Vorsaykorai

The Ancient Battlefield

As we talked about the visions we had seen before arriving on the boggy plain, a loud voice suddenly picked up on something we had said... "the key?!" it echoed. We looked down to see a small fairy looking up at us. Tak tried to greet it as a friend, as he always did, but she said that he didn't smell right, smelling of the sea. Apparently I smelled too, but Silanna seemed nice. Her name was Bryony, and she lived with her kind in the mud. She asked if it was the Key of Kagrash that we sought. This seemed to interest Tak; he had heard of the legendary keys of Kagrash, which were able to guide people to places they were attuned to, even when the path was well hidden. If it was a key to Vorsaykorai, then perhaps there was a chance it would still work? We asked what we might trade for such a thing, and she seemed as keen on gems as the other little pixie we had asked for directions. Tak was a bit dubious about following another wild goose chase, but what choice did we really have? I still had a few gems, so I handed one over and she pointed in a direction we judged to be southwest. She spoke of a massive battlefield with a dead dwarf that was fairly obvious, according to her. More interestingly, she spoke of my own people living to the west (both kinds, more worryingly), and Tak's to the east (no surprise there).

We began to journey to the southwest, and it took a couple of days before we saw anything of interest due to the boggy terrain. Eventually the going became easier, with the ground more like a tundra than a bog, and it was there we came across the first carcass. It was a little preserved by the peat, but had clearly been a dwarven warrior. We continued into the battlefield, finding more and more bodies as we did so, friend and foe alike. Still, by the time dusk came we had not found what we were looking for and were forced to sleep amongst the dead. Tak kept watch as usual, seemingly never needing to sleep, and we had a decent rest before we were disturbed.

Tak noticed a few lizard creatures approaching, which was something Bryony had warned us about, and he woke Silanna before they got too close. They were moving surprisingly quickly, though, and he was forced to greet them. He tried to placate them, saying that we would leave their territory, but they weren't interested in peace. Silanna had moved back, giving her the chance to engage with arrows before they could attack, killing one with two well-placed shots. The other two were able to close to melee, though, and Silanna was hit. I woke with the commotion, fighting for a moment with a cloak that Tak had laid over me to hide me from the foe.

Once I saw what was happening I moved to help, but I wasn't needed. Silanna cut her opponent down, but Tak was hit with a couple of glancing blows before he was able to fell his opponent. He tried to explain that he had given them the chance to give us safe passage, but had been left with no option but to kill them. He didn't have to explain himself - I was just happy we were safe! Tak and I used our minds to heal some wounds; I helped Silanna as Tak tended to himself. There was mist rising from the ground as the dawn broke, which made it hard to see more than a hundred yards or so. We continued in what we thought was the right direction, but it wasn't long before we saw more lizard folk up ahead. There were three, all facing away from us, and we could just make out some shorter figures beyond them. The sound of steel ringing suggested that they were fighting!

Tak urged us forward to help, running far faster than we could hope to match, all whilst shouting loudly for them to stop fighting and talk. As we hurried towards the combat we could see that they were fighting against pale-skinned dwarves dressed in black with orange on their shoulder guards, which wasn't reassuring. The terrain was hard going as well, which slowed us down. Tak kept shouting to try and stop the fight, which of course didn't have any impact. Had he ever seen the real world before he met us? Silanna coped best with the terrain, closing quickly, but stopped short to draw her swords, unwilling to loose arrows into the melee.

As we struggled to catch Silanna, I voiced concerns that we might end up helping the wrong side as we had fought both these foes before. Tak was sure that the lizards were against us here, though, and did not want to judge the dwarves prematurely. He managed to get past a bit of difficult terrain and quickened his pace, engaging a lizard from behind just as the dwarves managed to cut one down. Tak called out in the Dwarven tongue, getting some acknowledgement but no actual response, and then struck a lizard from behind. I joined him just in time to see one of the dwarves being hit by a serrated sword that seemed to be the favoured weapon of the lizards. I was behind the one wielding it, so I managed to thrust at a spot not completely covered by scales and it fell dead.

I moved around to try and help the dwarves with their wounds, which did not seem to be leaking any red blood I noticed, but they ignored me. Tak tried to tell them that I was trying to help and not a threat, but it didn't seem to help. The last lizard was surrounded now, and quickly cut down - Tak delivering the fatal blow. As soon as it fell, Tak sheathed his weapons and took a step back, holding up his hands to show that we meant no harm and speaking "friends" in their tongue. He asked if they spoke the Common tongue, but they just looked at each other and walked straight past him, clearly intending to continue their journey without a word. Rude! I said "you're welcome!" loudly at their backs, but got no reaction.

Just before they disappeared, I noticed that they glanced down between the two of them and then veered off to the right. I mentioned it to the others, as it was weird, and Tak went over to where I roughly judged it had happened to see if there was anything there. He and Silanna searched the spot, but found nothing. We tried to catch the dwarves again, but when Tak hailed them they just sped up, so we left them to it. Tak seemed a bit down, possibly frustrated by our lack of clear direction. On a whim, I decided to try something to cheer him up; I found a small piece of metal from one of the bodies and crudely scored some waves into it, then used I trick I knew to make it sound like surf gently rolling across a stony beach. I presented it to Tak as a gift, saying that he would see the sea again one day, as I knew that he wanted that. He was overjoyed, reacting far better than I had expected, even going so far as to hug me vigorously!

