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Journal - A Beautiful Death

2023-01-21T11:49:20Z

2A00:23C7:BF83:A101:C954:4846:AE42:5436: Created page with "==The Isle of Krasgord== We knew where we had to go next, and the name of our target as well, which was something. Queen Dalrisha (our target, linked to positive energy of some kind) and King Sostror ruled over the island of Krasgord, which enforced strict rules of beauty (from a human point of view), and were patrons of all kinds of arts where beauty could be expressed. The problem, as I saw it, was that because hardly anyone met the standards to enter Krasgord we had..."

==The Isle of Krasgord==

We knew where we had to go next, and the name of our target as well, which was something. Queen Dalrisha (our target, linked to positive energy of some kind) and King Sostror ruled over the island of Krasgord, which enforced strict rules of beauty (from a human point of view), and were patrons of all kinds of arts where beauty could be expressed. The problem, as I saw it, was that because hardly anyone met the standards to enter Krasgord we had no first hand experience available from which to learn what it was like there. We decided that we would have to see for ourselves and then take it from there, so we met in Milada's temple in the early morning ready to travel using the tapestry. I tried a new technique I had learned to mask Falcor from divination, and he made us invisible so that we could pass unnoticed. Falcor conducted the ritual with the flaming brazier and we arrived in a sheltered spot in the hills to the west of the capital (Krasgord). We could just see a graceful spire to the east rising above a valley, the land rising all around us otherwise and obscuring our view.

We walked east and crested a ridge to see quite the vista in front of us. There was a small settlement to our south at the base of the hills with an ornate fortified tower guarding a massive bridge farther south. The view was dominated by the beautifully ornate fortified city to the east, with minarets and sweeping curves combined with bright white walls. There were some lakes and a forest between the city and where we stood, and then the land fell away farther to the east with a more traditional fortified city just about visible to the far south east. We descended towards a small lake within the trees, and as we approached we noticed a party of human riders within the trees, which put Falcor in mind of a hunting party. They seemed, from the sound of their voices, quite relaxed and happy but we veered north around them anyway and they headed towards the shore of the lake. We passed easily from a distance and kept going east, but a little while later we heard the same party coming towards us from behind.

We stopped by trees, staying close so that we would not be accidentally collided with, and the party rode past quite close to where we were. They were very ornate in appearance in every way, their dress, weapons, even horses we decorated and coloured to catch the eye. Their apparent leader wore a crown; was this King Sostror? His grab was predominately blue, which would match Dalrisha's colour. We were quite prepared to let them pass and follow on behind, but suddenly a dragon skimmed the trees overhead! It was black with greenish hues as it caught the light, and after a moment I realised that it had too many legs for a dragon - eight in fact. Falcor flashed a compulsion he felt; this was no Elvradrak. A couple of the hunting party were thrown from their horses as they bolted just at its presence, leaving the others fighting to control their mounts. The King seemed more comfortable, and quickly urged his horse into a gallop to flee east at pace.

The others were slower, although the ones that had been dismounted run as fast as they could in different directions. One glanced up and after a few seconds they were completely turned to stone! The beast vomited up a stream of hissing liquid at another, killing his horse instantly; the rider was unfortunately pinned by the horse's body but was trying to remove his smoking clothing. The thing then grabbed one of the runners, lifting them up as it turned. It seemed to be following the King, though. I ran forward and asked my patron to create a lot of water, dumping it over the body still trapped under the horse, hoping to wash the acid off. Falcor followed the flying creature from a distance, seeing it drop the person it had picked up and then lift the King straight off his horse. He managed to get his sword out and swipe at the beast, even landing a few hits, but then he had his arm pinned by another leg.

The fellow I had tried to save was dead, unfortunately, so we instead followed, the creature and the King. It had slowed down now that it seemed to have found its quarry, so it was easy to track it at a jog, but we were unable to do much from the ground as it was too high. Fortunately it was gently descending as it flew west, and by the time we broke out of the treeline it was getting close to the ground, seemingly looking to land at the base of the slope ahead. When it landed it pinned the King on floor with four of its legs and carefully pried his sword out of his hand with another, throwing it aside. After disarming him it moved him so he was held by just two feet and looked up. Falcor warned me that he was about to attack, so I summoned a protective shield in case it tried to turned us to stone.

Two lightning bolts arced from Falcor into it, one after the other, making him visible. The thing was seriously injured, so it abandoned the King and leapt into the air, flying away to the north. We ran forward as the King sprang to his feet, looking scared but not too injured. He grabbed his sword and stood ready, scanning between Falcor and the creature, wary of both. I readied my bow, but Falcor wanted me to remain invisible so I just stopped and watched instead. The King was focused on Falcor, still wary and looking ready for a fight. He hailed Falcor, saying that he did not recognise him, although his armour at least was beautiful, and said that he had shown some beautiful skill that was rare in these parts. He had apparently been seeking the creature that terrorised the hunting grounds, and indeed had found it, but had been expecting some lesser threat. Unfortunately, he said, he had brought some pretty but useless friends.

He had relaxed a little, but was still wary, particularly when Falcor said he had come here by dweomer. He relaxed a little more when Falcor claimed that this dweomer was not his own, and speculated that perhaps it had been Sullinassauri to blame (Falcor claimed ignorance of the name). The King went on to say that uninvited guests were not usually tolerated, but as he had helped the King and shown some beauty in his actions he might be made a guest... if he kept his helmet on, anyway (I tried not to snigger). The King said that he would speak of his beautiful deeds to help him be accepted. We began to walk back towards the city, and as we did so the King spoke much about his own accomplishments, not giving Falcor much time to speak of himself. Falcor did ask at one point whether it was the King's duty to protect his weaker subjects, which caused the King some hilarity. I hated him already. I followed at a little distance, but noticed that the King was aware of me to some extent, although he said and did nothing to stop me. He did at least seem like a genuine warrior, despite his vanity.

It took about an hour to reach the gates of the city. The entrance had some very... colourful guards at each side. They did seem alert, though, and snapped to attention at the King's approach. The city walls were polished white marble, beautifully finished, and the roof tiles were quite a pretty blue with black veins. It was as beautiful as you'd expect for a place with its reputation. There were people within the city moving around and trading, but no market stalls or anything so vulgar to look at, and we noticed guards on every corner keeping an eye on everyone. Nobody really acknowledged the King or met his gaze other than the soldiers, mainly seeming to avoid him without making it too obvious that they were trying to do so.

After fifteen minutes or so we approached a magnificent squarish building, presumably the palace, and the King was approached by a guard who spoke in a language we didn't understand. It had a sing-song quality to it, which was quite nice to listen to, but neither of us had heard it before. The guard scurried off as the King led Falcor inside with me following at a distance. People were still careful to avoid the King, but they at least came much closer here, and there was some acknowledgement when he looked towards them. The King was quickly approached by a man with fine blue flowing clothes and carrying a polished black wood staff. The King introduced him as "Verrel", the Chamberlain, and Falcor stuck with the name "Dracor", although people here seemed to find that amusing for some reason. The King instructed the Chamberlain to find Falcor a room, and said that the Queen would probably wish to meet him, which was promising.

The Chamberlain took us through the maze of corridors within the building until he stopped at a door and announced that this would be Falcor's accommodation. He opened the door and showed Falcor the three fine rooms inside - they were luxurious! Although we got the impression that these were supposed to be the most basic of quarters, they were better than anything we'd seen for a long while, and were beautifully finished. He was asked not to stray, so I had to go and do some exploring on my own. Sadly there were guards everywhere - in fact nowhere in the corridors was out of sight of at least one. I overheard some hushed references to trouble in the west, but that conversation was quickly shut down with fearful looks in the direction of the nearest guard. I returned to Falcor without having learned much, other than that we were clearly in a guest wing. Falcor had been brought food and drink while I was away, which had been very good apparently, but he hadn't left much for me to try!

Thankfully another meal came later so I got to share some food, and it reminded me a little of Treddar... in fact this whole place did with its strict rules and facade of good manners. I used a mirror in one of the rooms to scry around the places I couldn't reach by walking. There were working spaces below us and more opulent rooms above, as we expected. One person, speaking privately, made a reference to a group or collective on the western shore of the island; they were blaming the people there for the recent troubles, saying that they had been "crossing the mountains". I also caught a glimpse of the throne room, although it was empty. Outside there was some normal activity (actual work being done that is) within the city, but the people doing it used a different network of routes to the main thoroughfares - a "back of house" access.

We had to stay the night, as the Queen didn't seem in any rush to meet Falcor. Relatively early in the morning, but after Falcor had refreshed my invisibility, the Chamberlain visited to say that the Queen would see him after she had concluded her business, but that he should "make yourself presentable". He was to have no weapons, obviously, and no luggage or traveling kit, just his polished armour and helmet (worn to hide his ugly mug, is what he seemed to be saying). What this actually meant was that I had to use dweomer to enhance my strength so that I could carry all his shit for him. Falcor used some dweomer to make his armour shine nicely. We had to wait a couple of hours, though, before the Chamberlain returned to escort him. He seemed somewhat content with Falcor's appearance, so we set off after him to meet the Queen.

==An Audience With Queen Dalryssia==

We approached the throne room, which I recognised from earlier, and the guards outside rapped their pikes on the floor. The doors swung smoothly open into the throne room itself. Eight guards lined either side of the room, and the Queen sat on the throne at the far end. The King was nowhere to be seen, though. The Chamberlain announced "Lord Dracor" in a loud voice as we entered and then stepped to the side. I did the same, on the other side, as I wasn't sure I wanted to risk walking past a royal bodyguard, invisible or not they might well notice. Two guards moved forward so that they were either side of Falcor as he reached the front, and he bowed formally. The Queen welcomed him, although she did not know of him, and said that whilst he was plain of visage she understood that he was beautiful of dweomer. She then started to talk about the creature we had fought, suggesting that he might undertake a quest to kill the beast and bring its head back for her so she could hold a ball.

Whilst she was doing this, Falcor urged me to give him his sword. This surprised me, to be honest. Was his plan really to just straight up murder her in cold blood? How did we know she was the real Queen, and what defences might she have for such an attack? If she wasn't the real Queen then he'd be standing over a nation's dead Queen, blood dripping from his sword, in the middle of a fortress full of guards and surrounded by the royal guard itself. If she was, the whole place would be falling apart and everything from the last scenario would still apply. I wasn't even sure that the whole place wasn't some kind of giant illusion or mass hypnosis. Surely we should learn more first? We could return with the head and see her again, after all. Falcor was becoming increasingly insistent though.

I reached out with my mind, trying to get a feel of the psychic impressions within the throne room. At first it seemed like just a blank canvas, but there was a much older place behind it, from history, that was soaked in fear and death... blood violently spilled. It was a different incarnation of this room, long since past, but fear most of all was the main feature. We started to agree that the original Dalryssia had left this place, although she still had much influence here, and was not the Queen we saw before us. Falcor agreed to the quest to hunt the creature we had encountered earlier, and said that he looked forward to the ball when we returned successfully, asking if that would mean he could see the Queen in her most regal attire. The Queen agreed readily that it would, and asked the Chamberlain to see to his needs in preparation for his quest. She also suggested a tourney where his prowess in battle could be shown off.

Falcor then spoke of how his request on arriving for access to an area to train had been denied, and that the Chamberlain had been quite rude and dismissive of him. The Queen was certainly not amused, and the Chamberlain's stammering attempt to defend himself did not help at all. She decided that he should fight Falcor to prove his worth, which was basically a death sentence. Thankfully Falcor was able to diplomatically delay the fight at least until we returned, getting the Queen to agree that such a fight as an opener to the victory ball would make it a much more beautiful death. The ex-Chamberlain was quickly escorted out and one of the Queen's guard was asked to see to Falcor's needs until a new Chamberlain was appointed. I waited after he left to see what would happen, and the Queen walked behind the throne where a doorway (well concealed) opened to let her pass. Most of the guards left once this door had closed behind her, with only four remaining in the room.

Falcor was escorted to a different room, much grander suite of rooms, receiving many apologies on the way. The new Lord Verrel (the new Chamberlain) made himself known; it seemed that the name came with the title, which would also explain why the Queen was called Dalryssia. Falcor was now three flights of stairs above his previous accommodation, and these rooms were much grander, gilt encrusted, and included six rooms and a hot, steaming bath. There was also a feast laid out for him that even he could not finish! A gold and crystal flagon of fine wine accompanied it. This was luxury beyond anything he had ever seen, even from his courtly days.

Meanwhile I was standing around waiting and trying not to get bored or cramped! After at least a couple of hours the other guards left as well, so I could finally move. There were still a shadowy balcony on each side of the throne room above me, so I listened carefully and moved in small bursts to approach the throne along one side. I could sense an echo of a link to another place directly from the throne, and it repulsed me on a primal level in a fear for my very existence. It could only be linked to a place of pure radiant energy utterly opposed to the land of my Father. As I resisted the urge to move away, I realised that it was life-giving in nature, but overwhelmingly so and, as I thought, opposed to my very essence. I fought against the dread and tried to calm my mind, trying to focus my mind. I had an instant connection to an overpowering radiance from the throne itself, even though it was just an echo of the power linked to it. A lot of power had flowed through the throne, though, and recently. I tried to get closer to investigate the door behind the throne, but the radiance was too strong and I was forced back. I used dweomer to transport myself back towards the entrance, hoping to link up with Falcor again.

Meanwhile Falcor had tried to call me with his mind, and surprisingly someone else had answered; it was an Elvramer named Arak, that Falcor had met before on his adventures. Arak was somewhat surprised that "The Guardian" was there at the same time. He confirmed that he was within the fortress of the humans, so close, he was seeking alliances in difficult times. He was also trying to understand where the humans would (and would not) be, as his people were weakened and could be vulnerable. He had heard tales that suggested there might be Elvradhil in the mountains here, but he had not been able to explore so he couldn't confirm this. There were several bodies of water here on the island that connected to the sea, although the humans didn't seem to realise their significance. Falcor suggested that he might want to leave in order to ensure his safety, as the whole place was at risk if our quest was successful.

I had tried to get back to where Falcor had been, not realising that he had moved, but got lost in the maze of the fortress anyway. I shouted mentally, and thankfully got a response from Falcor. He wasn't sure where he was exactly, although he knew that he was several floor up. He resolved to attempt to reach me, asking his host if he could be taken on a short tour. As they walked he learned that all names were indeed tied to specific posts, and that the Queen was always Dalryssia but was named after the divine lady that watched over this place. This "divine lady" brought the sun to shine over the land every day. Previously it had been a land of darkness and despair, where humans were little more than slaves and Saloroc scratched a meager existence from the earth. Dalryssia, the goddess, had brought salvation and bestowed upon the Queen the gifts of beauty, allowing the Queen to bear her name. As long as the Queen honoured the goddess, then prosperity would always come to the land. It was said that the Queen had her own chapel where she worshiped Dalryssia, the Goddess. There had been eighteen Queen Dalryssias since the original ascended.

Thankfully I could hear the end of this discussion as Falcor had been descending towards me on the nearest stairwell. He made sure to be especially noisy on his return so that I could get back to his room with him. Once there we swapped notes on what we had seen and experienced. It was clear that Dalryssia (the Sarn) had already ascended in some way and we we had any hope of defeating her we would have to draw them out; there was no way I could hope to enter her realm without being destroyed by it. I wondered whether, although I hated the idea the moment I aired it, I might draw her out if I let my true self be seen and call Dalryssia out as a false goddess.

Picking up on this idea, Falcor asked whether a duplicate of the Queen's clothes could be made, so that he might match his dress to hers for the ball, adding of course that it would have to be destroyed afterwards. This, of course, was wonderfully received as a beautiful idea, helped by the large sapphire he offered in payment. Perhaps I could challenge the Queen's faith if given enough time? I was nervous, and it would take a week of allowing my detestable beauty to return; I took great care to hide it normally, so this was no easy change to make. If Falcor could keep me invisible it would help, as much for my sake as for others.

==The Beast Hunt==

The night passed uneventfully, anyway, and we were well fed and rested. We retired early and rose early so that I would be invisible again, without incident. Then Falcor was led, with me following, down to a stable where he was presented with a magnificent deep-black warhorse in half barding which was silver and blue. Falcor was offered some apples in a silk bag by a stable hand, which apparently the horse liked, and he mounted and rode out easily with me jogging behind. We headed through the now familiar forest towards the mountains in the west. Things were not all simple, though, as it seemed we were being followed by someone or something. I hung back to see what it might be, and sure enough there were some short humanoids following Falcor. He stopped, making a show of feeding his horse and noticed movement in a particular bit of undergrowth. He used dweomer to make an explosion of glittering particles in the area, then saw a glittering shape moving forward towards him. Falcor grabbed the creature with his mind and moved it slowly towards him, but was lashed out at by the mind of his target.

I saw the movement as well, and just confirmed that they were not from Kraldar's realm. As I watched from nearby, I could make out at least four of them in total, all closing on Falcor now that they knew one had been seen. Falcor dropped the one he lifted, and they landed heavily on the ground. I closed with Falcor and raised a mental defence around us, and then Falcor was in melee. He struck one twice, but they were far more agile than we expected and it was difficult for him to make a good connection. Falcor frantically used his staff to parry multiple attacks, and in answer to my unspoken question told me not to attack. He was adjusting now, and decapitated one before turning his attention to another. It took a few hits, but that one fell too (in fact it was the one that had literally fallen when Falcor dropped him). Falcor was scraped again, although all his wounds seemed superficial, and cut another one down in return. There was just one left, which Falcor struck quickly. Seeing that he faced only death, the last one sank to his knees, dropping his daggers in submission.

He was an odd-looking fellow, and not like any race we had seen before. I noted that the Elvrabor had changed appearance when they changed allegiance under Ilianna, and wondered whether this was another Elvra race that had changed their divine patron as well. Falcor stepped back, sheathing his sword, and asked why he had attacked us. There was no response to Falcor's questions, though, and we weren't sure whether he even spoke Common. I tried mental communication, but also didn't get a response; there was definitely a strong mind present and it defended itself against my attempts to reach it. Falcor tried a different approach, taking out his Elvradhil axe and showing him the runes on it. The creature seemed repelled by them, scrabbling to back away as Falcor moved it closer. Falcor assessed his nature as being Chaotic Neutral, and so offered him a hand to help him stand. Although he didn't take it, he correctly interpreted this as a sign that he could stand and slowly rose to his feet, still looking down. He backed away slowly and then legged it as soon as he realised that he was being spared.

I tried to arrange the bodies together with some dignity whilst searching for anything they might carry that could give us some information. There were some clean trinkets carefully stored in pouches, bits of worked gold mainly, but they were otherwise completely filthy. Their clothes were soiled and abraded heavily, but seemed to have once been fine materials. As I was moving the last body I got a sense of a growing energy field and stepped backwards, wary, warning Falcor. He had mounted his horse ready to move on, but dismounted again and stepped towards me. Suddenly the bodies exploded with a burst of radiant energy! We managed to drop to the floor to escape the worst of it, but it was still painful... especially for me as it was that same radiance so opposed to my nature that I had sensed on the throne.

Once Falcor had calmed the horse down (thankfully it had escaped the blast), we quickly moved on. I was slightly nervous that I was now leeching energy to heal myself, and that it might be a beacon to those paying attention. Despite this we were undisturbed, and an hour later we reached the area where we had first met the King. From there it was a simple journey to reach the edge of the mountains, although Falcor spotted a cat-like creature slightly above where we were approaching that was watching us. It was dog-sized with eight legs - what was with all the legs around here? We adjusted our line of travel to veer off to the north a little, but it tracked with us whilst maintaining its height. As we kept pushing north to circle around, though, it seemed happy to leave us be. We kept our distance and started to climb the slope to the right of the peak it was guarding. As we reached a slight plateau and started to circle the north side of the peak, we noticed below us on the right there were three ugly hairless apes devouring something in between them, deer sized although we couldn't see clearly. We moved away from the edge so that Falcor wasn't seen, losing sight of them.

I started to climb up the slope to get a better view of the surroundings, as Falcor tracked across below me on horseback. As I got higher I could see that the ape things were moving west, so I warned Falcor that they would be coming into view. He turned back and started to climb towards me, but as he did so he noticed what might be a cave mouth in the slope above him, roughly at my level. He dismounted and started climbed towards it on foot as I walked around at my level, aiming to meet at the cave mouth to investigate. As we moved, though, Falcor saw a familiar head emerge and a long tongue stuck out, testing the air, then turned sharply towards me. The black dragon-like beast scurried out of the cave and quickly towards me, using its eight legs to make good progress over the rocky terrain, and coming straight for me! It started slashing at the air with it's front four clawed feet; I managed to dodge two of them, but one scraped my armour and so the last hit me squarely in the side. I quickly summoned some dweomer to protect me from its gaze, and Falcor put a lightning bolt into its rear.

It, predictably, spewed acid all over me, although I was able to turn and avoid the worst of it. My bow and quiver, and annoyingly also my boots, were destroyed. I had to kick the remains of my boots off as the beast turned and rushed at Falcor. He was ready for the charge, though, and blew a hole in the side of it's body with another lightning bolt, removing at least one limb in the process. I jogged after it, ignoring the pain from suddenly being barefooted on the rocks, and finished it off with a blow from behind. Served the fucker right for melting my boots! Unfortunately we were not safe yet, as we heard the cries of the apes from below and saw them loping towards us. I ran down towards the horse, which sensibly bolted, and challenged the apes with a shout whilst beating my chest with my sword hilts. Magic missiles streaked from behind me to strike the leader of the group, and I created a color spray that knocked the same one unconscious.

This still wasn't enough to deter the other two, though, and I was struck by a couple of powerful blows as I stood my ground. To make matters worse there was another cry, although different... more of a guttural shout, from the other side of the hill to our left. Three giant creatures came striding into view, headed towards Falcor with rocks in their hands at least the size of his head. Falcor sent another lightning bolt arcing into the nearest one, mentally asking if I could deal with the two apes. I could... well, if I could get one out of the fight quickly anyway - they hit hard! I threw the serpent staff down and it started its transformation into a snake, and sliced one ape with Aramat. Although the snake was struggling to entangle its target, it at least distracted it while I focused on the other one. I struck it again, but its powerful blow in return left me reeling slightly.

Falcor tried a mental attack as the first giant started to throw a rock at him; it seemed to be effective as the giant stopped instantly and dropped all his rocks onto the ground, remaining there and doing nothing. The snake finally managed to entwine the ape it was attacking, which left me free to focus on one attacker. I finished the ape off with multiple sword slashes and turned my attention to the giants. Falcor had backed off towards me, and he unleashed a fireball which surrounded the two advancing giants. They were still standing after the explosion, though, so I blinded one with a bright light in its eyes. Falcor summoned a wall of fire as well, but it appeared just behind them as they kept striding forwards. They threw rocks at Falcor, but they missed widely.

I healed a few of my wounds as Falcor cut a giant down with his sword. The last one was the one I had blinded, but he still moved towards the sounds of battle, swinging blindly as he advanced. He did catch Falcor with a heavy punch just by chance, but Falcor cut him down fairly effortlessly shortly afterwards. We took stock for a moment; Falcor, having expended a lot of dweomer, wanted time to study but before we could think about where to settle down he noticed a figure on the far side of little valley the apes had been in rise as if out of nowhere, throw something to the ground, and disappear into a rent in the air. Ilianna's folk were here? Now they knew that we were too! I had tied up the ape that I knocked unconscious earlier, but as he awoke he was able to rip his way out his bonds and take a swing at me! I had to cut him down with my swords, although it still took three strong blows. With him dead, I ordered the snake back to me and it released the last ape, looking very sorry for itself. I gestured at it to go with my sword and it loped off, not willing to challenge us any more.

We had a moment's peace, then, and I discovered that Falcor had some spare boots that I could use, which was helpful. They didn't fit of course, so I had to spend some time sewing them roughly to take in enough material to at least have a hope of moving around in them. Once that was done, and seeing that Falcor was still deep in study, I went to investigate the cave above us. The stink inside was incredibly bad; I held my breath and ran in to see if it improved around a bend up ahead, but that led to an acrid pool of liquid that stung my eyes. I headed back to fresh air and took some deep breaths, thinking about how I might tackle the situation.

I fished out a potion that we had found, one of vitality, that might help with some of the nausea. That did allow me to walk past a pile of detritus and bones in the outer cave, but the acrid smell of the pool in the narrow section was just as bad. I tried creating water above it, hoping to dilute it, and that did seem to work. The liquid washed around the cave up ahead and the stinging smell started to die down. Finally I was able to progress and found another wider section of the cave with half a dozen stony eggs on the far side. There was nothing else I could see, so I headed back to Falcor, who actually met me at the entrance, and explained what I'd found. I carried them out using sacks... and they were really heavy!

Falcor summoned a disc that he was able to load both the eggs and the head onto. It followed Falcor, although slowly, as we walked back to the forest. We even found the horse waiting, which was a bonus, so we led that back with us. We found a relatively sheltered place to rest within the forest, and I meditated to regain some power from my unknown patron. I didn't feel like sleep, though, as the potion I had taken meant I felt full of energy and would do so for days! That meant I'd be on watch for the night, of course. The potion I had used in the cave had made me feel so energised that I could not have contemplated sleep anyway, so I watched over Falcor into the night. After about three hours I heard something slightly west of us, and an hour later caught a glimpse of something human-sized moving just south of us. It seemed to pass without incident, though, or at least I didn't see anything else. Then there was another movement to the north - they all seemed to be moving from the mountains towards the city.

Just a few minutes later one came much closer, getting dangerously close to Falcor, and I could see now that they were the dark elves. This one looked particularly finely armed and armoured, and seemed to be able to pass through the undergrowth and trees at will. I stepped out to get his attention, uttering a quick incantation to protect me from evil. I heard the figure shouting mentally, not really recognising what he said but getting the impression that he was raising the alarm. He reached out to touch a tree and appeared right in front of me! There were more coming as well, although not as quickly. One of them saw Falcor and I heard mentally that he was passing that information on. Damn!

I tried to parry the first attacks, succeeding with one blow but getting cut by the other - he was really fast! To make it worse, two more engaged me with another close behind. A couple of daggers struck me, although my armour saved me from worse. I was hurt, but also striking back; every one of my blows found its mark, although their leader still wouldn't fall. I still thought I might hold my own, but then a mage that was standing some way off sent magic missiles thudding into my chest! I had no choice but to keep pressing my attacks, despite the pain I was in, but I started trying to wake Falcor with my mind. He was an infuriatingly heavy sleeper, though, and didn't stir.

I finally managed to cut down their leader, although it had taken much more effort than I had hoped. His body shimmered as it seemed to get absorbed into the undergrowth before reappearing at the mage's feet. Falcor finally woke up (I felt as if my mind should be hoarse with all the shouting it had done), and realised quickly that there was a threat, grabbing his sword and rod and moving to help. I was suffering from multiple cuts, at least one of which potentially had poisoned me, so I was glad he was awake. He struck one twice, his energy sword particularly effective against these foes, and I turned to slash another attacker, doing significant damage.

There was a bright light in the direction of the mage, but we were too busy fighting to see exactly what had happened. Falcor killed his first opponent and moved on to another, landing such powerful blows that he knocked them unconscious. I finished off the other, the last of the attackers. I turned to see that the mage had, predictably, gone with the body... but then collapsed unconscious myself! Falcor said that a shadowy form had seemed to stand over my body, one that I had seen before when I was near death. Falcor started spinning his energy blade and the shadowy form dissipated in the light, but it also caused me to start twitching in pain. Falcor quickly stopped, thankfully, and knelt to heal me and remove the poison. I gasped and jerked awake with a start, gripping his arm in thanks before laying back to take a few breaths.

I was surprisingly hale, thanks to the healing, and got up quickly; we would have to move. We searched the bodies, not expecting to find much, but at least I managed to find a better fitting pair of boots. We hid their weapons and then moved away to the south. We carried the head of the beast with us, and I used dweomer to increase my strength so that we could move easily. We found another place to rest, and this time (although I did hear sounds to the north) Falcor managed to sleep through the night. In the morning he sat down to study, which took three hours, and I meditated for about half an hour before we were ready to face the dangers of the day.

We talked about what had happened the night before and realised that Ilianna had probably warned the Queen who Falcor was and what his intentions were so there was not much point in us returning to the city. We abandoned the head, although we kept the eggs and Falcor insisted on cutting the eyes of the beast out before we left. There had been mention of a community of some kind to the west that was opposed to the city, so that was worth investigating. We needed information, and might find some allies if we were lucky. We headed back into the mountains, following a valley just south of a large mountain nearby.

We saw another eight-legged dog thing above us to the south, so we climbed north a little and skirted around, not wanted to start any unnecessary fights. We kept following the pass as it wound amongst the mountains, and then saw another dog creature to our left; they seemed to be common in the mountains. A few moments later we saw some large humanoids up ahead so we climbed the north side again, watching to see what they would do. They headed the other way, climbing up towards the dog and eventually starting a fight. There were three of them, and they were particularly ugly with hardly any neck above their shoulders, but the dog was fast and agile so they struggled to hit it. When they did land a hit there was a chiming sound as if they had hit metal; the noise put my teeth on edge, but Falcor seemed to find it calming. The dog emerged victorious, beating all three after an extended fight - not a foe to be underestimated!

We continued, passing the fight by, and turned west between two peaks before we saw the dog appear... this time clearly blinking into existence above us to the right. It had been the same one all along! Falcor reached out with his mind and got a response, a friendly one thankfully... well, friendly to Falcor anyway, not so much to me. It seemed surprised that I was sentient at all, just seeing me as a sucking force of death. It seemed glad that Falcor wished to fight Dalrissia, though, and told us that she was in a place of rocks and earth to the north of city, underground. She was at the gates of the realm the dog came from, which must be the radiant positivity that was so opposed to my essence. The image she gave us of Dalrissia was of death against a bright background, and she was apparently trapped having left this place but unable (at the moment at least) to enter his own realm. She warned that they could not resist her forever, and urged us to seek her deep within the largest rock pile, close to where all the people live. Dalrissia could not return, hence why she had to act through others. The dog gave her name as "She Who Seeks Warriors", more of a purpose than a name... and seemed excited that her purpose might be complete now that she had found Falcor; he was a warrior filled with the power of her own home, and was wielding "a weapon" (me) filled with the power of his enemy.

