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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 2125442" data-attributes="member: 5203">The Tenth PartKavan sat bolt upright in bed, the rays of the early dawn sun streaming through his window to illuminate his smooth elven features.  A drop of sweat ran down his temple.            The dream still lingered on the edge of his consciousness.  Kavan quickly rose from his bed and pulled on a pair of trousers over his nightshirt.  Walking to the door barefoot across the cold stone floor, he opened the door and went out.  He immediately walked across the hall to the door opposite his, and began knocking.  He had to talk to someone.  Now.            “What?” said a voice from the other side of the door.            “Osborn, it’s Kavan.  I need to speak with you.  It’s important.”            Kavan heard mumbling and cursing, and the sounds of Osborn’s dog Rupert whining and scratching.  A few moments later the door opened, and the large dog burst past Kavan and ran down the hall, no doubt headed outside.            Osborn looked up at Kavan, and with a wave of his hand invited him in.  The hin sat down on the edge of his large bed, while Kavan took one of the chairs in the room.  From the state of the bedding, Kavan could tell that Osborn had shared the bed with his dog.            “Okay,” Osborn said, yawning, “what’s so important?”            “I’ve just had a dream – a very disturbing dream.  It’s warning me that someone is in danger, but I’m not sure who it is.  I need someone to help me figure it out.”            “A dream, huh? Well, you tell me your strange dream, and I’ll tell you mine.”            Kavan cleared his throat.  “I was surrounded by the essence of my goddess, Erito.  She was embracing me, and seemed pleased with me.  She was telling me of a time of great change that was coming, and how I had to be a shepherd to guide her children.  But as she spoke, she suddenly became alarmed.  She told me that the soul of the human girl-child is in peril, and that I had to go to her before all was lost.  She commanded me to awake.  That was only moments ago.”            “Wow,” said Osborn.  “So who’s the ‘human girl-child’?”            “That is what I don’t know.  Erito did not reveal her identity to me.”            Osborn scowled.  “That’s not very helpful.”            “Erito is a goddess of secrets among her other duties.  She often does not reveal all to her priests, so that they do not become complacent.”            “Well, do any of the people in the castle have children?”            “None that I know of,” said Kavan, shaking his head.  “The families of the castle staff would not live here, though.”            “Well, I guess we can search the village,” said Osborn.            Kavan sighed.  Such a search might take hours, even days, and he sensed that this girl didn’t have that much time.  Kavan knew the answer had to be close at hand, or Erito would not have revealed it to him the way she did.  As his mind danced around the problem, he looked at Osborn, still sitting on the edge of the bed.  It was large even by human standards, and its size made Osborn look like a small child himself.  If he hadn’t known better, he’d almost think…            Enlightenment came like a flash of summer lightning.  Kavan had to force himself not to smile.  He stood up.            “Osborn, come with me.  I think I know who the child is.”            They dashed out the door, Kavan leading them down the hallway.            “Where are we going?” Osborn shouted.            “To the other side of the castle.”            “Why?  I thought we agreed there were no children living in the castle!”            This time Kavan couldn’t keep the smile from touching the corner of his lips.  “It’s a matter of perspective, dear Osborn.  A matter of perspective.”            They walked quickly down the hallways, drawing strange looks from the few servants up and about.            “What was your dream?” Kavan asked.            “What?”            “You mentioned you had a strange dream as well.  What was it?”            “Oh, that.”  Osborn grinned.  “Well, I dreamed that everything in the world was made of bacon.  And I started eating it, because it was bacon.  And I kept eating, and eating, until all that was left was me.  I ate the world, because it was bacon.”            “How… disturbing.”            Minutes later they rounded a corner and entered another corridor.  Kavan glanced around at the half-dozen doors in the hallway.            “This is where Arrie and Autumn’s rooms are,” said Osborn.            “Yes, I know.  Arrie is the one in danger.”            “What?  She’s not a child!”            Kavan nodded.  “Yes, I know.  But she is married to an elven prince, and Erito is the patron of the elves.  