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#1 shatteredtower Dec 22, 2003 17:39:02

The following adventure is the work of Codrian, an event to keep his character active during a very busy time in his life. Adjustments have been made for a number of reasons, but the story is essentially his. May you all find something to enjoy herein. Our tale begins several days ago... +++++ Urgent knocking at the door woke Codrian. Sitting up, he called out, "Who? What is it?" "Mister Enelevin, it's Alesan. There's a well-dressed man here to see you. It's an important matter, he says." "Uh-huh. Okay, tell him that I'll be down soon. And Alesan, get back to sleep, I can close the door." Fumbling about, Codrian lit a candle, then pulled on some clothes. Heading downstairs, still quite groggy from being woken in the middle of the night, he missed a couple of the stairs on the way, but nevertheless reached the lower floor with all of his parts intact. Walking to the sitting room, he found it lit by a chandelier. In front of the still fireplace, rubbing his hands together as if to warm them, stood a tall man in a long, brown cloak. As Codrian stepped into the room, the man turned around and made a small bow. "Good evening, Master Enelevin. Sorry to drag you out of the bed at such a late hour, but I have an urgent matter to discuss with you." Codrian regarded the man for a moment before answering to the bow. Over six feet tall, the well muscled fellow seemed to tower over the half-elf. He noted with care the man's forest green tunic, as well as the prominently displayed Jackal emblem. Polished black leather boots and a saber on his hip completed the picture. Before Codrian has a chance to reply, the man continued speaking. "Forgive me my manners, Master Enelevin. I am Sir Azad Kemeri, a servant to Lord Malifaeyr. Shall we sit down? I imagine you are very confused why I am here to see you. Allow me to explain." Codrian sat, his brain still moving at half speed. .oO(Who is this man? I do not remember him from the Jackals.) "Go on, Sir Kemeri." "I am here to request your assistance in recovering an item that belongs to my master. As for why I am here, it is because I have heard reports of your deeds in the service of both the Jackals and the church. I was particularly impressed with your test of faith." "Wait a moment. You need me to find something that has gone missing? But surely you can find someone more suitable for such mission." "Not missing, Master Enelevin, but stolen. Stolen from our compound at nightfall. Thieves had some very skilled help to spirit them out of there. We require the aid of individuals whom we can trust to act honorably. You, Master Enelevin, are such a man." Codrian considered Kemeri's words for a moment and then nodded. "I will help, Sir Kemeri. Am I to go alone after these skilled thieves? And what is the object that was taken?" "No, I have selected two squires to accompany you; both are currently seeking to determine the direction the miscreants took as they fled the city. What they took was a case containing several pages of important texts. Thank you for agreeing to help my master. I have a horse and other equipment waiting for you outside. Meet the two guards at the eastern gate by dawn." Codrian talked a moment longer with Azad and then began preparations to leave for the journey. He left a note for Mrs. Weatherby, as well as one to be delivered to Natala's store, both mentioning that he had been called away on an undisclosed matter, with no certainty of how long he will be away. This task completed, he stepped out into the early morning darkness and hoisted himself onto the waiting horse. Taking a deep breath of the cool air, he rode toward the eastern gate. **** Codrian guided his mount through the gate after three very tired-looking guards dragged it open. He nodded to them and squinted to see despite of the bright lances of the rising sun. About a hundred yards from the gate, a bit off the road, two horses with riders stood beside a partly fallen tree. Nodding to himself, he headed towards them at a steady speed. As he closed with the pair, he recognized the colors and plumed headdresses of Jackals. Codrian lifted a hand in greeting, and both horsemen waved back as they rode to meet him. When they were close enough, the one with long, dark hair spoke. "Fair morning to you, good rider. Might you be one named Codrian?" "Good morning," replied Codrian. "Yes, I am. And you are?" "Greetings to you, master Codrian. I am known as Khaled, the seventh child of Blienkov, and beside me is my brother, Gennady, the eighth child of the house. Shall we start the pursuit now?" "Greetings, master Codrian," said the one named Gennady. "By the grace of Thalos', I have tracked the evildoers to a little used track leading north east of here. They appear to have fled on foot, which means we should have little trouble catching up to them by nightfall." "My brother is correct," confirmed Khaled. "We will have a good chance of reaching the thieves by the nightfall if we set out now. Master Codrian, are you ready to set forth?" Codrian nodded. "Yes. The quicker we catch them, the