He set off west with renewed spirit, now confident that we would find our destiny. I struggled to keep up, but was glad to see his new sense of purpose, and it seemed to energise us all. The mist began to rise as we walked, which helped as well, and as it did so we saw the mountains up ahead, adjusting our route to head for the highest peak. By afternoon the ground was rising quite steeply, but at least we were out of the bogs and battlefield. Just before it got dark, I spotted some stairs up ahead which the others couldn't make out. There was a straight section, which is what had caught my eye, and I helped to direct the others towards it. We weren't going to reach it in the light, though, so we decided to make camp. The place we had reached had ground that had started to slope differently, as if we were approaching a ridge, so we went off to one side as Tak kept watch.

It was almost dawn when Tak saw a horned, goat-like humanoid leaping from rock to rock down the slope from above us. He was carrying a glaive of some kind and was quite noisy, not seeming to care if he was heard. Tak tried to hide, but the creature stopped and coughed politely to let him know that he was aware Tak was there. Tak greeted him as a friend, as usual, but the reply was: "we shall see". He seemed quite amenable, though, certainly more so than anyone else we had met! His name was "Geron". He knew of the Duergar (pale dwarves) we had encountered, but didn't like them much. Tak explained that the rest of us were sleeping, and he said that he was more concerned with whether we were warm enough out here on the slopes of the mountain. He apparently did not see humans much, and certainly not elves.

Geron then started talking about various "half folks" (noting that I was one, too). He explained that some of the half folk would fear Tak and try to kill him, but his own half folk were here before the blasts of Ragnarak and so were more used to his kind. Tak was particularly interested to hear that Hintzu's tomb, which had been within Vorsaykorai, was intact (Hintzu had once been some kind of uber-monk). Geron noticed the ring Tak was wearing, and Tak asked if it was important; Geron replied that it was a "ring of power" - of course it was important! Tak showed him the surf token I had created, but Geron wasn't as impressed with that as Tak seemed to be!

Thankfully Geron had decided that Tak was "nice" and so we got invited to supper! Tak woke us at this point, and we were naturally quite wary of a strange creature offering to "take us for supper", but eventually agreed to take his lead. Geron turned and waved his glaive, at which point the rocks leading up towards where I had seen the stairs earlier were outlined in a glittering light. We quickly gathered our things, including donning my armour, and followed him up to the base of the steps. Rather than ascending, though, he walked straight into the side of the mountain! We tried to do the same, and only at the last moment did we find that what looked like solid rock was an optical illusion that hid a narrow entrance. We squeezed through, which was easier for me than the others, to find Geron had turned back. He apologised - he had just remembered that we didn't know the way. He banged his glaive on the floor and torches flared into life to show the way ahead with a greenish flame.

The rock was shot through with different metals, so that we were surrounded by different colours and we moved forward. We descended a broad staircase and started to hear talking and laughter up ahead. We entered a massive hall, not as well crafted but easily as big as a Gnomish hall, and surprisingly a cheer rose from the throng as we entered, along with shouts of "you found them". We asked Geron how he had known to seek us, and he said that the "Ankorek" had spoken of us. These were birds, apparently, but not the nasty ones that had tried to pick us up, but were much better to look at and friendly. They were "Bathomet's folk", which was not something I had heard before, but Silanna remembered the name as one that was worshiped by some folk. Details were quickly lost, though, as we were welcomed to the table and given food and drink aplenty. It seemed that Tak's mythical friendly folk did exist after all!

Once we had the chance to speak again, we learned that they were mainly trapped by the gnolls that roamed the mountains, who worshiped a dark and powerful thing. They suspected that we had encountered one of its servants on the mountain when we first met the gnolls. More interestingly, they spoke of Gnomes that were in the "peak of Lords", which apparently was the second highest in the mountains... and they had brightbane there, too! I wanted to seek them out, of course, but needed to rest first. Thankfully they were happy to oblige, and Tak offered our services so that we would not be a burden on them. For my part, I was happy to spend time at the forges they had. They were proficient at working dweomer into their creations, so I was able to learn some things and experiment to develop my own skills. Tak sought out the last survivor of Vorsaykorai, someone they described as a "mad monk" driven insane by what had happened to him. Tak seemed to make a connection with him, though, and was able to learn from him. Silanna was interested in their dweomer, and we both learned some of their fighting techniques. It was almost a shame that we had to leave at all, but I had to think of my people.

The Peak of Lords

We would be following Gnomish paths, so we had to look for clues and alternative paths. Metals were clearly important, and perhaps colours related to each of the metals? The world now had many half-folk, some new and some old, and not all bad. Vertical order mattered, for example in the vision I had seen there was natural light from above, artificial light in the centre, and other-worldly light below. We pondered on these things, and others, as we were led by our new friends to a place that should lead to the Peak of Lords. They warned of a pentagram where one of their number disappeared, and said that they hadn't dared visit since then.

We went through a rough door into a short corridor that led to an extremely ornate, well-made door of stone. A vertical iron bar shaped like a snake was set into it with a single rod at its centre. The ornate pattern showed three Yggdrasil shapes with knotted branches and knots between them, and further imagery beyond and separate. Their roots intertwined and then reached up to form knots between each trunk, but the canopy stayed high to form a circle. The roots in the centre were green to the top left and right, but yellow/orange/gray below. Within the centre of the intertwined roots, at the centre of the whole image, it was silvery in colour, and that seemed to be Brightbane.

Was Brightbane brought to the world by an external power? Tak reasoned that it was the essence of divinity, a residue left by the old Gods, that was key to Yggdrasil's power. It was clearly linked to the hells, but a Brightbane rune in the separate imagery suggested that it might also be found in Limbo - perhaps a space outside of the world that would provide a sanctuary outside of Ragnarok. I reasoned that the rune at the edge marked the present in terms of the Ragnarok cycle, as it suggested we were post-Ragnarok but close. We also noticed that there were six "twirls" above and six below in the area we figured to represent Midgard, twelve in total - that matched what we had seen on the last image of Yggdrasil. For now, though, we sought a pathway, so the truck of Yggdrasil was what we wanted.

