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== Lastar's Retreat == To our left was the Sun god of the Egyptian mythology, [[Ra]], beneath the god was a depiction of the base of [[Lastar]]'s tower; an oriental man was studying books and showing something to a figure resembling [[Bavarik]] but much younger. Opposite was lion woman figure, clearly another god, beneath which was a ruin with a man in a grey cloak kneeling before [[Orcus]], who was holding his wand; [[Orcus]]' left arm was touching his cloak. To our right was Ynyswydrin being killed by [[Orcus]] beneath an evil looking beast-headed man figure. Behind us was an Egyptian woman arching over (bridging) a smaller man beneath. Depicted under this was [[Orcus]] handing over a staff to [[Daudrag]]. On the roof was a lady within what looked like a spinning star. There was a semi-clad female sitting in the centre of the room, surrounded by nasty looking jaguars and pillars around them with torches providing light. All of the room was brightly painted and there was lots of colour, gold and gems. The floor was polished marble, and the whole place reeked of opulence. [[Melai]] reacted first, raising a wall of fire and stepping into the room. [[Morwath]] followed, but I was concerned with [[Hintzu]]'s behaviour, so I went back for him and called on [[Odin]] to strengthen his courage. There was no reaction from the woman to our entry, and it seemed that the vivid colours that seemed so real might actually mask a statue beneath. [[Lanzi]] scanned the room, detecting a hidden door in each wall, and it was possible that with the door closed behind us that the whole room would appear to be sealed. Closer inspection revealed that the doors were visible from close up, but blended in cleverly with the background from a distance. [[Melai]] decided to raise walls of force around the statues as a precaution as we investigated further. Judging from the arrangement of the room, the bridge woman was roughly aligned to [[Odin]], the Sun god to [[Frey]], the lion woman to [[Loki]] and the beast like creature to [[Fenris]]. From the carvings in the previous room it sounded as if the left path was towards a final battle, the right path just bad, so we elecetd to continue straight on. We started moving around the sides of the room, but five mummies suddenly appeared around us! Fortunately I had my hand on [[Odin]]'s holy symbol and quickly called on his power to banish them, destroying them instantly! My triumph was short lived as the statues in the centre of the room started to move and a sense of fear crept over us as the woman looked around. Fortunately it did not deter us. Some of the walls of force were taken down and an intense radience, god like radiance, shone from her and her beauty was stunning. We suspected that this was an avatar! The jaguars lept to attack first. [[Hintzu]] grabbed me, stopping me from uttering a prayer; it seemed that the radiance had affected him more than the rest of us. [[Melai]] raised another wall of force before attacking with Agan, but actually destroyed the woman with the power of her mind before she even landed a blow! [[Morwath]] was mauled by the cats, and [[Lanzi]] came to his aid with a lightning bolt, killing one of his attackers, and then killed another with magic missiles. I call on [[Odin]] to bolster [[Hintzu]]'s courage once more; it seemed to work as he immediately charged to attack, landing a heavy blow that caused it to yowl and back off. [[Melai]] approached from the other side and finished it off with a clean blow to the neck. [[Hintzu]] moved up to a door, checking for traps. [[Melai]] reported that there was still an emanation of evil all around us; she placed her hand on the door and the frame began to glow before sliding open to reveal a passage. Torches sprang to life, revealing a thirty foot long corridor leading to a darkened room beyond. There were four statues in the centre of the room, and we advanced to see more. The nearest was a man over ten foot tall, brown skinned and strong looking. He carried a pole arm of some kind and it was raised as if to strike the floor. To our left was the Sun God, Ra posed as if in combat, bird headed with a large, red stone set in a circlet on his head. The farthest was a lion-headed female whirling around with robes flowing and arms outstretched; the sense of movement was perhaps more than just a good sculpture as there seemed to be some actual movement around her. To the right was the beast-headed humanoid with an embalmed body stretched out at its feet. The beast had a cleaver-like weapon in its hand and was posed in the act of chopping at the body. There was a circle of runes in the centre of the statues, but the walls and ceiling were