Book 5.5
15 Esterealan, Beneath the city of Istur
As soon as Canliss rejoined us, I provided everyone with a summary of clues regarding our mission. Ester provided everyone with grilled cheese sandwiches – to each according to their abilities. My expert summary of our mission went as follows:
We must find and destroy The Soul of Ice before the dead of Istur become frozen zombies.
What we know:
1. The Soul of Ice is extra-dimensional in nature
2. The Soul of Ice did not cause The Great Storm and surrounding events, but it is related to these events
3. The Soul of Ice is somehow channeling power.
4. The attack on the city by the Frozen Ones corresponded with the fires set by the small fire elementals.
5. Evidence suggests that the Brotherhood of the Flame set the fires
6. We witnessed members of the Brotherhood of the Flame battling a fire elemental and an extra-planar creature that was more comfortable with cold and ice.
7. The Brotherhood’s unfortunate scribe said that many creatures had “gotten loose.” The Brotherhood may have lost control of the extra-planar creatures they’ve summoned.
What we need to find out:
1. What is The Soul of ice?
2. Where is The Soul of ice?
3. How do we destroy it?
4. Who sent the Frozen Ones to attack the city, and are they in league with the Brotherhood of Flame?
5. Who was behind the attack on Istur’s churches, which happened conveniently close to the onset of these fires and zombie attacks?
6. Is all of this related to the “night of evil” from the Vistani prophecy?
“What prophecy?” asked Val, who’d quickly perused the notes according to instructions. Some people can follow orders (unlike certain barbarians I could mention).
“Well,” I explained, “we were in another plane of existence called Ravenloft where this prophecy was unfolding.” I got copies of the Scroll Prophecy out of my pack and handed one to everyone.
“There was a boat,” Ester said.
“A boat?” Val asked in confusion. She was looking at her copy of the prophecy and had probably noticed a certain lack of boats being mentioned.
“It was a Ghost Boat,” Ester explained. “And I got this.” She pulled down the collar of her shirt to show Val her scar. “I got bit on the Ghost Boat.”
Val, who’d never heard of ghosts, nodded at Ester. “Oh, I see,” she lied.
“Ester,” I chided. “Please, I was speaking.”
“Sorry.”
“We had witnessed a sign from the Prophecy indicating that a night of evil was about to happen, and then we ended up back here in Istur. This leads us to the possible conclusion that the night of evil is going to happen here.”
“Oh, okay,” said Val. She looked a little overwhelmed.
At this point, Jven asked Canliss to take a note to Halberto, so her fellow Jveltoans wouldn’t think she’d disappeared again. Really, this was a detail she should have been taken care of before we’d come down here, but one can’t expect a Jveltoan to be organized.
Canliss obligingly flew off to deliver Jven’s note. He’s really quite a patient man, Canliss is.
“Nikita, can I have another copy of the Prophecy?” Ester asked me plaintively.
“What happened to your copy?”
“I gave it to the Azkalites. But it’s okay – they realized how important it was.”
“They did?” I asked doubtfully.
Ester nodded. “They put it in a special drawer to keep it safe. They said that’s where all the prophecies go.”
“Oh, I see.” I handed Ester another copy and advised her not to give this one away. “Special drawer,” indeed. Stupid Azkalites.
We discussed the Prophecy for a while, largely for Val’s edification. I certainly didn’t expect any insight from Gore.
“Wasn’t the lifeless child of stern mother unborn – wasn’t he encased in ice?” Ester asked excitedly.
“Yes, he was.” I was rather proud of Ester for recalling that detail. I described Meridoth’s macabre altar to Val. Naturally, she was horrified.
“We destroyed it,” said Ester. “Do you suppose that’s where the Soul of Ice came from?”
Donar was right – you never do know where inspiration will come from; sometimes Torodin chooses the most unlikely of vessels. “You may be right, Ester. I have been wondering if the Soul of Ice is, literally, a soul trapped in ice.”
“Does that mean we need to keep the Soul of Ice or destroy it?” Ester asked.
“Donar told us we need to destroy it, Ester. Otherwise all the dead in Istur will become frozen zombies.”
“So we should destroy it?”
“Yes.”
Val shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”
“Of course, we don’t yet know how to destroy it,” I pointed out.
“It’s ice,” said Ester. “We’ll melt it.”
“Somehow, I don’t think it’s going to be that simple,” I told Ester.
“Let’s give simple a chance to work,” Jven suggested.
Deciding to overlook Jven’s snide remark, I handed out a description of my various divination abilities. Most people just don’t understand how divination works. I encouraged everyone, even Gore, to think of ways we could use divination to solve our mission.
“Do you think the Flame people and the Ice people are enemies?” asked Ester. “They don’t seem like they should work together.”
“That’s strangely logical,” said Val. She seemed amused by Ester’s attempts at deduction. Still, Ester’s ideas had proven quite valid, so far – sometimes, when one needs to figure something out, persistence is more valuable than intellect.
“It would be nice to know about the power struggle here,” I told Ester. “But I don’t think it’s worth spending a gem. It’s not crucial to our mission. So, does anyone have any questions about how divination works?”
“I don’t know,” said Gore. “But I think we should move all these pegs on the map.”
“No. Donar is going to scry on them, so they’ll know where all the attacks are being planned.”
“Oh.”
I rolled my eyes at Val. Stupid barbarian. He should stop trying to think, and stick to his strengths. Or strength. As far as I can tell, he’s only good for hitting things.
“We should move all the pegs to where the army of the dead is,” Gore said. He actually had the nerve to look pleased with himself, as if this were a brilliant idea.
“No,” said Ester, in the same tone of voice you’d use for a puppy that had just soiled the carpet. “No. No. No.”
“But then –“
“Sit down, Gore,” I said.
“But if we steal all the pegs, then they can’t plan any more attacks. Ha.”
“I think you should get over this sudden obsession with pegs,” Jven told the barbarian.
“And with thinking,” I added.
Ester rolled her eyes. “And he’s the smartest barbarian in the world.”
“That’s right,” said Gore.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Jven. “We’ll point you in the direction your skills will be best employed. And in the mean-time, why don’t you just relax and polish your sword?”
This earned laughter from everyone but Gore. Not surprisingly, he didn’t get the joke.
Some time later, Canliss returned. “I found somebody who can help us,” he said. “She’s an archer. She’s waiting at the other end of the rope bridge.”
I sighed. “Canliss, if you’d told me you were going to bring a friend, I would have made another copy of the clues.”
“Nikita, she doesn’t have any protection from the heat. Can I borrow your Ring of Chill so she can come across?”
“Very well. Don’t get it dirty.” I handed Canliss my ring and he flew back to the rope bridges. Ester, who didn’t think Canliss was enough protection for our new recruit, followed him. They returned a few minutes later with a slender, plain-looking young woman who carried a bow across her shoulder. She looked at us all curiously.
“Canliss, who’s your friend?” I asked.
The woman gave her name as Haquia. She graciously returned my ring. I introduced everyone, since Canliss couldn’t be counted on to observe the social niceties.
“So how do you know Canliss?” I asked.
“I don’t.”
“Canliss!” Jven and I scolded the six-fingered mage in unison. He’d dragged some strange woman down here to help on our quest – what was he thinking? Why didn’t he recruit some of those new paladins at The Word of Law while he was at it – let everyone in Istur think we were desperate for help.
“She wanted to help,” Canliss defended himself.
“Are you here of your own free will?”
“Yes,” said Haquia. “He’s telling the truth.”
“Here, dear. This will get you up to speed.” I handed Haquia a copy of The Prophecy and our mission notes.
“So, we’re gonna go find the extra-dimensional Soul of Ice,” Ester explained. “And save the city.”
“I didn’t mention those details,” said Canliss. “I did tell her about the lava.”
“After I got down here,” Haquia said, rolling her eyes. She was catching on rather quickly to Canliss’s way of doing things.
“Well, we are on an important quest, dear,” I assured Haquia. “We are looking for the Soul of Ice, as Ester said. We don’t exactly know what it is, but we need to destroy it before it turns all of Istur’s dead into zombies.”
“Which would be bad,” said Ester.
“However, if you’re having second thoughts now that you’ve seen the situation, no one would think any less of you for wanting to go back to the surface.” That wasn’t exactly true, but reluctant help is worse than no help at all. It’s almost worse than Gore.
“Well, I do want to help,” said Haquia. She looked dubiously at her copy of the notes. “I don’t know how much help I can be, though.”
“Can you kill things?” Ester asked.
Haquia nodded.
“Well, that’s all right, then.” Ester frowned at Gore. “Some people would rather take a nap than kick ass.”
“Now Ester,” said Jven, “let’s all try to get along.” She looked frustrated, the poor thing. Jveltoans just aren’t used to playing peacemaker; they’re generally more inclined to grab an ale and watch the fight happen.