==Confronting Dalryssia==

Now that we had a location where we could find Dalryssia, we set off immediately through the mountains (wanting to avoid the forest if possible). We followed the mountain contours around back to the east and then north, climbing as we went. We were fortunately in a slight gully when a band of dark elves appeared from nowhere to our right, and we were able to drop out of sight before they had scanned in our direction. We waited a couple of minutes, and Falcor heard some chanting from their direction. I moved at a crawl to the edge to peer between rocks, catching a glimpse of three of the foe out of the original five. One was still chanting, and they hadn't moved far from where they had appeared.

We decided that we should attack, using the element of surprise, so we both used dweomer to move ourselves instantly next to the chanting figure... but instead we found ourselves within a grey nothing with no sight of each other, or anything else for that matter. There was no response to my mental call, and I found that I was able to shape the place with my mind, causing a flagstone to appear under my feet, so it was clearly a transition of some kind that had taken us away from Karmana. I used more dweomer to scan for any gateways, and after a few minutes I detected a transition point not far away, so I headed towards it. I had no choice but to plunge through and hope that it would take me back... but instead I appeared right in the face of the mage we had intended to attack! There was a strange feeling about the area we were in, as if a tear was opening in Karmana, but that it had not yet been anchored.

The mage stopped his chanting and cried out in alarm, and one of his companions appeared from nowhere, striking me with daggers as the others hurried to surround me. I struck several decent blows on the mage, but I couldn't quite take him down before he opened a portal and escaped. I nearly went with him, but managed to hold myself in place... I didn't want to leave Karmana again! I cut into a swordsman instead, causing such a serious wound that he dropped, ashen-faced, to the floor although still alive. I took some hits in return, though. I managed to cut down another swordsman, but there was still one wielding daggers and an archer backing him up. The multiple wounds I had suffered, although fairly minor, were beginning to take a toll.

Falcor, meanwhile, had spoken to Aergarnion and asked for help. Help did arrive, but the pegasus was engaged by fiery elemental creatures. Falcor conjured an ice explosion, obliterating one of them and leaving a much diminished second form, although the one that was engaging the pegasus directly wasn't yet harmed. He followed up by sending ice bolts into the weakened one, punching holes in it until what little remained was whipped away in the wind. A fireball exploded around Falcor, but his natural resistance to the flames saved him from the worst of it, and he peppered the other fire creature with ice, dissipating that as well. He also healed the pegasus when it arrived at his side, noticing that it had been badly burned in the fight. The pegasus dropped Falcor off near Borarla, thanking the pegasus, Alderot, for his assistance. Alderot thanking him in turn, as his intervention had saved his life. He was apparently the first lieutenant to Aergarnion, and how considered himslef in Falcor's debt, urging him to call if he was in need.

Falcor then used his own dweomer to teleport back to the gully where we had begun this escapade. He announced that he was back in my mind as he ran towards the sound of fighting. He conjured magic missiles to strike the archer, thankfully distracting him from targeting me again. I was able to finish the dagger wielder, and as the archer started to fire at Falcor I was able to close with him and run him through. Sensing Falcor's unspoken question, I pointed out that there was one still alive where I had been stood before. I warned him, though, that it was an area of planar instability, and I grabbed a stick (one of many that the mage had apparently been setting up in a circle as part of some ritual), pulling it from the ground. I was suddenly aware that the partially open gate was collapsing explosively, and threw myself down just in time to avoid being taken with it. Annoyingly the bodies, including our potential prisoner, disappeared with it.

We decided to continue our journey quickly so that we were not easily targeted, although I was grateful for some of Falcor's healing touch first. We kept following the contours north before starting to turn east as we passed the edge of the forest. It was getting dark, though, and Falcor was keen to rest due to all the dweomer he had expended. He turned himself invisible and settled down in a sheltered spot to sleep. I was still vitalised by the potion I had drunk, so I didn't feel any need to sleep, instead keeping watch. I suddenly had a mental flash of the golden dog thing passing me a warning: "her servants are coming". I changed my shape into one of the weird dwarf things we had encountered in the forest, but kept still and waited. Sure enough I saw one of the folk appear not that far away, sniffing at the air, apparently aware of our scent but unable to pin it down. Eventually, to my relief, an angry voice drew him away back down the slope. More came hours later, though, and this time I changed my shape into one of the dark elves and walked out with the horse, knowing that they would find it anyway and wanting to draw them away from Falcor. I heard a challenge in a language I didn't know, so I responded in halting common with: "who goes there"? The response in common was very broken, but I made out that they were "lords of light"; I simply said: "I serve Ilianna", and they turned and ran! We were undisturbed after that.

Falcor woke naturally, and the dog was suddenly there with us. It spoke of how the dwarves had once being great, but they had been drawn to "her" realm and could not handle the nature of it, so were driven mad. Now they were trapped and had to serve Dalryssia because they knew no other way. They had once sought the light, but now hunted in the dark for enemies of their mistress. They had learned to fear Ilianna's folk, though, which explained the reaction I had received. We rested to study and meditate before moving on, not wanting to confront Dalryssia in a weakened state. We eventually reached the highest peak in the north, circling south above the forest line looking for any kind of entrance.

Journal - Death on Karmana

2023-01-21T11:48:50Z

2A00:23C7:BF83:A101:C954:4846:AE42:5436: Created page with "==The Forest of Truth== The forest was autumnal, surprising so for the time of year as it should be winter. Green shoots were visible as well as fallen leaves, though, almost like spring was beginning without winter ever having started. There were very ancient trees all around, but also stumps where trees once stood. The canopy above was also not complete, and there were signs of some damage and fire if you looked closely. A breeze rustled the leaves, but it was not unpl..."

==The Forest of Truth==
The forest was autumnal, surprising so for the time of year as it should be winter. Green shoots were visible as well as fallen leaves, though, almost like spring was beginning without winter ever having started. There were very ancient trees all around, but also stumps where trees once stood. The canopy above was also not complete, and there were signs of some damage and fire if you looked closely. A breeze rustled the leaves, but it was not unpleasant as there was a slight warmth to the wind.

Falcor spoke with Aergarnion before he departed, and asked about his brother that wasn't actually a brother, called "Sarn". Wasn't that the name of the foes he wanted me to help defeat, though? Aergarnion said that the person was walking a dark path, but that Falcor's quest for Karmana was more important for now. Falcor bade him well and he launched into the air and disappeared.

An Elvrabor stepped out from behind a tree, holding a bow that was ready but not pointed at us, and Falcor hailed him asking if we might meet with the Queen. As he did so, though, he warned me that I might not be entirely welcome. What a surprise! Apparently the creature believed that I was "a lie"... but I was just myself - how could that be a lie?! Despite the apparent distrust, they did agree to escort us to the Queen, and as we moved to follow more elves appeared as if from nowhere and fell in behind us. Falcor finally noticed that I was sucking the life from the forest to heal my wounds (it's not like I have a choice about it, after all, just another curse or blessing from my father, depending on your point of view). Falcor offered me a potion, which helped a little, and then called on Milada to heal me. It took a little time, but this certainly worked, and once my wounds were cured the draw on the forest stopped.

One of the Elvrabor, witnessing this, seemed in awe of Falcor's link to Milada. He knew tales of her sacred garden, but had thought that she was just a myth. Falcor spoke of a sacred place dedicated to Milada that Falcor had created on an island nearby, and that perhaps some of their kind could journey to it as a pilgrimage. Once this exchange was finished we moved on, and it only took half an hour or so to get to the "Court of Truth". I was expecting something a little more... like a building I guess. But it was actually just a bowl within a clear part of the forest with a wildflower meadow covering it and an obelisk at the base. A throne sat on the lip of the bowl and a ring of huge trees that almost formed a complete canopy surrounded it.

The Queen, Arla, was within the bowl conversing with more of the Elvrabor. She moved quickly to greet Falcor, who took her hand and bowed, so I bowed too. They paused for a moment, but then that moment became almost half a minute, which seemed weird. Arla was smiling though, and waiting patiently, so I just froze until Falcor eventually moved again. Apparently he had communed with the forest briefly, and it had overwhelmed him a little, but he recovered himself and stood back. Queen Arla spoke to me then, saying that I was welcome there (I realised at this point that I had been quite nervous about how she would "judge" me, and it was a relief when she said I was welcome). She knew that I hid my beauty, but recognised that I had "the soul" within me, and that I was true to myself.

Falcor asked after his friends, and Arla told him that one was with their God and not on Karmana, but the other was on the island so he might see him again. We talked about how we were only missing one of the souls now, and Arla suddenly said that I knew them. She could not say how or who, she only knew that this was a "truth". Surely there was only one other person I knew... was the soul of intelligence within Meglar? As soon as Arla heard me ask, even though I was talking to myself really, she pronounced that this "was a truth", but he was not on Karmana so she could not help us find him.

Falcor then thought to ask about his "brother", Sarn, again. Arla said that there was no brother or boy raised with Falcor, that they did not exist... but that they HAD existed. This was strange; Arla did not know the truth of this, which was new to her and seemed to excite her a little even as it frustrated Falcor. He started to ask for leave, but I wanted to first about Kelditch's staff. We suspected that Ilianna had created it from the forest in some way. It turns out that we were right, sort of. Arla said that the wood was a part of the "birth tree" that Ilianna belonged to. She was shocked that Ilianna would have given such a thing away - it would be like removing a part of herself, apparently, like lending a leg to someone? Arla warned that it would not be wise to mend it, as it might seek Ilianna out by itself, so strong would be the connection between them. Falcor was also able to get a replacement bow, as his old one had been destroyed in the exchange of magic with the giantkin.

We took some time to rest with the Elvrabor and discussed the place that Falcor wanted to return to. There was a pathway from death to Karmana (life), which had been guarded by the Saloroc in the past (with the Dragon Clan in charge). Something had changed, though; Kraldar had taken control of the place of Death, and Sullinassauri had taken control of the Karmana end of the pathway. The path was closed, which suited my father as he was drawing power from the souls trapped with him. The dragon that had been trapped within the place of Death had taken on its aspect, and was now worshiped by some reptiles in a swamp somewhere. Honestly, it was all very confusing the way Falcor told it. There was a staff in the swamp somewhere that might help control the dragon, though.

We took a Saloroc boat under the cover of darkness from the shore west of Borarla. They took us to the island that Falcor had told me about. It was strange, but I thought I heard the trees speaking to me as we left, saying "go, but return healthy"! Falcor showed me the holy place he had told the Elvrabor about, where he had designed a garden that was also a temple to Milada. He invited me to design my own part of the garden, with the Elvradhil (I had never seen these folk before, but they showed great deference to Falcor, and he in turn adopted a more courtly bearing amongst them) assisting by literally drawing rock from the ground and shaping it. I designed something that reflected the circle of life, and most importantly the need for souls to flow freely from Death back to Karmana to be reborn.

When we were ready we trekked north to an underground hall where a great brazier stood flanked by statues of the Elvradhil. Falcor had to set light to the brazier with his fiery breath in dragon from, but then we were able to start a ceremony involving a tapestry with a map on it and a pyramid that stood on its point when Falcor placed it on the map. We were suddenly transported to a forested swamp and Falcor picked the pyramid up; it had been transported with us and was the key to returning. After scanning the immediate area he strode off purposefully, so followed closely behind. After a little while we heard and then saw several boars charging towards us. We ran to cover, pressed against a tree each, and drew swords. It was soon clear, though, that the animals were not interested in us but were being chased by serpents flying on blurred wings. These strange creatures were highly coloured and all different in hue. Suddenly they broke away from pursuing the boars and instead headed towards Falcor.

==Swamp Under Evil Control That Nobody in Their Right Mind Would Just, Like, LEAVE==

Falcor warned that the creatures were likely being controlled by an evil mind, despite being just animals that would normally follow their instincts. He conjured a pattern of lights, catching three within it, their bodies twisting as they seemed to chase the lights around them. One, though, ignored the lights and pressed its attack, somehow missing despite Falcor basically dancing around in front of it. That wasn't it, though, as sparks crackled around them causing Falcor some pain. I moved behind it to defend him, slicing rapidly until it fell from the air and lay dead. We had no time to get away, though, as four more approached rapidly - these split into pairs, each pair trying to attack one of us. Again, despite not landing a direct hit, an explosion of electricity erupted around me to cause me some pain. Falcor conjured a web that captured a couple, so we just had one each to fight.

I cut down the one nearest me and Falcor moved closer before conjuring a spray of light that caused the other to drop unconscious, at least temporarily. Taking the opportunity we ran, trying to put some distance between us and the creatures before any recovered. After a minute or so I looked back to check for pursuit, but instead saw a spider appear and start eating the incapacitated flying creature. The thing was huge - bigger than them! Falcor got a stitch and has to stop, so I stood guard and watched more of the spiders appear, helping themselves to the creatures Falcor had conveniently trapped in a web for them.

Just as Falcor felt sufficiently recovered to continue, a bunch of lizards walking on their hind legs came swarming at me, scraping with their claws and occasionally getting past my armour. There was a snake-like warrior behind the lizards, so Falcor moved around to engage them as I kept the others busy. I skewered one lizard as Falcor struck repeated blows until the snake thing was eventually worn down and collapsed into a writhing death. I had managed to kill another lizard in the same time, so there were just two left, and Falcor engaged them from behind. They didn't last long, but before we could relax the bushes near Falcor started reaching out to grab at his legs; thankfully he was able to jump away just in time so we moved on quickly.

The undergrowth was getting more dense now, so we moved more cautiously and first heard, then saw some activity within a stand of trees ahead. As I drew closer I felt a strong connection with the shaman within; he was drawing the power of Prensiss, a snake God, to provide protection to those within the circle. I warned Falcor, especially as I was not sure I could approach at all, and at best I would be detected even if invisible. I could see that Prensiss ruled over a swamp realm, and it was the stone circle at the centre of the trees that formed a connection, but I could also feel Karmana's forge weakening the link.

We backed off, needing to make a plan in relative safety. I raised my strength, once again feeling Falcor enhance the effect, with the intent of literally grabbing the staff and running with it as Falcor tried to cover from a distance. We approached again, with Falcor going ahead to provide an initial distraction with a fireball. I watched as he finished the incantation... but nothing happened! Whatever the protection was it prevented the spell from impacting. Falcor could see a shimmer as some kind of shield absorbed his dweomer, just at the edge of the trees. He could see that they were sacrificing a lizard on the altar inside, presumably to receive another boon from Prensiss. Falcor tried to dispel the magical barrier, and with a crack the stone altar was broken in two! Falcor shared an emotional connection with Karmana, saying that it was her that destroyed the protective shield. I was surprised because he had always seemed devoted to Milada, but he confirmed it was Karmana that had aided him this time. The shaman sagged visibly backwards within the circle, then started shouting in alarm.

Falcor responded to my obvious question even before I asked it, mentally shouting "go"! I used the power to shift myself directly into the circle next to the Shaman and ripped the staff from his hand despite his efforts to hold onto it. I felt a bit vulnerable being in their midst, though! As if to reinforce this point, I got slashed nastily by his snake-like bodyguard before I could move. Falcor finally dropped the fireball, killing a bunch of lizards and one of the snakes to even things up a little. I turned an run, having to wrest the staff from the shaman's hands again as he tried to regain it, and headed towards Falcor. I was hit again as I left, although not as badly, but I couldn't risk stopping and getting surrounded. I passed Falcor, who had been engaged but not hurt, and he shouted to keep running. He started fighting, taking some damage, but buying me time to get away from some of them.

Falcor used the same dweomer I had to escape, appearing ahead of me, and a blade was turned by my armour as I kept running towards where he had appeared ahead of me. I managed to get a lead on them and Falcor launched magic missiles at the nearest. This might have helped as I began to extend my lead and eventually we started to slow as it appeared we had escaped. We kept moving of course, only starting to relax once we reached an area resembling more natural forest. We stopped to rest and Falcor used his helm's powers to investigate the staff; it could certainly be useful, but did not seem powerful enough to control a dragon fully. We decided that we would need to warn the Red Skulls that they might face an undead invasion once we (hopefully) were able to kill the Sarn, so we kept heading east.

Darkness was falling as we came in sight of a road, and we crossed before looking for somewhere sheltered to rest. The night passed quietly, although we could hear traffic using the road in the morning. We kept out of sight, though, taking time to meditate and eat. Falcor had set some snares that yielded meat so we ate quite well. After lunch, Falcor deliberately made the fire smokey to attract some attention and we waited. After a while we heard movement in the undergrowth and Falcor hailed whoever was there. He received a halting response in Common that asked who was there. Falcor used a false name, but claimed to be a friend of the Red Skulls. This seemed to go down well, and a couple of Saloroc emerged, hunters by the look of it and carrying a good catch - a boar no less! Falcor showed them a wolf pelt marked with a red skull that seemed to impress them and they became much more friendly.

Falcor explained that he was a friend to "Relak", who was with a human village to the north. They seemed to know the name, and explained that we should travel to "Zak Rechpvork" to the north of this island, as it was the fortress of the Red Skulls. There we should seem "Grindak", the clan chief, if we had news that the clan should know. Then talk turned to hunting, which Falcor was proficient at but I was interested in. We hunted boar at dusk with them, and Falcor was able to bring one down. We ate well that night indeed. We traveled north as directed, using darkness to cross open areas, but managing to reach Zak Rechpvork the next day.

We were able to meet with Grindak, so Falcor had made an impression. This was partly explained when he showed that he was wearing armour gifted by one of Falcor's friends, and was clearly pleased with this gift. Falcor gave him the warning, and he seemed to understand the importance. He said that they would not leave this place, but would prepare. He actually seemed to relish the idea that the balance of power might be reset in the region. He gave us a scroll that he said would identify us as allies of the Red Skulls in case we needed safe passage or aid. While we had time in the city we asked about some of the wider region, particularly farther west. There was a city called "Zak Krastoom" on the next island in the chain, and that served as a gateway (via a bridge) to "Krasgord", the City of Beauty just to its north. He said that it was known as a wondrous place, and that any trade had to go through Zak Krastoom because those deemed not worthy (in prettiness I guess?) could not enter the city of Beauty. It was held as a special place and was not controlled by the Black Hand, but was still held by the Tigers the last they knew.

==A Forest Encounter==

After resting for the night we set off traveling south in the early morning. We started in darkness so that we would be nearer to the forest by sunrise, and we were not interrupted. As the sun rose, thankfully behind us as we were to the east of the road, we saw an army marching north several hundred strong at least. There was nothing we could do about it, though, so we continued (perhaps slightly faster than before) until we reached the cover of the trees. We kept going south until we crossed the beginnings of a river (several small streams at this point), and then tracked the waterway to the west. All was going well so far, but of course that couldn't last.

Falcor noticed first that the sounds of animals and birds had died down, and a little later we came into sight of the road from a couple of miles away. There were troops moving near the road, and not all of them were heading north at the junction nearby. A large number were moving south to line the road, in rough clumps of troops but definitely extending in a line along the road and moving towards the forest... and us! We looked at the options and it wasn't great; the distance would be too great to cover invisible, but if we stayed put we might be able to avoid detection, and I could change my form to match one of the snake clan so we might get away with it anyway.

As we were debating this, though, we noticed that they had stopped moving. They had broken into smaller groups again, but continued to stretch the line towards the south so that the road was now covered as far as we could see. They had moved off the road on our side to keep it clear, but were now setting up campfires and seemed to be settling down. There was a larger makeshift camp being erected near the junction as well, so it seemed they were waiting for something. We had expected them to continue, so this caught us off guard. Falcor suggested that if we rested he could ensure he had the right dweomer to allow us to break through, so he settled down as soon as he was able and I kept watch. It was quite a boring day, turning into a peaceful night, which was unusual lately!

Before it got completely dark, though, I just caught sight of a flash of light to the east and then the distinctive sound of a fireball detonating, as I stopped to focus in that direction I could hear sounds of combat in the distance. I quickly moved to wake Falcor, and he was concerned that we needed to avoid combat. Once he had gathered his things we moved to look west again, seeing campfires still lining the road as before, and the camp fairly bright but with more cover. There was a gap between the two, perhaps our best chance of getting through undetected, so we decided to head towards it.

There was another fireball explosion behind us, but then I saw a human woman moving ahead of some Saloroc that seemed to be being herded towards the trap along the road. We still weren't sure who we were dealing with here, though, so we moved back into cover to watch. Should we intervene? It was clear that she was a mage, whoever she was. As they drew closer it was also clear that her companions were Red Skulls, so now I felt compelled to help, and thankfully Falcor agreed. The foes were Black Hand, with Snake Clan mages and a couple of weird double-headed snake creatures writhing along with them. There seemed to be more movement in the forest beyond them as well.

I stood to move up and support the hunted party, and as I did so the woman turned and looked at me immediately. There was no communication that I knew of, but I was certain that just in her look she was pleading for help. I said out loud: "it's a trap, come to me, I will help!" She responded, rather worryingly with: "Sister, thank you!" Sister? Fuck! Now I wasn't so sure it was a good idea! It still seemed to be the right thing to do, though, so I hoped. Some of the undergrowth had erupted into life and was holding some of the Red Skulls for the approaching foe, but Falcor dispelled the effect and freed them. They all started moving towards me as I advanced.

I warned the woman as she drew closer enough to lower my voice that I had an invisible friend that could aid us. She was badly hurt, so I said not to fear his touch as it could heal her wounds. She suddenly looked very serious and said that she would only accept this gift if it was from Korman. I honestly wasn't sure, but said that he was Elvra of Karmana / Korman so it could be a gift from him, and she responded that she welcomed gifts from Korman's priests. She kept running past me in Falcor's direction. Falcor summoned a wall of fog that slowed down the pursuers, apart from the snakes anyway, but I could still see through it.

I shouted a warning about the trap along the road, saying that we needed to stay and fight, and the woman stopped suddenly. I also gave Falcor an image of her wounds, wondering whether he could help her? I moved to intercept the snake things, taking the staff we had retrieved from the swamp and trying it for the first time in action. It worked "a charm", as the snakes were suddenly mesmerised in place and swayed from side to side staring at the staff. I slashed at one and opened a deep wound, but even that didn't stop it staring at the staff, so my second swing took a chunk out of the same one! Two of the Red Skulls came to join me while another hung back to watch the fog for more foes. Take another chunk out of snake thing. Falcor reaches woman and offers aid, but in Milada's name, wary but willing to put it in hands of Gods.

Falcor moved to the woman's side and spoke briefly to her so she knew he was there before touching her shoulder to heal her. She again insisted that any healing should come from Korman. Falcor complicated things by saying it was from Milada, but that he was of Karmana. In the end she said that the Gods would decide and accepted his aid on that basis. Falcor noticed at once that she was a powerful psionic, but also noticed that there was another mind trying to follow him in... some kind of purple shade? He managed to fend that mind off as he channeled healing energy into the woman, although it was an incredible mental effort that left him drained. The woman was shocked by the mental intrusion, recoiling, but did not strike out at Falcor.

Meanwhile I sliced one of the heads off a snake creature, and then had to dodge spurting black ichor as its body thrashed around before it finally died. I turned my attention to the other one, striking it well as one of the Red Skulls did the same. I knew the Black Hand were coming and wanted these things out of the way quickly. I asked Falcor how they were doing, but suddenly couldn't find his mind to connect with! He was invisible, so I could not see him of course, but looked back anyway in concern. The woman was still where I remembered, and still looked exhausted, but she was speaking to someone. She was actually thanking Falcor for his aid, and he in turn was asking here to bring her forces together and fight with me.

The woman angled her staff towards the enemy and started chanting, but by this time I had turned back and struck the snake again. It still wasn't dead, though, and the Black Hand emerged from the fog to engage in melee. A wall of ice appeared to separate Falcor and the woman from the frontline were we fought, although it wasn't clear who had summoned it. I managed to finish off the last snake, stepping backwards as more black ichor spurted out. It whipped around and covered the others, Black Hand and Red Skulls alike, and all four that it touched collapsed to the ground in an instant! Now I was alone against several Black Hand and I shouted back for Falcor, thankfully getting a verbal response even though we'd lost the mental connection. I threw the staff on the ground and commanded it to transform into a snake, and it slowly lengthened and thickened into a massive serpent that would attack one of the foe.

There was a sudden explosion of elemental ice around me, hurting us all - it was clear that they didn't care about harming their allies, but we all survived well enough that it didn't affect the melee immediately. Falcor suddenly shouted: "I'm coming!" I really hoped he meant he was on his way. The possibilities of men becoming invisible and what they might get up to will probably cause me nightmares for the rest of my life. A blinding light appeared behind my head briefly, and it was clear that the Snake Clan mages had flanked us. Lightning arced from the hands of the woman we were trying to save into one of the Black Hand, killing the Saloroc and leaving a slight odour of cooked flesh in the air. I slashed another and he fell too, presumably weakened by the dweomer being thrown around. There was only one left close to me, but there were many more coming, and the few Red Skulls that had been slowing them down were losing the battle.

Falcor launched into the air above the ice wall, having changed into dragon form. He announced his presence by loosing a fireball at one of the Snake Clan mages, incinerating them and illuminating the area so he was like a glowing demon in the sky for a moment. I heard him shouting that he was coming to get me, and the woman that had been with him had leapt onto his back - she was very nimble. I finished the last Black Hand off as Falcor veered and swept down towards me. He dropped an ice ball onto the other Snake Clan mage as I commanded the snake to return to staff form, warning Falcor that I would need to retrieve it from the ground.

Falcor beat his wings to pause before picking me up, buffeting me with the downdraft, but he sent a bolt of lightning into the mage while he waited, killing that one too and lighting the forest once again for a second. I had the staff, and his talons closed gently around me as I let him lift me up. He still had two feet empty, though, and encouraged the woman to tell the Red Skulls nearest to us that he was going to lift them. He was there in a few moments, grabbed two, and then climbed out of the trees and wheeled around to the west. A storm of ice rained down behind us as we departed, a final parting gift from the Guardian.

An arrow pinged off his scales before we put some distance between us, but it seemed his transformation had taken the foe off guard and there was no more interference. We flew west of the road at some height and then gently descended into the forest on the other side. I knew that Falcor could only sustain the form for a limited time at the moment, but he explained to our new allies before changing again and taking us farther. The woman at least had the chance to introduce herself; Ythlena was her name. After a couple more changes we decided that we were safe and stopped to rest.

The Red Skulls were wary of us, but quickly impressed by the letter that Grindak had given us; they were glad to hear that Zak Rechpvork was safe (for now at least). They explained that they had met Ythlena some months ago, and she had fought alongside them so was highly respected. For her part, Ythlena seemed to know altogether too much about our nature (although admittedly turning into a massive dragon does tend to give that one away). We shared our desire to visit the City of Shadows, although not our intent once we got there, and she said that she had made a friend there: "Borarrba". She was a Saloroc that was part of the guard of the tower, just outside the city. She offered me a dagger that we could use as a symbol to show we knew her.

The Saloroc paced a guard pattern around us as Falcor and Ythlena rested. I took some time to study the dagger, though, and got a strong sense of residue... but across a boundary to another place. It was an utter void, a powerful nothing, that was leeching energy from the knife. Then I got a sense of its place in this world, and knew that it had taken many, many, many lives as a sacrifice. So many. Ythlena noticed that I had found something, and was suddenly interested in the knife again, having thought it had no power. She offered to take it off my hands, as I had sensed something of my father's realm in the metal it was made from.

I was still wary of her, and sought to protect Falcor from any drain on his energy if we were to sleep. I placed the dagger under my bedroll and went over to him; then I called on an energy that would counter any drain of essence of the kind my father's servants might use. As soon as I did so, though, Ythlena shot upright shouting "Dalrisha"! She was NOT happy that I had opened a portal to "Dalrisha" (she, I think, is the next Sarn - that of former beauty) that was full of energy. She was quite rude about it, in fact, although she at least asked if she could close the connection. When she did so, though, the reaction was just as if the protection had prevented the kind of drain that I had aimed to stop! The loud reaction of the dweomer to her touch woke Falcor, of course, who was slightly confused about what was going on.

Thus ensued a massive debate about whether or not we should hand the dagger over, which was interrupted by the sound of one of those giant bats screeching. I half threw the dagger at Ythlena, not really wanting anything to do with it, and she smiled and ran off with the Saloroc. We pressed ourselves against trees, knowing that if we could be still and blend in we should be safe. Sure enough, despite the strength of the vibrations as it passed very close, it eventually swept to the north east and put some distance between us. We heard it turn south as it was fading from our hearing, and then we lost track of it. It had been about half an hour, though, and I was quite stiff when we finally got to loosen our limbs again.

We tried to rest again, properly this time, and I was able to get a good six hours of sleep. Falcor was supposed to rest next, but just before we were due to swap he noticed some noise to the north of us. He thought it might be troops moving, and heard snatches of words that could be Saloroc. Eventually they came into his view, seeing the heat sources moving south and drawing close to us. One was particularly close and shouted something, so Falcor blasted his mind. This made the Saloroc stop, then he started looking around as if confused before carrying on as if nothing had happened. Unfortunately this did not stop the other Saloroc, and Falcor put an arrow right into the chest of one as his target gave a shout of alarm. They were scrambling to get swords out, though, so he had time to loose another arrow that killed the injured foe before reaching for his own sword.

I started to shift in my sleep, disturbed, but didn't wake. Thankfully the foe were focused on Falcor rather than me, and he was quickly surrounded in a vicious melee. Falcor cut into one's side, blood running freely down its leg before he finished it off. He was hit in return, but struck back with sword and rod until another one fell. I finally awoke, jumping back and rising to my feet as the dead Saloroc fell where I had laid a moment ago. I swung wildly, just connecting with one that was moving to join the melee, but I wasn't really with it and shook my head trying to clear the fog of sleep.

Falcor struck another, in fact the one that he had attacked the mind of, and again the Saloroc looked confused and didn't even react to the blow. The one I had attacked turned on me, but somehow managed to get his weapon tangled in the tree as he tried to strike me, and I was able to stab into his side as he freed it. Falcor was free to act now, though, and quickly finished him from behind. We started to run, not knowing how many more might be close, but I realised that Falcor had dropped his bow and stopped to retrieve it first. That was just long enough for the confused Saloroc to recover his senses and give chase, but then his damaged mind gave out and he stopped, confused, again. We were able to escape without further hindrance.

(Sidenote - from discussions on our journey: where a soul goes when someone dies was linked to faith and the deity structure. Therefore Kraldar depends on a lack of faith in the other Gods for souls to find their way into his realm. The place of death was also important - the deity needed to have some influence in the place for the connection to be made.)

