Journal - A Beautiful Death

The Isle of Krasgord

We knew where we had to go next, and the name of our target as well, which was something. Queen Dalrisha (our target, linked to positive energy of some kind) and King Sostror ruled over the island of Krasgord, which enforced strict rules of beauty (from a human point of view), and were patrons of all kinds of arts where beauty could be expressed. The problem, as I saw it, was that because hardly anyone met the standards to enter Krasgord we had no first hand experience available from which to learn what it was like there. We decided that we would have to see for ourselves and then take it from there, so we met in Milada's temple in the early morning ready to travel using the tapestry. I tried a new technique I had learned to mask Falcor from divination, and he made us invisible so that we could pass unnoticed. Falcor conducted the ritual with the flaming brazier and we arrived in a sheltered spot in the hills to the west of the capital (Krasgord). We could just see a graceful spire to the east rising above a valley, the land rising all around us otherwise and obscuring our view.

We walked east and crested a ridge to see quite the vista in front of us. There was a small settlement to our south at the base of the hills with an ornate fortified tower guarding a massive bridge farther south. The view was dominated by the beautifully ornate fortified city to the east, with minarets and sweeping curves combined with bright white walls. There were some lakes and a forest between the city and where we stood, and then the land fell away farther to the east with a more traditional fortified city just about visible to the far south east. We descended towards a small lake within the trees, and as we approached we noticed a party of human riders within the trees, which put Falcor in mind of a hunting party. They seemed, from the sound of their voices, quite relaxed and happy but we veered north around them anyway and they headed towards the shore of the lake. We passed easily from a distance and kept going east, but a little while later we heard the same party coming towards us from behind.

We stopped by trees, staying close so that we would not be accidentally collided with, and the party rode past quite close to where we were. They were very ornate in appearance in every way, their dress, weapons, even horses we decorated and coloured to catch the eye. Their apparent leader wore a crown; was this King Sostror? His grab was predominately blue, which would match Dalrisha's colour. We were quite prepared to let them pass and follow on behind, but suddenly a dragon skimmed the trees overhead! It was black with greenish hues as it caught the light, and after a moment I realised that it had too many legs for a dragon - eight in fact. Falcor flashed a compulsion he felt; this was no Elvradrak. A couple of the hunting party were thrown from their horses as they bolted just at its presence, leaving the others fighting to control their mounts. The King seemed more comfortable, and quickly urged his horse into a gallop to flee east at pace.

The others were slower, although the ones that had been dismounted run as fast as they could in different directions. One glanced up and after a few seconds they were completely turned to stone! The beast vomited up a stream of hissing liquid at another, killing his horse instantly; the rider was unfortunately pinned by the horse's body but was trying to remove his smoking clothing. The thing then grabbed one of the runners, lifting them up as it turned. It seemed to be following the King, though. I ran forward and asked my patron to create a lot of water, dumping it over the body still trapped under the horse, hoping to wash the acid off. Falcor followed the flying creature from a distance, seeing it drop the person it had picked up and then lift the King straight off his horse. He managed to get his sword out and swipe at the beast, even landing a few hits, but then he had his arm pinned by another leg.

The fellow I had tried to save was dead, unfortunately, so we instead followed, the creature and the King. It had slowed down now that it seemed to have found its quarry, so it was easy to track it at a jog, but we were unable to do much from the ground as it was too high. Fortunately it was gently descending as it flew west, and by the time we broke out of the treeline it was getting close to the ground, seemingly looking to land at the base of the slope ahead. When it landed it pinned the King on floor with four of its legs and carefully pried his sword out of his hand with another, throwing it aside. After disarming him it moved him so he was held by just two feet and looked up. Falcor warned me that he was about to attack, so I summoned a protective shield in case it tried to turned us to stone.

Two lightning bolts arced from Falcor into it, one after the other, making him visible. The thing was seriously injured, so it abandoned the King and leapt into the air, flying away to the north. We ran forward as the King sprang to his feet, looking scared but not too injured. He grabbed his sword and stood ready, scanning between Falcor and the creature, wary of both. I readied my bow, but Falcor wanted me to remain invisible so I just stopped and watched instead. The King was focused on Falcor, still wary and looking ready for a fight. He hailed Falcor, saying that he did not recognise him, although his armour at least was beautiful, and said that he had shown some beautiful skill that was rare in these parts. He had apparently been seeking the creature that terrorised the hunting grounds, and indeed had found it, but had been expecting some lesser threat. Unfortunately, he said, he had brought some pretty but useless friends.

He had relaxed a little, but was still wary, particularly when Falcor said he had come here by dweomer. He relaxed a little more when Falcor claimed that this dweomer was not his own, and speculated that perhaps it had been Sullinassauri to blame (Falcor claimed ignorance of the name). The King went on to say that uninvited guests were not usually tolerated, but as he had helped the King and shown some beauty in his actions he might be made a guest... if he kept his helmet on, anyway (I tried not to snigger). The King said that he would speak of his beautiful deeds to help him be accepted. We began to walk back towards the city, and as we did so the King spoke much about his own accomplishments, not giving Falcor much time to speak of himself. Falcor did ask at one point whether it was the King's duty to protect his weaker subjects, which caused the King some hilarity. I hated him already. I followed at a little distance, but noticed that the King was aware of me to some extent, although he said and did nothing to stop me. He did at least seem like a genuine warrior, despite his vanity.

It took about an hour to reach the gates of the city. The entrance had some very... colourful guards at each side. They did seem alert, though, and snapped to attention at the King's approach. The city walls were polished white marble, beautifully finished, and the roof tiles were quite a pretty blue with black veins. It was as beautiful as you'd expect for a place with its reputation. There were people within the city moving around and trading, but no market stalls or anything so vulgar to look at, and we noticed guards on every corner keeping an eye on everyone. Nobody really acknowledged the King or met his gaze other than the soldiers, mainly seeming to avoid him without making it too obvious that they were trying to do so.