She has only seen eighteen summers.  In their eyes, she is a child.”  Kavan frowned.  "But I don't know which room she's in for sure."            “Well, then, let’s find her!”  Osborn immediately ran to the door on his left and opened it, going inside.  He dashed through the small sitting area and went straight for the bedroom, opening the door with a crash and moving to the large canopied bed in the center of the room.  He pulled aside the sheer curtains, and looked straight into Autumn’s blue eyes.            Osborn didn’t miss a beat.  “Autumn, come quick!  Your sister’s in trouble!”  He dashed out of the room without waiting for a reply.            Meanwhile, Kavan was about to employ the same search method as Osborn, when he heard something odd from the door to the right about halfway down the hall.  It was a low chanting, in a male voice he’d not heard before.  Kavan grabbed one of the burned-out torches in a wall sconce, and walked to that door.  He considered kicking it in, but remembered that he had no boots on.  He tried the door, and found it open.            Kavan walked through the sitting area, hearing the male voice coming from the bedroom to his right.  He glanced to the wall, and saw a spiked chain hanging from the wall.  Kavan immediately rushed into the bedroom.            Arrie was lying on her bed, dressed in a light shift to ward off the summer heat.  The sheer fabric around the bed was torn aside.  Arrie lay in the center of the bed, writhing and twisting in evident pain.  The otherworldly male voice was coming from her lips, seeming to echo even in the small room.  Kavan recognized the words as Elvish, but it was a strange, archaic form, and Kavan was unable to make out its meaning.  Arrie looked up at Kavan with glowing red eyes.  In the midst of the horrific litany, Arrie uttered a single name that Kavan recognized.            The elven priest rushed to Arrie’s bed, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her.  “Arrie!” he shouted, “Wake up!”            Just then Osborn came into the room.  “What’s going on?”            “Arrie’s been possessed by Sauroth!” *          *            *            Chaos reigned in Ariadne’s bedroom.            Kavan tried to drive the spirit out of Arrie with a burst of positive energy, but Arrie’s condition didn’t change.  Autumn came in on Osborn’s heels, her sword in hand, just as the hin dumped a pitcher of water over Arrie, soaking her shift but producing no change.            “Let’s slap the evil out of her!” Osborn offered.Kavan looked at Osborn.  “Go get Tolly.  I need his help.”Osborn dashed off to get Tolly.  Meanwhile Autumn had gone to get Prince Herion, who was sleeping in one of the rooms in the same corridor.  She burst in on him sitting on the edge of his bed, meditating.“Herion!” she shouted.  “Something’s wrong with Arrie!”His eyes immediately opened, and he stood up to follow Autumn.  Once inside Arrie’s room, Herion stood listening to the words spilling from Arrie’s mouth.  His face went ashen.“What is it?” said Autumn.“It’s… my grandfather.  Sauroth has bound the soul of my grandfather into Ariadne.”Autumn looked panicked.  “Well, how do we stop it?”            “I don’t know.  I would suggest killing Sauroth.”“We don’t know where Sauroth is!  How can he do this without being here?”“I don’t know.”Autumn looked near to tears with frustration.  “Was your grandfather evil?”“It doesn’t matter.  Sauroth had bound him with evil magic.”Autumn put a hand on Herion’s shoulder and spun him to face her.  “Do I need to smite my sister?” she shouted, her eyes aflame.Herion bowed his head.  “Not yet.”Autumn smoldered for a moment, then went to the door, shouting for guards.  When two arrived, she commanded them to bring four sets of shackles from the prison. Just then Osborn returned with Tolly.  Tolly immediately stepped forward.   “What’s going on?  What’s happening?”  As he stepped forward, Osborn turned to go get the other party members.Kavan looked up at Tolly, still holding onto Arrie’s hand.  “Sauroth has bound the spirit of Herion’s grandfather into Arrie.”Tolly immediately laid his hand on Arrie’s forehead and sent a surge of positive energy into her.  Her eyes fluttered for a moment, and a faint whisper escaped her lips, in Arrie’s own voice.“Stop… him….”Tolly looked up as the male chanting voice returned.  “Nothing.”“I thought perhaps we could combine our efforts,” offered Kavan.  “Combine the power of two gods.”“Three,” said Autumn.  “I, too, have the ability to channel positive energy.”Tolly nodded in agreement.  Then, for a moment, a troubled look crossed his brow.  “Have any of you heard the term ‘deathless’ before?”Each of them indicated they hadn’t.  “Autumn,” Tolly continued, “is there anything around here that might be considered a ‘frozen heart’?”