I reached out carefully and turned the snake anticlockwise to set it towards the trunk of the tree nearest where we thought we were, finding that it slid smoothly before clunking into place. I checked the others were ready, then pushed just slightly and the door swung easily open. The room beyond was lit by flames coming from pipes set into the walls, illuminating the room in an orange light. The ceiling was about fifteen feet high, making a pyramid shape above us, and the material was shot through with lots of thin silver veins that came much closer together as the ceiling rose to a point. There was a many-pointed star with a circle and a five-pointed star within it. There were ten points in total, and six of these had symbols that Tak recognised as depicting old Egyptian Gods. The material was marble bound by iron, although the symbols of the Gods were marked with Brightbane. There were runes on the far wall, which read:

In Age gone by when not in heaven,​

A Mage brought peace and funeral pyre.​

Crowns worn their points total seven,​

His was the new breed’s gem of fire.​

To Andurin’s home you have come,​

In flight from dark into sky and cloud.​

What is written of old cannot be undone,​

The names of those left behind, cry aloud!​

For this way is barred to all but three:​

Elf, man, dwarf, perhaps thee?

There was a stairway leading down on the far right as we entered, but we were sure that such an obvious path could not be the way we needed to take. I noticed that there was a carving of a door in relief in the left-hand wall, though, which was of gnomish height and size. That was more like it - and the answers hinted at in the verse the runes spelled out might open it. When I mentioned this, I realised that the others couldn't see the door that I was referring to, just me. Even more reason to use it! The last wall, behind us as we entered was plain, so it seemed to be all about decoding the clues in the runes. We spent a long time mulling over it, and Tak worked hard to remember some of the histories he had learned in his monastery. Eventually he narrowed it down to the three most likely names: Nenya (elf), Bavarik (human) and Kalasar (dwarf).

I spoke the names in the order that the poem demanded, and as soon as I did so the door I had seen carved in relief opened and flames sprang to life to light a small passage and a steep set of stairs leading up. It was about eight feet wide, but only five feet high - perfect for gnomes! Everything here was beautifully carved, and the passage was full of streaks of different metals glinting in the orange fire light... were we within Yggdrasil? We climbed the stairs until I noticed a door to the right up ahead, glinting in the light. Just as I was looking up I heard a click as I put my weight on a step, and a trap almost got me - I was only saved by my cloak whipping up above my head and intercepting a metal sheet that dropped towards me. The cloak's dweomer was so powerful that it left a dent in the metal sheet!

I marked the step with some chalk that Silanna passed to me, and stepped carefully over to continue climbing. It was clear when I reached the door why it had been glinting in the light - it was a mirror from floor to ceiling, with another serpent handle like the last one. There was the head of a dragon in gold above it on the wall, and we noticed that we could only see our own reflections and the good streaks behind us - none of our companions or the other metals were visible. I turned the handle one click clockwise, and saw both aspects of myself in a strange apparition; Silanna saw herself much younger, and I hurriedly said that I saw something similar. I could still see the gold reflected, but also what might be iron as well. When I turned it clockwise, my reflection seemed to fade slightly from the edges inwards and become greyer; the reflection of the metals all faded except for the Brightbane. When I turned it a half turn to its opposite we could see silver reflected, but no sign of ourselves.

We surmised that clockwise was back in time, and anticlockwise forward. The metals we could see at each "click" were, in clockwise order starting with straight up: Gold (reflection all there), Gold and Iron, Iron and Copper, Silver (reflection not there), Brightbane and Gold, Brightbane. We decided to turn the handle to the downwards position and push, assuming that the reflection would be the opposite, but as we were to learn this was not the case. The door opened to reveal a room with three people facing away from us. A female spun around as the two males flanking her looked at each other and disappeared! They all looked surprised at our appearance. I stepped in and hailed them, although I got no response, and my main aim was to make room for the others to aid me. The female (was it an elf?) cast some kind of protective dweomer on herself, so at least she wasn't immediately hostile. There were glowing, silvery orbs at the centre of each wall, and the floor was white marble with blue. Basalt and silver were in the ceiling, and the whole wall behind the female was shimmering silver. A natural exit was in the wall to the left as we entered, and there were runes on the wall to our right.

The female started chanting again, and both Tak and I fell instantly asleep! Silanna was unaffected, thankfully, although the foe (she seemed to have harmful intentions) leapt forward to attack her. She shimmered herself, as if not fully there, and Silanna suffered a nasty wound from her crystal sword. Silanna fought back viciously, though, and soon cut the enemy down before she could do any more damage. She shook us awake straight away, not wanting to stay long in what was clearly the wrong location for our path. Silanna grabbed the elf-like woman, who had green-hued skin, and dragged her into the corridor. She was wearing Brightbane armour that shimmered and clung to her! She also had parts of iron armour on her arms and legs, although it was all exceptionally well made. Silanna found three scrolls tucked into her belt, and a net bag with two potions in it (one blue and one gold). She had a needle-like crystal weapon on her and I picked up the crystal sword she had dropped when she fell, heading for the exit, but as I reached to close the door behind me another two figures appeared!

There was one woman and one man, and again it seemed that the woman was the one able to use dweomer - Silanna warned that she was trying to put us to sleep again, and rushed forward to swipe at her to disrupt her spell. I stepped back into the room to try to protect Silanna's flank from the other foe... and then I noticed that he was wearing a purple Ironcloak just like mine! They were slit-eyed, like lizards, but the sight of my ancestral cloak had pissed me off, so I was focused on fighting. The mage was wearing Brightbane armour, just like the first one - I'd never seen the like before! Tak drew his blades, but was still reluctant to attack.