Now that we were all assembled, we headed off to search for the Soul of Ice. Ester and Val took the lead as we explored further into the complex, leaving Gore and Haquia to guard the rear. I wasn’t sure of Haquia’s loyalties yet, but if she turned out to be untrustworthy, it wasn’t all that far to the lava – and she didn’t look heavy.
“I’m a diplomatic envoy,” Gore explained to Haquia as we left the map room. “I’m also a deputy of the City Watch, and a minister of mysterious levies and fees.”
Haquia looked doubtfully up at Gore and made noncommittal noises. Whatever else she might be, she’s apparently no fool. She knows a big idiot when she sees one.
“I’m a private in the City Watch.” Ester stopped to deliver this important news to Haquia, which was awkward since she and Val were supposed to be leading our little procession. “I’m a private, which is better than a deputy. I got this new badge, see. I’m part of the City Watch now; I’m not doing that silly ministry of meteors thing any more.”
“Ester, focus,” I said. I found myself missing Rhavin and Kariya more than ever. Keeping everyone in line is becoming a drain on my patience.
“I’m just saying,” said Ester.
“So we don’t have a sergeant any more?” asked Canliss, feigning concern.
Ester shrugged. “You guys are just gonna have to figure something out.”
“Are we there yet?” said Jven.
“I’m hungry,” Ester complained.
“Everyone, please, let’s focus on our task. The Soul of Ice, remember?” I glared at Canliss. I don’t know why he looked surprised – he should know better than to encourage Ester like that.
After more effort than such a simple process should have required, we made it to the end of the corridor. It opened up into a room that was the mirror image of the map room, sans map and incriminating documents. Several long wooden tables were covered with tubes and glasses, reminding me very much of Doctor Mordenheim’s laboratory.
“Hey, there were tables like this in front of the lifeless child of stern mother unborn,” said Ester. This comment confused half of the group, but I let it go. I can’t forever be explaining things, and they don’t really need to know all the details in order to be useful.
Canliss immediately pushed his way to the tables to look for anything valuable he could take. The room also contained some rather nice-looking if slightly singed furniture – an antique bed, a writing desk, and a large armoire. While I examined the desk, Val followed Gore over to the armoire. The pretty warrior watched with amusement while the barbarian tried in vain to tie his thick hemp rope around the armoire’s delicate knobs.
“What are you doing?” Canliss asked.
“I’m going to open the ward-robe from a distance,” said the barbarian. “In case it’s dangerous.” Apparently, young children in Gore’s tribe are taught to fear armoires.
“Uh, I’ll just watch the exists then,” said Ester.
“I’ll help,” said Jven. The giantess proceeded to lounge in the doorway and regard the rest of us with a bored expression while she devoured the last of her grilled cheese sandwiches. Jven decided to stretch out on the bed.
Val watched Gore try to make a tiny loop out of his big, fat rope for several minutes. Then, smiling, she moved up beside him.
“Here, let me help you.”
Gore handed her the rope. Ignoring him, she reached past him and opened the armoire.
“No!” Gore jumped back, startled.
While the rest of us laughed at Gore, Val peered inside the armoire. “Nothing in here but cheap pants and plain, black robes,” she complained. Despite Gore’s fears, none of the clothing appeared to be dangerous.
I cast a spell to read the stack of papers on the desk. It seemed to be research on how to open a permanent plane to the elemental plane of fire. It seemed that the Brotherhood was planning to push the Soul of Ice through said fire portal. One of the papers described the location of the Soul of Ice as being the top of “The Holy Pyramid.” The Brotherhood mages seemed to suspect that The Soul of Ice acted as a one-way gateway to the para-elemental plane of ice, which explained the presence of the flying ice lizard we’d seen earlier.
“So they opened up a permanent gate to the plane of Fire to get rid of the Soul of Ice?” Jven asked.
“Apparently.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“They were also contemplating summon demons to control the fire elementals that had escaped them,” I explained. “I’m afraid these mages were completely out of control.”
“Nobody should summon infernal creatures,” Canliss said, looking pointedly in my direction. I ignored him. I don’t think I need to be taking advice from someone who thinks that Grease and an army of goblins are a pretty good combination.
The desk also contained books that described Gates, summoning creatures, and other arcane subjects. I let Canliss take the books, but only after I made him promise not to unleash a lot of extra-planar monsters on the city. Istur has enough problems right now.
While the rest of us discussed this valuable new information, the stupid barbarian wandered off. None of us tried to stop him. We figured the worse that could happen was that the barbarian might fall into some lava. How could we have known how much trouble he would cause? Torodin save me, why didn’t we keep him on a leash?
Sadly, we failed to realize the ominous nature of Gore’s absence. As the barbarian rejoined us, none of us asked where he’d been. (It wasn’t as if we’d missed his company.) We all filed over to the far side of the room, but the opening led only to a pit of lava which the mages had apparently been using to dispose of refuse. Reckless the Brotherhood of the Flame might be, but they do seem to be resourceful.
Gore spent several minutes digging through the trash at the edge of the lava pit. We all watched him with varying degrees of disgust.
“Okay, I think we’re done here,” Val said loudly after we’d put up with several minutes of this. I’m not sure what Gore thought he was going to find in the garbage; certainly none of us cared enough to ask him.
As we regrouped and made our way toward the next unexplored area, Canliss tapped my shoulder from behind. I turned to see him pressed a glass vial into my hand.
“Nikita,” he whispered. “This is the antidote to that poison gas I picked up a long time ago.”
I had no memory of poison gas, but I seemed the sort of thing that Canliss was likely to pocket. I put the vial in my pack.
“Jven and I also have the antidote. Just in case. I have three vials of the poison.”
Hmm. Apparently, if things went south, Canliss was planning to poison everyone else, including Ester, while the three of us ran for it. Honestly, did he think we’d be willing to do something so foul? I wouldn’t even do that to Gore. Well, this wasn’t the time to discuss it, but I think Jven and I should have a little talk with our six-fingered friend sometime soon. And maybe we should search him when he’s sleeping, and deprive him of any other dangerous things he might be carrying.
The next room turned out to be very large and, to put it mildly, quite messy. Smoldering tables and chairs lay in bits and pieces all over the room. Chunks of the ceiling crashed to the soot-stained floor as we all paused in the doorway, our eyes watering at the smoke. Numerous flaming braziers lined the room, adding to the unpleasant, smoky atmosphere. It didn’t speak well of the Brotherhood of the Flame’s decorating sense. Really, this place was almost unappealing as Meridoth’s frozen lair. Just once I’d like to battle an evil villain who lives in a comfortable home, with art and music instead of fire, ice, and extra-planar monsters.
I shook my head. “This is the sort of thing that happens when mages just open up a Gate and let everything through.”
“And this scares me,” said Canliss.
“The Brotherhood of the Flame wasn’t very careful with fire,” said Gore. He’d probably just figured this out.
We could see several exits leading out of the room ahead of us. A reddish glow came from the exits straight ahead and to our right. The three exits to our left were dark.
“Let’s avoid those two,” said Jven, pointing to the exits with the ominous glow. “I’d just as soon not play around near the lava.”
Ester and Val took the lead, heading into the room along the edge and skirting the crumbling ceiling in the center. Just as the main group of us reached the opening, the brazier to our right exploded in a shower of smoke and sparks. All of us coughed and sputtered. Jven gasped and closed her eyes, blinded by the flash of light. Canliss guided Jven back to lean against the wall, away from the smoke. Behind them, Haquia bent over, coughing helplessly.
There was no immediate sign of our attackers. But, between the smoke obscuring our view and all those large tables lying on their sides, there was a lot of room to hide. Meanwhile, we were all sitting ducks. It was imperative that we take charge of this situation and turn things around quickly.
“Canliss, do something about this smoke,” I said.
“Way to take charge, Nikita,” Jven muttered as she rubbed futilely at her eyes.
Canliss peered through the smoke and stood there, doing nothing. I scowled at him – this was not the quick resolution of the situation that I’d been expecting. I’m afraid Canliss is starting to slack off now that Kariya isn’t around to make him look bad.
Ester and Val yelped and dodged aside as a ball of flame rolled towards them. “Get it! Get it!” Ester cried. Val leaped clear and swung at it with her blade as it rolled past, crackling and shooting sparks.
A second ball of flame appeared, rolling toward Jven, Canliss and myself. The six-fingered mage cursed and pulled Jven out of the way while I stepped nimbly aside.
“What? What?” asked Jven, who was still blind and didn’t understand why she was being manhandled by Canliss.
“It’s a ball of fire,” I explained.
“Oh. Fire bad.” She cast a spell. A sudden burst of rain drenched everyone and everything in the room. Several of the flaming braziers winked out, as did both balls of fire. My hair was ruined, but I suppose it was a small price to pay for our safety.
“Sorry about your hair, Nikita,” said Jven.
