Journal - The Crown of Wisdom

The Journey South

We spent another day resting, and thankfully allowing Arad to tend my wounds, as Aergarnion was able to control the flow of time so that we were not delaying our quest. Aergarnion was also able to take me to see Queen Arla once more to give her the gift of an acorn from Cherl... I really hoped that he was able to help the forest regrow and undo some of the damage. We were grateful to Aergarnion for his assistance once more - he would take us to the edge of where the Elvrabor ventured to save us some time before we continued farther south.

Falcor went first, arriving in an area where the forest was fairly sparse but not showing signs of destruction. It was leafless, though, due to the harsh winter and snow was on the ground. The mountains rose to his left as expected; we intended to strike straight south to meet the river and use the coast and river as a waypoint to find our bearings. Falcor had not changed of course, having barely thought time had passed as I was out on my two adventures, but he did have another gem in his armour I noticed.

He was immediately wary as he noticed Saloroc Wolf Clan riders transiting from his right to left ahead of him, so he ducked behind a tree to await our arrival. He heard a shouted order from one of them, but didn't understand it. I arrived at a bad time... the Saloroc were advancing towards us when I appeared in the open. Aergarnion disappeared instantly, leaving me to drop to the floor in full view! I at least kept my feet, but the Saloroc charged forward and closed quickly, the riders dismounting from their massive wolves as they got close. One wolf scratched a claw across me, more trying to bear me down than rake me, but I just managed to keep my feet.

I had been drawing my bow, so I put one arrow into my attacker, but as I was surrounded I dropped the bow to engage in melee. Thankfully Falcor revealed himself, moving to my right and using the power of his mind against the foe; two wolves collapsed immediately and one of the Saloroc stopped still, looking dazed. Then Falcor cut into the side of a Saloroc with his sword before they could react to his appearance. At that moment Arad was also dropped off by Aergarnion, although he at least was pre-warned, and he ran in to engage the wolf attacking me. His sword struck true, but his hammer swing just missed as the wolf whelped and twisted away.

Falcor followed up his attack with his rod, landing a solid blow on the wounded Saloroc and leaving him barely standing. The other Saloroc struck me, but the sword scraped my side and only barely drew blood. The injured wolf leapt away and fled, leaving us in combat with the two Saloroc. Falcor finished off his opponent quickly and then the three of us all overwhelmed the last of them. I might have offered mercy, as he was clearly beaten, but Falcor landed a killing blow before I had the chance. He was in a hurry it seemed, spurred on I guessed by the words of Queen Arla, and immediately set off at pace once we had recovered our weapons and taken arrows from the dead.

We jogged and walked south, covering the distance as quickly as we could. After about an hour Falcor heard a snatch of something spoken in the wind and raised his hand. We stopped at once, listening and searching the trunks of the forest for any threat. We couldn't see anything, but suspected more of the false queen's agents from the way they spoke. Trying to avoid a fight that would reveal our presence we carefully made our way around, giving them a wide berth, and moved on. We continued for a couple of hours more before we encountered anything else. It was not quite as icy as we moved south, although still cold with snow on the ground. We had kept avoiding any contact using sounds of voices or steel clinking to minimise any risk of detection as we traveled.

We were not avoiding anything at the time, but suddenly two small flying green creatures appeared around Falcor, striking at him and stinging him with a barbed tail. Falcor defended himself with his mental powers, and one turned invisible as he tried to punch it, although he still manged to connect with something. The other one wrapped itself onto Falcor and bit him, so I grabbed it and ripped it off him, holding it in my hand by its wing at arm's length. I'm glad I held it that far out because Arad stabbed it, only just missing my arm! It was writhing around and Arad punched it once, then I thrust it into the soil and let go, hoping that it would die whilst buried there. Arad administered ointment to one of Falcor's wounds, worried about the poison, and Falcor was worried too - he prayed to Milada that it wasn't his last day. I had learned from the Elvrabor a way of using Karmana's energy to slow poison's effects and called on it now to help Falcor, giving us several hours to find a way to treat him.

As we were doing all this, though, the green thing launched itself out of the soil, trying to attack me specifically. I was just able to dodge backwards and avoid its sting, then the others set about it, each landing solid blows until Falcor finished it with another punch. Although the fight seemed to be over (the one that had turned invisible never showed up again, and was probably quite badly hurt), we still had to do something about the poison in Falcor. We had no way of drawing it out ourselves despite Karmana's power slowing it's effects. We kept moving anyway, as there was nothing we could do within this forest, and it was another three hours before we caught the smell of the sea ahead. It had been getting warmer, although it was still clearly winter, and we were glad to see that there was no snow on the ground in this area. It was rapidly getting dark, though, but we pressed on until we reached a wide, free flowing river and followed it for about a mile to reach the coast.

We didn't really want to stop and rest, because we knew time could be short for Falcor, so we decided that we had no choice other than to head to the temple on the island nearby. We tied a rope between us and Arad reduced our weight so that Falcor could pull us through the air behind him as he flew (using dweomer). It wasn't exactly fun flapping along in the cold winter air behind him, but at least we landed and walked the last bit of the journey! It was much warmer on the island, it seemed, so we had warmed up nicely by the time we reached the temple and village. We were unopposed, which was reassuring, and our arrival caused quite a commotion (I remembered that it had been months to these people since they had seen us). Gilrad rushed out to greet Arad, but then saw Falcor and his face became ashen; he encouraged him to hurry over then prayed to the Creator to draw out the poison from him. Falcor felt a burning inside as the Creator's power cleansed him, and we all thanked him for his aid.

