Editing Chronicle - Malek (section)

== Hidden Entrance ==

We puzzled over a poem we found in [[Malek]], hoping that it would give us some direction. It suggested that we would have to travel to the west of [[Malek]] at dusk in order to locate the entrance... but as we deciphered more we realised that the directions were instructing the reader on how to take the [[Sarnim Stone]] to [[Hel]], which was not something we wanted to do!

Instead we turned to our trusted ally, [[Gwendolyn]], for guidance on whether we could destroy the gate in [[Sutur]]. Using [[Lanzi]]'s dweomer we screened our discussion in the palantir and held a useful conversation. She had travelled to [[Zundar]] with the intention of destroying a gate herself, and had succeeded. She confirmed that the source was still available and hidden. Apparently the way to destroy a gate was to destroy the corresponding codicil page in its presence. [[Cillian]] had the codicial pages that related to creating and controlling gates. She had left her ring in [[Sutur]], well hidden, and she was very interested to hear that we had found and used the hearth. However, she could not give any details about the hidden route between [[Sutur]] and [[Malek]], except to confirm that there was one.

[[Morwath]] had been to [[Malek]] before, following a hidden route from the side of the volcano. Unfortunately he was blindfolded whilst inside, but he might be able to take us to the entrance. We flew, whilst invisible, to the right area but the darkness made it difficult to narrow down the search! The sensible thing to do was lay low until morning... and for once we did the sensible thing!

After sheltering until morning, [[Morwath]] was able to narrow down the search area further and eventually locate the place where he was taken to enter the mountain. There was a stone door in the rock, and [[Lanzi]] used his dweomer to open it. I provided a light, which revealed a passageway leading straight into the earth. At the end of the, relatively short, passage there were stairs leading up. We started to climb, but after a while began to wonder why we had not emerged into the open! Descending again, it did not take us long to reach the passage again - something was wrong!

It didn't take long for us to realise that the staircase was an illusion; the real passage continued on to a door. [[Hinztu]] warned us that there was a trap in the floor before the door, and it would fall away if stepped on. He was able to disable the trap, but climbed over just in case to open the door. There was a small, dusty room with a domed ceiling beyond the door.

We started making our way into the room, but as [[Morwath]] joined us a portcullis fell in the passage, blocking it. At the same time the passage shifted behind us, now bending to the right as we looked at it. [[Hintzu]] climbed around to lift the portcullis, but as he did so the floor gave way and he ended up hanging over a long drop! He was able to recover quickly, though, and [[Lanzi]] flew across to start melting the metal bars, although this was to take some time.

Suddenly, [[Milai]] screamed and started battering the floor of the room with Agan, but we could not see any foe. [[Hintzu]] quickly climbed back to the room, and joined in battering the floor, even though he could not see a target. Then, [[Milai]] disappeared! She seemed to be swallowed by the floor, but there was no trace of any opening. [[Hintzu]] kept attacking where she had been standing. I called on [[Odin]] to grant me true sight, hoping to see through any illusions, and I could see nothing out of the ordinary; but [[Milai]] had still gone! [[Lanzi]] finished cutting the bars, giving us an exit, but [[Hintzu]] kept stabbing at the floor, shouting out "return our Queen!"

[[Morwath]] joined [[Hintzu]], asking him questions about the threat and whether he had seen anything. Then I was suddenly swallowed by a creature! It had emerged from the stone beneath me and tentacles latched onto me, dragging me into its maw in seconds. [[Milai]], meanwhile, had used dweomer to escape from the creature that had her, and created a wall of force across the pitfall as a safe place to stand without rock beneath her. [[Morwath]] was also attacked, although not swallowed, and [[Hintzu]] send sheets of flames from his hand towards the floor, with no visible effect.

[[Morwath]] joined [[Milai]] and turned the stone floor of the room into mud, which flowed quickly into the pit beneath him. I was transported back to the party by someone's dweomer, for which I was grateful, although I had lost some equipment that had been crushed beyond use. We started to run along the new corridor, as the mudslide had made the area unstable. Both [[Milai]] and [[Morwath]] were attacked from the walls as we ran, and I used my mace to turn part of the creature that had attacked [[Morwath]] into flesh; this made it clearly visible, and it had simply been camoflage that had hidden the creatures thus far. [[Hintzu]] picked [[Milai]] up and moved her out of harms way, but was then swallowed himself - a great sacrifice!