“Oh, it’s all right,” I said graciously. Privately, I was hoping that Canliss had a ‘dry’ cantrip handy.
Two magic users poked their heads out from behind two of the overturned tables. The man on the left seemed blurry, while the woman on the right glowed with a strange, violet light. Apparently they’d taken the time to magically protect themselves before ambushing us.
“We’re here to help!” Ester yelled even as Canliss zapped the one on the left with magic missiles. The Brotherhood mage ducked back behind the table; under the circumstances, it was unlikely he’d been reassured by Ester’s comment.
“Aaaaargh!” Gore rudely pushed his way through the rest of us to go charging into the middle of the room. He drew his sword screamed in rage, spittle flying from his mouth -as if he hadn’t been unattractive enough already.
Meanwhile, Ester charged up to the glowing, purple lady mage. Ester cried out in pain as the woman shot a flaming crossbow bolt into her chest. Undaunted, Ester swung her blade. As her blade brushed harmlessly by the mage’s arms, purple sparks shot up the length of the blade to coil around Ester’s arm.
“Hey, that’s cold!” Ester complained. “She used cold on me. She’s evil!”
While Ester was loudly protesting, a third mage popped up behind a table and shot the raging barbarian with a crossbow bolt. Gore didn’t seem to notice, but I wasn’t best pleased. All this damage was going to mean a lot of healing spells after the battle – as if Jven and I have nothing better to do.
“We’re here to destroy the Soul of Ice!” I yelled. “Will you let us pass?” I wasn’t hopeful of a peaceful resolution, but it wasn’t completely outside the realm of possibility. If what we’d read today was true, these mages had no good reason to be stopping us.
Sadly, logic didn’t seem to be the Brotherhood’s strong suit. The purple-glowing magess dodged Ester’s blade and cast two rays of flame, scorching Ester’s side rather badly.
“Ow!” Ester yelled. She was looking rather frustrated, the poor thing. The giantess just wasn’t used to getting beat up by a skinny mage.
Meanwhile, Val nimbly leaped over tables and rubble to land gracefully beside the blurry Brotherhood mage, who turned out to be a halfling. She stabbed him in the shoulder then leaped backward. And she looked stylish while doing it.
Suddenly, the third mage, who must have turned himself invisible, appeared directly in front of me. He held a glowing staff in one hand and wore the standard robes; he was very ugly, with a greenish tint to his skin and teeth that were a trifle too long. As Gore looked over his shoulder in surprise, the accursed mage shot flames from his hands, scorching Jven, Canliss, Haquia and myself. It hurt, damn him, and our clothes caught on fire.
“Hey, I like this skirt!” I complained.
“What the hell is going on?” asked Jven, who was still blind and no doubt resent being set on fire.
“A mage appeared right in front of you,” Canliss explained loudly over all the yelling from those who’d suddenly caught fire and were understandably resentful.
Suddenly, two glowing forces of black energy vaguely in the shape of daggers came flying from behind us. They zipped between us. One vanished, while the other hit the mage who’d set us on fire. The mage screamed in pain.
Surprised, I glanced over my shoulder. I saw a person wearing the ceremonial Shadow Robes and mask – the ones none of us, not even Freddy, would ever consider wearing outside the temple. Nor was it possible to steal such things.
“Who are you?” I called.
The man (or woman) only stepped back into the shadows. Curiosity almost drove me to follow. Who was this person, and what where they doing here? Clearly they’d come to help us, but Donar had no reason to send aid without telling us. Was this person a Torodinite? It seemed likely, but why were they wearing the Shadow Robes and concealing their identity. It was too far to go for a prank, even for Seregil. Those robes were sacred – we don’t wear them outside the temple. It just isn’t done.
Sadly, we were rather too occupied at the moment (not to mention on fire) to focus on the identity of the mysterious stranger. Jven cast her rain spell again. We were now completely soaked, but we weren’t on fire any longer. Jven had also managed to extinguish most of the remaining braziers. Jven, who was still blind, crouched close to the ground, no doubt hoping to avoid more fire spells.
Canliss cast more magic missiles at the blurry halfling. A series of high-pitched curses signaled his success. Haquia, still coughing and sputtering, followed his act with a couple of arrows.
Meanwhile, the mindlessly raging barbarian (well, ‘mindless’ is perhaps a redundant adjective where Gore is concerned) turned around and swung his axe mage who’d just set everyone on fire. Sadly, this mage was also blurred. Gore’s axe sliced through the air where the mage wasn’t standing.
“Gah!” Gore complained with his usual eloquence.
“Aaaaargh!” Ester cried in pain as purple energy shot up her arm. Her blade cut into the mage’s shoulder, causing another outcry. Sadly, from the way Ester was staggering, it looked like the giantess was taking the worst of that altercation. Undaunted, Ester stabbed the woman again. Both women screamed in pain. Ester staggered and nearly fell. Oh dear. This wasn’t good at all. Perhaps we should have stuck to missile weapons where that particular mage was concerned.
Whooosh! The halfling mage spat fire all over Val. She yelped in pain, and perhaps in wounded pride. Nobody likes being spit on.
Clearly, I needed to help out with this situation. Muttering a quiet apology to Donar, I summoned a Fiendish deinonychus to help out Ester. The mage dodged its snapping teeth but yelped as it clawed her shoulder. Sadly, the deinonychus screeched in pain from the cold, purple flames licking all over its body. Well, I wasn’t planning on the creature lasting long, but I was hoping the mage might attack it instead of Ester.
A little too late, I remembered that there just might be a Torodinite behind us who’d just seen me summon a Fiendish creature in violation of temple policy. I glanced over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see our mystery guest. Well, perhaps I’d have the opportunity to explain later.
“Aaaargh!” Ester screamed again as the glowing purple mage hit her with another ray of flames. Poor Ester was half frozen and looking ready to drop, I was too far away to heal her, and Jven was blind. This wasn’t good.
“Ha!” Val stabbed the blurry halfling then leaped back out of the way. She seemed to be faring much better than Ester.
Meanwhile, the mage on our end of the room wasn’t finished making a pest of himself. He lashed out at me, smacking me in the head with his glowing staff.
“Hey, that hurt!” I found myself feeling rather resentful of getting wounded. I don’t know how Ester puts up with it all the time.
Two more of the mystic daggers came flying through the air. They brushed past the mage’s shoulder and dissipated. I glanced over my shoulder, but I wasn’t fast enough to catch sight of our mysterious benefactor. While I was looking back, Canliss struck the mage with a volley of magic missiles. It was the first time any of us had wounded him. Haquia, who was still coughing from all the smoke, shot some arrows at him and missed.
“Aarrrrrrrrgh!” Gore swung his great, big axe at the mage. The blade sunk into the mage’s side, leading to a flow of blood that was rather gratifying to see. The mage fell to the ground in a heap. We all applauded except for Jven, who still couldn’t see what was happening.
Poor Ester had taken all of the freezing, purple energy she could stand. She backed up and ducked behind the nearest table, looking rather embarrassed. Retreating isn’t usually part of Ester’s combat repertoire.
The glowing purple mage leaped up, dodging the attack from my deinonychus, and cast a spell. A fireball roared into the room, catching all of us in its blast except for Canliss, who leaped backward just in time to avoid the grasping flames. Jven staggered back against the wall and almost feel. Poor Ester huddled behind her table, whimpering.
My deinonychus had escaped the blast of the fireball. I didn’t want it to die in purple flames just after I’d summoned it, so I called out in Infernal, ordering it to leap over the purple mage and pounce on the nearest target. The halfling looked surprised to be suddenly savaged by a dinosaur, but it served him right for hurting Val – what had she ever done to him?
While my dinosaur was busy, I dispelled the purple energy surrounding the mage. I probably should have done that sooner, but being alternately set on fire and drenched with water had been rather distracting.
“Ha!” Ester yelled happily. “Not so smart now, are you? Now you’re not purple any more!”
Canliss shot the no longer purple mage with magic missiles. Things were starting to look up for our side. Jven regained her sight and healed herself, while Haquia finally stopped coughing. She shot more arrows in the fray, managing to miss everyone in the room. So far her vaunted abilities as an archer hadn’t surfaced, but I’m sure she was just having a bad day.
More shadow daggers came flying into the fray, courtesy of our mysterious friend. One struck the halfling mage, dropping him to the floor. The other hit Gore in the shoulder.
“Aaargh!” Gore bellowed. Really, he was making an unreasonable fuss over such a minor wound.
“Look out behind you!” Gore charged past us, ignoring Jven’s attempt to trip him, and attacked our mysterious friend. Canliss, the big coward, pressed up against the wall to let the raging barbarian get by.
“Gore, stop it, you big idiot! He’s helping us!” I yelled
The stupid barbarian was too far gone in his mindless rage to listen to me. His axe caught our mysterious benefactor a deep blow to the shoulder.