After fifteen minutes or so we approached a magnificent squarish building, presumably the palace, and the King was approached by a guard who spoke in a language we didn't understand. It had a sing-song quality to it, which was quite nice to listen to, but neither of us had heard it before. The guard scurried off as the King led Falcor inside with me following at a distance. People were still careful to avoid the King, but they at least came much closer here, and there was some acknowledgement when he looked towards them. The King was quickly approached by a man with fine blue flowing clothes and carrying a polished black wood staff. The King introduced him as "Verrel", the Chamberlain, and Falcor stuck with the name "Dracor", although people here seemed to find that amusing for some reason. The King instructed the Chamberlain to find Falcor a room, and said that the Queen would probably wish to meet him, which was promising.

The Chamberlain took us through the maze of corridors within the building until he stopped at a door and announced that this would be Falcor's accommodation. He opened the door and showed Falcor the three fine rooms inside - they were luxurious! Although we got the impression that these were supposed to be the most basic of quarters, they were better than anything we'd seen for a long while, and were beautifully finished. He was asked not to stray, so I had to go and do some exploring on my own. Sadly there were guards everywhere - in fact nowhere in the corridors was out of sight of at least one. I overheard some hushed references to trouble in the west, but that conversation was quickly shut down with fearful looks in the direction of the nearest guard. I returned to Falcor without having learned much, other than that we were clearly in a guest wing. Falcor had been brought food and drink while I was away, which had been very good apparently, but he hadn't left much for me to try!

Thankfully another meal came later so I got to share some food, and it reminded me a little of Treddar... in fact this whole place did with its strict rules and facade of good manners. I used a mirror in one of the rooms to scry around the places I couldn't reach by walking. There were working spaces below us and more opulent rooms above, as we expected. One person, speaking privately, made a reference to a group or collective on the western shore of the island; they were blaming the people there for the recent troubles, saying that they had been "crossing the mountains". I also caught a glimpse of the throne room, although it was empty. Outside there was some normal activity (actual work being done that is) within the city, but the people doing it used a different network of routes to the main thoroughfares - a "back of house" access.

We had to stay the night, as the Queen didn't seem in any rush to meet Falcor. Relatively early in the morning, but after Falcor had refreshed my invisibility, the Chamberlain visited to say that the Queen would see him after she had concluded her business, but that he should "make yourself presentable". He was to have no weapons, obviously, and no luggage or traveling kit, just his polished armour and helmet (worn to hide his ugly mug, is what he seemed to be saying). What this actually meant was that I had to use dweomer to enhance my strength so that I could carry all his shit for him. Falcor used some dweomer to make his armour shine nicely. We had to wait a couple of hours, though, before the Chamberlain returned to escort him. He seemed somewhat content with Falcor's appearance, so we set off after him to meet the Queen.

An Audience With Queen Dalryssia

We approached the throne room, which I recognised from earlier, and the guards outside rapped their pikes on the floor. The doors swung smoothly open into the throne room itself. Eight guards lined either side of the room, and the Queen sat on the throne at the far end. The King was nowhere to be seen, though. The Chamberlain announced "Lord Dracor" in a loud voice as we entered and then stepped to the side. I did the same, on the other side, as I wasn't sure I wanted to risk walking past a royal bodyguard, invisible or not they might well notice. Two guards moved forward so that they were either side of Falcor as he reached the front, and he bowed formally. The Queen welcomed him, although she did not know of him, and said that whilst he was plain of visage she understood that he was beautiful of dweomer. She then started to talk about the creature we had fought, suggesting that he might undertake a quest to kill the beast and bring its head back for her so she could hold a ball.

Whilst she was doing this, Falcor urged me to give him his sword. This surprised me, to be honest. Was his plan really to just straight up murder her in cold blood? How did we know she was the real Queen, and what defences might she have for such an attack? If she wasn't the real Queen then he'd be standing over a nation's dead Queen, blood dripping from his sword, in the middle of a fortress full of guards and surrounded by the royal guard itself. If she was, the whole place would be falling apart and everything from the last scenario would still apply. I wasn't even sure that the whole place wasn't some kind of giant illusion or mass hypnosis. Surely we should learn more first? We could return with the head and see her again, after all. Falcor was becoming increasingly insistent though.

I reached out with my mind, trying to get a feel of the psychic impressions within the throne room. At first it seemed like just a blank canvas, but there was a much older place behind it, from history, that was soaked in fear and death... blood violently spilled. It was a different incarnation of this room, long since past, but fear most of all was the main feature. We started to agree that the original Dalryssia had left this place, although she still had much influence here, and was not the Queen we saw before us. Falcor agreed to the quest to hunt the creature we had encountered earlier, and said that he looked forward to the ball when we returned successfully, asking if that would mean he could see the Queen in her most regal attire. The Queen agreed readily that it would, and asked the Chamberlain to see to his needs in preparation for his quest. She also suggested a tourney where his prowess in battle could be shown off.

Falcor then spoke of how his request on arriving for access to an area to train had been denied, and that the Chamberlain had been quite rude and dismissive of him. The Queen was certainly not amused, and the Chamberlain's stammering attempt to defend himself did not help at all. She decided that he should fight Falcor to prove his worth, which was basically a death sentence. Thankfully Falcor was able to diplomatically delay the fight at least until we returned, getting the Queen to agree that such a fight as an opener to the victory ball would make it a much more beautiful death. The ex-Chamberlain was quickly escorted out and one of the Queen's guard was asked to see to Falcor's needs until a new Chamberlain was appointed. I waited after he left to see what would happen, and the Queen walked behind the throne where a doorway (well concealed) opened to let her pass. Most of the guards left once this door had closed behind her, with only four remaining in the room.

Falcor was escorted to a different room, much grander suite of rooms, receiving many apologies on the way. The new Lord Verrel (the new Chamberlain) made himself known; it seemed that the name came with the title, which would also explain why the Queen was called Dalryssia. Falcor was now three flights of stairs above his previous accommodation, and these rooms were much grander, gilt encrusted, and included six rooms and a hot, steaming bath. There was also a feast laid out for him that even he could not finish! A gold and crystal flagon of fine wine accompanied it. This was luxury beyond anything he had ever seen, even from his courtly days.