Gilrad of course invited us to stay, but Falcor was still very keen to return and continue our journey as soon as we could so we politely declined. Thankfully Gilrad was able to call on the Creator to reduce our weight again, so we were able to return to the mainland in a similar manner to our arrival. We kept walking into the night, and about half an hour later we came across a recently constructed road. It seemed that the imperial troops were spreading their influence out from Freeport into the surrounding area. We crossed and put some distance between us and the road before finally stopping for the night.

Arad healed my wounds, despite their superficial nature, before resting. They both seemed to have some weird means to avoid sleeping, but I was exhausted so I made a bivouac and quickly fell into a deep sleep. Unfortunately we would not be undisturbed; after a couple of hours one of the dark former Elvrabor, servant of the false queen, appeared through a tear in reality and attacked Arad! Falcor rushed to his defence, landing a good blow, and Arad responded by willing his hammer into his hand, surprising the foe with a quick swing that landed well. Two more of them arrived in the same manner, though, just as Falcor finished the first one off with his rod.

The new arrivals stabbed Falcor and I, which certainly woke me up with a start! Falcor whipped around and cut deeply into his new foe's flank, then landed a second blow shortly afterwards. I stabbed my attacker, rolling away to get to my feet and quickly stabbing him again. Arad came to my aid, finishing off my attacker and allowing me to gather my weapons and join my friends. Falcor killed his attacked with another strong blow, catching him across the temple with his rod, but another foe had appeared behind Arad, striking him from behind and again when he turned to engage him. After his initial assault, though, he was isolated and quickly cut down by Falcor and Arad working together. I didn't join in because both Falcor and Arad were calling out that they thought they had been poisoned - the blades of our attackers has a viscous substance on them that looked nasty; so I called on Karmana's power once more to slow the poison for both of them as we had no idea what it might do if left unhindered.

Arad used an ability I hadn't seen before, or at least not used in this way, and somehow reached into the minds of the recently killed to get a sense of why they were here. Apparently they vehemently hated both Falcor and Arad (but not me it seemed, which was nice) but that was about as much as he could tell. Falcor was concerned that the ring Custor had given him to protect him from being scryed was actually some kind of beacon to track him, so he threw it away! No matter why we were accosted, we would once more have to return to the temple in order to treat this new poisoning. This time Falcor had to change into his Elvradrak form to get us there, but I first called on Karmana to allow us to walk over the water so we at least could be out to sea when he was revealed in this way, and the darkness would help as well.

Once safely back again we were at last able to rest properly, and in any case Arad sensibly suggested we should wait for Gilrad to brew some curatives to counter any future poison incidents. Falcor was quite keen to visit Custor in the meantime to see why he was being so dishonest with us... or if not actually confront him at least recover the tapestry that Falcor had left in his care. After resting at the village we spent a little time re-equipping and Arad gratefully received a pot of ointment that would cure poisons. I left a donation for my druid friend, and Falcor was able to tell me a little more about the sap of Cernurros after some time studying it.

Finally we were ready to journey once more, and joined one of the regular Saloroc ships to Custor's island. There were clearly more fortifications on the island than before, but everyone seemed settled. We landed in a bay on the eastern side and climbed towards the tower once more. Falcor, taking advice from the Saloroc on how to wear his trophies, had his wolf skin head daubed red in honour of the Red Skulls, displaying the war trophy proudly and to good reception. Unfortunately it seemed like it might be a wasted trip; when we arrived at the tower the guards informed us that Custor was "travelling" so nobody could see him. Presumably his body was vulnerable as he undertook whatever ritual he was engaged in.

On the way back down we sat to eat and Falcor communed with Malada using a glass vial. As he did so, the power of this artifact once revealed almost overpowered me and knocked Arad clean out! Falcor eventually apologised and resolved to be more careful with it in future. His conversation with Milada was revealing but somewhat unhelpful; Custor served "his master" Askentis in all things (He Who Sees All, one of the "eternal ones"). If Askentis willed it then Custor would help us, but otherwise he would probably not. This Askentis and his followers were apparently "neither for nor against any on Karmana". Milada said that Custor had traded power for knowledge in the forest, which suggested a willful exchange. She cautioned that Custor could only be seen through the eyes of others as his master shielded him well. After this communion we waited a few hours to see whether Custor would emerge, but to no avail, so we returned to the village and consulted the Saloroc about reaching land to the south.

We learned that there was a Red Skull fortification to the southwest that they did not wish to reveal to outsiders, but they were willing to take us there. We gladly sailed with them, as this would mean avoiding Freeport and the lands around it, and therefore the imperial legionnaires. As we made the crossing, in near darkness by this time, the Captain spotted another long boat and ordered the oars to be shipped. The hope was that we could pass behind them quietly, and Arad used a prayer to silence the water around the bow to reduce the noise further.

This was all undone when there was a sudden scream from the stern and one of the Saloroc jumped into the water... some of the Dark Elvrabor had appeared on the boat! Falcor conjured a hypnotic pattern, captivating one, I struck one and just managed to slip between his blades, and a third charged at Falcor and stabbed him just after his armour disappeared. Arad struck the distracted one with two arrows, which quickly brought his attention back to the fight. I was hit, but only scratched, and now had two attacking me. Falcor was saved from another blow as his armour reappeared just in time to deflect it. I stabbed one again and Arad charged up beside me, knocking down and finishing the other attacker. Falcor fought back, landing a good hit, and I was able to finish off my original opponent, just leaving the one engaged with Falcor.

We had another problem, though, as the other ship had reacted to the commotion and was closing on us fast. Falcor cut a massive gouge in last dark Elvrabor and his foe collapsed, dying quickly. I ran to the side and called on Karmana to warp the wood of the approaching ship, ripping a line of planks away on one side and causing it to swing sideways away from its original ramming course. It still hit our ship with a blow that shook us all, but the angle meant that there was no real damage to the ships. It was rather strange to see the Saloroc nearest the impact falling and screaming, and indeed the collision itself, all happen in silence as Arad's prayer had endured thus far.