Tak called on us all to stop fighting, saying: "we just want to leave"! Surprisingly they paused, and the man pointed at their fallen sister, saying: "she stays"! Tak replied with: "of course", and they were immediately much calmer. I was on edge, though, demanding to know where the man had got the cloak from. He said that there were many artifacts like it left in this place, but that I was welcome to take it if it belonged to my people. That calmed me down too, and the conversation became much more cordial. Thankfully the man confirmed that the first mage we encountered had attacked us and forced us to defend ourselves, so they seemed willing to overlook the fact we had killed her. We returned the body to them, and in return they offered the scrolls and potions as a gift. I gave the second cloak to Silanna, knowing that it could help to protect her - especially underground. They also said that we would be welcome at the "Shimmering Palace", but Tak also questioned them about Ragnarak and it was clear that we were about five hundred years in the future compared to when we had left! Their names were Huddashimraha and Ankhorreg, which only Tak seemed to manage to pronounce. They had no concept of the sea or swimming when he spoke to them about it, though, which was worrying.

(Scrolls were: Ray of Enfeeblement, Enlarge, Mirror Image)

We said farewell and returned to the corridor, closing the door without moving the handle, and then twisting it in reverse back to its original position. If the handle changed the time when we moved it, then we really only had one option! Once we were sure it had been reset to its original position I pushed it open. We emerged into a similar room as before, which was no surprise, but it was just cut stone with no light. There was still a physical exit to our left, as before. I lit my small metal torch and carefully made my way along the wall to our left, turning the corner towards the exit. On that wall, though, I found some verse:

Naturally it is night.​

Under the overturned lute with its​

One string I am going my way​

Which has a strange sound.​

This way the dust, that way the dust.​

I listen to both sides​

But I keep right on.​

I remember the leaves sitting in judgment​

And then winter.​

I remember the rain with its bundle of roads.​

The rain taking all its roads.​

Nowhere.​

Young as I am, old as I am,​

I forget tomorrow, the blind man.​

I forget the life among the buried windows.​

The eyes in the curtains.​

The wall​

Moving through the immortal realms.​

I forget silence​

The owner of the smile.​

This must be what I wanted to be doing,​

Walking at night between the two deserts,​

Singing​.

I could hear something just around the corner, but when I risked a quick look I couldn't see it. I went back to tell the others, but they seemed unconvinced as they couldn't hear it. Eventually Tak shouted out a friendly greeting, causing Silanna and I to cringe slightly, and a flying imp thing about four feet tall with a stinger on its tail flew around the corner - it immediately attacked! It was red/brown with black teeth, claws, that stinger, and yellow eyes. For a moment it was a bit chaotic as we tried to move to surround it whilst claws, its tail, and weapons whipped around, but nobody managed to hit anything! I was eventually struck a glancing blow by its tail, as its claws caught Tak. Silanna had got around it and struck a good blow, but then it blew steam at me and Tak, scalding us both. The cloak that I had given Silanna moved to deflect a strike from its tail, which I was glad to see... Ironcloaks together stand firm!

I sent a flechette into it, doing more damage, but not enough to bring it down. Silanna finished it off with a sword blow, at which it collapsed into itself and disappeared in a mini-whirlwind. Despite the noise, when we paused to listen again we could hear nothing reacting to the fight. We paused to consider the poem for a moment, and Silanna sparked up a lantern to see more clearly. When she did so we could see a carving of something like an Egyptian God in the centre of the wall opposite where we had entered from. It was basalt at the front, emerging from granite, and shot through with gold. It had rubies for eyes, and its hands were positioned as if holding something, but were empty. We interpreted this as a possible path to Orodruin's home in Limbo, but agreed that we were seeking something more mundane. We did think about what we had seen, though; Brightbane soul energy, left after Ragnarak, should flow to the heavens, but seemed to be trapped. Water should bring life and open the paths, but that too was trapped on the Prime. What was exploiting these sources? Were the leaves of Yggdrasil important. Did Orodruin regret his influence in the past? Do we even want new Gods, though? Would it not be better to shape our own destiny?

Instead of spending too long pondering the unknowable, we followed the passage to seek those trapped here, reaching some stairs leading up. This time Tak checked the stairs for any traps as we ascended, but it wasn't far before we reached another room. There was plenty of light this time, as there was a pit of lava in the centre of the room that glowed brightly with heat. A statue of a humanoid figure wearing a mask and holding a golden sickle sword stood and a lightning bolt made of Brightbane in the corner, and was ornately decorated with metals and blue gems. There was another ten-pointed star with a circle and five-pointed star within it on the floor, although there were only three symbols of Gods within the points of this one. Three walls had sheets of hammered metal on them, which reflected the heat into the room; the metal was orange/red almost gold in nature. We could see a gap on the far side that was much cooler, and the ceiling was conical with a hole at the top. The hole channeled smoke up through it, but the smoke started well above the glow of the lava, leaving an unnatural gap. The smell was oddly plain, just a dry heat, with no sense of smoke or burning.

Silanna extinguished her lantern as it wasn't needed, drawing swords just in case. That was a good move, as a flying red imp thing appeared across the room and jumped through the lava towards us. I tinkered with my weapon to make it cold as Tak engaged the foe. Silanna advanced to help, managing to stab it with her short sword, but they were both getting very hot where they were stood! Tak struck with both his weapons, killing the thing, but another one emerged from the gap on the far side of the room and that too leapt towards us. It was glowing hot, striking Tak and leaving him badly wounded. I was able to run it through with my weapon, though, and the cold burned it as effectively as its own heat had hurt Tak. It disappeared in a death throe as well, and we backed away into cooler air.