unmarked. [[Lanzi]] scanned the statues with his gem of seeing and I handed my light gem to [[Hintzu]] to illuminate the room more brightly. There were what looked like clouds hanging around the female figure and they were revolving slowly whilst dripping water onto the floor. Winged creatures flitted through the air around the figure of Ra. [[Melai]] stepped into the room, and almost immediately four mummies stepped straight out of the stone wall opposite us. A blade barrier flashed lethal metal across the corridor we stood in and flame struck down from above onto [[Melai]] and I. Whilst I was putting the flames out, [[Melai]] ran forward to engage the mummies. [[Hintzu]] initially tried loosing arrows, but they had no effect on the undead. [[Lanzi]] raised mirror images to protect himself, which was wise because I was unable to force them back by calling on [[Odin]]. Next our movement was hampered by a wall of thorns, allowing one mummy to close with me; when it touched me I was drained of health and collapsed, passing out. [[Lanzi]] launched magic missles, hitting one of the things. [[Hintzu]] sent a sheet of flame from his mouth, burning a couple of the mummies, but also setting fire to the thorns! [[Melai]] cut one down and sliced at another, fighting hard to keep them back. [[Hintzu]], probably feeling guilty, dragged me out of the fire but not before my cloak had been destroyed and a ring was left behind, snagging on the thorns as he dragged me. [[Lanzi]], sensibly, dispelled the magic in the area, clearing the thorns, fire and blades. More was to follow, though, as one of the mummies spewed a great cloud of insects that filled the entire area with biting creatures, and four skeletons joined the fray from nowhere. The skeletons hurled fire at [[Melai]] and attacked her. [[Morwath]] decided that a tactical retreat to escape the insects was the wisest course of action. [[Melai]] was still fighting hard, killing another mummy and a skeleton. [[Lanzi]], unable to use dweomer due to the insects, decided to join the fight; he grabbed a torch from the wall and ran forward, landing a perfect strike on a mummy's back with great form, but doing no damage as the thing was immune to the normal fire. Both were burnt in return fire, but [[Melai]] killed another two of the skeletons as [[Hintzu]] also joined the close melee, downing the last skeleton. The last mummy disappeared, although we were still wary of danger. [[Melai]] healed herself as [[Hintzu]] rested, and then they started dousing the mummies in oil to burn their remains. [[Morwath]] returned with a bubble of protection around him that repelled the insects, being quickly joined by Eudora. [[Lanzi]] used his mind to kill an area of insects, then raised a wind wall in the short time he was able to chant. He spotted the last mummy, just as the wall behind him was turned to mud. Luckily he was unaffected by the deluge and [[Melai]] stepped up to kill it; it may have just come back to life! [[Lanzi]] decided that the bodies needed burning, so summoned a huge fire elemental. Unfortunately he did not share his plan, and the elemental appeared right in front of [[Melai]]! [[Morwath]], who still had some blades between him and us, took a potion and turned into a gaseous form, allowing him to pass safely but slowly. [[Melai]], with a cool head, joined [[Lanzi]] instead of attacking immediately, encountering two mummies as she did so; it was not clear whether they had recovered from wounds or just joined the fight, but one disappeared at the sight of her. [[Morwath]] cleared the area of blades, but was still gaseous and could only wait for the effects to wear off. Flames engulfed [[Lanzi]] from above, but he was unaffected by them. [[Melai]] engaged the one mummy she could see and killed it quickly. The fire elemental engulfed its body, destroying it, and went on to discover another, which it also destroyed. [[Hintzu]] kicked the charred remains just to be sure. Finally, the insects disappeared, and [[Hintzu]] created a glimmering in the air to see whether there were any invisible foes in the area, but without finding any. [[Melai]] took a moment to heal herself as [[Lanzi]] dropped the wind wall he was using to deflect insects. There was no sign of any threat, but we were nervous due to the missing mummies. The runes on the floor read: <center><i> A cloud is my mother,<br> The wind is my father,<br> My son is the cool stream,<br> And my daughter's the fruit of the land.