Then Falcor launched a fireball, and a huge explosion engulfed what seemed like the entire enemy vessel. The crew on the deck were devastated and the boat was left burning in many places. Just after that, Falcor collapsed! I noticed first, but was engaged in melee by then, so I sent a mental message to Arad hoping that he could help. I quickly dropped two of my attackers, which almost seemed cruel as they had suffered so much from the explosion, but while they insisted on fighting I had to defend myself. Arad went to Falcor's side and used the poison ointment on his wounds, then prayed to the Creator to heal his wounds. Thankfully he awoke at this prayer and seemed well again.

The fight was effectively over, with the crew able to handle any last attackers and most of the foe having jumped in the water to ease their burns and escape the fires. Our own sailor seemed reluctant to return, apparently ashamed of letting his fear overcome him earlier, but Arad forced him to with his mental powers. I still disagreed with this approach, but it at least got him out of the water and onboard. We then had a discussion with the Captain about saving the enemy sailors - we all wanted to help them, but the Captain would not take them to their outpost and instead would have to turn back.

Falcor insisted that they had to be saved, and I was glad of that. Thankfully we were now close enough that I could call on Karmana to aid us and allow us to walk the rest of the way across the water, so we thanked the crew for bringing us this far and bid them a safe journey back. We reached the beach south of us without incident and turned left to follow the coast before breaking away to the southeast as it started to curve north. We continued through the day and then stopped to rest for lunch. Falcor's snares managed to catch a couple of hares so we were able to eat a decent meal with the supplies we had brought, and Arad's prayers gave us a decent rest in just a few hours.

We journeyed on into the east heading towards the distant mountains, but as the light started to fade Falcor warned of imminent attack and we drew our weapons. Dark Elvrabor started to appear in front of us, although this time they didn't seem to be expecting us. Arad immediately loosed arrows, hitting with one and starting the fight.

Falcor rushed forward, using his mind to attack but being assaulted back. They ran to engage Falcor, but he struck both of them - anticipating their attack. As Arad and I moved forward another foe appeared in front of Arad's path and sprinted forward to tackle him. Fortunately Arad was too agile and the attacker ended up face first in the snow in front of him instead! I was once again grateful for Queen Arla's gift as Darillion's bow leapt into my hand with an arrow notched, and I quickly put two arrows into the foe that had not yet engaged, leaving him staggered and bleeding.

Falcor was stabbed, although his armour turned another blow away, and he retaliated with a powerful sword blow. Arad thudded an arrow into the foe at his feet, not wanting to waste the draw, and then drew sword and hammer. I was charged by my target and stabbed and slashed nastily before I too switched weapons. Arad struck several solid blows as his opponent regained his feet but wasn't quite able to keep him down. Falcor was slashed badly from the side as he finished one of his opponents; he turned and riposted well, but the blow didn't penetrate the former Elvrabor's armour. His follow-up swing, though, slashed his foe's hamstring and he crumpled to the floor bleeding heavily. I was hit again, but just a scratch, and slashed my attacker's neck; he slowly sank to the ground with a gurgle and died. Arad also finished off his opponent, who was struggling to keep his feet after multiple wounds.

As the last one dropped a shadow raced across us overhead, and we felt a downdraft as if massive wings were beating before it quickly passed. We could see some kind of shape in the clouds above, but not enough to see what it was. Falcor had heard something in his mind but it didn't make sense so he was wary of whatever it was. We quickly checked the bodies, finding more paper and charcoal - probably a scouting party like I had encountered before. Arad also found a smooth ball in a pouch on his opponent, though, which he carefully carried to Falcor to investigate. Falcor had used his powers to stop the last of the Dark Elvrabor from bleeding out, knitting some of his hamstring wound and pinning him down by kneeling on his chest.

He swapped with Arad in order to study the strange ball, but as he did so he collapsed into the snow and an ominous green-tinged light glowed from the pouch. I immediately ran to his side, calling on Karmana to heal him but, although some of his wounds were knitted, it did not bring him back to consciousness. I swapped with Arad, allowing him to offer the Creator's aid, and spoke to the captive. He had taken the selfish path of service to Eversor and a promised afterlife rather than becoming one with Karmana. Eventually, though, to aid Falcor we had to release our prisoner and he walked off still convinced of his God's supremacy.

The problem was that Falcor was dying of exposure, lain as he was in the snow. I remembered the gift I received in Cernurros' realm; I had thought to use it in some of the strange realms we had traveled to, but it would surely work just as well on Karmana... and it did indeed. A sphere of dense, warm forest appeared with Falcor at the centre and Arad still next to him. I joined them, and we all had to strip our furs off in the sudden heat. Thankfully this helped Falcor and he very quickly warmed and started to stir. It might have also broken whatever connection he had made through the glass ball by suddenly moving him to Cernurros' realm.

We rested as a snowstorm raged outside, using Arad's prayers to sleep quickly and then keeping watch. Falcor, having by now fully recovered, was the first to notice a snow-white huge wolf thing beyond the protection of the sphere. As we watched, it snuffled in the snow and dug down with its jaws, eventually emerging with its head bathed in a green light. Whatever it was it had come for the glass ball. Arad stepped out and dominated its mind, although it was very alien to him, and forced it to drop what it had just picked up and walk away peacefully.