Tak dropped to his knees, going into a trance and letting his wounds knit as he channeled energy into his body. His stance was enlightening, though, as it was cooler near to the floor - the metal sheets did not reach all the way down. There was a gap of about two feet that we could crawl along to avoid the worst of the heat, and Tak took off his pack to push it along in front as he did so. As he moved, we could hear and see the statue's head move to look at him (the sound was metal on metal), and Tak glanced up to see piercing blue eyes looking at him - was it some kind of metal helm? We watched as he drew closer, but he was able to make it safely past and to the far wall where it was much cooler. He noticed some carvings in the threshold of the exit on the floor: an eye with radiant lines flaring out behind it, set within a triangle that itself was set on top of a circle, all shaped out of bronze.

I started to follow, and again was watched by the statue but reached the far side safely. Meanwhile, Tak was experimenting - he held his hand with the ring out over the bronze symbol, and it started to glow brightly with radiance. He snapped his hand back quickly and it faded again. Then he tried the other hand, and there was no reaction. Silanna joined us as Tak removed the ring and stashed it safely before we tried to continue. We were able to shuffle around the edge of the bronze, passing packs between us so we didn't cross over it by accident, and eventually all stood within the corridor beyond in safety.

We had only taken a few steps, with Tak searching around for any concealed traps and Silanna lighting a lantern to aid him, when Silanna called out a warning. She had seen something on the ceiling up ahead, a square shape that looked out of place to her. We could see anything, but advanced cautiously to stop short of where she indicated. We still saw nothing, but she described it as something that could be living, as it seemed to be moving slightly as if breathing. Silanna used some dweomer to make sure that it would fall slowly if it tried to drop on us, giving us time to pass safely. We ran underneath, and sure enough a strange creature with a massive maw started to drop on us... but thanks to Silanna it was falling so slowly we were able to get past before it could envelop anyone. It thrashed around a bit and then started to slowly crawl up the wall again, ready for its next potential victim.

We reached a dark wood door that had a dark metal within it and after Tak had checked for any traps he pushed it open. We could see a square of sand in the centre of a square space, the sand spilling over the edges into an abyss below us. The sand was constantly being replenished by a stream falling from a hole in the ceiling above the centre of the platform. A door was just visible on the far side. Just in front of the falling sand was a snake creature about eight feet tall, and behind the sand was a golden female statue with a catlike face and plain disc above its head. The snake creature reared up and hissed at us in some kind of language we could not understand.

The creature had a sickle in one hand and a large amber gem in its other. Tak tried speaking with it, of course, whilst genuflecting. It responded in broken Common, saying: "Not dead, not past dead, living, why?" Tak replied that we only sought to free those trapped within stone, but she said that the way was barred to the living and those trapped are dead. Tak was not very keen on being dead just now, but I was convinced that this was the right way to go - it matched the verse we saw earlier in some ways, and what better test than to threaten the ignorant with death if they continue?

Silanna had an idea and pulled a scroll out, starting to chant as she read it. She started to grow in size until she was stooped below the ceiling - she must have been twelve feet tall! She was able to grab us both and hop over to the sandy platform relatively easily. The snake creature moved to the side, but held up the gem it was holding and a beam of light shot out to strike each of us in the chest... which made us all feel really well! The creature looked confused, but Silanna strode past it towards the statue. As we drew closer we could see some objects near the door; there was an instrument above the door and what looked a bit like a tuning fork below it, hovering as if just in front of the wall. I got quite excited - this was as the poem foretold, just as I had hoped! The statue seemed much smaller than before, and looked at us as if in judgement. Did EVERY statue have to stare at us like this? It was starting to freak me out! The door had shut behind us, so we had to try and press forward now.

Silanna put us down, but we immediately started to slide faster than we had expected! Silanna grabbed us again and pushed us together so that Tak could tie a rope to me. He then grabbed her leg so he was stable, and Silanna picked me up and started to swing me in preparation for tossing me at the lute (lyre? I'm not a musician). She threw we well, but perhaps too well as I sped towards the wall a little fast for my liking. I managed to brace with my legs and stop myself without harm, though, grabbing the instrument safely. It was heavier than it looked, and exceptionally well made; the chamber was formed of a dark wood, but the rest was coated in gold and well decorated. I started to fall, but used my mental powers to slow myself so that I could grab the rod/fork thing before Silanna and Tak pulled me back to join them.

The forked rod was golden, and I struck it against one of Silanna's swords (one without dweomer so that it would not interfere), holding it to the chamber of the instrument. I could not see a string vibrating, so we did the same again with Tak putting his finger gently against each string until he found the one that was moving. He seemed to go a bit distant for a moment, although him staring into space wasn't unusual, but he snapped back and said "it's that one". I moved to pluck it, but Tak asked if he could be the one to play it as it "called to him". I offered it up (like I said, I'm not a musician... perhaps Tak is?), and as he plucked the string the door ahead opened and a path formed from the sand at our feet, stretching from the platform to the door. Silanna took our hands and walked us across the new bridge like we were children, which we probably looked like compared to her enlarged self.

There was a corridor behind the door which led a short distance before ending with a door on the right. The corridor was still shaped out of a black stone shot through with metals, like before, and the door was also shot through with metal, although it was lighter in colour. It had a vertical handle on the right and was hinged on the left, about eight feet high. Before we examined it, though, Tak seemed agitated and said to me that he was worried that he carried too many "gifts" and needed to unburden himself. He took out a ceramic jar decorated with crashing waves from his pack, handing it to me. He said that it was a healing ointment, and although it was partly used it could still provide significant aid. I was grateful, if a little confused, but took the ointment from him and that seemed to calm him down again.

