Journal - The Hunt for Kellerot

Lizardfolk Island

There was a rough path leading up to the ruined tower, infrequently used but I could see that it had been used recently. A group had gone up the hill and then returned dragging something, which was presumably me as that's where I had awoken. We could just, if we strained to see, make out the tip of an obelisk near to the tower above us. That would make sense if I was transported there by Karmana. We decided to head up towards this area, just to our east we reckoned.

Falcor led the way with Arad following and then I was behind. They were still wary, with bows drawn, but I just looked around, enjoying the walk. There was a sail almost on the horizon to the west, and a fishing boat to the south of where we were, but no immediate sign of trouble. It was dry and warm and we reached the area unopposed. What was left of the tower looked like Custor's, but it was significantly damaged (damage that looked to have occurred a long time ago). About half had collapsed between the north west and south east with only the south west quarter at full height still. There was no obvious signs of life as we approached. It did smell, we noticed as we neared, very strongly of bat guano.

The obelisk looked as if it had thrust out from the earth very recently, judging by the disturbed soil, and was a green quartz. Falcor walked up and touched the obelisk and the same "see-saw" symbol appeared as it had on the obelisk in the village. He invited me to try the same, not knowing that I was itching to try to commune with Karmana again, having felt her loving embrace once before. The obelisk was my best chance of doing so, and I knelt down to touch the earth before moving my hands onto the obelisk, reaching out with my mind for the thought, or perhaps the emotion, of Karmana. Almost at once I was overwhelmed once more with energy and love, having succeeded in connecting directly with her, it was like a rapturous joy.

I immediately pledged myself to her service and vowed to heal the damage done to her. I knew deep down that such an immense task was a lifetime commitment that might never be achieved, but at that moment I didn't care about difficulty or consequences; anything seemed possible. I, for a moment, thought that I should perhaps be worried about how my friends were reacting to my "absence", but the thought passed fleetingly as the energy flowed through me, and I tried to control it so that I was not overwhelmed in the way that I had been before.

I had been right about my friends, though, as they had seen my body collapse and were trying to revive me without success. I seemed to be staring into space blissfully and was completely unresponsive, smiling. Despite their efforts it was rather my own reluctant return to reality that eventually brought me to consciousness, having dragged my mind back to the here and now. Apparently a symbol had appeared while I was out, similar to Falcor's and also like the one on Arad's prayer book, but again at a different angle. I was more concerned with looking around me, finding that I was connected to Karmana (both the world and the Goddess) in a way that I had not been before. The world seemed more vibrant and alive, and I instinctively knew that I could connect with it and encourage it to change with me, although only in a limited way, after all... we were all part of Karmana and all connected.

Falcor snapped me out of my reverie with a warning - he had a sense that we were being watched, which he shared with Arad. Arad confirmed it - we were being scryed by someone or something! Suddenly a window in the world opened, unnaturally this time, with a small room visible on the other side that was filled with legionnaires. They wore a bull symbol on their shield and tunics, and quickly started charging through towards us. It was clear why when the portal promptly closed behind them, but we were not sure (yet) whether they were a threat to us.

Falcor stepped forward and shouted "Halt!" intending to speak with them. I stepped to the side, just behind him, wary of their intentions but not wanting to provoke a fight. Arad had his bow notched, trained on the leader. They moved into a defensive formation, in a line facing us, close together with shields and spears to the fore. Falcor stepped forward again, shouting: "State your business here"!

They kept advancing, although at a jog rather than a charge, but did not respond to Falcor at all. Still wary, but not wanting to allow them to engage us, I called for the first time on Karmana, reaching out to the plants all around us and focusing on their advance, asking that Karmana held them back in order to avoid bloodshed. It seemed natural, even though it seems strange to write about it now, that the plants came to life at their feet and grasped at them, trying to hold them in place. A couple were completely held, and even the others that were able to press on were slowed. No harm was done to them, though.

I moved forward to join Falcor, who was shouting: "We mean you no harm, put down your weapons." Arad flanked them, keeping his bow trained and splitting their attention. I flanked the other way as they struggled to break free into clear ground. Two reached the edge and immediately charged straight at Falcor. Arad managed to put an arrow into the chest of one as he ran forward, slowing him slightly and giving Falcor a target. Sure enough, Falcor danced to his right, slipping his dagger in to the side of the wounded man's shield and finishing him off. The spear of the other attacker scraped off his armour, but Falcor spun inside its reach and drove his sword into the thigh of the other one. The wounded man lost his balance and had to ground his shield to avoid falling, but that left him open to another arrow from Arad, which found its mark and he fell without even shouting out.

Two more broke free to attack Falcor again, who again found a weak spot with his dagger. I sprinted forward to join him, shouting at the foe to "stop fighting you fools". They didn't of course, seemingly fanatics of some kind, and Falcor was stabbed for the first time. He used the opening to attack rather than pulling back, cutting one deeply who then collapsed spurting blood. Arad charged forward, looking to tackle the other attacker to the ground, and managed to knock him to all fours and grapple him, forcing him to drop his spear.

Arad kept him pinned as Falcor tied him up. I tried to ask why they were attacking us, but instead he just tried to bite me. I moved to headbutt him in return, but he twisted his neck to the side, seeing what I was trying to do. Sneaky bastard! Despite their belligerence we still wanted to give them the chance to surrender, so we surrounded the writhing plants and stood ready, knowing that it would not last forever. Falcor told them to surrender and lower their weapons as soon as they were free, but when the plants subsided another portal appeared and the last two jumped through, back from whence they came presumably. We were left with just the one prisoner, still unable to move.

He stubbornly refused to respond to any questions we asked, so we stripped him of armour and collected weapons from him and the fallen, but did warn him that his life was in danger if he stayed due to the other occupants of the island that would be less understanding. Falcor told him that he "must go if you can". After this we released him and let him run off behind the tower, not caring to follow him. Instead we slowly make our way around the tower to see what was there, if anything.

Arad called on the Creator to heal Falcor and also his own wounds, then he and I split off to scout the tower quietly while Falcor covered us from behind. As we got really close the stink became really rancid. The tower had obviously fallen to ruin a long time ago, as large parts of the fallen masonry were covered in grass. There was guano piled on every layer of what was left, and the ground floor area was a thick, solid layer of guano. It was so smelly it's impossible really to describe in words.

Arad wanted to poke around in the shit in case there was a hidden trapdoor like in Custor's tower. I baulked at this... not very keen at all! I found myself dry retching as I got really close, but Arad went forward with a borrowed iron pot from Falcor, actually digging in the shit. It was disgusting to watch, let alone do it, and eventually he was overcome and starts heaving his guts up, unable to move. I ran in, intending to get him out, but I was overcome as well and end up puking next to him! Falcor, thankfully, was able to rescue us both, resisting the stink somehow as he made the journey twice. As soon as I could I moved to get farther back, trying to get the stink out of my nose without much success.

Arad had an idea to burn the guano off, and I gave up an oil flask that they threw into the shit and then we retreated to where Arad could loose a flaming arrow into it. The fire was slow to start, but as it built the heat was impressive. As we waited for the flames to grow I followed the tracks of the legionnaire to see where he had headed... but found that he had thrown himself to his death off the cliffs behind the tower! A real fanatic, I don't think I will ever understand humans.

I have been remiss because I have forgotten to mention one other thing. I had noticed a group making their way up towards the tower from the shoreline to our west, where the Elvramar we had subdued had headed toward. They were approaching slowly, so we were not concerned about their approach, and we even hoped that they might be... well, at least neutral and willing to talk. That's not to say that we wouldn't take precautions. I used my cloak, a gift from Karmana, to hide myself to one side as Falcor stood and awaited their arrival, with Arad covering him from further back.

Falcor shouted at them as soon as they were in earshot to wait if they meant to be friendly. Instead they loosed arrows, so I guess not, thankfully the first volley was well wide of the mark. Arad had been waiting and returned fire, hitting one. The second volley was much closer, and in fact Falcor was only saved from damage by the power of a prayer to the Creator from Arad, allowing Falcor to deflect the shot away with a power that guided his arm.

Falcor now returned the fire, hitting and killing the one that Arad had hurt. Realising that they were losing the battle of archers, some of the lizards started running forward, whilst others stayed back to harass with more arrows, one clipping Arad and drawing blood. He was put off his first shot as a result, but the second found its mark in one of the closer creatures. Falcor was also clipped by an arrow, whilst deflecting another (they seemed to have got their range now). He also returned fire, again putting down one of the foe.

As one got close to engaging Falcor, I sprang up and attacked at close quarters, stabbing it with both swords and leaving it barely alive, but the bastard managed to stab me in the side as I pulled my weapons free. Falcor hit another one as Arad sprinted forward to get a better shot at the ones hanging back, killing one of them. I paused, seeing how badly the lizard I had stabbed was bleeding, calling out to him in Karmana and Milada's name to stop fighting even as he stabbed me again, although his strength was fading.

Arad had a better chance to hit his targets, but their odds were improved too and he was hit with two arrows in quick succession, putting him off his own aim. Falcor was backing him up, though, and landed another hit. Their leader decided that they were losing the fight, which they were, and turned to run! Arad managed to recover enough to let another arrow fly true, felling one of his attackers. Falcor finished off the last archer with two accurate shots, leaving just the one I was trying to keep alive.

He helped his situation somewhat by deciding that he was outclassed, instead turning to run. I tried to stop him but couldn't quite catch a grip on his smooth scales and he started to outpace me. Falcor was distracted, running after the leader despite the head start it had, but Arad ran towards me, looking to intercept the foe. Just as he was about to tackle the creature, the lizard collapsed to the floor, too weak and exhausted to continue, but this caused Arad to misjudge his grapple and he ended up almost falling forwards, stopping himself just in time. I walked up as Arad grabbed it and pinned it to the floor, but it had lost too much blood and it died in his grip. I berated him a little for killing our prisoner, but it wasn't really his fault, and we had to move quickly if we were to catch Falcor.

I was going to ask after his wounds, having seen the arrows strike him, but the Creator had protected him and he looked remarkably hale considering. Falcor was actually waiting for us, having given up his pursuit, so we slowed our pace and regrouped to check our wounds before continuing down the ridge. I wanted to treat some of my wounds, and I asked if Arad would allow me to attempt to reach out to Karmana, something I had not done before, to see if I could draw on the power around us. I explained that I felt more connected with her than ever before after communing with her, both at the dragons' graveyard and at the obelisk by the tower. Arad and Falcor both said that they were willing to wait and see what happened, so I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind to the life around me, drawing on it to sustain me. I felt the power flowing into me from the grass and shrubs around us, and my wounds were closed... not completely, but enough to heal the worst and sustain me.

I also sensed the connection between Arad and Karmana, despite his new faith for the Creator, and Falcor was positively glowing with power... although I could not touch it in the same way as the other life around me. After a moment I withdrew my mind and opened my eyes to find that both my friends were regarding me with renewed interest. Falcor said that he had blocked me deliberately, and that I had drawn power from our surroundings in a similar way to Custor when Falcor had revived him. Arad referred to "druids" having similar powers, although the word meant nothing to me. He explained that they had a special bond with nature, and that they drew energy from the plants of his home forest, which did sound like my new bond with Karmana.

At any rate, we carried on jogging down the path, following the fresh tracks towards the shore below. As we passed the hole that Hope had emerged from (followed by FalcorDrak) we saw that the opening had closed and was solid stone, just a bare patch of rock without vegetation - like the others had described the pool of water being covered by stone. We carried on towards the coast, though, not wanting to be distracted at this stage.

Eventually the path reached a rough sand and stone beach, about a hundred yards deep to the waterline. As Arad, who was ahead as usual, turned to wave us forward he spotted a concealed wooden door in the side of the incline leading down to the beach. He held his hand up to stop us and approached door quietly, finding a circle of dried blood on it - an echo of those we had seen before and a clear mark of evil intent. He walked back to join us, describing what he had found. As we were likely to be heading into danger, I decided to treat Arad's wounds, minor as they were, so that he might save his more powerful prayers for any battles ahead. He knelt to accept Karmana's energy, something he was familiar with from his past, and Falcor noted that the transfer did affect the plants around me.

Lizard Hole

We approached the door, and I took a moment to check for traps, not finding anything. Arad set light to a torch, passing it to Falcor in case it was dark inside. They both readied bows as I stepped up and swung the door open before them. A relatively crude tunnel of packed soil was revealed, with a dusty floor of rock. Torches along the walls provided some light, and revealed that there was a joining tunnel to the right about twenty feet in, and that the tunnel ended in a T-junction further on. As I stepped inside I heard some metallic noises coming from the right-hand opening, presumably guards of some kind, and a moment later a reptile head peered around the corner.

I rolled forward and stepped to the side, ready to fight but allowing my friends a line of sight to the corner. I could see more lizards in a small room beyond a short section of tunnel, and tried to send a mental image to the others so they knew what to expect. Arad made a corking shot, sticking an arrow into the side of the closest lizard creature's exposed head. It was swinging a morning star at me, and I took the blow on my shoulder, rolling inside its guard to stab up into its throat to finish it off.

