Journal - The Crown of Intelligence

(Clearly not meant for us)

A New Way of Travel

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Price of Information

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The City of Shadows

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Land of Death

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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