Meanwhile I was standing around waiting and trying not to get bored or cramped! After at least a couple of hours the other guards left as well, so I could finally move. There were still a shadowy balcony on each side of the throne room above me, so I listened carefully and moved in small bursts to approach the throne along one side. I could sense an echo of a link to another place directly from the throne, and it repulsed me on a primal level in a fear for my very existence. It could only be linked to a place of pure radiant energy utterly opposed to the land of my Father. As I resisted the urge to move away, I realised that it was life-giving in nature, but overwhelmingly so and, as I thought, opposed to my very essence. I fought against the dread and tried to calm my mind, trying to focus my mind. I had an instant connection to an overpowering radiance from the throne itself, even though it was just an echo of the power linked to it. A lot of power had flowed through the throne, though, and recently. I tried to get closer to investigate the door behind the throne, but the radiance was too strong and I was forced back. I used dweomer to transport myself back towards the entrance, hoping to link up with Falcor again.

Meanwhile Falcor had tried to call me with his mind, and surprisingly someone else had answered; it was an Elvramer named Arak, that Falcor had met before on his adventures. Arak was somewhat surprised that "The Guardian" was there at the same time. He confirmed that he was within the fortress of the humans, so close, he was seeking alliances in difficult times. He was also trying to understand where the humans would (and would not) be, as his people were weakened and could be vulnerable. He had heard tales that suggested there might be Elvradhil in the mountains here, but he had not been able to explore so he couldn't confirm this. There were several bodies of water here on the island that connected to the sea, although the humans didn't seem to realise their significance. Falcor suggested that he might want to leave in order to ensure his safety, as the whole place was at risk if our quest was successful.

I had tried to get back to where Falcor had been, not realising that he had moved, but got lost in the maze of the fortress anyway. I shouted mentally, and thankfully got a response from Falcor. He wasn't sure where he was exactly, although he knew that he was several floor up. He resolved to attempt to reach me, asking his host if he could be taken on a short tour. As they walked he learned that all names were indeed tied to specific posts, and that the Queen was always Dalryssia but was named after the divine lady that watched over this place. This "divine lady" brought the sun to shine over the land every day. Previously it had been a land of darkness and despair, where humans were little more than slaves and Saloroc scratched a meager existence from the earth. Dalryssia, the goddess, had brought salvation and bestowed upon the Queen the gifts of beauty, allowing the Queen to bear her name. As long as the Queen honoured the goddess, then prosperity would always come to the land. It was said that the Queen had her own chapel where she worshiped Dalryssia, the Goddess. There had been eighteen Queen Dalryssias since the original ascended.

Thankfully I could hear the end of this discussion as Falcor had been descending towards me on the nearest stairwell. He made sure to be especially noisy on his return so that I could get back to his room with him. Once there we swapped notes on what we had seen and experienced. It was clear that Dalryssia (the Sarn) had already ascended in some way and we we had any hope of defeating her we would have to draw them out; there was no way I could hope to enter her realm without being destroyed by it. I wondered whether, although I hated the idea the moment I aired it, I might draw her out if I let my true self be seen and call Dalryssia out as a false goddess.

Picking up on this idea, Falcor asked whether a duplicate of the Queen's clothes could be made, so that he might match his dress to hers for the ball, adding of course that it would have to be destroyed afterwards. This, of course, was wonderfully received as a beautiful idea, helped by the large sapphire he offered in payment. Perhaps I could challenge the Queen's faith if given enough time? I was nervous, and it would take a week of allowing my detestable beauty to return; I took great care to hide it normally, so this was no easy change to make. If Falcor could keep me invisible it would help, as much for my sake as for others.

The Beast Hunt

The night passed uneventfully, anyway, and we were well fed and rested. We retired early and rose early so that I would be invisible again, without incident. Then Falcor was led, with me following, down to a stable where he was presented with a magnificent deep-black warhorse in half barding which was silver and blue. Falcor was offered some apples in a silk bag by a stable hand, which apparently the horse liked, and he mounted and rode out easily with me jogging behind. We headed through the now familiar forest towards the mountains in the west. Things were not all simple, though, as it seemed we were being followed by someone or something. I hung back to see what it might be, and sure enough there were some short humanoids following Falcor. He stopped, making a show of feeding his horse and noticed movement in a particular bit of undergrowth. He used dweomer to make an explosion of glittering particles in the area, then saw a glittering shape moving forward towards him. Falcor grabbed the creature with his mind and moved it slowly towards him, but was lashed out at by the mind of his target.

I saw the movement as well, and just confirmed that they were not from Kraldar's realm. As I watched from nearby, I could make out at least four of them in total, all closing on Falcor now that they knew one had been seen. Falcor dropped the one he lifted, and they landed heavily on the ground. I closed with Falcor and raised a mental defence around us, and then Falcor was in melee. He struck one twice, but they were far more agile than we expected and it was difficult for him to make a good connection. Falcor frantically used his staff to parry multiple attacks, and in answer to my unspoken question told me not to attack. He was adjusting now, and decapitated one before turning his attention to another. It took a few hits, but that one fell too (in fact it was the one that had literally fallen when Falcor dropped him). Falcor was scraped again, although all his wounds seemed superficial, and cut another one down in return. There was just one left, which Falcor struck quickly. Seeing that he faced only death, the last one sank to his knees, dropping his daggers in submission.

He was an odd-looking fellow, and not like any race we had seen before. I noted that the Elvrabor had changed appearance when they changed allegiance under Ilianna, and wondered whether this was another Elvra race that had changed their divine patron as well. Falcor stepped back, sheathing his sword, and asked why he had attacked us. There was no response to Falcor's questions, though, and we weren't sure whether he even spoke Common. I tried mental communication, but also didn't get a response; there was definitely a strong mind present and it defended itself against my attempts to reach it. Falcor tried a different approach, taking out his Elvradhil axe and showing him the runes on it. The creature seemed repelled by them, scrabbling to back away as Falcor moved it closer. Falcor assessed his nature as being Chaotic Neutral, and so offered him a hand to help him stand. Although he didn't take it, he correctly interpreted this as a sign that he could stand and slowly rose to his feet, still looking down. He backed away slowly and then legged it as soon as he realised that he was being spared.