<br> A rainbow is my bed,<br> The earth my final resting place,<br> And I am the torment of man. </i></center> The answer appeared to be "rain", which we thought might link to the statue with rain around it. [[Hintzu]], though, had noticed my condition; he leant close, commented on my bad breath, but realised that I was still alive, just unconscious (although my armour had helped my recovery). [[Lanzi]] came to assist, using keotones to revive me, which allowed me to heal myself and [[Hintzu]] while we were temporarily safe. [[Melai]], meanwhile, had been working on the riddle and formed a channel between the pool of water around the female statue and the tiller of the earth opposite. Water flowed over to the earth, and as it reached it the statue moved, striking the ground with enough force to move the stone. Sprouts of a plant poked out of the earth that was revealed. [[Lanzi]] dispelled the blade barrier and [[Morwath]]'s gaseous form so that we were all back together. The plant that had been revealed was growing at a rapid rate, and figs were appearing. [[Lanzi]] shone his headband light through the water surrounding the wet statue, causing a small rainbow to form. As it did so, the statue whirled around and Ra's gem erupted with light, causing a large rainbow to form across the room. I picked several figs and placed them within the remains of the body that had been cut up. After a moment a crack of sound marked a movement in the floor and it slowly revealed spiral stairs leading down. We descended into a familiar looking small room with a single door and poetry on the floor that matched with that we had seen previously, adding to the [[MalekPoem|epic poem]]. As usual, the verse sparked some debate, and I was to note down for future reference that a ninety degree shift in the elemental influences seemed to occur between pantheons of each religion; the order of these shifts was chronological, starting with the Egyptian, then Greek, the Norse and finally the Oriental. [[Melai]] took the lead once more and opened the single door to reveal a highly decorated room beyond. The gods depicted were Egyptian again, with an earth tiller to our left, Ra opposite, the lionness woman to our right and a bestial creature behind us. Below the earth tiller were two dwarves talking to each other, one of whom was [[Kalasar]] and he was holding out [[Lastar]]'s staff. The symbol of the house of Findor was on the base of the wall between them. Below the lionness woman was a human resembling [[Bavarik]] in ceremonial garb with a gorgeous woman on his arm and courtiers kneeling around him in what was recognisable as the church in [[Sutur]]. Behind us was a depiction of [[Frastor]]'s discovery of the gem shard and his use of it to save [[Minas Olga]], shown in panels of a time sequence. The last panel showed beams of blue light coming from the gem. The room itself was full of undead surrounding a pit fiend or balrog winged creature. A fireball was hurled at us, but [[Melai]] absorbed it; this was followed by a cold blast and a meteor swarm! The large beast disappeared as we were checked by the force of the attack. I called on [[Odin]] to banish as many as possible, and a good portion of the undead were destroyed by his power. [[Morwath]] sent lightning into the room, followed by a fireball from [[Lanzi]] and another (slightly smaller) one from [[Hintzu]]; between them they killed all the remaining visible foes. I advanced into the apparently vacant room, with [[Hintzu]] and the fire elemental beside me. [[Melai]] created a wall of force around us, sectioning off half of the room, but then dropped ice on our heads! Just as we were wondering whether her mind was afflicted, [[Lanzi]] warned of undead all around us and summoned a massive hand to guard himself. It was as if madness had taken them, but I trusted my friends and called on [[Odin]] to give me true sight so that I might see things as they really were. Creatures had appeared behind us, and both [[Hintzu]] and [[Morwath]] were immediately engaged in melee. The winged beast was indeed still here, and wrapped [[Melai]] in its tail, and I tried to aid her; I landed a good hit but I could not banish the creature. [[Melai]] was far from helpless, though, as her sword hand was still free, and she thrust Agan into the heart of the beast, killing it in one blow. [[Hintzu]] killed his opponent and [[Lanzi]] raised a wall of fire to keep any further creatures at bay. [[Melai]], now free, stepped to [[Morwath]]'s aid and slew one foe as [[Hintzu]] finished another. Although [[Lanzi]] was firing magic missiles seemingly at random into the room, the rest of us could not see any more danger. We calmed him, and whatever had affected his mind seemed to have ended so we were united once more. Dropping the dweomer still blazing in the room, we were free to read some runes that were beneath the figures around us, with [[Morwath]] interpreting. To our right it read "Should an archmage return, Sutur shall be theirs". To our