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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6532382" data-attributes="member: 6692807">It didn’t take us very long to finally reach to the water’s surface.  Although the Abyssal Pillars rose out of the water, there was no sign of any land anywhere; however, we could all clearly see a darker stain on the surface, which I assumed must have been the blood slick that Sagrimar had mentioned. As instructed, we followed the slick. It took quite a long time but finally we saw that the slick led to a small rocky outcrop rising out of the sea. I frowned; it didn’t resemble the outcrop which we had seen in the crystal ball situated in Sagrimar’s castle. It was shrouded in fog and we could only glimpse a patch of rock here and there. Oddly, although it was difficult to feel any wind, it looked as if something was moving the fog on the island or outcrop or whatever it was.  We stopped briefly to consider our next course of action. John cast a spell on, Longhelim, Drudge, me and himself which allowed us to communicate without speaking; we were able to hear and formulate words mind to mind; this was most useful. Longhelim spoke aloud: “Well, according to Sagrimar, that’s where she’s supposed to be; doesn’t look big enough.”Looking dubiously at the bank of fog, I replied: “Appearances are meaningless in this place; there could be a whole city nearby and we wouldn’t be able to tell. We may as well approach.”So, we flew on and closed on the crag. The fog became so thick that it looked almost solid but as we finally were about to land, suddenly there was a rustle and a swish of air and then the fog parted only for us to hear an enormous thump as a huge drawbridge suddenly appeared to be falling on top of us. Fortunately, we were all able to react and get out of the way. The drawbridge stretched from a huge building which had been shrouded in the fog. I wasn’t sure if the building had been invisible or hidden in the fog bank but suddenly it was just there. As usual for this place, the island was obviously bigger than it looked and things were never what they seemed. The building was an impressive structure, a veritable palace and the drawbridge led to a pair of fittingly large doors. Just as this happened, the fog began to move in eddies, as if there were hundreds of odd shapes moving inside. I was about to point this out to the others when I saw that everyone was already aware; as usual, I was the last to see anything like this. Rather than find out just what was inside the mist, we began to fly towards the doors. Just as we landed in front of them, I heard a voice in my head: “You have done well, far better than I expected. It has been a very long time since mortals have been able to penetrate so far into my realm. Come in, come in. There is no need for aggression. Instead, let us parley. I am sure we would find it mutually advantageous to converse with each other.”The voice was young and female, almost merry; it was also obvious by the startled looks on everyone’s faces that we had all heard her voice. Mentally, I said to the others: “That would be Freedom I would think. We were told this trillith was a lady and she’s obviously aware that we are here so we may as well oblige her.”John quickly checked the doors and gave Victor a quick nod. The warrior stepped up and opened them. They opened to reveal a large, luxurious room with a stone floor and walls. The main features were two large fountains shaped like statues of hydras, each of the twelve heads gushing water. Each of the fountains was surrounded by benches. In the back of the room a wooden stage wooden stage had been built, above which was a balcony. The stage was flanked by two sets of stone stairs leading up to this balcony. The back wall was completely covered with a heavy, dark curtain. Something was glinting on its surface, as if affixed there. Finally there were three doors on the side walls; one at each corner of the left wall and the last on the upper right. I wasn’t paying a great deal of attention to the interior of the room as the movement in the outer mists became more pronounced and I could finally see hundreds upon hundreds of incorporeal trilliths flying rapidly in and out of it. I cleared my throat and said: “Ah….Victor, Longhelim, if we’re going in, now would be a good time…….”The others looked around at the trilliths and rapidly moved into the room. As soon as Drudge crossed the threshold, the doors slammed and we heard a portcullis crash down behind them. Curiously, we looked around for a few moments when the drapes ahead of us suddenly moved and a figure appeared from behind the upper left corner. It looked like a young woman, with very dark hair, pale skin and a very comely face and figure. She was dressed in very little, with only a small brassiere covering her upper torso and a longer split skirt coming down to her ankles but with the split going up her waist. She wore various pieces of decoration around her upper arms, ankles and wrists; oddly, she had a key in her hair, another attached to her waist and a last one around her ankle. She also carried a dagger in her hand. I had seen outfits like that before, normally on tavern entertainers, dancers to be exact. In fact, that was exactly what she reminded me of, now that I thought about it; a dancer from a tavern; a very good one of course. She looked at us and then gave us a slight bow: “Greetings, gentlemen. As I said previously, it has been a long time since a group of mortals has passed all of our tests.”She paused as if she was searching for the right words to say and began to descend slowly down the left bank of stairs. “From my understanding, you have come to stop us, I believe?”Before we could reply, she continued: “No need to reply, I know you have. Please, before else happens, let me explain our situation to you. We are a race of beings just like you; but….unlike you, we can exist in two states, one of which is much weaker than the other. When our Mother is awake, we can only exist in our corporeal form which makes us very vulnerable. My people, all of us, are very afraid when we are bound this way.”I was listening very carefully to this; finally, the secrets of the trillith were being revealed to me; after months of speculation and assumption, Freedom was telling us about the nature of the trillith. She sat down on the bottom step and continued speaking: “In a few days, we will be able to transcend this plane and turn it into an entity of the soul, setting us free. Mother will join us and she will also be free. This freedom will spill into your world and everyone else will also be liberated from their forms of the flesh. But it does not stop there: not only will you be free of your corporeal forms but you will also be free from the capriciousness of gods and devils who rule your lives now. They will no longer have any power over you.”She stood up and smiled at us; it was a very dazzling smile:“Please, join us; you must see how glorious this new state of being would be. You would be immortal, free of your flesh and have everything you dream of.”She waited expectantly as she looked at us. I heard John mutter: “Everything I can dream of? I can dream of quite a