I tried to arrange the bodies together with some dignity whilst searching for anything they might carry that could give us some information. There were some clean trinkets carefully stored in pouches, bits of worked gold mainly, but they were otherwise completely filthy. Their clothes were soiled and abraded heavily, but seemed to have once been fine materials. As I was moving the last body I got a sense of a growing energy field and stepped backwards, wary, warning Falcor. He had mounted his horse ready to move on, but dismounted again and stepped towards me. Suddenly the bodies exploded with a burst of radiant energy! We managed to drop to the floor to escape the worst of it, but it was still painful... especially for me as it was that same radiance so opposed to my nature that I had sensed on the throne.

Once Falcor had calmed the horse down (thankfully it had escaped the blast), we quickly moved on. I was slightly nervous that I was now leeching energy to heal myself, and that it might be a beacon to those paying attention. Despite this we were undisturbed, and an hour later we reached the area where we had first met the King. From there it was a simple journey to reach the edge of the mountains, although Falcor spotted a cat-like creature slightly above where we were approaching that was watching us. It was dog-sized with eight legs - what was with all the legs around here? We adjusted our line of travel to veer off to the north a little, but it tracked with us whilst maintaining its height. As we kept pushing north to circle around, though, it seemed happy to leave us be. We kept our distance and started to climb the slope to the right of the peak it was guarding. As we reached a slight plateau and started to circle the north side of the peak, we noticed below us on the right there were three ugly hairless apes devouring something in between them, deer sized although we couldn't see clearly. We moved away from the edge so that Falcor wasn't seen, losing sight of them.

I started to climb up the slope to get a better view of the surroundings, as Falcor tracked across below me on horseback. As I got higher I could see that the ape things were moving west, so I warned Falcor that they would be coming into view. He turned back and started to climb towards me, but as he did so he noticed what might be a cave mouth in the slope above him, roughly at my level. He dismounted and started climbed towards it on foot as I walked around at my level, aiming to meet at the cave mouth to investigate. As we moved, though, Falcor saw a familiar head emerge and a long tongue stuck out, testing the air, then turned sharply towards me. The black dragon-like beast scurried out of the cave and quickly towards me, using its eight legs to make good progress over the rocky terrain, and coming straight for me! It started slashing at the air with it's front four clawed feet; I managed to dodge two of them, but one scraped my armour and so the last hit me squarely in the side. I quickly summoned some dweomer to protect me from its gaze, and Falcor put a lightning bolt into its rear.

It, predictably, spewed acid all over me, although I was able to turn and avoid the worst of it. My bow and quiver, and annoyingly also my boots, were destroyed. I had to kick the remains of my boots off as the beast turned and rushed at Falcor. He was ready for the charge, though, and blew a hole in the side of it's body with another lightning bolt, removing at least one limb in the process. I jogged after it, ignoring the pain from suddenly being barefooted on the rocks, and finished it off with a blow from behind. Served the fucker right for melting my boots! Unfortunately we were not safe yet, as we heard the cries of the apes from below and saw them loping towards us. I ran down towards the horse, which sensibly bolted, and challenged the apes with a shout whilst beating my chest with my sword hilts. Magic missiles streaked from behind me to strike the leader of the group, and I created a color spray that knocked the same one unconscious.

This still wasn't enough to deter the other two, though, and I was struck by a couple of powerful blows as I stood my ground. To make matters worse there was another cry, although different... more of a guttural shout, from the other side of the hill to our left. Three giant creatures came striding into view, headed towards Falcor with rocks in their hands at least the size of his head. Falcor sent another lightning bolt arcing into the nearest one, mentally asking if I could deal with the two apes. I could... well, if I could get one out of the fight quickly anyway - they hit hard! I threw the serpent staff down and it started its transformation into a snake, and sliced one ape with Aramat. Although the snake was struggling to entangle its target, it at least distracted it while I focused on the other one. I struck it again, but its powerful blow in return left me reeling slightly.

Falcor tried a mental attack as the first giant started to throw a rock at him; it seemed to be effective as the giant stopped instantly and dropped all his rocks onto the ground, remaining there and doing nothing. The snake finally managed to entwine the ape it was attacking, which left me free to focus on one attacker. I finished the ape off with multiple sword slashes and turned my attention to the giants. Falcor had backed off towards me, and he unleashed a fireball which surrounded the two advancing giants. They were still standing after the explosion, though, so I blinded one with a bright light in its eyes. Falcor summoned a wall of fire as well, but it appeared just behind them as they kept striding forwards. They threw rocks at Falcor, but they missed widely.

I healed a few of my wounds as Falcor cut a giant down with his sword. The last one was the one I had blinded, but he still moved towards the sounds of battle, swinging blindly as he advanced. He did catch Falcor with a heavy punch just by chance, but Falcor cut him down fairly effortlessly shortly afterwards. We took stock for a moment; Falcor, having expended a lot of dweomer, wanted time to study but before we could think about where to settle down he noticed a figure on the far side of little valley the apes had been in rise as if out of nowhere, throw something to the ground, and disappear into a rent in the air. Ilianna's folk were here? Now they knew that we were too! I had tied up the ape that I knocked unconscious earlier, but as he awoke he was able to rip his way out his bonds and take a swing at me! I had to cut him down with my swords, although it still took three strong blows. With him dead, I ordered the snake back to me and it released the last ape, looking very sorry for itself. I gestured at it to go with my sword and it loped off, not willing to challenge us any more.

We had a moment's peace, then, and I discovered that Falcor had some spare boots that I could use, which was helpful. They didn't fit of course, so I had to spend some time sewing them roughly to take in enough material to at least have a hope of moving around in them. Once that was done, and seeing that Falcor was still deep in study, I went to investigate the cave above us. The stink inside was incredibly bad; I held my breath and ran in to see if it improved around a bend up ahead, but that led to an acrid pool of liquid that stung my eyes. I headed back to fresh air and took some deep breaths, thinking about how I might tackle the situation.

