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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 839994" data-attributes="member: 143">Book VIII, Part 20 It was two full days later when the companions gathered once more in the dark chamber where the Portal, that strange gateway to the Outer Planes, waited patiently for their coming.  Each of the four friends felt the press of time intently, particularly in this place, where dark dreams came and the face of their lost friend intruded constantly in their thoughts.  Nor did any of them seek to delay what now seemed inevitable, the final passage through the Portal into the dark realm that lay beyond.  But even with those proddings, there was nothing to be done for it but to use that time, to make the necessary preparations that they had discussed.  The first day Dana had used her divine powers to restore life to Eloren.  The Harper Scout rose gingerly, weakened and drawn from his soul’s brief excursion to the Other Realms, but he responded quickly to healing magic, hot food, and fresh air.  Valdis’s eyes shone with gratitude whenever he saw them, especially Dana, and he swore the service of both him and his brother should the companions ever need their aid in the future. Except in their current venture, there would be no more aid, save that which the companions had already mustered. They could have begun after that, but Dana and Cal agreed that they would be fools to proceed without Dana recovering the power she’d expended in restoring Eloren.  That night she walked alone out into the valley, the brilliant light of the full moon shining down onto the barren rocks, turning the landscape into an alien sea of rolling gray.  She called to Selûne to grant her the magical power that they would need to see them through, and long hours passed before she returned, a look of calm on her face that did not quite reach her eyes.  Without words she went to Benzan, who had not slept, working the fletching on a bundle of arrows as he awaited her return.  The two faced each other for a long moment, and then silently departed together to a side chamber, to share what little time remained to them before they were cast into the darkness once more.  Cal spent the night in careful review of his spellbooks.  They had already discussed this in length, how they would choose their spells to best complement their shared abilities and talents.  The gnome had spoken extensively with a number of the Harpers in Twilight Hall, including Cylyria, and had gotten at least a partial understanding of the limitations that his magic would encounter once they had passed through the Portal into the Abyss.  Thus both he and Dana would steer away from summonings, which on the Outer Planes tended to draw the local residents regardless of the caster’s intent, and divinations, which could directly alert the predominant Power of the plane to which they traveled.  In all honesty, the gnome was more troubled than he showed outwardly by the prospects of his magic failing him, but finally he closed his spellbook and slid it into one of the pockets of his magical backpack, and took up his lute, playing a soft melody that seemed to haunt the empty corridors of the underground complex well into morning. Lok spent his time preparing his weapons and armor, painstakingly cleaning them of gore from the battle with the yrthaks, testing buckles and edges that did not really require maintenance.  His face was impassive even to his closest friends, like the hard stone of the chambers that surrounded them, and before retiring to sleep he spent some time sitting alone, fingering a small, rounded stone and staring deeply into the darkness.  Fariq and the elven brothers, sensing the somber mood of their new companions, and understanding what they were about to face, gave them their distance, and when they spoke it was in hushed, respectful tones.  Finally they awoke on the morning of the second day after their arrival in the valley.  The companions went outside once more, to drink in the fresh, bracing morning air and the bright rays of morning sun that shone down through a gap in the line of peaks to the east.  No words were spoken, but the four travelers took in the day together, drawing strength from each other, trying to banish the dark thoughts that haunted them.  They were ready.  With the three Harpers in tow, they returned to the dark places under the mountain, and soon stood before the looming Portal.  “That... that is unnatural,” Valdis said, staring at the Portal, at the inverted U of stacked stones that could not, should not, have been able to stand without toppling.  Within that arch the parchment-thin sheet of black rock waited like an unbroken pool.  The unholy black radiance that somehow allowed them to see despite the blackness seemed to pulse at their arrival, as if greeting them.  In that strange glow the summoning circle graven upon the floor seemed to glow with a silvery radiance, but everything else was just an outline formed of a deeper black.  To combat the glow, Dana held aloft her torch, the one bearing the continual flame, but the light it cast was pale, sickly.  