better." The trio headed after the pair of thieves at a steady trot, Khaled and Gennady taking turns riding in front. Reaching the small track angling off the road, they slowed to pick up the trail of the targets once more. Shortly before noon, Khaled stopped his horse and dismounted to inspect the ground. When Codrian and Gennady draw near, he stood, smiling broadly. "It is the divine will that we should catch these evil men quickly," he said. "One of them is favouring one leg, as if he was injured -- see how the right footprint sinks more heavily into the earth here! That will slow them down remarkably. I doubt that they've moved more than a couple of miles since this was made." "That's true," said Gennady, "we might be back to town by tomorrow morning, praise Thalos." With Khaled on the lead, the trio continued their pursuit. Riding beside Codrian, Gennady stringed the sturdy curved bow hung from his saddle. Khaled kept eyes on the surrounding terrain most of time, occasionally glancing to the tracks on the path. After another mile, Khaled stopped his horse again and jumped down. Here the track divided into two even smaller paths, and it took several minutes for the trio to determine that their quarry had followed the narrower of them. Dense brush surrounding the twisting path gave way after several hundred yards, revealing a small valley, through which ran a stream. Codrian and the brothers halted their horses, dismounting to survey the bare depression. Khaled and Gennady whispered to each other briefly, Gennady shaking his head before he turned to speak to Codrian. "The thieves came into this valley, but they didn't leave by the path. This is an unnatural place, as though something has driven a wedge into the earth. Look, the bushes border the stream until the spot where this depression starts, then it descends deeper until that almost vertical cliff at that other end. The stream must enter a cave over there." "Unnatural..." murmured Codrian, standing motionless, as he tried to gain a feeling of the place. "Yes, you are correct. Something is not right here." "The valley is composed of twisted forms," said Khaled nervously, "...a bad omen. We have to be careful, there might be evil spirits about." "We have to go down there to see where the tracks go," noted Codrian. "We can't see that from here, can we?" "No, we can't," Khaled replied, adding, "I'll ride in front, let's go." The trio headed down the hard slope of the small valley, following a winding path. Khaled reached the stream first and dismounted to look for signs of the thieves. The trail continued on the far side of the stream, which appeared to be safe to cross here. As Gennady kept a wary eye on the ground around them, guiding his mount by instinct, Codrian spotted movement in the stream behind Khaled. "Wha..." Before Codrian could utter more, three forms breached the surface and lurched towards Khaled. Skeletons grabbed for him with bony hands. The surprised tracker avoided being dragged into the stream, but claw-like fingers gouged his arms as he pulled free. Gasping from pain, he scrambled away. Gennady drew his sword and rushed to help, but three more skeletons emerged from behind nearby boulders, forcing him to halt and fend them off. Codrian advanced a few yards, bringing out his holy symbol. Shouting a prayer, he brandished it at the skeletons. All but one of fled, the last continuing to menace Khaled. As the monsters ran from Gennady, he charged to where Khaled desperately tried to scramble away from the remaining attacker. A powerful swing cleaved the bare skull, jarring the blade from his hand, but reducing the skeleton to a bone pile. While Gennady bound his brother's wounds and helped him into the saddle, Codrian noticed five more skeletons blocking their way back up the path. "We have to get out of this valley, there are now ten of those evil critters! Upstream!" Riding on the uneven surface as fast they dared, the trio retreated. The skeletons gave up pursuit before the edge of the odd valley. Three horses staggered through the dense bushes and small trees lining the stream. After few hundred yards, the riders stopped to calm them down and assess the situation. "Khaled, allow me to take a look at those wounds," said Codrian, inspecting the gashes left by the skeletal claws, then closing them with a simple prayer. "Living dead," Gennady said with awe. "I've heard stories of such beings. Evil things. I'm glad we are out of that valley. Khaled, how are you feeling?" There was a pause before Khaled answered. "Uh... I am still terrified. One moment I'm looking for tracks, the next, three pairs of hands are trying to drag me into the stream." "Thanks to that thing Codrian did we are all still alive. I got one of the evil beings, but we left ten behind. I hope they won't follow." "I don't think so," advised Codrian, "undead skeletons are not intelligent. They can only follow very simple instructions. We have to get away from this area now. I wonder what happened to the thieves?" "Maybe the skeletons got them?" asked Gennady. "Maybe. We have to return to that valley then." "To that horrid place," Gennady