==Journey to the City of Shadows==

After making best pace for about half an hour we noticed that the ground started to get marshier, so we tracked west to skirt around it as best we could. A couple of hours later it had started to dry up so we veered slightly south west, skirting the marsh until we could head south. As we were tracking around like this, I suddenly noticed an evil looking thing perched on a tree branch. I suspected that it had the stench of death around it, and screamed at it to "fuck off", focusing my energy on it. We stared at each other for a long time, perhaps half a minute, but the it did as it was told and moved out of sight very quickly to the south.

We moved on more cautiously, and soon spotted another one to our left. It let out a shriek, until a lightning bolt arced from Falcor's hand and caught its side. It wasn't the best strike I'd seen but the effect was impressive; the thing shook and curled up before dropping dead (or dead again, possibly). More death creatures approached, though, summoned by the shriek I guessed. These were different, with two clearly once soliders but backed up by a mage. Falcor used his mind to attack as they closed, maybe affecting one, but then Falcor felt his energy being drained by the mage. The feel of it gave me a flashback to my childhood when my father would punish me it a similar way. Enraged, I thrashed out at the nearest foe, wanting to get past to stop the mage. I activated Aramat so that I could do more damage, slashing twice at the warrior. Unexpectedly, the creature simply disappeared with a pop as the air rushed in to fill the void where it had been. I had a strange sense that Aramat was satisfied with this... perhaps there was more to this weapon than I knew, even after all this time?

We both sprinted towards the mage, but Falcor got there first and struck with his rod. This seemed to render the mage helpless in some way, so he followed up with his sword and quickly cut it to pieces. I was intercepted by the other creature so I struck at that instead. Aramat found its mark twice, and then the thing burst into cold flame, burning steadily and dropping to the floor. Eventually it was entirely consumed, so only the remains of the mage were left with us.

We continued our journey, but I had a growing sense of foreboding, almost like a feeling of home although not quite... definitely opposed to life, though. I shared this with Falcor but before we could ponder it too much we heard the beating of heavy wings above the trees. This wasn't like the bats; it was far more ponderous and heavier. We scanned upwards, and I noticed that there were lots of small undead creatures flying above us, but moving in the opposite direction to the sound. There were at least two of the large creatures up there somewhere, though.

We carried on, although nervously, but got another half a mile without incident. It wasn't to last, though, as suddenly the tendrils and dead sticks (I would say plants, but nothing seemed to be alive here) came alive around Falcor's feet. It didn't grab him as we expected, though, just writhing around. I tried to call a blessing from my patron on us, expecting combat, but it seemed to redouble the efforts of the dead fauna to grasp at Falcor. Was the energy feeding it somehow?

The expected attack never came, though, and we were able to walk another half a mile. Were they just messing with our heads? We heard scurrying and some half-dead looking rats came swarming towards us. They were being driven, in two groups, by a couple of massive rats from behind.

I tried to influence them, commanding them to stop, and this had some impact with a few of them holding their ground. As I was concentrating, though, I had a clear sense that we were not in Karmana, something I already suspected. An essence that was not of life but not of my father pervaded the place.

Some of the rats swarmed me and one bit into my flesh, so I grabbed two and crushed them in my hands. There were a couple still on me, but there were many more coming fast! Falcor moved towards one of the big ones, and I followed behind, crushing another rat. They seemed to be avoiding Falcor, but then he sent lightning streaking at one of the large ones. The bolt obliterated some small rats and struck the large rat, sending its body into convulsions until it eventually fell dead. The bolt was stronger than usual, noticeably so, perhaps related to the essence of this place? I moved forward towards the other large one, but it scampered away so instead I pulled out the serpent staff and created a barrier to stop the smaller rats getting to us.

Falcor warned me to close my eyes, and I felt a couple of rats fall off me and the others stop moving. Falcor also used his mind to cut a swathe through an approaching group of rats. The barrier seemed to be working, though, except for the ones trapped in with us. Things were looking up until the other large one crashed into me, grabbing my shoulder with its teeth but thankfully not penetrating my armour.

I drew Aramat, cutting across the rat's body as I did so, but it dug its claws in and dragged me towards it. I managed to fend off its teeth somehow, stabbing with Aramat as I did so, but struggled to connect fully. Falcor attacked from behind, though, and between us we finished it off. It took me a minute to extract myself, its claws still hooked in, and Falcor swore as one of the small rats on him managed to get its teeth in.

I grabbed one from my clothing, crushing it, but Falcor said that he was starting to feel a bit woozy. It was the strangest thing; I could see his body pulsing with a gentle blue-grey light and he even started to smell like death. Falcor was able to use his mental powers to combat the effect, thankfully, returning slowly to normal.

It was a powerful drain on him, though, and he fell to the floor. He was still conscious, though, and rolled around to crush a couple of the rats that were inside his armour. He kept rolling, crushing the last one under him as I was able to fish two out of my clothing. I crushed the ones that Falcor stunned earlier, but Falcor needed some time to recover.

He took a moment to calm his mind and then managed to connect to Milada, breaking through a barrier of grey-blue (just like I had seen in the disease that had affected him), bursting suddenly into a bright warmth within her garden. He conversed with her, which I wasn't privy to, but she apparently suggested using older approaches (through the mountains perhaps?) and then had reached out to touch him. It was a shock to his system, but the touch restored his mind. What I saw as I watched was that he slumped to the ground but became calm and still and vibrated with life energy. The flare of life in such a lifeless place was such a beacon that I had to stop myself drawing in the power, and I wondered who or what else might notice. That concern became even more pronounced when there was a blast of divine energy like a shockwave from his body. I had to step back as he came back to the here and now with a tear on his face, seeming happy.

He spoke to me of the importance of us staying together (well, he said "how important it was for me to stay with him", in a typical self-centric male way). He was concerned that we needed to make the right choices. I was more concerned that every evil beast within five miles was going to be headed this way after his little explosion. We needed to move! That meant leaving the protected area, though, so Falcor blasted some rats with his mind and I killed one with a sword sweep. We heard screeching and the beating of wings from different directions.

There was a bat overhead, quite high, and we heard the sound of things approaching on the ground from the southwest as well. I changed my form into one of the undead mages we met earlier, and Falcor covered himself in... an eruption of mud? Different. He notched an arrow, though, so even he probably didn't think that disguise would work. I saw the first creatures then, they looked like bears that were undead, and they were being driven on by a couple of weird, hunched creatures.

If that wasn't enough, a huge, black, dragon-like creature (but not a dragon according to Falcor) arrived overhead as well... and there was another one following behind by the sound of it. Falcor had a terrifying memory flash into his mind of being driven into the ground by half a dozen of the same creatures in a former life.

We just stopped and stayed still as they flew overhead, not getting any reaction at least for the time being. The bears were loping in though, one crunching a rat casually as they passed it. Some way behind the bears and the things driving them, a group of Saloroc without clan markings followed. They were led by a female with a scimitar; I noticed it particularly because its blade was made of a metal that looked similar to Aramat.

Falcor loosed arrows at a bear, but they just passed right through despite flying true. Falcor sprinted at the nearest bear and swung surprisingly fast, cutting into it. I ran around the flank of the bears, heading for one of the "herders". As I swung Aramat, commanding it to burst into flame, it twitched towards the scimitar and flames shot across to light the Saloroc's sword as well. Unfortunately it caused me to miss, but it gave me some hope that the Saloroc might actually aid us. My second swing struck true, though.

Falcor sliced the bear again and hobbled its leg, but it was still trying to crash into him with its body. Falcor stowed his bow into his quiver, taking his rod out and pushed the bear aside as he closed on the herder. We had both seen now that these things just had a void instead of any kind of face, with a cowl hanging seeming in the air. Falcor felt a terrifying drawing from the void in front of him, but was able to resist. I felt the same thing, but for me it was almost a tempting sense of near nirvana that I had to fight against. Falcor slashed the void thing, feeling a chill in his arm as it connected.

I also connected well with Aramat, even though it sort of felt like there was nothing actually there, but the flames left a charring on its robe at least. I struck again, and this time the empty robe fell to the floor. Falcor had a similar experience, striking unnaturally fast with a powerful blow, and again the robe just fell to the floor as if there had never been anything there.

The Saloroc were getting closer now, but the bears were the first concern as one clamped its jaws on Falcor and the other scraped my armour with its claws. Falcor yelled at the Saloroc that what I appeared to be was an illusion and that they should not attack me. Their leader seemed to acknowledge this, shouting commands. I tried to command the bears to stop fighting, but I could not influence them. The Saloroc arrived and their leader swung twice at the bear near me, breaking it and leaving just smouldering ruins.

I dropped the illusion around myself, picking up on Falcor's warning, and charged at the injured bear, killing it with one blow. That just left one, and Falcor was pulled in by it and mauled badly. The Saloroc leader closed quickly, though, and smashed it to the ground, finishing it off.

There was a moment of clam, and the Saloroc gave a nod of respect to Falcor. She approached and placed a hand on the bear corpse and the other on Falcor, somehow healing his wounds. She said that she had been chasing these creatures for some time, but we had slowed them enough to fight together and win. I guessed her name (Borarrba), as it was mentioned by Ythlena. She asked if she was well, and was heartened by the news that she yet lived. She was concerned, though, that we needed to move so as to not remain near the "explosion of dweomer" they had all sensed.

We moved west, changing direction towards the mountains, and Falcor spoke of the dagger Ythlena had apparently stolen. Borarrba said that something had terrified "the mistress", and she no longer trusted the living to guard her tower. Borarrba was trying to return to the Red Skulls. When she heard Falcor's name, she seemed shocked; she said that the mistress had followed him for some time. He had managed to kill one of "them", despite them thinking themselves immortal. She (Sullinassauri) had created the things to serve her, but now there was only one left.

We were still walking, and I asked about her sword. She apparently had "an Aramat" to kill those of Kraldar's realm. There were many made in mockery of Kraldar's blade, she said, which was created to kill his father. Interesting. She also said that Sullinassauri had returned to her master, and now served Treddar (her creator) and not the lords of chaos and death. She put this down to fear of Falcor. She had new allies as a result; a legion from Treddar had slaughtered all within the city of shadows. This legion could not be killed in the normal manner, and the deaths had fed energy into Sullinassauri's defences. She then spoke of a path that led from the mountains in the west to the first floor of the tower that Sullinassauri called home. It was guarded of course, but the guardians were intended to repel the wolf clan. They were creatures of stone and rock that would guard without rest.

Borarrba became nervous as we journeyed on, not wanting to go much farther. She gave us directions to the passage before leaving, though; we needed to enter the foothills and skirt to the south until we were west of the tower. There was a plateau only a few hundred yards from the city that had two passes leading west, and the northern-most pass contained a concealed entranceway in dressed stone. The entrance would be guarded, but that was the path to take.

We continued west towards the forest edge, traveling about another half mile before we once again heard the beating of bat wings. Falcor was keen to confront the other servant of Sullinassauri on its own away from the tower if we could, so I blessed the ground again (not including Falcor in the area this time) in the hope it would get its attention. After a few seconds the ground started to crack, as if dried in a drought, and a mist started to escape from some of the larger cracks. The mist started to move, enveloping us, and Falcor writhed around before sending lightning shocks throughout the mist, thinning it. He was chilled by the mist, and I tried to help with Aramat, aiming for what looked like veins within the mist that had a little more substance to them.

As I moved to Falcor’s position I heard howls, which sounded like wild dogs, from south of us. I swiped Aramat and dried blood sprayed across us – the mist was feeding on blood somehow. Aramat was effective, thankfully, and the thinned mist sank down and dissipated on the ground. There were a couple of other mist clouds, though, so I moved to another and attacked that. I definitely connected but not well enough for it to dissipate. Falcor had more luck with the other one, managing to get rid of it as more dried blood flecks sprayed across him. The mist was certainly sucking life from us, though, and Falcor ran forward to get out of it.

As he moved he spotted a mass of two-headed dogs bounding towards us, obviously guided by the howls we had heard earlier. He summoned some tentacles from the ground that blocked their direct progress, but they flowed around them and started to surround me. They also avoided the cracked earth that the mist had risen from, so Falcor seemed to be safe for the moment, and the mist itself kept them at bay from me… not that I was reassured by this as either could kill me!

I maintained my assault on the mist and finally got rid of it, but then had the dogs to deal with. I was bitten by one, but then Falcor summoned a fireball that enveloped one flank of the dogs and killed most of them. There were still a great number on the other side, though, and in the flash of light from the fireball we noticed three shade-like things behind the pack that were also moving towards us. Falcor dropped an ice ball into the other flank of dogs, again killing many, so the odds were a little bit better.

Falcor targeted one of the shades, sending a lightning bolt arcing into it, and it was utterly destroyed by the power of it. I was still surrounded so I protected myself from evil, and it seemed to work as the dogs suddenly recoiled from me as they tried to bite down. More worryingly, the other two shades moved deliberately into the tentacles and allowed themselves to be touched, apparently drawing on their power to feed themselves. More mist had enveloped Falcor by now, and it started to leech on him as before; he struck at it but suggested that we might want to get out of there!

I agreed, although I took a moment to slow poison within my blood, wary that the bite I’d taken was looking particularly unhealthy. A minute later, though, we both transported ourselves a couple of hundred yards west and then moved quickly away until we were sure that the foe had lost us. A half hour later we heard heavy wing beats to the south, but this time we just ignored them and kept going, hearing the creatures pass behind us. A little later we finally reached the treeline, seeing the rough shapes of mountains to the west and south west in the dim light (like dusk).

We turned right and walked along the treeline north west, which was away from where we needed to get to, but the darkness lightened as we went. We were looking for somewhere a little less dangerous to rest, hoping to find a sweet spot between the influence of Sullinassauri and the Saloroc to the north. Eventually we picked a spot and Falcor tucked himself into the roots of a larger tree, covering himself in leaves and dirt so that he wasn’t easily sighted. I kept watch from a nearby spot where I could see him but would not draw attention to him.

A couple of hours went by before I heard the heavy wing beats to the south east. We had come to terms with them by now. My theory was that they were here to prevent Falcor travelling (or escaping) as a dragon, so as long as we stayed on the ground we should be safe from them. I did try slowing poison within myself again, though, wary that I might be on a limited timeline. An hour or more after that, though, I heard clanking of metal armour in the distance, moving towards us from the south east along the treeline. I took cover behind a couple of trees and just watched, seeing a loose formation of imperial soldiers walking past. They had the 1st Legion dragon shields, and were clearly physically damaged, but this didn't seem to bother them. These things were not of Treddar; their life was sustained by unnatural means – had Sullinassauri lied?

Ro'dell and Andivas were not aligned with Treddar, that was for sure. Had Sullinassauri offered them information about the dagger that was intended for Sarn (the one destined to become Protector of Life, but currently on a dark path)? Had she lied to them too, as the dagger was with Falcor’s former companion and was no longer on Karmana? Perhaps she had sought their forbidden knowledge about immortality – the path to Kraldar's power.

Whilst I pondered this, they had continued to our north west without pausing and I had no desire to get their attention so I let them go. It was starting to get darker, naturally this time, and must have been nearly five hours since we stopped. As I was scanning around for any threats, I suddenly noticed that the top of one of the nearby trees had a large bat wrapped around it, which seemed to be looking at me. It blended in well, but after looking away and finding it again I was sure it was there.

I reached out with my mind, asking effectively “what do you want”? The response was surprising civil, but still amounted to an admission that he wanted to eat Falcor! He wasn’t interested in me particularly, other than as a means to find Falcor. His name was “Marrellthenon” and was quite keen to know where Falcor was. He had friends (well, pets he said), and after much searching of the treetops I managed to spot one – it was much rougher looking than him, blacker but in a ragged way, but certainly evil looking.

I knew that Falcor wanted time to study his spells when he awoke, so I decided that I would try to lead this threat away. I wrote a note saying simply: "Falcor, the bats have found me, follow the light. R." I left it on a tree branch and started to head east. Marrellthenon asked what I was doing, of course, and I said that I was going to meet Falcor but that it wouldn’t be until dawn. After a mile or so he started to get bored, although he was still close. He decided that I had gone far enough and summoned some more pets to “discourage” me. There was movement ahead, and two massive spiders slowly approached with the ground in front of them moving disconcertingly as, presumably, many more smaller spiders led the way.

I thought about fighting for a minute, but the two spiders could be too much for me alone, especially if any venom were to affect me. Reluctantly I turned and trudged back towards the treeline, the spiders a constant noise behind me. I angled north west deliberately, though, so that I wouldn’t emerge too close to Falcor. Finally I walked out into the open, assured by Marrellthenon that the spiders wouldn’t leave the forest. He asked again where Falcor was, and again I told him I would not see him until dawn. He was clearly not happy with this, though, and decided that we would have to “play” after all.

He dived towards me, turning into a leaping human form as he did so and struck hard. I managed to dodge his next attacks, more aware of just how quickly he could move, and Aramat found its mark with a decent blow. His next attack, though, was to grab me and transform back into a bat before lifting me into the air. He only had one claw latched on, though, so I decided to strike at it to force him to drop me before we had climbed too high. I struck true and he screeched as I fell away, landing heavily on the ground. Groaning, I forced myself to my feet to be ready to defend against his next attack.

He dived at me, sweeping past and raking my armour, but I managed to land another hit. He turned and dived again, faster, transforming again to attack directly as he had at the start of the fight. This time I was able to avoid the worst of it, though, and once again we faced off on the ground. One of his strikes hit home, and I was painfully aware that I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long, but Aramat bit into his side and he suddenly changed into a gaseous form. The vapour started to move quickly along the ground towards the forest, where the spiders were rustling angrily but seemed unable to pass into the open. I ran after it, plunging Aramat into the centre of the gas in the hope it would have some effect. The flames flared out from the blade and the whole mass caught with a cold burning until there was nothing left. I sank to a knee, exhausted and badly hurt, but glad that I had ended the thing.

Worried that I might yet be consumed by poison, I called on my patron to make an arrow shine with continual light and loosed it up and out into the plain to the west. Then I trudged out in that rough direction, angling off a little and stopping a couple of hundred yards away from it. I lay in the grass and slowed my bodily function down to nearly nothing, entering a suspended animation for five hours or so.

This was what Falcor told me happened while I was unconscious. He had woken up alone, of course. He drank some healing draft as he still carried some wounds, called out with his mind to see if I was near, and then set himself to studying so that he was ready for whatever might face him. An hour or so later he heard clanking and moved into the forest, much as I had, so as not to be seen.

It was a legionnaire patrol, as before, although Falcor couldn't see as much detail in the darkness. As they started to pass by a loud screech came from the bat that he hadn't seen yet; Marrellthenon had left to watch for Falcor. It seemed content that it wasn't Falcor and it settled down again. Falcor kept studying, but now was checking that the bat was still there every now and then. This continued for another hour before Falcor heard the clanking of legionnaires again. These were heading in the opposite direction, but more importantly they were carrying a body on a stretcher with them... my body!

Falcor wasn't to know that it was me, of course, but he had to act just in case. He sent a lightning bolt straight into the bat as an opener before running towards the treeline ahead of the patrol. Once he closed with them, he created a hypnotic pattern over the legionnaires carrying the body. Two were mesmerised, which was enough to halt the march for a time. The bat shrieked, knowing its prey was close, and flew out over the plain to get a better view.

A couple of the legionnaires engaged Falcor and one blow found its mark. The bat swooped down blow, knocking a legionnaire aside to get at Falcor, and it did connect heavily but Falcor was able to keep his feet. Falcor stepped on the legionnaire on the floor to keep it down whilst taking a good chunk out of the standing one with a sword blow. He slammed his rod into the pinned one for good measure.

Falcor was grabbed and lifted into the air, just as I was, but he struck with both rod and sword and killed the thing outright. They both fell to the ground, landing heavily and the bat's body crunched into Falcor to make it even worse! He healed himself with his mind, getting to his knees under the bat wing, taking a moment to drink another healing potion. The legionnaires came to investigate the crash site, poking weapons through the wing and unfortunately skewering Falcor with a couple.

Falcor burst out to engage them, dropping one with the rod and another with the sword in a flurry of blows. He struck a third, staggering it slightly. He only took one hit in return and it only nicked him. He swung the rod again, smashing another foe to the floor. One got up again, though, slowly regenerating and grasping at Falcor's ankle. This distracted him just enough for another sword to draw blood.

As the legionnaires tried to surround him, one got a bit close to the trees and a huge spider suddenly speared it, pinning it to the floor. It seemed the spiders had not given up on eating me just yet and had followed the patrol along the treeline. They were willing to give legionnaire a try, though, and it was slowly dragged into the trees where the rest of them could pick it apart.

Falcor parried a couple of blows as he dodged through to my body, picking me up and moving away. It turned out the bastards had cut my throat to make sure I was dead! Except I wasn't somehow. Instead I remember having a vivid experience... I met one of my father's servants. It was strangely familiar, but not unpleasant, as if it had been a part of my childhood in some way. There was a blue-grey mist between us, but I felt like I had a choice and I was able to decide "not yet". The barrier hardened and prevented him from reaching me, I had turned and suddenly I was waking up in Falcor's arms!

Falcor had healed me, and not just my wounds but also a disease that had been festering inside me - so that's what the dog had done to me. It took me a moment to appreciate what was going on. The spiders were still staying within the forest, thankfully, but we were quickly surrounded by legionnaires. Falcor told me to grab his sword, which I did, and then to strike one that was already on the ground. That seemed weird when there were plenty of standing foes, but I did it anyway and the blow smashed it to pieces. This seemed to please Falcor.

For his part, Falcor connected with a powerful blow, but his opponent was still standing. We both took hits before Falcor completely smashed one to pieces with his rod and another with his sword. I struck twice, but the sword wasn't as good as Aramat so it wasn't enough. Falcor flashed an image of Aramat's hilt, having spotted it on one of the legionnaires, and ran to engage them. He smashed the first one to pieces and then brutalised one on the ground. He grabbed the pack with Aramat in it and ran over, chucking it at my feet.

I didn't really need it, though, as Falcor cut one down with his sword, smashing the body to bits, and then finished the last with his rod, making sure that any remains on the floor were properly destroyed. That gave me time to gather my things, thankfully all there to be found, ready to move again. We traveled west into the plains, seeing campfires to the north west and mountains to the south west just visible in the darkness. We headed towards the foothills, and then up to the edge of the mountains where there were enough rocky outcrops to find shelter. I fell asleep very quickly, utterly exhausted from everything I'd been through that day, leaving Falcor to watch over me. He saw the heavy false-dragons flying over the forest, at least half a dozen in total but always flying in pairs.

I sleep well, hardly stirring, and then took time to meditate before having a cold breakfast. There was a stream nearby, so we headed towards it to refill our waterskins. As we drew close, though, we saw some wolves on the far slope. There were plenty of rocks, so we found some cover and waited whilst watching to see what they did. I said they were wolves, but as they moved the scale became clearer - some of them were pony-sized and being ridden by Saloroc. They moved down the slope towards the water until one with blue markings on its face, smaller than the others, leapt over. The others stopped in it, presumably to let the wolves drink. After a minute or so they finished crossing and continued the slope on our side. We waited until we thought they were clear and then approached the water. Falcor took the skins to fill as I kept an eye on the slope above us. We had to freeze at one point as a rider turned and seemed to look at Falcor. It seemed like an age as the rider stood still, the smaller wolf joined them at one point - disappearing and reappearing next to them! They both watched for some time, but eventually turned and followed the rest of their company. Phew.

We worked our way back around the slope and then headed south and east to reach the edge of the foothills. Once there we tracked south, passing a double peak where we saw more riders. We took cover in rocks above us and they passed by without incident, so we were able to continue. Farther on we had to descend to almost the base of the hills to cross a valley, but it was dark again and Falcor needed to rest so we found a sheltered area to stop. After a while I had the sense that there was something above us, although I kept still. Listening carefully I heard someone speaking, although it seemed to be a one-way conversation, and although they walked away I was sure there was still something above us. More than one thing, actually, by the sound of it. A faint blue glow suggested that they might be the smaller wolves we had seen one of earlier.

I warned Falcor, and we tried to make our way down to the valley quietly. We nearly got away from the rocks, but some loose shale gave us away at the last minute and a howl echoed from behind us. There were blue glowing wolves on both sides of the valley, four in total, and they came bounding and blinking instantly across some distances towards us. We couldn't outrun them of course, and as we crossed the open ground one jumped at Falcor from behind, but he was able to keep his feet. I dodged the charge of one coming straight at me and kept moving, cutting down the one behind it with quick sword blows. Falcor kept moving too, and also managed to kill one before striking a third that got too close. The two still standing blinked away to a safe distance.

At that point we heard a massive reverberating drum beat from the mountains behind us, suggesting that we would have company if we didn't move quickly. The wolves were tracking us, but seemed unwilling to engage directly, so Falcor took out his bow and put two arrows into one of them. They kept blinking around, so he had to switch targets a few times, but eventually he brought another one down. The last dropped back towards the slope it had come down, letting us escape into the darkness. The drumming continued, though, and the sound was incredible - it vibrated within us and echoed through the mountains.

Despite the ominous drumming we were able to continue south, within the shadow of the city now, until we were roughly west of it. We'd elected to move through the foothills rather than be in sight of the city, so we were looking to turn east when we found a pass. The first thing we found was a sheer drop stretching across the valley we were walking through, and we tracked to our left until we found a gully that allowed us to half-walk and half-slide down to the bottom of what turned out to be the pass we were looking for. We turned east as planned and saw that there were rocks strewn across the bottom of the pass ahead. We were wary, knowing that the guardians were of stone or rock, and at least some of the rocks didn't match those we saw elsewhere in the hills.

As we drew closer we could just about make out an archway, or the top of one at least, in the north side of the pass. Whether it was covered by rocks or just obscured from below we couldn't tell from where we were. There was suddenly a loud howling from behind us, so we ran forward towards the rocks, only slowing when we reached the edge of them. There was an echoing silence as the drumming we had got used to for so long finally stopped dead, and there was a change in tone to the howling behind us. We both used our mental powers to step lightly and jogged across the rocks, heading for the archway.

Eventually the inevitable happened, and as I stepped on one rock it moved. I was thrown to the side, although able to land lightly, as a stone creature unfurled its wings beneath me. Its arms smashed into me, though, crushing me nastily between them. Falcor was right behind, and pointed a wand at it. With a word he caused the thing to explode into shards! As the remains rained down around us, I caught my breath and thanked him just before we saw that three more were unfurling their wings and turning towards us. They moved unnaturally quickly for their size and weight, their stone wings somehow holding them aloft despite how ridiculous it seemed for such a thing to work. Falcor caused another one to explode as I fought another. I was hit again, and my return sword blow was clearly ineffectual against the stone.

I conjured a color spray instead, and amazingly it worked, causing the creature to fall unconscious! Falcor was attacked, and was forced to block a blow with an axe that had pulled from somewhere. He told me later that it had belonged to an Elvradhil, and it was their peculiar power over rock and stone that probably enabled it to slice the creature's arm right off! The fist that was aimed at him continued the strike, but then just fell to the floor. I figured that he had things under control and moved on to the archway. It seemed to be open, with no doorway, and I could see a tunnel that narrowed as it extended inside. The arch was complete, with the rocks piled around rather than over it. There was something daubed on the side, though, so I moved closer to investigate. Falcor cut his foe down, and hewed the head off the unconscious creature for good measure. One blow was just enough as its neck cracked and then snapped completely, sending the head rolling away.

Meanwhile I had approached the tunnel entrance and I could see that there was a red line in old blood drawn all the way around the doorway. There was definitely a planar transition here, but we were expecting that so it didn't worry us as much as it should have. Falcor stepped through first and immediately came face-to-face with another rock guardian. Fortunately he still had the ideal weapons, and he hit with his Elvradhil axe twice; a crack appeared in the guardian and expanded quickly until it just fell into two pieces. He was inside a tunnel, as expected, but I couldn't see him; he disappeared as soon as he crossed the threshold. He took a moment to light a lantern and then started to carefully explore.

I stepped through, but suddenly found myself in a tavern I used to frequent with Meglar, but it was eerily quiet. There was nobody around and no sounds of life, although the views out of the windows looked normal enough. This obviously wasn't real, as I was expecting to find myself in a tunnel and couldn't be where I was seeing. As soon as I thought about the tunnel, I found myself in one, but with no Falcor to be seen. This wasn't right. Now I didn't know where I was, and my uncertainty started to affect my world as parts of the tunnel walls started to disappear into swirling colours, flickering in and out of sight. A fire elemental passed through the tunnel ahead of me, and I resisted the urge to think that I was in a place of fire, knowing that if I thought it then it might become a reality! The one thing I did know was that there was a gate behind me, because that was how I had arrived, so I turned and stepped through it. Thankfully I found myself back outside... or was that just because I was expecting that to happen? I turned and stepped through the portal once more, this time I didn't just arrive in a tunnel, I was behind Falcor and there were two parts of a rock guardian on the floor. This was more like it! I breathed out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding and hailed Falcor, who seemed glad that I had joined him.

We continued down the tunnel until, after a hundred feet or so, we found a red circle on the wall. Marks on other side suggested that there might be a trap of some kind. We both crawled under the symbol without ill effect and were able to continue, but another hundred feet or so we saw that there were blood circles on both walls. A smooth patch of floor between them, far more so than the rest of the tunnel, suggested another trap. I started to crawl, hoping that staying beneath the circles might not activate the trap, but as soon as my hands reached a point below the centre of the circles, the floor turned to liquid! Fortunately most of my body was still on solid stone, so I was able to back off. Instead we took a direct approach; I run across using my mental powers to let me step lightly on the surface of the liquid. As I did so, looking down, I could see hands offering their palms to hold up my feet as I stepped across, and I reached the other side easily.

Falcor knew that it wouldn't be so easy for him; the same hands would likely grasp at him and pull him down. He used a protection from evil to stop them from being able to grab him, and that enabled him to make it across as well. Up ahead was a corner, turning to the right, and Falcor was worried about the webs across the top of the corridor where it turned... but I saw just bare stone! I went to the corner first, looking around and seeing nothing but an open space farther down. I walked through easily, and Falcor waited until I was some way down before sprinting behind me, expecting trouble. We reached the open area without incident, though. Then Falcor warned me that he could see tentacled beasts in the water up ahead, but again I saw nothing. He urged me to run, accelerating past me.