“Who the --- aaargh!” cried the robed person. Gods in heaven, this was his reward for trying to help us? Damn that stupid barbarian.
Sadly Ester, the only one among us who was strong enough to restrain the barbarian, was busy. “Not so purple now are you?” she yelled, and swung at the remaining mage. Her blade slid deep between the woman’s ribs. She slumped to the ground, dead.
“Gore, it’s over! Stop!” Jven yelled.
The stupid barbarian raised his axe to swing again. I couldn’t let this happen. I didn’t want to kill Gore (much), but if he made me choose between him and someone who might be a fellow priest, it was an easy choice. I called to my deinonychus, ordering him to pounce on Gore. Sadly, it managed to leap right onto the blade of Gore’s axe, where it died rather messily.
I was willing to kill Gore if I had to, but I was hoping to startle him out of his rage instead. I cast ‘deeper darkness’, plunging us all into blackness.
We heard Jven casting. Suddenly, we were all strangely calm. Gore was still raging and foaming at the mouth, but it didn’t bother us so much. It didn’t even upset us when Canliss cast ‘grease’ in the hallway.
“Well, at least now I’m not so pissed off about being dragged into this mess,” I heard Jven mutter. In retrospect, I can’t help but wonder why Jven had been so angry. We didn’t drag her down here. Manipulate, yes – but nobody forced her to help us. Certainly she must realize that we couldn’t possibly succeed in the midst of so much ice and fire without her unique, weather-related skills.
“Aaaaargh!” The stupid barbarian was still flailing away with his axe, but between the grease and the darkness, he wasn’t hitting anything.
“Gore, I’m not gonna let you kill him,” I warned. “He’s a Torodinite. He’s here to help us.”
I didn’t want to summon a shadow to eat Gore – especially not when there was a good chance Donar would find out about it later – but I wasn’t going to let him kill a fellow priest. Fortunately, Gore finally calmed down and listened to what we were telling him.
“Gore, he’s a priest of Torodin. Knock it off.”
“But he attacked me.”
“That was friendly fire. It was an accident.”
“Oh, okay,” said Gore.
With a sigh, I dispelled the darkness. While Jven started healing everyone, I ran to the intersection, hoping to find our mysterious friend. There was no sign of him, not even after I cast ‘detect thoughts.’
I didn’t understand why this person would help us and then disappear. Granted, there was a chance Gore might have scared him off, but that misunderstanding could be explained.
“I’m sorry about Gore!” I called. “But if you come back, I’ll heal you.” There was no answer. I was saddened to think that we might have offended our mysterious benefactor. And the curiosity was killing me. Who was this person? I could have used a genius spell to find out his (or her) name, but I knew I needed to save my supply of gems for our mission.
I rejoined the others and explained about our mysterious friend. “He was wearing the ceremonial robes of a Torodinite. We don’t wear those outside the temple.”
“Nobody would be stupid enough to steal those robes,” Canliss said, shuddering. “It would be suicide.”
“Maybe it was an illusion,” said Val.
That was a possibility. But it seemed a strange illusion to pick. If the stranger wanted to gain our trust so they could betray us later, they would have stuck around.
With no immediate way to solve that mystery, I helped Jven with the healing. She’d been busy, so there wasn’t a lot left except for Gore. He was rather badly hurt, but there was the little problem of his distrust of magic. I glared at him and cast my healing spells on Jven and myself.
“Thank you,” said Jven, looking pointedly at Gore. “I feel so much better after magical healing.”
She grabbed the barbarian. “Gore, please pay attention when your party members are asking you to back off.” While she was lecturing, she sneaked in some healing.
I shook my head. “You should have made him apologize first. How is he going to learn?”
“Now you have to listen,” said Jven, healing Gore some more. The barbarian looked confused, no doubt wondering why being lectured by Jven was making him feel better.
Still, Gore was badly hurt, and I couldn’t leave all the work to Jven. “Gore, if you apologize to us for insulting our deities, Jven and I will heal you.”
“But I’ve never insulted your deities.”
“You most certainly have.”
“Gore!” Ester yelled. “Just say it.”
Jven pinched him. “Be careful what you say to Nikita.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him. “A simple apology is all I’m asking for.”
“If I have insulted your deity,” said Gore, “then I apologize.”
I blinked at the barbarian, surprised by the unexpected eloquence. “Very well,” I said, and helped Jven finish healing him. That accomplished, I handed Ester my two remaining healing potions to use in case of emergency.
By the time we were done with all the healing, Canliss had finished looting the bodies. In theory we were ready to move on, but we were all badly hurt. I suggested the rope trick/Nap combination. Not surprisingly, everyone jumped at the idea except for Gore. After the rest of us had climbed up, the barbarian stayed firmly on the ground, regarding the dangling rope with unwarranted suspicion.
“It’s all right,” I told him. “It’s a little room. We’re going to rest here for a while. Now get up here.”
Gore shook his head. “I’ll stand guard down here.”
“Knock yourself out,” said Jven.
“Oh, come on Gore,” said Val. “It’s perfectly safe.”
“No. I’m not climbing up into some magical… place.”
“It’s not magical,” said Ester. “It’s just extra-dimensional.”
Gore would not be convinced. So we all made ourselves comfortable and left him down there to stand guard… or do whatever else came to his feeble, little mind.
I tried to rest, but I couldn’t stop wondering about our mysterious ally. I got out my gems and looked longingly at them. Why is it that there’s always some vital quest that prevents me from using my magic to satisfy my curiosity? It hardly seems fair.
Jven looked at me and grinned. “Don’t even think about it,” she said. Jven knows me well.
“I just want to know who he is.” It occurred to me that we owed him and apology, and I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to make it. I wrote a note, then excused myself to the others and climbed down the rope.
“Where are you going?” Val called.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Take Gore with you,” Jven suggested. “He won’t come up here anyway.”
“Come along, Gore.” I allowed the barbarian to follow me to the map room, where I left a note apologizing to our mystery friend for the rude and unprovoked attack. I turned around only to see that the map was entirely devoid of pegs.
“GORE!” I yelled. “Didn’t I tell you not to move the pegs from the map?”
“I took them so they can’t plan any more attacks,” he said. The insufferable fool had the nerve to look pleased with himself. Now, assuming Donar hadn’t scryed on the map yet, would learn nothing from it. That map could have saved lives, and Gore had dismantled it.
“Get out of my sight.”
“But –“
I pointed to the door. “Get out of my sight right now!”
“But those were evil pegs.”
“OUT! Just get out!”
“Do you want the pegs?” asked Gore. He pulled the pegs from his pockets and handed them to me. Furious, I took the pegs and threw them at him.
“Now get out!”
Gore shrugged and went back to rejoin the others. Gods, I have never been so angry. I really, really wanted to cast a nasty spell on the stupid barbarian, but it would have been beneath my dignity. Instead, I pinned a note for Donar to the map explaining what Gore had done, and I started the painful and laborious process of replacing as many pegs as I could recall. It’s a good thing I’m extremely intelligent – at least Donar would learn something when he scryed on the map.
Ester came walking in a few minutes later. She’d been concerned that Gore had left me all alone in an “evil dungeon.”
Ester looked from me to the map in confusion. “Nikita, why did you take all the pegs out?”
“Gore did this!” I glared at Ester. “Ester, why did you pick him up? The next time you find a big, dumb idiot and you feel sorry for him, just keep walking. Don’t take him home with you.”
Ester looked contrite. “But he said he was the smartest barbarian in the world. I never would have taken those pegs out.”
“I know you wouldn’t have, Ester.”
“Everyone always used to call me stupid,” said Ester. “But now I know what stupid really is.”
“Who called you stupid?” I didn’t like the idea of people insulting Ester.
“Well, people used to be mean when I was growing up. They called me stupid, cause I didn’t figure out things very well. But they stopped calling me stupid after I got real big.”
“When you beat them up?”
She nodded.
“Feel free to beat Gore up any time you like, Ester.”
Ester waited more or less patiently while I replaced the rest of the pegs. It took a long, long time.
“You know,” said Ester, “I don’t think he’s really a diplomat at all.”
“That’s probably the job they give to the people they want to get rid of.”
While we were busy in the map room, Canliss had taken the time to go through all the loot he’d acquired. He handed Rings of Chill to Haquia, Jven and Ester, and he saved me a crossbow. He kept the glowing staff for himself.
After Canliss had sorted this out, some small rocks came flying up into the Rope Trick.
“Gore, eat your fish,” said Jven.
Val poked her head out. “What’s up?”
“I found the icy soul.”
“Really?” Val said unhappily.
“That’s nice,” said Canliss. “We’ll get it in the morning.”
“It’s a big pulsing sphere on top of a pyramid. It’s getting bigger. It’s with all these ice creatures on an island in the middle of a big pit of lava.”