We were not sage yet, though, as another one was behind us and we heard it growl and saw its "hackles" (more like shards of ice) rise. Falcor struck out with his mind at it, but we weren't sure whether the wolf was affected or not. Falcor asked me to retrieve the pouch, and I ran out to grab it then headed back. As I picked it up I felt a strange compulsion to open the pouch, but managed to control myself and concentrate on running. The wolf had circled to the side of our shelter and just before I got to safety I was pelted with the sharp, icy cold shards, which landed far harder than I had expected and I staggered back inside the sphere (which seemed to counter or "melt" the projectiles) in great pain.

Falcor said a prayer to Milada, the first time I had heard him invoke her name in this way, and the pain eased immediately as the wounds closed up. I thanked him and his patron; Falcor called it a "blessing" and it truly was! Falcor then ran towards the wolf we suspected of attacking, and this time was able to use his mind to disable it. There was still the first wolf out there, but it continued to walk off out of sight. Arad had the idea of smashing the cursed artefact so that it could not affect us or draw more attention. Falcor started to dig around looking for a rock, and I dipped into the soil to confirm that it was solid enough not to move or shatter with a hammer blow. Arad nudged the pouch, which I had dropped just outside the sphere (I did not want to bring such a thing into Cernurros' realm), with his hammer until it say on the stone. Lightning sparked and traced lines up and around the hammer as he did so but he persevered, feeling it tingle around his hand and arm but not hurt him.

Once the pouch was in place he swung the hammer, in its largest form, in an overhead blow straight down onto it. It shattered and at once exploded into a massive ball of fire, from within the sphere the flames wrapped around the edges and the plants inside curled up as if trying to protect themselves. It was gone in a moment, though, and the plants uncurled slowly back to their normal form. Arad, though, was engulfed and definitely hurt afterwards despite the protection of the hammer. Falcor once more called on Milada to heal the significant damage Arad had suffered, for which he was grateful.

Worried that the destruction of such an artefact might upset the balance of Karmana, I stepped out of the sphere and reached out to the exposed grass (the heat had made short work of the snow in the vicinity), reaching past their concerns over the unnatural winter to Karmana herself, seeking some sense of how the destruction might have affected her. Thankfully she seemed grateful for Arad's actions, as the thing had been leeching power away from her and was now gone. She also warned me that the dark Elvrabor were now the children of Eversor (Chaos) and Kraldar (Death) so trying to divert their life essence back to Karmana would mean fighting against two Gods - that explained why Arad and I had found it so hard to do so!

Into the Mountains

We trudged through the snow once more, finding it hard going but determined to press on. After a full day we at last reached the foothills of the mountain range we had been headed for. After the wearying march we needed to rest once more, so I created another sphere of Cernurros for us, again shocked to find how warm it was after the snow. Cernurros was kind enough to grant us sustenance in the form of several huge berries, for which I thanked him and ate gratefully and well - a single berry providing sustenance as if I had eaten well; it even seemed to ease some of the pain from battle and the journey. Falcor, though, spat his out; apparently it didn't suit his taste!

Arad prayed to the Creator and allowed us to "nap", gaining the benefits of a deep sleep in a short time. About ten minutes later, though, he heard a cacophany of senseless noise in his mind that rose and fell in intensity. A few moments later a humanoid heat source flashed past at the edge of his vision. Arad moved so that he was near enough to wake us quickly and kept up a visual scan. A few minutes later he saw two shapes moving in a similar way and decided to wake us. We fired a couple of hastily made flaming arrows, catching a glance of some large, white, hairy, horned creatures just before we were suddenly plunged into utter darkness.

I sank into the earth and moved beyond where I thought the sphere edge was, popping up to see if I could see anything from there... but found myself within Cernurros and quite removed from Karmana! It took me a couple of minutes to, rather embarrassingly, ask for Cernurros' aid and guidance and then return to the others. Meanwhile Arad said a quick prayer to the Creator that removed the darkness, allowing them to see again even though nothing had approached close enough to be seen clearly. For a moment the plants within the sphere reached towards Falcor and Arad, almost as if to grab at them, but quickly stopped. I suspect Cernurros would not allow his realm to be controlled in such a way.

Arad tried to communicate mentally that we meant them no harm, but received a strange response that we could do "Him" no harm and are welcome in "His" realm, and that he approved of our selfless action. Again, I suspect that within the sphere Arad was reaching Cernurros and not the creatures he could see beyond the sphere. Falcor tried a more traditional approach, shouting in common that we meant no harm, and urging whomever was out there to converse with us. A deep, booming voice responded saying: "Leave, abandon this path." Well at least we had made contact. They told Falcor that continuing east up the mountains would insult them as this was a holy place and we were not welcome. No amount of reasoning seemed to persuade them, but for the time being at least they had not attacked.

We had no choice but to continue; our quest was necessary for the sake of Karmana and we would not abandon it. I said a prayer to Karmana that enabled us to move freely on top of the snow rather than being restricted by it, so at least we could move quickly, and for about a half hour it was easy going. But then a number of big, hairy creatures burst from the snow in a semi-circle around us. Snow sprayed around us as they erupted, and they roared with arms wide as a show of force. We tried to act passively, but as Arad reached for a staff two creatures took a step forward and half-screamed, half-roared to drop the weapon. Two others physically leapt at Arad, trying to pin or disarm him, and one stayed back watching us closely. One creature connected with Arad but didn't get a good grip so he was able to twist away, and the other just landed beside him. Arad used his mind to get one of them to stay at bay and not attack.