I kept pace as we passed the open area and entered another corridor. He apparently saw another creature, but ran past it (perhaps through?), and once we had gone a short distance he stopped and suggested something. He thought that we were in a place that changed with our thoughts, and asked if I could concentrate on reaching the tower, hoping that it would become a reality. He flashed a memory to me of being inside, so I had something to focus on. As I concentrated on reaching where he had showed me, there was suddenly a wide spiral stairway at the end of the corridor. We started up it, hoping that it would indeed emerge in the tower.

==Sullinassauri==

We climbed the stairs, and it must have been over fifty feet before we started wondering whether they were going to end at all. It certainly looked like they hadn't been used in a long time. Finally Falcor caught a sound coming through the stone wall, like metal catching stone on the other side. We paused, but the sound faded and I didn't hear anything. We carried on, but it wasn't far before the stairs ended in a short corridor ending in a stone door with a catch clearly visible. Whilst the mechanism was obvious, it hadn't been used in so long that it wasn't going to open easily; Falcor put some force behind it and there was the sound of cracking of plaster as it broke a seal to move open slightly. This didn't go unnoticed, of course, and a legionnaire turned as we forced our way out.

Fortunately he was so close that he didn't have time to react before Falcor closed to attack. I turned left and came face-to-face with another legionnaire coming towards us. These foe fell quickly, but a third farther down the corridor we had entered was able to get out a call of alarm before we both fell on it and smashed it to pieces. There were arrow slits in the wall so I peered through, seeing a walled city in darkness in the distance. There were doors beside us and up ahead, and Falcor started to listen at the closest one just as both were opened and legionnaires came at us. We took two on each, besting them but not before I took a blow from one.

I ran to join Falcor as he moved into a room, and I closed the door behind me. Falcor crossed a small room and listened at a door opposite before opening it into a small corridor with doors at either end. We turned right and carried on through the door, keen to keep moving so the defenders found it hard to keep track of us. There were stairs leading up just beyond the door, but much nicer than the last set, even having carpet laid on them. At the top of these was a small landing, but there were more stairs up so we kept climbing. We found exactly the same at the next level, and again climbed, trying to reach the higher levels quickly.

We reached the top of the stairs and entered a large open room with a throne on a raised dias to our right. It was darker here, with drapes around the room covering any arrow slits or windows. An ornate carpet covered the floor, but there were deliberate holes within it that passed all the way to the floor below, with similar holes in the ceiling. Lounging on the throne was a woman I didn't recognise, but that Falcor called "Shalleth". She greeted Falcor far too casually, but he ignored her and ran towards a door on the left, suggesting that I question her. Surely he couldn't think that she was in any way innocent when she was sprawled across a throne in Sullinassauri's tower? Weird. I studied her, and that didn't help much; she didn't seem to be of Death exactly, but there was certainly a taint of Death upon her. I didn't trust her at all, but she said that Sullinassauri was waiting above and Falcor was off. Was he scared of her? I backed away slowly, watching her with suspicion, and then ran through the door after Falcor.

He had found a door that we couldn't open, presumably to protect something, so he used a wand to open a gap in the wall beside it. There was a dark lecturn within that had an unmarked book on it, and chests were against the walls all around it. Before we could investigate farther, though, a gas descended from the ceiling (there were holes here too) and coalesced into the form of Ythlena. She held a glowing energy blade in one hand and a crackling staff in the other. When we challenged her, reminding her that she had told us she was opposed to Sullinassauri, she admitted she had told a "small lie". Then she said that she would not allow us to take from "her possessions", and a ray shot from the staff to strike Falcor. Thankfully it didn't seem to affect him, but she was moving forward to strike as well., but doesn't seem to affect him.

I cried out that I had destroyed Marrellthenon, so I could destroy her! She recoiled slightly at my words, and Aramat burst into flame at my command, biting into her twice. There was almost a shift in her form as another shape, gaseous in nature, was displaced from the body with each strike. One more hit was enough and this time the gaseous form was fully dislodged, flowing through the holes in the floor. I felt a little guilty knowing that Ythlena had only been possessed but now lay dead. Falcor confirmed it, finding no sign of life, and he took the energy sword hilt and passed me the void dagger I had given her in the forest. We needed to follow the gaseous form somehow, but it could be almost anywhere by now.

We both had the sense that the book was trying to draw us in, tempting us to read it, but we were able to resist its call. I tried to strike it with Aramat, but it gripped the blade and I had to slide it out and down to get it free. Best to leave it well alone! Falcor found and grabbed some potions, asking me to look at a couple of boxes in the corner that he could sense dweomer within. I couldn't seem to open them, so he threw me a sack to put them in. As I picked up the second one, though, there was a blinding flash of light and I couldn't see any more! Falcor was grabbing some gems as this happened, and a door on the other side of the room we'd fought Ythlena in was opened by a legionnaire. A couple of them were together and saw Falcor, calling out an alarm.

I called on my patron to cure my blindness, feeling a burning from within that painfully built up behind my eyes until it was gone and I could see again. I realised that I had been staring into the void rather than being completely blind, not that the idea was any better. Falcor charged at the legionnaires, using the spirit blade of Ythlena to cut deeply into one, and on the reverse swing its body exploded and a black cloud was sucked into the blade to burn up. I stepped through behind him, passing him the sack to carry, and headed back towards the throne room. I paused by Ythlena's body, taking a moment to say a few words, and surprising myself that I actually hoped she found Kraldar - that would be better than Eversor's chaos or Sulinassauri's void!

The only way back led down, but we really wanted to keep climbing the tower. There wasa square corner of the throne room that was at odds with the shape of the tower, so we went to investigate that instead. Falcor started to search, and I was going to do the same when I noticed what looked like an outline of a door on the edge of my vision. I moved beside it and put my weight against the shape, hearing a lock break inside. There was a strange smell in the air, possibly a trap, but I managed to step back and take a moment to let it clear. Inside were some spiral stairs heading up, so we followed them as far as they would take us.

When we reached the top we stepped out of the corner of a wide open area with archways leading outside into the open air all around it. There were more of the massive bats around the edges, and a tall black form at the centre near a stone sarcophagus. The bats let off a screech as we entered the space, and the black figure turned towards us. We felt a pressure trying to move us apart, but managed to resist it and stay in place. Lightning arced from Falcor into the black form, which looked weakened and reduced once the shreds of darkness finished coming back together. I managed to exert some control over the nearest bat, forcing it to settle back onto the floor, but I could feel it fighting me.

Falcor sent magic missiles at the black form, peppering it with holes until it just fell apart and dissipated into nothing. I was just thinking what nice work that was when I was grabbed from behind and carried outside by another bat. It was holding me badly in one claw, but that wasn't particularly reassuring as I was now dangling over a drop of a hundred feet or so! Falcor deflects some bat claws as two of them tried to grab him, and instead focused on the sarcophagus, trying to use his wand to destroy it. It seemed to be well protected though, as it didn't have the desired effect. Suddenly Shalleth ran in from another corner, straight towards Falcor shouting at him to stop. She thrust a book at Falcor, teling him that it would help, but for once he was not convinced and didn't take the bait. There were legionnaires following her, so things were getting a bit busy!

I managed to control the bat that had me, releasing the other one, and get it to take me back into the tower. It was a relief, even if I did bump against the wall and slide unceremoniously across the floor on the way in. Suddenly the brightest daylight bathed the area as Falcor waved his new sword above his head. Shalleth fell to the floor, dead, with a gaseous form sinking straight down through the floor. The bats sprang and jumped away, flying as fast as they could away from the tower. I managed to stay but the light felt like it was burning my very soul, so I ran to shelter in the stairwell we had come up. The darkness had never felt so soothing.

Falcor tried to disintegrate the coffin, but still could not affect it. He tried the wand again, but once more was thwarted. I had descended, hoping to intercept Sullinassauri, but found Borarrba being held by more tall guardians and a couple of legionnaires. Falcor exploded a fireball amongst the legionnaires on his floor and some jets of flame shoot down through the holes near where I stood, affecting one of the black guardians. Both the guardians stepped forward as the body of Borarrba lifted into the air, presumably being possessed by Sullinassauri again. It seemed she had been keeping a close eye on us all along!

She came to life and reached down to pick up the black scimitar - the Aramat that would bring death to the dead. Shit. It was the perfect weapon to use against me, and I was trapped between her and burning energy above me. I stepped back and closed the door! I knew it wouldn't stop them, but it might buy a few seconds. Falcor was being attacked by the legionnaires on the floor above, but he fought back to smash two down, and then finally managed to blast a hole in the sarcophagus. As he did so Borarrba let loose an unearthly scream of pain that I could hear even through the walls.

The door was demolished in front of me, as I expected, and I slashed one of the black guardians as it forced its way through. It looked quite ragged after my attack, but it was Borarrba I was worried about. I threw the serpent staff on the floor and commanded it to constrict around her, although it would take a minute to grow to full size. It worked, though, as it grew alarmingly big in the confined space it was able to entwines her and start to constrict. Falcor knocked a legionnaire down and ran towards the stairs, knowing from my mental message that the true foe was with me. I cut through one of the guardians and it split in half before dissipating entirely, but the other teleported the snake outside the tower to fall to its "death" below. This freed Borarrba, and she dashed forward to strike with the scimitar. I could feel it sucking at my soul, wrenching it as the blade bit into me, but I managed to fight it off.

Falcor arrived and healed some of my damage, but I knew that we would have to defeat her quickly if I was going to survive; her sword was the worst! I was quickly struck again, and Falcor retaliated with lightning. Sadly it flowed around Borarrba without hurting her, although it did course through the other guardian leaving it quite ragged. I was struck again, and was sorely wounded, but Falcor was able to make my skin harden like stone and that deflected the next blow. I tried to protect myself from evil to buy us time. Falcor used a fireball next, although he aimed it into the room beyond the foe to avoid hurting us. The guardian was gone when I blinked the flash of light out of my eyes, and it did seem to have affected Borarrba a little.

I attacked her again, now that Falcor had afforded me some protection, and it was my own Aramat's turn to bite deep; again we could almost see her other form being dislocated from the physical body. Falcor grasped his staff and struck with another lightning bolt, this time Borarrba collapses as it danced across her skin, and the other form we had been seeing was thrown backwards out of the body as it fell. She was finally in her true form, looking thoroughly pissed off! Seeing Borarrba fall, I had turned to strike at a legionnaire behind us, but Sullinassauri came screaming at Falcor, scraping nastily at his face with clawed fingers. In return he landed two powerful blows that left gaping holes seemingly filled by a shade-like form. She stabbed her fingers into Falcor, leaving nasty wounds, but that gave me an opening. Aramat cut into Sullinassauri's exposed flank. It was the final blow we needed, and she started to burn with dark flames until she was utterly consumed.

With her death, the legionnaires collapsed into bones; whatever dark sorcery had animated them had been broken. A shockwave boomed out from where Sullinassauri had stood, and the tower shook worryingly. I grabbed the "Aramat" scimitar from the floor and immediately found that I was in conflict with a will contained within the sword; it wanted me to kill... everything! I suppressed it with a little effort and sheathed it in the scabbard on Borarrba's body, unbuckling that and holding it by the leather strap as we ran up to the open floor. Falcor headed for Shalleth's body, but I went to the edge. I paused to focus my mind and then jumped off to start plummeting towards the ground. We were still in an unnatural darkness, but now there were shafts of natural light starting to shoot through in places. I used my mind to catch myself and slow my fall before I got too close to the ground and landed lightly, immediately sprinting away so that I wouldn't get crushed if the tower fell. Just as I was about a hundred yards away and starting to think I was safe, I came across the serpent staff laying on the floor! Fate or just luck I don't know, but I gladly took it with me, looking back to see if Falcor was following behind.

He had just jumped, and I waved as he sprinted away. The noise was increasing and chunks of the tower were starting to fall around him, but he was able to get clear. We moved away and headed towards the nearest shaft of light, reasoning that we would be on Karmana within it. Then Falcor fished out the pyramid and concentrated to return us to Falcor's temple on the island. It was slightly surreal to appear in such a peaceful place with all the noise of the collapsing tower suddenly gone. We were safe; although we weren't sure what might be happening in the Saloroc nation we had left behind.

We took over a month to rest, resupply, train, and reflect. There were some items we needed to study that we had brought back. There was a spell book that was within Shalleth's backpack; Falcor had grabbed the whole pack because he didn't have time to search it with the tower crumbling around him. It had tried to drain Falcor's energy the first time he touched it, so he had left it to me! I protected myself from evil before touching it, and I was able to without harm but could see a shimmer as some kind of force rippled across the book and around my fingers. When I opened the book, though, a huge fireball exploded from within it! Thankfully the dweomer washed over me, as it sometimes did (another aspect of my heritage I suspect), and Falcor had taken a position some way back so although he felt the heat wash over him he was also unharmed. The book suffered a bit, though, with about half of the pages no longer useful. At least the malevolent presence seemed to have gone from it, which allowed Falcor to copy some spells into his own book; he was even able to teach me a couple once he had learned them. Add to that some scrolls we retrieved from the two long boxes and we had learned quite a lot before we were ready to travel again.

The weather had been improving, which suggested that the influence of the Forge was spreading again. There was no news from the Saloroc homeland, though, and no ships had been sighted leaving there. This did allow the Red Skulls to extend their journeys without challenge, increasing the fishing yield if nothing else. The Elvrabor brought news to the temple that Borarla was improving in health with the new spring, and they had reached a stalemate with the empire's forces in the south. The empire could not enter the forest, but the Elvrabor did not leave either. There was a similar situation in the east; there were still giantkin roaming in the mountains, but they were kept out of the forest. They had also renewed lines of communication with the Elvrahum in the north, which was heartening. Falcor was able to speak with Milada again, and she ordained one of the Elvrabor as her priest on Karmana, which was her first in living memory (for mortals anyway).

Journal - Kelditch's Staff

2023-01-21T11:48:01Z

2A00:23C7:BF83:A101:C954:4846:AE42:5436: Created page with "==An Ambush of Our Own== The large cave that Amur had brought us to was like a basin within the mountain, with most of the people in smaller caves around the edges. The large space at the centre seemed to be used as a place to meet and train rather than live in. It was clear that the people had been here for a while, but that it was not meant to be permanent. We waited in the central area for Amur as he went to find Farouk, although he returned alone and apologised, say..."

==An Ambush of Our Own==

The large cave that Amur had brought us to was like a basin within the mountain, with most of the people in smaller caves around the edges. The large space at the centre seemed to be used as a place to meet and train rather than live in. It was clear that the people had been here for a while, but that it was not meant to be permanent. We waited in the central area for Amur as he went to find Farouk, although he returned alone and apologised, saying that we would need to wait a little. He instructed his people to erect a tent, similar to when we were first welcomed by him.

It wasn't long, though, before a large, athletic warrior approached us alone. He was wearing a strange helmet which had the horns of one of the creatures we had seen "red pants" fly on mounted upon it. He went straight to Falcor and invited us to join him for water, entering the tent. We went through a similar ceremony of pouring water and then passing it to each of us in turn, saying "we drink water". When that was done we were given a smaller cup each to drink freely and Farouk relaxed, sprawling on the floor and saying "we are friends now". His Common was much better than Amur's, and his greeting as "friends and warriors" seemed genuine.

There was some talk of our exploits on the journey here, but when we tried to explain that we wanted to intercept an item of Kelditch, and I revealed the part of the staff we already had, he was taken aback. Apparently he could sense Kelditch's aura upon it, and would not speak of the Gods without his shaman being there, and he sent someone to find and bring them. While we waited, Falcor and Farouk started comparing weapons like typical men so I zoned out for a bit, just enjoying a refreshing drink. Eventually the shaman arrived, wearing slightly more ornate robes and not carrying weapons, but otherwise similar in garb. Farouk called him "Affiah".

He was taken aback by the power of the staff as well, as well as hearing that we had been to the temple on the island and spoken with Kelditch. We then described having traveled to the land of "Itlak Alna'a"; they spat at the mention of the name, calling them the "lord of dust and nothing", but said that it was his influence that was changing their land. Kelditch had set them the task of closing the portals to that realm in the mountains, but they had been driven back and we knew there were many now. On a positive note, they pledged to aid us in stopping the other part of the staff from falling to their foe, recognising the power of their lord in the part I had, and how terrible a loss it would be if the enemy took it.

We also learned that "Soldar" was the other brother of Kelditch (as well as Kraldar of course) that was able to leave Treddar. It seemed that he was able to do so without even a fight because he was so different from his father that they both just wished to be apart. Affiah related tales that said in Soldar's land the Gods do not trouble the people and the people do not trouble the Gods... sounds interesting - perhaps I should try to reach this place? It was far to the west they said. I remembered that Kelditch had mentioned a "lost uncle" and asked if they knew who this way, but this seems to cause great offense to Affiah, so I had to apologise as I hadn't meant to. Apparently they do not speak of the "lost Gods". They also knew of the dark elf prince and the warped blade he wielded, but they had learned to avoid him as he was very dangerous.

Before we could plan an ambush I had to check to see where the staff was now, and I asked if I could be taken to a nondescript place that wouldn't reveal our location to any observers. I had sensed another mind watching before, so I was wary and didn't want to bring trouble to this place. Farouk said that he would "persuade" one of their mages to come with me to detect any attempt to scry as well. Some of the warriors took us to a sheltered rocky spot and I focused through the staff on it's sister part as before. I could see that it was surrounded by at least a score of giantkin, and that they trekked beside a parched river bed that was no more than a stream now. That was on the right, and the mountains were ahead, no more than a day or so march I guessed. Dry scrub was to the left. I had learned enough, so I withdrew and sensed that a mind was following me as I did so. I was able to mentally "slam the door" in their face, though, and it felt quite satisfying to know that I could return to my body safely. The mage had noticed that something tried to connect but hadn't reached us, and it was good to have it confirmed.

I returned to Falcor and explained where I had seen the staff and what we might be facing. We would have to leave quickly if we wanted to intercept it on foot, and we could not allow ourselves to be delayed in enemy territory. Falcor was worried about this, and produced a scroll that he could not use, but that might allow us to travel quickly and intercept them at a point of our choosing. I could understand the scroll, so I believed I could use the power within it to transport us... but only the two of us; no others could travel with us. It did mean we had time to rest, though, and even a day to kill with some training, the people here interested in our ways of fighting compared to their own.

We had determined to meet the foe as they entered the mountains, away from the territory of the dark elves, and the scroll allowed us to turn translucent and misty and be carried along on an arcane wind at great speed. We saw the occasional roaming band of giantkin, but were easily able to avoid them and go unnoticed on our journey. When we reached the northern side of the mountain range we found a sheltered spot between rock outcrops and stopped to check on the staff's location. The dweomer allowed us to return to our corporeal bodies over about five minutes, and then I could focus on the staff once more. I had another clear picture of where the band of giantkin were... we were close! They were walking up a path on a nearby mountain, and it would be easy for us to get up ahead of them from where we were. We used the last hour or so of the misty travel to ensure we were ahead and then made our way along the path to a likely ambush spot where we would be above them as they passed by. I drew from my usual power source to gain extra strength, but was surprised to find that power seemed to flow from Falcor himself and the effect was magnified; I had never felt so strong before! Falcor turned us invisible as the giantkin party drew closer, assuring me that we would be able to attack without revealing ourselves, but that it would be fairly short in duration.

The enemy party lumbered up the path and started to pass us by, probably more than a score now, and then Falcor threw a fireball into their midst, killing four of them instantly and burning some others. We both started to move, using our telepathic connection to keep track of where we were; I went down onto the path and headed towards the centre of the pack where the largest giants were, whilst Falcor kept above them. He then dropped an iceball on the rear of the group, killing a few more and causing more injuries. The giants begin to run, scattering to either side of the path so that they weren't clumped together. This was handy for me as I was able to run down the path they had cleared in the centre. Falcor kept moving too, jumping down behind them and sending a lightning bolt streaking through a line of the foe from the rear, killing two more.

More importantly, Falcor had seen the staff, sending me an image of the giant carrying it, and I closed on the target as quickly as I could. Falcor sent another lightning bolt into the foe, and I had a rueful memory of Meglar and his despair with the destruction he had caused when he lost control. Would I ever see him again? He had always come back before, but this time I wasn't sure. Falcor picked up on the thought, thinking that I was criticising him. He flashed an image of the giantkin destroying an ancient forest with fire, but that just made me sad; we should try not to become that which we hate. Back to Falcor, I said that it was just a memory, but two more of the giantkin had fallen dead, smoking. I fought back the sick tension in my stomach and concentrated on the staff - as soon as I had it we could leave.

I closed with the giant that had the staff, but it was stuck between its armour and its body, high up on its back. Without climbing I wouldn't be able to reach it... I could cut it down to size, though. I drew my swords and struck, landing one blow but finding it odd to fight without seeing my weapons. There was a bellow of alarm and those closest started trying to strike at me, but they couldn't see me and only one came close, scraping my armour. Falcor sent a ray of dweomer into the staff bearer, making him weaker, and then I was able to land several blows in quick succession, killing him. Many of its fellow giantkin had converged on me, though, and I was surrounded. I slashed another foe, already wounded, and he fell, then turned my attention to the staff.

I sheathed my swords and grabbed it with both hands, yanking it free and jumping down from the body I had stood on to get it. I was struck heavily in the back as I did so, though, falling forwards against the cliff edge where I was able to steady myself and tuck the staff under my cloak. Falcor dropped another ice ball behind me, catching some of the giantkin moving towards us and killing another three or so. Falcor then attacked with his mind, confusing one of the larger creatures. With the staff behind my back out of sight, I used my free hand to draw Amarat and cut down one of my attackers, making a gap to escape through. I ran before the gap could be closed, slipping through and moving back up the path towards a bit of slope I could run up.

Falcor became visible again, and bravely shouted out to try and distract the foe that were chasing me, but only one took the bait. He was hit painfully as the creature closed with him, but Falcor responded at once and skewered his attacker, dropping him instantly. We both ran up the slope, and I became visible on the way just after we had converged on each other, with the giantkin still chasing. Some of them were getting tired and fell behind, and then Falcor grabbed me and instantly transported us about two hundred yards up the slope with a word. We were able to catch our breath for a minute and then continue our escape, the giants falling farther behind as they exhausted themselves.

==Rest and Experimenting with Portals==

Once we had lost ourselves in the rocky slopes a bit higher up, we were able to make our way more carefully back to the home of the Red Clan to inform them of our success, and to get some much needed rest. We ended up spending a month with the people here, learning from them and teaching our own techniques. Their shaman were particularly interested in teaching me the method they used to close portals, which no longer worked for them because Kelditch's power was denied to them for some reason. I promised to try it for myself, not knowing whether it would work or not as I had no idea where my own powers came from.

Falcor also explained more about his quest to relight the Forge of Karmana, and why he had come seeking me. I apparently carried an ancient soul within me that was a key part of the process to restore the Forge. Falcor had another, there were a couple of Elves (not the bad kind he said) and an Elvrahum (whatever that was). That left just one undiscovered, apparently the essence of intelligence. This led us to talk about the gateway to the Dead, and that made me pay attention. It seemed that the natural gateway between Karmana and the Dead had been closed for some time, which would explain how Kraldar was able to trap the souls of the dead and draw on their power. Unfortunately if we were to open it, whilst it would allow souls to return to Karmana, it would also allow the hordes of undead to invade the world as well. There was also a "Queen of the Damned" trapped somewhere, imprisoned by the Sarn. It was a bit much to get my head around, to be honest, but I said I would help if Falcor would take me north to my mother's clan and vouch for me there. He agreed, once the Forge was alight, and said he had to travel there anyway so our paths would align.

When I was sure I had mastered the technique of the ritual to close a portal, we set off on foot to see if we could affect the portals to It'lak Alna'a's realm. We traveled north first, and then tracked west along a ridge towards the area we knew would have portals open. The ridge was quite sharp in places, but at least we only had to watch one direction for threats (on the ground at least). It was mid-afternoon, when we were drawing close to the journey's end, that we met trouble. We were approaching another peak where we could turn south or north to traverse it, when we saw something at our level on the southern side just coming into view. We stopped and watched, seeing five humanoid shapes in total, probably about a mile ahead of us. There was a taller one at the back, wearing clothes of some sort. As they drew closer it was clear that they were giantkin, but of a type we hadn't seen in the mountains before. A couple of hundred yards away the taller one stopped and started chanting as the others ran towards us. Falcor flashed an image of the smaller ones attacking a great forest, so he had seen some of these before and they had evil intent.

Falcor sent a lightning bolt crackling through the runners, obviously causing them some pain, but their mage at the back disappeared from view. I conjured a shield, wary of dweomer being hurled at me, and prepared to meet the charging giantkin in melee. Falcor, though, sent another lightning bolt arcing through the line and they all writhed in agony, most falling and only one left moving forward. Horrified, I moved forward to quickly slit the throat of the last one, putting it out of its misery. The smell of charred flesh made me gag, and brought back unpleasant memories. I tried to concentrate on finding the invisible foe, but a lightning bolt flashed the other way this time, striking me. The pain was intense, but thankfully short-lived although it left an odd taste in my mouth.

Falcor turned invisible and told me he was moving forward, passing by me on the ridge. I moved forward as well, but we had seen nothing so far. A web suddenly appeared stretched across the ground on the path ahead, presumably conjured by Falcor, and there was some disturbance in the far corner where he might just have snagged something. I tried to irritate the mage using dweomer, as it affected a small area. It should either slow him down or could keep him occupied for a little while. But then Falcor just opted for more destruction, causing a fireball to explode in the area engulfing it all in flames and combusting the web almost instantly. There was just a flash of the giant caught within the blast... an absence of fire more than anything else... before the flames were gone and we lost sight of him again.

Falcor conjured a flashing pattern of lights, and tried to warn me not to enter. Like I couldn't work that out for myself! I didn't want to talk to him anyway, he was just destroying everything, did he have no control?! I moved forward again and shouted, half at the invisible mage and half at Falcor, to "just stop this; it's pointless"! Falcor conjured a stinking cloud anyway, roughly where the mage had been, and I used dweomer to protect myself from fire... if Falcor could create a fireball then so might the foe! We were not attacked, though, so perhaps at least one person had listened to me. Falcor jogged down the path, trying to put as much distance as possible between us, and I matched his pace a little behind him. We reached the peak and decided to move around to the north (the opposite side to where we had seen the giantkin come from).

Once we were starting to turn the corner I stopped to check behind us, not detecting anything evil there, so I tried to reassure Falcor that nothing was following us. We moved up towards a blind corner and Falcor looked around to see what lay ahead. Unfortunately there was another party of giantkin, the same as before - one mage with a bunch of fighters carrying large hammers. I moved ahead to block the path as Falcor put an arrow into the mage, and I was quickly surrounded by foes; at least there was only room for three of them on the narrow ledge. Lightning engulfed Falcor, but at the same time he seemed unaffected by it and he put a second arrow into the mage. I struck one of the foe several times, but his hammer crunched into my chest leaving me breathless and fighting back the pain... they hit hard!

The mage disappeared from view, not unexpectedly. Falcor put an arrow into the back of the injured giant instead, and it stiffened and fell off the cliff. I engaged the next in melee, landing some good hits. Fire exploded behind me, but Falcor ran through it just as I cut down my opponent and he was able to leap over the body to engage another. I mean it looked good, but it was spoiled slightly by the hammer smacking into his side as he landed. Unperturbed, he responded with powerful blows that cut deeply into his attacker and they fell dead in but a minute. I had struck my own opponent several times, and Falcor was able to skewer it from behind quite easily leaving us seemingly alone. We knew the mage was close, though, unless they had decided to flee.

We were close now, though, so I moved on ahead. We could see that there were more giantkin near what looked like a portal on the plateau ahead, although they were more like the kind we had encountered before. I used dweomer to restore some health and aid me in the fight, moving forward again to the edge of the plateau. I had deliberately made sure that I had the enemy's attention, and they started moving towards me. There were a couple of small groups, half a dozen in total, and as they closed up they bunched together enough that Falcor was able to explode a fireball amongst them. Two fell writhing and then burst into flames, eventually falling still, but the rest kept going and closed quickly on me. They were so focused on me, though, that Falcor was able to attack from the flank, striking one heavily in the side.

I finished off the largest foe, but took a hit in return as I was surrounded by this stage. Falcor cut through his opponent, quite literally as they were almost cut in half! I killed one of the smaller ones and that evened things up nicely, leaving just one for each of us to take on. They were not a match for us one-on-one and we were both splattered in blood as they fell quickly. I noticed, though, that the portal had started to glow slightly; could more be coming through? Falcor ran ahead as I pulled my sword from the body of the last foe, and I followed behind. He stopped, though, and started casting just as one of the red-pant creatures stepped through the portal. This new arrival's demeanor was quite casual until he saw Falcor. He reached back to touch the portal, appearing to shout through it, and a moment later it's beast emerged - much bigger than the one we had seen before. Red pants leapt on its back and they took to the air, and Falcor let his spell fail so as not to engage them. Now I was even more confused about his willingness to make others suffer or not!

I had moved closer than Falcor by this stage, focused on trying to close the portal. The first step was to add elemental water, knowing that the portal was linked to fire and dust; this was supposed to increase the chances of successfully closing it. I conjured a LOT of water, getting drenched in the process but catching some in a waterskin. I didn't mind being wet, though, as there had been plenty of fire around recently. I started the ritual the shaman had taught me, including throwing the water through the portal, and focused my concentration on forcing it closed. This time I deliberately didn't use Kelditch's staff so that I could see if the power I channeled would work. It did! It was strange, though, it felt right like no other dweomer I had used, and I had a sense of inner peace like never before. There was also no sense of power coming from anywhere else, which was odd and different; normally I could sense the energy flowing into and out of me, but this time it just happened... almost like it was my own doing instead of another's. I would have to reflect on this.