There were four more of the creatures, I could see now, and Arad used his mind to tell me that he would engage the nearest foe, so I deliberately kept to my left. Despite this plan, Falcor came crashing through and into the creature now to my right, using his momentum to thrust a dagger into him and then finishing him with a powerful swipe of his sword. I engaged the next one, scraping with my short sword (only just drawing blood) but then following up with two sword blows before it could react, cutting it down.

The other creatures had pressed their attack, so we were still in the narrow corridor, and Falcor swung to cut deeply into his new opponent, although he was hit by its morning star swing in return. It was at that point that a door beyond the small guardroom swung open and more foes poured through, making the situation more perilous. Arad helped by cutting down the lizard that Falcor had injured; I stabbed the last of the original group as Falcor stepped beside it and ran it through... now for the next lot!

I was able to land one good blow before Falcor sent a mental warning to us to stay out of the room, using the power of his mind to assail the group of lizard folk. Most of them sank to the floor, looking completely detached from what was going on around them, but Falcor wasn't finished. He conjured a spray of colourful rays that filled the small room, and four of the creature were rendered unconscious. There was only one left that seemed able to continue the fight. Impressive!

Arad sprinted forward, taking the fight to it as it faltered in its advance, stabbing him with his short sword and following up with a sweeping cut that opened its belly, and it fell dead. Falcor stepped into the room and indicated one that he warned we should tie up before it recovered consciousness. We did so, using Arad's rope, but the others were basically brainless and no threat any more.

The room that Arad had now reached looked like a barracks, with crude mattresses, wooden chests, a table & benches arranged throughout the room. There was a door opposite where we had entered, and a corridor leading out from the corner to our left. With a chance to stop and look around properly, Arad noted that the rock floor and mud walls were incongruous, and Falcor chipped at a bit of the mud to reveal a smooth, glassy surface beneath. I did a quick search of the room, finding a key on the largest lizard creature but not much else (although Falcor took an interest in a wooden mallet for potentially tenderising meat). As I did that, the others began chipping away at the mud on the walls of the larger room, eventually finding some words on the wall opposite where we entered.

The writing was like nothing we had seen before, as if rubies had been liquefied and traced in a manner of ink into the glassy rock surface before setting solid again. It read as follows:

Humbly he came

Leading only to serve

But drawn to disorder

His pride destroyed all

(Note: Humility = Red)

We knew that this referred to Ulric, the human king that had embodied humility but then been corrupted and become prideful and ultimately undead.

We checked the corridor, seeing no threats there, but then headed through the door. A short corridor led to another T-junction, with a door just a short distance to the right. I went to check it, with Falcor following, as Arad closed the first door behind us. The door wasn't locked and revealed a small room with a table (with a jug upon it), a bed, and a brass-bound wooden chest.

Again we chipped away at the walls looking for more details, and found some on the far left side as we had entered. There were more words, this time in yellow diamond:

The Wisest sought service

In the name of false gods

Now confusion his master

He seeks souls for the dead

Note: (Wisdom = Yellow)

This clearly referred to another of the Sarn that we were yet to discover, but we then debated whether there might be a double meaning here. I suggested that it almost read like instructions (as in something that was to be done here to show that the reader understood). We didn't want to actually pledge service to false gods, though, and also needed to understand it from the perspective of the Elvradhil (surely the only people able to shape rock and gems in this way).

Arad stood, instead of kneeling, and spoke the names of Treddar's children known to us to be bad (from the point of view of the Elvradhil), denouncing them as false gods whilst holding his faith to the Creator as unshakeable. There was a flash of power in our minds and he was gone! Optimistically I believed this to be a good thing and tried the same actions, but nothing happened. Perhaps we each needed to find our own path? In which case mine was in the previous room, but we would need to find Falcor's as well before I would leave him.

We headed back to the guardroom to check the walls there, but found nothing. We continued back towards the entrance, knowing that there was a T-junction we had yet to explore, and as we neared the entrance there appeared a blinding white light before us and Arad stepped through, back from wherever he had gone. He was a little confused, having to be reminded of where we were and what we were doing, as he had apparently been for weeks, having been "tested and found worthy" to learn from the Gods.

After a short conversation about Arad's other-worldly experience, remembering that we were potentially still in danger so we could not talk for too long, we returned to the room he had disappeared from. I checked the chest for traps as the others cowered in the far corner for some reason. It helped that the key we had found on one of the lizard creatures fitted the lock, so I was able to open it easily. Inside was a purse, a dagger in a scabbard, and a cruel looking whip. I took the dagger, finding it to be well made and inlaid with a snake, head at the tip, and an ornate handle with gold wire. I kept it, allowing Falcor to take a look in the chest. His interest was drawn by the clothes that I had ignored, taking a shirt so that he was slightly less naked under his equipment. In doing so he discovered an ornate silver torc in the style of a snake that had been wrapped in the clothes, which he took to study later.

As we left the small room, a lizard creature walked past the T-junction we hadn't explored yet, and although we tried to stay hidden, he glanced towards us and spotted Arad. Arad had been tracking him with his bow, so he immediately let loose an arrow, striking him as he yelled something. He staggered a little and then ran off to the left, but Falcor and Arad intercepted him in the larger "barracks"... he was probably hoping to find the guards we had dealt with. I remained to watch where he had appeared in case others came up behind us, but nothing came. Arad engaged the creature with his bow again, missing once but then killing him with his second arrow. A quick check of the corridor revealed a door to the right, and a corridor linking back to the barracks with other exits leading deeper into the lair. All was quiet again, and we regrouped in the barracks.

We knew that the text here was linked to me and humility, so we planned to demonstrate an act of humility whilst I touched the runes on the wall to see if there was a reaction. Our initial plan was for me to be ordered by Falcor to remove the crown and lay it on floor in preparation, but Falcor said after a moment's pause that Karmana had spoken to him, well in terms of feelings anyway, giving him an overpowering sense of upset that the removal of the crown was wrong.

Arad decided to use a new prayer that he had learned during his time away from us, moving close to the runes and muttering a quiet prayer, asking the Creator to help him sense what was intended here. His vision changed and he felt shorter, seeing other people but similar to us in same place. The shorter one had his hands pressed on the wall, whilst a human stood beside him in a full set of armour matching Falcor's partial one, with a fine longsword and all gems set and glowing. Arad saw that he was talking to the shorter person as the runes appeared in front of him on the wall. It appeared to be a memory of when the runes were first created, which was interesting but not specifically helpful for activating them right now.

We modified our plan so that Arad would just lift and replace the crown on my head, but even this proved to be a bad idea as the moment it was lifted there was a massive mental assault on my mind, trying to dominate me. I did manage to resist, retreating into my own mind, but I had to let go of consciousness to do so and immediately collapsed. Falcor sat me up so that Arad could return the crown to my head and keep it there, but it did not revive me. Arad had a sense that there was an evil presence in the room there with them. He prayed to the Creator to protect me from evil, which did ease my breathing but again failed to revive me. Falcor tried the simple act of putting smelling salts under my nose, causing a physical reaction but again not waking me up.

Arad instead tried a prayer of healing, and that certainly worked, reviving me immediately, but Arad paid a high price for it as he was drained of most of his vitality. He had to resort to using another prayer on himself, as well as ointment in order to restore his strength. I was fully restored, though, and the evil presence appeared to be banished, at least for a time. Arad went on to say a prayer for Falcor, healing his wounds, and each prayer made the room feel better, perhaps bringing order to where there had been chaos before.

I tried touching the runes again, this time with my crown firmly on. In my mind I knew that I did not have the strength of Falcor or the wisdom of Arad and that I was only even here because I was literally the last of my kind from Carseld. Even with that humility in my heart nothing seemed to happen; worried that I was not worthy, I asked my friends for help, saying that I could not do it alone. At that moment the runes began to glow - it seemed that a genuine plea for help had been the key. We waited to see if there was any further reaction, but nothing else changed... it seemed that Arad's experience had been unique to him and not necessarily linked to this place.

With that in mind we returned to the smaller room, noting that the runes here had not remained glowing. Arad muttered a quiet prayer again, and again was blessed with a vision. He saw the creation of the runes through the eyes of an Elvradhil, as if his own hands were on the rock before him, channeling Karmana's power. The person he was experiencing this through could hear the sounds of combat immediately behind him, so it was clearly created at a time of danger and not peace, although its purpose still eluded us. It was clear from Arad's vision that it was Karmana writing the words, not the individual.

Arad repeated his earlier actions, touching the runes and pledging service to the Creator, denouncing the false Gods Eversor and Kraldar. The runes responded to his touch, glowing in the same way as those in the previous room had for me.

Now we turned our attention to the door that the last lizard had emerged from. I checked for any traps before opening it, revealing another small room with a table and two chairs, a bed, and a chest. The table had a bowl of fruit on it. I moved over to the chest and discovered a small needle trap, which I was able to disarm. As I did this the others searched beneath the mud on the walls for any more runes, and did find some across the two walls in the southeast corner. The letters were written in amber this time, as follows:

In service of Truth

No soul could be lost

Driven mad by the darkness

His lies destroyed all

(Note: Truth = Amber)

Whilst we recognised the link to the virtue of "Truth" it was not one that we believed that we represented... there were six virtues and only three of us, so somewhere in the world were three more "champions" like us, and we would need a different person to activate this script in the same was as the others.

I finished with the trap and opened the chest, finding a purse, a fist sized uncut crystal violet (buried under clothes), and a morning star at the bottom. I took the weapon, although unfamiliar with its use, as when we had met the skeletal foes a cutting blade had struggled to damage them effectively. Arad took the gem, and Falcor the purse.

Leaving the puzzle as we were unable to activate it, we moved up to the corridor that seemed to link all of the areas we had visited so far, crossing over to a passage on far side where we found another door. Again I checked it before opening, this time finding what appeared to be an armoury. There were racks of arms and armour, shields, javelins, morning stars, swords, plenty of arrows (which excited Arad), and three large chests.

As the others started collecting arrows and searching the walls, I checked the chests and found a trap on the centre one, although I couldn't determine what form it took. I was able to disable the mechanism, though, and opened it to find it was full to the brim with very high quality steel bars... this would be a significant boon to the Red Skull clan of Saloroc if we could guide them here (it was far too much and too heavy for us to move). I opened the next chest, but I must have missed the mechanism on that one and I heard the tinkling of breaking glass as I lifted it, then was knocked out by an invisible gas.

Arad dashed in to pull me out, seeing that I was convulsing and seemed to be getting worse. He prayed to the Creator to heal me, which certainly helped slow the poison, but didn't neutralise it so my body continued to suffer. Falcor tried to lever the last chest open with his sword, which again caused a gas to be released, but he was able to get away before it got into his lungs. Thankfully the poison was short lived and I came to of my own accord, being a little disorientated and weak but gaining most of my strength quickly once I was conscious.

We waited at least as long as I had been affected before approaching the chests again, and were able to look inside without ill effect. They were all filled with the same thing - lots of steel bars. There was a real wealth here and we would have to ensure that it was our allies that secured such a treasure rather than our foes; it was a real wealth for any military force or merchants. We would certainly need help to move them all, though.

Once we were able to continue our search for more of the runes, we found some across the walls in the southwest corner, written in emerald this time, as follows:

Once sharpest of Mind

His dominion was fruitful

Through anarchy to darkness

He reaps life from the slaughter

(Note: Intelligence = Green)

Again we knew that another would have to activate the runes here, so we left and made our way to the next turn off the main corridor. There was another door, and whatever was behind it was noisy, with banging of metal and some kind of conversation between lizard folk audible as we drew near. I opened it with the others covering, and inside was a large cookhouse; a firepit was surrounded by five of the lizard humanoids cooking spit roasts (one humanoid, and one large fish). There was a door in the centre of the north wall and the whole place reeked, with a slightly acrid tint that suggested the "food" probably wouldn't agree with us. The creatures were not armed like the others, and appeared slightly different... perhaps females?

Falcor shouted at us to "stay out of the room" and ran forward, right across the room to near the other door, before conjuring a hypnotic pattern in the air surrounding the lizards, his armour disappearing again as he did so. It seemed to work as they were mesmerised, stopping what they were doing but not reacting to our presence. Falcor shouted to us to check the walls whilst he stayed to maintain the pattern. We moved in and started chipping away at the nearest wall. One of the lizards managed to drag its gaze away and charged at me, screaming, with a knife!

I managed to dodge the first blow, and the second scraped my armour as I drew my sword to defend myself. Arad charged in, knocking the creature back, but it kept its feet. Falcor shouted to leave the rest alone as I smashed the dagger out of its hand. I quickly sheathed my sword and lunged at its legs, but failed to grab hold of the smooth scales. Arad had better luck, forcing it to the floor. I grabbed the rope from his pack and tied it up, cutting what little was left off and giving it to Arad.

We continued our search of the walls, drawing a blank in the north and west where we were hoping to find something. We extended our search, but grew careless and without thinking ended up entering the area of Falcor's spell... in a few moments we were mesmerised as well! Falcor stopped concentrating on the spell, and summoned his armour back as he quickly bound a couple of the lizards before they recovered. The lights eventually faded, releasing me, Arad, and the lizards from the spell.