rear it read "No artifacts should be traded for power". To our left it read "Poke your fingers in my eyes, And I will open wide my jaws, Linen cloth quills or paper, My greedy lust devours them all". This was a 2nd Age room, and the last riddle could be answered by "scissors". However, some influence on minds still seemed to be apparent. [[Melai]] was arguing strongly that we should not proceed further into the room, and remained at the threshold holding [[Hintzu]] back. [[Lanzi]] used the power of his mind to jump into the room, staying close to the fire elemental and I. [[Melai]], though, was still unwilling to move forward and raised a wall of force that divided the group. [[Hintzu]] didn't realise this, though, and loped forward at his usual fast jog only to bash into the invisible barrier, bloodying his nose. [[Morwath]] spoke soothingly to her and finally convinced her to drop the wall just to let him speak the answer to the riddle near to the wall, but with no effect. After some discussion we realised that the one depiction of a bond being broken was the [[Frastor]] tale, so the physical act of placing material in a mouth was the key to the riddle. [[Lanzi]] produced a small piece of linen that he placed into the mouth, which came alive and chewed at the scrap. A small door opened between the scenes in the wall revealing a narrow flight of stairs leading down; gnome sized, perhaps? Again we found a small room with more [[MalekPoem|poetry]] and a riddle marked on a small door. The riddle read "what belongs to you but others often use it more that you do?" After some thought we decided that the answer was your name. We each spoke our own name in turn to enter the door, although the fire elemental did not do so well at this task, so [[Lanzi]] dispelled it! We continued down a narrow passage until we reached another door. The air had grown thick and stale, but warm. Beyond this door was a large room with six pillars supporting the ceiling. Four sarcophagi were spaced around the room, and two large fire pits gave flickering light to the centre of the room. Braziers stood around a pentagram at one end near to a couple of bowls of water. The image of Ra was to our left, the lionness woman ahead, the beastman to our right and the earth tiller behind us. It appeared at that time as if the walls were blank, but behind us was the last part of the [[MalekPoem|poem]] we had been following as we descended. The room was, though, full of undead and this focused our attention. The sight was slightly disconcerting as the floor was highly polished and looking down was like peering into the night sky, so both the foe and ourselves appeared to be floating within the heavens as we fought. To add to this spectacle, the roof above us appeared as a blue sky with clouds and the day and night imagery was intense. The pentagram was unlike those we had seen before, having two planes of symbols with one circle rising out of the floor as well as appearing to sink within it. Stood at the centre of the room, surrounded by the undead was a large jackel-headed warrior with black skin that looked powerful. I attempted to call on [[Odin]]'s power to turn the undead, but it did not seem to work here and we suspected that we were no longer on the Prime so we might be far removed from his help. A blade barrier erupted around us in the corridor; it did not affect me, thankfully, and both [[Melai]] and [[Hintzu]] quickly dodged forwards to escape it. [[Morwath]] was in the centre and could not reach safety, but although he fell as the blades cut through him, he was able to let off one last lightning bolt at the foe. I didn't realise at the time, but Si Ti Qa was also caught by the blades and killed, which might explain why [[Lanzi]] was caught by a skeleton creature and killed before he could retaliate. Mummies began to emerge from the sarcophagi as Eudora loosed a lightning bolt of her own, supporting [[Melai]]'s attacks; Agan quickly cut down a skeleton and a mummy as she fought her way to the jackel warrior. She landed a blow, enraging it, and was immediately struck by a column of flame that distracted her just enough for the creature to land a powerful blow, severely wounding her. I tried to reverse time to undo the actions of this powerful foe, but it was not enough to save those caught in the blade barrier. Instead I used my mace to resurrect [[Lanzi]], but then [[Melai]] fell before the blows of the jackel warrior. Agan used its powers to heal her, but she was now prone at the feet of the enemy. [[Lanzi]] struck quickly with a powerful meteor strike, but [[Melai]] was forced to absorb it to protect Eudora and herself. Meanwhile I backed into the blades (which still did not affect me) to keep the foe from