Having confirmed that the ritual worked, we started the return journey. Thankfully this time it passed without incident and we were welcomed back. Affiah was particularly excited to know whether it had worked or not, but I was wary of talking too freely in public and asked if we could have a private conversation just for the shaman to hear. Falcor went off to drink and celebrate with Farouk as Affiah took me into a cave that had clearly been set aside as a temple. I confirmed that the ritual had worked for me, but this seemed to sadden him as he interpreted it as meaning that it was their faith that had failed them and not that Kelditch's power was cut off in some way. I tried to suggest that the power might have come from somewhere else, which is why it might have worked for me, and that I knew Kelditch did not have a direct link to the land any more. Affiah seemed suddenly happier, and wondered if "the sleeping God had awoken". I agreed - Falcor had suggested that he was awake not, and Affiah at once seemed to know what to do. Apparently this happened regularly, if infrequently, and if Treddar had awoken then it was normal for Kelditch to withdrawn. He said that he would take his people into the desert to seek shelter, as Kelditch would not be able to give them the power to protect the mountains.

This was all going quite well, but then I made the mistake of over-sharing and saying that the power I had used might have come from myself. Then to explain that, I told him I was related to Kelditch by blood. He became quite agitated when I said Kelditch was my uncle, angry even. He demanded to know which of the brothers I claimed was my father. When I told him that my father was Kraldar he lost it completely, seemingly completely oblivious to the hypocrisy of at the same time revering Keldith, the son of Treddar, whilst condemning me, the daughter of Kraldar as a "daughter of Death". Clearly father and offspring are not the same!

He could not be reasoned with, though, and ordered the guards to draw swords on me, running off - presumably to seek the aid of the Farouk. I offered no resistance, but after a few moments it was clear that they had no intention of attacking me, instead looking nervous and happy to wait for the return of Affiah. I wasn't content to wait, but I also didn't want to hurt them, so I used the ability to transport myself that I had learned from Falcor, instantly appearing in the chamber where I had last seen Falcor. I surprised some warriors there, although they recovered quickly. I had to take a minute to recover my senses properly after such a sudden shift, but I asked as calmly as I could where I might find Falcor. One of the warriors happily offered to take me there.

==A Quick Exit and a Strange Journey==

As we walked casually through the cave, I was shouting telepathically to Falcor, who thankfully acknowledged me. I quickly gave him an image of Affiah being enraged and suggested that we might need to leave in a hurry! Falcor made his excuses to Farouk and jogged out towards a larger chamber we had both crossed earlier. Unsurprisingly, he entered as Affiah was striding across it, and when the shaman saw him he ordered the half a dozen or so in sight to stop Falcor. Falcor ran quickly, getting away from the shaman and his followers, who seemed to struggle with their fitness; and the warriors whilst they were asking him to stop seemed confused and didn't want to use force. I had been following my "guide" but as I heard running feet approaching I turned and ran towards the main cavern, seeing Falcor not far behind me as I looked back. We were able to make good on our escape, mainly because the warriors didn't know what was going on so nobody tried to stop us. We were sure that it wouldn't be that easy once Affiah had spoken to Farouk, though, so we kept going into the night until we were forced to rest by a combination of exhaustion and the danger of injury from moving through the rocky landscape in the darkness (well for Falcor anyway).

Falcor was understandably upset by the sudden need to leave, and apparently had been enjoying a pleasant evening with some wine until I messed it all up. Fuck my father, and all the Gods and their ignorant "believers"! Falcor refused to talk about it, so I just tried to get some sleep, eventually managing a fitful slumber, although it was surprisingly late in the morning when I awoke. Falcor was brooding, and when he noticed I was awake he asked into the air "what now?" before stalking off in a strop. I couldn't do much about that, so I started meditating to regain some of my power in case I needed it.

Unbeknown to me at the time, Falcor had sought out a quiet place to commune with Malada. He was transported to her garden, and they spoke of me. The Goddess seemed genuinely shocked that I was Kraldar's daughter, and asked if Falcor was sure that I was the one he sought, which he was. Despite Falcor speaking for me, which I would have been grateful for if he had told me, Malada stressed that I would not be tolerated in her realm. Apparently to invite someone like me in would give me the power to come and go as I pleased, and she was not willing to grant such a thing. There had been only one other, her lost brother, that had been there other than Falcor. She also noted that my use of Kelditch's staff was probably not as it seemed, saying that the power came from within me, and that the item could amplify it but it would not allow me to directly use Kelditch's power. Despite not being able to help Falcor return to the Forge, she restored him fully in mind and body saying that it was the least she could do for him instead. After that he returned to his senses, once more sat in the mountains where he had begun his meditation.

Falcor returned to where we had slept, finding me still meditating. He left me be despite the time, but an hour and a half later he caught sight of the giant bat we had encountered what seemed like an age ago on our first journey to the cave settlement. It was lazily flying in the distance, but would come close, so Falcor woke me to warn of the danger and we hid amongst the rocks, keeping still until it had passed. I started to meditate again, hoping that it would not come back this way, but annoyingly it did just that, even closer this time. We blanked our minds as we felt a scan from the beast, and thankfully it passed harmlessly over and out of sight again. It was clear that we needed to move, though, so we headed southeast away from what seemed to be the thing's hunting grounds.

After we had traveled for a little way, Falcor produced a wondrous-looking feather from somewhere on his person. He concentrated on it for a minute and it started to glow slightly; in fact I could feel the energy pulsing from it, so it was clearly no simple feather. Shortly afterwards a winged creature that Falcor called a Pegasus, and he called it by his name, Aerganion, appeared in front of Falcor. I would say that Aergarnion was even more wondrous that the feather, which would be true, but at that time it wasn't the first impression that I had... instead he came crashing into the ground beside Falcor, his feathers and body badly burnt and still smoking. He was flanked by two other pegasii, also wounded but not as badly, that seemed only to seek his protection, looking around warily at me and the rocky landscape.

Aergarnion shared an image of him and his followers fighting in a realm that had no land, just air, but was filled with creatures of fire that were almost overwhelming his folk. We got the impression that he was grateful Falcor had called, as it had provided a way for him to escape from a place that had become two realms merged into one: air and fire combined. At that point he slumped into unconsciousness, overcome by the pain of the burns he had suffered. Falcor rushed to his side, clearly concerned and an old acquaintance of this being of Air. He used his mental gifts to heal Aergarnion, and then searched for a potion that could aid him further. Aergarnion regained consciousness after Falcor's aid, but was still weak. The potion, though, that Falcor encouraged him to drink quickly and visibly restored him to full health, feathers regrowing, ash falling away, and a deep inner radiance returning. He threw himself into the air with joy, crying out that the "Guardian" was fated to help him and his realm, and had restored him in his time of need.

I tried to offer my aid to the other two pegasii, but they shied away, nervous of a stranger perhaps, or sensing my father's taint more likely. They accepted Falcor's aid, though, and soon they were all restored and ready to travel again. Aergarnion explained that the Lord of Fire sought to expand his realm into that of Air, and that he had been caught unexpectedly in a place between places. Falcor's call was a saving beacon that allowed him to escape, but he would have to return to fight for his people. Falcor immediately offered his help, which was admirable, but Aergarnion insisted that he had already helped, and that his quest was more important that the fight between Air and Fire. Falcor acknowledged me for the first time, saying that I could help to close portals between realms, but Aergarnion explained that the two realms had crashed together, so there was no simple gate to close. He thanked me, at least, for the offer of help, but instead asked only that we take the fight to those that serve fire whenever we could so that their strength was weakened and diverted.

Falcor spoke of his need for us to travel to the Forge, and Aergarnion at once agreed to take us as far as Borarla. I mounted one of the Pegasii, Aergarnion took Falcor of course, and almost at once I sensed that we had left Karmana and entered somewhere else. There was no time to take this change in, though, as we were almost immediately set upon by creatures of fire! I just got the sense that the world was sort of rushing past below us, despite hardly moving at all in relative terms to the other creatures here. We were in the air, but also in a strange place between worlds.

I was able to use the other part of Kelditch's staff to control one of the fire creatures, convincing it that I was an ally. The unburdened pegasus attacked one foe, summoning hailstones to pelt it, but it didn't have any noticeable effect. Fireballs exploded all around us, and I could see why Aergarnion had been so badly burned! Falcor managed to cast a spell somehow, and ice exploded around the fire creature farthest from us, not once but twice. The fire that made up its form sputtered and died, the black remains within tumbling out of sight rapidly. A ring of fire appeared around Falcor and Aergarnion, but they were able to fly through without damage. Fireballs once again exploded around me, causing more damage, but thankfully not yet setting us on fire.

Aergarnion climbed above the fire, sending intense cold forking into a foe like lightning. Falcor summoned missiles of ice to strike at the same foe, and it too sputtered and died, leaving just two. It seemed that being repeatedly attacked had served some purpose, though, as the one I had controlled earlier rushed to my defence; she crashed into the other foe and they both disappeared leaving us free to fly onward. It seemed like just a moment later that we shifted from the strange rushing motion to being within a forest, my mount flaring its wings to land on the soil. We had arrived in Borarla, the forest Falcor had told me had suffered fire and devastation at the hands of the giantkin.

Journal - Through Dust and Fire

2023-01-21T11:47:19Z

2A00:23C7:BF83:A101:C954:4846:AE42:5436: Created page with "==A Confusing Encounter== Falcor climbed out onto the roof of the temple first. There was a light rain falling, and it was early morning. He listened and scanned the area, wary that he might have heard something above us some distance away, but unable to see because of the low cloud cover. I waited just inside to see what happened, and as he moved around he caught sight of the flying creature we had seen before a little way off, moving across his field of view but not t..."

==A Confusing Encounter==

Falcor climbed out onto the roof of the temple first. There was a light rain falling, and it was early morning. He listened and scanned the area, wary that he might have heard something above us some distance away, but unable to see because of the low cloud cover. I waited just inside to see what happened, and as he moved around he caught sight of the flying creature we had seen before a little way off, moving across his field of view but not towards us. He lost sight of it in the clouds, but after a couple of minutes it dived down from behind him to land on the corner of the building. Thankfully he had jumped down near to a tree, so it couldn't find him at first. It was sniffing loudly in his direction, though, so it was only a matter of time.

Then it leapt onto the tree above him and shook it, presumably to see if he was hiding in the branches. Falcor stepped out and grabbed its tail, pulling with his considerable strength and yanking it clear of tree. It fell some distance away as he flung it, at least twenty feet, and then rolled and recovered its feet. I climbed out onto roof, moving towards it as it screeched at Falcor. He warned me that it was of both chaos and evil, so I moved to flank it and jumped down slowly as I watched Falcor punch it in soundly the face, causing it to reel back. Red pants appeared at that point, at a run, screaming at me in a language I didn't recognise and placing his hand on the creature as my sword, which had already been in motion, cut into its side. I pulled my second blow, though, because everyone seemed to be trying to avoid a fight! I was confused by this, but didn't want to be the one that kicked it all off.

Falcor had grabbed the animal's bridle and pulled its head down towards the floor. I sheathed my swords, and instead tried to grapple red pants to the floor; I managed to get hold of him, but he was strong and kept his footing. Falcor punched his mount again, pulling it down again until it became submissive. Red pants pulled free of my grip, giving me more indecipherable yelling, but then at Falcor's challenge switched to a halting common. It seemed that he thought we were idiot dark elves that didn't know what we were doing, and we went along with this idea. Falcor asked him how we could get back to the "others" without our magic marble. He spoke of the "old way" in the mountains that led to his master's realm.

Falcor passed him the reins and he mounted and healed the creature, horns glowing as the power transferred to the beast. It leapt into the air, climbing quickly, but he agreed to lead us to to this "old way" (presumably a natural gate)... but it was four days of flying! We started off anyway, making best pace towards the southwest of the island, with red pants occasionally circling back below the clouds to complain about how slow we were. At the edge of where the lake used to be, Falcor used his dweomer to fly again, carrying me once more. Once we were over the water, of course, we saw Last Defender swimming below us and Falcor let her know what we had found and what we had done within the temple. There was a surge of hope in what she asked next; if we had closed the path and removed the key then... was she free? Falcor decided that yes, there was no reason for her to stay now, so she was free! She asked what Falcor would have her do next - were all the ancient Elvradrak so subservient? He asked her to return to defend the Forge of Life, but asked if she might do us a favour first and carry us on our journey, if she could do so invisibly. This was apparently a trivial task for her and she agreed at once - we would get to ride there at a much faster pace.

The journey was uneventful. We passed a tall peak on the north side of the mountain range, then circled around it and headed in towards the heart of the mountains where there was a distinctive bare area of ground with little or no growth. As we descended towards it we started to make out many pockets of a shimmering heat haze dotted around the hillside, all about ten to twenty feet high and wide. Those facing us could be seen through clearly, and the ground on the far side was clearly different to that surrounding us, so they did lead to another place somewhere. When Last Defender alighted on the ground we were still sat some distance above the ground, but a mental image from her helped us to find a way down without falling. Red pants landed a little afterwards, impressed that we had travelled so fast, which Falcor put down to powerful dweomer. Red Pants asked if we were to go through now? Falcor agreed, and we stepped through one of the portals after Red Pants, emerging into a flat, dry area of sandy ground with formations of rock visible in the distance, both elevated and falling away. Looking around we could see a cloud of dust about half a mile away but we were otherwise alone.

We asked the way to "our camp" as we hadn't used the old way before. He cursed our ignorance again, but seemed willing enough to show us, flying ahead again... straight towards the dust cloud. We followed on foot, claiming that we had used our dweomer. It was hot, but not unbearable, and very dry. As we got closer to the cloud we could see that there were large humanoids within or close to it. There were at least ten, perhaps twenty, and it was clear that the dust cloud was no natural phenomenon but was being held in place by some power. We veered around to avoid getting too close to the giants, despite annoying our guide by doing so, and noted that there were a couple of giants that seemed to be commanding the others. They were walking into the dust and disappearing to somewhere else, much to our relief.

We started to make out openings in the rock formation beyond the dust cloud, and I disguised myself (physically at least) as one of the dark elves to buy us a bit more time as we drew close. A bugle sounded, presumably at our approach, and dark elves emerged from the openings with bows. Falcor thanked our guide and said we could find our way now so he could leave. He also asked about the Prince, but it seemed that the Court was much farther away, but we could get travel stones here. A few elves moved forward with swords drawn and we were challenged by one. I responded, knowing that the disguise wouldn't last, but trying to get a bit closer. As the challenge came again, demanding to know who I really was, Falcor ended the discussion by causing an enormous fireball to explode amongst them! Half a dozen or so were killed outright, and many others were badly hurt, but they recovered fairly quickly and the arrow fire began. Only one hit Falcor from the initial volley, but we needed to close quickly.

I protected myself from evil and charged forward, drawing the bow fire as I intended, and even managing to get one of the nearer foes shot in the back by their own archers! I continued to sprint until I reached the cliff, skirting along it to close with one of the lower of the openings. Falcor was able to engage in melee, killing one quickly and moving forward to the next couple as I started fighting one of the archers.

==A Slight Diversion==

Falcor called with his mind, telling me to come to him at the dust cloud. He had some kind of device that could ensure we didn't move through time when we traveled... but we still had no idea where it would take us! Probably better than here, though; who knew how many of the elves were in these caves? I finished off the opponent I was fighting, my armour deflecting his blow, then turned towards Falcor. He caved the head in of one of his attackers and struck the other one, waiting for me to move. I ran out but was immediately targeted and arrow struck me painfully - this is why I'd run into the cover of the rocks! Falcor finished the other elf off and we both ran towards the dust cloud. He grabbed my sleeve and we ran in together he focused his will on a prism he was carrying in his pack. There was a definite sense of Karmana as we entered the portal, and Falcor sensed something like a longing for his return. The dust stung our eyes and gritted up our mouth as we entered but it was suddenly gone as we found ourselves in clear air and there was a sudden relief from the heat. Falcor saw a quick flash of a vision; his ancient enemy was sitting upright on his sarcophagus, and Falcor realised at once that he knew Falcor had returned to Karmana. At least we had escaped from Itlak Alna'a I guess.

The area we had arrived in was still arid, with a bit of scrub-like grass but not much else, but still the air was fresher and cooler and it was clear that we had left the previous place. There were hills rising to one side, but the rest was open land. Not surprisingly, given what we had seen enter the dust cloud, there were lots of giantkin here. They were fighting against a couple of groups of humans that looked much like the ones we had seen in the remains of the camp where I first met Falcor. Some were on horseback, with red clothing, whilst those on foot wore orange. They were all similar, though. Those on foot were fighting a retreat, but didn't look to be doing well and were in danger of being cut off from the rear. Those on horseback fared better, able to strike and wheel away whilst avoiding most of the slow swings of the giants.

We were wary of taking sides without knowing more, so I moved forward and focused on the humans on foot, sensing no evil within them; none like I had known from my father's realm anyway. Satisfied that they were in trouble and deserved help we closed with them to assist where we could. I called on some protection from evil as Falcor dropped a massive storm of ice onto the group that were about to attack the rear of those we were trying to save. It was impressive; all but the largest were killed quickly, frozen in place and pelted with large shards of ice. The Cavalry reacted to the opportunity this presented, attacking the two left standing but weakened at a speed that left their former opponents behind. I ran forward, urging the humans on foot to stay close so that I could protect them. Like typical men they didn't listen, but it's not like I expected them too, instead putting myself in the centre of their loose formation.

Falcor conjured some magic missiles to strike some of the foes, but the humans were already being knocked down by the giants' powerful blows. I ran to the side of one, seeing that he was still barely alive, and healed his wounds. He woke with a start, taking a moment to recover, so I stood ready to defend him. The cavalry had quickly finished off the two isolated giants, at least, and I was glad to see them turn towards us. I conjured a spray of colour that caused one foe to drop unconscious as Falcor joined the melee, landing a couple of good hits. I drew swords and struck a foe as well, resolved to fight and let the protection I had used to heal end. Falcor was struck by an axe blow, although his armour turned another, and he riposted to cut down one of the enemy. The cavalry rode past behind those he was fighting, killing one from the rear and striking one I was engaged with. I finished him off as he roared in pain, turning it into a gargle of blood.

Falcor side-stepped another blow, and swung powerfully down into a giant's neck, killing it in one strike, then moved on to finish one of the smaller ones off. I engaged the last of the larger giants, hitting several times before it finally went down. Falcor and the others felled the last of the group between them, leaving the only threat from the remnants of the group the cavalry had left behind. I warned that one was only unconscious, but moved to another fallen human; they were still clinging to life, and Falcor called on Malada's grace to heal him. His wounds vanished and he sat up suddenly, reaching for his weapon as if eager to continue the fight. The cavalry charged at the last group of giants, still some distance away from us. One of the riders paused with us, though, speaking halting common (the others didn't seem to know the language), and it appeared that they were loyal to Kelditch and was pleased that we claimed to be acting in Kelditch's name.

Suddenly there was a rumbling around us and bones started to erupt from the ground to form a meshed wall in a circle. Very quickly we were trapped and the bones had reached some twenty feet in height. Was this a portal to my father's realm? Had he come for me after all this time? Did time even mean anything to him anymore?! Falcor grabbed my arm and we were suddenly stood outside the circle, but all the others were in danger! The cavalry and giants were engaged some distance away... but this couldn't be their doing. No, there were others, from the direction we had arrived were a small group of the dark evles, several in front of one that was chanting and concentrating - there was the source! Ignoring him for now, I turned back to the bone and reached for Kelditch's staff. I concentrated as I had within his temple and felt the essence of the portal that was opening; it was definitely leading to Kraldar, and everything within the bone circle would be taken there! I tried to shut it as I had the fire portal, and just managed to do it before it had finished forming. There was a cry from the direction of the elves as I abruptly ended the chanter's connection and the bones simply dispersed as if turned to fine ash. That was close!

I saw that Falcor had drawn a bow, so I did the same, moving forward to get a better shot as Falcor loosed an arrow over my shoulder, striking the chanter powerfully. Arrows pinged off Falcor's armour as two of the elves returned fire, but he ignored them and put another arrow into their mage (or was it a foul priest?) and he dropped dead! One of the others dropped his sword and chanted, disappearing from view. Falcor ducked under more return fire and switched target, hitting one of the archers, and I followed up with arrows of my own. The archer was quickly staggered and then killed by our combined fire. A tear in reality appeared and the body of the dead spell-caster was dragged through, leaving just two still fighting. Falcor exchanged fire with the last archer; he was hit once but killed the foe quickly.

I moved back to try and help the fallen, but the unconscious giantkin from earlier recovered as I neared. I killed him before he could act, but found that the two fallen humans were beyond help. Falcor moved toward the other group of giants and the cavalry engaging them. He struck one of the large giants with an arrow, and the cavalry overran the survivors, finishing them off. It had been a decisive victory for the humans in the end, with our help, and we spent some time searching the bodies and gathering arrows. Water seemed to be the most valuable thing the foe had on them, and we gladly shared it with the human warriors. Falcor found a ring of lies, which he gifted to me.

Our new allies had erected a tent for shelter, and the one who spoke halting Common welcomed us in. The people were of "rock" (the mountain range nearby), but had been forced into sand by the dark elves. They honoured Kelditch, and seemed to think that I was some kind of Shaman for him. There was a platter with goblets in the centre of the group, and our host poured some water into the ground before offering it to Falcor, then me. After we each took a sip we were greeted as "friends now". The mountains that were their home lay to the north, but they had been driven out. The source of water for the lake was there, which interested Falcor. Rakim was the leader of their people, and could rally them in one place but that would take time. He also explained that the red garbed people were of Rock, and the yellow/orange folk were of Sand - "same God, different path". He said that we needed to speak to Fanouk if we wanted to speak to Rakim, and that he could take us to him. His name was Amur.

I took a moment to focus on the connection between my part of the staff and its other parts. I had a vision of giantkin surrounded by many others heading towards the mountains - it seemed they had taken it from the legion. Falcor asked how long it would take us to reach the heart of the mountains, and Amur warned that it was a long way, probably nine days travel. We rested and then set off on horseback, trusting our guide to lead us. I had to be led by Falcor because I just wasn't used to horses and there were no roads here to trudge along. At least the saddles they used were well shaped as that helped me to stay upright when my mount insisted on lurching to the side or munching something nearby. The horses seemed an unusual breed that even Falcor didn't recognise, but they were clearly used to being ridden by warriors in battle.

We traveled west along the foothills towards the mountain range, and spoke with Amur about the giantkin. He told us that they mostly traveled east around the hills, but that his people attacked them if they seemed to get too close. They were quite happy to let them fight the legion in the north, though. We continued for about half a day before it started to get dark and we halted to make camp. We needed to sleep before restoring our energy for dweomer, so we took a late watch; we were woken before that, though, with a warning that "shadows stirred". We armed ourselves and emerged from the tent just in time for me to see a sentry attacked. There were yells from several sides as the foe struck as one, but I sprinted towards the nearest sentry to try and help. Falcor jogged forward and put two arrows straight into the attacker I was closing with, staggering him back slightly, and I finished him off easily once I reached him.

Falcor loosed arrows at another target, striking powerfully, but the sentry we had just helped dropped to the ground along with another farther away. There must be some kind of poison on the daggers! Just then a lightning bolt crackled through the night striking at Falcor, but incredibly he was able to just ignore it. It did silhouette one of the elves, though, and Falcor took the opportunity to put an arrow into him before running forward to help another sentry that was still standing. I checked the downed sentry with Amur, at first thinking him dead but Amur found a faint pulse that suggested there might still be hope. I used what power I still had to slow the poison, but then ran to support Falcor. He didn't need help, though, and killed his foe just as I got there. The sentry had luckily escaped harm, but I knew there was another that needed aid.

Falcor ran towards the foothills in the direction the lightning had come from, looking for the mage, but by the time he spotted them they were just disappearing through a tear in the air as we had seen them do before. I had reached the other sentry and was able to slow the poison in their system too before Falcor returned. We carried the fallen into the tent and then Falcor used the "power of Malada" to cure the poison in one and heal their wounds. The warrior sat up, glowing slightly, with a tear rolling down his cheek. He asked Falcor what the wondrous place he had seen was... had he seen the heavens? Falcor explained that it was the garden of his lady, Malada, and that he was blessed to have seen it. Perhaps not all the Gods were arseholes after all? Hmm... I would reserve judgement for now.

Falcor asked if I would be able to sustain the other fallen warrior for a day, after which he should be able to bring them back too. I could, of course, but it would mean a restless night as I would have to tend to them at least every six hours to ensure their condition didn't worsen. First I had to meditate, as did Falcor it seemed, so the others left us and eventually we heard them joining in a vocal prayer to Kelditch around sunrise. Once they were done they quickly packed up the camp and we set off westward once more. This next day passed uneventfully, as did the night, and so Falcor got to perform another "miracle" to bring the poisoned warrior back to us.

It was different this time, though. He did return, very much alive and awake, and with his wounds healed as before. But his look was distant and after thanking Falcor quite calmly he then turned to Amur and said that he had seen beyond this world and that he would go to be amongst the Gods. With that he lay back down and simply died! I was a bit shocked at this, but Amur seemed really excited that a warrior's soul might once again return to Kelditch after falling in battle. Was that what was happening here, though? We decided not to question where his soul might be going, at least not in front of these devotees of Kelditch. They took some time to bury his body amongst the rocks, whilst we tended the horses so as not to intrude in the ceremony.

Once we were able to continue our journey we entered more mountainous terrain, and eventually we reached a hidden cave that concealed quite a well established outpost. There were many more horses and more warriors inside, and they greeted their brothers in arms. Whilst they were taking belongings from the horses and preparing to continue on foot I took a moment to focus on the staff again. This time I saw it moving beside a body of water with plains to the left and ahead. I guessed that this would be east of the lake, so it seemed that we still had time to ambush them later.

We trekked on, following the leaders of our band with others behind us, and took a rugged path that led quite steeply up into the mountains. It was hard going, although these warriors seemed at ease with it, and they asked if we were happy to carry on in darkness. I was able to see clearly enough so I agreed, and Falcor also seemed keen to carry on despite struggling more with the rocky path without the light to aid him. It grew very dark as we continued, but after a while the relative stillness of the night was sundered by a loud screech somewhere south of us, quite high in the air, and everyone froze where they were. There was some discussion between Falcor and our guides; it seemed that he knew of these things... and then he casually mentioned that they might be vampires! Had my father sent them to hunt for me? No, surely he could not know I was here... but then I remembered the gate the dark elves had tried to open to his realm. Had they told him I was here? Damn, I should have slit the throat of that lousy elf! No, no, that's not what Meglar would have wanted. How far apart were we now? He had always come back before, but he had never left in such circumstances before either.

All these thoughts were flying through my mind as we crouched motionless, waiting, but hearing nothing. After about ten minutes (although it seemed like more), Amur sought Falcor's guidance - was it safe to move now? We had heard more screeching, but the sound had moved off down the slope. We started off again, moving more slowly this time, listening for any threat. After just a minute or so there came another sound, similar but different in pitch and pattern. We got low, at least those near to Falcor did. The sound had come from our left, but now there was something else. Ahead along the path came a lot of noise, like thumping and banging against rock, getting closer fast. Falcor muttered a spell and leapt over the person in front of him, and I conjured some light towards the front of our column so that they might have some sight of whatever was coming.

It didn't take long to find out as a massive swarm of bats swept down the path and engulfed us. Many of our allies were caught off-guard and knocked off the path, tumbling down the steep slope on our left. Falcor grabbed one quickly and tucked him in as the bats passed over them. I was just able to grab one and haul him back onto the path, although the bats were blinding and I almost lost my footing. Falcor then leapt into the air! He fell through the air, rapidly closing on two of the warriors that were still tumbling below him. I used dweomer as the bats passed by me, turning into a flying rock thing (something I had seen that served my father in his realm) and then dived down to catch one of our allies that had fallen closer to where I stood. I caught him quickly and managed to set him down on a ledge, backing away before he could mistake me for a monster of some kind and retaliate.

Falcor landed near the two he had been trying to catch, finding that they had managed to arrest their fall. They were clinging to bits of rock, though, and he wanted to ensure they would be safe. Using his mind he steadied himself and then used his dweomer to give himself the ability to fly. He was then able to move the warriors to a safe ledge fairly easily. Just after he did so, though, bright flares of light streaked towards him from the darkness and conjured missiles struck him. Again, though, he seemed to shrug this attack off as if it had no effect. In response, Falcor sprang out from the cliff into the air, hovering there as he conjured a lightning bolt. In the bright flash that followed, leaving lines etched into our vision, I could see he had targeted a massive bat hanging in the air, weirdly not even moving its wings. This foe seemed able to ignore his dweomer, though, and it was unharmed.

I moved back towards another falling warrior, but saw that the bat had noticed me. My form, and I guess my heritage, seemed to confuse it though. I felt in my mind a question: "we serve the same master?" I somehow managed to fight back the immediate, emotional response I would normally give, and instead sent an image of my father's realm with the suggestion "this is home". Technically true, I guess, and the thing seemed satisfied at least for now. The response I got was predictable; it suggested Falcor being defeated and ripped apart, an invitation to attack. I responded with an "after you" in a deferential way, assuming that this simple form would be inferior to whatever this was. Falcor was a bit miffed by this, having "heard" the exchange, and petulantly sent an image of a dead bat to it. It wasn't just a suggestion, though, it was an image of something he had done before... and it enraged the bat! Suddenly the swarm of "normal" bats on the path above left the others alone and rushed to surround Falcor. He was able to use his mind to fell about a dozen of them before they were on him, and then just ignored them and flew towards the big one. He attacked with his mind again, and again the bat resisted even as a half dozen more bats fell dead, caught in the energy Falcor was projecting.

The large bat seemed to decide that this was not a fight worth having, and flew off quickly. We suspected it had left for good as the bats stopped their unnatural behaviour and began to fly away at random. Falcor still punched a couple to death before they had completely disengaged, perhaps annoyed that his prey had escaped. Typical man, taking his anger out on a dumb animal instead of just being grateful it was gone. We climbed slowly up to the path with the others, and thankfully were able to complete the rest of the journey undisturbed. There was an extensive cave system within a small opening, a new semi-permanent home for the red clan people after being forced to leave their true home. We were told that we would be able to meet Farouk here.

Journal - Flames and the Guardian

2023-01-21T11:46:31Z

2A00:23C7:BF83:A101:C954:4846:AE42:5436: Created page with "==A Beginning, an End, or Both?== Shit! Where do I start? At least that evil fucker was dead; I watched him burn. Enjoyed it too. But at what cost? Would I ever see... what did the Guardian call him? The Harlequin? Would I ever see him again? I miss him already. I'm getting ahead of myself, though. After he left I headed towards shithead's tent to get my stuff back. Thankfully it hadn't been incinerated. I grabbed everything but just carried my armour - the fires must..."

