Journal - Through Dust and Fire

A Confusing Encounter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Slight Diversion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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