surrounding me and put on my crown, as I would need its powers. [[Lanzi]] raised a wall of fire as [[Melai]] was hit once more and badly hurt; it seemed that the life was being drained by some dark power and it was not the blows themselves that were so damaging. I raised a wall of positive energy and dispelled the blades so that my friends could join me. [[Melai]] was still fighting and took down another mummy, whilst [[Lanzi]] teleported to the far side of the room before breathing fire at the backs of the foe. Another mummy and the jackel figure (Anubis' image) were consumed in the flames, and that freed [[Melai]] to finish the last of those attacking her. However, as she struck the final killing blow she was struck herself and fell once more. Fire erupted around both [[Lanzi]] and I, hurting us both, but we were able to fight on. I used steam breath from my crown to kill a nearby foe and then moved to [[Morwath]]'s side. [[Hintzu]] sprinted through the fire, unaffected, and leapt into combat with a cry, felling a surprised foe with a strong blow as he landed lightly on the other side. He then called down fire on a mummy in front of him, but it disappeared from view. [[Lanzi]] tried to tend to [[Melai]]'s wounds, but she was too far gone for his skill. Suddenly a swarm of insects filled the room, cutting visibility to nothings. [[Lanzi]] began dragging [[Melai]] towards the entrance, dropping the wall of fire and by chance I joined up with them. [[Morwath]] had tried to join us, but was exhausted and unable to move for the moment, and [[Hintzu]] (who had also thought to return to the entrance) found him and carried him beyond the reach of the insect swarm. He called up a strong wind to drive the insects back a little way. I threw a positive energy ball from my crown into the room as I backed into the corridor, wary of danger. [[Hintzu]] returned to the room, joining me, and called for us to shield our eyes as he summoned pyrotechnics. We were vulnerable again, though, being bunched up and a blade barrier and fireball hit us in quick succession. Again I was unaffected, as was [[Lanzi]], but [[Hintzu]] and Eudora were hurt; the little creature decided to sod off very quickly before coming to more harm! [[Morwath]] was resting, and drank a potion to aid his recuperation. A wall of thorns appeared in the corridor next, trapping [[Hintzu]] but again I was unaffected [[Odin]] was still with us after all. We could see a mummy now, and [[Lanzi]] called down flames on it but without effect. [[Hintzu]] might have been trapped, but his rings still held power and he struck with a fireball, killing the mummy and another creature. I called up a blade barrier of my own and had my vengence as many were sliced apart. Just under half a dozen still remained, though. [[Lanzi]] started to launch magic missiles, with some of them having an effect. [[Morwath]] had recovered and was returning, but found that there were caltrops on the floor impeding his progress. I was drained of my health by some foul power again, and found a mummy had appeared beside me. [[Lanzi]] threw a fireball, killing all but two, but unfortunately one of those was the mummy that attacked me. I swung my mace at it, landing a solid blow, and [[Odin]] guided my hand as the evil creature was blasted apart by his divine power. [[Hintzu]] quickly finished off the last one, leaving the room clear at last. I called for [[Lanzi]] to bring me [[Melai]]'s body and removed some of my armour; placing it on her, I knew it would regenerate her body enough to heal her. [[Morwath]] joined me and between us we restored her to health after a short time, and I donned armour again. [[Lanzi]] studied the pentagram closely, as it was unique; in addition to the pentagram on the floor, a moveable metal device rose from the floor in a semi-circle, effectively making intersecting circles in three dimensions. As this was [[Lastar]]'s den, we suspected that we were out of time and in another dimension once more, probably Limbo. We would be able to rest and recuperate before returning to the Prime, and this strange device, so [[Lanzi]] told us, should allow us to return at the right time. [[Lanzi]] needed assistance in calling another familiar, as Si-Ti-Qa had been lost in the fight. It took much dweomer before he was satisfied that a suitable creature responded to his call, but he would not be deterred. We were also blessed with visions whilst we rested, which only encouraged us to make our way to [[Sutur]] as planned and confront [[Geurin]]. We also noticed that [[Morgul]] and [[Balem]] were missing from the symbology on the pentagram, which suggested that it was at least partly designed by gnomes.
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