Editing Chronicle - The Rescue of Yagitamo

== To Limbo ==

Being back on the plains of Golgorath, a weaker mind might have thought we had dreamed our trip to Asgard, but there were clear signs that things had changed since we left. Burn marks showed where the dragolich, Rantor, had scorched the earth, and a number of bodies were visible. We sent a message to Si-Lung regarding Ollyhydra's dislike of Milai, suspecting that Inwe had blamed Milai for the acts of the Drow and wanting to explain that we were not her enemy. We then set off on another journey through the planes, starting once more with Asgard, as that was close to Limbo.

I took us there, this time leaving Aras and Bavarik to tell their tales of the Gods amongst their people, and Lanzi set about using his map and compass to locate a gate to Limbo. We first entered onto the Astral and then started moving rapidly, following Lanzi's lead. We were to be interrupted, though, as we came across some dragon-like beasts with Gith mounted upon them; they seemed to be engaging something on the far side of their number, but the rearmost quickly turned their attention to us.

There was a mental assault on Milai and Lanzi, as four of the winged creatures, each with two Gith upon them, approached at speed. I let off a fireball from the mace, as Milai absorbed dweomer that came back at us. Magic missiles got through, but failed to hurt me. What was painful, though, was the creatures' fiery breath, and it was clear that we would have to target them before the Gith. Milai hasted herself and attacked, slaying one of the creatures by hacking at its head until it was separated from the neck. The body continued some way before the Gith managed to separate themselves and head back towards us. Lanzi sent a familiar ray at another of them, and to everyone's surprise he successfully disintegrated the beast, leaving two Gith floating in a cloud of dust. Just to make sure his reputation did not suffer, he also created mirror images to protect himself.

Hintzu drew his Daikyu, but as he loosed his first arrow he ended up tumbling backwards in a circle, unable to brace himself in this place. He stopped himself with the power of his mind, but the arrow flew wildly over the target. Milai caused an explosion of ice around another creature, whilst engaging the Gith in melee. More breath weapons scorched us, causing great pain, Lanzi lost a few images, and Hintzu was stabbed by a poisonous tail (although he was immune to the poison). Lanzi ordered a strange stone to float around his head, then conjured a column of flame, killing another of the creatures and both its riders. Hintzu wisely switched to his Lajatang and landed solid blows on the flying creature nearest to us, and I followed up with a massive hammer blow, caving its head in and knocking it flying.

Milai killed the two Gith she was fighting, and then also ordered a stone to fly around her head (apparently these were a defence against mental assault). Another flying creature swooped to attack her, but she decapitated it as it passed, and dropped an ice attack on the Gith. There was but one flying creature left alive, but I suffered its breath yet again and was badly burned; the shield on my back provided some protection but was destroyed in the heat. Lanzi fought fire with fire, hurling a fireball that killed the creature and Hintzu and I engaged in melee with the Gith. I used the mace to heal my substantial wounds, as Hintzu killed one of the Gith. Milai finished the two she had been fighting, then turned and felled the last with a surprise blow from behind.

As the last of them fell, a human appeared (apparently he was the one that had initially drawn the attention of the Gith) and greeted us. He introduced himself as "Felanor", and instantly bowed to Lanzi, telling of his great regard for his legendary exploits and achievements - as if Lanzi needed a boost to his ego. He served Freya, and knew of our quest to aid Perion. He was quick to talk about himself, and we soon learned that he was Mercantire's son! He sought his father in Morgrad, and was well versed in planar travel, preferring to avoid fights where possible. A large, white, glowing pegasus creature appeared next to him, radiant, and knelt before Lanzi, praising him in the common tongue (not another one). He also conversed with us about our quest, being something of a companion of Felanor's. He regretted that he could not accompany his friend to Morgrad, and Felanor removed a bridle from him and said farewell before the creature once again disappeared.

Felanor seemed agreeable to our quest to return Merc to Asgard, and welcomed likeminded company, so we continued our journey together. Eventually we came across a large, shiny black well and could look through it into the chaos of Limbo. Lanzi attempted to direct the gate at the home of the Gnomes, and the viewpoint shifted; we could just about make out the place we were looking for some way in the distance. Lanzi slowly moved the gate closer to our destination, but as we had anticipated this approach was detected and the gate began to close. We quickly stepped through, and I emerged into a bubble of water, quickly making a one-word prayer that created a pocket of air, enabling me to breathe!