I fished out a potion that we had found, one of vitality, that might help with some of the nausea. That did allow me to walk past a pile of detritus and bones in the outer cave, but the acrid smell of the pool in the narrow section was just as bad. I tried creating water above it, hoping to dilute it, and that did seem to work. The liquid washed around the cave up ahead and the stinging smell started to die down. Finally I was able to progress and found another wider section of the cave with half a dozen stony eggs on the far side. There was nothing else I could see, so I headed back to Falcor, who actually met me at the entrance, and explained what I'd found. I carried them out using sacks... and they were really heavy!

Falcor summoned a disc that he was able to load both the eggs and the head onto. It followed Falcor, although slowly, as we walked back to the forest. We even found the horse waiting, which was a bonus, so we led that back with us. We found a relatively sheltered place to rest within the forest, and I meditated to regain some power from my unknown patron. I didn't feel like sleep, though, as the potion I had taken meant I felt full of energy and would do so for days! That meant I'd be on watch for the night, of course. The potion I had used in the cave had made me feel so energised that I could not have contemplated sleep anyway, so I watched over Falcor into the night. After about three hours I heard something slightly west of us, and an hour later caught a glimpse of something human-sized moving just south of us. It seemed to pass without incident, though, or at least I didn't see anything else. Then there was another movement to the north - they all seemed to be moving from the mountains towards the city.

Just a few minutes later one came much closer, getting dangerously close to Falcor, and I could see now that they were the dark elves. This one looked particularly finely armed and armoured, and seemed to be able to pass through the undergrowth and trees at will. I stepped out to get his attention, uttering a quick incantation to protect me from evil. I heard the figure shouting mentally, not really recognising what he said but getting the impression that he was raising the alarm. He reached out to touch a tree and appeared right in front of me! There were more coming as well, although not as quickly. One of them saw Falcor and I heard mentally that he was passing that information on. Damn!

I tried to parry the first attacks, succeeding with one blow but getting cut by the other - he was really fast! To make it worse, two more engaged me with another close behind. A couple of daggers struck me, although my armour saved me from worse. I was hurt, but also striking back; every one of my blows found its mark, although their leader still wouldn't fall. I still thought I might hold my own, but then a mage that was standing some way off sent magic missiles thudding into my chest! I had no choice but to keep pressing my attacks, despite the pain I was in, but I started trying to wake Falcor with my mind. He was an infuriatingly heavy sleeper, though, and didn't stir.

I finally managed to cut down their leader, although it had taken much more effort than I had hoped. His body shimmered as it seemed to get absorbed into the undergrowth before reappearing at the mage's feet. Falcor finally woke up (I felt as if my mind should be hoarse with all the shouting it had done), and realised quickly that there was a threat, grabbing his sword and rod and moving to help. I was suffering from multiple cuts, at least one of which potentially had poisoned me, so I was glad he was awake. He struck one twice, his energy sword particularly effective against these foes, and I turned to slash another attacker, doing significant damage.

There was a bright light in the direction of the mage, but we were too busy fighting to see exactly what had happened. Falcor killed his first opponent and moved on to another, landing such powerful blows that he knocked them unconscious. I finished off the other, the last of the attackers. I turned to see that the mage had, predictably, gone with the body... but then collapsed unconscious myself! Falcor said that a shadowy form had seemed to stand over my body, one that I had seen before when I was near death. Falcor started spinning his energy blade and the shadowy form dissipated in the light, but it also caused me to start twitching in pain. Falcor quickly stopped, thankfully, and knelt to heal me and remove the poison. I gasped and jerked awake with a start, gripping his arm in thanks before laying back to take a few breaths.

I was surprisingly hale, thanks to the healing, and got up quickly; we would have to move. We searched the bodies, not expecting to find much, but at least I managed to find a better fitting pair of boots. We hid their weapons and then moved away to the south. We carried the head of the beast with us, and I used dweomer to increase my strength so that we could move easily. We found another place to rest, and this time (although I did hear sounds to the north) Falcor managed to sleep through the night. In the morning he sat down to study, which took three hours, and I meditated for about half an hour before we were ready to face the dangers of the day.

We talked about what had happened the night before and realised that Ilianna had probably warned the Queen who Falcor was and what his intentions were so there was not much point in us returning to the city. We abandoned the head, although we kept the eggs and Falcor insisted on cutting the eyes of the beast out before we left. There had been mention of a community of some kind to the west that was opposed to the city, so that was worth investigating. We needed information, and might find some allies if we were lucky. We headed back into the mountains, following a valley just south of a large mountain nearby.

We saw another eight-legged dog thing above us to the south, so we climbed north a little and skirted around, not wanted to start any unnecessary fights. We kept following the pass as it wound amongst the mountains, and then saw another dog creature to our left; they seemed to be common in the mountains. A few moments later we saw some large humanoids up ahead so we climbed the north side again, watching to see what they would do. They headed the other way, climbing up towards the dog and eventually starting a fight. There were three of them, and they were particularly ugly with hardly any neck above their shoulders, but the dog was fast and agile so they struggled to hit it. When they did land a hit there was a chiming sound as if they had hit metal; the noise put my teeth on edge, but Falcor seemed to find it calming. The dog emerged victorious, beating all three after an extended fight - not a foe to be underestimated!