“Nothing I can think of.  Why?”Tolly shook his head.  “Nothing.  It’s not important now, anyway.”The two priests and the sentinel stood around Arrie’s bed, letting positive energy flow into Arrie.  For a moment, they seemed to be having an effect, but the spirit stubbornly clung to Arrie’s body, refusing to relinquish its prize.  As they prayed and chanted, Xu and Kyle walked into the room along with Osborn, and were informed of the situation by Herion.  Soon Tolly, Kavan, and Autumn were unable to continue, and stepped back.  But just as the spirit began to settle back into Arrie, Tolly cast a spell.  Though most of the people in the room saw nothing happen, Autumn saw a faint shimmer to the air, rising above Arrie’s body.  The entity itself did not seem evil, but seemed bound by evil’s power.Autumn raised her sword and slashed at the disturbance in the air.  She felt her sword pass through it, but felt that she had sliced through something more than air.  Behind her, she heard Herion chanting magical words.  She was relieved that someone else had seen the spirit as well and was doing something.  She pulled back to swing again, but suddenly her muscles went rigid.Herion sighed, and went up and pulled the paralyzed Autumn away from Arrie, wrenching the sword from her hand.  As he set her down in the back of the room, Kyle walked up.“Why did you cast hold person on Autumn?”Despite being unable to move a muscle, Autumn seethed.“She was attacking my wife,” he said, his voice shaky.“No, I think she was attacking the air above your wife,” he said.  “Maybe she saw something we can’t.”  Kyle turned to Tolly.  “What spell was that?”“Hide from undead,” said Tolly.  “I wasn’t sure it would work, but the spirit seems unable to locate Arrie now to regain full control.  It’s now floating above her.  I’ve also warded those of us in the room, so the spirit doesn’t attempt to possess one of us.”“How long does it last?” he asked.“An hour,” Tolly said.Kyle picked up the frozen Autumn and began taking her to her room.  “Look, I don’t think destroying Herion’s grandpa is the answer here.  It’s the spell that’s evil, not the spirit.  We need to find Sauroth.  He can’t be that far away.”  Kyle’s voice was cut off as he kicked the door to Autumn’s room closed with his foot.By this time the guards had returned with shackles.  Herion commanded them to restrain Arrie to her bed, wrapping strips of cloth around her wrists and ankles so as not to injure her.“Do you have anything you can do to keep the spirit out of Arrie after my spell wears off?” Tolly asked Herion.“No,” he said flatly.  “And I must leave.  I have no choice.”As harsh as it sounded, the group understood.  The previous day, shortly after Kyle had returned from his excursion, an elven messenger had ridden into the castle with a missive for Herion.  Though the contents of the message were not made public, Herion had confided in the group that his father, the emperor of Tlaxan, was dying.  Herion had to return to the capital, Noxolt, to be by his side.“Then we don’t have much time,” Tolly said.“I have a spell that will help us find Sauroth,” Kavan said.  “I can use it once we are ready to leave.”“Why not now?” asked Xu.“The spell works for only a moment, telling me the direction in which whoever I’m trying to find is located.  I would rather wait until we are ready to travel before I cast it.  I won’t know how far away he is.  But as Kyle suggests, he can’t be far from here.  I’d also guess he’s located in some sort of structure.”            “So once we know what direction he is, we can ask someone what lies in that direction that might be a good place to look,” Osborn said.            “All right, then, let’s go,” said Tolly.  “Someone will need to wake up Lanara.  I will go assist Autumn with her armor; my own has been enchanted in such a way to make it much easier to don than normal, so I will need no help.”            The group quickly went to prepare themselves to leave, leaving Arrie chained to her bed, still spewing forth words in archaic Elvish.*          *            *             Kavan’s spell pointed them in the direction of the lone mountain in the region; the castle itself was built at the foot of the mountain.  Local woodsmen indicated that there was little of interest on the mountain, except for an abandoned watchtower and a series of caves.            Autumn was the last to emerge from the castle, having made sure that Arrie was as comfortable as possible.  She then went to deliver the news to her parents, Zanich and Auror.  Autumn was slightly astounded to see Auror express genuine concern for Arrie’s well being.  It did her heart good to know that despite the frequent conflicts between Auror and Arrie, they truly did care for one another.            