“I can’t believe the stupid barbarian found the Soul of Ice,” said Val. “I’d better go tell Nikita.”
Val came into the map room, where I placing the last of the pins in the map with a little more force than was strictly necessary. I was still seething with anger.
“Uh, Nikita,” Val said sheepishly. “We think we may have found the Soul of Ice.”
“In the rope trick?”
“Uh, well, Gore found the Soul of Ice.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’ve got to be kidding me? Are you sure he didn’t just find an ice cube?”
Val shook her head. “He said he found a pyramid with a pulsing orb on top.” She described what Gore had told them. Ester was right – it did sound remarkably like the frozen child above Meridoth’s altar.
“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe Gore found the Soul of Ice. Does he even know what a pyramid is?”
“Well, I haven’t verified it,” Val admitted. “But it does sound like it.”
I sighed. I finished the map, and we all regrouped in the Rope Trick. Except Gore, who continued to stare at the rope with distrust.
“Gore, you need to get your but up here. Everyone is out of spells. We need to rest.”
“But if those creatures come after us, I can cut the rope bridge to their island,” Gore protested.
“They can probably fly,” Val countered.
Gore shook his head. “No, they were humanoid.”
Val sighed. “Come on. Get up here. We need to go over this.”
Grudgingly, Gore climbed into the Rope Trick. We all moved as far away from him as we could get. I couldn’t help but notice that the others placed themselves between me and Gore.
“Maybe we should go now?” Ester asked anxiously.
I understood her concern. We needed to destroy the Soul of Ice before it was too late. But rushing in and getting ourselves killed would not help anyone.
We had several hours to kill before we could sleep. So I used one of my precious gems, asking how we could best destroy The Soul of Ice. The answer was “smash it or magic force.”
I told the others. Frankly, I was disappointed. I’d expecting destroying an artifact of ultimate evil would be a little more complicated. Brute force seemed so primitive.
“It’s very cold in that cavern,” Gore warned us. “I wasn’t even inside and I was starting to get frost bite.” He smiled triumphantly. “Aren’t you all glad you have me?”
“Yeah,” Jven said bitterly. “What would we ever do without you, Gore? We probably would have walked right past the Soul of Ice.”
Gore described what he’d seen again, at Val’s urging.
“There’s a big blizzard in the cavern. Lots of wind. A rope bridge over the lava is the only way to the island. The pyramid is eighty feet tall. There’s a glowing, pulsating sphere on top, and it’s getting bigger.”
“Could you see anything inside the sphere?” I asked, thinking about Madeleine’s dead baby.
Gore shook his head. “I couldn’t see inside it.”
“What color is it?”
“It was sort of bluish.”
“And you said there were creatures? Were they undead?” I asked hopefully. Undead I was well equipped to handle.
“No,” said Gore. “They were icy, humanoid creatures. They were all climbing up the pyramid, and the biggest one was throwing the others back down. They were trying to get to the Soul of Ice at the top. Oh, and there were salamander statues on the pyramid, too. They were covered with ice. The ice seems to be spreading – it was covering the rope bridge.”
“So the Soul of Ice is getting bigger while we’re sitting here,” Ester said nervously.
Sadly, there was no help for it. We couldn’t fight our way to the pyramid without spells. We wouldn’t even survive the blizzard Gore had described.
We planned our attack as best we could. I would ride on Ester’s shoulder in mouse form, since she really does need her own personal healer. In addition to keeping the giantess in working order, I would be able to cast spells to banish some of the icy humanoid creatures, and I would be able to summon creatures to aid us. I would also cast Air Walk on Val and Ester, assuming Jven was able to magically calm the blizzard. Jven would also cast protective spells to make sure the cold didn’t kill us all before we’d even gotten started – that was a very important first step.
“And I can cast pebble to boulder,” Canliss piped up.
“Great,” said Val. “We’ll just pebble them to death.”
“And I’ll hit stuff,” said Ester.
"I could fly up to it and smash it with my new staff," Canliss offered, raising the glowing staff for emphasis. Jven and I looked at each other in alarm. This plan seemed to involve more risk to the six-fingered mage than was healthy.
"After I cast 'Sanctuary' on you, Canliss," Jven amended.
“Great,” I said. “We have a plan.” Well, it was sort of a plan, anyway. Torodin willing, it will be enough.
As soon as Canliss rejoined us, I provided everyone with a summary of clues regarding our mission. Ester provided everyone with grilled cheese sandwiches – to each according to their abilities. My expert summary of our mission went as follows:
We must find and destroy The Soul of Ice before the dead of Istur become frozen zombies.
What we know:
1. The Soul of Ice is extra-dimensional in nature
2. The Soul of Ice did not cause The Great Storm and surrounding events, but it is related to these events
3. The Soul of Ice is somehow channeling power.
4. The attack on the city by the Frozen Ones corresponded with the fires set by the small fire elementals.
5. Evidence suggests that the Brotherhood of the Flame set the fires
6. We witnessed members of the Brotherhood of the Flame battling a fire elemental and an extra-planar creature that was more comfortable with cold and ice.
7. The Brotherhood’s unfortunate scribe said that many creatures had “gotten loose.” The Brotherhood may have lost control of the extra-planar creatures they’ve summoned.
What we need to find out:
1. What is The Soul of ice?
2. Where is The Soul of ice?
3. How do we destroy it?
4. Who sent the Frozen Ones to attack the city, and are they in league with the Brotherhood of Flame?
5. Who was behind the attack on Istur’s churches, which happened conveniently close to the onset of these fires and zombie attacks?
6. Is all of this related to the “night of evil” from the Vistani prophecy?
“What prophecy?” asked Val, who’d quickly perused the notes according to instructions. Some people can follow orders (unlike certain barbarians I could mention).
“Well,” I explained, “we were in another plane of existence called Ravenloft where this prophecy was unfolding.” I got copies of the Scroll Prophecy out of my pack and handed one to everyone.
“There was a boat,” Ester said.
“A boat?” Val asked in confusion. She was looking at her copy of the prophecy and had probably noticed a certain lack of boats being mentioned.
“It was a Ghost Boat,” Ester explained. “And I got this.” She pulled down the collar of her shirt to show Val her scar. “I got bit on the Ghost Boat.”
Val, who’d never heard of ghosts, nodded at Ester. “Oh, I see,” she lied.
“Ester,” I chided. “Please, I was speaking.”
“Sorry.”
“We had witnessed a sign from the Prophecy indicating that a night of evil was about to happen, and then we ended up back here in Istur. This leads us to the possible conclusion that the night of evil is going to happen here.”
“Oh, okay,” said Val. She looked a little overwhelmed.
At this point, Jven asked Canliss to take a note to Halberto, so her fellow Jveltoans wouldn’t think she’d disappeared again. Really, this was a detail she should have been taken care of before we’d come down here, but one can’t expect a Jveltoan to be organized.
Canliss obligingly flew off to deliver Jven’s note. He’s really quite a patient man, Canliss is.
“Nikita, can I have another copy of the Prophecy?” Ester asked me plaintively.
“What happened to your copy?”
“I gave it to the Azkalites. But it’s okay – they realized how important it was.”
“They did?” I asked doubtfully.
Ester nodded. “They put it in a special drawer to keep it safe. They said that’s where all the prophecies go.”
“Oh, I see.” I handed Ester another copy and advised her not to give this one away. “Special drawer,” indeed. Stupid Azkalites.
We discussed the Prophecy for a while, largely for Val’s edification. I certainly didn’t expect any insight from Gore.
“Wasn’t the lifeless child of stern mother unborn – wasn’t he encased in ice?” Ester asked excitedly.
“Yes, he was.” I was rather proud of Ester for recalling that detail. I described Meridoth’s macabre altar to Val. Naturally, she was horrified.
“We destroyed it,” said Ester. “Do you suppose that’s where the Soul of Ice came from?”
Donar was right – you never do know where inspiration will come from; sometimes Torodin chooses the most unlikely of vessels. “You may be right, Ester. I have been wondering if the Soul of Ice is, literally, a soul trapped in ice.”
“Does that mean we need to keep the Soul of Ice or destroy it?” Ester asked.
“Donar told us we need to destroy it, Ester. Otherwise all the dead in Istur will become frozen zombies.”
“So we should destroy it?”
“Yes.”
Val shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”
“Of course, we don’t yet know how to destroy it,” I pointed out.
“It’s ice,” said Ester. “We’ll melt it.”
“Somehow, I don’t think it’s going to be that simple,” I told Ester.
“Let’s give simple a chance to work,” Jven suggested.
Deciding to overlook Jven’s snide remark, I handed out a description of my various divination abilities. Most people just don’t understand how divination works. I encouraged everyone, even Gore, to think of ways we could use divination to solve our mission.
“Do you think the Flame people and the Ice people are enemies?” asked Ester. “They don’t seem like they should work together.”