We continued, passing the fight by, and turned west between two peaks before we saw the dog appear... this time clearly blinking into existence above us to the right. It had been the same one all along! Falcor reached out with his mind and got a response, a friendly one thankfully... well, friendly to Falcor anyway, not so much to me. It seemed surprised that I was sentient at all, just seeing me as a sucking force of death. It seemed glad that Falcor wished to fight Dalrissia, though, and told us that she was in a place of rocks and earth to the north of city, underground. She was at the gates of the realm the dog came from, which must be the radiant positivity that was so opposed to my essence. The image she gave us of Dalrissia was of death against a bright background, and she was apparently trapped having left this place but unable (at the moment at least) to enter his own realm. She warned that they could not resist her forever, and urged us to seek her deep within the largest rock pile, close to where all the people live. Dalrissia could not return, hence why she had to act through others. The dog gave her name as "She Who Seeks Warriors", more of a purpose than a name... and seemed excited that her purpose might be complete now that she had found Falcor; he was a warrior filled with the power of her own home, and was wielding "a weapon" (me) filled with the power of his enemy.

Confronting Dalryssia

Now that we had a location where we could find Dalryssia, we set off immediately through the mountains (wanting to avoid the forest if possible). We followed the mountain contours around back to the east and then north, climbing as we went. We were fortunately in a slight gully when a band of dark elves appeared from nowhere to our right, and we were able to drop out of sight before they had scanned in our direction. We waited a couple of minutes, and Falcor heard some chanting from their direction. I moved at a crawl to the edge to peer between rocks, catching a glimpse of three of the foe out of the original five. One was still chanting, and they hadn't moved far from where they had appeared.

We decided that we should attack, using the element of surprise, so we both used dweomer to move ourselves instantly next to the chanting figure... but instead we found ourselves within a grey nothing with no sight of each other, or anything else for that matter. There was no response to my mental call, and I found that I was able to shape the place with my mind, causing a flagstone to appear under my feet, so it was clearly a transition of some kind that had taken us away from Karmana. I used more dweomer to scan for any gateways, and after a few minutes I detected a transition point not far away, so I headed towards it. I had no choice but to plunge through and hope that it would take me back... but instead I appeared right in the face of the mage we had intended to attack! There was a strange feeling about the area we were in, as if a tear was opening in Karmana, but that it had not yet been anchored.

The mage stopped his chanting and cried out in alarm, and one of his companions appeared from nowhere, striking me with daggers as the others hurried to surround me. I struck several decent blows on the mage, but I couldn't quite take him down before he opened a portal and escaped. I nearly went with him, but managed to hold myself in place... I didn't want to leave Karmana again! I cut into a swordsman instead, causing such a serious wound that he dropped, ashen-faced, to the floor although still alive. I took some hits in return, though. I managed to cut down another swordsman, but there was still one wielding daggers and an archer backing him up. The multiple wounds I had suffered, although fairly minor, were beginning to take a toll.

Falcor, meanwhile, had spoken to Aergarnion and asked for help. Help did arrive, but the pegasus was engaged by fiery elemental creatures. Falcor conjured an ice explosion, obliterating one of them and leaving a much diminished second form, although the one that was engaging the pegasus directly wasn't yet harmed. He followed up by sending ice bolts into the weakened one, punching holes in it until what little remained was whipped away in the wind. A fireball exploded around Falcor, but his natural resistance to the flames saved him from the worst of it, and he peppered the other fire creature with ice, dissipating that as well. He also healed the pegasus when it arrived at his side, noticing that it had been badly burned in the fight. The pegasus dropped Falcor off near Borarla, thanking the pegasus, Alderot, for his assistance. Alderot thanking him in turn, as his intervention had saved his life. He was apparently the first lieutenant to Aergarnion, and how considered himslef in Falcor's debt, urging him to call if he was in need.

Falcor then used his own dweomer to teleport back to the gully where we had begun this escapade. He announced that he was back in my mind as he ran towards the sound of fighting. He conjured magic missiles to strike the archer, thankfully distracting him from targeting me again. I was able to finish the dagger wielder, and as the archer started to fire at Falcor I was able to close with him and run him through. Sensing Falcor's unspoken question, I pointed out that there was one still alive where I had been stood before. I warned him, though, that it was an area of planar instability, and I grabbed a stick (one of many that the mage had apparently been setting up in a circle as part of some ritual), pulling it from the ground. I was suddenly aware that the partially open gate was collapsing explosively, and threw myself down just in time to avoid being taken with it. Annoyingly the bodies, including our potential prisoner, disappeared with it.

We decided to continue our journey quickly so that we were not easily targeted, although I was grateful for some of Falcor's healing touch first. We kept following the contours north before starting to turn east as we passed the edge of the forest. It was getting dark, though, and Falcor was keen to rest due to all the dweomer he had expended. He turned himself invisible and settled down in a sheltered spot to sleep. I was still vitalised by the potion I had drunk, so I didn't feel any need to sleep, instead keeping watch. I suddenly had a mental flash of the golden dog thing passing me a warning: "her servants are coming". I changed my shape into one of the weird dwarf things we had encountered in the forest, but kept still and waited. Sure enough I saw one of the folk appear not that far away, sniffing at the air, apparently aware of our scent but unable to pin it down. Eventually, to my relief, an angry voice drew him away back down the slope. More came hours later, though, and this time I changed my shape into one of the dark elves and walked out with the horse, knowing that they would find it anyway and wanting to draw them away from Falcor. I heard a challenge in a language I didn't know, so I responded in halting common with: "who goes there"? The response in common was very broken, but I made out that they were "lords of light"; I simply said: "I serve Ilianna", and they turned and ran! We were undisturbed after that.

Falcor woke naturally, and the dog was suddenly there with us. It spoke of how the dwarves had once being great, but they had been drawn to "her" realm and could not handle the nature of it, so were driven mad. Now they were trapped and had to serve Dalryssia because they knew no other way. They had once sought the light, but now hunted in the dark for enemies of their mistress. They had learned to fear Ilianna's folk, though, which explained the reaction I had received. We rested to study and meditate before moving on, not wanting to confront Dalryssia in a weakened state. We eventually reached the highest peak in the north, circling south above the forest line looking for any kind of entrance.

Sure enough, as we rounded the southern slope to look northeast we could see what looked like a cave mouth in the eastern slope. We were above it, so we started to descend gently as we approached. We noticed that some of the trees here looked darker than in the rest of the forest, whilst others looked unusually verdant. Energy seemed to be leaking out of the cave in some way, for good and for ill. Our attention was soon diverted by a more mundane threat, though, as Falcor warned that he had sighted an archer just before arrows started flying perilously close to me. We both dived into what cover we could, but one arrow still struck me painfully. I crawled away from where I had taken cover, and a good job too as several more arrows landed where I had been.