The group was able to ride for two hours before the terrain became too treacherous for horses.  As they dismounted and collected their supplies, some of the party members readied their longer-lasting defensive magic.  They then began hiking toward the watchtower they’d been told about.  During the journey, Lanara was uncharacteristically quiet, even considering their grim purpose.  Several people in the group noted it, but the opportunity to ask her about it never arose.            An hour later, they spotted the watchtower, jutting out from a ridge of bare rock.  An outer wall surrounded the tower itself, and stretching from the top of the outer wall to the tower was a layer of heavy canvas, making the entire structure resemble a large circus tent.  The group took up positions hidden in the boulder field below the tower, as Osborn crept up silently to scout.  The only visible entrance was a large opening in the outer wall.  Some of the other members of the party began loosening weapons, and readying spell components.  Lanara pulled out a stoppered flask, and moved up next to Autumn and Tolly.            “This is ghost oil,” she said quietly.  “It only lasts a few seconds, but if I pour it on your weapons you’ll be able to hit insubstantial creatures.  I have enough for both your sword and your hammer.”            They each nodded in understanding, keeping a close eye on Osborn as he reached the opening.  The hin poked his head inside the opening, but quickly stumbled back as a black, clawed hand reached through the wall and scraped his shoulder.  The rest of the group began running up the hill as fast as possible.            They came up on a terrifying sight.  Standing to either side of the opening, about twenty feet back, were a pair of wraiths.  One of the wraiths had been the one that had clawed at Osborn.  Behind them another forty feet was what looked like a stationary tornado.  Tortured faces appeared in the storm, wailing as they circled around.  Further back, near the base of the inner tower, a figure in full armor riding a sinister black horse stood ready, lance in hand.  And finally, at the entrance to the inner tower, a lone figure stood.  The thin elf dressed in black robes, and looked as if he’d been expecting the party all along.            “Sauroth,” growled Autumn.            Lanara’s attention, however, was drawn to the whirling mass of faces.  Her own face turned white.  “Qin-Chu’s toes!  It’s a Caller in Darkness!”            “I’ve never heard of them,” Kyle said.            “They haven’t been seen since before the Cataclysm,” she whispered.  “They use magic to induce people to commit suicide, and those who do join with the Caller.”            “Then we shouldn’t listen to it,” said Tolly.            Lanara nodded, and began singing a hope-filled, energetic song to counter the Caller’s presence.  As she sung, she unstoppered her flask of ghost oil and began pouring some on Autumn’s blade.            The group began moving in.  The assembled undead guardians did not advance, apparently waiting for their living foes to make the first move.  Far behind them, Sauroth wove protective spells around himself.            Kyle decided to make a bold opening move.  A bright blue bead streaked from his extended hand, flying between one of the wraiths and the Caller in Darkness.  It burst into a globe of bright, flashing lightning, nearly blinding everyone.  Unfortunately, the arcs of electricity passed through both enemies without harm.            “So much for that,” growled Kyle, clearly disappointed in himself.            Meanwhile, Osborn took up a position just behind the outer wall.  Reaching into a pocket, he pulled a small stone out of a sack and loaded his sling.  He twirled it over his head and fired the stone at Sauroth.  As it flew, the tiny stone grew to the size of a catapult boulder.  Sauroth tried to twist away, but the stone impacted the elven wizard’s hip, causing him to grunt in pain.            Others took Osborn’s lead, taking up defensive positions behind the wall and attempting to soften up the enemy with missile fire.  But many of the arrows and bolts went wide of their mark, as under the gloom of the covering tent the inky black undead were difficult to see.  Tolly attempted to destroy the wraiths with holy power, but was unable to summon the strength.  Kavan took a similar approach, but instead targeted one of the wraiths with a blast of light, which seemed to partially disrupt the undead’s form.            With the party committed to battle, the enemy began to close in.  One of the wraiths raked its claws at Xu, attempting to leach away her life force, but the monk’s years of meditation had hardened her resolve, and she suffered only minor scratches.  