replied, shuddering. "Yes, to that horrid place. But now, let's look for a shelter, we have to rest and devise a plan. Let's try to cross the stream first." Gennady nodded and the trio sought another shallow place to cross. A few minutes further upstream, they found a promising spot, a series of narrow and shallow channels flowing between stooping trees and bushes. A sudden flash of light engulfed Gennady, as he crossed the last of the channels at the head of the group, thin smoke brielfly concealing him. "Gennady!" Khaled cried. "What is it?" Gennady's upper torso toppled into the water, smoke rising from his remains. Stunned, Codrian sat in the saddle, trying to blink away the after-image burned onto his eyes, of a ray lancing across the body. The stream carried off the corpse, leaving only the great hat bobbing on a whirl. Letting out a wild shout, Khaled drew his blade. As he was about to surge forward, a voice shouted "Halt! Surrender your arms, trespassers, and maybe you shall be spared! If you resist, you will die!" Codrian sat still for a moment, then bent over and threw up. Khaled turned from side to side, staring wildly at the shrubbery. Seeing no targets to attack, he dropped the blade and let his shoulders sag. After a bout of retching, Codrian also dropped his own weapons. A minute passed and then a massive, dark-skinned figure emerged from a nearby bush. The man's attire was pieced together from animal pelts, bones, and similar materials. Beside him padded the largest hound Codrian had ever seen. "Obedience from the city-bred," grunted the man, "good. Now, dismount. And no tricks or you are dead quicker than you can blink." (He looks like some wild beast but speaks with a surprising degree of culture.)Oo. Codrian thought to himself, before he and Khaled climbed down to stand on the small island. Khaled eyed his sword lying on the ground, but refrained from rushing to it, scared by the hound and the man's huge, serrated spear. "Next, lay down," they were told, just before their captor added, "Geahn, guard." Man and hound crossed the stream to the prone pair. While the dog, Geahn, watched them, the man bound their hands behind their backs with twine. Without warning, he struck Khaled across the head, then did the same to Codrian's skull, delivering both into darkness. **** A steady throbbing pain and faint drizzle welcomed Codrian back to the world when he woke several hours later. He groaned and tried to open his eyes. The vista that greeted him was from some other world, viewed from within a cage crafted of bones. A ring of stakes, each topped with different animal's skull, surrounded it. Ten yards away from one side of his prison was a similar arrangement with another cage, where Khaled was held. The cages were placed on the side of a path, leading from a round, pole-ringed clearing. A torch topped each pole. The clearing contained a tall pillar of wood, bone, and stone, upon which were depicted beasts, both mundane and exotic. To Codrian, it seemed that the whole world was a kaleidoscope of charging creatures, for the pillar's surface was wreathed in flames that did not burn, its flickering, multicoloured light highlighting random images. One moment a pair of strange cats seemed to stare from the wood, the next they were replaced by red spiders, and so it continued. Turning to look away, Codrian noticed a torchlit path leading down a gentle slope to a dimly lit cave entrance. The occasional growl or rumble of a wild animal sounded from within. Dense forest bordered everything, tall trees sheltering the bizarre place from the normal world. Examining the nearest trees more carefully, Codrian was exposed to a gallery of scenes carved upon them: beasts, men slaying such beasts, beasts tearing apart monsters and richly clothed men, an obscene tribute to gore and slaughter. Hearing footsteps on the path, Codrian turned back toward the tunnel, his eyes catching briefly on humanoid skulls piled on the clearing's far edge. A small group, half a dozen, moved slowly toward the cages. At first glance, they resembled old humans, but as they draw near Codrian saw that something other than age has affected them. All six were vaguely human, but it as though most of their muscles and fat had been drawn off, leaving behind withered husks. Old burn marks and badly healed wounds covered their rag-clad bodies. Dull eyes radiated only the most miniscule spark of life. Codrian flinched at the abomination done to the slack-jawed figures. .oO(They are still alive, but even undeath seems less horrible.) One of the "men" fumbled Codrian's cage open and four others surged inside with surprising speed to grab him. Though he tried to struggle out of their grasp, they were too strong for him. He was dragged to the tunnel, down a misty passage that stole both sight and sound. Stumbling senseless, he finally emerged from the mist some time later, surprised to find that he was no longer gagged and bound, the creatures nowhere to be seen. Looking around, he spotted his massive captor at the other end of the vast cavern, seated at a table. Another figure sat across from the man, but a tall backed chair obstructed