As Falcor and I had remained passive they seemed willing to talk for a moment, making it clear that they wanted us to leave their holy place. They did reveal that there was a temple here, one created by all the Gods, and it was the Gods that had created them to act as guardians. I asked whether Karmana was welcome at this temple, and they said that she was welcome but that it was not of Karmana. Falcor asked about Milada, and revealed the tear of Milada (although thankfully he did not activate it or we might have been stunned like last time he revealed it). At this they became much more relaxed, turning as another creature joined the group from behind them. He seemed older and bore a staff, and clearly had the respect of the others as they all turned to look at him for guidance.

The new arrival asked Falcor if he was the emissary of the Garden of the Goddess, and agreed that as an emissary he might be allowed to continue to the temple. He accepted that the sap of Cernurros also marked me as a representative of a God and that I might be allowed to pass, but Arad was a little more controversial. He did not know of "The Creator", and asked Arad for proof that his Creator was a true God and that Arad spoke for him. Arad prayed to the Creator for a blessing, and the Guardian (for that it was he bade us call him - his actual name was a guttural roaring sound we could not reproduce) held his staff up towards Arad as he did so. The staff glowed slightly, and he seemed to accept this as a sign that we should be allowed to continue.

He also advised that we would need an offering for the Gods, somehow sensing or knowing about Arad's dagger and its elemental stone and suggesting that it might be the most suitable. We suspected that this was because he had an affinity with water, though, and might not suit our purposes. He gave us names with meaning for them: Falcor was "The Emissary", Arad "He Who Speaks for the Unknown God", and I was "Mud Child". The others laughed at this name, but for an Elvrahum it was a name of honour and perhaps helped to put creatures with an essence of water at ease.

Once we had been granted permission to continue we took the time to rest in Cernurros' realm for the night and this time we were able to get a good rest without being disturbed. It was a clear, bright morning when we were ready to continue so we could get our bearings a little more clearly. To the south is what was Carseld, but it was blanketed in grey mist and fog; the Guardian had spoken of there being bad spirits there when I revealed where I was from, and I could see how that would be true. Our path was upwards, though, and we dressed for the cold and I prayed to Karmana to ease our passage which allowed us to walk lightly on the snow.

As we climbed we could see the Guardians at a distance occasionally, but we were not disturbed or threatened by anything. We were about halfway to the summit when we suddenly sank into the snow; Karmana's blessing had worn off, but we decided to continue our journey the hard way, forcing a path through the snow until at least midday so as to save Karmana's blessing for freedom of movement at the top. When we felt it was time to stop for lunch, what we could make of it anyway, Falcor set snares and we rested for an hour or so. I looked all around at the clear skies and mountains so close to my former home; I had not been so high except on Hope's back, and my people had never ventured into the mountains to explore. If only we had come in better times.

Arad alerted us with his mind that he could see a group of four of the snow creatures approaching from behind us at some pace. They seemed to be heading for us, but we weren't sure whether they were trying to warn us of something or even not focused on us at all. I scanned the skies in wariness, and could see nothing at all there, which in itself was a little unusual. I called on Karmana to grant us the ability to walk on the waters of her realm, but found that the connection to her was a little weaker, so I added "...and those other realms that she could reach".

As we watched the group draw nearer, a large beast erupted from the snow in front of them. It looked like an Elvradrak! We started running to join them and determine what was happening, and I asked Falcor if it was an Elvradrak, one of his kind, but he answered no! It seemed that we must defend the group from her. Falcor changed form to fly quickly down the slope, leaving me to pick up the various bits he had dropped to do so. Arad sprinted ahead as I paused to gather it all and then follow at a slower pace. Falcor's transformation got the creature's attention and her head craned round to stare at him. She quickly left the group and flew straight up to meet Falcor, going much faster than we expected. She screamed "I will never submit to you again, slaver!" at Falcor as she attacked, and Falcor was raked by her claws but managed to avoid her bite.

The beast let out an ear-splitting roar, and a crack of snow falling echoed in the distance. Falcor responded with claws and also bit hard at her. We ran to help and I moved to the side to get a clear line of fire, but Arad moved around to the opposite side so my bow wouldn't allow me to shoot! Arad loosed an arrow, but it just glanced off her scales. There was also a mental battle going on, with both Falcor and Arad able to attack her in this way. The physical ripping of claws continued, of course, and she finally managed to bite Falcor, causing him serious injury. His retaliation was no less bloody, though.

Arad conjured spears that he hurled at her, each one flying true. After that barrage she turned her head and spewed an icy blast at Arad, losing her grip on Falcor as she was distracted. Arad dodged the worst of it, but was still rimed with ice and in significant pain. Having been unable to use my bow, I had closed the distance and now used my boots to leap up into the air, stabbing my sword into her flank and dragging it down as I tumbled back to land in the snow beneath them. Falcor raked her again, and it seemed that she was getting weaker; not that it stopped her from fighting hard. Arad hurled more of the Creator's spears, each one striking without fail, and that seemed to weaken her further as she struggled to stay in the air and fight effectively.

Falcor used his unique power to heal his own wounds instead of attacking, but rolled with his claws still in her and pushed her down into the snow yelling "Stop! We are the same!" She spat back: "We are not the same, Slave Lord!" Falcor didn't refute this, as he still had no recollection of his former life, instead saying: "I am no longer your Slave Lord. There are few enough of us left that we should not surrender our lives." It seemed that the fight was over, at least, but "Death From Below" (as she was apparently known locally) would not submit to any rules, even requests to leave the snow creatures alone, calling them "slavery".

She seemed genuinely confused because the snow creatures were intruders on Karmana and He had once commanded the Elvradrak to defend Karmana from such things... but now he would prevent it? She spurned my offer of Karmana's power, but reluctantly allowed Arad to use the Creator's power to heal some of her wounds. She left in peace, at least for now, and warned of a Fire Wyrm that we would encounter at the summit. She described the temple as "all places in one place", which fitted with the Guardian's description of a place where all Gods were welcome.