“That’s strangely logical,” said Val. She seemed amused by Ester’s attempts at deduction. Still, Ester’s ideas had proven quite valid, so far – sometimes, when one needs to figure something out, persistence is more valuable than intellect.
“It would be nice to know about the power struggle here,” I told Ester. “But I don’t think it’s worth spending a gem. It’s not crucial to our mission. So, does anyone have any questions about how divination works?”
“I don’t know,” said Gore. “But I think we should move all these pegs on the map.”
“No. Donar is going to scry on them, so they’ll know where all the attacks are being planned.”
“Oh.”
I rolled my eyes at Val. Stupid barbarian. He should stop trying to think, and stick to his strengths. Or strength. As far as I can tell, he’s only good for hitting things.
“We should move all the pegs to where the army of the dead is,” Gore said. He actually had the nerve to look pleased with himself, as if this were a brilliant idea.
“No,” said Ester, in the same tone of voice you’d use for a puppy that had just soiled the carpet. “No. No. No.”
“But then –“
“Sit down, Gore,” I said.
“But if we steal all the pegs, then they can’t plan any more attacks. Ha.”
“I think you should get over this sudden obsession with pegs,” Jven told the barbarian.
“And with thinking,” I added.
Ester rolled her eyes. “And he’s the smartest barbarian in the world.”
“That’s right,” said Gore.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Jven. “We’ll point you in the direction your skills will be best employed. And in the mean-time, why don’t you just relax and polish your sword?”
This earned laughter from everyone but Gore. Not surprisingly, he didn’t get the joke.
Some time later, Canliss returned. “I found somebody who can help us,” he said. “She’s an archer. She’s waiting at the other end of the rope bridge.”
I sighed. “Canliss, if you’d told me you were going to bring a friend, I would have made another copy of the clues.”
“Nikita, she doesn’t have any protection from the heat. Can I borrow your Ring of Chill so she can come across?”
“Very well. Don’t get it dirty.” I handed Canliss my ring and he flew back to the rope bridges. Ester, who didn’t think Canliss was enough protection for our new recruit, followed him. They returned a few minutes later with a slender, plain-looking young woman who carried a bow across her shoulder. She looked at us all curiously.
“Canliss, who’s your friend?” I asked.
The woman gave her name as Haquia. She graciously returned my ring. I introduced everyone, since Canliss couldn’t be counted on to observe the social niceties.
“So how do you know Canliss?” I asked.
“I don’t.”
“Canliss!” Jven and I scolded the six-fingered mage in unison. He’d dragged some strange woman down here to help on our quest – what was he thinking? Why didn’t he recruit some of those new paladins at The Word of Law while he was at it – let everyone in Istur think we were desperate for help.
“She wanted to help,” Canliss defended himself.
“Are you here of your own free will?”
“Yes,” said Haquia. “He’s telling the truth.”
“Here, dear. This will get you up to speed.” I handed Haquia a copy of The Prophecy and our mission notes.
“So, we’re gonna go find the extra-dimensional Soul of Ice,” Ester explained. “And save the city.”
“I didn’t mention those details,” said Canliss. “I did tell her about the lava.”
“After I got down here,” Haquia said, rolling her eyes. She was catching on rather quickly to Canliss’s way of doing things.
“Well, we are on an important quest, dear,” I assured Haquia. “We are looking for the Soul of Ice, as Ester said. We don’t exactly know what it is, but we need to destroy it before it turns all of Istur’s dead into zombies.”
“Which would be bad,” said Ester.
“However, if you’re having second thoughts now that you’ve seen the situation, no one would think any less of you for wanting to go back to the surface.” That wasn’t exactly true, but reluctant help is worse than no help at all. It’s almost worse than Gore.
“Well, I do want to help,” said Haquia. She looked dubiously at her copy of the notes. “I don’t know how much help I can be, though.”
“Can you kill things?” Ester asked.
Haquia nodded.
“Well, that’s all right, then.” Ester frowned at Gore. “Some people would rather take a nap than kick ass.”
“Now Ester,” said Jven, “let’s all try to get along.” She looked frustrated, the poor thing. Jveltoans just aren’t used to playing peacemaker; they’re generally more inclined to grab an ale and watch the fight happen.
Now that we were all assembled, we headed off to search for the Soul of Ice. Ester and Val took the lead as we explored further into the complex, leaving Gore and Haquia to guard the rear. I wasn’t sure of Haquia’s loyalties yet, but if she turned out to be untrustworthy, it wasn’t all that far to the lava – and she didn’t look heavy.
“I’m a diplomatic envoy,” Gore explained to Haquia as we left the map room. “I’m also a deputy of the City Watch, and a minister of mysterious levies and fees.”
Haquia looked doubtfully up at Gore and made noncommittal noises. Whatever else she might be, she’s apparently no fool. She knows a big idiot when she sees one.
“I’m a private in the City Watch.” Ester stopped to deliver this important news to Haquia, which was awkward since she and Val were supposed to be leading our little procession. “I’m a private, which is better than a deputy. I got this new badge, see. I’m part of the City Watch now; I’m not doing that silly ministry of meteors thing any more.”
“Ester, focus,” I said. I found myself missing Rhavin and Kariya more than ever. Keeping everyone in line is becoming a drain on my patience.
“I’m just saying,” said Ester.
“So we don’t have a sergeant any more?” asked Canliss, feigning concern.
Ester shrugged. “You guys are just gonna have to figure something out.”
“Are we there yet?” said Jven.
“I’m hungry,” Ester complained.
“Everyone, please, let’s focus on our task. The Soul of Ice, remember?” I glared at Canliss. I don’t know why he looked surprised – he should know better than to encourage Ester like that.
After more effort than such a simple process should have required, we made it to the end of the corridor. It opened up into a room that was the mirror image of the map room, sans map and incriminating documents. Several long wooden tables were covered with tubes and glasses, reminding me very much of Doctor Mordenheim’s laboratory.
“Hey, there were tables like this in front of the lifeless child of stern mother unborn,” said Ester. This comment confused half of the group, but I let it go. I can’t forever be explaining things, and they don’t really need to know all the details in order to be useful.
Canliss immediately pushed his way to the tables to look for anything valuable he could take. The room also contained some rather nice-looking if slightly singed furniture – an antique bed, a writing desk, and a large armoire. While I examined the desk, Val followed Gore over to the armoire. The pretty warrior watched with amusement while the barbarian tried in vain to tie his thick hemp rope around the armoire’s delicate knobs.
“What are you doing?” Canliss asked.
“I’m going to open the ward-robe from a distance,” said the barbarian. “In case it’s dangerous.” Apparently, young children in Gore’s tribe are taught to fear armoires.
“Uh, I’ll just watch the exists then,” said Ester.
“I’ll help,” said Jven. The giantess proceeded to lounge in the doorway and regard the rest of us with a bored expression while she devoured the last of her grilled cheese sandwiches. Jven decided to stretch out on the bed.
Val watched Gore try to make a tiny loop out of his big, fat rope for several minutes. Then, smiling, she moved up beside him.
“Here, let me help you.”
Gore handed her the rope. Ignoring him, she reached past him and opened the armoire.
“No!” Gore jumped back, startled.
While the rest of us laughed at Gore, Val peered inside the armoire. “Nothing in here but cheap pants and plain, black robes,” she complained. Despite Gore’s fears, none of the clothing appeared to be dangerous.
I cast a spell to read the stack of papers on the desk. It seemed to be research on how to open a permanent plane to the elemental plane of fire. It seemed that the Brotherhood was planning to push the Soul of Ice through said fire portal. One of the papers described the location of the Soul of Ice as being the top of “The Holy Pyramid.” The Brotherhood mages seemed to suspect that The Soul of Ice acted as a one-way gateway to the para-elemental plane of ice, which explained the presence of the flying ice lizard we’d seen earlier.
“So they opened up a permanent gate to the plane of Fire to get rid of the Soul of Ice?” Jven asked.
“Apparently.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“They were also contemplating summon demons to control the fire elementals that had escaped them,” I explained. “I’m afraid these mages were completely out of control.”
“Nobody should summon infernal creatures,” Canliss said, looking pointedly in my direction. I ignored him. I don’t think I need to be taking advice from someone who thinks that Grease and an army of goblins are a pretty good combination.
The desk also contained books that described Gates, summoning creatures, and other arcane subjects. I let Canliss take the books, but only after I made him promise not to unleash a lot of extra-planar monsters on the city. Istur has enough problems right now.
While the rest of us discussed this valuable new information, the stupid barbarian wandered off. None of us tried to stop him. We figured the worse that could happen was that the barbarian might fall into some lava. How could we have known how much trouble he would cause? Torodin save me, why didn’t we keep him on a leash?