==A Beginning, an End, or Both?==

Shit! Where do I start? At least that evil fucker was dead; I watched him burn. Enjoyed it too. But at what cost? Would I ever see... what did the Guardian call him? The Harlequin? Would I ever see him again? I miss him already.

I'm getting ahead of myself, though. After he left I headed towards shithead's tent to get my stuff back. Thankfully it hadn't been incinerated. I grabbed everything but just carried my armour - the fires must have been like a beacon and who knows how many, or what kind, of people would come looking. I thought of searching for some information, in case the mage had been seeking the sword as well, but there wasn't much left of that side of the tent. I was lucky, though - there was a mostly intact scorched map with lots of crosses on, so I grabbed it. I headed to a hole in other side of the tent, aiming to get away as soon as I could. I didn't even know where I was, really, so I peered out to look for some cover.

There was a disappointing lack of cover, but there was at least a small copse to my right so I headed that way. Then someone spoke to my mind, asking me not to go and that they wouldn't hurt me - like I believe men that say that! I spun around with swords drawn, dropping my armour and calling him to show himself. He appeared from nowhere, hidden by dweomer, but didn't look like anyone associated with the legion. He was acting weird, though, and a bit obsessive so I was wary. He at least agreed to keep his distance whilst I got my armour on. I went to the trees anyway, and managed to sort myself out just before he sent a warning - there were others approaching.

I peered through the trees as the stranger, who called himself "Falcor" walked towards the new arrivals with open hands, trying to speak to them. There were at least five of them, and three carried bows. They were wrapped in cloth that concealed most of their faces so it was hard to know their intentions. That little conundrum was soon resolved as they loosed arrows at Falcor! Whoever they were they would fire on an unarmed person trying to greet them, so that made them bad in my book. I rushed around the trees and towards the archers, leaving Falcor to deal with the other two, but I conjured a shield to help deflect arrows (I'm not completely stupid).

I have to say I was quite impressed by Falcor's reactions - he drew a bow of his own and sunk arrows deep into the chests of two of them, killing them both before I could even reach them! The last one fell to my swords as I closed the remaining distance, and I turned to see that Falcor had dropped his bow to parry the attacks of the other foes. Arrows came from his right flank - they had surrounded him! Now, though, he showed his prowess with a sword and cut both of the ones he was in melee with down with accurate strikes. The other archers turned and fled, and we let them go.

As I went to join him I noticed that he was now clad in armour, which had somehow appeared in the middle of the fight. Of more interest, though, was the star symbol on his chest - it was exactly like the one on the sword! When I asked him about it he knew of the sword, and claimed it as his own... but more than that claimed to be the Guardian himself! He was just a boy, though - strong and proficient, yes, but too immature to be a centuries old leader of clans. He did ask if we needed to get moving, which was a good point - I had been distracted! This was not over, though.

We left the remains of the camp, which from the symbology seemed to be part of the 12th legion (the Golden Cocks) and headed roughly south until we found somewhere sheltered to rest. I took up the conversation again at once - just who was he and how did he get here? He claimed to have come from "the forge" and be some kind of reincarnation of the Guardian in human form, but that he could take the form of an Elvradrak! I showed him the map, as I wasn't sure where I was either but at least I'd been in the same region before I got knocked out. One of the crosses was closest to the town I'd been in, and was marked differently, so I reckoned that was most likely to be the camp. It wasn't clear whether the other marks were potential locations for the sword or just other companies of the legion, though. All I knew was that there was one of the tree folk rumoured to wield the sword, which meant it would be near a forest. That left us with a couple of places marked, one closer to a road than another, so I suggested the latter as a place to start. It was a long way to travel, though.

I still wasn't convinced that he was the Guardian he claimed to be, so I decided to call his bluff and asked him to show me his Elvradrak form. Incredibly he did it. Transformed before my eyes into a huge beast, and then offered to take me up into the air. Sat upon his back, he leapt up and then we were soaring around hundreds of feet aloft. It felt... strangely right, and certainly exhilarating. Was this some inheritance from my mother's people, to be so at ease with such a creature? I wasn't sure what to think anymore, but perhaps he could be the key to finding the clans and being accepted? The Guardian and the sword together, if as he said he recognised something in me, then that would be irrefutable, wouldn't it?

We returned to earth quickly, not wanting to be seen, and tried to settle for the night. I was wary of sleeping with a stranger nearby, but eventually managed to drift off. My sleep was restless, though, and I was plagued with visions of the sword we sought but with a wind blowing dust and fire. When I woke Falcor was doing some martial training so I left him to it and meditated for a little, feeling the power coming back to me as always but still not knowing where it came from. When we were both done, Falcor announced that he thought we were being observed from somewhere to the southeast, but not by eyes alone - he said it was through his mind that he felt it.

We stuck to our original plan to head for one of the crosses on the map, walking northeast for a full day (Falcor had caught some hares that we could eat) and then eventually reaching a road on the second day. This put us a little farther north than we had thought, so we turned southeast and continued until we spotted some smoke rising to our south. This time it was no conflagration, but a sign of an encampment. As we approached it was clear that it was more than that, instead looking like a fortified position that might eventually become a full fort of the legion.

We halted once we realised the significance of the site and Falcor used his dweomer to turn us invisible. As long as I was close to him I would stay hidden, so we measured some rope beforehand to keep us close (and by keeping it fairly taught I had some reassurance that he wasn't too close either). The encampment was huge, easily fitting a whole legion inside in mostly canvas tents, but it was still under construction and wasn't surrounded with walls yet. Some towers gave good lookout positions at each corner and wooden stakes were positioned to funnel people through mostly the centre of each side. It was built with the usual regular shape, and was split into quadrants inside with a wooden building at the centre. There were a great many people inside and a few patrols moving around the perimeter beyond the defences. We could see the symbols of two legions here, the Sharks (which we did not know but thought might be local) and the Cocks, which I knew all too well.

We carefully made our way inside, sticking to the wide thoroughfare to the north so we could easily avoid any people nearing us, and there was plenty of noise to hide our movements so we were not discovered. As we neared the building at the centre the alarm was raised, with shouts from the south indicating that there was something coming. A cry was passed back towards us: "look to the skies"! A gigantic creature flew over about a hundred feet up, and not something we had seen before - it was not a dragon but it was as big as one, although it did not attack.

The legion reacted in its usual fashion, with discipline and order. The Sharks seemed to gather in one quadrant, not defending the fort itself but only their area; the rest moved quickly to the outer defences, on all sides. A number of archers formed a ring around the building in the centre, and we watched with interest to see what activity there might be there, getting slightly closer. The entrance seemed to be on the west side, but nobody entered or emerged for a good ten minutes. Eventually, though, the door opened and three members of the clergy emerged, one clearly older than the other two. They summoned someone from the ring of defenders and talked for a few minutes before two returned to the building leaving the youngest clergy member by the door.

It was about another ten minutes when we heard new cries of alarm being passed back - a warning of enemies to the south that was followed by sounds of fighting. The legion maintained their positions, though, with the only reaction seeming to be the cleric by the door opening it to pass information inside. After a little while there were more cries, this time "they're through!" and alarm bells sounded. Troops in the southern two quadrants reacted, coming towards the centre to meet the threat, although those in the north remained in place.

We soon caught sight of the threat - giants were charging down the centre towards the ring around the building we were near. Falcor claimed to have seen the like before, but I had not. They were impressive in size and strength, taking several legionnaires on at once and felling perhaps three for every one of their own. They were engaged by the archers now they were in sight, as well as being chased by foot soldiers, and it was clear that despite the carnage they were causing they would not break through the defences. We thought about getting inside during the fighting, but the cleric was always by the door and enough archers covered all sides to make it difficult, so we remained where we were and watched.

As I predicted, the defence held and the few that had broken through were put down. About an hour after the initial assault the Sharks formed up and marched out to the north, although for what purpose was not clear. The rest of the defence had all been the Cocks, which was a little odd as from their equipment we thought the Sharks were more used to fighting. Eventually, though, things started to settle down and it was clear that the attack had been repelled. We made our way out of the camp, to the west this time, and around to the south to see the aftermath.

Looking around the bodies we found evidence of the tree people, with arrows that the giants would not have used to be found, but none of the bodies were theirs. I did find a shiny marble with swirling colours inside, but as I picked it up there was a moment when I thought I felt the energy inside and then it crumbled to dust. The sensation was a little like that of my father's realm, but with an aftertaste of fire and dust if there could be such a thing. That just confirmed in my mind that the tree folk had the sword somewhere. Falcor reckoned that the place they had come from was not on Karmana, and that the marble was a means of travelling between places.

We found a spot some distance from any activity and rested for the night. We were undisturbed, although a couple of carts left with solders just after dawn and returned with timber - presumably this would be used to improve the defences. We were not sure what else we could learn here, not confident that the elder cleric would not be able to detect our presence even if we could find a way into the building at the centre of the camp. Instead we looked to follow up on Falcor's feeling of being watched along with the distribution of the marks on the map, which we now suspected were previous attacks.

There was a lake near a city to the south that was a likely point of interest, so we headed that way. We reckoned we could reach the city before we ran out of fresh water and could resupply there. We reached our destination without incident and it was impressively fortified, and the amount of soldiers suggested a garrison town - although there were plenty of civilians too. The symbol of the Sharks was prominent again, but also a crossed swords that we did not recognise as well as the lightning bolt of the 10th Shock Legion - they were only supposed to be sent to places in an emergency to deal with a threat. Well we had seen a pretty significant threat, so it made sense. Perhaps this was a sign that we were getting closer.

We bought a few supplies and took a room for the night. Thankfully Falcor seemed happy enough to sleep on the floor. I was beginning to trust him a little, but was he just using me to get to the sword? Our plan was to set off in the morning on the road and then cut south to find the lake. Strangely when I had asked about fishing earlier the only direction I had been given was to head towards the mountains some way south, with no mention of the lake being made. I didn't press anyone, not wanting to raise any suspicions, so we would have to see for ourselves. The gem merchants were heavily regulated so I was able to sell a number of gems that Falcor gave me for imperial coin, and in turn buy a couple of horses.

We headed out of the city to the east and then turned southeast after a few miles towards where the map suggested the large lake would be. Around midday Falcor went hunting and came back with a deer, skinning and gutting it, then wrapping the meat and burying the remains. As he was finishing up we noticed some riders approaching from the south. We rode slowly across their path and they diverted to meet us so we stopped and waited. They warned that it was dangerous to the south and advised not traveling that way. They said that "creatures of nightmare" were attacking people, and if we wanted work we should look to the north or west.

We agreed and slowly rode west until they were out of sight, then returned to our southwest journey. By evening we started to see campfires ahead where a large force seemed to be camped, so we veered west to avoid them before making our own camp some distance away. There was some noise in the night from the direction of the fires, but nothing came too close. Possibly it was a patrol seeking to protect their camp. In the morning we continued skirting where we thought the camp was until, just after midday, we reached an expanse of water. Well, sort of reached anyway... it was visible just over a mile away and a couple of hundred feet down from the edge we had come across.

==The Drained Lake==

Weirdly, it looked as though the water had dropped from where we stood only in the last season or so, with the exposed land showing signs of having been a lake bed before. I hadn't known a lake to so rapidly diminish, and it seemed strangely unnatural. There was a clear step in the lake bed about a hundred feet down that extended for a mile or so before it dropped again for the final hundred feet. We started to skirt around the cliff edge towards where a river should be in the west, continuing until the light faded.

We made camp, but Falcor woke me in darkness and warned that he had seen Elvrabor appear. I rolled onto my front and peered in the direction he indicated, seeing them too - three some way to the north. They crouched down and looked towards us, then I got the sense of dweomer being used as they wrapped themselves in cloaks. It was a similar essence to Kraldar's realm, but different... definitely opposed to life, though. Whatever the dweomer was it stopped me from seeing them, and I tried to call on the power to detect evil auras instead, sensing one as it backed away and to the side.

Falcor used a mental power to sense them himself, and again warned that we were being watched - this time from the east! I scanned around, looking for more, and just as I turned to the south (behind where we had first looked) I saw four more appear and charging to attack us! This seemed to be the trigger for the attack, as two more appeared and charged at Falcor. I quickly drew more power, causing a couple of those to the south to stop in irritation, scratching furiously at their skin. Falcor used his mind against one, lashing out powerfully, and caused one foe to flee.

A couple had been hanging back, and it was clear why when they summoned missiles of dweomer that flew at us both, striking me painfully. Falcor, though, seemed unaffected as they flew around him and dissipated. Falcor was also able to parry an attack to remain unhurt. The dweomer, despite the pain, had a familiar sensation to it - like the fire and dust in my dream. I activated Aramat, the intense cold flames licking around its blade as usual, and rushed at the spellcaster. I couldn't reach him, though, before I was surrounded by the others in a fierce melee.

I hadn't realised it at the time, but Falcor saw Aramat like a beacon in the strange way that he could see heat and cold in the night and quickly used dweomer to move right behind one of my attackers, leaving the ones that had tried to separate us with no target. I connected with a solid blow but then was immersed in a swirling cloud of dust, with the heat of the desert building within it. I managed to step aside and away from its effects whilst still fighting, with three of the foe on me. They were a strange folk these tree-men, lithe and nimble but with surprising strength. Thankfully, like most men, they underestimated my ability to fight back and the wounded one fell with my next blow as I ducked under and around the others' attacks.

Falcor engaged the spellcaster, killing them with two swift blows, whilst I set to work on my next victim. The cold flames seems to work well against them, as if they were given power from heat and Aramat was sucking it from them. As I slashed the throat of my foe, Falcor conjured a pattern of lights, seeking to calm some, but it didn't have any obvious effect and he was attacked by two foes he had left behind to join me. We were both hit by blades, but my armour deflected the strike and I used his slight lack of balance to thrust my blade into his chest hard. I was out of melee for a moment. That didn't help much as the other spellcaster sent a bolt of lightning straight at me causing me to bend backwards with pain and giving me a fleeting vision of a barren, scorching desert viewed as if through a tear in the world.

Falcor struck one of his attackers, and seeing that they were losing the fight the spellcaster reached into a pouch and threw something, causing a rift in the world to appear which he stepped through and disappeared. I could see now what Falcor had meant about using the marble things to travel. Falcor finished off his wounded assailant and shouted at the other one to surrender. I was not that surprised that he did so at once, throwing down his weapons. Falcor turned his attention to me, noting my wounds and offered me aid. I was a little reluctant, not wishing to draw the attention of any Gods, but I was badly hurt so I gritted my teeth and agreed. The power flowed into me easily, not like anything I had felt before... well apart from time's healing perhaps; it was clean and felt untainted by the Gods as far as I could tell. I relaxed a little, enjoying the moment.

It was soon over, though, and I moved to tie up our captive as Falcor searched the bodies. He found one of the magic marbles, but also a scroll and a poisoned blade. I had a little chat with the prisoner, who seemed somewhat entranced by our little conversation, almost begging for me to join them, or him perhaps? It seemed that they served a power they believed was greater even than Kraldar, although I wasn't sure who that would be - certainly not Treddar by their actions. He also told me that it was a brother of Kraldar that possessed the power that Falcor sensed from the island in the centre of the lake. I asked the name of his master and he said it was "Itlak Alna’a"... not a name either of us knew. When I asked what relationship his master had with Kelditch his faced screwed up and he revealed that Kelditch was the only thing standing between his master and the domination of this land.

Falcor was insistent that we let him go, which was the right thing to do of course... my mentor had taught me that much - he had only fought us, and had surrendered quickly. So, yes, let him live. I threw his weapons over the cliff and untied him. He immediately lunged at Falcor's belt, where he kept a marble, but Falcor slapped him hard with the flat of his sword and knocked him out. He seemed to regret hitting him quite so hard, and as a token he left the marble beside his limp body for him to use later and we left. We both used mental powers - another sign that he could be the Guardian - to descend to the base of the cliff, then walked the mile to the next step and descended again to the new shoreline.

Something in the water broke the surface as we landed, possibly headed towards us, so we stayed close to the cliff until we were sure that been no sign of it for a while. Falcor approached and tried to test the water, but recoiled in fear the moment he touched it. He recovered himself after a moment, but it was clear that there was more to the water than it appeared. I tried to get a sense of emotional residue from it, and I got a sense that there had been a long history of traumatic deaths in this place.

We continued along the waterline but I caught sight of a figure up on the cliffs above, probably a legionnaire, so we tucked in tight to the cliff to stay out of sight and stayed close until the island was much nearer. We knew we couldn't touch the water, so we roped ourselves together and Falcor turned us invisible again. We stood at the water's edge and I climbed onto his back as he finished chanting a spell. We lifted into the air (he was just in human form this time) and flew steadily towards the island.

About a couple of hundred yards out an unnatural rainstorm started covering a large area, and we suspected it was a reaction to our presence. It deed mean that we were now obvious to anything close by, as the rain was heavy enough to outline our invisible forms. Falcor climbed higher, worried about attack from below, and then continued. We got past what we thought was the halfway point and then the rain started to get even heavier, with a wind rising from ahead of us as well. It was harder to see now, but it must have been about three-quarters of the way across when we were attacked. The dragon-like creature we had caught a glimpse of earlier burst out of the water from below us, surging straight up to slam its body into us before falling back into the water. I was crushed between its scales and Falcor and was stunned for a minute or so, losing my grip. Falcor was able to hang onto my legs, stopping me from falling, so at least I wasn't dangling under him like some kind of bait.

Falcor tried to climb higher, as the serpent seemed to be at the top of its arc when it hit us. The storm was intensifying, and our hairs started lifting on our arms as the air grew charged with static. Ahead on the surface, the water started to fountain up and grew until it was about a hundred feet tall and seemed to form arms and a head of sorts. The massive figure was entirely shaped from water but seemed no less threatening. It moved under us and its arms reached up, extending towards us until water splashed over us with some force, although not damaging, before it fell away again.

I asked Falcor to descend, quaffing a potion I knew could help, and I was able to exert my will over the creature, telling it to leave us be. It crashed abruptly back into the water and thankfully we did not see it again. Instead we faced a new threat as lightning started to arc around in the air in small areas of the storm; one bolt shocked us badly, and with no end in sight to the storm we decided that we could only try to talk to the guardian that assailed us. Falcor descended towards the water, and we found that the lightning was not as strong at a lower level. Falcor called out with his mind that we just sought an audience with her lord and meant no harm. There was an immediate and unexpected reaction - the dragon surfaced again and a voice reached us that was full of joy! She simply asked, the joy and hope infusing her question: "Is it you, my Lord"?

The sky was literally clearing and the sun emerging as she spoke with Falcor about how he was the Guardian, but how he wasn't ready yet or not himself - it was hard to follow to be honest, but this meant he really was who he claimed to be, didn't it? She unhelpfully pointed out that I reeked of death, which is apparently why she didn't recognise Falcor. She also said that it was He that had ordered her to defend this place long ago, and her name reflected her task: "The Last Defender of the Infinite Paths". She knew of the "False Elvrabor" as they had tried to cross many times, and agreed that they were probably the ones draining the water. There was a bit of an awkward conversation about how I was Falcor's "daughter" (the Elvradrak apparently have no words for more distant relations). I sort of understood what she meant, but it still seemed weird looking at the young man that allegedly fathered my mother's clan and others beside. She confirmed that Kelditch was definitely here, as he had created the paths. She claimed that he could be weak of mind, and that he sought power, but also that he could be a powerful ally if he could be controlled. By the time we had finished this exchange the sky was clear again as if had never changed.

She told us to seek the high point of the island if we wanted to find Kelditch, and we continued our journey safe in the knowledge that she would protect us. She stayed to carry on her task, at least until Falcor understood more about the place and the importance of it. Once we had flown as far as Falcor dared we landed and walked into the forest away from the cliff edges, still invisible until we decided it was time to rest.

With the relative calm came the moment I'd been dreading. The Elvradrak had pointed out what Falcor clearly hadn't noticed, because I doubt that he was just politely ignoring it: that the stink of my father's realm hung around me and tainted everything I tried to do. Falcor asked what she had meant when she said that I reeked of death. At first I avoided answering, instead talking about my mother and how being somehow related to him didn't make me a fire-breathing beast that could transform and fly, and it followed that who my father was wouldn't make me like them either. Then I half-pleaded with him not to judge me by association, asking that he wouldn't abandon me just because of where I had come from. It was like I was a little girl looking for favours, Ohh I'm so mad with myself. He must think I'm pathetic!

Eventually though, I just had to tell him, still nervous despite his promises that he had come to find me and wasn't about to just up and leave. Yes, my father is Kraldar, ok?! That doesn't mean I serve Death or owe anything to him. I hate him! His face said it all - amazement, realisation, oh my fucking... what?! To be fair he didn't just leave, which I half expected, or brand me a curse. It remained to be seen if he would think differently after a night's sleep. Damn that dragon for forcing me to tell him!

We camped for the night undisturbed, and I felt safer than I had for as long as I could remember. Somehow being around the Elvradrak seemed right to me in a way nothing else quite had. I was well rested in the morning, and took time to meditate and train a little before we packed up. It was as we were doing this, however, that we heard a loud screeching somewhere to the southeast.

It sounded like the creature we had seen over the legion camp in the north, and after a minute or so we caught sight of it, probably a mile or so away. It started circling ahead of our path, but we continued until quite close. It was then that we noticed a stone structure just beyond where it was circling. It was not a design I had seen before, being some twenty to thirty feet high with slightly sloped sides. It looked old, and rubble on top suggested that there had been more to it at some point. There was a horned figure kneeling near the structure holding a sword point down and looking contemplative. The creature was taller than Falcor, with red baggy trousers but no top. The flying creature continued to circle and was to our northeast as we drew closer still. The temple, if that was what it was, seemed sunken into the land, and all the sides were similarly sloped but not steeply. The rubble looked from this distance as if it had once formed a statue, but there was no obvious entrance on the side nearest to us.

We tried to sneak around the far side, but just as we had got there a twig snapped loudly underfoot and "red pants" reacted immediately. He chanted and we were outlined in glowing red and orange light, making our invisibility somewhat ineffective. He gave a shrill, trilling call and the flying beast dived towards us, swerving around the trees as it got lower. Falcor made a noise that sounded a lot like "fuck!" and started chanting just as I did - both calling on our unusual dweomer (neither of us seemed to know where the power came from). Falcor's power was directed at the rapidly approaching beast, but didn't seem to affect it noticeably. I tried to protect us from evil instead, and this proved wise as the creature reared in front of Falcor raking at him with its claws but being repelled by the dweomer.

I warned Falcor to stay close, not used to having someone I wanted to protect; in fact it took a moment before I remembered to warn him not to attack anything physically if he wanted to keep the protection. Falcor tried a psionic attack, but again it had no impact - the will of the flying creature was strong. Red pants summoned a great dusty, swirling creature between us and, although it seemed focused on Falcor, the debris whipped up by the strength of the wind within it was a danger to us both. At least the flying creature had veered away - it landed beside red pants, although we weren't sure what it intended next. Could it use dweomer too?

Falcor chanted again, this time affecting red pants. He visibly drooped, struggling to hold his sword up and eventually sheathing it, clearly weakened. He struggled to climb on to the flying beast, and then it leapt into the air and climbed lazily to the west. Falcor tried one last attack with his mind, but again it was able to resist him. He started to sense that another mind was beginning to notice his mental assaults, and he ran forward towards the building, ignoring the dust creature's attempts to strike at him. I moved forward as well and the dust creature dissipated harmlessly behind us.

==The Ancient Temple==

Falcor saw that there was an entrance in the side of the building red pants had been near, and there was a body sprawled across the threshold - one of the false Elvrabor. Runes were carved over the entrance, which Falcor was able to partially decipher, although I had not seen the like before. The letters were: "ELLE?IA E? RA?ACCAN" and Falcor recognised "Accan" as some kind of crossing of a barrier or boundary. There was a stone floor inside and, although it was unlit, we could see three large bronze cylinders rising from floor to ceiling spaced equally with one in the centre of the room and one either side. There were what looked like doors in each, with keyholes, also fashioned out of bronze.

I joined Falcor, noting that what had once been a stone door looked like it was broken from the inside. I suggested taking a look on top if we could get up there, and Falcor had some dweomer that could help - it allowed me to jump vertically right up to land on top, despite it being at least eighteen feet above the floor. From there it seemed that the rubble was clustered around the points where the cylinders rose from blow, so it was possible that they emerged at this level. There was a bronze hand poking out near the centre, which I could pick up as it wasn't connected to anything any more, so there had been at least one statue decorating the top. I took a moment to focus on the psychic residue of this place, and for a moment I felt like I was looking through eye cutouts in a mask, looking out over a sea of bodies - hundreds of humans on the ground, all on their knees prostate before me. The vision was gone in a moment, but it was clear that this had been a place of worship.

I spent some time excavating the cylinders, with no help from Falcor I notice. Too busy "keeping watch" to do any fucking work. I enjoyed the simple exercise, although it took time. Sure enough I revealed the tops of the cylinders that had been hidden by the rubble. Each of the three were broken at the top, and each had ladders leading down. The central one, though, continued down below ground level and there seemed to be a faint light source somewhere below. I conjured some lights and sent them down the other two shafts just to make sure that they were empty, which they were, and then the central shaft as far as ground level. The ladder seemed intact, but the shaft opened out into a room below and I would not be able to see any more without descending.

Falcor came up to join me using a rope with a grappling hook, and then let himself down the central shaft with the same rope. As he neared the room below he heard what he thought might be movement so he flipped himself upside down, somehow, to poke his head into the room. There were five glowing beetles in the corner over a dead body, feeding it seemed. Three doors were in the walls, two on one side and one opposite them, and there was an old anvil near some large storage amphorae. Falcor returned himself upright and lowered himself slowly to the floor, unnoticed by the beetles. I could feel the tension release in the rope, and started to move onto the ladder.

Just then Falcor was noticed and a loud chittering sound echoed up the shaft as they advanced with surprising speed, surrounding him. One bit Falcor and spurted a gel that burst into flame, thankfully mostly missing him. I hurried down, getting over halfway but then losing my grip and falling heavily into the mass of beetles and catching Falcor. I rolled off the shells to my feet, though, so it could have been worse. Falcor assailed them with his mind and two collapsed; I guess their basic minds couldn't put up much defence. I landed a hit on the one nearest to me and gel spurted out of a crack in its shell, splashing me a little. Thankfully I had taken the time to protect myself from fire before climbing down, and I didn't suffer any damage.

I was bitten, again avoiding fire damage, so I ignited Aramat and stuck the sword through the creature's carapace, the cold sucking all heat from it and leaving a dark husk behind. I struck a blow on another beetle as Falcor also killed one, before he turned and struck the injured creature to kill that as well. It was suddenly quiet again, and I returned Aramat to its scabbard. The room was lit gently with the glowing bodies, apart from the one that had been drained of course. We picked a door to try but found that it was locked. I tried forcing it but it seemed quite solid. Falcor strained at it, though, and managed to rip the lock mechanism apart! Bits fell away as the door shifted and we were able to force it open more easily.

We followed a corridor that turned back on itself, finding another door on the right after two turns. There were some signs of movement inside, so we left it for the moment. The corridor opened into another room at the end which had tables on the side nearest us, and two large fire sources against the wall to our right - more like strongly glowing coals than blazing flames, despite giving off quite a bit of heat. There were pots and a pestle and mortar on the tables, like an alchemist's bench. On the far side was another opening, closer to the glowing coals. We went back to the door and Falcor forced it open. As he did so there was an explosion of cold, like an elemental blast, that flooded the doorway and the vicinity. It was very powerful, but thankfully we were both protected in some way and it washed over us without effect.

The room inside was composed of a strange off-white stone. In the far corner, coiled around each other tightly, were a pair of red serpents with intense heat and impressive plummage along their backs. It's possible they had recoiled from the cold and were sharing heat in some kind of defensive reaction, but we shut the door quickly as we didn't want to start a fight we didn't need to. Falcor shouted telepathically through the door but received no response. We decided to press on, even if it was just to learn more. As he entered the next room, though, flames started to ignite within the coals and the heat built in intensity. Figures started to form within the flames so Falcor ran to the far door, entering a cooler room with a glistening floor. I dashed across as well, pushing past and into the room. I was put off, though, when I found that the floor was soft underfoot so I stopped fairly quickly to investigate.

Tendrils of flame shot at Falcor from the figures in the last room, just missing him twice but then splashing across him. It was elementally hot and should have caused searing pain, but Falcor resisted it well and was only burned a little. I had pushed forward, not able to identify the liquid on the floor although it wasn't just water. I found the skeleton of a serpent in the corner, similar in size to the two we had seen in the other room, but with nothing else catching my eye and no clear exit other than the way we had entered. We were forced to run back through past the fiery creatures. Falcor was missed but I was engulfed in flames, and only saved by the dweomer protection I had put upon myself. It was still intensely hot and painful. I was grateful, then, when Falcor healed most of the damage, although I could not stop myself flinching away as he reached out to touch me without warning.

We headed back to the room we entered through to find another way onward. I tried the opposite door, but it was locked and neither of us could shift it, and the third door was not only stuck but the handle came off when Falcor tried to force it! Going back to the first one we passed a rope through the ring and put both of our weight to work, eventually forcing the door open. There was a corridor beyond, and thankfully no hint of fire. There were doors on both sides before the corridor turned to the right beyond them. As we cautiously made our way forward, we noticed that the door on the left was ajar. Falcor edged up to it, and I ran past to position myself on the other side.

I gently eased the door open with the tip of Aramat, revealing what had once been a living space, but the items inside had been shoved to the sides and were all trashed or rotten. Falcor noticed some kind of lizard thing on the ceiling in the far corner, so I pulled the door to (the latch was broken) and left it. Falcor opened the door to the south, revealing another living quarters but in a much better state. It looked recently trashed rather than derelict, and an ominous mark of blood on the floor suggested someone had been killed or seriously injured recently. A wooden staff was lent against the wall in the far corner; it looked simple, like a tree branch but with a claw shaped group of branches at the top. As we entered we saw an old painting on the wall that showed a three-quarter length portrait of bearded human holding a staff like the one in the room, but with a sphere in the clawed part. It wasn't clearly identical, but it was very similar.

