Journal - Death on Karmana

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).