Codrian's view. "Oh, he is here," said his captor. "Do approach, Mr. Enelevin." Codrian was nearly knocked from his feet. (How can he know my name?!)Oo. he wondered. With trembling feet, he slowly walked to the table, past an assortment of regalia dedicated to nature. Halfway to his goal, the hound, Geahn, jogged out of shadows to goad him forward. The man pointed to a chair. "Sit," he said. Codrian did as ordered, then looked at the person seated opposite his captor. The guest was a middle-aged man, plain in appearance and dressed in grey robes. He greeted Codrian with polite nod, gazing intently at the half-elf's forehead for a moment. Then he nodded again, this time to Codrian's captor as the latter spoke again. "You must be surprised, Mr. Enelevin. But alas, you must remain that way, even for longer than I'd intended. You owe your gratitude to this man. Apparently, you're both part of some organization that doesn't want you to die here. I'd begun to prepare a great hunt, a worthy final passage for any person, but now he tells me that you are valuable to various city-dweller sects." "Quite a bit to digest, good Mr. Enelevin," interjected the robed figure, "but still better than death... and Mr. V. wants you alive for some other purpose. Very considerate of him, really, after everything you've done, so don't be too relieved yet. Your life's continuation comes at no small price. There is a task you must perform in return for it." Codrian was too stunned to do more than ask what the task will be. "In exchange for your life and freedom," explained the robed man, nodding then to his tablemate, "this man will have you clear the undead and their master from that small valley you passed through earlier. It's a difficult mission, so to help you, you shall have your companion's aid. For Mr. V.'s sake, don't fail. "Once you are back in the city, find Grathin's Wares. Good luck, Mr. Enelevin." The grey-robed man stood and momentarily laid a hand upon Codrian's shoulder before walking toward the exit. He hadn't moved more than a dozen yards when he uttered words of power, accompanied by an arcane gesture, vanishing with a sound resembling the tinkling of bells. Codrian turned to look at his captor once again. "Surprised?" he was asked. "Stop gawking and get to the task. "Behind that pair of bearskins you'll find equipment for you and your companion. Once you are done there, Geahn will guide you to the exit and my servants will guide you to the valley. If you fail your task, you will become either undead or one of my servants." He paused as Codrian shuddered at the recollection of the ones who brought him here. "You know what they were before? Of course not, I'd say. You've only been pursuing two of them for miles by now. Go, city dweller, before I change my mind. And mind your companion; his future depends on your swift return." Codrian headed to the bearskins, accompanied by mocking laughter and the evilly grinning Geahn. Behind them, he found a wicked looking glaive laid out on deerskins, beside which was a packed bundle. Gathering it all, Codrian headed back out, eager to be away from his captor's presence. Exiting through the misty passage, he ws shuffled out of the complex by four of the wretched once-men. Returning to the surface, he noticed immediately that he was not returned to the sheltered circle where he had been caged. Dense, half-withered thorny bushes ring the cave entrance on a cliff face. Close by, between two more servants, lay Khaled, the victim of a severe beating. The man lifted his head a bit and croaked to Codrian. "Help." Without wasting time, Codrian dropped the equipment he was carrying and hurried to kneel beside the man. He said a prayer and placed his hands on Khaled's chest. Healing energy flowed from the half-elf's palms under the unfocused eyes of six now passive servants. The Jackal gasped, but his breathing steadied and colour returned to his face. Codrian gave him some water from his canteen. "Easy now, don't try to drink too much." "Thanks." "Can you talk a bit?" Khaled nodded. "What happened to you?" the elf asked him. "And what is this area?" "This bunch had a drink they wanted me to try, and they didn't take my refusal too well. I'm still nauseous from the taste, like honey mixed with rotting carrot. As for this area, I've no idea what this is. The wood isn't nameled on the maps." He stopped and looked at Codrian. "We're in big trouble, aren't we?" he asked. "Yeah, we're pawns in a game between two quite evil masters. Our captor, he wants us to go and destroy the undead and their leader." "Wonderful." Codrian looked around them, at the servants staring passively at the ground, at the black hole in the cliff face, and at the bushes. He shook his head and sat on the ground beside Khaled. "Rest now, let's look at our next move in the morning." Khaled quickly settled into a fitful sleep and Codrian prepared a small fire, boiling water for tea. Going through his rations, he selected three potatoes for frying. Digging a knife out of his coat pocket to peel them, he discovered a piece of paper concealed within. Pulling it out, he unfolded it, and began reading the neatly scripted message it carried. 