Tolly and Osborn were not as fortunate; they were pummeled by unseen bursts of energy summoned by the Caller in Darkness, which had yet to move.  The mounted figure near the rear also stood out of the combat, waiting.            Knowing that they would have to move quickly or be denied entry to the tower, the party dropped their bows and began drawing weapons, moving in through the opening to engage the undead.            It was the moment Saurouth was waiting for.            A ball of flame erupted among the party as they pressed through the narrow opening in the wall.  Only Xu and Osborn managed to avoid the blast entirely.  Kyle, brushing soot off his robes, quickly dashed forward in an effort to open up the entrance, and to be out of range of another blast.  He wove a spell around himself, causing his form to seem to shift several feet away.            Unfortunately for the wizard, the mounted figure had marked his location before the spell took effect.  Lowering its lance, the armored figure charged forward, and impaled Kyle through the shoulder.  Blood sprayed across the courtyard, and Kyle was knocked back several feet by the impact, the end of the lance breaking off in him.  Kyle screamed in pain and looked as though he were about to pass out.  It was a miracle that he stood at all.            Several people immediately came to his aid.  Xu slipped past the wraith who had attacked her, and landed a blow against the armored man’s sinister mount in an attempt to fell it.  Lanara, inspired by Xu’s tactic, used a wand to summon a large spider to attack the beast, assuming it would be far easier to kill a fiendish horse than its mysterious rider.  The warrior attempted to wheel the horse out of the way, but was soon surrounded.  Those who surrounded the horse and its rider could feel a palpable aura of menace.  The man drew a sword and began slashing at its assailants, even as the horse reared up and kicked out with razor-sharp hooves.            Kavan stepped up and healed Kyle’s wounds, even as the wizard stepped back and downed his own healing potion.  Nearby, Autumn’s blade scythed through one of the wraiths, destroying it.  Turning around, the sentinel noticed Kyle’s injuries and the mounted enemy being surrounded for the first time.  She turned her focus from Kyle to Sauroth, who was still standing near the tower smiling and casting spells.  She began running toward him as fast as possible, sword gripped tightly in her hand.            Osborn led the other wraith on a merry chase around the courtyard, narrowly avoiding most of its sweeping claw attacks.  A short distance away, the Caller in Darkness, still unmoving, began to utter a strange, wailing sound.  Those among the living began to feel thoughts of depression and despair pressing in on their minds; they ignored the effects as best as they could and focused on their immediate survival.            With some of his strength returning, Kyle’s head cleared and he saw Sauroth again, with Autumn charging toward him.  Looking around, he saw Xu, Lanara, and Tolly engaged with the mounted warrior, and Osborn dealing with the remaining wraith.  Kavan had just summoned a quarterstaff comprised of force, surrounded by a nimbus of holy power, which he sent to attack the Caller in Darkness in an attempt to stop its assault on their minds.  Kyle looked again at Sauroth.  He wasn’t sure there was much he could do to challenge a wizard of such skill, but he had to try.  An idea came to his mind – it was a long shot at best.  For it to work, he had to get closer.Kyle began running toward Sauroth, even as the necromancer struck Autumn with a beam of sickly energy.  He knew from the gestures that Sauroth had made that he’d just cast a ray of enfeeblement; sure enough, Autumn’s movements began to slow, and she appeared to be laboring under the weight of her own armor.  Although already protected by displacement, Kyle threw a mirror image on himself for good measure, causing six copies of himself to appear.  He figured his only chance against Sauroth was to make it hard to hit him.            Osborn, who was now easily avoiding the clumsy attacks of the wraith, decided to lend his weight to the fight against the mounted foe.  A pair of his daggers buried themselves in the horse’s shoulder.  The rider slashed at his opponents, including the growing number of spiders being summoned by Lanara, but was unable to drive the party off or break free of them.  The horse was bitten by two of the large spiders, their mandibles tearing off huge chunks of flesh.  Xu began trying to pull the rider off the horse, but struggled with the warrior’s armored bulk and its secure position in the saddle.            Kavan, seeing that the melee surrounding the horse was too thick for him to contribute to, paused to examine the scene.  