Quickly realising what had happened, Arad rushed forward and knocked one lizard to the floor, stunning it before it worked out what was going on. The other one saw what was going on and immediately tried to cut the bonds of the one beside it, so I dashed up and swung the flat of my blade into its head, pushing it away and slightly dazing it. Arad used his rope to bind the one he knocked down, leaving enough for perhaps one more humanoid. I shouted at the last lizard to stay still if it didn't want to get hurt. It shouted something like a trill and hiss, and still tried to cut its companion free, so I stabbed it before it could succeed. I perhaps overdid it a bit, as the blood spurted out and it fell silently to the ground.

It seemed to be breathing at least, so I called Arad to see if he could help to stem the bleeding. Falcor asked that we check the bonds it was hacking at, which I did, as Arad tried to administer first aid. It seemed that lizards were not his speciality, though, as he wasn't able to stop it from deteriorating. I finished re-tying the hands and feet of the other lizard, but when Arad told me that he was having no luck I felt guilty and called on Karmana to heal the wound I had caused, preventing an unnecessary death. It felt more difficult to do so being underground and away from the life giving energy of the plants outside, but it worked and it started struggling again. Arad used the last of his rope to bind it, leaving us free to examine the room again.

Falcor finished the examination of the walls we had started, not finding any runes in this room. As he did so Arad was trying to communicate with the spirited prisoner, discovering that it spoke some halting Elvradhil. Despite this all he could really get from it was "enemies of our Lord must die" and provoking it to spit lizard goo at him, so I guess it wasn't very conversational.

One thing we did notice was that the body roasting on the spit looked very much like a human. Rather than leave it to be potentially eaten, we carefully lowered the body into the coals to be consumed by fire rather than lizards. Arad said a prayer asking the Creator to guide the unfortunate soul to his grace, and as he did so it felt almost like a wind blew through the room, which we all felt and was frankly a bit spooky. Could souls be redirected in this way? This was certainly something to think on.

We checked the door to the north, which opened to reveal a dark space with a large food store, most likely a larder even in the original construction. There were several hanging bodies, and as I entered I could hear the sound of birds fluttering that turned out to be a wooden cage of fowl to the right of the door. Falcor brought a torch, revealing the bodies to be a frog thing (as we encountered near Hope), a large fish, and dog-faced creature. There was nothing much else of interest, but there was enough fruit for us to eat well and collect some fresh provisions.

We backtracked to the corridor and continued further in, finding a branch to the left that had a set of double doors in the right hand side. I put my hood up to remain unseen and approached the doors, noting that the corridor continued west out of sight. The stone doors were probably once quite ornate, but whatever had been engraved there had been deliberately chipped away, leaving nothing that we could usefully glean. The only positive was that I did not find any traps or locks.

Whilst I was checking, though, the others heard sounds from the corridor farther north, and I heard some to the west, although seemingly quite distant initially. I covered the west with my bow as Falcor covered the north, and the sounds grew louder until a couple of lizards rounded the corner in front of me, strolling down the corridor unalarmed... well, until they saw Arad!.

They reacted first, charging at Arad yelling something in their strange language, and they were followed by many, many more... plus one was blowing a horn to presumably summon even more help! An answering horn could be heard from the north, past where Falcor was waiting. Not waiting for the reinforcements, Falcor ran towards me and used the power of his mind against them, with one dropping its weapon and running straight past clutching its head. Another one sat on the floor and started poking at his morning star, showing no interest in anything else going on.

There were still plenty with fight in them, though, so Arad loosed an arrow, hitting one charging at him. Falcor dropped his bow and attacked with his sword instead, cutting deeply into the lizard to the right of Arad's target. The shock of the mental assault seemed to have had some effect, though, as their initial attacks were wild and hardly posed a threat. Most of them had passed me, shielded by the cloak as I was, but the last one was chanting ominously, probably a shaman of some kind, so I put an arrow into him. My second shot was wide as the lizards in front of him reacted to protect him.

Arad put a second arrow into his target, but somehow it kept its feet. Falcor ran his target through, then dashed past me to engage one of the two trying to shield the shaman at their rear. Bright light exploded in Falcor's face, but he managed to blink it away and dodge aside. I moved to protect Falcor's back, dodging around the dribbling one and stabbed the one behind him. Valiant as this was, it did cost me as I took two hard hits for my efforts.

The badly hurt lizard finally reached Arad and weakly tried to disarm him, but it failed and died with an arrow in its gut. Arad charged forward to assist me, cutting into one of the foes that had hurt me. Falcor somehow managed to throw his dagger past the lizard he was fighting toe-to-toe and embedded it into the shaman, interrupting whatever chant he had been concentrating on. I stabbed the lizard I was fighting again, then followed up with another blow to kill him... but just too late to stop him connecting his weapon with my shoulder painfully. Falcor also landed a solid blow, leaving one of his foes barely standing.

Then things got worse! Another group of lizards charged from the corrider we had heard the answering horn from, hitting Arad solidly from behind. I helped a little by slaying the lizard in front of him, at least allowing him to turn, but he was still surrounded. Falcor finished off the lizard he was attacking, closing with the shaman and punching it right in the face, sending it staggering backwards. I engaged the other lizard near him allowing him to deal with the shaman, and landed a blow that was not quite enough to put him down.

Arad spun around, fending off one attack and opening a nasty wound in the one that had been directly behind him. His armour saved him from a return blow, allowing him to stab again, leaving the lizard gurgling in a pool of blood on the floor. He danced to the side, sweeping through with his long sword to deliver another nasty cut into another foe. I finished off the lizard I had attacked, freeing me up to help Arad as the enemy swarmed forward. Falcor had more light exploding in his face, but again managed to dodge any permanent damage. He was finally able to run the shaman through, and now we had only one front to fight on again.

Arad stabbed another, finishing it off, but then focused on parrying attacks due to the number of wounds he had suffered. He blocked most blows, but took one bad cut and was bleeding profusely. We rushed to join him, even as he landed a blow on one of the two attacking him. Falcor hit the other one with a powerful blow, and I darted in to finish it off, leaving just the one. Falcor pushed through, cleaving a wide sweep into its side and it collapsed dead.

Falcor used his mind to heal me... but when I thanked him he didn't respond, more move at all; he had zoned out like he had before we met Hope, but for longer this time. I used the crown to heal Arad and we waited to see if Falcor would come back. I had tried the crown on Falcor, of course, but a negative presence pushed me back before I could even begin to transfer energy so I withdrew quickly.

Having told Arad what I had experienced, I asked if he could bring Falcor back as he did me before (when the presence tried to possess me). Arad prayed to the Creator, calling his healing power down for Falcor, but it had no obvious effect. He tried to call on the Creator to protect him from evil as well, and this time it seemed to work. Falcor snapped back into consciousness and collapsed to his knees.

He told us that he had been transported to some other place, seeing soulstones floating, arranged from left to right - amber, yellow, green, blue, purple (only five because we had put one soul to rest?) He had reached out for the blue, recognising it, but it was weakness not strength. An amazingly beautiful woman appeared, and he called out for Milada in hope, but he was mocked instead. He was being drawn into responding, so he showed strength and resisted, which forced her to recede. This made him think that he should try to do the opposite to what they represented.

Next he reached for purple, and a king appeared wearing a crown with a purple soulstone, carrying great weapons, and he felt a crushing power on his mind. He resisted again, laughing at the king, despite the assault, and he seemed almost impressed. He wore rings with black soulstones on 3 fingers, and stared hard at him, saying "Robur... I see you now!". Falcor mocked him, but the king ignored his words, saying "you will be ours again soon; Kraldar is looking forward to welcome you home. Anima would call you friend with such arrogance." It was at this point that Falcor was returned to us, thanks to the Creator. Were they talking about death and / or the land of the dead, hence the reference to Kraldar?

Returning to the mundane, I searched the shaman and found some gems (not soulstones), gold and two scrolls that Arad took an interest in (they were prayers to remove a curse and for levitation). We took a moment for Arad to pray near the doors, trying to get a sense of what was on them before they were damaged, but his mind was drawn to the experience of Falcor when he had entered the dark place, and he went into a trance in a similar way. We had no way of calling on the Creator, or even Karmana (my limited knowledge of her power had been exhausted for now). Thankfully, he came back to us a little later, managing to bring himself back through the power of the Creator. He had appeared in a vacant space, apparently, with nothing there but deathly cold and no visions to challenge him.

Once we were set and ready, I opened one of the doors to reveal a large pillared hallway with a wooden throne on a stone dias at the far end. It was almost a hundred feet long, with humanoid heads hung in the style of hunting trophies along the side walls. With horror we realised that there were some Elvra amongst the heads, so Arad and I start taking those down. We collected five in total, bringing them into the centre of the room.

Falcor, meanwhile, started scraping the walls, working around the room to the throne. This ornate chair was heavily carved with snakes and lizards (about two thirds lizards to one third snakes) with lots of small gemstones inset, at least one for every creature depicted. It was large enough for a humanoid of Falcor size, or more likely a large lizard creature. It was clear from the dias that something else had originally been in its place before. Falcor also noticed that part of the floor behind the throne looked a bit odd, and warned us about going behind throne without due care.

By this time we had finished collecting the heads, and I used my flask of oil to set a good fire to cremate them. I put my hand into the fire, willing their souls to Karmana, but Arad also prayed to the Creator at the same time and Falcor felt a keen sense of loss from Karmana. He made a plea to Arad that if we found the remains of Elvra again, that we try to return them to Karmana in the future. Arad acquiesed for now...

I investigated the area Falcor had indicated, noticing the difference in the flagstones at once, and then found a mechanism to open what was effectively a trapdoor. There was a shaft below that dropped down to a passage heading west, with metal rungs providing a way down. We discussed the best way forward and decided to leave for now, but meaning to return once we had found the remainder of the poem we suspected was scattered through the rooms on this level.

We returned to the passageway and continued to the west. After a short distance we found a door to our left and another ahead in the distance. I moved up to first door, checking it for traps and then opening it. We found another large vaulted room with pillars, similar to the last one but this time with wooden tables arranged like a simple dining hall. The walls were still caked with mud, and the floor covered with a combination of mud, straw, and other detritus. There were half a dozen lizards here, one looking very similar to the shaman we had dealt with earlier. Apart from this immediate threat we could also see that the floor was glowing in a couple of places, which we suspected was linked to our efforts with the poetry. We had caught the lizards looking at these areas with interest, and it was clear that they were puzzled by the recent change, well until we opened the door and got their attention that is!

Falcor was ready with his bow, and somehow managed to thread an arrow between the advancing warriors to strike the shaman behind them, but it was too late to stop it from conjuring a blinding light right into my eyes. I was unable to see for the rest of the fight, so this is pieced together from all of our recollections. The last thing I saw clearly was the lizard warriors rushing straight towards me, so I knew I would have to try and defend myself. Arad moved into the doorway to assist me, getting hit by a morning star but striking back with both weapons and cutting his attacker down with deep strikes. I felt more than heard an arrow from Falcor fly close to my head and connect with a foe in front of me, so I tried to jab at it with the morning star, failing to connect. Then the door to our right was flung open and another armed party of lizard creatures advanced on our flank, and to make it worse we heard a horn blast echoing down the corridor we had come from. Falcor stepped closer to the door, trying to use the power of his mind to strike at the newcomers, shouting at me to stay low.

We thought things were bad... then they got worse! The shaman was still active and another blinding light burst into Arad's eyes, and with that Falcor was the only one who could actually see. It was going well so far... Arad was hurt, no longer able to dodge the blows aimed at him as he couldn't dodge what he couldn't see. Falcor did manage to put an arrow into one in the doorway, killing it, but then had to draw sword and drop his bow to defend himself. I moved forward, calling out to my friends and trying to clear the doorway so that we could at least hold a choke point, but found a foe straight in front of me, its weapon connecting with mine more by luck than any intent. Arad did manage to connect a swipe with another foe, getting a grunt of pain and quickly followed up in the same area with a rain of blows that eventually overpowered it.

I still couldn't connect, struggling with the new weapons and suddenly being blind all at the same time! Falcor landed a good hit against a foe back in the corridor, then tried a mental assault again and this time one dropped its weapons and ran headlong into the open door, sending it flying into my arse! After that it turned towards the wall and just stood there staring. Another one ran into its companion, pushing it into the wall, and then kept running past Falcor and down the corridor out of sight. The door bumped me forward a bit, and I decided to throw my morning star down and switch to the sword that I knew to give me half a chance. I shouted "was that you, Arad?" not knowing what was happening behind me, but now effectively cut off from the others.

Falcor finished off the lizard he had wounded, just as more lizards started approaching from behind him. I swung with my sword and this time connected well with the foe I knew was there somewhere, cutting deeply. A sudden wave of cold dread washed over me, but I was able to steel my nerve and stand my ground. There was some muffled shouting from Arad in the corridor behind me, followed by chanting as he called on the Creator to heal some of his wounds. Falcor ran another one through, and was definitely carrying us through the fight at this point; thank goodness he could still see where the threat was!