After a fight where Falcor and Arad had both suffered, we decided to rest and recover before we continued. I again called on Karmana's blessing to speed our passage, and again she was hard to reach. It wasn't until the sun was setting in the west that we reached the summit, a red sky changing the snow to an ominous red before darkness enveloped us.

The Temple to All Gods

At the very top we reached a plateau, but it was too dark to see what was at the centre. A little farther on we reached a steep slope leading up to a promontory, although again we couldn't see how large it was. There were no heat sources in view, so Falcor used his grappling hook and dagger to pull himself up the ice. I followed closely, enlarging the holes with my own dagger to make footholds that we could use to safely climb. Arad remained at the bottom to cover us with his bow until Falcor reached the top. Once Falcor was safely up, Arad began his ascent. There were no obvious threats, but he did see a warmer patch in the ground about ten yards from where he was.

He waited, though, and we gathered at the top of the slope while Falcor lighted a lantern; this took a little while as the oil had to be warmed to ensure it was a liquid. Once we had some light it was clear that the warmer patch had been liquid at some point in the centre, but had frozen over since. Falcor then directed the light ahead and revealed a stone structure that had once been well constructed but was now old and heavily eroded. The walls were partially collapsed in many places and the floor inside was covered with snow.

Arad blessed us with the power of the Creator, but then immediately had a sense that he was being watched from somewhere ahead and to our left. Falcor and I approached the structure cautiously, but then Arad sprinted past slipping on the snow occasionally but keeping his feet. He passed to the right of the building and then stopped to pray again, creating some light ahead at the far end of the ruin. The light highlighted an area ahead and to our left that contained another corner of the structure. It was odd; there were at least two piles of rubble but they appeared to be placed where they were as if someone had collected the pieces together and made the piles deliberately.

While we were contemplating this there was a noise from the warm spot that we had passed and a large wyrm with intensely glowing spines along its back emerged from beneath the snow. It scuttled towards me as I reached the wall of the temple. Falcor rushed to intercept it and used his mind in a brutal attack that caused it to slump to the ground and didn't move again. I tried to reach out to Karmana, but there was no connection to be found here! Cernurros was present, but there should have been no reason for Karmana to be excluded from what the Guardian had told us. After reaching out in this way I suddenly felt compelled to leave, thinking that it was unsafe and that we shouldn't be there. Arad agreed, also saying that he didn't feel we should be near the temple. But whilst I started to back off on the ground, Arad started to levitate, rising straight up above the ground.

The water was melting around the creature, as it was still intensely hot, but it seemed to be running in towards the centre of the temple. There seemed to be a slight slope inwards, and according to Falcor there might be a circle of slightly different temperature at the centre of the temple. This was of interest, but Falcor was confused as to why the rest of us wanted to leave so soon. It was clear, looking back, that something was impelling us to leave when we called on our Gods' power, although it seemed like a reasonable aversion to the area at the time. Arad lowered a rope so that Falcor could tow him around but refused to get any closer, being happy about thirty feet up in the air!

We started moving to the east, away from the fire wyrm, but Falcor asked if Arad could see any more at the centre of the temple from where he was (there was no roof, and nor did it seem to have had one originally). Arad prayed to the Creator again, causing the centre to become brightly lit, and we could see that there was a hole in the centre about ten feet across that the water was draining into. The hole was well constructed, so it was built there intentionally and not damage or decay. Strangely the compulsion to leave seemed to have diminished and Arad was all of a sudden interested in investigating further. He started to descend, getting some help from Falcor yanking his rope.

Once Arad was on firm ground again, Falcor entered the temple and made his way towards the hole. However as he did so he felt that something on the floor was trying to draw power from him and he pulled his foot back before it made contact, stepping back. He was in the temple, so it wasn't a general effect - it had to be localised in some way. I tried setting light to some oil on the snow, but it was so cold that it didn't melt easily and I had to dig under it and around to make a runoff for the water. Falcor passed me a trident (which he made suddenly appear out of nowhere) to help move the snow, and that at least meant my hands were warmer.

Falcor investigated the interior more while I worked. It seemed that there was an entrance in the direction we approached from originally, with some of the arch visible still. Falcor also lowered a lantern down the hole on a rope to see if there were any remains of stairs or side passages, but it seemed to be just a very deep shaft. Once I had got rid of most of the snow in the place he had drawn back from, Falcor placed the burning lantern on the last bit and let it melt away. Underneath we could see the tip of two gold lines meeting, likely to be the point of a star, inlaid in gold into the stone floor.

We spent another half an hour or so revealing the rest of the star, and were a little surprised to see a solid gold circle at the centre - not something we had seen before. One pile of rubble, just outside the nearby wall, would have formed a pedestal that could have sat on the solid gold circle and presumably be used to activate it in some way. So if a circle is around a star then the Gods associated with the circle are dominant; if the star is around the circle then the Gods associated with the star are dominant; and here we had a circle beside a star, with neither dominant - it seemed that it had truely been a temple that welcomed all Gods.

We decided that we needed to wait until morning to see more clearly and pick up any clues that we were missing in the dark. Falcor watched the wyrm closely as we rested, but it didn't move for the rest of the night. As the sun rose in the east on another beautiful crisp, clear day we could see that the rubble under the body of the creature was made of a similar material to the walls and flagstones of the temple. The pedestal remains were marble, and there was another pile of rubble that looked like basalt to the north of temple. When I took a closer look at the basalt it was clear that it had been an obelisk of Karmana.

