Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3775142" data-attributes="member: 143">Was able to post after all.* * * * * Chapter 255A GRIM FINDThey stood there, looking down at the bits and pieces of metal and leather that were scattered across the floor. Shay had been the first to find them.  She’d driven them in their scouting mission, darting into rooms before they could even seen what lay within them, searching quickly but methodically through the complex.  They had found nothing in the two rooms that had directly adjoined the temple, so they’d retreated back to the outer part of the level, and continued looking.  They’d found a foyer that had led to three staircases, two leading down and one leading up.  But there hadn’t been any tracks or traces of magic that they could detect, and with the odds of a blind charge against them, they had continued their exploration of the level. They had made their way back toward the caves where the displacer beasts had laired, and the river that led back to the first level of the dungeon.  There was a complex of rooms near the entry to the caves; they had rested there once before, on an earlier visit to the dungeon.  Shay led them quickly through several rooms, and in a small, dank chamber at the end of a twisting weave of corridors and rooms they had found the remains of Talen’s gear. The pile included his armor, hastily cut from his body, his dagger and bow, and his backpack.  It looked like Navev had taken the rest of the knight’s magic items with him.  “We have to find him,” Shay said, turning.  She had taken a step toward the room’s single door before Dar stopped her.  “Don’t get in my way, Dar.”“Where are you going to go?” he asked her.  “I will find him.”“How?  I know you can track almost anything, but Alderis has already told us that he used a form of magical teleportation to escape the temple.  We found no tracks on the way here, which suggests that he used the same means to leave this room.”Shay was silent, but the frustration was obvious in her eyes.  “We will find him, Shay,” Allera said.  “We need to use magic.  Letellia said that Honoratius had a spell that can detect the location of any person or thing, anywhere, no matter where it is.”The sorceress nodded.  “The spell is called discern location, and it is very powerful.  When the archmage rejoins us, we can ask him to prepare the spell.”“And I will prepare a commune spell, to seek out the guidance of the Father,” Nelan said.  Shay nodded, reluctantly.  “I just can’t... I...”  She trailed off, and Allera came to her, embracing her.  Sobs rocked the scout’s body.  “We will find him,” Allera repeated.  She looked up at Dar.  The fighter’s expression was a thunderhead.  * * * * * “I can cast the spell,” Honoratius said.  “But I will have to rest, and prepare the incantation from my books before it will be possible.”They were camped in one of the small rooms not far from the river caves.  While Nelan had been prepared to begin the ritual to hallow the last temple of Orcus, they had decided to rest first, and recover their strength.  The fact that Honoratius could not join them as long as they were within the actual temple precincts had also been a factor in the decision.The archmage had joined them about an hour after they’d found the remains of Talen’s gear.  Shay had been watching the sorceress intently, and she had barely recovered from the merging process when the scout had begun updating the archmage on their situation.  Now Honoratius sat with his chin propped against his knees, his borrowed eyes shining in the light of their torches.  Even in Letellia’s body, they could tell that he was tired.  “There is something else going on,” Allera said.The archmage nodded.  “The Council wishes to speak to you.  I have prepared a spell that should allow for two-way communication from here to Camar.”“Interesting.  A more potent version of the sending spell?” Alderis asked. “Yes, combined with elements from the scrying spell, all tied together through the power of my orb of visions, back in the Guild tower.”“What valence does the incantation req—““We can chat about the details later,” Dar said.  “How long does the spell take to cast, archmage?”“Just one minute.”“Then you’d better do it.  I have a feeling we’re not going to like what the marshal has to say.”</blockquote>

Verification