The new lizards charged into the fray, with both Arad and Falcor attacked by two for now and more coming. I was also surrounded, although I didn't actually realise it. Arad said a quick prayer to the Creator and the two lizards froze, immobile in front of him. Falcor stabbed one with his dagger, although it stayed on its feet. I had found my target and landed a deadly blow, but the other two that had closed on me both struck solid blows on my back and side. Arad tried to reach out with his mind to ask where we were, but felt an evil presence and heard hollow laughter when he did so. I shouted "behind the door!" in response, hoping he was close enough to hear. Arad then tried the same prayer that had held his opponents but aimed roughly at my foes... when I found out that he was blind when he did this, I did wonder at how lucky I was not to have been affected myself... but at any rate it had no effect whatsoever so no harm done.

One of the lizards attacking Falcor had seen Arad turn his back to concentrate his prayer in my direction, and decided to take advantage of the target. This was its undoing, though, as Falcor also took advantage of it being distracted and thrust his sword right through it. I swung with my short sword, connecting with a target, and then followed up with my sword, another fatal blow that took some pressure off. I didn't realise it at the time, but this was the shaman hoping to take advantage of my blindness. Unfortunately I was hit by the other lizard as I had exposed my side again, although at least I knew where it was as a result.

Falcor started shouting out what the situation was to help us - the door was shut, two foes were strangely held in the corridor, and he was fighting another. This didn't last long as he was too powerful for it and stabbed into its heart, rolling it to the side as it collapsed. Arad prayed again, but nothing changed so not sure what he was hoping for. Falcor stepped up to one of the held lizards, swinging his sword menacingly (although we couldn't see him abusing the defenceless creature like this). I managed to connect with the other foe attacking me, but it dodged back away from my follow-up thrust.

Arad shouted to Falcor to help me, as he was holding some back. By some stroke of luck I managed to swing and connect, killing the last foe just before Falcor came crashing through the door to help. All he saw was me surrounded by fallen lizards, body and swords bloodied, wary of another attack. He embraced me, clearly impressed and said that he was not sure how I managed to do it! Arad, clearer now that the door was open again, warned that the held creatures would not stay that way for long. Falcor took what was left of Arad's rope from his pack and managed to tie their legs together, moving them into the corner of the room so that we could keep an eye on them.

Arad said that he was familiar with the fate that had befallen us, and believed that our sight would return but that it would take over an hour and not mere minutes. I was just glad to hear that it wasn't permanent! Falcor moved us so that we were with him before closing the door and spiking the latch with a dagger he took from the dead, so that we would have warning if more came to investigate. Our prisoners came round shortly and started to get to their feet. Falcor asked Arad to use Elvradhil to warn them to stay still. Arad said "Do you understand me, we will kill you if you don't comply", to which they responded "The enemies of our lord will die". They were never going to be fun at dinner parties, that's for sure.

Falcor described how they were tied to us so that we understood the threat, then stood between them and us, swords drawn. Arad warned them again and they hiss and spit but don't get any closer, clearly able to take a hint. Arad had a great idea to use some of his spare bow strings to tie their hands, and I offered my fishing line, so eventually they were fairly securely bound and we could relax a little. Falcor then inspected the glowing patches on the floor more closely, finding that they were at two points of a familiar star traced out in gold. Outside the star runes ran around in a circle, seemingly forming four lines:

Lost to our mother

Chaos their lord::

Only death truly ordered

Will see Justice return

The two glowing points of the star were orientated (we guessed) to north and southeast, which fitted with our idea that the two verses we had activated were linked to this mechanism. A hexagon in the centre had the remains of what looked like it had once been an obelisk, but was broken and shattered right down to the base, which seemed to be made of Basalt. I asked Falcor if he would move me around to the point aligning with humility so that I could move towards the former obelisk. As soon as I entered the glowing area, though, I entered a trance. Again I felt that I was one with Karmana, feeling perfectly at peace and comfortable. I also got the sense that the way forward was not open, with a gentle pressure preventing me from progressing, and assumed that it would take all of the six runes to be activated before that could happen. I was able to withdraw without difficulty back to the room where I was slightly alarmed to find Falcor in my face trying to revive me!

The great news was that my blindness had been cured! Blinking and looking around to take in the scene, I excitedly asked if Arad would go to the other glowing point, encouraging him to make a connection to Karmana, despite his faith, as it was definitely a place that he was meant to be in... although I realised that it would depend on his willingness to do so given his connection with the Creator. Arad was willing to try, and similarly entered a trance when he entered the glowing area. I reassured Falcor that he would be fine, and so he asked me to retrieve his bow from the corridor. I did so, also picking up the morning star I had discarded, and had a quick search of the shaman. I found a scroll related to protection from the power of the undead, a colourless and odourless liquid in a vial, and a few coins.

Arad came round on his own, as I expected, stood unaided an erect with a huge smile on his face, with all of his wounds healed, and announced "My mind is clear; to honour Karmana is to honour my Lord, as she is his most precious daughter". "That which is of Karmana must return to Karmana, but that which is not I must dispatch in his name." I was so glad to hear that we were of one purpose and aligned, as I had worried that we would have to work against each other when trying to save souls and that was not the case. Phew. Arad had been fully restored in body and mind, and also went with the Creator's thanks, which had really pleased him. Arad was so full of energy that he was able to call on the Creator to heal all of my wounds with a couple of prayers, for which I was grateful having suffered badly in the fight.

Happy that the prisoners were secure we headed back through the door and turned left towards the now open door at the end of the passage. Another, smaller room was just beyond the door with a door in the wall to the right. It empty of lizard creatures, as they had already vacated to join the melee, and was medium-sized with some weapon racks against the walls, mostly empty save for some javelins. On the far wall the body of a humanoid creature was pinned by javelins stuck through its body. Torches provided light, and the familiar mud covered the walls still. There was heavily scuffed straw and stone on the floor where creatures had been active. Arad, who was leading the way, signaled to stop and move up slowly. We approached carefully, although Falcor seemed slower than normal, looking at the lizard corpses as he passed them.

Arad said "I will guard the door as you investigate the room - close the door behind you". We jogged in, starting to look around; the creature on the wall was an odd amphibian thing that had clearly been used as a target for the javelins, so Arad had to remove them first and then undo its bindings before lowering it to the floor. I started checking the walls for runes behind the mud as Arad laid the body down and prayed to the Creator for its soul. Once again we had the sense of a soul passing like wind through the room, seemingly from a cold despair to a warmth, but tinged with brine like of the sea air.

It was shortly after that I made a discovery - another script across the north and west walls in the corner that read:

Strongest of all

Mighty master of beasts

Now servant to bedlam

His weakness brings death

This confirmed, by its colour, what we suspected... that Purple = Strength.

Falcor touched the runes, saying that he denounced the chaos lord and swore to fight to preserve lives, even if it cost him his own. Initially nothing happened, but after trying a few things we eventually worked out that his armour was the key... the one thing that proved without doubt who he was. The runes glowed at its touch, and we returned to the star in the previous room. Falcor approached "his" point, with us near our points but standing back. As he stepped onto the glowing part of the floor he disappeared! Thinking that this was perhaps similar to Arad's earlier experience we elected to stay and wait, each guarding an exit as we did so. I ate an apple, which seemed a reasonable use of the time.

After ten minutes, though, Arad had grown concerned and he decided to step onto his point to pray for Falcor... at which moment he also disappeared! Not wanting to be separated from my friends, I immediately stepped onto the glow of my own point...

Detached From Karmana

I found myself floating in a featureless nothingness, feeling disconnected from Karmana but sensing the minds of the others as if through a "mental fog". Occasional ribbons of colour like slicks of oil on water flowed through the air around me. As soon as I thought about the colour red, and perhaps touching one, it coalesced in front of my hand allowing me to reach it easily... but as soon as I did so I found myself stood on hard, jagged, volcanic rock in intense heat. Only my crown's protection was keeping me alive. The landscape was covered in lava pools and flowing lava streams, volcanoes erupted all around, spewing rocks, ash, and magma into the air. It was raining down all around. It was another world, and not a great place to be!

At that point I felt utterly alone, unable to detect Karmana or my friends. The air was thick and choking, possibly poisonous although I could just about stomach it despite having to cough from time to time. In the far distance a black speck was moving in the sky in a way that appeared controlled, and different to the rocks erupting from volcanoes around me. I started towards it, with no other landmark to discern where I could go, and soon afterwards it changed direction to head towards me. As it drew closer it became obvious that it was dragon shaped, although distance was hard to discern here. I stopped and stood, waiting, unarmed and ready to meet whatever it was, hoping that it would be friendly but with little choice about it if not. It grew larger and was clearly a full-grown dragon.

A voice boomed in my mind "Curmkanoroc, I have waited a long time for one of your kind to rescue me." I said that I was glad and honoured to meet one of the Elvradrak again, but asked what was this place? An ancient and battered black dragon landed beside me with surprising grace, only slightly smaller than Hope and easily dwarfing me with its immense bulk. She introduced herself as "Lost and Alone", saying that this place was nowhere that she knew of, a soulless and godless place devoid of life and apart from Karmana. I asked how she came to this place and she said that she had been battling the ancient enemy in the skies of her homeland. The power of the False God was tearing at the seams of reality, and he was trying to destroy one of our Mother's holy places. She had tried to protect it (an image of an obelisk appeared in my mind), but his power had struck at it just as she tried to cover it. Her last thought was of the Forge of Life, but she found herself trapped here, lost and alone.

She asked if I would guide her soul back to our Mother. I said that I would, and gladly, but I feared that we would have to find a way back to Her first. She said that she would follow my lead (calling me "great one" but I certainly didn't feel great about the situation) and that if she had possessed the power to return then she would have already. I described the place we had travelled from; the room with the basalt obelisk and the gold inlaid star as well as the nothingness and the red ribbon, asking if that meant anything to her. She feared that we had travelled the Creator's pathway, the place that connects all worlds. She too was there briefly, but had found no way back to it. I asked if the Creator had any power here. She knew little of his power, but believed that he had power anywhere he chose to. Only the heart of chaos would be denied to him... although this place had much of chaos about it.

I wondered if bringing some order to that place might bring the attention of the Creator upon us, but nothing Lost had tried had worked and I had used what little power I had could from Karmana already... and I wasn't sure that any of it would work when I was separated from Her anyway. I offered a prayer to Karmana and the Creator, at least knowing that they were aligned in purpose now I felt I could do so without conflict. It was to little avail, though, as it would require considerable power to get the Creator's attention in this chaotic place.

I had no source of power strong enough except... but I recoiled from the idea at once. Yes, the soul of a dragon would potentially allow travel back to Karmana, but the only way for that to happen would be for Lost to die. Lost had been listening to me, my thoughts as plain as speech to her, and spoke: "I know of no other way. Death has always been my only escape from this place but I feared my soul would be lost in this realm of chaos. If you can carry even some part of me back to our Mother then I would gladly die to save us both."

It is traumatic for me to even think about what eventually transpired, let alone write it. I spend as long as I could with Lost trying to avoid the inevitable, telling stories of our travels and my time with Hope, and she was especially interested in every detail about Him (Falcor). I was kind and left out some of the details, but she was joyful about his transformation in particular, even if he was yet to grow to his full potential. I asked about his armour, which was clearly designed for such a purpose, and she said that it had been fashioned by the Elvradhil and blessed by Protector of Life in a land far from the Forge, allowing him to move amongst the other Children in his bidpedal form whilst still having adequate protection. I mentioned that many of the parts were lost now, but she was not concerned saying that they would be drawn to Him (or Him to them) as the armour was connected to his soul with a bond that could not be broken.

Discussing the place we had travelled from she was unaware of it in detail, but understood that He had found a way to travel using the energies of the Gods themselves as his pathway, allowing him to open a pathway to wherever was needed and arrive instantly. I noted that Falcor had no memory of it, but Lost had faith that our Mother would restore Him. She also said that if the Caphelon Draklac was fighting alongside Him then it gave her great hope that we would succeed. She said that if the Draklac could also be restored then we would have strong allies in our fight. I said that I feared we would need them, describing the shadowing mockeries of Elvradrak that Hope had fought. Lost recognised them, saying that she had also fought them and that they were no match for a true Elvradrak one-on-one, but to be careful as they would seek Him out whilst he was vulnerable.

My strength was beginning to flag, the incessant intense heat of this place taking its toll and my waterskin empty. I could wait no longer...

I ended her life. That makes it sound clean and easy, but it was neither. She allowed it for the sake of her soul and Karmana, and I did it for the sake of our souls and Karmana. I would almost have rather died there, I still wonder if I should have.

Once it was done a powerful surge of energy filled me and I focused on returning by the Creator's pathway to the basalt obelisk. In an instant I found myself on the floor of the basalt obelisk with the gold star beneath me in the place I had left it, or so I thought, but the obelisk was whole. A shimmering curtain of light collapsed in front of me, then a prolonged bolt of energy leapt from me into the obelisk and I felt that some part of Lost had been returned to Karmana and her lingering thanks were in my mind for just a fraction of a second, giving me some reason to think what I had done was actually worth it. I sank to my knees, drained but alive and dehydrated. Only then did I notice that I was not alone; I was surrounded my lizard folk, although better armed and armoured than the ones we had seen before. They seemed shocked by my appearance, but were reaching for weapons and clearly meant to attack. I felt some echo of the energy from Lost giving me renewed strength as I tightened my grip on my weapons and roared an incoherent challenge, glad to have something to take out my anger and grief on.

