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: 765490" data-attributes="member: 143">Book VIII, Part 5The next four days passed more or less smoothly, despite the loss of their horses.  The terrain grew increasingly difficult, but with Dana taking to the air once per day to scout out the best route, and Benzan making use of the levitation power of his sword to ascend to the top of sheer cliffs and lower a rope for the others, they were able to make good time through the foothills.  They avoided further clashes with the predators of the region; on the second day after their battle with the displacer beasts a pair of huge dire mountain cats took an interest in them from atop an adjacent ridge, but Cal managed to drive them off with a well-crafted illusion. The weather held, facilitating their journey, although days and evenings alike were punctuated by occasional hours in which a strong, gusty wind would sweep over the hills, catching at their cloaks and forcing them to bow low against the cover of the rocks.  That was not enough to cause them anything more than minor inconvenience, however, and they even came to welcome the breaks from the unrelenting intensity of the afternoon sun that continued to bake them even as they gained altitude over the plains that stretched out in a vast expanse behind them.  By the fourth day they were well into the mountains proper, and their rate of travel slowed yet further.  They elected not to resort to the use of polymorphs as of yet, as they would have to transform two of their number, reducing their effectiveness in case of trouble.  Benzan, in particular, was gratified at that decision.  The directions that Cylyria had given them offered little in the way of specific guidance once they were into the mountains.  Still, it seemed that fate had for once intervened in the companions’ favor, for Dana returned from her aerial scout late in the afternoon of the fourth day to report an unusual mountain that lay directly ahead along their current path, so they increased their pace in that direction. Even with Benzan levitating ahead to drop rope, it took them the better part of two more days to cover the distance toward Dana’s mountain.  Their goal was a craggy finger that jutted out from within a collection of higher peaks that still bore mantles of soft white despite the season.  Fortunately they would not need to go quite that high, but they still had to confront sheer cliffs and rocky overhangs that made climbing a difficult prospect.  Eschewing magical shortcuts, they set to the task, the four of them enjoying perhaps the challenge and camaraderie of a hazardous mission shared through teamwork.  The earlier tension between them and the sense of dread that had hung over them seemed to have faded somewhat, and for those two days they pressed diligently on, navigating the treacherous route and finally driving themselves up to finally stand upon a broad stone ledge near the summit of Dana’s mountain.  Ahead of them rose a steep but navigable route up to the very tip of the peak, where they could identify the unusual structure that Dana had spotted before.  The summit was apparently hollow, a chamber of sorts with four wide openings facing the cardinal directions.  Above, supported by the four thick corners between the openings, was the very top of the mountain, rising for a good two hundred feet more before the true summit.  From what Cylyria had told them, it was here that they would find the Oracle.Warily, the companions approached the summit. As they drew nearer, they could see that the hollow within the mountaintop formed a chamber a good fifty paces across, and perhaps as much as thirty paces high.  The wind made a whistling sound as it passed through the four openings, each wide enough to admit twenty men walking side by side.  All in all, it was solemn, somber, and full of a sense of power.  “There’s something... strange about this place,” Benzan whispered, even that muted sound seeming too loud here. They walked to the nearest opening and stared into the chamber.  Plenty of light filtered in from the sides to illuminate its contents.  The hollow seemed to be of natural stone, although it seemed overly smooth for rock that had not been worked by mortal hands.  The ceiling was a natural dome that seemed to draw in the winds from outside, and below them the floor descended to a point about ten feet below their current vantage. What immediately caught their attention, though, was a large stone ring in the center of the place, set into the stone.  The ring, which rose perhaps a pace above the level of the surrounding stone, seemed to encircle a pit—or at least that was what it looked like, for its interior was obscured by a roiling vortex of thick vapors thicker than the deepest fog.  They had barely gone a few steps from outside the chamber, but suddenly the noise of the wind grew noticeably stronger, and they could each feel a pounding in their heads that seemed to come only partly from without...  Their earlier perception of the power here was confirmed, as each felt a momentary affinity with the raw elemental energies that were gathered here.“This stone... it speaks...” Lok said, his normally expressionless features betraying a look of wonder.  The stones merely relate the tale told by the winds, brother, came a voice from everywhere and nowhere, filling the interior of the dome with their clarity. They looked around, unable to see the source of the voice, but it was Cal who finally and decisively stepped forward, his own small voice clearly filling the hollow. “We have come seeking the Oracle, the Master of Journeys,” he said.  “We need guidance, to help a friend who is lost and alone.”The rush of air redoubled, and they all suddenly had to grab at cloaks and hats that were tugged by the swirling winds.  Through it they became aware that the mists were rising up out of the stone ring, somehow maintaining their solidity within the vortex of rushing air.  The wisps of fog drew together, and a form took shape within them.  The form was that of a beautifully formed, vibrant young woman, her body taken shape from the mists, her legs dissolving back into them as they dropped into the matrix within the stone ring.  Her eyes were a penetrating aquiline, pure orbs that glowed with a mysterious and unknowable intelligence.  Those eyes, they saw much, as they fixed on each of the companions in turn.  The road you seek to travel, it is a dark one, came the voice, although the lips of the fog-form did not move and the sound of her voice seemed to come from all around them.  In it you may find what you seek, only to lose yourselves.“We all understand the risks,” Cal said.  “We are willing to walk that path.”The strange elemental being regarded them with that dark gaze once more.  Finally, the voice responded. It is within my power to aid you.  But there is a price...The companions shared a quick look, but Benzan only shrugged.“Naturally.”</blockquote>

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