Osborn seemed to be having little trouble with the wraith, though it was drawing closer and would have to be dealt with soon.  The Caller in Darkness was still unmolested, save for the injuries inflicted by Kavan’s spiritual weapon.  He considered directing more spells toward it, but he remembered that Lanara had described this creature as dating from before the Cataclysm.  Against a foe of such unknown potential, caution was advised.  Instead, Kavan tried to cast a hold person against Sauroth to aid Autumn and Kyle, but his spell slipped off the elven wizard with no effect.  Cursing, Kavan returned his attention to the nearby battle.            Autumn, despite being weakened by Sauroth’s spell, finally reached the wizard, and slashed at him.  But her blade was deflected by a field of force surrounding Sauroth.  Smiling, the elf cast a spell, avoiding her slashes.  A field of crackling energy surrounded his hand, and with a sneer he reached out to touch Autumn.  His hand just barely missed connecting, but the electricity arced onto Autumn’s breastplate.  Smoke rose from under the collar of the sentinel’s armor, and she cried out in pain.            Kyle raced toward them, mentally judging the distance to Sauroth.  He wanted to get closer, but he knew he didn’t have that luxury.  Summoning as much arcane power as he could muster, he shouted at Sauroth.            “Hey!  Since you’re obviously so capable of defeating us all by yourself, why not send away your undead friends?”            Kyle felt the words, laced with energy, slithering their way toward Sauroth.  He sensed the elf’s formidable will as a solid wall, blocking his spell’s path to his mind.  For a moment, Kyle knew the spell would impact upon that wall and shatter, without effect.  He began to wonder why a common laborer like himself thought he could wield magic against a true practitioner like Sauroth.  Just then, his inner eye detected a tiny crack in the wall he envisioned.  Kyle bent his spell toward that tiny crack, hoping beyond hope.  The spell wormed its way through the tiny flaw in Sauroth’s mind, anchoring itself on the necromancer’s immense ego.            Blinking, Sauroth turned his attention from Autumn for a moment, concentrating.  Immediately, the lone remaining wraith and the Caller in Darkness began to rise, floating up near the tent ceiling and flying into an upper window of the tower.  The armored figure glanced back at Sauroth for a moment, then continued its attack.  The warrior slashed at Xu, leaving a deep slash across her stomach.  The monk staggered back a few steps, holding her insides in with one hand.  Driven by sheer determination, she attempted to leap up on the horse and grab the warrior, but with her hands slick with her own blood she was unable to maintain a grasp.  Wisdom overcame aggression, and she stepped back to drink a healing potion.  Similarly, Kavan used the unexpected reprieve to administer to his own wounds.  The horse was struck a solid blow by Tolly’s flaming hammer, but was unable to respond to the threat because it was too busy crushing spiders, which Lanara was summoning as fast as she could.            Kyle ran up close to Autumn and Sauroth.  The necromancer was still able to avoid Autumn’s blows, aided by her weakness and his magical defenses.  Having seen the spell Sauroth used against her, Kyle decided to use a similar tactic.  Soon his hand was wreathed in electricity, but instead of charging in Kyle held back, waiting for an opening.            Tolly swung his hammer at the horse again.  Its fiendish nature had allowed it to absorb most of the damage of their attacks, but the continual assault had worn it down.  Dazed and nearly senseless, the horse was unable to avoid the incoming blow.  Its life force crushed, the summoned steed vanished.  The warrior atop the horse suddenly came to the earth, but by some miracle he landed on his feet and kept fighting.            Sauroth’s confidence began to fade slightly.  He’d sent away his last wraith and the Caller, convinced these peasants would be little more than a diversion to him.  But now his ally was off his horse, and the holy warrior and that damnable wizard were pressing in.  He shrugged off an attempt by the bard to infect him with laughter, and considered his options.  Perhaps a slight withdrawal to a more defensible position would be best.  Sauroth stepped back from the feeble swings of the sentinel’s sword, and easily dodged an attempt by the wizard to strike him with his shocking grasp spell.  He considered his options, and smiled even as arcane syllables began to spill from his lips.            Kyle heard the words, and although he was not familiar with the spell, he knew its effects.  