---

Whilst I was being traumatised, Falcor had apparently been training in his "castle" (the Godly version of his safe environment), honing his skills and reflecting on his fighting techniques with an old master. When he was done he joined Arad, appearing instantly on a massive branch of an unimaginely vast tree, where Jeanette was talking with Arad. She eventually recognised Falcor when he prompted her, but claimed to not have seen him for centuries... a very different time had passed for her than for Falcor.

She revealed to them both that I had emerged in the past, which was a bad thing. The Creator's one rule (is there really only one? I suspect others would emerge if you got creative) is not to mess with time as chaos always ensues. She said that she would send them to retrieve me, but that they must not use their powers as the False God would sense it and that would set in motion events that should not happen at that particular time. She stressed that they must minimise their presence in that time in any way possible, lest the present be changed, and not for the better.

She explained something of the means of travel by the obelisks, explaining that the way we activated the obelisk had reduced the power required to travel, but that time was the key, and the one really difficult aspect. Only the Elvradhil might have the means to set the right time to enable travel safely. She also mentioned that the place we had traveled from was the 3rd holiest place of the Elvradhil as Jeanette reckoned. Falcor also asked about the name that one of the Sarn had called him ("Robur") - our souls have existed through history in different bodies, so they have names of their own that have endured. Falcor was "Robur", Arad was "Consat" and I was "Anima".

When they finished their discussion Arad started praying to the Creator to prepare them for their encounter, although he wasn't sure that the blessings would endure when they traveled through time (he was right, they didn't). Once he was ready, Jeanette reached out her hand and a brass doorknob appeared, a trace of a door visible in the air. She opened it and they could see a part of the room that I was in beyond, hurrying through with the promise that the door would be reopened in five minutes of time on Karmana.

---

They emerged into the room full of lizards armed with longswords and wearing chain armour, looking prepared for combat but not expecting the new arrivals in the corner of the room; instead the lizards were focused on me in the centre. There were about a dozen in the room spread out on all sides, so it was fortunate that my friends had appeared in a corner away from the doors. They saw me absolutely covered in blood and gore, hair slicked down by it, kneeling and retching, sickened by what had just transpired. Letting out my roar I rushed toward a lizard that was between me and the new arrivals, but Falcor was faster and managed to run around them to intercept me. He picked me up and started to carry me towards the planar door, but then became overwhelmed by the smell of blood coming off me, starting to retch himself, and was forced to drop me.

Arad kept to the wall, engaging one near to the physical door nearest where they had arrived from. The lizards quickly closed on us, although they were a little surprised to be attacked from two directions so some were slow off the mark. Arad landed a good hit, but couldn't get to door before a lizard opened it and shouted for help. Another lizard did the same at the other end of the room, so we would have to move quickly. Arad finished off the first lizard, and turned to see how we were doing. Falcor was hit, which was unsurprising because he was on his knees almost defenceless.

Seeing this, Arad moved to help us, slicing one that was attacking me from behind. I leapt away, trying to get some room between me and Falcor (I suspected I knew what was causing his nausea); I was slashed across my side as I tried to get clear, but I had my revenge when I moved under its guard and stabbed into its relatively soft body, opening a deep wound. It fell, trying to hold its guts in. I spun past and swung at another, landing a powerful blow, letting my rage out with powerful cuts and stabs. Falcor recovered his senses as the smell faded, slashing powerfully across the chest of one lizard as he got to his feet. He shouted for us to move into the corner, stabbing a lizard with his dagger, but took a couple of hits as he tried to back up.

I was also hit, although another blow scraped across my armour without penetrating. Arad stabbed another one with his short sword as Falcor struck out, killing one of the lizards that had hit him. Arad finished his foe off, making some space, and I managed to cut one attacker down, although I still had one on me. Falcor also killed one, and we were starting to thin their ranks and form a loose arc around the corner to keep a perimeter. I hoped that there was a reason for this, as the door the others had arrived through had disappeared by now, but I could do little but trust in them as they seemed to know what they were doing.

Arad was closest to the physical door still, landing a hit on a lizard there. I stabbed the one still fighting me, and Falcor finished it off from my left, but he neglected his own defence and one of the two attacking him from the side landed a blow. More lizards were arriving now, from the far end of the room, and closing fast. I stabbed one just as we heard Arad shout: "Shaman to the right"! We were all hit, and despite my pain I was more worried about Falcor. Then suddenly it was pitch black and we couldn't see a thing, although Falcor wasn't affected at all. I swung at where my foe had been a second ago and luckily it hadn't moved; my sword cut deep and he fell. I wasn't completely sure he was finished, but his armour and weapon made quite a bit of noise hitting the floor, so I at least knew he was down.

Falcor was in the fortunate position of facing several foes that were hovering at the edge of what they saw as darkness but he could see perfectly well. He quickly put two strong blows into one foe and killed it, backing off into the darkness again like a murderous shadow. Arad also managed to kill one in the dark, striking where he thought the foe had been as I had. He shouted that he couldn't see, and I did the same. Falcor responded that he could, and came closer, cutting down one that was trying to attack me as I backed off, oblivious to the threat. Falcor slit the throat of another lizard (although it was in the dark so we didn't know it at the time), and it collapsed gasping quietly and bled to death.

Arad was trying to defend the door in the dark, connecting solidly with one but only with its armour. Falcor finished another one, seemingly enjoying the advantage that being able to see when others couldn't gave him. He could see that there were more lizards poised ready to engage, but not moving forward. As I backed away and became more disconnected from the fight the darkness started to seem oppressive, and my thoughts started to return to Lost and the terrible act that had brought me to this place. I sank to my knees, sobbing once more, saying: "forgive me, I'm sorry" quietly and rocking slightly in the dark.

Falcor was still fighting, darting out to surprise one outside the darkness with a stab before darting back out of sight. It did respond quickly with a blow, but his armour kept him safe. Just after this we all suddenly saw a bright square of light in the darkness, clear to us despite the blackness all around. We ran towards it as Jeanette shouted "hurry up, you're late"! I was closest, so I reached it first, stumbling through onto the massive branch that the others had left just a few minutes ago. Jeanette recoiled in horror at my appearance, reaching for a knife but not drawing it. Arad followed; he was hit in the back as he turned, but his armour absorbed the blow. Falcor was last, outpacing a wild swipe behind him as he left. As soon as Falcor stepped through the door closed behind him and we were safe.

Jeanette asked of me: "what have you done?", then turned to Arad saying: "sort him out!" before disappearing. I dry retched, my dry throat probably the only thing saving me from emptying my guts. Arad started to pray for me as Falcor kept his distance. A natural spring appeared in the wood at Arad's feet, or at least I didn't think it was there before. Occasionally I could swear that the whole thing was an illusion and I was back on the Creator's pathway again. Were my friends real? At once I was back, with Arad reassuring me and pouring water over me, praying as he did so. The blood and gore started to wash away and disappear, cleaning far more quickly than was normal. Arad was struck by a powerful voice in his head, almost stunning in its intensity, saying "my son, have a care, this is not from another realm, this is a loved and lost child."

I asked for water, which Arad gave me, and I sipped at first, unable to swallow more. But then drank deeply as soon as I was able. Falcor demanded to know what had happened to me. I spoke of my journey and the place I had ended up in, and then of meeting Lost. When it came to the end, though, I found it too difficult and my words petered out. I looked downcast and just said "I saved our souls". Falcor, guessing I think what might have happened, pressed me for answers, demanding to know what I had done. Eventually I just said "I killed her".

Arad stepped back, slightly aghast. Falcor was furious, pacing around and angrily wanting to know why I hadn't waited for him in the room, or what made me go to that place, and what made me so important. I didn't fight, for most of it was a fair criticism, but at that last point I snapped back "I didn't do it for me, I did it for her! Do you think I could have killed her on my own without her letting me?!" Her soul was with Karmana, of that I was sure, and she had been alone for centuries. It didn't make what I had done any better, but I had done it for Karmana, I had promised to heal Her and that was the only reason I would have done such a thing.

I was starting to phase in and out of the nothingness and tree again, losing my grip on what was real. Falcor tried to grab me and keep me in the place with them, with Arad trying to reassure Falcor of the Creator's grace even as Falcor hated me for doing what I had done. I tried to focus on the tree's branch and thankfully it came back into focus, with Falcor stepping back away as I became solid again. I clung to the tree, asking if we could leave quickly. Arad decided that would be for the best, and thought really hard to summon Jeanette. He was successful... but I was banished to the nothingness as soon as she appeared! I freaked out a little and tried not to think of or touch any colours, or think of any places, curling up into a ball with my hands pressed into my eyes.

Arad talked to Jeanette briefly, and in moments we appeared back in the room we had originally left, with the broken obelisk. I was still rocking on the floor, not sure what was real any more, but Arad encouraged me to come away from the star. I crawled on hands and knees, but moved away. Arad prayed over me again, calling on the Creator to heal my wounds, which at least helped me to feel physically better. We had a short discussion over whether the Creator was really with us always, with me noting that places of chaos might weaken that link. Despite this, I thanked Arad for his faith and for helping once more.

Back in Lizard Territory

We looked around to find that Falcor had already left by the door we had first entered by, clearly wanting to move on and not spend time with me. Arad tried to say that he understood what I'd been through, but he really didn't. He tried to carry me, but with my new weight it was easier for us to jog forward together, both behind Falcor who had advanced to the javelin room. He listened but didn't hear anything, allowing us to catch him up, I approached sheepishly, not sure how he was feeling, but he was all business, saying that I should check for traps first. I didn't find any, so I opened the door. A corridor branched left and right just beyond the door, torchlit as before.

We moved up to the corners, noticing that it was silent to the left but that there was some noise to the right. Falcor headed left, seeing some iron railings farther down the corridor. We followed, with Arad checking behind us. The corridor split right and left ahead, and Falcor moved up to the corner to take a look. There was a closed door to the right, with the corridor continuing beyond some iron railings to the left. On closer inspection the way west was barred by iron gates, two parts secured with a lock made up of tight bars and horizontal struts to reinforce them. Falcor tested the strength of the bars, signalling me towards the door, but the bars wouldn't budge.

Arad let us know that he was guarding the rear, and set about checking the door for traps, not finding any. We gathered by the door and, when everyone was ready, I opened it. There was a small room beyond with a door on the far side. A table with a book on it stood before an armchair with an older looking lizard creature who was not obviously armed or armoured sat in it. It wore a chunky gold chain around its neck. A brazier was smouldering beside it. It had obviously been waiting to see who entered, because as soon as I opened the door darts of magical energy shot into me from its hands, causing pain without any visible wounds.

Falcor charged forward, but by some witchcraft his blows would not land on the creature. Arad sprinted to the side and put an arrow into the lizard, missing with his second. I charged forward as well, going the other side and stabbed it then followed up with a sword cut, leaving it sagging with pain. It desperately started to chant some incantation, but Falcor cut it down before it could finish. We quickly looked around for any more threats, then started to check the walls. Arad took the chain off its neck and checked the rest of the body, and Falcor checked out the book on the table ("Politics of Power" by Lorenzo D'Omici). Arad started stripping the robes off the lizard, perhaps looking to help Falcor with his modesty. The brass tripod holding the bowl with burning coals was also of interest to Falcor, who actually put his hand inside and jiggled it around, although not finding anything. I finished checking the walls, not finding any runes.

Arad gave the clothes to Falcor, as I expected, and he admitted that they could always be of use to him, throwing the robe on to everyone's relief. Arad closed and barred the door behind us, telling us that he was doing so, and I moved to check the door in the north, finding nothing. Arad moved up to cover it with his bow and Falcor joined him. I opened the door, revealing an unoccupied room, like a sleeping quarters attached to the previous room. There was a bookcase, a bound and locked chest, a bed, and a glove laid on the chest. There was also a tall cupboard, empty with the door ajar next to the bed.

I moved up towards the chest, as the others were wary of it, and Arad checked the body again for any sign of a key. Falcor took a look at the bookcase contents, whilst also rummaging through any robe pockets for a key. As I was inspecting the chest I found a key stuck to its back, trying it in the lock and turning it with a click. I cracked it open, finding a few things inside but Falcor warned me to hold as he inspected the glove from on top of the chest - the fingertips were discoloured, as if partly bleached, suggesting that there might be a contact poison somewhere.

Using the glove he took the contents out, finding three scrolls, a leather bag, a small velvet bag, a glass vial, flask of oil, and a metal pot. The bags held some pearls and some gold, and the scrolls Falcor described as "Hold Portal", "Invisibility", and "Fly". I took the vial, which was colourless and odourless so not particularly helpful! Falcor hadn't found any volumes on the bookcase that related to magic, but took them anyway, hoping to learn something from them later. Falcor also believed that one of the pearls, a smaller one, was magical in some way.

We checked the walls as usual, finding nothing, so headed back to the corridor. I checked the key we found in the gate lock as well, not really expecting it to work... I wasn't disappointed as it was completely the wrong size. Instead I took my tools out and set to work on it, getting a satisfying click in short order. We continued in what we thought was a Westerly direction, finding stairs leading down a short way further on. The corridor continued at the bottom, with a branch to the left turning back on itself and a door a little further on to the right. As we got closer we could see that there was also door in the right wall of the corridor leading south. I didn't like this - too many directions we could be attacked from!

