materialized at his destination.  The hot weather did not trouble him; he’d been to far more inhospitable places than this one.  He turned to see the sheer stone wall of the desert structure rising behind him, its edges worn smooth by long centuries of abrasion from the harsh winds that occasionally swept across the desert.  The doorway would be on the opposite side, he knew, and there he would find those he’d come to seek.  But first, he needed to complete the last of his preparations.  He began by casting a minor spell that slightly modified his appearance, including one fairly subtle but very important change to his attire.  Then, he drew out a small bit of something from one of the pouches at his waist—a powder that glittered in the bright afternoon sunlight—and spread it carefully in a circle around his feet, muttering an incantation as he did so.  That done, he unrolled a scroll, and after scanning its contents, began to read. The scroll had not come cheaply, and the spell was technically beyond his powers, but he’d often used such in the past without mishap.  This time, however, his bad luck intervened, and as he read the final line, a stray thought popped into his mind, a tickle of the power he hoped to achieve once this course of action had been completed.  He crushed the thought and refocused his mind on the task, but the damage had been done, and he translocated the two syllables in the last word, switching them.  He realized instantly what he’d done, but it was too late; the spell had been cast. The air shimmered around him, and three babau demons appeared, called by the powerful summoning spell on the scroll. Unfortunately, rather than awaiting his commands, they instantly attacked. * * * * * “Did you hear that?” Mole asked. Zenna shook her head, her attention focused on Arun, who stood over the slight mound that marked Alek Tercival’s grave.  Digging a grave in the sand had been difficult, but they’d found some loose stone in the vault that they used to stack a cairn over the site, which hopefully would offer some protection against the elements.  Not that it mattered, really, she thought.  Alek’s soul, the core of what he was, had already moved on to a different reality, and while she respected the rituals and forms that were used to treat the bodies of the dead, she didn’t really see the point. Morgan stood a few steps back from her, his attention on the ritual, but not truly a part of it.  The cleric—fallen cleric, she amended, if that was truly how he saw himself—would have preferred to take the body back to Cauldron, she suspected, but at the moment they had the far greater problem of getting themselves back to civilized lands intact. Arun spoke a benediction over the man, his words plain but sincere.  Zenna listened but didn’t really hear the words, for now she’d heard the same thing that Mole had, a faint, bestial cry that seemed to be coming from behind the vault structure...“Something’s coming!” Dannel said, shattering the ritual entirely, hefting his bow as they all turned toward the source of the sound.  Then they could see it, a humanoid form wrapped in a flapping robe of gray cloth, rushing around the edge of the building toward them.  He was being pursued by a trio of forms already familiar to them, tearing at his flesh with their claws, trying to bear him down by a relentless assault.  Several deep gashes in his arms and torso were already visible, drawing streaks of blood down the length of his robe. “Help me!” the figure cried, as he caught sight of them. “Demons!” Morgan cried, and all hell broke loose. * * * * * Me and the missus are heading up to Mendocino for a long weekend; next post will be Tuesday evening or thereabouts.LB</blockquote>

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