Looking farther afield, we could see six structures arranged evenly around the central temple, on the lower plateau. Each of these structures had six pillars holding a conical roof above them, and were all intact. Each also contained a stone pedestal about a yard high, with what looked like some kind of concave top. Falcor took another look at the hole at the centre of the temple, and found that it had once had a structure above it that had been sheared off cleanly at ground level, and it was likely that this was the source of the pile of stone under the creature.

Falcor then moved to a flagstone that looked slightly out of place, and would have formed a third place evenly spaced with and in line with the circle and star. Falcor hammered a spike into it to try and move it, eventually breaking a little that he could move to get a purchase. The stone was a good four inches thick, so no wonder it took some effort. Meanwhile I checked the opening that used to be an archway for any trigger traps, but found nothing; there was an engraving on the outside, though, a set of runes that we had never seen before. In fact we had never seen any language like it before.

Having surveyed the central temple we decided to explore the structures around it, and specifically the one to the south as that was more likely to be linked to Air and the Sarn we sought. On the way we approached the structure to the southwest so that we could compare them. It had a star-shaped base with six hexagonal pillars holding up the conical roof, and a pedestal in the centre of the base with a concave top. Each pillar had a star with runes inside, and each set of runes was different. The runes from the northern pillar were also on the pedestal, although there was no star around those ones.

When we then looked at the structure to the south we surmised that the same runes always faced the central temple, and that each pedestal had runes that matched the set to the north of their location. This meant that in the southern structure, significantly as the stanza for the Sarn we sought was found in the south when we revealed them in the Elvradhil halls, the runes on the pedestal matched the ones facing the temple. We focused on this, deeming it more significant, and Arad called a blessing on us from the Creator. There was a sudden gust of air as he did so, coming from the pedestal inside the structure, or so it seemed.

Arad had a think about a potential offering and pulled out a scroll, stepping onto the base to approach it... but as he stepped onto it there was a sudden, explosive in-rush of air that drew us all violently towards the pedestal. We were all just about able to hold on to the closest pillars, but Arad's legs were left flapping behind him with the constant pull of the air rushing inwards. Falcor manged to fight against it, moving away to where the wind wasn't so violent, but Arad and I lost our grip and flew in towards the centre, disappearing with a pop.

We both arrived in a grey nothingness with no air, completely unable to breathe! I quickly used Cernurros' wand to create a pocket of his realm for us, and thankfully we had arrived together so we were both able to gasp in the warm, humid air whilst laying on the soil. After a moment we considered how to get out of this place... I had an idea but was reluctant to use Cernurros' power so freely unless there was no other way. Arad said a prayer to the Creator and then sat motionless for half a minute or so, his eyes staring into space and what looked like pain on his face for some of the time, but eventually snapped back into focus breathing heavily. He had been almost overwhelmed and described being transported to what looked like his holy tree... but not quite the same, with some of the leaves curling and falling off at the edge of his vision.

He had concentrated, suspecting Eversor's work, and instead found himself in a chaotic realm with only unformed energy surging all around, the chaos causing him physical pain until he was able to withdraw back to this place. So it seemed that we had no choice but to appeal to Cernurros, and I took the sap he had gifted me from my pack, warning Arad to look away in case it affected him as Milada's tear had. I called on its power to move us physically to Cernurros' realm, feeling a wave of life energy washing over me from the sap and filling the pocket we sat in. As it reached the edge of the pocket it dissolved away, causing us a moment of panic, but what it revealed was that we had indeed arrived in Cernurros' realm properly and the sounds of the vibrant forest came flooding in.

This was Arad's first time here, of course, and I explained how we should be able to reach Aergarnion's clearing if Cernurros allowed it. We were not left wondering whether he would, as Cernurros himself came striding to meet us, the trees moving aside to grant him passage. He welcomed us even as we bowed low and gave him thanks for his aid. He warned that the place of vacuum contained dangerous forces, which made sense from what Arad had seen. Cernurros was a little confused as to why we would want to go back to a place of snow and ice, but was kind enough to agree to aid us in reaching Aergarnion.

I remembered the tree that I had transported myself to when I tried to return to the clearing myself, and Cernurros' power allowed us to both travel in the same way. We stepped into the nearest tree at his bidding; Arad was comfortable with the idea of traveling this way, but was slightly revulsed when he physically entered as it was an unfamiliar feeling not at all like he was used to. There was no incident, though, and we emerged in the place I remembered right next to the barrier to Aergarnion's realm. Once more it seemed I was now allowed to pass, with Arad this time, and the slight resistance didn't stop us from walking through into Cor'iltuarladecaeli.

The clearing was empty, but we were eager to return to Falcor and Arad used Aergarnion's feather to call out to him. We did not have to wait very long at all, and Aergarnion blinked into the air above us and drifted down gracefully to join us. He seemed surprised to find us there, saying that it was rare for anyone to find their own way to Cor'iltuarladecaeli, but if anyone could he supposed that it would be Arad. To be fair Arad did say that I had something to do with it, as well as Cernurros of course. Aergarnion did warn us that Cernurros' love can be smothering, and that few leave his realm.

Arad thanked him for his concern, and then quickly spoke of the temple we wished to return to. Aergarnion thought he knew the place, where life and death hung in the balance... although it sounded as if the balance might have shifted towards death. As Arad was explaining how we ended up needed help to return, Aergarnion reared back at the mention of the place without air we had been trapped in. Aergarnion agreed to take us back to the temple, and Arad thanked him for his aid. We carefully climbed onto his back as he dropped a wing, and readied for the launch into the air. Arad promised Aergarnion that he would not overuse the feather to make demands of him, and the response was that he would come when he was needed but not just because he was asked, then he leapt powerfully into the air and we felt the transition to another place as we had before.