I used dweomer to move instantly to one of the trees the arrows were coming from, pressing against the trunk as I recovered from the sudden shift. The archers were very hard to see through the leaves, but I seemed to be safe for a moment. Falcor sprinted between cover, trying to loose arrows back as he did so. Impressively he managed to hit one of the foe a couple of times, despite struggling to keep sight of him. More arrows flew back at Falcor, but his speed and armour saved him from damage. I shifted position, looking up to see the archers above me and suddenly arrows peppered around and into me, followed by a lightning bolt! Thankfully the bolt surrounded me and then dissipated harmlessly without causing any damage, otherwise that might have been the end for me. Some of my father's blessings were worth having, I grudgingly thought.

Falcor was struck as well, although not nearly as badly, and he returned fire, striking twice more. I stepped around the trunk of the tree, trying to keep it between me and the foes that were deeper in the forest, and sought out a flying potion from my pack. I downed it and rose into tree to face the two archers there. The tree, rather annoyingly, seemed to be helping them, almost moving to shield them as I tried to get closer. Falcor was finally able to kill his target with another arrow, and switched to another target. I was hit again, but at least this time I could see my attacker. I got close enough to engage one, but they dropped to the floor, the tree reaching out branches to slow their fall enough to avoid harm. I managed to grab the bow he dropped, which the tree had started to pass down to him, and slashed one sword across his back, but it wasn't enough to stop him.

Falcor had taken a moment to dip some arrows in poison, although I was unaware of this at the time, and found his mark with another couple of arrows, still moving to make himself harder to hit. I closed with the other archer in the tree, and again he dropped to the floor using the tree to safely reach the ground. A moment later, the tree exploded in a fireball! Not only was I badly hurt now, I needed to get out of the burning tree! I wouldn't last long on the ground, so instead I used my mental powers to step quickly away several miles in just a minute, putting me well out of harm. I paused there to heal the worst of my burns and wounds. Falcor, meanwhile, caused an ice explosion in one of the trees, seeing a body drop to the ground. He was by an arrow, though, as he paused to focus on the spell.

Falcor sent magic missiles back at the archer, which was enough to kill them, but then had magic missiles returned from the mage that had attacked me earlier. He was able to use his rod to absorb them, though, and started moving again to avoid being caught by the two elves that had reached the ground and drawn swords. Huge hailstones thudded down in the area around Falcor, but he wasn't affected by them so he paid them no mind. I hadn't realised, but he had started digging at the base of one of the trees with a command word, and at this point the earth had moved so much that the tree started to tilt over and eventually fell with a crash. An elf jumped clear, and he targeted him with more magic missiles. This seemed to work as the elf kept running, disappearing deeper into the forest. The last one that had been chasing Falcor collapsed to the floor, succumbing to the poison at last.

I returned to find the battle over, which was a relief as I had suffered without any bow to defend myself with. We took some time to gather a quiver and arrows to go with the bow I had taken, and Falcor kindly healed what remained of my burns as I tended to arrow wounds. When we were ready, we approached the cave, each of us moving to opposite sides of a steep section in front of it so that we converged on the entrance above. I noticed an engraving above the entrance - a star shape with some runes that were hard to make out. I was still able to fly, so I moved up closer to the runes as Falcor muttered a quick cantrip to clean them up a bit. The star had the word "LERAL" in the centre (LIFE)... a natural gate? There was also a gold line extending across the top of the entranceway, and Falcor cleaned the floor to find that the line did complete a circle across the whole of the cave mouth. There were more runes there as well - ARDU? inside the line and NI?IL outside. I used dweomer to interpret the nearest runes (not wanting to cross the line), and understood them to mean "the absolute absence of divinity"... which was a little concerning!

Falcor used dweomer to harden my skin, like stone, so that I might have some protection. He also worried that we would need to use something to influence the pathway that we were about to take - perhaps using Kelditch's staff to exert my will would be enough? But then again it might be too good... we didn't want to open a path straight to the essence of radiant life, as that would kill me! I started to examine along the line, looking for any more information. I noticed that the rock edge on the inside, of which barely an inch was visible before it became unnaturally black and impossible to see, was more like old, pitted, dressed stone than the natural rock on our side. Despite this observation, I couldn't find any inscriptions or mechanisms beyond the ones we'd already seen.

Resigned to taking a leap into the unknown, and reassured a little by the runes we had found, we held each other's wrists and stepped across the line together. At least that was the plan. As soon as I started to pass over the line, though, I felt a burning sensation and instantly recoiled, fearing for my life. Falcor still had hold of my arm, though and kept moving forwards as planned. He stepped into a small stone room, well dressed, with two doors opposite that had intricate sun carvings on them. Not seeing any threat, he started pulling me through, so I flashed a slightly panicked message that it burned, and he quickly let me go. I pulled my arm back, finding that it was fine. I could hardly believe it, though, so I flexed it and checked more closely, only to find that it was completely flawless... oh no. I could see where this was going. Whatever energy was in there had changed me back, given me the form I had managed to hide for so long. Damn this fucking place! I had to go through, though. I couldn't just leave Falcor, for all that we'd joked that I might have to wait outside. How could I hide my face, though? After a moment, I took off my backpack and pulled out a sack, grabbing the void dagger to cut some eye holes into it. It was shit, but I didn't want to have to deal with Falcor seeing my normal form. I liked that he didn't constantly make passes at me, or worse; in fact he barely mentioned my appearance, which was just the way I liked it. I'm not sure it would be the same if I let him see me in there.