'Benelvir too powerful in his domain to speak openly in his presence, thus you must make due w/this. Reasons unknown, but 14 months ago dark druid & necromancer Patkifen started making armies from nearby settlements. Destroy P & troops for B. P also stole valuable circlet from us. Return it. Evil wizard's death should please church too. V wants druid hampered, if possible. A' Codrian stared at the note and then folded it away. .oO(So now they have names, Patkifen and Benelvir. Never heard of either of them. I wonder if the Jackals know of the situation here... Poor Gennady. Poor Khaled. No documents either, so Azad will not be please to see me, if I ever get back to the town. I will need all the luck I can get.) After the modest meal, he spread out his bedroll and lay down to sleep. Benlevir's guards continued to stare at nothing while the pair of Jackal agents rested on the hard ground, far from any help and surrounded by countless enemies. **** A bleak morning witnessed a half-elf awaiting the sunrise. Codrian prayed for Thalos' guidance through all that day might throw at him. After waking Khaled, the pair started on the narrow path, shepherded onward by their watchers. As they walked, Codrian asked Khaled how he feels. "Thirsty. Still tired," replied the young Jackal, before asking, "What did they want with you?" "Our captor, a man named Benelvir, had decided to make us do a service to him in exchange of our lives." "Benel..." The rest of Khaled's sentence was lost to a sharp sound, and a hail of bolts turned the wretch leading the small column into a pincushion. Codrian and Khaled dropped to avoid the deadly missiles. They watched as the rest valiantly tried to attack the ambushing party, only to be ripped apart one by one. Codrian was shocked by the resilience of their companions, as it took more than few hits to bring them each down. When only two of six were standing, the attackers ceased the barrage and charged from the bushes. Khaled rolled quickly to his feet, unsheathing a thin sword. Kobolds in blackened leather armor confronted him and the remaining pair of guards. The tormented ones faced the kobolds' strikes with lurching, clumsy parries, but only one of the screaming ambushers scored a hit. Khaled likewise had little trouble fending off the initial lunges of the pair that attacked him. While the battle with the kobolds rages on, Codrian noticed a dark-skinned creature going through motions he recognized as spellcasting. Without wasting a second, he began a chant of his own; the resultant booming echo nearly drowning out a pained howl. The monster, a scaled man with horns and sunken eyes, snarled, then drew a large scimitar as he charged the half-elf. "Die in the name of Sheritlaelyn!" he bellowed. Stumbling back, Codrian lashed out with his glaive in an attempt to drive it back, but he was easily outclassed in the contest of arms. Before he could be reduced to mincemeat, the half-dragon stopped above him, a surprised look upon his face. Looking down, he stared at the thin blade piercing his chest from behind. He tumbled forward, several hundred pounds landing heavily on Codrian. The fight was over within moments, as the few kobolds still standing fled, leaving the field to Codrian and Khaled, their guards lying dead on the ground. Codrian sat on a tree stump and surveyed the scene of carnage. He wiped blood from his face and pointed at the body of the half-dragon. "Okay, who was this bunch?" he asked. Khaled slumped down to sit beside Codrian and stared at the thin blade. "I have no idea," he replied. "That creature, what was it? It's like a man with dragon's parts. Look at its wounds, though -- it was in another fight earlier today, from the look of it." "Maybe they met Benelvir's slaves or those undead earlier and were forced to retreat. Thanks for saving my life there. Without you, I'd be among the dead." "Maybe. Why is this accursed forest so full of hostile creatures? I'm wasn't made to deal with nightmarish such as these!" "Those kobolds were this half-draconic creature's followers, I take it. They all wear the same dark armor, and look--" He rolled one of the carcasses over, pointing to a patch in the shape of a stylized teardrop, sewn on the left breast. "They all wore this same insignia. I wonder what it means? I'll see if their leader can't enlighten us." Codrian stood and strode over to the corpse of the half-dragon. Grimacing, he began the grisly task of searching the body, finding a small leather-bound book in a pouch. Reviewing the contents, it proved to be a detailed journal by someone named Drillge, and his quest to find discover his heritage. Apparently Drillge had recently learned of his relation to a dragon called Sheritlaelyn, though Codrian was unable to discern why he was heading for Garic. Pocketing the book, he picked up Drillge's falchion for a closer examination. The handle was designed to resemble sea foam, and the blade sported wavy etchings along its length. "What we have here is an offspring of a dragon called Sheritlaelyn, and his company, Adder's Venom," he says, explaining. "I don't think he had anything