I pulled the tentacles that had gripped [[Morwath]], tearing them away from him and allowing him to move freely. [[Lanzi]], now that he had a clear target, sent magic missiles into the creature nearest us, as [[Milai]] pulled out a wand that changed into a large sword and started attacking the creature that had taken [[Hintzu]]. Fortunately she killed it quickly and was able to pull [[Hintzu]] free before he suffered too much damage. I was swallowed a second time! [[Lanzi]]'s magic missles and [[Morwath]]'s strike, though, killed the beast and allowed me to pull myself out.

[[Milai]] pulled [[Hintzu]] forward until they reached a T-junction and the rest of us, with a pause for [[Lanzi]] to mirror image, followed at pace. [[Milai]] complained of being pricked, but [[Hintzu]] was not responsible! He tried using dweomer to highlight any threat with fairy fire, but to no avail. [[Lanzi]] and [[Morwath]] protected themselves from evil, but it was more likely that some kind of insect threatened us.

[[Lanzi]] created thick strands of web, covering most of the T-junction and almost trapping [[Hintzu]], who had to leap free. We thought he was just being random again, but something was pulling at the web. [[Milai]] scattered some glitterdust in the area, revealing a large insect trapped in the web; with a target at last, [[Hintzu]] quickly dispatched it and [[Lanzi]] dropped the web, moving to join us.

Realising that we could have no confidence that the T-junction was real, and suspecting more traps, I spent some time praying to [[Odin]] for guidance, asking him to help me find the room in [[Malek]] in which [[Morwath]] met [[Gwendolyn]] and discussed the ownership of [[Findor]]'s crown.

My prayer was answered, and our surroundings shifted once again. The passage behind us had changed, but I now knew that we were going the right way. We moved forward, but were beset by more insects, and unable to see them until they struck. [[Milai]] threw her net up towards the ceiling, trapping two. [[Milai]] quickly killed one, and [[Hintzu]] another. From the buzzing we could tell that there was at least one more, but [[Hintzu]] used his uncanny speed to swat it out of the air as it attacked. Finally all was quiet; they were all dead. [[Milai]] retrieved her net and healed herself before we moved again.

(Note: I think that Lanzi got to my notes at some point because there was a carefully inserted note stating that his dweomer yet again proved to be the decisive advantage in our combat. Even if it were true, I wouldn't want to inflate his ego any more than necessary!)

We proceeded down the corridor, emerging into a medium sized room mostly filled by an elipse shaped pool of water. There was water running down the walls and stalagtites on the ceiling with matching stalagmites below; the water was flowing down into the pool and away from us. [[Odin]]'s guidance told me that we needed to continue below the water, and the pool had some depth to it.

Reluctantly, I called on [[Odin]] to allow me to breathe underwater and move freely before jumping in and sinking rapidly to the bottom. There was a large hole in the far wall beneath the waterline, and I could vaguely make out movement within. [[Hintzu]] joined me, bombing into the middle of the pool and creating a huge splash... just in case the thing ahead of us hadn't noticed we were there!

We made our way slowly forward, approaching the hole which was about 15 feet across. [[Milai]], who had entered the water noiselessly, swam past us and readied herself for battle; she had sensed evil. A hydra (or so it appeared) emerged from the hole, lunging at [[Milai]], but she was ready for it and hacked a head off. Unfortunately she could not avoid them all and took some damage from its multiple attacks.

Eudora left the water at speed, and both [[Lanzi]] and [[Hintzu]] were faffing on the surface, but [[Morwath]] had joined me in the water a little way back from [[Milai]]. I protected myself from the icy cold; the water was freezing and the cold was beginning to seep into my joints. [[Milai]] was doing well, taking off another couple of heads, but then suffered another attack and was turned to stone by some foul poison! Her body rapidly sunk to the bottom, and [[Morwath]] quickly created a lighting ball to engulf the creature, killing two more heads and stunning a couple more.

A sleek shape darted past us to attack; it was a shark! Actually it was [[Lanzi]], who had transformed into a shark! His shark attack was lightning fast and he bit another head off. [[Morwath]] sent more lightning in towards the creature, causing all the remaining heads to droop as if stunned, but also catching [[Lanzi]] in the blast. I called on [[Odin]] to turn back time for the creature's actions, bringing [[Milai]] back to flesh but without undoing the damage the hydra had received. We could see at least two of the heads beginning to re-grow, and [[Hintzu]] chopped another one off. I threw some lightning in as well, stopping the regeneration, but again catching [[Lanzi]] in the blast. [[Milai]] disintegrated the remains, leaving bits of severed hydra floating in the water around us. [[Lanzi]], a bit miffed at being shocked twice, swam up to me looking menacing, so I quickly healed him!