After Tak checked the door for traps, he opened it to see a flooded area beyond. He was very excited about finding water, and ran forward but realised that it was very hot so stopped just short. There were some heat sources below the surface, and steam rose from the small lake. The ceiling was out of sight above us, and the walls were roughly hewn. The floor was sloped as well, leading down to the water in front of us, but rose of the far side at the same level - it was hard to see that far through the steam, though, so we couldn't tell what was there other than an opening of some kind. Tak reached out to gently touch the water right at the edge, where it was cooler, but recoiled slightly and said that it was "wrong". The smell of sulphur was in the air, so I tended to agree with him.

As we paused for a moment, some creatures started to emerge from the water, swimming like lizards but holding weapons and some shields. Two of them had four arms, one holding a spear and shield and the other a trident and something it dragged in the water. The others had two arms, one with a scimitar also dragging something through the water, and one that held nothing. They were all swimming quickly upwards and towards us. Although I readied for combat, I hung back to await Tak's inevitable attempt to befriend them... and was startled when he quietly said "kill them, kill them all"! He seemed to recognise them, and said that they would surely kill us, also warning that the one at the back might use dweomer against us. We finally found something that Tak didn't want to make friends with!

I extended my weapon, ready to fight, as Silanna loosed an arrow at the one at the back, striking true. Her second arrow struck the one in front of it, as they were swimming quite close in line. I knelt and inserted a tool into part of my armour, causing a globe to arc towards them and disperse a gas that knocked three of them out. They floated in the water, unharmed but incapacitated. The last one engaged me with its spear, but Silanna strode over and punched him in the side of the head, staggering him slightly. Tak urged us to finish him off as he watched the others for any signs of movement. It turned to flee, but I struck it solidly in the back, killing it. I would not have hesitated to do the same when fighting with my clan, but we had been restraining ourselves for so long that it felt odd. Tak reassured me that they were evil, and by striking it down I had made the world a better place.

Although we could see an exit across the water, I was worried that we had missed a hidden path when we turned off the corridor, so we spent a few minutes searching the corridor. Sure enough, I noticed that there were bricks missing their mortar in the wall at the end of the passage, which at least warranted an investigation. I called to Tak, wary of traps, and he took a closer look. Before he did so he stopped to take the lyre out, strumming it tunelessly for a few seconds, before starting to poke at the wall with his tools. After a minute or so, he prodded something that caused the stones to move, revealing a three foot rise with shallow steps leading up behind it.

Silanna joined us, forcing us both to back off to make room, and she squeezed through the gap into a corridor that rose gently, but with no visible roof above. As we climbed up behind her, Silanna said that she could see a door up ahead on the right, although we also looked up, wondering why there was so much space above us. The walls were well crafted, but there was a slight slope inwards as they rose. Tak looked behind, to see if there was a way to close the entrance we had used, but as he did so Silanna stepped on a pressure plate that did the trick. It left a pit where the stones had been, so we didn't want to fall backwards for any reason.

We had just started to continue when four winged creatures, each with four wings, dropped down from above and set upon us. They were browny-black and noiseless, catching us by surprise so that we could barely react before they were on us. Silanna was raked, but then stabbed in the neck by a proboscis and quickly collapsed. I was hit as well, but was able to stay on my feet, as was Tak. Silanna's lantern smashed when she fell, so we were plunged into darkness. The creatures gave off a faint heat that allowed us to target them, though, and Tak punched one out of the air leaving it crumpled on the floor as he advanced to help Silanna. I grabbed at the creature that had latched on to my neck and pulled it away with a horrible sucking sound - yuck! It managed to latch on again, though, and I started to feel faint and collapsed like Silanna.

It was up to Tak to save us both, and he started by punching the one on me, knocking that out like the first one. He then straddled Silanna's giant body and pumping his fists, striking down one and then the other attacker. That's what he told us happened anyway, and I have no reason to doubt him. I do know that he then retrieved the ointment he had gifted to me from the pouch on my belt and used it to revive us both. Silanna had been badly drained by the creatures, but quickly regained her strength so that we were able to continue. Tak returned the ointment, although only a small amount remained, and then was back to his old self and insisting we didn't kill the vile things because they were "just hungry"... despite them nearly killing us!

We begrudgingly moved on, and Silanna lit a torch in place of her lantern so that we had some light. She reached a door up ahead, wooden and shot through with metals of different colours, the same style of vertical handle set into it. Tak checked it over for traps, although not before strumming noisily on the lyre again (he was obsessed with that thing) - hopefully we could find someone that could actually teach him to play it in the near future! Although he found no traps, the door resisted being opened. There was no keyhole, but Tak noticed something strange - the hinges were false and it actually opened on the opposite side away from us, which was the opposite of what it appeared to be.

The Door

It was difficult to open, as if it hadn't been used in some time, but eventually yielded to a good shove. Beyond was revealed a well lit room with a large, ornate set of doors on the far side. They were decorated with serpents, both on the doors and on the pillars beside them, and were in turn surrounded by six burning sconces. The serpents on each door faced up and into the centre, where a six-pointed star was set with Egyptian Gods at the points, although any symbols within it had been beaten out. Above the door was set the radiant eye within a triangle set upon a circle. Between the two was a "bridge" of souls, with Charon (the Ferryman) on the left and a blazing fire on the right - the souls flowed both ways. Four large, brownish, furry humanoids, about seven to eight feet tall were in the room. There was a damp, forest-like smell to them that reminded me of autumn on the surface. There was a chest to our left and a table with food and mugs set on it in the centre of the room. A hearth with a fire and food cooking above it was to our right. The walls were stone, but more like the inside of a building than the tunnels we had been following so far. As well as the flames around the doors, there were torches around the other walls, all burning oil.