to do with this war between Benelvir and Patkifen. He probably just stumbled upon it like we did." "Half-dragons, husks of men, undead, insane spellcasters, and kobolds... what a pile of steaming manure! Codrian, we have to get out of here, fast." "I agree totally. Let's get on with the mission, so that we can get out of this hole some day. Hopefully Patkifen's have been in the receiving end of Drillge's bunch." Leaving the corpses on the path, the pair continued toward the strange valley. Scenes of another battle greeted them further along their way, where seven kobolds and a shocking twenty-three skeletons met their end. An acrid smell hung in the air, and foilage had been stripped away along a straight, blackened path. Finally, after several hours of wandering narrow paths before finding the right course, Codrian and Khaled arrived at the valley's edge. Khaled wiped sweat from his forehead and leaned on a small tree to stare down the slope. "The skeletons came out of the stream and from the rocks," he said, "but where is the hold of their master? Underground?" Codrian surveyed the valley carefully while leaning against the unfamiliar glaive. "Must be so. There isn't a place on the surface that could be used for living. We have to go down there and find the entrance..." "...and fight our way through his minions. Hellfire and damnation! Well, downwards then." Both kept their weapons ready, descending toward the stream. Halfway down, a group of seven skeletons formed something of a ring around them, shepherding them forward. Four more bony warriors soon appeared from the water and climb up on the shore. Khaled and Codrian advanced steadily until only a score of yards separate them from the stream. "Now!"shouted Codrian, thrusting one hand toward the sky, his other gripping his holy symbol. As Khaled assumed a defensive position, the cleric shouted out rhymes glorifying Thalos in a strong voice, reaching a crescendo as his symbol began to throb with a golden pulse. Eight of the eleven skeletons crumbled to dust. The other three chargd at Codrian, but Khaled kept them at bay while the half-elf recovered from his effort. Regaining his breath, Codrian hacked them apart with his glaive, taking the pressure off of Khaled. After the battle, the man retrieved his canteen and sips water from it. Both then looked around at the scattered bones. "That was the easy part, I believe," observed Codrian "Yeah," agreed Khaled, "this rapier isn't very good against skeletons... they sort of lack matter which to strike at." The pair began their search for some way underground. Four hours passed without interruption while they scour the valley floor. Somehow, the air in the valley felt even more oppressively damp and warm than it did in the forest. Clouds thickened, and soon late autumn rain washed the stony ground. Codrian and Khaled sought shelter within the forest, but on the way up the slope Codrian noticed a place where the water seemed to just disappear into ground. "Look there," he said, "the water seems to be flowing somewhere." "What? Weird. Let's go take a look." They rushed to the outcropping of man-sized boulders, following small trickles of water as they flowed to a spot in the midst of them. There water drained away through a small hole. Codrian scraped dirt around the hole, soon uncovering the outline of iron grille. "Entrance of some sort," he grunted. "Did our captor give us any rope?" "My bundle had a spool of it," Khaled replied. A few minutes of struggling eventually dislodged the heavy grille, leaving both soaked and sweaty. Shivering from cold, they scaled down the chute for fifteen yards before encountering ground. Water dripped down to form a puddle at the bottom, a small trickle meandering away from it into the darkness. Codrian recited a simple prayer, evoking soft light from the pommel of Drillge's sword. Before them, the passage gradually sloped deeper beneath the surface. The pair ventured further along the tunnel, relying on the sword to see. After ninety feet, the small passage came to an underground stream, branching out in several directions. After consideration, Khaled determined that the one travelling along the edge of the stream had seen the most traffic, and they chose to follow it. Traversing forty yards they came to another intersection, and to a trio of snarling zombies. Again, Khaled maintained a tight defense while Codrian, behind him, used the advantage offered by the longer glaive. This time, however, Khaled earned a few bruises before the pair put down their opposition. Codrian shook his head as they stood amid pieces of twice-dead men. Khaled looked at him and sighed as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "They just keep coming at us," he said. "I wonder how many minions this Patkifen fellow has?" "Should have quite few left... almost forty have been destroyed this far." "The fewer he has, the easier it is for us." "Yep. Let me see those wounds before we continue onwards." Chanting a healing spell, Codrian laid a hand on Khaled's shoulder, the wounds quickly no more than a memory as the energy flowed into him. The pair then continued on