Sadly, we failed to realize the ominous nature of Gore’s absence. As the barbarian rejoined us, none of us asked where he’d been. (It wasn’t as if we’d missed his company.) We all filed over to the far side of the room, but the opening led only to a pit of lava which the mages had apparently been using to dispose of refuse. Reckless the Brotherhood of the Flame might be, but they do seem to be resourceful.
Gore spent several minutes digging through the trash at the edge of the lava pit. We all watched him with varying degrees of disgust.
“Okay, I think we’re done here,” Val said loudly after we’d put up with several minutes of this. I’m not sure what Gore thought he was going to find in the garbage; certainly none of us cared enough to ask him.
As we regrouped and made our way toward the next unexplored area, Canliss tapped my shoulder from behind. I turned to see him pressed a glass vial into my hand.
“Nikita,” he whispered. “This is the antidote to that poison gas I picked up a long time ago.”
I had no memory of poison gas, but I seemed the sort of thing that Canliss was likely to pocket. I put the vial in my pack.
“Jven and I also have the antidote. Just in case. I have three vials of the poison.”
Hmm. Apparently, if things went south, Canliss was planning to poison everyone else, including Ester, while the three of us ran for it. Honestly, did he think we’d be willing to do something so foul? I wouldn’t even do that to Gore. Well, this wasn’t the time to discuss it, but I think Jven and I should have a little talk with our six-fingered friend sometime soon. And maybe we should search him when he’s sleeping, and deprive him of any other dangerous things he might be carrying.
The next room turned out to be very large and, to put it mildly, quite messy. Smoldering tables and chairs lay in bits and pieces all over the room. Chunks of the ceiling crashed to the soot-stained floor as we all paused in the doorway, our eyes watering at the smoke. Numerous flaming braziers lined the room, adding to the unpleasant, smoky atmosphere. It didn’t speak well of the Brotherhood of the Flame’s decorating sense. Really, this place was almost unappealing as Meridoth’s frozen lair. Just once I’d like to battle an evil villain who lives in a comfortable home, with art and music instead of fire, ice, and extra-planar monsters.
I shook my head. “This is the sort of thing that happens when mages just open up a Gate and let everything through.”
“And this scares me,” said Canliss.
“The Brotherhood of the Flame wasn’t very careful with fire,” said Gore. He’d probably just figured this out.
We could see several exits leading out of the room ahead of us. A reddish glow came from the exits straight ahead and to our right. The three exits to our left were dark.
“Let’s avoid those two,” said Jven, pointing to the exits with the ominous glow. “I’d just as soon not play around near the lava.”
Ester and Val took the lead, heading into the room along the edge and skirting the crumbling ceiling in the center. Just as the main group of us reached the opening, the brazier to our right exploded in a shower of smoke and sparks. All of us coughed and sputtered. Jven gasped and closed her eyes, blinded by the flash of light. Canliss guided Jven back to lean against the wall, away from the smoke. Behind them, Haquia bent over, coughing helplessly.
There was no immediate sign of our attackers. But, between the smoke obscuring our view and all those large tables lying on their sides, there was a lot of room to hide. Meanwhile, we were all sitting ducks. It was imperative that we take charge of this situation and turn things around quickly.
“Canliss, do something about this smoke,” I said.
“Way to take charge, Nikita,” Jven muttered as she rubbed futilely at her eyes.
Canliss peered through the smoke and stood there, doing nothing. I scowled at him – this was not the quick resolution of the situation that I’d been expecting. I’m afraid Canliss is starting to slack off now that Kariya isn’t around to make him look bad.
Ester and Val yelped and dodged aside as a ball of flame rolled towards them. “Get it! Get it!” Ester cried. Val leaped clear and swung at it with her blade as it rolled past, crackling and shooting sparks.
A second ball of flame appeared, rolling toward Jven, Canliss and myself. The six-fingered mage cursed and pulled Jven out of the way while I stepped nimbly aside.
“What? What?” asked Jven, who was still blind and didn’t understand why she was being manhandled by Canliss.
“It’s a ball of fire,” I explained.
“Oh. Fire bad.” She cast a spell. A sudden burst of rain drenched everyone and everything in the room. Several of the flaming braziers winked out, as did both balls of fire. My hair was ruined, but I suppose it was a small price to pay for our safety.
“Sorry about your hair, Nikita,” said Jven.
“Oh, it’s all right,” I said graciously. Privately, I was hoping that Canliss had a ‘dry’ cantrip handy.
Two magic users poked their heads out from behind two of the overturned tables. The man on the left seemed blurry, while the woman on the right glowed with a strange, violet light. Apparently they’d taken the time to magically protect themselves before ambushing us.
“We’re here to help!” Ester yelled even as Canliss zapped the one on the left with magic missiles. The Brotherhood mage ducked back behind the table; under the circumstances, it was unlikely he’d been reassured by Ester’s comment.
“Aaaaargh!” Gore rudely pushed his way through the rest of us to go charging into the middle of the room. He drew his sword screamed in rage, spittle flying from his mouth -as if he hadn’t been unattractive enough already.
Meanwhile, Ester charged up to the glowing, purple lady mage. Ester cried out in pain as the woman shot a flaming crossbow bolt into her chest. Undaunted, Ester swung her blade. As her blade brushed harmlessly by the mage’s arms, purple sparks shot up the length of the blade to coil around Ester’s arm.
“Hey, that’s cold!” Ester complained. “She used cold on me. She’s evil!”
While Ester was loudly protesting, a third mage popped up behind a table and shot the raging barbarian with a crossbow bolt. Gore didn’t seem to notice, but I wasn’t best pleased. All this damage was going to mean a lot of healing spells after the battle – as if Jven and I have nothing better to do.
“We’re here to destroy the Soul of Ice!” I yelled. “Will you let us pass?” I wasn’t hopeful of a peaceful resolution, but it wasn’t completely outside the realm of possibility. If what we’d read today was true, these mages had no good reason to be stopping us.
Sadly, logic didn’t seem to be the Brotherhood’s strong suit. The purple-glowing magess dodged Ester’s blade and cast two rays of flame, scorching Ester’s side rather badly.
“Ow!” Ester yelled. She was looking rather frustrated, the poor thing. The giantess just wasn’t used to getting beat up by a skinny mage.
Meanwhile, Val nimbly leaped over tables and rubble to land gracefully beside the blurry Brotherhood mage, who turned out to be a halfling. She stabbed him in the shoulder then leaped backward. And she looked stylish while doing it.
Suddenly, the third mage, who must have turned himself invisible, appeared directly in front of me. He held a glowing staff in one hand and wore the standard robes; he was very ugly, with a greenish tint to his skin and teeth that were a trifle too long. As Gore looked over his shoulder in surprise, the accursed mage shot flames from his hands, scorching Jven, Canliss, Haquia and myself. It hurt, damn him, and our clothes caught on fire.
“Hey, I like this skirt!” I complained.
“What the hell is going on?” asked Jven, who was still blind and no doubt resent being set on fire.
“A mage appeared right in front of you,” Canliss explained loudly over all the yelling from those who’d suddenly caught fire and were understandably resentful.
Suddenly, two glowing forces of black energy vaguely in the shape of daggers came flying from behind us. They zipped between us. One vanished, while the other hit the mage who’d set us on fire. The mage screamed in pain.
Surprised, I glanced over my shoulder. I saw a person wearing the ceremonial Shadow Robes and mask – the ones none of us, not even Freddy, would ever consider wearing outside the temple. Nor was it possible to steal such things.
“Who are you?” I called.
The man (or woman) only stepped back into the shadows. Curiosity almost drove me to follow. Who was this person, and what where they doing here? Clearly they’d come to help us, but Donar had no reason to send aid without telling us. Was this person a Torodinite? It seemed likely, but why were they wearing the Shadow Robes and concealing their identity. It was too far to go for a prank, even for Seregil. Those robes were sacred – we don’t wear them outside the temple. It just isn’t done.
Sadly, we were rather too occupied at the moment (not to mention on fire) to focus on the identity of the mysterious stranger. Jven cast her rain spell again. We were now completely soaked, but we weren’t on fire any longer. Jven had also managed to extinguish most of the remaining braziers. Jven, who was still blind, crouched close to the ground, no doubt hoping to avoid more fire spells.
Canliss cast more magic missiles at the blurry halfling. A series of high-pitched curses signaled his success. Haquia, still coughing and sputtering, followed his act with a couple of arrows.
Meanwhile, the mindlessly raging barbarian (well, ‘mindless’ is perhaps a redundant adjective where Gore is concerned) turned around and swung his axe mage who’d just set everyone on fire. Sadly, this mage was also blurred. Gore’s axe sliced through the air where the mage wasn’t standing.
“Gah!” Gore complained with his usual eloquence.