bit actually.”Mentally, I quickly spoke to Longhelim, Drudge and John: “I am sure you caught this but when she spoke of liberating everyone from their forms of flesh and setting them free, that meant that they would die. I am not sure how we would become forms of the spirit but that could probably work in this plane but it certainly wouldn’t work on our normal plane. Everyone would have to die. She’s planning genocide. That’s not really compatible with our plans.”Longhelim murmured in return: “No, it’s not really, is it?”Drudge whirled with his bow at the ready and shot her.I must say, it took me a little by surprise but Victor and Longhelim were obviously expecting it. She must have been as well since she dodged most of the arrows and leapt forward with uncanny, fluid grace. She swept past us, her dagger glowing and slicing into Longhelim. Something odd happened which I couldn’t quite catch as I was at the back of the room at this point but whatever it was, it made Longhelim sag, as if he had been badly hurt; obviously not just an ordinary dagger. Simultaneously, I saw something equally strange. Everyone’s clothes became loose, including armour, backpacks, belts; in fact any sort of fastenings on containers or clothing had unravelled. While this was annoying on something like a belt, it was far more serious for the warriors as their armour suddenly sagged around their torsos and became far less protective than it should have been. The two fountain statues of hydras suddenly transformed into flesh and attacked; with their twelve heads, they were already fearsome opponents, but they became even deadlier since the armour of the warriors wasn’t working properly. Just to make things even more interesting, Drudge shouted: “Something just triggered my ring! There’s more of them! Invisible!”His ring acted as a defence against the spell which dissolved magic; what was more concerning was that there were more of them I could not see them, even though I had a spell which normally allowed me to see invisible beings; so did Felix for that matter. There were magical ways around those spells but they required a great expertise in magic. The two hydras were lashing out with their heads and poor Longhelim, having been badly hurt previously, collapsed, his body burning. Drudge was shooting at Freedom while Felix managed to bolster us with the power of his god. I looked around and decided that I would put a little prison of force around Freedom. It would no doubt keep her occupied for only a few moments but at least she would not be able to vacate it by turning incorporeal as it was specifically designed to prevent that. She would have to find another trick to escape.Victor moved to her and tried to approach without realizing that she was now imprisoned. Felix managed to put a barrier of force blades into one of the hydras but then another spell was cast from somewhere; frustratingly, I was unable to locate the source. So, I cast another spell, this time designed to weaken the hydras. Victor had approached one of the hydras, while, amazingly, Freedom was still inside my spell. She was not doing anything. John was shooting the other hydra and then suddenly……..I caught a glimpse of the two hydras striking at Victor in one fountain and at Felix in the other before suddenly I was enclosed in stone; or rather, a small stone box grew out of the floor and formed around me, effectively shutting me in. Immediately, John spoke to me through his mental communication spell: “Aaaah, we’re in a stone box. It’s very dark and I don’t like it. I think hydras are still wreaking havoc outside.”This new development was irritating but not that threatening. I turned myself invisible and then I turned into a creature of the earth; my shape was like an enormous worm with a red hot head. However, it’s main feature was that it could burrow through stone, which I promptly did. Getting out, I saw that the hydra which had been in the fountain next to Victor was no longer there but there was a stone box next to the fountain. There was also another of these boxes fairly close to me and I was sure that was where John and Drudge were being currently confined, so I promptly burrowed a hole in their wall. While I realised that we were inside a dragon’s dream, it was disconcerting that we had no indication as to who was creating these walls or how they were being formed. Drudge had stepped through the hole I had made and I could also hear as Victor smashed the wall of one his box only to be immediately enveloped in another. I heard a roar as the final hydra stooped down and attempted to strike a fallen Longhelim, who was no longer burning; in fact he was swinging his axe very effectively from the ground. I assumed that Felix had done something to heal the paladin. He was still being hit by the creature but with one final mighty heave, he managed to strike it and it ceased to move. Just then, the fallen trumpet archon which we had slain before reaching the palace, appeared in the room and began to advance on Victor, who was smashing his way through the latest stone box. I groaned, thinking that the dream had somehow managed to find and return her here. “It’s an illusion! She’s not real!”We all heard the cry from Felix, who fortunately, still had his spell which allowed him to see through such magic. Then suddenly, a very large tent appeared over the whole area; yes, a very large tent; it was a very nice tent. I gaped at this and then I remembered; Felix had obtained a strange, magical rod; amongst other things, it could create a large tent with a repast and the comforts of a palace. I realised that Felix was attempting to hide himself and Longhelim from those who were creating the stone boxes and the illusions. His logic being that if they could not see their targets then they would not be able to be affect them. Unfortunately, this theory was quickly disproved when Felix shouted: “There’s a stone box around Longhelim!”The paladin was in the tent with him and it obviously made little difference. I was still in the shape of a terran worm while I could see that Victor was in the air, flying towards the balcony with the curtains. Then, I saw a hole being cut on the roof of the tent and Felix flying out of it; he joined Victor on the balcony and together they drew the curtain to one side. I had been watching and readied to change back to a dwarf and cast one of the few spells I had left but they revealed only an empty room, leaving us with the mystery of just who or what was enabling the formation of the stone boxes and the creation of the illusions?I saw Victor glancing at Felix, who shook his head; it was obvious that the room was truly empty. So, somehow, something somewhere was creating illusions and shaping stone boxes around us. However, all of this was being done without any sort of detection; as if the whole castle was alive or sentient.We spent a few precious moments looking around, trying to find the beings responsible without success, although these actions did reveal something else. As Felix ducked his head down into the tent, he shouted: “Freedom’s gone! That magical cage is an illusion!”So, she had disappeared as well.</blockquote>

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