While I was doing this, Falcor had found he was no longer able to reach me telepathically, and instead studied his surroundings more closely. The walls and ceiling seemed bare, and the floor too. As he looked down, though, he noticed a faintly worn path between where he had entered and the doors beyond, as if it was regularly used. He was seeing in infravision, although he could see more detail than usual, because it was completely dark. He lit a lantern to help, but just after he raised it I stepped into the room from behind him wearing my mask. He half shouted in surprise, stepping back, but recovered quickly as he realised it was me. He asked why I had a sack on my head, which was a fair question. I babbled a bit, it must have sounded like nonsense - the place had changed me back, which is why it burned... it had made me beautiful! He was confused - why would I want to be ugly? Beauty was a curse, though, it attracted entirely the wrong kind of attention. I could tell he didn't understand. He just looked baffled, but didn't know what else to say. Curse this place!

I noticed that I could feel a little energy flowing into me. It had taken a few minutes to register because I was used to it - but that was only when I got hurt, and now I wasn't, so why was it happening now? I was concerned that if it didn't stop then something bad might happen, so I suggested we didn't tarry and jogged towards the doors. As I approached, though, they started to glow brightly, getting stronger as I approached. I quickly stopped, and reached for the serpent staff to push against them, not wanted to touch them myself. As the tip reached them, though, there was a spark and a slight shockwave. I blinked the afterimage out of my eyes to find Falcor barrelling through the doors at a fast pace! There was a wider corridor beyond that led towards a room, but piles of rubble partially blocked the way so we couldn't be sure what might be in there. There was a diffuse glow from all the stones, walls, floor and ceiling, that brought some light to the area. Falcor stopped about halfway down, putting out his lantern as it wasn't needed, and explained that he was compelled to get away from the staff urgently... it seemed the doors had somehow used the power of the staff against him!

Falcor moved foward more cautiously, checking the wall on the left. The light was definitely coming from the stone, as he could just about see it through his hand, but it didn't feel odd in any way. The constant flow of energy was still there for me, so I moved quickly towards the room up ahead. I could just about see some regular pattern of markings or something along the walls in the room on each side, but it was too far to see the detail. Falcor picked up a stone from one of the piles, judging it a little heavy and possibly run through with ore, and then he threw it foward into the room. Nothing happened, other than the noise of it impacting, so I kept going, moving between the piles to enter the room. As I passed the heaps of stone I looked left and right, and a good job I did as I noticed a couple of short, grey figures hidden amongst the rock, their skin and dirty clothes blending really well into the background. I flashed a quick warning to Falcor and drew swords as they leapt to attack me. They yelled loudly, and others started to appear at the far end of the room from behind a much larger pile of stones. They were armed with daggers and didn't manage to find my flesh in the initial attack, but my own blows struck home and one fell to the floor, blood spurting from its wounds.

Falcor summoned a pattern of colours that mesmerised three of the new arrivals. I sliced across the chest of my other attacker, but then more burst from the walls, emerging from small stone doors - that's what I had seen from the corridor, then. They closed with me and I noticed some even smaller creatures emerge after the others, darting forward behind their larger companions (although they were all really small to be honest). The tiny ones were clothed with small knifes at their side, so probably intelligent, and had blueish skin in a variety of colours. I was surrounded now, but somehow avoided any major damage, and managed to finishing off the one I had previously hurt despite trying to avoid all the daggers.

Falcor created a mass of webs along one side of the room, aiming to catch half of the creatures within it, although a couple of them seemed to be able to ignore it. Falcor advanced towards the melee, but used his mind to blast a number of them as he did so, causing one to flee and one to collapse. We were both now completely surrounded, and to make matters worse the smaller ones were trying to steal our stuff while we were distracted! I was worried about losing the dagger on my belt, which we had planned to use on Dalryssia, so I focused on the tiny ones first. They were hard to hit, though, especially when you were wearing a fucking sack on your head and had to keep dipping your head down just to see that low! I finally managed to catch on with a reverse swing, and Aramat cut him in two with ease. One leapt at Falcor from the rocks behind him, but he had seen him coming and turned just at the right time to skewer him on his sword, flicking its small body aside with ease. Falcor was stabbed by a grey foe, but he ignored the pain and instead decapitated the other tiny blue foe. I was spending more time trying to avoid blows than land them, or that's how it seemed anyway. After what seemed like an age I finally managed to wrong-foot the other tiny thief and ran him through. I was still surrounded by the grey folk, though!

I finished off another taller one, but started to notice I was taking damage... the stoneskin had been protecting me. I didn't feel too bad, though, as there was so much energy infusing the place. Falcor, on the other hand, had suffered a few hits and didn't seem happy about it! He clubbed one to death with his rod, but was cut a couple of times again. I slashed another grey one to death, but was still surrounded. Did these things ever end? As I was cutting into another one, the walls significantly increased in brightness, almost to daylight. The wounds on the foes we are fighting start to knit before our eyes!

Falcor strikes one and activates his rod, causing one foe to stare wide-eyed in terror at him. This doesn't stop Falcor running him through with his sword, and then he turned and cut down another foe. My opponents standing in fear looking over at Falcor. Tried grabbing and shaking one, but no reaction even when I shout at him, so move forwards, spotting a way out behind the large pile of rocksWalls getting painfully bright now. I run forward, and find the corridor is not as bright. Pile of rubble ahead, covering floor to ceiling but left passage leads away to left. Room explodes with light behind me, with Falcor inside... but makes him feel better! Follows me out afterwards.

Falcor tries a wand to make a passage through the stone that was blocking the passage, making a dent but not reaching the other side. I job around the corner to see if there is anything down it... and floor parts at my feet! Thankfully I was stepping near the edge and managed to shift my weight backwards to fall away instead of down. Caught a glimpse of blades below before it shut again with the weight removed. Fly to door as Falcor digs away, finding that the floor there is trapped too! Falcor calls out that he's found a way through, so head back. He sees a minecart track running left and right across a junction, with the way straight ahead blocked by more stones.

Head right and enter some mining tunnels with the rails turning to our right before a door and more corridors. Approach the door... nobody around. Locked so use dweomer to open it. Seems full of abandoned rubbish - sleepers, machinery, iron bars, basic storage boxes, small sacks.

SACK