Felanor seemed completely unaffected by the chaos swirling around in Limbo, although that chaos was beginning to settle down a little as our minds interacted with the form of the plane. He offered to go and ask the Gnomes for assistance, and happily set off in their direction, surrounded by his own personal bubble of air. Lanzi concentrated on bringing some nearby rocks over for us to stand on, and Milai created a pocket of Prime material so that we would be comfortable in the mean time. We eventually set off after Felanor, although much more slowly.

Gnome guards in bright shiny armour greeted Felanor as he approached the gates, and it was clear that he had been here before. He noted that the White Council were (slowly) on their way over and entered their halls. Light was created for the benefit of us mere humans, highlighting a hall that appeared bigger on the inside than the outside, with a vaulted blue ceiling as if on a sunny day on the Prime. Gnomes caused tables and chairs to move into position for us with their minds, so that we might seat ourselves comfortably. As we finally reached the edge of the Gnomes' domain they created stairs for us to easily alight, and invited us in with bows. Felanor was already eating hungrily, and I was happy to join him for an excellent meal.

A younger looking Gnome, with a half grown beard and dressed in red finery, who was clearly a leader here introduced himself as Graftak (a descendant of Ichshoos). He explained that most of his people were away on the Prime, fighting for Rodrus. He also confirmed that Perion had been through these halls recently. He was a little upset that he had been left to defend their home when his kin faced mortal peril fighting the "greatest fight in history" against the enemy forces from the forgotten lands. None of his kin, other than those gathered here, were left on the planes; all were on the Prime at Morgul to prepare for this fight.

Milai was concerned that our friend, Ichshoos, should face mortal peril without our support. Hintzu, who knew that Odin's quest took him on a different path anyway, stepped forward and volunteered to go to his side and ensure victory in the fight to come; this victory had been foretold in visions, but he would protect Ichshoos during the battle. Whilst we rested, Lanzi took the opportunity to use dweomer to summon a familiar, hoping that the promises of the Gods would be upheld. Sure enough (he should have had faith), Moya Moya was returned to him and glad to be reunited.

== Frasgrad - Drow Fortress of Ash ==

We then set about the task of continuing our journey to find Yagitamo. I asked for a large bowl of water, which I blessed and then called on Odin's power to enable me to scry through this font. I sought Perion, knowing that our visions put them together and that he should not be screened in any way. I saw him on a cliff edge, filthy with ash, cold, wrapped in a cloak on a narrow path. Looking closer, I saw that his cloak was wrapped around another that he was trying to keep warm, as a flash of lightning highlighted him more clearly. The light also revealed  a few feline predators ahead of him, and he saw them too. He placed another cloak over Yagitamo (for it was he) and readied his sword. Lanzi quickly used dweomer to send a message to him, asking him to find a place of safety as we were on our way to his location.

We travelled to the Astral with the assistance of the Gnomes, and from there to the Ethereal with Lanzi's guidance. He then sought out a gate to the Plane of Ash, and surprisingly we reached it without meeting any foes. Milai went first, creating a pocket of Prime material again so that we could safely enter. Lanzi and I landed heavily but were safe, but there was no sign of Felanor. I activated the light on my crown, and held it outside the pocket Milai had created, hoping that he was not far from us, and shortly afterwards he stepped inside, again not peturbed by the plane's choking ash cloud.

Having already scryed the place we were travelling to, and now being on the same plane, we prepared for our final step. I called on Odin to help us endure the bitter cold in this place, and Lanzi protected us with stoneskin. I then opened a gate to the ledge where we had last seen Perion, as usual leaving Milai to make the decision on whether to step through or not. She stepped onto the rocky ledge, and we quickly followed. Ash covered the rocks we stood on, and there was a clear trail where something had been dragged away to our left, which we followed.

It was dark and cold, so we could not see much more than the cliff that we walked along, which rose out of sight to one side and fell away to the other. Suddenly Milai called out a warning as she and Lanzi came under mental assault. Metal javelins (or something similar) suddenly stuck into the rock just beside and ahead of Milai, and I found myself suddenly surrounded by Lanzis as he mirror imaged in defence. I chanted a prayer to Odin instinctively, as Lanzi cast fly and tried looking around with his gem of seeing. Milai flew up and forwards away from us, and we heard sounds of a collision and a fight from the direction she had moved. I called a light into place above us, showing some more of the rock face, but still no foe could be seen from the path. Now Lanzi flew off to the side, as Felanor muttered a prayer of his own. I tried to detect evil, searching around, but again found nothing. Milai had been grabbed by something, but broke free and killed it with Agan; she had no idea, though, what the thing had been.

