Editing Journal - Death on Karmana (section)

==Journey to the City of Shadows==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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