I stepped in, greeting them in Common, but they spoke in a language I didn't understand. It was clear that we had surprised them and they had not expected anyone to come from our direction - possibly because the door had been hidden to them. Two stepped forwards with swords drawn and I felt a bit intimidated as they were about three times my height! The two farther back drew crossbows and covered us from behind. Tak looked at me pointedly and said: "forgive my friend, may we enter"? Silanna drews one sword and poked her head around the corner, above Tak, to see what was there. It was a well-kept room, and these humanoids seemed well organised, but there was a clear problem with communication. I tried addressing them in Gnomish, but that seemed to really rile them up! Silanna spoke Gnomish as well, trying to say that we were friends, but they charged to attack! Silanna struck first, drawing blood, and barking at them in a different language altogether. They still pressed the attack, and it was only our cloaks moving to deflect their swords that protected us from harm.

Tak was trying his best to calm things down, and said to us: "just hold if you can, parry if you must" whilst walking towards the table with his hands up. He grabbed a flagon, filled it from the barrel propped up beside it, and said: "better to drink with friends than make new enemies" before taking a swig. He coughed a bit at the strength, but then offered the flagon to the nearest creature. In response, the creature looked a little confused, but did lower its crossbow slightly. Silanna dropped her torch and moved to join Tak, although she didn't join in the beer call, while I had to try and dodge more blows (the cloak helped again). I didn't press my attack, though, waiting to see if Tak's strange approach would work.

Tak tried to offer ale to the other creature with a crossbow ready, but in response it pointed at the fight I was engaged in. Tak approached us, trying to get the attention of the creature attacking me, but it just roared in anger and ignored him. I tried to help by ducking away and hiding under the table, but even that didn't stop them from attacking. A crossbow bolt bounced off Silanna's cloak, and another skittered across the floor beside me as we were engaged by the back two. Silanna reacted first, cutting down the sword-wielding creature nearest her, and then rushing the one that had fired a bolt at her. She knocked it to its hands and knees as I rushed the other one, forcing it to drop its bow and draw swords. Tak joined the fight, although he was still using his fists to avoid killing anyone, and another creature collapsed to the floor unconscious. Silanna did the same to her opponent whilst I traded light blows with my foe. Silanna was first to reach us, managing to punch him to the ground to end the fight.

We all relaxed slightly, but Tak sank to his knees muttering "this didn't need to happen" to himself. I think he said it several times, but I was distracted by the fresh food on the table which was suddenly making me realise I hadn't had a proper meal for a while. I tried a bit and it was delicious! I invited Silanna to try some, but she busy searching the foe for anything useful. We were both shocked when Tak slammed his fist into the table, doing some significant damage to it, and demanded to know what we were doing and why - "this was their place, and we invaded it" he insisted. He seemed a bit hung up on how we had "entered uninvited", and (a but more seriously, to be fair) that we had killed one of them. Now we were looting the bodies as well! Silanna convinced him that it was only wise to search for information or items that would be key to our progressing on our quest, and he reluctantly agreed to look for anything that very specifically matched those criteria.

Silanna found a scroll that seemed to offer protection from evil, which Tak took as another sign that we had misjudged the creatures. Instead he approached the ornate doors, but there was a loud bang and he was thrown back into the table forcibly. I went to check on him, and he shouted quite loudly: "I hurt"! I offered him the last of the healing ointment, but he pushed it away and entered a trance for a while. We had seen this before - he was tending to his own wounds. Silanna had disarmed a couple of the foe when one started to wake up; it quickly shuffled back towards the wall, clearly afraid of what we were capable of. As I watched, Tak tapped me, pointing at his ears - it seemed that whatever the doors had done they had rendered him deaf.

Tak sat staring at the door with a tear in his eye, which was a sad sight - he certainly didn't hold back in expressing his emotions. Thankfully he couldn't hear Silanna barking at the creature that had awoken like a gnoll - it seemed to be the only language that they both understood. He wasn't being particularly helpful, though, from what I could gather.

Tak watched our prisoner as Silanna kept searching the bodies for useful information and I headed towards the chest, but as we moved away he tried to make a run for it. He headed for the door we had entered through, but Tak was able to intercept him and stunned him with a powerful punch. Silanna found a key on one of the bodies, and I saw that the chest had a keyhole... perhaps it was meant for that? Tak wanted no part of it, as he thought we were just planning to steal from them, so we were not sure about any possible traps, but Silanna offered to try the key anyway. With a satisfying click, the lock opened and thankfully nothing bad happened as a result. The chest was quite full, and we pulled out a small crossbow, coins, scroll cases (ivory and metal), bottles, and bags. The things that were of note were: a blue liquid in a bottle (possibly water breathing), the hand crossbow (it was particularly light and ornate with a magazine), a heavy glass bottle with an opaque silvery liquid, and a light blue effervescent liquid in another bottle.

Then we found an Identify scroll within a leather scroll case, which made things easier, and we used it to learn the properties of several items we had collected (including Tak's new lute). Silanna was particularly interested in some barbed arrows that might allow her to dismiss summoned creatures. Tak was checking the unconscious creatures as we were sorting through these items, and noticed a broach that a creature was wearing. It was shaped like the eye, pyramid, and circle symbol but was cheaply made. As Tak reached out with his hand, though, it was instantly attracted to the ring he was wearing, sticking to it slightly. He decided to take it with him, as it clearly had some kind of affinity to the ring.

There was a cornice pattern around the walls, which we hadn't seen when we first entered, that showed a variety of half creatures being tortured elementally in a repeating pattern on all but the wall with the large door in it. That wall also showed half creatures, but in various states of disease or decay towards death. I did notice something different about one of the stones in the wall behind where we entered, and called Tak over to take a closer look. Tak pressed the unusual stone and he and Silanna just managed to jump back as a spiral stairwell opened beneath them! The mechanism definitely predated this room, as if it couldn't be changed when the room was constructed, and I was sure that it was Gnomish!