Lanzi had detected an active mind nearby, and used his will to dominate it. I caught sight of a tentacled floating creature as it made a snatch at me from behind, but it quickly moved back into darkness. I summoned some starlight to provide a bit more visibility on the path, as Lanzi launched magic missiles at the creature he had located, killing it. Felanor also created some light, just in time to see the creature return and wrap tentacles around me, lifting me slightly from the path; in response he loosed some arrows into the thing. I used my crown to send a bolt of lightning into the thing at point blank range, and then followed up with a swing of my mace, killing it and depositing us both heavily on the path below.

Our actions seemed to have some effect, as there were no further attacks, and we regrouped on the path before continuing to follow the trail. The trail eventually passed into a fissure in the rock face, like the one in Milai's visions, but we were attacked before we could investigate further. Grey striped felines jumped at us, one from inside the fissure and one from the rocks above. I was caught by surprise and swiped with claws, and Felanor legged it back up the path! Lanzi summoned a massive fist that started to punch one of the cats, stunning it with a mighty blow. Milai killed the other creature, and then returned to dispatch the other. With the immediate danger over, we started to retrace our steps, looking for Felanor.

As we traversed the ledge once more, the rock opened up beneath me and a large jaw grabbed at my leg. The creature was one with the stone, and I remembered facing similar foes once before, knowing them to be minor earth elementals of sorts. Quickly I called on the mace to turn the rock beneath me to flesh and hit at it, freeing my leg. Lanzi used his fist once more, striking at another creature that had attacked him, and Milai aided with magic missiles. Lanzi lost an image in the attack, but Milai engaged the creature with Agan and finished it. Lanzi moved his fist over to aid me, and I used the mace once more to turn it to flesh (the thing was transforming back into stone before my eyes), and finished it with a final blow.

We continued to follow Felanor's tracks, which were clear in the ash, but had to halt when they disappeared over the edge, leading into the void beyond... we had no way of following now. An ominous swishing sound, like wings on some large beast, could be heard in the silence. We would be endangering ourselves, and probably wasting our time, venturing into the ash clouds, so I sent a helping hand to seek out Felanor and guide him back to me. We then retraced our route to the fissure and, upon entering, found another dead cat inside - Perion had almost certainly been this way, but was he entering or leaving?

The floor sloped gently down into the darkness, and we followed with my crown providing some light. The fissure narrowed as we progressed, eventually being only a foot wide and forcing us to step sideways. Milai had sensed something large moving outside the fissure, and urged us forward fearing that the sounds we had heard were a dragon on the hunt. Her memory of her imprisonment still haunted her, and she bashed into several of Lanzi's images (causing them to disappear) in her urgency to get away from the perceived threat. I eventually came to a shaft leading straight down, forcing us to stop. I laid down, to see as far as I could, but could not make out the bottom. Side shafts appeared to lead away from this shaft at random intervals, all looking naturally formed.

As we debated whether Perion would have gone this way or had actually left the cave and gone elsewhere, a voice called in a hoarse whisper from below - it sounded like Perion! I bade him show his face, still wary of a trap, and he poked his head from a nearby opening below us. Content that it was worth risking, we made our way down to where we had seen him, following a short entrance into a slightly larger cave with no other exits. Yagitamo was there, but in need of help. The cold clearly affected him, as he was shivering, and I started with Odin's blessing to shield him from the worst of the temperature. I spent some time healing him, and Lanzi helped with a healing draft, but he was still not himself. Remembering what the Drow had done to Perion, draining his life force, I decided to call on Odin to restore his essence; I first drank deeply of a potion to avert some of the aging effects that such a prayer would involve, and actually became much younger than I expected! Now a young man again, I did what I could for Yagitamo, taking a few minutes to do so properly.

As I worked, Lanzi penned a letter to Yishmay, knowing that we would have to send Yagitamo but remain here to continue our quest. Odin was with us, and Yagitamo regained strength and was able to thank us properly for our aid, and that of Perion. Lanzi spoke to him of his betrothal to Yishmay, his daughter, which I thought he took quite well. Milai used powerful dweomer to restore even more of his strength before we prepared to send him back to the Prime with Perion. We explaine to Perion that we planned to send them to the Oldheart, a place of strength for the forces of good, and also what had happened in the north in his absence. Lanzi gave him the letter to be delivered, and I sent them to the Prime and (I hoped) to safety.