I tried to gain some psychic impressions from the blood on the floor, and I had another flash of vision: I was sat at the desk in the room, but looked up as the door exploded open violently and three 'dark elves' swarmed in and rapidly overwhelmed me. Their leader struck me down with a glistening dagger, and with my last vestige of dying will I committed my soul to the figure in the painting. Falcor, meanwhile, noticed that there was a stone without mortar set within the wall opposite the painting. He was able to remove it and found two scrolls within; I recognised one as enabling someone to communicate with a soul in my father's realm - to speak with the dead! The other I didn't understand, but I took them anyway in case they proved useful. Finally, we approached the staff and I reached out to touch it... noticing a slight jolt as the energy within it reacted to my touch. I wasn't damaged, though, so I tried to get a psychic impression from it. I received a very clear message, from Kelditch it seemed, that his power was not for me. His voice was commanding and authoritative but not cruel, but he did refer to me as "niece". I felt like my father (well not quite the same, but similar) had scolded me to warn that I should avoid a thing that could harm me.

I had a closer look at the painting, as this was the first time we had seen an image of Kelditch. There was a faint symbol on his clothes over his heart in fine gold, like two circles but crossed over top and bottom. Then we continued down the corridor to the turning at the end. I peered around the corner and saw two doors on the right some way down, with light coming from the cracks around them. There was some kind of humanoid shape at the end beyond the doors, which became clear was a statue of Kelditch as we drew nearer. There were shouts from behind the doors and Falcor doused his lantern. Figures ran out of the, hastily opened, doors with one wearing a long golden mask embossed with a visage of Kelditch. That one had a sword at his belt, but a staff similar to the other one held in front of him. He challenged us, the others beside him with swords in hand. We called out that we were seeking an audience with Kelditch. He wanted us gone, though, calling us demons - apparently because we had blood of Karmana. He called me a blasphemer for claiming a distant relation to Kelditch.

The priest started chanting, and Falcor reacted (I was going to wait, hoping that he might be trying to divine our intent, but Falcor was less patient it seemed); Falcor waved a rod and chanted, seeming to mesmerise a couple of the swordsmen. More barged past, though, attacking Falcor as the priest continued his chant. Falcor's armour reappeared as he was struck, although the blow still drew blood. I conjured a spray of colour and three of the swordsmen dropped unconscious... and still the priest chanted. We he finally finished there didn't seem to be any noticeable effect, though. Falcor also conjured a spray of colour, but the priest stubbornly remained on his feet. I tried to grapple him to the floor but ended up just grabbing his leg, although I was able to disrupt whatever prayer he was directing at us. I shouted at him to stop, as we did not wish to fight them. He resisted, though, still yelling at us to leave, so I pulled his leg out from under him and he fell flat on his back. Falcor was able to restrain and tie him up, although he made sure to leave his staff with him.

Unfortunately one of the others came round before we could bind the rest, but Falcor faced up to him and threw the rope to me to sort the others out. We could see inside the first room now, and there were half a dozen bunks in the room, which looked well lived in. There was a slight smell of burning, although the source was not clear. The door at the far end of the room was spiked and had wood nailed across it, clearly barred from this side. I tied the unconscious swordsmen up with the rope, noting that they were starting to come round as I finished. The one that had recovered seemed nervous and backed away from Falcor whilst waving his sword in fear, asking that we leave, but not looking very sure of himself.

Falcor asked him to sit, reassuring him that he would not be harmed. He did sit, keeping his weapon in hand but not seeming very proficient with it if I'm honest. Falcor relighted his lantern and asked why the door was spiked. Apparently the "fire creatures" had run amok and were free so they had tried to defend themselves. Falcor offered our help, listening at the door but not hearing anything - it did seem slightly warm though. I picked up the priest and carried him towards the statue of Kelditch, but as I approached a powerful force of negative energy washed over me. Thankfully I had inherited a resistance to such energy from my father and I was unaffected. I kept saying that we meant no harm and were only looking to help Kelditch, and a voice spoke as if from the statue, still wary of our intent. I finally managed to convince them that we might be able to help, although I had to admit that I was a child of Kraldar. That shocked them, of course, but did seem to mark a turning point in their willingness to hear us out.

The short version is that they were willing to seek an audience with Kelditch for us if we were able to drive away or defeat the Fire that had overwhelmed the temple below. The gate to fire was open, and had been for countless years - it seemed that Kelditch had been experimenting on the creatures of fire, and some of them remained bound by his will. Perhaps he had sought power over them for some aim, or to travel through their realm to somewhere else? He seemed to care little that the gate allowed creatures to enter the temple and that his followers had dwindled to the point that they could no longer contain them. I had a debate with Falcor as to why we should help at all, and Falcor was particularly confused as to why anyone would worship such a God. I had seen for myself that there were people willing to worship the most viscous, uncaring Gods so it did not surprise me. We were ultimately looking for the sword, and there might be other ways to find it, but as Kelditch's realm was attacked by the dark Elvrabor it seemed that an alliance would make sense, at least temporarily.

The priest was at least willing to give us a key to pass through the entrance room to the other side where the fire creatures were loose. Thankfully we were able to open the unlocked door despite the lack of a handle, and we entered a corridor with a door on the right and a corner ahead. There were sounds of movement behind the door, but it was closed and seemed contained so we moved on. Turning left, we could see that the corridor turned back on itself ahead, but there was a door on the opposite wall in the corner. The door was warm to Falcor's sight, and we warily advanced on it, noting that the corridor on the left was empty until it turned right just ahead. We could feel the warmth here, but again it seemed contained so we moved on to the next corner. There was a doorway on the left after another stretch of corridor that had been spiked; it seemed we had reached the dangerous section. Falcor fished a cooking mallet of all things out of his pack, and struck the spikes on alternate sides until they loosened enough for him to open the door.

We entered a bedchamber, but immediately noticed that there were holes in the stone floor as if something had melted through it. There were four in total, each just over three feet across. There were also two fire serpents in the room, like the ones we had seen contained before, but these were feasting on a corpse (the smell of burning flesh was sickly sweet in the air). They reacted quickly to our entrance, though, so I charged forward and activated Aramat as Falcor launched icicles into them from the doorway. As they were still reeling from the ice striking them, I cleaved one in two with Aramat and the other, sensibly, dived down a hole and disappeared. Glancing down I saw that the hole turned about ten feet down so it was out of sight.

We moved to the other door and threw it open, but there was no sign of foes here. The room had an iron cage on the right with a chain-locked gate, and inside were some chests and a stone lecturn with a leather-bound book on it. There was an ominous pit of glowing coals to the left, like the ones we encountered before that had proved so painful! I was all for leaving this place, as it belonged to the temple priests, and heading down instead. Falcor, though, seemed obsessed with the book and used an item to conjure a wall of stone to seal off the pit of coals while he entered. He ran in and strained to bend the bars of the cage, forcing his way in as I kept an eye on the holes, unwilling to be a part of robbing the people here. In fact I took a closer look at all of the holes, finding one that opened into a room below at the side against a wall. It was noticeably hotter than the others, so it got my attention. Falcor returned carrying a chest, and not the book (apparently it was a holy book and he didn't want to take it); the chest contained two glass vials with a clear liquid inside as well as a metal flask.

We both floated down the tube I had taken an interest in, emerging in a corridor that was much warmer than the previous room. The corridor met with a junction of other corridors a short distance away, but the junction had been cut open with a forty-foot wide tube from below. The edges were glass-like, similar in appearance to the smaller tube we had used to get here. We cautiously approached the edge, and saw that the corridors leading away from the tube were spaced evenly around it, so it had been a central nexus of some kind before it was cut through. Looking down, we could see that it was a perfect tube that cut through maybe forty feet of stone before emerging into a large space below. There was a writhing sea of fire at the base below that, which must be the gate to Fire that Kelditch had opened. The heat was intense even from this far away so it was difficult to look for long, but one thing we did notice was the glowing gold embossed lines around the gate that matched the symbol on Kelditch's clothes we had seen in the painting.

As we watched the fire we noticed a couple of squat things that might have been formed from magma emerge, with what looked like wings just about visible in the heat. We backed off, resolving to find another way to progress, and Falcor uttered an incantation that suddenly engulfed him in a dark blue flame. It gave off no heat, and didn't seem to do him any damage, though so I assumed it was a means of defence. There was no other sign of movement so we walked back towards a turn in the corridor. As we neared the holes we had entered through, though, a fire worm emerged from one of them. Falcor reacted first, grabbing a staff and sending icicles at it, which caused it to recoil as the cold clearly caused it pain. I moved forward to engage it, but it fled back through a hole as I reached it, so I let it go.

We were distracted by the sound of a high pitch whistling coming from the shaft behind us, almost like steam escaping through a crack. Falcor scanned down towards the base of the shaft with his mind, finding a lot of neutrality and some shades of good, but definitely some evil farther down. A new thing came into sight within the shaft at our level, a flying smallish imp-like thing made almost entirely of flames but with a solid black core. Falcor ran back, peering over the edge to see what was going on, and then turned to come back. The shaft was massively hotter than the corridor, and Falcor's face was blistered and burned despite his protection. It was clear that something was containing the heat within the shaft or we would have been much hotter in the corridor! Falcor noticed that the surface of the fire seemed more active than before, which explained the heat, but otherwise saw nothing new. He healed himself using mental powers, repairing most of the damage to his face - a few eyebrow hairs were still missing, quite comically.

We continued to the corner away from the shaft, finding a corridor that extended for fifty feet or so before turning to the right again. We moved forward together, wondering how we could affect such a powerful force as elemental fire, and looked around the next corner. The corridor continued a short way and ended in door. We were about to head towards it when I noticed something slightly off about the wall on the corner, and when I took a closer look I found a hidden mechanism in a hole in the mortar that, when Falcor inserted a knife, popped open a concealed door. It swung towards us to reveal an empty, dusty room.

There were a couple of short swords lent against a wall, but the new room was otherwise empty and abandoned. Falcor found another concealed door in the far corner, though, and opened it as I stood ready beside him. There were shouts of alarm as the door popped open, which I thought might be a good sign as the fire beasts hadn't done much talking so far. A shout in common came as a challenge: "who's there?" I stepped inside with my hands out and said that I came in peace. There were more priests here, wearing the now familiar mask of Kelditch. They were not convinced that I was there to help (I had only revealed myself so far). A couple of lanterns illuminated the room, and I could see there were five priests in all, one carrying a staff like the others we'd seen.

The "leader" with the staff used a prayer to confirm that I was telling the truth about being sent to help, and he introduced himself as Baltheus, a priest of the 3rd Order. He acknowledged that Kanadius, the high priest, had sent us. I revealed Falcor and there was a similar reluctant acceptance that he could help them. We asked about the false Elves, which he referred to as "Ilianna's folk" (Ilianna being the Queen of Lies)? Yes, they had been here but it was the fire creatures that troubled them. He offered to guide us down to the temple below, but insisted that we leave their people alone; we readily agreed to his terms as we did not want to disturb them or put them at risk of harm.

==Gateway to the Infinite Paths==

We followed them to the top of some stairs and then descended, without them, into a large room about a hundred feet by forty. A pair of large bronze doors were set in the wall opposite the stairs, one had a relief of Kelditch and the other a relief of his staff with the sphere upon it. There were unlit torch sconces around the edge of the room. As we stood before them, I used dweomer to protect us both from fire, wary of what we might find beyond. Falcor touched the door first and heard a booming voice in his mind asking who sought to enter his temple. He referred to him as "Karmana's child" but it was more like a question apparently. Falcor instead spoke of his devotion to Milada, and saw her for a moment as she welcomed "her Guardian", and he was touched by her power and his wounds healed in that moment (Milada is Kelditch's aunt it seems). Kelditch was appeased, and the door opened for him into a corridor running left and right but with more double doors straight ahead. I grabbed the other handle and also heard the voice of Kelditch, but he welcomed me as his niece. He noted that I did not fit well with him or his brothers, and certainly was not aligned to Kraldar. He mused for a moment that perhaps I would better match his lost uncle, although that meant nothing to me. Then he suggested that perhaps I might one day be called God and worshiped, but I shuddered at the thought of that and rejected it as strongly as I was able to. He seemed to lose interest after that, although I was allowed to pass freely.

Falcor reached for the next set of doors, but had to pause for the doors behind us to shut before it would give. After that it opened easily, though - another defence mechanism I would guess. The Gate was there, right in front of us! We could see four magma winged beasts, and two snake-like creatures with spears within the flames. The gold pattern was set around the gate in the floor but we could see that there was more to it from here. A gold-ringed hole was close to us at the intersection of the two lines, only a couple of inches across as if something could be set within it. Large (fist sized) gemstones were set evenly along the gold lines of the symbol, three on each side in each line, so twelve total. At the far side where the lines intersected again stood a shaft of wood, sticking up about three or four feet from the floor. There was one gem faintly glowing on the right a distance from us. We could feel no heat here, even though we knew that we were close to an inferno. There were also murals around the walls, completely covering them.

I moved forward to look closer at the nearest gem, noting that the fire creatures did not react to our presence. There was a carving of "Death" (AMAT) next to it; typical that I should see that first, I cursed my father's name yet again under my breath. Falcor went clockwise and found "Life" (LERAL). The others were Air (AELI), Water (MAR), Fire (HIGN), and Earth (HUM). We met on the far side and took a look at the wooden stick. It looked much like Kelditch's staff, but it was hard to say if it actually was as it had been broken off (the top was missing). I looked up at the murals to see if they might help; there were twelve of those, all variants of Kelditch with his staff aloft and energy lines coming out of the orb as he strode confidently through a variety of hostile environments: lakes of fire, a barren landscape of ash dust, pockets of air within deep soil, walking on water whilst surrounded by more water, a strangely white grainy windswept desert of sand, floating in mid-air, one with just him (which seemed a little out of place), a land of death (I knew that one), a hellish place full of fire and corpses and hideous horned headed beasts, lightning bolts and bright burning images of the sun in a chaotic confusion, a forge of teeming life, and a dusty desert of ash, all those in order clockwise.

I tried to sense any psychic impressions from the staff but I was overwhelmed by multiple images of Kelditch placing the staff into the hole followed by a massive release of energy, and I passed out. I fell across the line, the heat starting to affect the parts of me that were exposed, but thankfully Falcor saw what was happening and pulled me away. It looked like I might have got the attention of a couple of creatures, but they were scanning the area rather than looking directly at us so I could only have been visible for a moment when I passed over the protective sigil. Falcor used a potion to heal me, including my mind, and I came too a little surprised and disorientated. After a moment, though, I was able to relay what I had seen and recover my senses.

We left the temple through the doors nearest the stick, closing the doors behind us. Then Falcor used a small axe I hadn't seen before to summon a huge earth elemental, at least three times his height! He told it to retrieve the stick, and it passed straight through the wall to enter the room. A minute or so later it returned and dropped the stick at Falcor's feet. I opened the door a crack to see if anything had changed, and it seemed hotter, with the fire still visible in the centre. That hadn't done what we wanted, so we walked around the corridor to where we had entered first, meaning to try the other hole. When we looked through that door we discovered that the fire was coming and going, perhaps randomly, so the gate was no longer open to a single place. Falcor commanded the elemental to place the stick in the hole on this side to see what that did, and after a few minutes it returned. When we looked this time, there was an ash monster in the centre of a black dusty circle instead!

We decided that it was better to leave it without control, if it kept moving between the fire and ash then neither would be dominant and the temple could be more easily contained. Falcor told the elemental to retrieve the stick one last time. We crossed via the corridor to the far doors again and this time left the temple, finding more stairs leading up in a similar fashion to the ones we had descended earlier. I tried to sense psychic impressions again, and this time it was insightful. I saw through the eyes of, I thought, a priest of Kelditch: I was panicked and out of breath looking into the temple through open doors. The fiery circle was there with the complete staff (but no sphere) set before it. There were two people beside it, one in simple, plain robes (a priest of Treddar I thought), and the other an imperial legionnaire with the golden cock symbology clearly displayed. The legionnaire grasped at the staff and snapped it, sending a shudder of utter dread through the one I was "seeing" from. The priest conjured a creature of pure fire between us and I just saw him creating a doorway in the air for them to step through before the fire creature consumed me and I snapped back to the present.

At least we knew what had happened, even if it didn't help much right now. We returned to Baltheus by the same route we came, as he asked, and were offered food and water as he sent for Kanadius. I was particularly glad for the water after the heat we had endured at times. We recounted what we had found and done, trying to reassure him that fire could no longer fully dominate the temple. Kanadius recognised the names of Custor (Falcor knew this one) and Ilianna as they had both been taught by Kelditch. Custor now had the all-seeing eye (the orb) with him, and the broken part of the staff was with the Golden Cocks - perhaps what the priests had been guarding in the fort we had seen.

I handed over the staff, or what was left of it, and he chanted for a full minute before fire erupted in the air, without heat this time, and Kelditch's face within spoke to Kanadius before facing us. Kelditch wanted to return here to his temple, but needed the staff to do so... remade (although without the orb there was a chance it could work). He would help us to strike at Ilianna if we were to help him to return. It was clear that he had been able to draw power from fire, although we were a little wary of what he might do with such power. He forced Kanadius to return the part of his staff to me, which was a bit awkward - he seemed to consider me as more important than "mere humans" in some way. It was clear that he expected us to repair the staff and enable him to come back, but we would have to talk about whether that was a good idea another time. We were a little surprised to hear that he wasn't aware that the lake was being drained, but he did seem fond of the guardian within it.

We were able to rest for the night near the temple, by the stairs. We still weren't welcome amongst the priests but they did provide food and water, so I suppose we shouldn't complain too much. In the morning Falcor was able to use the power of his helm to learn more about the half of the staff I had been given. It had the power to open a gate to a chaotic place that we weren't keen on, but more interestingly it had a chance to close gates as well. I had to try, at least, so I entered the temple again. It was linked to fire when I walked in, the blazing inferno once again in the centre and some creatures of fire starting to form within it. I ignored it this time and instead focused on the staff, raising it in front of my and trying to will the gate closed. As I did so the doors slammed behind me in Falcor's face, narrowly missing me... stupid! I should have known it would seal itself when the device was being used - the whole place was built to contain the forces in the centre. Falcor started banging on the door, but I ignored that and refocused on the staff and gate.

It was a strange feeling, as if my senses were expanding beyond my body, and I felt my mind start to meld with the gate from all around and within simultaneously. I could sense the instability, as well as the bonds holding it in place within the symbol on the floor, I could also sense its tether to the gemstone on the floor, although the "other end" of that tether was loose. I concentrated on the gate reducing and being removed and was surprised at how easily it responded, almost as it if sensed my will before I had fully formed the thought. In a moment the gate was gone entirely and the gem stopped glowing. For just a moment afterwards I had a sense of an airy space full of endless sky, which I intuitively knew was far away, and a dark shadowy space that was here in this world, quite close, but with no clear features I could identify it with - near a forest it seemed, but which I could not say. Then I returned to myself and had a pang of frustration as my senses suddenly seemed limited and weak in comparison.

I immediately had a sense of revulsion at myself - was this how my father had started? A taste of power and then a desire for more? I dropped the staff and stepped back, sickened that I might be like him after all. No, I wouldn't give in to it! Falcor said "are you all right?" and I started, turning a little too quickly. How long had he been here? "Yes," I managed, then: "it's closed." A statement of the fucking obvious. I shook my head, then stepped back to the staff, picking it up. I looked at Falcor and said "this thing is too dangerous to stay here, we have to take it with us." It was as much a challenge as a statement, but he seemed to agree and gave no argument.

Eager to get away from this place I walked past him and he joined me as we made our way back up to the next level. The priest guided us to the entrance we had used and we climbed up the tube, getting a welcome taste of the cool forest air outside.

Journal - The Crown of Intelligence

2023-01-21T11:45:35Z

2A00:23C7:BF83:A101:C954:4846:AE42:5436:

(Clearly not meant for us)

==A New Way of Travel==

After the tragedy in the temple it took a few days for Arad to discuss how the people's needs would be catered for with the acolytes remaining. We also spent time with our respective mentors to learn more and practise our skills, which took a few weeks. There was plenty of time for contemplation, and I mourned the passing of Gilrad, resolving to follow the laws of the Creator a little closer as a small offer of contrition. I also learned as much as I could from our Saloroc friends about their homeland, Rozdyrevdoy, and its current state under the War Chief King Muddar the Undefeated.

Falcor had been studying how to use the tapestry and pyramid device, and visited the Elvradhil to speak about how they could help. They had restored the star room with the four statues that we had found by chance when we first followed the goblins what seemed like an age ago. Apparently the star was important to the use of the tapestry, and it was now functional again with the star design inlaid with gold and fist-sized gemstones at each point. The statues still turned to face Falcor at all times, which was no less creepy, but at least didn't suck the life out of him anymore.

When we finally came together and were prepared to travel again, it was to the star chamber that Falcor brought us. He had breathed fire into an Elvradhil brazier in preparation for the ceremony, and some magical force kept it burning whilst containing the heat so that it could be moved easily. Falcor placed the tapestry in the centre of the star and then used the pyramid to mark a place in Rozdyrevdoy near Mirgord. Strangely it stood firmly on its point as if fixed and could not be accidentally moved. We stood on our respective points, except for Falcor - his place was taken up by the brazier so he stood on the "intelligence" point as that is where we were moving to. Arad focused on the pyramid, willing us to move, and it did seem to work but there was a sound from our packs that suggested something might have broken in the process!

Despite this we were instantly transported to another place, although the pyramid was still stood on its point in front of us. Falcor urged Arad to take the pyramid, as he was the only way we could get back now that he had used it. We were at the edge of a relatively sparse forest, and we could see a fortified city along a coastline to what must have been the north of us. A road was in front of us, about a hundred yards away, that wound towards the city but also split to our right as we looked at it, with one road almost wrapping around us. Beyond the road there were some rolling hills to the east.

We started to rope together as Falcor turned us invisible so that we could stay together without being seen. Once we were ready we walked west along the treeline parallel to the road, intending to get closer to the city. I reached out for Karmana, just to see if she was present here... and I immediately felt a powerful draw of power to the southwest that I had to pull back from quickly. Karmana was there, but something was siphoning power from the land. After continuing for a little way we noticed some dust up on the road ahead and a mounted company of Saloroc, about a hundred strong with a Black Hand pennant, rode past on the road. They were light cavalry with spears and bows and seemed to move purposely on some kind of mission rather than patrolling.

Arad noticed that something was flying overhead, large but far away, and seemed to be right above us which worried us slightly. There were no squirrels in the vicinity to ask about it, though... perhaps they were afraidof it? Falcor was slightly annoyed by my calls to see if any were around as we moved on. Not that I would keep making squirrel calls just to irritate him, of course, that would be totally unnecessary. He he. I stopped as we got closer to the city, of course, and the forest fell away to the south giving way to more arable land that was kept to some extent, although it still seemed deserted.

==The Price of Information==

The city wall wasn't a regular shape, as if added some time after the city had grown, but it was in good condition. It rose about thirty feet high in most places, but with manned guard towers and a fortified gate facing our way, so roughly southeast. We kept to the forest and found a spot to meet again once I had (hopefully) made contact with the resistance. This seemed like a good time to reveal to my friends that I had learned how to take the shape of some animals and birds I had encountered, and my plan to change into a bird and fly into the city. It saved them from having to help me over the wall, and reduced the chance I would bump into any Black Hand patrols significantly. Falcor didn't seem impressed, though, muttering something about how I could have flown here on my own and saved them the walk. Typical teenager!

I took the form of a thrush and flew above the city. It was stone-built for the most part, with narrow streets within the outer walls. The exception was in the centre wher a flat-topped hill stood; the buildings there were much finer, almost like a palace or other place of importance. I could see the docks on one side, looking significantly more shabby. Next to the walls was an open area - a place to exercise or a defensive killing zone depending on your perspective. I wasted no time and headed straight towards the docks, finding the "Sailor's Delight" where I was to meet our contact in what was clearly the shittiest part of the docks, which itself seemed to be the shittiest part of the city. A poor residential area indicated the type of clientele I would likely meet inside, so I would need to be wary.

There was a narrow alley next to the tavern, so I found a place out of sight to change back to my normal form. I moved around the front and ducked inside as quickly as I could, getting some looks from those inside. Unfortunately there were three Black Hand Saloroc that wanted to pick a fight. I tried to avoid it, but the barmaid tipped me off that they wouldn't let me off that easily, but that she wouldn't be too bothered if they ended up dead. After I cut open the first two a lady appeared looking slightly amused and said "don't mind me"; her appearance seemed to terrify the last Black Hand who begged for mercy, but I couldn't let him go and I knew that I would be judged by the resistance on my actions so I just tried to make sure he died quickly.

The lady had me drag the bodies to dump in the sea using a well concealed door in the back of the tavern, stripping them of anything useful first. She was indeed my contact, and unsurprisingly from what I had heard of her seemed to know quite a bit about us, including Falcor and Arad. As I expected, she wanted us to do something for her before agreeing to help us, and asked that we fetch a powerful artifact for her from the "swamp people", one that granted the ability to exert control over reptiles. She offered in return to put us in contact with one who had been touched by dark magic and was most likely to have the information we sought. I agreed, seeing little choice at this point, and then returned to my friends by swimming out of the harbour in otter form and then making my way to the forest as a squirrel.

Falcor was still invisible, so I couldn't chitter in his ear when I got there. Instead I used our mental link to check that they were still in the meeting place and then relayed the result of my meeting to them. I remained as a squirrel as we started the journey south into the forest, where my contact had indicated we could find the swamp we had to enter. After five miles or so there was a colder feeling in the air, and the wind had shifted to behind us giving a chill on the back of our necks (I was grateful for my fur at this point). The sky seemed to have darkened as well, more so than the time of day alone could explain.

The trees had become draped in vines and fungi sprouted from them, under foot the ground became increasingly soggy, and we could make out scurrying noises from things unseen in the gloom. I decided to turn back into my normal form, more worried at that point about being eaten as a squirrel than I was about being seen! The darkness increased, and we knew that night was approaching so we decided that we would have to rest despite the oppressive surroundings. Arad took first watch and after a couple of hours he noticed snakes slithering down the tree we were resting against towards us! Three tried to strike at Arad, and he "yelled" mentally; this yell somehow penetrated my dream and I woke to realise the shout was real and we were in danger. Falcor, though, slept on. Arad had snakes on him, which spurred me into action, although he was throwing one off as I looked.

I called on Karmana to protect us from serpents, which was good timing as out of the darkness from all sides came some serpent creatures with legs, at least human sized, advancing on us. I put a circle of protection around the tree, not knowing exactly where Falcor was, and one of the creatures dropped dead as it tried to reach us - three others were clearly in pain. Arad handled the snakes well, grabbing them and bashing them against the tree. I asked him not to wake Falcor, aware that the protection I used might anger him, and to stay close to the tree. Thankfully he heeded my advice and the last three creatures died trying to get through Karmana's barrier. We thought we could hear some chanting in the air from somewhere off in the distance, but it was impossible to say exactly where in the dark.

We stayed on a defensive watch for about half an hour, but nothing else could be heard. Arad finally settled down to get some rest and I remained on watch, the time passing peacefully despite the unsettling sounds in the swamp around us. I handed over the watch to Falcor, reassuring him that the bodies around us were nothing to worry about but to be wary of trouble. It was nearly morning, but still quite dark, when Falcor heard noises around us that seemed more purposeful than usual. He moved out from the tree a little way and saw some snake-headed humanoid warriors. He shouted a warning and closed with one, activating a staff that seemed to have no effect. He also summoned magic missiles, though, which struck true. Neither of us woke at his shout, though, having had a rough night!

Falcor was attacked, but his armour returned just in time to protect him from the blow. Part of the tree above us transformed into snakes and dropped onto Arad and me! I was bitten, which definitely did wake me up, but thankfully its venom didn't affect me. I sank into the earth beneath me, dragging one snake with me and leaving it there, then emerged a little to the side free of the snakes for the time being. Arad had been bitten, and he used the power of his crown to purge the venom from him, then managed to kill a snake by bashing it against the tree.

The snakes were not the only things to worry about, though, and the snake warriors advanced on us. Falcor conjured a lightning bolt, the shock killing one of them. Arad killed a snake or two, but had to defend himself with his sword against the new threat. Falcor struck one, but being farther out had been surrounded by four of them. Thankfully his skill and armour kept him in good shape, only suffering a glancing blow. He called on everything he had to defend himself, and an ice bolt struck one of his attackers, turning its flesh black where it was struck, and it keeled over dead.

I landed a series of stabs and cuts to kill one that had attacked me, and I saw Falcor fell one with a powerful blow. Perhaps the odds were about to even out a bit? Yeah, shouldn't have thought that. We heard the voice in the air again, like last time, and as I moved to help Arad the ground suddenly erupted with spiders! I was bitten again, but managed to resist whatever venom they might have injected. Arad was killing another snake, but now he also had spiders all over him! I did manage to finish my attack and kill the snake warrior, but it seemed more of a distraction now that we were being swarmed with spiders!

I dived into the soil again, emerging away from the spiders, as Arad stoically ignored them and instead strode over to aid Falcor, striking with both his weapons. Falcor cleaved the other attacker down, so there was only one now. I called on Karmana to create water and dumped a load on top of the spiders nearest me. I would have done it on Arad, but he had moved away. I'm still not sure if he would have thanked me or not, though. I then ran to help the others, finishing off the last of the snake warriors that Arad had injured. Arad was able to squash the last of the spiders; I checked with him about bites and any potential venom, but he seemed happy that he had it under control.

We took a moment to check our equipment, finding that Arad and I had lost a potion each due to the glass cracking during the transfer through the tapestry. Also, having slept on it and now with a moment to reflect, I discussed with Falcor my concerns about the implications of handing this artifact we sought over to a third party if we did find it. I was concerned that it might affect the Elvradrak, and if it did what it might be used for. As we were speaking and looking at our equipment Falcor cooked up some snake for breakfast, which was delicious. As I used Karmana's power to dry the wood, however, I felt a presence that noticed me and was contesting for Karmana's power - I suspected that it was this that was drawing on the land. Arad took time to bless one of Falcor's swords for use against Sullinassauri, offering to do the same for me at some point before we reached our goal.