Arad moved right up to the junction, seeing doors on both sides of the corridor to his left, but what worried me was the noise I could hear behind the door to our right. As I approached quietly to warn Arad, a lizard opened the door and I could see that there were others behind it - all armed. At least it looked surprised to see us! Falcor moved up to my left and let an arrow fly before it could react, finding his mark, but firing over my head again! As the lizards gathered their senses and closed on us, I threw a dagger, but it bounced off its armour. Arad joined the fight, intercepting the one trying to close on me. I moved up as well, whipping my sword out and slashing the lizard that Falcor shot, dropping it to the floor as it tried unsuccessfully to stem the bleeding. Arad landed a hit on another one and Falcor followed up by putting an arrow in it, killing that one too.

At that point a new creature approached from the corridor ahead of us. It was well appointed, with a gold ring, leather clothes with pearls and gold filigree, carrying a net and trident. It looked somewhat fishy due to its scaly legs, but it did have feet. It was tall, about seven feet, but my attention was on the lizard right in front of me at that point. I struck the lizard as it moved to attack, and the fish man called out as I did so. I didn't understand, but Arad later said that he was trying to say "Hold your weapons and declare your alliegance!" in a strange dialect similar to the tongue of the Elvrabor.

Arad stowed one weapon and dropped another, calling out: "We are for Karmana and the Creator!" Despite this there was still a threat, so he dived at the lizard, grappling with it, getting a good hold but not able to bear it down. Instead it smacked Arad with a morning star. Seeing that he was in trouble, but trying to subdue it, I changed my blow into a flat blade to its head, but I was too strong and it went limp in Arad's arms, dead. Falcor ran forward, pointing his bow at the fish man, saying "calm down!" in common. Now that the immediate threat had passed I could see that where the new arrival was standing the floor changed from the muddy stone we were used to here to a smooth flagged stone just behind him, like some kind of boundary. I could also see the edge of an underground body of water farther back, with the roof opening up into a natural cavern.

Arad picked up his sword, stowing it, and said: "Hail and well met! Are you of the Elvra?" in his native tongue. It responded: "You are tree folk?". Arad nodded and replied: "Yes." The Elvramar (as we were quickly working out) turned his head towards the rest of us and said: "These?" Arad responded trustfully: "He is of the earth, and he is of dragon kind". Our new "friend" stepped back at that, so that he stood on the very edge of the water. Others of his kind appeared quickly behind him, still in the water but with their upper torso held erect above it with no apparent effort. A look of confusion was on the leader's face... "He? Not she?" he asked. Arad confirmed that he was indeed "He". He accused Arad somewhat desperately, saying that "treefolk always lie", disbelieving him.

Arad was relaying some of the conversation in common, and so when Falcor felt a probe on his mind he thought "Welcome, I am He" and we all had a flash of a vision with Him (in dragon form) coming out of a huge volcano. The Elvramar was visibly shaken, saying that he washed his hands of the lizardfolk, and that a pact had been broken. A message came back to us as Arad tried to reach out with his mind, saying: "We have been misled, we have been lied to, we have made mistakes, we need to think." Falcor responded with regret that the Elvra were not united, including the Elvradhil, getting some kind of positive feeling back that they were closer than we think. Then, without any pause or effort, he backflipped into the water, his feet becoming webbed as he hit the water, and he swam off with his mates. Well that was positive, I guess, if not actually useful.

Arad decided that he would leave some pearls for the Elvramar as an offering, the ones we found in the lizard shaman's room (although I think he kept the one that Falcor had noticed might have some dweomer about it). Then we went back to the room the lizards had emerged from, finding it barely furnished with a simple bench and weapons rack. The rack held one morning star and one shield. We found no traps or runes on the walls, and it seemed to be a guardroom (and one where not much trouble was expected I would say).

Falcor took a belt from one of the lizards to help with his clothing issues, for which we were all grateful, and then we moved on again. Turning south we first checked the door to our left, which was not trapped or locked. I opened it to find a dark room looking a bit like a junk store, and one that smelled dank at that. Still, we started searching and soon discovered the body of a dead Elvrahum! He had worn padded armour, now in bad condition, and had a belt pouch with a few coins, a chunky topaz, and a scrap of parchment with a word written in faded ink "Quaerere". The remains of a backpack held a scroll ("Lock" according to Falcor) and some thieves tools amongst the decayed supplies. In his hand was a 6" long ivory stick. I took the tools, as my own were of strange proportions now, and Falcor took the stick and scroll. I wondered if the word on the parchment related to the wand-like stick, but left that to Falcor.

We remembered for some reason about the scrying we had endured earlier, and Falcor warned that we might still be under observation. After a moment of concentration, Arad suggested that it might be Custor watching this time (had he heard us talking about Falcor being "Him", or had that passed him by?) and everyone relaxed a little. We started scraping the walls again, but found nothing. Instead we crossed the corridor to another door, which was locked. I was able to spring the lock and it revealed a similar sized room but in much better condition. There was a bed, a chest, one table, and a couple of chairs inside. There were quite a few items scattered between the table and the bed: a dish with fruit and nuts, a leather purse with a chunk of uncut amber almost as big as my head, a dagger in a scabbard, a mug, and a pitcher. There was nothing on the walls again, and I found that the chest was not trapped or locked. The only thing really of value was the amber, which Falcor took.

We moved farther south to another door on our right, but as we did so more lizards appeared from a side coridor ahead, moving from our left to right, but unfortunately spotting us as they glanced across. Falcor loosed an arrow, striking true, and Arad charged forward to engage them. I followed closely behind, seeing Arad stick a short sword into the one Falcor shot, which killed it. As they closed ranks and moved forward, Arad struck again, almost running one through and causing it to stagger back. Falcor put an arrow into the one to my left, although I was struck in the chest with a morning star. An arrow flew at us from one that had held back, clanging off Arad's armour. Falcor let fly with a second arrow into his original target, piercing its neck, and it dropped dead.

A morning star connected ineffectually with Arad's armour, and an arrow flew in from behind them, somehow managing to miss everyone in the melee. We could be sure now that there were three fighting us up front, with another at the rear with a bow. I stabbed one on my left, but had to duck away on the right as arrows from Falcor flew close overhead, although one connected with their archer. Arad finished off the one between us, so I turned to the one on the left, stabbing it again, and following up with sword. I cut so deeply that the blood spurted over me as it collapsed. I immediately had a flashback to my time with Lost, retching slightly as the painful memory returned, wiping desperately at the blood on my face before shaking myself out of it and recovering my senses.

Falcor charged through the gap we had created, heading for the archer. It tried to shoot him, but missed and Falcor stabbed his dagger into it as he covered the distance easily. Arad noticed that I was disorientated and stepped between me and the nearest foe, sacrificing his attacks to defend me instead. He did take a blow, but again his armour deflected it and he was not hurt. The archer flailed at Falcor with its bow, striking his armour but doing nothing effective. Falcor dispatched it almost casually, as Arad cut down the last lizard.

I apologised for a moment to Arad, hoping that he could consign these souls to the Creator. I stepped forward to protect him in case of more foes, seeing Falcor continue ahead to check the other side. Behind me Arad prayed, this time felt a chill in his bones, sagging to his knees. He felt as much as saw a dark and cold lifeless place with ranks upon ranks of warriors clearly dead but lined up ready for war. I noticed Arad sag, and caught him under his arms. He said that he had seen where they (the lizards I guess)( go - that they were taken to come back to fight as undead. He said with conviction that we must stop them, that it was chaos and must be opposed. He was a little shaken, and I asked if he was alright, which he assured me he was.

Falcor found another door in a square room, and also noticed that in the far corner the floor changed again, as it had where we met the Elvramar. We quickly moved up, checking a door near us, finding it locked. It resisted my attempts to pick the lock, and was surprisingly resistant to our attempts to force it. In the end Arad set to it with his hammer, eventually battering the lock loose enough to force it open. Beyond was another small bedroom with no real items of interest, certainly not worth the effort to get it! We checked the walls, or course, but then moved on to the larger room where the lizards had come from, which was like a barracks. It was unremarkable but for the beds and personal items. The walls were clear of runes, but we did find some rope and a flask of oil to replace some of our losses. We also found a curious perfectly smooth polished quartz sphere, slightly smaller than a head, that Arad took.

We explored a little further, moving around the corner to where Falcor had gone to meet the archer, with Arad and I going to the door to check it out as Falcor checked the south wall for any runes. At the end of that he looked out over a stone ledge with an underground pool beside it, and steps leading down into it. Perhaps this joined up with the one we had first seen? The door and the lock were very heavily reinforced, and I was unable to unlock it. I remembered that there had been some iron spikes in the backpack of the Elvrahum corpse, and although in bad condition they would certainly help us to force the door. Arad used them with his hammer to force the hinges off and then we were able to make the door open the wrong way to squeeze through. A short staircase behind the door led down and then opened into a long room extending to our left.

There was a series of five doors in a row, like cells, each reinforced and with a small barred opening. Falcor went back to look for any keys on the bodies we had left as we investigated what was behind the doors. Behind the first was one of the lizard folk, who shouted incoherently when we looked in. The next two were empty, and the next was also empty but we noticed that in place of the solid floor was a pool of water. The last door had an amphibian thing behind it, which was like the one we had found speared to the wall with javelins earlier. As we looked in he said excitedly in common "Save me, save me! They hate me!" This was the beginning of a non-stop verbal suck-up to Arad. He hailed him as a "clearly wise and great warrior", urging and pleading with Arad to free him. He claimed to worship the "great tree dragon god in the sky", clearly talking nonsense and trying too hard to claim that he worshiped things that Arad respected. When quizzed on Karmana, he claimed that it was the "greatest tree in forest" so clearly knew nothing.

In terms of his race, he claimed to be Sahaugin, claiming (more nonsense) to be guardians of the trees. Falcor had found the keys somewhere, and handed them to Arad, not wanting to leave the thing but also not wanting to take responsibility for it. Arad said a prayer to the Creator and then released him. The thing dropped at his feet and said that Arad was "very wise" before looking at Falcor and calling him a "great dragon lord". Falcor looked around as if innocent, saying "no"! The thing quickly adapted... "not dragon lord? Death lord then?" Arad decided to name him Birt.

Arad tried to speak to us with his mind about Birt but suffered as a result, sensing a blankness and feeling pain. He slumped before us, unresponsive, but all we could do was wait, with no way of reviving him. It took a minute or so before he came to, and Birt said "Tree Lord in Death Place?! Death place bad!" Instead Arad told Birt that he was free to go, and Falcor gave him a dagger so that he would not be unarmed. He was nervous about taking it, suspecting a trick perhaps, but eventually accepted it and made his way to the stairs out. As soon as he was at the corner, though, he straightened up and said confidently: "You arrogant fools! My Lord Kraldar will have all your souls!" He ran off, with Falcor chasing him, and dived into the water to the south. Falcor had dropped his bow to leave his hands free, shouting for someone to pick it up as he sprinted away.

I sprinted after them, grabbing Falcor's bow on the way. Arad also ran forward, saying a quick prayer to the Creator as he neared the water. I wasn't able to keep up, getting a painful stitch as I tried to climb the stairs. We had some luck, though as it seemed Arad's prayer was answered... Birt was floating in the water paralysed! Falcor dragged Birt out of water, but noticed there were lizardmen in the water farther in approaching fast, and shouted a warning. The lizards surged through the water and erupted out onto the ledge, attacking Falcor.

Falcor reacted just in time, landing a slash across the neck of the first one that opened an artery and it fell back, gurgling. Arad dropped his sword to ready his bow but Falcor was now obscuring the only target so he stowed his bow and drew his hammer, advancing to help Falcor. More lizards appeared from the water, only the narrow ledge stopping the others from being surrounded. Arad smacked one of the new attackers with his hammer, then finished it off with a sword thrust. Falcor stabbed the one that first attacked him, but was struck with a trident in return.

I managed to reach the top of the stairs, ready to give Falcor his bow, but it was pretty clear that he didn't need it just then! Falcor cut deeply into the one that stabbed him, almost severing its head, then spun around Arad and stabbed into his attacker, pulling the blade out with a spurt of blood. He continued his motion, running down the ledge towards another lizard that had emerged further on. Arad shouted that Birt was still alive, and that he could only hold him for a few more minutes, so I moved up to guard him as the others pressed their attacks. Falcor was the farthest forward and drove his sword into another lizard, killing it, but could see swarms of other creatures rising up towards him from the depths.

Arad finished off the one he was fighting, the last lizard at our end of the chamber. Falcor conjured a spray of colour above the creatures, his armour disappearing as he did so... this time, though, he sensed an icy chill and a probing attack on his mind when it vanished. A voice laughed and said "I have it now" before fading away in his head. At least the colourful display stunned some of the creatures. The remaining creatures started to swim away to the north, possibly flanking? Arad ran up to one of the unconscious creatures and smashed it with his hammer, doing severe damage, then stabbed a second one that was also unconscious. Did we really have to attack them if they couldn't fight back?