their task. Turning right where two tunnels fork, they spotted light ahead of them. Edging slowly closer, they dropped to a crouch when it became apparent that the passage ended in a descending staircase. Crawling the last few yards, they looked into a large cavern ringed with tall pillars at the base of the steps. From their place of observation, the cavern appeared to be is a perfect oval with only two ways out, the staircase and a small hole in the opposite wall. The pillars, no less than fifteen in number, were decorated with images of light and dark blotches, nothing they could identify from this distance. Sconces radiating eerie blue flames placed midway up each pillar. A mass of lanterns, hung from poles around the room, increased the lighting. Upon examination, Codrian realized that the lanterns form an arcane sign of a most foul nature. In the center of this formation stood a thin, heavily scarred man, wearing only a violet loincloth. Nausea overcame both Codrian and Khaled as the man below continued shouting out vile words of power, and they withdrew to the intersection in order to gain respite from the effects of the foul spellcasting. "Okay, we've seen our foe," Codrian said, "how many underlings did you count?" "Fourteen skeletons. We need a plan to get to the bad boss." "Difficult place, with only those two entrances." "Yeah. How about this: you distract the other undead, destroying as many as you can, so that I can sneak in and attack the main baddie. With enough commotion, I should have a chance to get close enough to give him cause to worry." "I could try manifesting Thalos' power there. That might work to drive them back." "But then we would have fully alert necromancer to deal with." "True, but if yo..." A wave of evil rolled over them, causing both men to retch violently. The overpowering sensation passed a few seconds later, letting the pair breath normally again, to their relief. "Most of me doesn't want to know what that was," said Khaled. "We better get moving before anything worse happens." "Your plan, okay. First, I'll cast some helpful spells on us." Codrian called upon Thalos' guidance, imbuing both men with the divine will. A couple of minor blessings on Khaled followed before he cast a multicoloured shell around himself. Finishing with one more spell to quicken his step, he led them to the battle. Advancing quietly, Codrian moved ahead, his goal to reach the cavern floor before Khaled was halfway down. Spotted when he is but two thirds of the way, he leapt the rest of the way down, running with astonishing speed to the pillars. The skeletons immediately moved to converge upon him. Patkifen kept chanting for a few moments before diverting his attention to the commotion by the pillars. The half-elf called the might of Thalos down upon the assembled horde, destroying most of them in bursts of holy light. Unnatural cold then washed over Codrian, as the wizard unleashed his magic against the intruder. The priest heard a second spell being prepared as he struggled to defend himself, and then a grunt of pain. The remaining skeletons left no time to spare a glance toward the wizard, and Codrian could only hope that the sound was made by Patkifen, not Khaled. A sizzling sound and another yelp caught his attention as he called for Thalos' favour once again, flaring briefly with the light of the sun to drive the remaining skeletons away. Turning toward the necromancer, Codrian winced when he saw the burns across Khaled's face. Readying his glaive, he charged to aid the Jackal. Patkifen, holding his side, spat arcane words at Khaled, and then opened his hand to release a barrage of lights. Motes slammed into the seventh child of Blienkov, knocking him about before he finally collapsed in a heap. The wizard turned then to deal with the priest, but too late. Eyes opened wide as the glaive plunged through his chest, a murderous look holding Codrian's eyes an uncomfortable second, then Patkifen collapsed across the shaft, drawing the glaive briefly from Codrian's grasp. After determining that there was no longer anything he could do for Khaled, the shuddering Codrian offered another desperate prayer to Thalos. Welcome warmth crept back into his body, though his skin remained painfully raw in places. Slumping against the stone, he surveyed the cavern from his resting place. The lanterns were extinguished, the undead either destroyed or driven off, and the Jackal and the necromancer were both dead. Using the pillar as support, Codrian rose unsteadily, casting another healing spell upon himself. Removing the circlet from Patkifen's head, he considered how little time he had before the skeletons came after him again, and how one could only ask so much from a deity before being expected to rely solely on one's own talents. Escape was a nightmare comprised of bone and shadow and far too much breathless running. Stumbling and crawling through bracken after finally reaching the surface, a scarred and bruised Codrian finally dragged himself free of the wood sometime before dawn. Giving thanks to Thalos for seeing him through these most unforgiving of days, he staggered toward home.