We continued our journey, and we knew that we were well into the morning by now but it was still dark and murky. After an hour or so I heard something slightly unnatural up ahead, so I warned the others and offered to sneak forward to investigate. With Falcor's blessing I pulled up the hood of my cloak and sneaked forward. There were definitely sounds of things moving on the other side of a pool of swamp water, but it was too murky to see what without getting closer. I heard some snippets of the language of the lizard folk as well. I closed, skirting the pool, until I saw four of the first lizard things we had encountered. They noticed me, by sound I guessed, and came sprinting at me fast. I dove into the earth at my feet and moved away for several minutes before resurfacing and just staying still to watch. They were sniffing and scratching around the area where I had been, but then a sharper voice called them back, still in the lizard tongue. I returned to the others to report what I had seen and discuss what we wanted to do.

Arad had a plan to influence the lizards' minds and potentially make them allies, so we advanced confidently together. Sure enough they reacted in the same way, charging at speed towards us. The rapid movement took Falcor by surprise, and he instinctively lashed out with his mind rather than wait for Arad's prayer. All of the creatures suddenly crumpled and collapsed to the floor within a few steps, their simple minds unable to withstand the assault. They seemed harmless after that, and we checked that they were still alive and able to breathe before proceeding.

As we approached, I started to notice the shape of the trees forming the start of a circle, and I was reminded for some reason of Borarla. A dread filled me, as we knew so little about this land, that we might be intruding on a sacred grove. I tried calling out in the secret tongue of druids that my Saloroc mentor had taught me, and my stomach tightened as I immediately received a response in kind. We should not be here!

I asked if this was a sacred place, and he responded that it was "...beyond your imagining" and told us to leave and never return. Interestingly he made a point of saying that Falcor was not welcome, and knew that he was Elvradrak. I offered my apologies, saying that we did not mean to invade such a sacred place, or to harm his people without knowing that they were of Karmana / Korman. The response, though, was that "Korman is no friend of ours and nor is her Guardian. Leave now." I ventured to ask, saying that we would leave, who his guardian spirit was if not Korman? He said that it was "The Queen of the Damned", and in her name he wanted to banish us from this place. I asked if this was Sullinassauri, but he practically spat how I dared to speak that name as it was his Queen's jailor! I apologised again, saying that we sought to destroy this jailor and our ignorance had brought us into unnecessary conflict. I probed as to where we could find the jailor, and he said we could find them in the Tower of Sins beside the City of Shadows.

I told the others that we were in a sacred place and that we should leave immediately, but that I had information for them on the location of the Sarn. Falcor was reluctant to believe some snake creature that we had just met, but I insisted that he was a keeper of the land and we should respect this place. Now we had the information we needed we should leave, I said, and we started to walk away discussing it. Arad, though, had stayed behind and tried to use his staff to influence the reaction of whatever creatures were within the trees. Whether it was because he had not withdrawn or as a response to his actions, Arad was attacked from behind by more lizard creatures and shouted in alarm.

Arad entangled two of his attackers, and I called on Karmana to form a wall of vegetation between us and the grove, catching the other two of Arad's attackers in the corner. I shouted that we needed to leave, we had the information we wanted so there was no reason to fight, but Arad was a stubborn fool sometimes and kept lashing out at any perceived threat. We finally convinced him to come back to where we were and then headed west for a couple of hours, just to move away from the druid's sanctuary. We were sure that we were being followed, but we were not attacked again. We did not know exactly where the City of Shadows could be found, although it was likely to be in the southern half of the island. Falcor suggested that I use the sense of force drawing from the land that I had felt before to guide us in the right direction.

I reached out to touch a tree and spoke with it for a moment, but that only gave me the sense that Karmana and holiness was below, with poison and bad air above. Thanks, tree. Instead I tried a small prayer to purify some of the water from the swamp, but then was overwhelmed by a mocking presence filling my senses. I did get a good sense of direction just before I passed out, though, which was definitely south west of us. I was revived by Arad using his crown, feeling a great surge as my body and mind were filled with Karmana's energy. I was glad for the help, and felt better than ever, and I placed my crown on as well since something probably knew where we were by now anyway.

==The City of Shadows==

I indicated the direction we should head for, and we set off once more. We started to emerge into drier, deciduous forest after a while, but it was getting darker again. At some point we lost our tail from the swamp, probably satisfied that we had left, but kept going for about four hours. The forest was very thin by now and we started to see the bright reflected light of a city up ahead. Falcor turned us invisible and we set camp for the night, using string to keep track of where we all were. It was actually reasonably pleasant, with forest sounds having returned since leaving the swamp and the temperature was warm enough to be comfortable. We rested well, with the only event during the night being a shrieking giant bat that flew over heading towards the city.

In the morning, although it was still dark in this place of shadows, we continued on towards the city, still invisible. We took some time to circle and inspect the place, noting the fine stone outer walls in a square with a gate on each of the four sides. Each gate had a very robust double-towered defensive gatehouse, and there were armed figures visible atop them. The gates were huge and at least clad in iron. There were large fortified towers in the corners where the walls met, formed in an "L" shape to cover both walls. At the western edge of the city, but outside, was a massive stone tower about a hundred yards from the city gatehouse. This tower had only arrow slits for perhaps the first five storeys, then an open layer with many pillars on each side that was brightly lit on the outside. We could clearly see one of the giant bats perched in one of the openings there, so it seemed to be a sort of landing area. There were perhaps another couple of storeys above that with windows. The Saloroc stood guard near the gates, both city and tower, and all seemed to be moving on foot. There were some humans around, though, which surprised me. All of those that were not in armour were not armed at all and were all finely dressed.

After our inspection we found a spot a few hundred yards from the tower to discuss what to do next. This, it was clear to me, was the Tower of Sins we had been directed to. Falcor wanted more information before acting, to I transformed into a Thrush (still invisible) and flew to the main door on its east side. I was able to swoop through as some civilians entered and found an internal courtyard with three oak doors, all closed. One was clearly a main entrance, with the others seemingly leading to a barracks of some kind. There were about a dozen Saloroc, not bearing any clan markings (we had seen none at all here). They were well appointed, armoured and carrying medium sized swords. The height of the courtyard was about twenty feet, with a ceiling of stone above. I noticed that the double doors that were the main entrance were not used by the Saloroc guards at all, but when civilians approached they were let through quickly with a nod.

I could see no way of getting inside without alerting at least one of the guards, if not more, so I flew out and over to the city wall to take a look there. I was most surprised that the majority of light sources within the city seemed to be magical in nature, suggesting that magic was commonplace here. There were both human and Saloroc guards on the walls, although more were human. This was different to the tower, where I had only seen Saloroc guards. I flew back to the others to report what I'd found so far, and as we were discussing it the bat we had seen perched on the tower launched itself out and flew off into the darkness. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, I flew up to where it had been to take a look. Although the outside was brightly lit there was hardly any light inside so it was hard to see, but there were a couple of figures near the centre.

As I hopped in I could see a bit more; there were two figures near to what might be an altar arranged diagonally in the centre of the open floor. One was slumped against this, but jumped up as I entered looking in my direction. I didn't wait to see what they did, flying straight out again. Behind me a human form jumped from the tower and turned into one of the giant shrieking bats, so I dived for the floor. I go there first, but could not enter the earth in my animal form so I instead flitted over to the edge of the tower, hoping its shaped and my invisibility would hide me.

The others had noticed the movement and decided to fly up to the tower. The dweomer was much slower than flying as a bird, though, so it would take some time for them to reach it. Arad levitated himself so that he could be drawn along by Falcor without burdening him, which helped a little. The bat was circling and shrieking loudly, but it seemed to have lost me, at least for the time being. It climbed back up to the level it had started from, shrieking slightly less frequently - presumably using the noise to search for me.

Arad called the Creator's protection on Falcor and himself as they approached, which would prove to be a crucial advantage later, although of course I didn't know that they were approaching at this point. That changed when a lightning bolt, conjured by Falcor, lit up the sky above me and Falcor became visible. He had struck the bat with it, and then sent a second bolt arcing out. The crazy fools were going to alert the whole city! I decided that I'd better go and help in some way, perhaps to engage the second figure they wouldn't have been aware of. There was also a mental battle going on between the creature and Falcor, although that was invisible of course. The thing launched itself at Falcor, aiming to slam into an attack, but was repelled by the invisible barrier of the Creator's protection.

Arad was still praying, adding additional blessings to Falcor and himself, and the bat was clearly angry that it couldn't touch either of them. Arad threw bolts at it, striking true, and it flew away to disappear into the darkness. I reached the open floor again and flew in, changing into my normal form to attack the other one. She was in female human form, not that the form could be trusted. Unfortunately all of my weapons passed harmlessly through it! Thankfully Falcor was nearing an entrance and cast some spell on my foe that weakened it. It certainly looked like she was struggling, no longer as quick or powerful in her movements.

She had stabbed me once and grabbed at me, and I could feel a pull on my essence like Karmana's power was flowing the wrong way from me, but I was just able to resist it. Thanks to Falcor's aid, though, I was able to shake free of her grip quickly. She missed me a couple of times after that - all I could do was dodge and parry as I couldn't hurt her - then thankfully Falcor arrived to engage her in melee. Arad was also there, holding up his holy symbol and chanting. In a strange vision, Falcor became an Elvradrak as he ran at her and roared at her. She froze in terror, allowing Falcor to strike her with his rod (which was strange given that he had changed form) and shoot bolts of energy at her. Light flooded the chamber from Arad's holy symbol as he finished chanting, although it didn't seem to have any obvious effect on her, and then Falcor returned unusually quickly to his human form; was that an illusion? She seemed to all outward appearance to be helpless and fragile, but such an evil creature could not be trusted at any time, and it was still dangerous, of that I was sure.

Falcor was similarly unconvinced and continued to bludgeon her even as Arad tried to bind her hands, urging us to relent. We in turn asked him not to be deceived! We were right, of course, and she suddenly turned into a gas and disappeared through some small holes in the floor! I moved towards the stairwells in two of the corners, noting that both went down. We really wanted to go up though, so I didn't continue. Arad poured holy water into the sarcophagus in the centre of the room (what had looked like an altar from a distance was definitely not an altar... I had opened it but found nothing inside except a lining. He said a blessing over it, hoping that it had been purified in some way.

Falcor flew out and up to look at the windows of the floor above, and I ran to the corner and leapt into the air, creating a pocket of Cernurros' realm using my wand to stay at that height and to penetrate the ceiling. I had called Arad, but of course once I was inside the "bubble" we could no longer communicate. I jumped out and up, emerging into a dark room lined with bookcases and with study tables towards the middle. Arad joined me after managing to reach the bubble and make his way up, and I learned from him that Falcor had made his own way onto this floor, into a corridor nearby.

I took a moment to light a lantern so that we could see more clearly, and idly looked at the nearest open book - and I was slightly alarmed to see that it recorded known vulnerabilites of the Elvradrak! I took it, with Falcor's blessing, and put it in my pack to look at later. We linked up with Falcor as he opened the door and all made our way into the corridor. There were several doors leading off this, as well as another corridor at a corner. I opened the nearest and found a lady's bed chamber with a huge four-post bed, wardrobes, and so on. As I stepped in, though, there was a sudden sucking drain of energy from my mind, taking some of Karmana's power from me. I warned the others and stepped back out quickly!

Falcor opened a door farther down and found an alchemist's laboratory, collecting several potions of interest for study later. He asked about the book I had taken, and I flicked through to look at the main points. The vulnerabilities of Elvradrak were listed as:<br>

a. The Elvradrak are intrinsically linked to Karmana.<br>
b. They cannot sustain dragon form without a link to Karmana.<br>
c. Their ability to use dweomer is linked to Karmana.<br>
d. They are more prone than others to having power drawn from them by another power.<br>
e. They cannot achieve true birth without the power of Karmana's Forge.<br>
f. All Elvradrak bar one are female and without the King the race cannot continue.<br>

Arad was still able to check for traps so I was sticking close to him, but then Falcor asked me to check the door opposite. We knew there was a magical trap of some kind but I could not find a mechanism for it. Then Falcor used dweomer to open it in my face! I was immediately burned with radiant energy, which Falcor seemed able to absorb. He apologised, not having intended to open it with me stood there. Before I could respond we heard shrieks from down the corridor in front of Arad, coming from both sides. Ignoring that for now, though, and curious about what might be behind the trapped door, I stepped into the room. There were lots of large chests all around the room, which was slightly smaller than the last one. I suspected some kind of hidden area on one side, and Arad confirmed there was a trap in the corner. I opened one of the chests and found that it was full of gold coins.

Arad said that he had no way of disabling the trap and then muttered a prayer to the Creator. Falcor had an alternative, though, and pointed a wand at the wall to create a hole - now we didn't have to use the hidden door so we didn't need to worry about the trap! I stepped inside and was confronted by a tall figure... but it was hunched over and not moving thankfully. It was stood beside a plinth with a book on it. As I stepped closer I could see that there were two such creatures, seemingly guarding it, but both inactive. The book had a stylised "S" on the front within a blood red circle.

Gas started to seep into the room from below us and formed the man and woman we had fought earlier, although clearly undead shadows of real people. I ran and leapt past, getting touched as I did so and feeling the drain of energy begin again. I managed to resist to some extent and landed near to Arad, who was preparing the prism for us to escape. Falcor struck the man and suddenly transformed into his dragon form again, just like he had on the floor below, roaring and leaving his foe frozen in fear. Falcor also sent ice spikes shooting into him. Seeing that Falcor was engaged, Arad tried to use the Creator's power to force them away from us, but despite the usual bright light shining from his holy symbol there was no noticeable effect on the creatures.

The creature shrieked in Falcor's face and tried to punch him, but Falcor's armour reappeared just in time to block the blow. I was nearly seduced by the woman, but thankfully just managed to snap back to alertness in time to sway out of the way of her blow. Arad prayed for me, offering the Creator's protection. Falcor landed more hits and ice strikes, but the creature he was fighting just managed to stay on its feet. The female tried to strike at me again, but this time she recoiled from the Creator's shield, and in doing so her true evil nature showed for a moment on her face. I felt a rising anger and compulsion to attack her, but I knew none of my weapons would have any effect. Instead I impulsively reached out and grabbed at her with my hand, calling on the power of my crown to pass positive healing energy into her. After a moment of concentration when things seemed to slow around us, she started to shriek in pain before being silenced as she exploded in light, being utterly shattered by the energy. The light dissipated quickly into the room and she was gone.

Arad healed my wounds, and for the first time in this foul place I felt like we might be winning. Falcor struck the other one and it become gaseous again, sinking into the floor in retreat. As we checked the corridor for more foes, Shalleth appeared at the far end near where we had entered! She was as surprised that we were there as we were to see her. She seemed genuinely shocked that we had killed one of the bat creatures, and claimed to be here simply for profit although she hadn't previously seemed interested in such mundane treasure. I followed her into the room full of chests... and suddenly I was transported outside the tower into mid-air! I fell, activating the ring of blink that Falcor had given me in panic, but hit the ground before it could activate. I sank into the earth instinctively, which certainly saved my life.

Meanwhile the others were attacked by the two guardians, having been activated somehow. Falcor fired his bow at one of them, landing several hits. Arad conjured a fireball, sending chunks of burning goo out from where one guardian was stood and untold damage behind it. Falcor was pissed off with Arad for using a fireball in such a tight space, and with possible allies inside the room... in fact he thought that Arad had killed me! More guardians started to arrive so they went back to using the prism to escape, arriving sage within the Elvradhil hall. The flames within the brazier died when they had finished the transition. They did surprise the Elvradhil with their sudden appearance, but they relaxed when they saw who it was.

I was not dead, of course, or not exactly. I found myself in a grey foggy nothingness after the ring activated, and took out the pegasus figurine that Falcor had given me to summon the impressive steed. I mounted it and it blinked around with me for a while until the ring's effects wore off, and then I focused on trying to get back to Karmana.

==The Land of Death==

I felt a connection to its questing mind, but hesitated. I was worried that the place I had entered wasn’t wholly of Karmana, and I had felt another presence before being ripped away to this strange grey nothing. I focused on the image of the tower and the pegasus seemed to be asking without words: “There? Do you want me to take you there?”. I willed it to take me back to Sullinassauri’s Tower and almost immediately the grey mist was gone. In its place were the cold stone walls of the tower just a few yards in front of me, magical light illuminating the moonless sky. The unnatural darkness seemed unchanged, so there was no sense of how much time had passed.

I reached out with my thoughts in a careful mental whisper: “Falcor, are you there? Arad, can you hear me?” I repeated the call several times but received no answer, whispering at first but gradually raising the power of the call. There was no sense of them nearby, though, and no response. “FALCOR? ARAD?” I tried one more time, throwing all my mental energy behind the thoughts. Almost instantly I knew it was a mistake – I didn’t reach Falcor or Arad but at the edges of mind another presence was there again. A dark and brooding mind, pushing at the edges of sub-conscious and looking for weakness.

It was different this time though; before, I had recognised the mind of an Elvradrak but this was something different. It wasn’t the same mind that I had been in conflict with before, this was much more powerful and yet also more distant, more distracted, and less concerned with me. I knew that I was attracting too much of the wrong attention, so with an effort of will I calmed my thoughts and drew my mind back, no longer seeking the others. I felt the gently questing dark presence fall away from me, replaced once more by the curious mind of the Pegasus. In an instant, though, the dark mind snapped its attention to the Pegasus. No words were exchanged that I could sense but the intent was clear: ‘Come to me. Join me. You belong here.’

Before I could intervene, the Pegasus plunged downwards on a collision course with the base of the tower. I threw my arms across my face to brace against an impact that never came. The tower faded in front of me to be replaced by a bottomless crack in the hard packed ground beneath. The Pegasus lunged for the opening, briefly plunging us into utter darkness, before emerging once more from the base of the tower without any sense of having changed direction. For a moment I was relieved, finding myself wheeling away from the looming city walls as the Pegasus climbed rapidly once more.

As the stones snapped back into focus, I realised that the magically lit darkness had been replaced by washed out shades of grey as though viewed under a bright moon. The tower and the city were intact and apparently unchanged but all light was gone and there was no sign of life or movement. I regained control over the Pegasus and forced it down low, under the shadow of the walls, heading for the relative safety of the trees. Even as I connected with its mind, I could feel the Pegasus slipping away from me, the magic seemingly drained or perhaps just exhausted. I flew as low as I could, urging the Pegasus to ever greater speed as I sought the sanctuary of the trees. When the steed finally failed, reverting in an instant to a lump of barely shaped rock, I was only a few hundred yards from the trees and well clear of the city walls. I landed nimbly, tumbling to avoid impact from the fall. Glancing anxiously over my shoulder, I realised that I was outside of bow range and hopefully out of range of anything worse.

I sprinted for what should have been the relative safety of the woods, but they too were not all that they seemed. What had been a forest with many evergreen trees in full leaf was now little more than a graveyard for once mighty oaks. Even without any great effort of will I sensed that my connection to Karmana was missing or, at best, much weakened. I thought at once of Cernurros’ realm, knowing I would be safe there and also that I could probably find a path from there to Borarla. Yet something held me back – if this was a place of death then I should not bring it to Cernurros... and it was a world of death, lifeless and quiet as a grave. As I thought this I looked up and in the distance saw movement - an Elvradrak flew through the air quite some distance away but passed out of sight after a minute or so.

Emboldened by not encountering anything yet, I approached the tower again. It was physically solid, with no sign of the crack that we had passed through before. I made my way around to the city side and heard some animal sounds from within the city, like a dog snarling. Nothing emerged, though, so I continued towards the tower entrance. I heard something different this time, like metal snicks from inside - something was moving then. I peeked in the archway to see a horribly deformed spider with spear-like "arms" and a human torso. Urgh! It lunged at me quickly, and I was skewered by one of the appendages, but hit back hard. A small appendage speared into my head, causing some shock but nothing else that I noticed. I struck back again, finishing it off with disgust, and also releasing a horrid stench.

A howl went up from the city, answered by at least a couple of others, so I ran into the tower to get out of sight. There were no doors to contend with in this world, so I entered easily and found a small empty room. I kept moving towards the only exit on my right. It was dark inside, so I lit my lantern to see better. Stairs led upwards, and I took a look but there were just more corridors - any gate would be down, surely? I returned to the entrance and first heard, then saw a double-headed dog eating the remains of the spider thing in the courtyard.

I backed off, moving around the stairs to look through another entrance, and this time found a stairwell leading down. Before I could decide whether to descend I heard a really loud howl from outside. I froze and listened, but nothing came, so I went back to look at the courtyard again. The dog had gone, but had left half of the spider thing's body which seemed odd. Could the others have come for me? I decided to look outside the tower to see what had attracted its attention.

Once outside I could see a dog moving away towards the woods I had headed for earlier. I looked up nervously, but there was no sign of the Elvradrak. I moved to the corner outside and saw a bright light in the woods beyond, like a beacon shining in the sky, and there were three of the double headed dogs heading towards it. I shifted to wolf form and ran in the same direction, but the dogs saw (or perhaps smelled) me and closed to intercept my path. I was bitten, but tried to outrun them heading straight for the light. Surely a light in this dark place could only be good?

There was a flash of lightning in the trees ahead, so something was going on. I kept running, getting bitten badly, but just managed to outpace the dogs... although I didn't think I could keep up the pace long enough. A weird disembodied hand floated in front of me, and I pulled up. I had to stop and face up to the dogs anyway because I was getting tired. I changed back to my normal form and blocked some attacks as the hand pointed at my face then waved a bit as if beckoning. Perhaps it wasn't actually trying to kill me after all!

I killed one of the dogs, but was badly wounded. I had caught my breath a little, though, so I changed into a stag and ran again, much faster now. I was feeling better for a moment, easily outrunning the dogs, but then I was attacked by huge spider! I leapt away but was badly hurt again, only glad that I could finally see Falcor and Arad ahead in a glowing circle. I jumped inside to join them and suddenly we were all instantly transported back to some kind of shrine that Falcor had been constructing, and I found myself sliding on the hard stone before coming to rest against a statue of Malada.

I changed back into my normal form, and Falcor rushed to heal my significant wounds as he moved me to rest against a stone. He said that we were back together thanks to the power of Malada. He briefly explained that she had sent them to that place to retrieve me, but that they had been unable to leave the circle to look for me for fear of breaking the connection back to Karmana. She ultimately wanted Protector of Life back with Karmana, and Falcor had that as his ultimate goal once the six (of which we were three) were united.

This did mean beating Sullinassauri, which in turn would free the Queen of the Damned. That is why we needed the swamp staff, to counter the Queen's power once the Sarn was destroyed, otherwise the path to Death would be open again.

Journals

2023-01-21T11:44:26Z

2A00:23C7:BF83:A101:C954:4846:AE42:5436:

The journals of Garret, detailing his hunt to destroy the evil behind the slaughter of his people.

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[[Journal - Goblins West of Freeport]]

A trail to follow at last, and new erm... friends?

[[Journal - A Search for Answers]]

We had done great deeds, but still didn't know how we had come to be together or what we needed to do next.

[[Next steps|Journal - Next Steps]]

We had vanquished a wraith! There was hope yet for Karmana... but where should we turn our attention now?

[[Journal - New Purpose, but what of the Elvradhil?]]

From He Who Watches we learned much about the evil that had beset us, but first we wanted to ensure the village was safe.

[[Journal - The Hunt for Kellerot]]

We had saved Hope but learned that the Sarn's souls must be released in the right order... next was Kellerot.

[[Journal - Kellerot's Twisted Realm]]

Finally we were ready to attack the second Sarn, although we knew that we would be entering a boundary between Karmana and the Land of the Dead!

[[Journal - In Search of the Queen of Truth]]

We had retrieved the Crown of Truth, but awkwardly there was a Queen of the Elvrabor that claimed to already wear it. We had to find out the truth and ensure the true Queen was leading her people.

[[Journal - The Crown of Wisdom]]

Having found the true Queen of Truth and... resolved... the battle of Borarla, we turned to the next Sarn in order - near to where Carseld once was.

[[Journal - The Crown of Intelligence]]

Next we would have to travel to the Saloroc homeland, which we knew had been overrun by the Black Hand.

----

The journals of Rae, from when she met the Guardian.

----

[[Journal - Flames and the Guardian]]

The day everything changed... again.

[[Journal - Through Dust and Fire]]

We wanted to seek out the sword, but perhaps were a little too direct in our approach.

[[Journal - Kelditch's Staff]]

We had a chance to stop our enemy taking a powerful item, so we took it.

[[Journal - Death on Karmana]]

I went with Falcor to where the realm of Death touched Karmana, aiming to help him in his quest to defeat the "Sarn".

[[Journal - A Beautiful Death]]

We had the name of the next Sarn, "Dalryssia", and knew that Beauty and positive energy were involved, but had no idea what to expect.

Allies

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==Saloroc (Orcs)==

The orcs we have met (near Freeport) were fighting against, and fleeing from, the evil that drove the goblins. The Red Skull clan acted with honour, and came to the defence of a human village that was raided. They probably don't like Falcor much, though...

Since then we have learned much of the Saloroc Clans:

Tiger Clans

The former ruling class of the Orc Clans, they are honourable and intelligent, worship Korman but seek an independent, free and civilised Orc Nation. Gold, Black and Green.

Dragon Clan

Haven't been seen for centuries are thought by many to be the stuff of myth and legend. The stories tell of highly intelligent Orcs who served the Dragon King with honour. Said to have produced many powerful mages.

Red Skull

Stayed true to Korman and are good allies to the party, fortifying positions around the Temple of Light and Custor's tower. Proud sailors and warriors with Shamans supporting them.

NOT ALLIES - Listed here for completeness:

Black Hand Clan

The new rulers, but turned to darkness by the Snake clan and the influence of the lizard folk, worshiping Kraldar.

Panther Clan

Fierce warriors with a dislike of magic. They have very few shaman and no mages. They are highly xenophobic but cover a full spectrum of behaviours from those who respect life, law and order, to those who would happily follow Kraldar. They are normally found living isolated from other clans in hills and mountains. Red Skull tend to avoid them to minimise conflict. In the homeland, they are found in the Western half of the central mountain range

Red Hand Clan

Foot soldiers that support the Black Hand - not clear if they also worship Kraldar or are just willing to follow the strongest Clan that take a leadership role.

Snake Clan

Worshipers of Kraldar, and allied to the lizard folk (who worship Kraldar as a creator), they seem to be behind the takeover of the Saloroc nations by the Black Hand and Red Hand clans. Seem to be a (dark) priestly order.

Wolf Clan

Xenophobic, highly organised and excellent warriors. They don't worship any deity and live largely separate from the other clans. They supported the Black Hand and Snake clans in overthrowing the Tigers but then withdrew again.

==Custor==

The Watcher, tasked with awaiting the return of "He" - the king of the Elvradrak - and teaching him in the ways of magic. The last of an order that has passed the task down through the ages. Human who might dabble in necromancy and creature control.

Found almost dead, Custor had suffered an immense ‘out-wash’ of power; when touched by Falcor, he drained all the warrior’s magical energy, nearly ending his life. Custor was unable to explain why this had happened. It was not linked to the recent occupation of his tower by the Orcs, which is what the Party had expected. Indeed, it seemed to have happened a while ago – was it coincident with the passing of Malek?

Custor was ‘the Vigilant’ because he watched and waited for the Dragon King. Human in appearance, he seemed to have been watching for longer than a normal human’s life span. The ‘Watchers’ (there had been many) normally took an apprentice to train to replace them and so continue the vigil. Custor, however, had learned that his ‘watch’ was over. Something – about 20 years ago – had made him believe that the Dragon King had come (to the Prime?). As a human, and a mage, Custor had to hide from the Imperial College of Mages, otherwise his watch would have been over – and his magic no-doubt drained.

When the Dragon King arrived, Custor was meant to educate him in the ways of the Prime and of dweomer – without bringing him to the attention of the Emperor. He thought Malek might have been waiting too and that his was a similar task. They (Custor and Malek) had been friends and both were on good terms with the Red Hand Clan. When questioned, Custor knew little of the obelisk, stating that it was more the realm of Malek, although he did know that Malek had used it to travel. Indeed, Custor knew very little of the World beyond his Tower.

In response to questioning, Falcor also ascertained that Custor knew of his armour, albeit he was somewhat confused why Falcor should be wearing it and why it was incomplete. He had presumed that Falcor was here to train the Dragon King as a warrior. It transpires that Custor had simply accepted his quest from a very early age and had lived in the tower – like those before him – waiting, watching and was expecting to train his successor. Custor attempted to explain the different ways dweomer would be brought to bear on the Prime. Members of the Imperial College were channelling their powers directly from the God Creator, Treddar, whereas Falcor’ s energies – similar to Custor’s - emanated from the elemental forces that surrounded him.

Falcor surmised that the tower was on the island for a reason and that the map, which Custor produced, showed the proximity to what Falcor took to be the Forge of Life (at least the dormant Volcano’s Caldera). Custor knew a little of the of the Wraith(s) – Sarn – explaining that they were once human kings that had been turned to the dark side. They each possessed a crown of some power and possibly other artefacts. They also lived on the Island chain that surrounded the sunken caldera and they too were watching and waiting for the return of the King.

==Elvradrak==

Falcor (only male: "Him")

==Elvraeli==

(air)

Allied with Seledor - probably not best friends right now.

==Elvradhil==

Hanrick Semdhil - Capla Ubradhil
1st amongst dwarves, Lord of all Rock

Helrig Draksaron
Curmcordrak - Dragon Heart

Dreillik
Camtellum Cordrak

Nadik Draksaron

==Elvrahum==

Garrett!]

==Elvramer==

Arak - tricked by lizardmen, but now reaching out for allies; tried Krasgord but warned to leave by Falcor

Main Page

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<big>'''This is the new home for all the known lore in Karmana.'''</big>

Some quick links to main pages:

<div style="float: left; width: 33%">
'''Artefacts'''

[[Forge of Life]]

[[Crowns]]

</div>

<div style="float: left; width: 33%">
'''Sentient Beings'''

[[Characters]]

[[Allies]]

[[Foes]]

[[Neutral]]

[[Gods]]

</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 34%">
'''Misc'''

[[Journals]]

[[Maps]]

[[Visions and Significant Encounters]]

[[Clues]]

[[Locations]]

[[Runic Language]]

</div>

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<div style="float: left; width: 100%">

== Hints and Tips ==

This is the exact same software as wikipedia use, so if you can use that font of all knowledge then you can use this one...

To find information, just start with the search box at the top of the page

To add a new page just type the name into the search box; if the system can't find what you want already then it will offer you the chance to create it. Unfortunately, you do need to be logged in as a registered user in order to edit or create pages so PM me if you need an account.

Consult the [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents User's Guide] for information on using the wiki software.

</div>