We decided to descend, wary of going too far down though. After a few turns we reached a stone door with no locks visible, and we noticed that the stone had got darker as we descended. The stone was surrounded by a gothic arch about five feet tall, but I couldn't focus because I was worried about leaving the stairs open to the room before - I had closed the door we hand entered by, but we should try to conceal this path as well. Tak went back to investigate, and as we waited we heard another tuneless strum before a grinding sound as the stair entrance was concealed again and Tak returned. He now turned his attention to the small door at the foot of the stairs, finding a small niche that a hand might fit into.

I reached in and found a handle that I pulled. Spikes laced with poison sprang out around my hand, but it was a Gnomish design and they stopped short before touching me - the others would have been in trouble. As I pulled, the door swung open towards us to reveal a square room about thirty feet across. It was dark, and no heat sources were visible, so we stepped inside. Although I was comfortable, the others had to stoop as they found the ceiling to be quite low. As we searched around in the dark, Tak found a door opposite where we had entered and a six-pointed star in the centre of the floor, about fifteen feet across and without symbology on its points. The circle in the centre of the star was glistening white, like Brightbane that had lost its power. The walls were cut out of the stone here, not constructed like the room above. There was also a slight depression in the centre of the circle.

Rather than the risk of planar travel, we decided to open the door - there was another Gnomish hand device for doing so. It revealed a short passage that sloped slightly upwards to a larger room that was lit well along all its walls. A translucent wall shimmered between the passage and the room, which looked like another structure that had been built with stones covering the walls. There was a lot of activity inside, and it looked like a dwelling place for orcs. They obviously couldn't see us, though, so the wall must have appeared normal to them. We closed the door while we discussed our options, with our attention instead turning to the star and circle.

I stood in the centre of the circle, focusing on my people, the Ironcloaks, and the peak we were directed towards (the Peak of Lords). Light played across the star until a position, about 11 o'clock from our entry point, started to glow. I vanished from the room and appeared in a void - is it because there wasn't enough energy to make the full transition? I tried to will myself back, and thankfully that worked! Unfortunately, only Silanna was in the room when I reappeared. It seems that Tak had tried to follow, using the ring over the symbol and then stepping into the centre and disappearing. We had to stay together, so we both entered the circle and held hands before focusing on Tak. We shifted again, but this time appeared underwater, quickly quaffing potions to breathe. How did he always manage to find water no matter where he was?!

Tak swam past us quickly, seemingly trying to tell us of a threat, and we were suddenly surrounded by foes! They looked much like the ones we had seen in the hot water before... the ones Tak had told us were pure evil and should be destroyed. We briefly struggled, but found it hard to fight underwater, and when Tak was caught in a net the rest of us were quickly captured too. We were carried to a rough hewn, rocky cave entrance (still underwater) that was roughly circular, and this restricted the numbers around us. If we were going to escape then there wouldn't be a much better place.

I lashed out with my mind, managing to stun my captor and started trying to escape the net that held me. I could see Tak struggling as well, so as I freed myself I stabbed his captor in the back before anyone could react, and it was a killing blow. The other creatures moved to secure the exit, taking Silanna with them, and struck at Tak. He managed to break free, but then I was surrounded by creatures coming from behind and we traded blows. Some glowing snakes shot into me painfully - they had a shaman with them! Tak had his blades out now, and killed one of the foe, and I managed to kill another despite the pain the snakes had caused. Silanna was being carried off, so Tak sped forward to try and head them off. The shaman followed him, leaving just one in melee with me... enough that I couldn't follow (even if I could swim).

Tak reached Silanna, healing her so that she was conscious and able to fight. The water was really restricting both Silanna and me, though, stopping us from fighting effectively, and we both took hits. In contrast, Tak was just as lethal underwater; despite being hit by the glowing snake things that had hurt me, he chased down and killed the caster straight afterwards. I had finally managed to kill my opponent, and those near Silanna started to flee. I was still stranded and sorely wounded, but Tak returned for me, dragging me forward to where Silanna had managed to free herself. He then dragged us both on until we reached an air pocket with a slope that took us out of the water and ended in a door.

My first thought was to try and will ourselves back to the room we had used to travel, but that had no effect. There was a deep noise from the water, and Tak warned that the enemy were approaching, probably reinforced. He ushered us through the door into darkness, then used a metal spike to pin the door closed. I took out my torch, as Silanna's were soaked, and we made our way up a spiral staircase. There were recesses every twenty feet or so with old weapons in, like old staging posts for battle, and a bit farther up there were also unlit torches on the walls. Silanna swapped wet for dry, lighting one to get a brighter light as we continued.

We eventually reached an ironclad door, which was locked, with another cut out to the side with old weapons within. The door was solidly spiked from the other side - we could see some of the metal around the edges. Tak and I tried to deal with the lock, but without any luck. Silanna came to the rescue, though, reading a scroll that caused the spikes to ping out and the lock to click open. There was a shout of alarm from the other side, and we could see a chink of light, before some weight was put against the door. Tak tried to call out for aid, saying that we were fleeing from the evil in the water, and surprisingly he got a response of recognition. They knew Tak here!

The door opened and an elf poked his head around the door, beckoning us forward once he saw Tak. Then it got very confusing. We were at Fontainver, apparently only one day after we had left. It seemed that we had traveled through time as well as space, and Fontainver was just as I remembered seeing - guards everywhere and ready for a fight. Tak went to see his master in the monastery, and we followed as we were both strangers here.