Fariq added a light spell, but it did little more to drive back the enfolding black a scant increment further.  Slowly, but with determination, they approached the portal.  Once closer they could see the familiar squat pedestal that stood before it, a simple finger of black stone with a squared top.  The companions stood there for a long minute, staring at the portal, girding their courage close about them.  Finally, as if some unspoken signal had been given, they turned to face each other.  “So then,” Lok said. “One moment,” Cal said.  “Benzan, I meant to give this to you earlier.”  The gnome drew out a slender wand, the one that he’d recently created in Silverymoon.  As the tiefling took the device, Cal said, “It’s fully charged, and casts the invisibility spell.  It does not rely on a command word; you just grasp it and will the effect into being.  Should be useful, given your talent with the sneak attack.”“At least against the lesser demons,” Benzan said, tucking the wand into his belt.  While he hadn’t paid as much heed as Cal to the information provided by the Harpers, they all knew that the stronger demons possessed the power to neutralize various forms of magic.  “I have something for you, Cal,” Dana said.  As the gnome turned to her, she drew out a small gemstone from an inner pocket.  The gem was an exquisitely shaped sapphire, which glimmered with a strange radiance in the admixture of blacklight and magical illumination that warred in the chamber.  As she passed it to him, he could feel the power stored within, a tingle that seemed to radiate out from the solidity of the stone.  “An attuned gem,” he said in query.  “Yes.  It took... a great effort, to prepare it, but it is very important.  It bears within it the power to plane shift you and whomever you are touching back here, to Faerûn.  Though I cannot say for sure where exactly you would end up.”Cal nodded, and carefully placed the gem within an inner pocket.  “A wise precaution,” he said.  Benzan, on the other hand, clearly felt it was anything but, as emotions clearly warred across his face.  But Dana turned to him and smiled weakly, meeting his gaze with a slight nod that seemed to confirm an agreement already made.  Benzan opened his mouth to speak, but then snapped it shut and turned decisively toward the portal. “Let’s get this over with already,” he spat.  He bore his bow in one hand, with one sword at his hip and another across his back, with his small shield hanging over one shoulder.  The four carried only light packs, with most of their supplies secured within Cal’s magical haversack and Lok’s bag of holding.  Those items, at least, should work normally, according to what Cylyria had told them. If not, then this trip might be a lot shorter than they expected.Cal moved to stand beside Benzan.  “The statue,” he said, softly.  Benzan nodded and crossed to the small pedestal.  Drawing the bundle out of his pouch, he unwrapped the small statuette of the demon-figure and lowered it cautiously into place.  It fit into the depression atop the pedestal perfectly, settling in with a softly anticlimactic click.  The flat surface within the portal remained quiescent, not reacting in any apparent way to their actions.   “Dana,” Cal prodded.  The woman stepped forward as Benzan gave way, handing her torch and spear to Lok before confronting the doorway with a look of fierce determination on her features.  Her eyes grew vacant as she reached out both within herself and across the universe to the bond that connected her to the power of the goddess Selûne.  Her lips moved as nearly soundless syllables poured from them, each vanishing from the mind before those present could be certain that they’d heard anything at all.  She stood solemn and silent, a statue of a woman, her hands limp at her sides, the only animate parts of her the moving lips and the twitching shifting of her eyes as they sought out things unseen.  The others gathered shuddered, some part of them deep in their subconscious sensing the invisible channels of divine and natural energies that gathered at the woman’s call, intersecting the existing threads that permeated this ancient place of power.  And then... ...the portal opened...  It was not like a door opening, or even a dramatic sundering.  Instead the wall within the arch just melted away into nothing, and then there was something there, a faintly shimmering plane confined within the stacked stones.  It awaited them.  Dana sagged a bit from the expenditure of energy involved in opening the portal, but she straightened by the time Lok had come forward, and she took her weapon back, tucking the torch into her belt.  The illusory flames flickered against her clothes, but did not burn.  The companions met each others’ gaze once more.  They did not speak, but nor did they shy away from the cold question that resided in each set of eyes.  As one, they moved toward the portal.  “Good luck,” Fariq said, his words tight.  Benzan glanced over his shoulder at the man, flanked by the elven brothers, their own expressions solemn.  “Don’t forget us,” he said.  And then the four moved into the gateway, and vanished from the Forgotten Realms.</blockquote>

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