We traveled through the place of air again, where Aergarnion felt most comfortable, and he flew for what seemed like half an hour or so before making the transition to Karmana. The biting cold hit us as soon as he did so, and we could see that he was circling the temple as he descended towards the central temple building. He landed gently on the star we had revealed, and once we had dismounted he said that he would leave us as it was quite cold, and disappeared quite suddenly as was his manner. Thankfully Falcor greeted us from the far end of the building, having returned here once we disappeared (that had been sufficient to end the trap that had caught us it seemed.

We recounted our experiences and then Falcor told us that he had spoken with Milada about how the temple worked. The outer buildings were locks that could open portals in the central temple when activated correctly using the opposite element to that desired (in order to maintain balance). If they were misused then a trap was activated instead, which is what we had experienced. As Falcor was talking about this detail, Arad and I noticed that there were four flying creature approaching from the west and I alerted Falcor as he had his back to them. They were icy in nature, with glowing red eyes, and I worried what their appearance might do to the elemental balance here. I stepped outside but kept my back to the wall so they could not surround me.

Falcor ran forward to engage them but slipped on the ice and fell on his arse! Arad moved to the south and the creatures divided into two pairs to engage him and me, ignoring Falcor. They flew to within about ten feet and then spat ice shards at us before closing to melee. Their breath chilled our skin painfully, but the claws were worse with cold lingering in the wounds long after they were made. We each landed good blows on at least one of our respective attackers, but they were flying and difficult to bring down. Falcor and Arad both tried attacked with their minds but the things were shielded by another, more powerful mind so they could not affect them. Falcor tried magic as well, throwing a small diamond into the air whilst shouting an incantation, which caused a red orb to appear, but again it didn't seem to affect the creatures.

I suppose we'd just have to do it the hard way, and I connected with another sword blow although again it failed to bring down the creature. Arad was caught in the icy breath again, and I suffered as well despite dodging the worst of it. Now that Falcor was on his feet and a threat he was also targeted. Thankfully my next blow shattered one of the attackers into shards of ice, so they were not immune to being smashed with solid steel. Arad connected with a decent swing, splintering the creature but somehow not quite shattering it.

My fears about balance were about to be realised, though. As we had been fighting a glow had appeared from one of the outer pagodas and now a massive column of water appeared above the star behind us in the temple, and then turned into a creature that moved with purpose. It flowed around the hole, splitting into two to do so, but losing some of its form as it froze and fell away when it got too close. It was heading our way, though! Arad finished off the foe he nearly killed last time, and it shattered like the first one. He twisted and struck the other attacker with a it, and lands a blow on his other attacker. Meanwhile Falcor and I concentrated on the other one, both landing hits and then Falcor delivered a killing blow which freed me to aid Arad.

I quickly approached behind it and stabbed it with my short sword, and Arad took the opportunity to swing both is weapons into it, shattering it completely. It let out one last icy breath at Arad just before it died, but we were able to turn our attention to the water creature in the temple. We saw it smash into the fire wyrm and, despite the wyrm still not moving, there was an explosive burst of steam that scalded me slightly. Once that cleared we saw that the water creature had been much diminished in the exchange and was slinking back away from us... this time avoiding the circle. It went right back to the centre of the star and then disappeared in a vortex up into the sky, leaving us alone once more.

We had all been hurt in the fighting, though, and I took a couple of swigs of Churl's fertiliser to help with the pain. I offered it to Arad who found it most invigorating... but also turned slightly green as he drank it! I took it back quickly, wary of Aergarnion's warning and what it might do to Arad. We made our way back to the pagoda that had caused us so much trouble the first time, knowing now that we would have to create a vacuum to get a portal to the place of air in order to seek the Sarn. We tried melting water in bottles and a flask and then calling on Karmana to destroy the water, creating a vacuum, but the vessels were not strong enough to stay intact when we did so.

We had to resort to me calling on Karmana to create water inside the concave pedestal inside, hoping that destroying it afterwards would create the vacuum in the right place to activate the portal. We knew that this was risky because it created an elemental imbalance when the water was created but we had no other option. Sure enough, as soon as Karmana had granted us her blessing of water a lightning storm focused into a tight area appeared just inside the pagoda in front of me. Falcor summoned a wall of fog, trying to shield me from sight, but lightning bolts shot out and one struck me painfully. Tendrils of lightning discharge snaked out around a wide area and the others were hurt even though they had stood well back (thanks for the vote of confidence there).

Arad did move up to my side and tried to protect me with a prayer to the Creator, and Falcor ran forward to throw something at it. This certainly helped; there was an explosive detonation within the creature that sent puffs of its essence out in different directions, and then the lightning surrounding it was contained within an invisible sphere that surrounded the creature. I quaffed a healing potion, feeling a bit better, and seeing that the lightning was contained I prayed once more to Karmana to destroy the water in the pedestal. As soon as I finished my prayer the creature disappeared, a bright glowing ball of force appeared above the pedestal, and we heard a rush of wind from the central temple. We could see the snow being blown up and around the building there as well, and it was clear that the wind was strong.

We made our way back to the temple and it was clear as we approached that the air was moving in towards the centre. We tied ourselves together with rope in case anyone lost their footing and moved up the slope to approach the main structure cautiously. The wind was strong, but we were able to get inside the temple safely. It was as we drew closer to the star that the wind rose to the point it felt like we were standing in a storm. It was now, inconveniently, that we had the revelation that simply opening a portal to the place of air was not enough, after all we had just come from there with Aergarnion. In order to take us closer to the Sarn we would need to move closer to chaos (we knew that he was closer to Eversor), which meant introducing order to the temple. So... we probably should have repaired the pedestal for the star BEFORE creating a towering vortex above it!