Sure enough, he felt the tell-tale shift in air pressure indicating that an invisible barrier now stood between them and Sauroth.            “He’s put up a wall of force!” Kyle shouted.  He reached out with one hand and stepped forward until he felt the wall’s smooth surface, and began feeling his way along, hoping the spell didn’t extend all the way to the other wall.  Autumn paused, drinking a potion while waiting to see what her options were.              With the horse gone, the party turned its wrath on the armored rider.  Blows from fists, daggers, and hammers rained on its armor, though he fought back fiercely.  Kavan redirected his spiritual quarterstaff to attack Sauroth, sending it over the wall of force.  Then he turned to the armored figure.  Casting one of his few remaining spells, he channeled healing energy into the warrior, expecting the positive energy to further wound the undead knight.  But when the warrior sighed in relief at the touch, Kavan and the others realized their error; the warrior was not an undead being.  With a grimace, Kavan began redirecting his efforts to healing the wounds of his allies rather than their enemies.            Lanara summoned another of her spiders on the other side of Sauroth’s wall, trying to harry the wizard.  But before it could attack, Sauroth cast another spell and touched the spider with a hand limned in a greenish glow, draining its life energy and adding it to his own.  Meanwhile Kyle had found the outer edge of the magical wall, just a few yards shy of the watchtower’s outer wall.  With a shout to let his friends know of his success, Kyle ran full-bore down the other side of the wall.  Sauroth attempted to interrupt his charge with a hold person spell, but there was a flash of light from one of Kyle’s rings and the spell was countered.  Kyle slammed into Sauroth, leading with the hand still charged with electricity.  Sauroth groaned from the impact.             While Autumn was standing still, Kavan reached out with Erito’s power and asked her to remove the baneful enchantment from her shoulders.  With a surge, Autumn felt her strength returning.  She saw that Tolly and Xu had combined to batter the warrior to his knees, rendering him incapable of resistance.  That left only one opponent standing.  Autumn began running for the end of the invisible wall.With a sneer, Sauroth uttered a syllable, and instantly vanished, reappearing on the other side of the wall far from Kyle, Kavan’s spiritual weapon, and Lanara’s spiders.  He chose a spot in the courtyard far from the others, hoping to buy himself enough time to recover and turn the tables on his enemies.  The only one in close proximity to him was the cansin bard, who would prove no obstacle.  He chuckled with amusement as he saw the wizard turn and begin running back around the wall of force, reaching its end just as the sentinel came to it as well.  The fools would exhaust themselves running around.  At that thought, Sauroth’s amusement grew. He awaited the next enemy to approach.That enemy was Xu.  She used her impressive speed to dash toward Sauroth, hoping to catch him before he cast another spell.  But the distance was too great, and before she knew it a black ray was striking her in the chest.  Suddenly Xu felt as though she’d just spent a week training in the dojo non-stop.  Her muscles ached with sudden, unexplained exertion, and her breath came in ragged gasps.  She tried to kick Sauroth in the jaw, but she could barely get her leg up to waist level, and her movements were so slow that he easily avoided her.Sauroth’s mocking laughter was cut off as Lanara’s whip curled around his ankles, and he was pulled off his feet.  He rose quickly, furious at the few seconds he’d just lost.  To one of his power, seconds meant the difference between easy victory and a difficult one.  He regained some confidence when he saw a crossbow bolt from the him bounce away ineffectually; the little one was unaware of the ward he’d placed against such things.He was not, however, warded against a charging Ardaran priest.  Tolly slammed into him, sending him flying back a few feet.  Then Autumn charged in, cutting into his chest with a vicious sword cut.  Lanara’s whip sent him crashing to the ground again.Sauroth’s vision began to blur.  In the distance, he saw the elven priest run his sword through the heap of armor that was once his guardian.  Sauroth sighed.  Never trust the living with important tasks.  Even as he was beaten to death, Sauroth’s mind refused to register defeat.  He had simply miscalculated, that was all.  These interlopers would soon learn what it meant to cross him.And so Sauroth the Necromancer, cousin to the Royal Court of Tlaxan, died with a smile still on his lips.</blockquote>

Verification