Milai then used Agan to try and detect any other parts of the holy avenger sword, picking up faint echoes of Merc's sword from somewhere nearby. She was interrupted by the sound of footsteps from above, and Lanzi rashly called out "who's there!" Fortunately it was Felanor, having recovered his wits and found us. Milai returned to the fissure and used dweomer to enable him to fly, and at last we were together. We explained what had transpired, and our plan now to seek out Merc (or at least his sword). Lanzi used stoneskin on us for protection and I set a Wyvern watch on the entrance before Lanzi sealed it up with rock. We would rest before we ventured further.

After a time of meditation and rest, I communed with Odin just to assure us that the sword we sought was on the same plane, and therefore within reach, which it was. Lanzi used some powerful dweomer so that I would temporarily know the location of the sword. I did not see much, but it was worn on the back of a Drow - the hilt looked familiar to me - and he sat astride a dragon! We made sure that we were all able to fly and I opened a gate to the location anyway; this would be a difficult battle for sure. Emerging a short distance behind the beast (it was in flight), Milai issued a challenge to get its attention! It banked around, but was hard to see in the dark ash that surrounded us.

Some of our protective dweomer was removed - we knew that dragons were powerful users of dweomer themselves. Milai hasted herself and turned invisible, but then was quickly able to attack as the dragon swept past us at high speed. Drow on its back, about four of them, loosed arrows, which we had to deflect, but Milai was able to hack at its wing, doing significant damage. Lanzi unleashed dweomer, but it had no effect on the creature. I created more light in an attempt to give us some warning of attacks. Magic missiles flew at Lanzi, removing some of his images. Felanor created some light about his person, and I tossed Milai my gem of continual light so that we could look out around a wider area. I also called on Odin to guide Milai's actions so that she was more likely to be able to react to the dragon as it passed.

A gout of acid flew out of the darkness, causing great pain, but we were able to avoid the worst of it. The beast followed up, swooping at Lanzi, who responded with a fireball and arcs of lightning. Milai reacted by intercepting the dragon, landing a couple more blows with Agan before the dragon disappeared into the dark again. Felanor loosed some arrows, hitting with one, and I let out a battle cry in an attempt to force the foe to enter combat. Arrows continued to fly at us, without much effect, but some magic missles struck Lanzi and reduced his stoneskin protection. Milai attempted to pursue the dragon, but it emerged again from another direction, attacking Felanor and me. This time it was Lanzi that reacted, blinking next to us in an instant and breathing a radiant, intense light infused with dweomer. The light badly burned the beast along its belly, and it let out a death cry before falling away, lifeless.

The rider with the sword we needed had disappeared, so we regrouped quickly and I summoned another gate to take us back to the cave we had rested in earlier. Knowing that the dragon had fallen, we hoped our target would be more static and I scryed for the location of the hilt once more. I opened another gate to this new location, although the narrow field of view from the scrying did not give us much idea of what to expect. What we saw was a massive cavern with troops being briefed, and they in turn were flanked by another two dragons! Luckily they were looking away from us, out of a large exit in what was probably the cliff face on the other side of the cavern. There were orbs above providing some light, but only at the level of starlight on a clear night. The majority of the space was filled with Drow; some were mounting the dragons and others smaller flying beasts. The one giving the orders was the one we sought; he had white hair and a thin platinum headband upon his head, and he had the sword.

Milai decided, thankfully, that we would be at too much of a disadvantage if we attacked here and now and bade us wait for the gate to close. She raised a wall of ice across it, but someone dispelled it and a few Drow got in with us before the gate disappeared. Lanzi let off magic missiles at the nearest, and Milai killed one and (as I shouted to keep one alive) stunned another with Agan. Lanzi entered melee, killing the one that he had hurt with dweomer. The last two put up a decent fight, as Milai remained with the stunned individual to pin him in place, but Felanor killed them both eventually as we surrounded them.

We had a rare chance to interrogate one of the foe, and I called on Odin to force him to tell only truth as Lanzi dominated his mind and forced him to answer the questions we put to him. We learnt that our target was called Dun Kur, and was the son of Inwe. It was here that we also learned the name of this place, Fasgrad. He told us that there were eight (now seven) dragons guarding the fortress and that one was named Asgudr. This was not Morgrad, which was mobile and moved between the negative planes, but that Merc was taken there to Inwe. Another fortress, Kazgrad, was on the plane of vacuum and another son, Gardolye, ruled there. Despite this news of Merc, we suspected already (from visions) that he had been taken to Hel because Inwe could not break him alone. I created a gate back to the Prime, to the plains of Golgorath, and pushed him through once we were done; he would have a fair chance of returning to his people, but not before we had done all we could do here.