Heeding Arad's warning, I straddled Birt and threatened him with my swords, saying that he should stay still or I would kill him, and then have my friend send his soul to the Creator. Although unable to move, I felt a wash of power over me as he attacked with his mind, thankfully not affecting me. Arad was right - they were still a threat! I thrust both weapons in to him so that he died quickly, vowing to have Arad bring his soul to the Creator as I promised.

It turns out the things swimming north were just going to get their bigger, harder mates. The squat aquatic things lumbered forward along the ledge towards Arad as Falcor fell back towards me. Another fishy thing burst out of the water behind Arad, trying to cut off his escape route. I jogged over to Arad's discarded sword (Falcor had retrieved his bow to cover Arad) and tucked it into my belt, drawing my own bow to help Falcor. Arad tried to sprint towards us, but the fish creature knocked him to the floor as he tried to get by.

Arad swiped back from the floor, knocking its legs from under it, then followed up with his sword and killed it. That allowed him to get up and sprint back to us yelling: "There's loads of them, slow but well armoured"! Falcor weaved some dweomer silently with hand gestures, and I moved up past Arad as he withdrew to watch the path with my bow. Shimmering lights appeared at the end of ledge, with something moving within, but I couldn't see clearly what it was. I loosed an arrow anyway, but it pinged off a rock just before it struck.

I relax bow and move back to Arad, saying we should get away from the water and asking Arad to consign the souls of these creatures to the Creator (as I promised Birt). Arad stopped for a moment and said a prayer, then stood still for a few moments more... Arad's sight had gone black for a moment and he heard a voice saying: "They are mine, leave them alone or I will come for you. I see you now"!

Falcor ran back shouting that his dweomer would end in a couple of minutes and we had to keep moving. I didn't want to abandon Birt, but his body was too heavy to carry. I settled for hacking his head off, hoping that his soul would be in some way attached to it so that Arad could do some rites later. Then I hurriedly followed the others to the east.

We climbed some stairs to our right, reaching another iron bar gate, with Falcor covering the rear. Arad fumbled for the keys but eventually found the right one and unlocked it. I climbed the stairs and reached the top as he opened it, and Arad stood holding it and urged us to hurry through. Falcor saw a head peek around the corner back near the water, and with a fantastic shot he managed to put an arrow in it, dropping it dead. He ran up the stairs, and Arad closed and locked it as soon as we were through.

Just down the corridor was a door on our left, which I checked and then opened. It revealed a small room with a short hallway on the far side with a door at the far end. The room was unoccupied and seemed to be a fairly well appointed living quarter. A table in the centre had four chairs around it, and nuts and dried fruits in a bowl on top. There was a small cask in the corner smelling faintly of alcohol. A lantern, hooded but unlit, stood near it with a flask of oil. A fine metal (electrum) bowl filled with a clear liquid smelling faintly of ammonia and a silver goblet were the only things of worth that we noticed.

Arad covered the corridor as Falcor entered, and he pointed at the liquid in the bowl, warning that it had some dweomer about it. I decided that it might be an opportunity to stop Birt's head dripping blood everywhere, and dipped the neck into the liquid. This seemed to upset Falcor for some reason! It worked, though, as the wound was cauterised so I could stuff the head in a sack in my backpack without worrying about the mess. I tipped the bloody liquid away and put the bowl in for good measure as it seemed to have some value.

Encounter with the Elvradhil

Falcor started to check the wall on our left for runes behind the lizard's mud, but just as he finished clearing it a stocky humanoid figure stepped out of the wall! Although well built, the figure was relatively short... about my height; he carried an axe in each hand, looking like he might use them. He said confidently: "Declare yourself!" in common.

Falcor carefully said: "I am sorry, I did not mean to trespass". The response was more blunt: "You are in Tadhcandhilan - declare yourself or die"!

Falcor was unwilling to announce ourselves to an unknown entity, but the Elvradhil was unafraid to introduce himself; he was Nadik Draksaron, Capla Praes Ardroc, although that meant little to us. In return we introduced ourselves, although he seemed unimpressed, especially with me! Well, until he asked about our affinity with rock... I replied that I was of the soil not the rock, and he asked if I was a soil walker. I answered that I was, and he asked me to prove it. I placed my hand inside the mud on the wall nearest me, moving it along and out again without effort. Seeing this he softened a little and the challenge became more of a conversation. He was surprised by Falcor's claims to be of Maladan, saying that he should know of his people in that region. Falcor brought him up to speed on the political situation there, as he seemed to be displaced in time. He then asked Falcor (well it was more of a statement): "You have met the goddess? I see her on you, you know." During the conversation we were joined by two others of his kin, all looking ready for a fight.

Nadik also asked if we were the ones that had been liberating their home, which we quickly confirmed that we were. They were reluctantly grateful, although they seemed to be confident that they could claim it for themselves. They were most shocked, and upset, to learn that the obelisk was broken. They called it the "Carmanak Anhil", and were surprised as it was apparently the most powerful of Karmana's bones. They had been away for perhaps hundreds of years, in a sanctuary called "Praes Ardroc" ("Guarded Dwelling with the Light of the Gods in the Darkness Underground" roughly translated).

When I talked of having been touched by Karmana, one of them stepped forward to assess me. He was perhaps a priest? After a moment he turned and confirmed that I spoke the truth to Nadik (as if I would lie to them), which seemed to satisfy him. He then warned us that the "Ma'altroc" would be returning to cleanse the place and nothing that was not of the rock would be left alive. The Ma'altroc seemed to translate as some kind of "holy darkness underground" according to Arad.

Falcor asked about the verses we had found, and once we had spoken some of the words to prove we knew their content, they confirmed that the father of one of them had shaped the words (although the words themselves came from Karmana). He was kind enough to tell us the last stanza that we had not found:

(related to the colour blue)

Her Beauty divine

Our one true queen

Disfigured and shamed

She must share her love’s cull

A fourth Elvradhil appeared, seeking Nadik's attention, his son (Torbar), although Nadik appeared mildly annoyed to be disturbed. Torbar said: "Forgive me my Lord, the Ma'altroc are stirring, do we move?" and he responded: "Yes, at first light as agreed!" at which Torbar faded back into the rock. Apparently he was a bit excitable, a youthful trait.

He asked a favour of Arad, of the Caphalon Draklac, saying that when he claimed his birthright (if it was indeed his) then he would encounter more Elvradhil. He asked that Arad tell them that Tadhcandhilan had need of its warriors. Then he turned to Falcor, similarly asking that if he returned to Maladan then would he seek out the Elvradhil? The bulk of his people reside in the Dragon's Teeth mountains in that region, and he asked if he would pass on the same message.

Nadik also noticed Arad's hammer and questioned him about it. Arad demonstrated that he could command it, and Nadik reached into a pouch and pulled out a sapphire, flicking it at Arad saying "then this is yours". The gem flew unerringly into one of the slots on the hammer as Nadik explained that Malek had left it with them. Arad thanked him, but he dismissed the words, saying that he had merely returned it to its owner. Falcor's interest was piqued, and he asked about his armour (which had still not reappeared). Nadik, without emotion, swung his axe at Falcor! Falcor held his breath and closed his eyes, hoping that Nadik knew what he was doing. A dark image formed in his head, but then an Elvradhil lord appeared and snarled at the darkness, forcing it to retreat. Falcor snapped back to consciousness to find the axe just poised on his chest, touching his armour that had reappeared. Falcor dropped to one knee, thanking him and saying that he was at their service. Nadik offered Falcor his hand and said: "I think you misunderstand my lord, it is we who are at your service"!

He commented that Falcor seemed to be missing a few bits! Then he said that the helmet was close... here in Tadhcandhilan somewhere! Apparently he was also missing a sword, something that Falcor seemed to be aware of, although he had no idea what had become of it. Then he seemed to decide that it was time to part, although he said that it had been an auspicious meeting, and he wished that he could offer the hospitality of their halls, but gestured around and said that "these are all I have". Arad offered his wineskin for him to drink from, taking the silver goblet and pouring wine into it. Nadik did not know what wine was! He was interested, though, and liked it. They all agreed that it was good, and he asked if he could take the wineskin to his shamans to study, which Arad agreed to. In a moment they stepped back and disappeared into the rock.

Coming back to normality, Falcor took the lantern to replace his lost one, filling it with the oil. I swapped my empty waterskin gladly for Arad's full one, taking a long drink, which allowed him to fill mine from the wine cask. Whilst we were undisturbed for a few minutes, Arad called on the Creator to heal many of our wounds, for which we were all grateful.

When we were ready to move again, I opened the other door to find a sleeping quarter with a cot bed on a lion's pelt. A brass-bound wooden chest, padlocked, also stood in the room. We searched the bed and under the pelt for any key to fit the lock, and when I lifted the pelt I discovered a small chest hidden in a niche. I opened it to find five belts with electrum buckles & pearls, 50 silver pieces, a prismatic kaleidoscope, and an electrum arm band. The chest released a clear gas when opened, but thankfully it didn't seem to affect me or Falcor.

I passed the money to Arad, who had remained in the previous room, and the belts and kaleidoscope to Falcor, keeping the arm band. Falcor forced the lock on the other chest, but broke the dagger (it was just one he had scavenged from the lizards) doing so. The large chest proved to be mostly empty, with just a single leather bag in the bottom containing some copper pieces. It was probably a decoy for the hidden treasure we had already discovered.

Arad moved back to the corridor, checking for movement, and heard some faint noises from the east. He beckoned us forward, and we all advanced down the corridor until we reached another door on our left. I checked it for traps and opened it with Falcor ready for any trouble. Behind it was a small room with a simple wooden table and chair, a wooden bowl atop the table. A single bed with a wooden chest at its foot stood to the left against the wall, and a door was set in the wall to the right. I opened the chest, finding fairly plain clothes, a dagger, and a money pouch with some gold inside.

I turned my attention to the door, which was not locked, hearing some activity beyond it. When Falcor was ready I swung it open, revealing an occupied barracks. It reeked of rank lizard... well whatever their equivalent of sweat was... musk? It was occupied by a dozen or so warriors, several turning to see why the door had opened! Falcor said "stand still!" (aimed at me I think, rather than the lizards), then he spoke a strange word and fog filled the room so thickly that I could not see beyond the door any more. Falcor then ran away! He headed back towards Arad, leaving me by the door. Making a quick assessment of the risk, I quietly closed the door and locked it again!

I was just in time, as there was a pounding and rattling on the door shortly afterwards! I joined the others, and Arad noticed that the lizards were coming around towards us from another door farther on. He stepped out and loosed a couple of arrows, hitting with one, but not enough to slay the creature. Falcor charged past Arad towards the lizards in the corridor, he tried to shout something back to me, but I was distracted by the door that I'd locked crashing open almost in my face. I was confronted by two lizards, just emerging out of the fog that was still filling the room. I shouted that they were through, and Arad replied that he was coming to help, running up to my side so that we could hold them at the door.

Falcor cut the lizard that Arad had hurt down, but was hit by a swinging morning star by the one next to it. He turned on that, stabbing it and then cutting its leg, and it collapsed quickly. More lizards were coming out of the fog into the corridor, though. I managed to draw my sword and slash at my attackers, but the cut didn't penetrate their armour. To make matters worse we heard the sound of iron bars being bashed back down corridor... presumably the big lumbering lizards were still trying to get to us! I stabbed one of the lizards, and Arad landed a blow on the other one, but they just seemed to get angrier. Arad was hit by a return blow, but I just managed to duck under a similar swing and its morning star smashed into the wall beside me.

A horrible crashing and tinkling sound echoed down the corridor, suggesting that the iron bars had given way - we were in danger of being surrounded! I finished off one lizard with a slash, and Arad shouted at me to go back to help Falcor as he managed to land another blow, staggering the other lizard. Another lizard came charging out of the fog to take the fallen lizard's place, but tripped and fell over the body of its companion at my feet. Arad finished off the standing one with a hammer blow, then stabbed his sword into the prone one. I thrust down into it with both weapons; the short sword slid off its scales, but the long sword did the trick and it wouldn't be getting up. I rushed back to the corridor, looking for any threat from the direction of the iron bars, but didn't see anything.

One of the lizards attacking Falcor seemed bigger than the others, barging its way forward to challenge him. Falcor stabbed it solidly in its gut as it pushed past another lizard, and although he was slashed by its sword in return it was only a glancing blow and he was able to finish it off with a powerful strike to its side. Arad jogged up to help Falcor as I hid in the corridor, waiting for any threat emerging to the rear. Falcor was still fighting the lizards in the corridor, landing another good blow on one of them, but some of them at the rear seemed a bit worried by the death of their leader... they quickly retreated into the room, slamming the door behind them!

Arad joined the fight, smashing his hammer in between one lizard's legs, forcing it to double up slightly. Dirty bastard! I liked it! Falcor cleaved another lizard's neck, almost separating its head from its shoulders and leaving only one more in the fight. Falcor stabbed it and it went down, but there was no rest as two more lizards charged at me from the other entrance. I shouted a warning, but Falcor and Arad were already on their way back. Falcor slashed at one ineffectually, but kept going past me - he had seen that the large turtle lizard things were closing on us from behind!