Mindful that the enemy would likely be scrying for us now, but needing to rest so that we could travel again, Lanzi used a scroll to disguise our hiding place as a part of the ledge we had already visited outside - if the foe did locate us this might well confuse their search. He then learned a screening spell as we rested, using it to extend our protection enough to recover fully our dweomer and prayers. Once again I scryed for our target, but this time with the advantage of knowing his name. Lanzi also used dweomer so that I could understand his speech, which might aid in deciding the best moment to attack.

I saw Dun Kur sat on a throne of basalt, leaning forward in discussion with Drow guards. It seemed that they suspected we had fled, and were in the ash clouds somewhere, but were concerned that there was no sign of Yagitamo. Inwe would be here soon! Dun Kur started conversing with a dragon, and it appeared that he would mount the beast as he took hold of the sword we sought. That was the confirmation we needed, and I opened a gate to his throne room. It was another large, starlit chamber all adorned in black; above us was darkness as the roof tapered slightly, seemingly a natural cavern and possibly an exit for the dragon, but had been levelled at the base. There were carvings on the walls, although the black in the dim light made it impossible to see any detail, although we could see that there were serpents carved in the pillars beside the doors to one side. There was a pentogram beside the throne, the other side from our arrival point, and we were within a few paces of the throne ourselves.

Dun Kur was heavily armoured, obviously prepared to ride out in search of us, and donned a mithril helm with purple feathers. His pale skin matched his white/blond hair and blue eyes, not unusual for Drow. Milai charged forward, dropping ice around her as she entered the room and hasting herself - focused entirely on Dun Kur, and landing one blow before he could react to the threat. I followed, raising a wall of positive energy around us and the throne in an attempt to keep the Drow from swarming us. Lanzi was next, brandishing the orb of Dragor he immediately entered a battle of wills with the dragon, forcing it to stand fast and not attack. It's angry growls told us that it tried to resist, but Lanzi's will was strong and it could not break his hold on its mind. Felanor ran forward to Milai's side, but some effect of Dun Kur's armour or dweomer overcame his resolve and he jumped behind the throne to hide.

Dun Kur retaliated, landing a heavy blow on Milai; a darkness seemed to emanate from the sword as it bit, but was quickly sucked back into the blade. Lighting sparked around, jumping between us all; fortunately by crown protected me from this attack and the enemy suffered more, as did Felanor. Milai and Dun Kur clashed violently, both causing significant damage. I tried to snatch the sword from his grip with a quick prayer, but he managed to keep hold despite the tug I felt on it. Milai was hit again and fell, as magic missles struck at me. A massive hand appeared between me and Dun Kur, fending me off, but my attention was on Milai. Lanzi slowed the movement of a good number of the nearest enemy, buying us some more time, and I was able to resurrect Milai with my mace despite suffering a nasty blow from Dun Kur as I did so.

Magic missiles again flew at me, but this time failed to land (thanks to my armour). Lanzi and Dun Kur exchanged rays that we recognised as attempts to disintegrate each other, but neither succeeded. Milai was back with us, hasting herself again and landing good, lighting fast blows with Agan. Dun Kur uttered a single word that struck me down instantly, dead, and again struck at Milai causing a serious wound. Lanzi used a meteor swarm (whilst still holding back the dragon, which was impressive) to thin the enemy ranks. Then, as things seemed most desperate, Milai landed the killing blow, felling Dun Kur. A shout of dismay rose from the enemy troops, having been blasted with fire, seeing their leader fall and the dragon standing by and watching, and they faltered in their advance.

Milai scooped up the evil sword using the scabbard we had retrieved from Hades, being careful not to touch it, and buckled it across her shoulder. Lanzi raised a wall of fire to further dissuade the Drow and continued to hold the dragon in place - his ego is really something to behold. Milai used dweomer to wish me back to life (for now), and shouted that she wanted out of here! Lanzi used magic missiles to kill the only two Drow that had dared approach, as we gathered together to hold hands and I called on Odin to return us to the Prime.

I was aiming for the Oldheart forest, and sure enough we appeared in thick forest. I was entangled in some brambles and Felanor was stuck up a tree, but otherwise we were intact. We had also grabbed Dun Kur's body so that Inwe would not be able to use it (either to bring him back to life or as a servant of Hel). It was cold and wet, but the air was sweet after the fetid ash we had put up with until now. Daylight just about penetrated the tree canopy above us, although it was gloomy. We had succeeded, although I was living on borrowed time!