Arad struck at one, landing a hit on its rear and causing it to spin around. I slashed the other one near me, getting hit by a morning star in return. I think it was worse off, though. Arad followed up his attack, thrusting his sword into the chest of the one that had spun around, killing it instantly. Arad showed some of his Elvrabor grace (it happens sometimes), dancing forward and bringing his hammer down on the one I had hurt, killing that as well. Another lizard had been following them towards us, but he quickly changed his mind and ran back, slamming that door closed too. We seemed to be scaring them now.

Falcor shouted a warning about the heavy lizards, so I sheathed my swords and drew my bow, Arad doing the same. The big lizards broke into a lumbering run towards Falcor, but still really slowly (even by my standards). We formed a firing line near a curve in the corridor, but most of our arrows bounced off the carapaces harmlessly. Falcor's second shot did manage to penetrate somewhere softer, but the creature shrugged it off. We backed off, and I changed back to swords, saying that we could outpace them if we wanted, or surround them if we drew them back. The others were too busy trying to find a weak spot, though. Falcor and Arad managed to do damage with an arrow each into the hurt creature, and it stopped in pain, letting the other ones pass it. Falcor tried dipping an arrow in poison, but missed with his shot.

We kept backing down the corridor, with me checking to the fore as the others kept firing to the rear. Still most of the shots kept pinging off their armoured scales, with perhaps one arrow from Falcor doing any damage at all. Eventually they got close enough for one to stab its trident at Arad, so I turned to assist him, engaging one in melee. It was, unsurprisingly really difficult to penetrate their scales and do any real damage, though. I was scraped by a trident thrust, but not badly. Also, the injured one that had stopped seemed to have healed its wounds somehow. I finally managed to find a weak spot and do some damage, although it wasn't enough to slow it down, I did manage to twist so that its trident scraped across my armour without penetrating this time.

Falcor clanged one of his weapons against an opponent's trident, trying to trap it, but the turtle thing was too strong and ripped it back out. Arad landed a hit, drawing blood, then deliberately cut at its arm with his sword causing it to drop its weapon as its arm hung uselessly by its side. I was able to follow up my first blow in the same area, stabbing deeply and causing blood to spurt out... but still it kept coming! Arad also followed up with a good blow, and now there was blood leaking from multiple wounds on one of the creatures, but still they wouldn't stop. These things were tough!

Arad struck with his hammer, and the blow rang out against its carapace, but didn't appear to harm it. Falcor stabbed into a soft spot, drawing blood. I feinted with my short sword, tapping on its carapace, then closed in and thrust my sword with all my strength into the weak spot I had managed to penetrate earlier, finally killing one... but there were still four more! Falcor landed another blow, but these things were really sturdy and it still didn't go down. One of the turtles lumbered straight into me, bashing me to the floor and nearly overpowering me, but I managed to wriggle to the side and keep hold of my weapons. Falcor stepped across and tried to stab it, drawing blood with his dagger. I forced my way to my feet, somewhat farther back than I was before. Arad set about the one he was fighting, making no progress with his hammer but also stabbing it with his sword; now he knew where to aim, he was able to finish it off.

Falcor had been wearing down his attacker, and now was able to kill it with a precisely placed strike. I stabbed the one that had charged me, and it fell too, so now there was just the one left. It was set upon by Arad and Falcor, both able to outmaneuver it now it was alone, and they did not take long in finishing it between them. We checked both ways down the corridor, but could not see nothing there. Finally I was able to slump against the wall, sheathing my weapons and saying: "Phew, that was tough"! Falcor was breathing hard, but replied curtly: "Yes, they were hard to hit."

We discussed what to do about the lizards that seemed to have hunkered down in the barracks nearby, but decided it would be better to move on quickly. Arad called for us to wait a moment as he tended to our wounds. He prayed to the Creator, but again felt the overwhelming darkness... this time it was just for a moment, but then the light of the Creator filled his mind with a powerful voice saying: "No!" and the darkness instantly receded. Arad could feel the Creator standing over him (figuratively anyway) and protecting him, and thankfully his prayers were answered and many of our wounds were healed.

Now feeling somewhat restored, we jogged along now familiar corridors back to the former throne room, but found that the doors were now closed. We were sure that they had been open when we left, so we were cautious. I listened carefully and then pulled one of the doors open with Arad and Falcor ready behind me. We saw two lizards stood either side of the empty throne, snapping quickly alert as the door opened. Falcor sprinted in towards the one on the right, at full charge, and Arad did the same but heading towards the one on the left. The lizards were so shocked that they almost fell backwards, and that might have actually saved them as all of Falcor and Arad's weapons cut the air just in front of them harmlessly. I caught up at a charge, managing to land the first blow, then Falcor cut deeply into the other one. They recovered their sense and retaliated, with Arad taking a nasty blow from the first one's morning star, and Falcor taking a glancing blow from the other. That was their one and only chance, though, as Arad finished off the one I had hurt, and Falcor absolutely slaughtered the other one with strong blows.

With no other threat apparent, I continued forward to where the trapdoor was, opening it as before. Falcor prepared a lantern, shedding some light down the dark hole and I climbed down the iron railings set in the wall. At the bottom was a relatively crude tunnel, although wide, and the others climbed down without incident. We started moving cautiously down the tunnel, which twisted to the right, and suddenly an Elvradhil popped his head out of the wall, grinning and saying: "You guys are doing great! Wish we could join you!" I asked: "Are you not allowed?" to which he responded: "Ahhh... the Capla says it's a holy place, blah blah. We're with you though!" He slipped back into the wall and we continued.

The tunnel twisted back left again and shortly reached a twenty foot shaft leading up, again with iron rungs in the wall and a trapdoor above. I climbed to the top and located a similar mechanism to open it, giving a thumbs up to the others below. Arad prepared his bow to cover us and Falcor climbed up just below me. When we were set I activated the trapdoor and it opened to reveal a small room with a door to our left and a short hallway ahead of us with another door at the end. The room was lit by torches on the walls and was a well appointed sleeping quarters. An ornate bed with rugs and cushions took up much of the space, with a small table next to where we entered from, a cupboard against the wall, and an iron chest in the corner. It was also unoccupied.

I climbed into the room and moved to check the chest first. There was a needle trap set on it, which I set about disabling as the others joined me in the room. With the trap out of the way, I unlocked it with my picks and opened it finding: six sets of leather straps and belts with gold and pearls, a gold inlaid gem studded scabbard with dagger, a leather bag with about a hundred gold pieces, a small flask of perfumed oil, and a jade figurine of an aggressive looking lizard warrior. Falcor checked the wardrobe, which had a single ornate robe, red with gold thread, and Falcor donned it to look a bit more impressive (well, a bit more dressed anyway).

Falcor approached the door at the far end, hearing something behind it so he indicated for us to be quiet. Instead I went to the door at the side and eased it open to reveal another smallish room with a door at the far end. Again, it was fairly well appointed, the dominating feature being a circular table of polished wood in the centre with four fine chairs around it. There was decorative silver on the table, a piece of parchment that was held open by a large winged helm. The wings of the helm were dragonlike and the metal had an unusual sheen much like Falcor's armour. Could it really be this easy to find? The last thing was a large upholstered reclining chair in the corner, but Falcor was fixated on the helm - the dragon helm we were seeking! Falcor and I both moved to the table as Arad covered the other door. I took a look at the parchment, leaving Falcor to don the helm, and it worryingly suggested that the lizards had influenced the Snake Clan of the Saloroc to help the Black Hand Clan take over from the "Tigers" (not one we had come across) in Kraldar's name.

With his new robe and winged helm, Falcor did look impressive I had to admit. Thankfully nobody had delusions of grandeur and hunting more lizards, agreeing instead to return the way we came quietly. As we returned through the tunnel the Elvradhil appeared again, this time bowing before Falcor, saying: "My Lord I greatly look forward to fighting alongside you again." Falcor responded with: "I look forward to fighting with you also!", while Arad asked whether there was anything else we should look for in this place. The response I suspect was not quite what he was looking for: "The glory of battle and death?!" We were not convinced.

There was something else of value here, of course, and we made our way back to the armoury and started to load up with as much of the weapons grade metal ingots as possible. As we were doing this Nadik climbed out of the floor and asked what we were doing. Falcor explained our intent, and I apologised in case it was his as we would not want to steal from our friends. He was indifferent to it, though, and instead offered to transport the "unclean" metal to Malek's temple for us. Well that would certainly saves us from carrying them! We were very grateful, but he simply said that he was glad to do some service for the Dragon Lord. He also said that he looked forward to welcoming Falcor to their halls one day under better circumstances.

Falcor took the opportunity to ask about the powers of his mind and how they were affected here. Apparently the foe had seeded some of the area with natural creatures that fed off powers of the mind, but also warned that it was a thin place where the boundaries of the world were stretched. Without the Carmanac Anhil and our Mother's power, the dark powers may have exploited the thinness of the place. He said that the holy place would need healing by the Elvradhil before our Mother could dominate once more. After that he showily sank into the floor out of sight... nice. The chests full of metal followed shortly afterwards, again sinking out of sight.

We decided to spend no more time underground, leaving the lizards to their fate and the place to the Elvradhil. When we exited by the door we had entered by some time before, it was afternoon. Now how were we to get back to the other island? I wondered whether Custor was still watching, and after a moment's concentration the others seemed to think that he was. Falcor tried some arm movements and hand gestures, but I wasn't sure the message was getting through so I wrote "please send boat" in the sand. After that we climbed the hill to the old watchtower to wait. I took the time to pray to Karmana at the obelisk again, then (now that we were out of the "thin place") used the crown to heal Arad and Falcor. After that we just sat and watched the sun set.

We set camp, and I took the first watch, followed by Falcor, and then Arad until dawn. It was Arad, then, that felt the hillside vibrate subtly as the obelisk sank slowly back into the the earth. He woke us in case something was going to happen, and it did, although it did no harm. The slowly smoking fire in the tower was quickly extinguished as the whole tower melted like ice and sank into the ground. Just a few minutes later a new tower started to emerge, growing out of the ground over about a quarter of an hour. It was fully intact and formed out of stone, stopping in place to become a perfect copy of Custor's tower. The only difference was that there was no woodwork or glass, just the stone. After this the vibrations lessened and faded until about a half hour later we could feel nothing.

Rest and Recuperation

Despite our efforts to get Custor's attention there was still no sign of any rescue, and we did not know of any means to get back on our own. We wandered back to the beach, discovering that the doorway that had led into the lizard's lair was not there any more, just solid rock where we knew it had once stood. It took most of the day before we were fortunate and a fishing boat took pity on us, tacking closer to see why we were waving at every boat that passed. They were surprised to find that we were stranded, wondering what had happened to our boat, and a bit incredulous when we said that we had walked there! Thankfully they were happy to convey Father Arad wherever he wished, which was first to Custor's island. Arad blessed them and the journey before we set out by way of a simple reward for their assistance.

We found Custor's island teeming with activity. The Red Skull clan was erecting fortifications all around with ballistae and defensive positions clearly preparing for any kind of assault, and we were to later see that there was similar activity on Gilrad's island. Falcor would stay with Custor for training, while I sought out a shaman to talk to about my experience with Karmana, and Arad paid with some of the metal that had been delivered by the Elvradhil for training sessions with a weapon master. Both Arad and I made the journey to the temple first, and Arad talked to Gilrad about the state of the people there. I left Birt's head in his care to make sure that his soul would find its way to the Creator, and I gifted my share of the metal to the village to trade with the Saloroc.

I then traveled into the woods to the north, spending time with one of the Saloroc who did not affiliate with any particular clan but instead had a close connection with nature, and therefore Karmana (or Korman as they know her). I learned much about the natural world, although it was perhaps too much to take in all in one go, so I would have to return again when we had the chance. I also learned more about channeling the power of nature when it was needed, although there was always a cost of doing so. I improved my ability to converse in the Saloroc tongue to the point where I could at least hold normal conversations, and a few with a bit more detail - especially involving nature. I also started some basic swimming lessons, as well as trying to get the hang of using a morning star instead of a sword in combat. I had a long way to go with those skills, though!

I was glad to discover that the Elvradhil had reoccupied their halls in the north of the island, and what's more they were willing to trade with us - especially gems but we got the impression that they were just glad to be back and involved with other races on the surface of Karmana.

When we had all finished what training we could, traded for what we thought we might need, and benefited from Falcor's ability to identify some of the magical items we had gathered, we met to discuss our next steps at Custor's tower. He had informed us that Kellerot was on the small island just to the south of where we were, but warned that the island was an intersection between the Land of the Dead and Karmana, so anything that died there would be trapped in a limbo between worlds. Souls trapped there could not escape, and bodies would continue to exist with a semblance of life in some way. We also discussed what I had learned about the orc clans, the lizards, and their intent when I had showed the note we had found to my mentor.

The Red Skull Clan were willing to sail us to Kellerot's island, and also to fortify a beach position whilst waiting for us... although for no longer than a week. I doubt that after a week we would be returning alive... unless we get mixed up in a time shift by stepping between worlds (really hope that's not prophetic). At any rate, we had a purpose and a means to reach it, so we were ready.