“Aaaaargh!” Ester cried in pain as purple energy shot up her arm. Her blade cut into the mage’s shoulder, causing another outcry. Sadly, from the way Ester was staggering, it looked like the giantess was taking the worst of that altercation. Undaunted, Ester stabbed the woman again. Both women screamed in pain. Ester staggered and nearly fell. Oh dear. This wasn’t good at all. Perhaps we should have stuck to missile weapons where that particular mage was concerned.
Whooosh! The halfling mage spat fire all over Val. She yelped in pain, and perhaps in wounded pride. Nobody likes being spit on.
Clearly, I needed to help out with this situation. Muttering a quiet apology to Donar, I summoned a Fiendish deinonychus to help out Ester. The mage dodged its snapping teeth but yelped as it clawed her shoulder. Sadly, the deinonychus screeched in pain from the cold, purple flames licking all over its body. Well, I wasn’t planning on the creature lasting long, but I was hoping the mage might attack it instead of Ester.
A little too late, I remembered that there just might be a Torodinite behind us who’d just seen me summon a Fiendish creature in violation of temple policy. I glanced over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see our mystery guest. Well, perhaps I’d have the opportunity to explain later.
“Aaaargh!” Ester screamed again as the glowing purple mage hit her with another ray of flames. Poor Ester was half frozen and looking ready to drop, I was too far away to heal her, and Jven was blind. This wasn’t good.
“Ha!” Val stabbed the blurry halfling then leaped back out of the way. She seemed to be faring much better than Ester.
Meanwhile, the mage on our end of the room wasn’t finished making a pest of himself. He lashed out at me, smacking me in the head with his glowing staff.
“Hey, that hurt!” I found myself feeling rather resentful of getting wounded. I don’t know how Ester puts up with it all the time.
Two more of the mystic daggers came flying through the air. They brushed past the mage’s shoulder and dissipated. I glanced over my shoulder, but I wasn’t fast enough to catch sight of our mysterious benefactor. While I was looking back, Canliss struck the mage with a volley of magic missiles. It was the first time any of us had wounded him. Haquia, who was still coughing from all the smoke, shot some arrows at him and missed.
“Aarrrrrrrrgh!” Gore swung his great, big axe at the mage. The blade sunk into the mage’s side, leading to a flow of blood that was rather gratifying to see. The mage fell to the ground in a heap. We all applauded except for Jven, who still couldn’t see what was happening.
Poor Ester had taken all of the freezing, purple energy she could stand. She backed up and ducked behind the nearest table, looking rather embarrassed. Retreating isn’t usually part of Ester’s combat repertoire.
The glowing purple mage leaped up, dodging the attack from my deinonychus, and cast a spell. A fireball roared into the room, catching all of us in its blast except for Canliss, who leaped backward just in time to avoid the grasping flames. Jven staggered back against the wall and almost feel. Poor Ester huddled behind her table, whimpering.
My deinonychus had escaped the blast of the fireball. I didn’t want it to die in purple flames just after I’d summoned it, so I called out in Infernal, ordering it to leap over the purple mage and pounce on the nearest target. The halfling looked surprised to be suddenly savaged by a dinosaur, but it served him right for hurting Val – what had she ever done to him?
While my dinosaur was busy, I dispelled the purple energy surrounding the mage. I probably should have done that sooner, but being alternately set on fire and drenched with water had been rather distracting.
“Ha!” Ester yelled happily. “Not so smart now, are you? Now you’re not purple any more!”
Canliss shot the no longer purple mage with magic missiles. Things were starting to look up for our side. Jven regained her sight and healed herself, while Haquia finally stopped coughing. She shot more arrows in the fray, managing to miss everyone in the room. So far her vaunted abilities as an archer hadn’t surfaced, but I’m sure she was just having a bad day.
More shadow daggers came flying into the fray, courtesy of our mysterious friend. One struck the halfling mage, dropping him to the floor. The other hit Gore in the shoulder.
“Aaargh!” Gore bellowed. Really, he was making an unreasonable fuss over such a minor wound.
“Look out behind you!” Gore charged past us, ignoring Jven’s attempt to trip him, and attacked our mysterious friend. Canliss, the big coward, pressed up against the wall to let the raging barbarian get by.
“Gore, stop it, you big idiot! He’s helping us!” I yelled
The stupid barbarian was too far gone in his mindless rage to listen to me. His axe caught our mysterious benefactor a deep blow to the shoulder.
“Who the --- aaargh!” cried the robed person. Gods in heaven, this was his reward for trying to help us? Damn that stupid barbarian.
Sadly Ester, the only one among us who was strong enough to restrain the barbarian, was busy. “Not so purple now are you?” she yelled, and swung at the remaining mage. Her blade slid deep between the woman’s ribs. She slumped to the ground, dead.
“Gore, it’s over! Stop!” Jven yelled.
The stupid barbarian raised his axe to swing again. I couldn’t let this happen. I didn’t want to kill Gore (much), but if he made me choose between him and someone who might be a fellow priest, it was an easy choice. I called to my deinonychus, ordering him to pounce on Gore. Sadly, it managed to leap right onto the blade of Gore’s axe, where it died rather messily.
I was willing to kill Gore if I had to, but I was hoping to startle him out of his rage instead. I cast ‘deeper darkness’, plunging us all into blackness.
We heard Jven casting. Suddenly, we were all strangely calm. Gore was still raging and foaming at the mouth, but it didn’t bother us so much. It didn’t even upset us when Canliss cast ‘grease’ in the hallway.
“Well, at least now I’m not so pissed off about being dragged into this mess,” I heard Jven mutter. In retrospect, I can’t help but wonder why Jven had been so angry. We didn’t drag her down here. Manipulate, yes – but nobody forced her to help us. Certainly she must realize that we couldn’t possibly succeed in the midst of so much ice and fire without her unique, weather-related skills.
“Aaaaargh!” The stupid barbarian was still flailing away with his axe, but between the grease and the darkness, he wasn’t hitting anything.
“Gore, I’m not gonna let you kill him,” I warned. “He’s a Torodinite. He’s here to help us.”
I didn’t want to summon a shadow to eat Gore – especially not when there was a good chance Donar would find out about it later – but I wasn’t going to let him kill a fellow priest. Fortunately, Gore finally calmed down and listened to what we were telling him.
“Gore, he’s a priest of Torodin. Knock it off.”
“But he attacked me.”
“That was friendly fire. It was an accident.”
“Oh, okay,” said Gore.
With a sigh, I dispelled the darkness. While Jven started healing everyone, I ran to the intersection, hoping to find our mysterious friend. There was no sign of him, not even after I cast ‘detect thoughts.’
I didn’t understand why this person would help us and then disappear. Granted, there was a chance Gore might have scared him off, but that misunderstanding could be explained.
“I’m sorry about Gore!” I called. “But if you come back, I’ll heal you.” There was no answer. I was saddened to think that we might have offended our mysterious benefactor. And the curiosity was killing me. Who was this person? I could have used a genius spell to find out his (or her) name, but I knew I needed to save my supply of gems for our mission.
I rejoined the others and explained about our mysterious friend. “He was wearing the ceremonial robes of a Torodinite. We don’t wear those outside the temple.”
“Nobody would be stupid enough to steal those robes,” Canliss said, shuddering. “It would be suicide.”
“Maybe it was an illusion,” said Val.
That was a possibility. But it seemed a strange illusion to pick. If the stranger wanted to gain our trust so they could betray us later, they would have stuck around.
With no immediate way to solve that mystery, I helped Jven with the healing. She’d been busy, so there wasn’t a lot left except for Gore. He was rather badly hurt, but there was the little problem of his distrust of magic. I glared at him and cast my healing spells on Jven and myself.
“Thank you,” said Jven, looking pointedly at Gore. “I feel so much better after magical healing.”
She grabbed the barbarian. “Gore, please pay attention when your party members are asking you to back off.” While she was lecturing, she sneaked in some healing.
I shook my head. “You should have made him apologize first. How is he going to learn?”
“Now you have to listen,” said Jven, healing Gore some more. The barbarian looked confused, no doubt wondering why being lectured by Jven was making him feel better.
Still, Gore was badly hurt, and I couldn’t leave all the work to Jven. “Gore, if you apologize to us for insulting our deities, Jven and I will heal you.”
“But I’ve never insulted your deities.”
“You most certainly have.”
“Gore!” Ester yelled. “Just say it.”
Jven pinched him. “Be careful what you say to Nikita.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him. “A simple apology is all I’m asking for.”
“If I have insulted your deity,” said Gore, “then I apologize.”
I blinked at the barbarian, surprised by the unexpected eloquence. “Very well,” I said, and helped Jven finish healing him. That accomplished, I handed Ester my two remaining healing potions to use in case of emergency.
By the time we were done with all the healing, Canliss had finished looting the bodies. In theory we were ready to move on, but we were all badly hurt. I suggested the rope trick/Nap combination. Not surprisingly, everyone jumped at the idea except for Gore. After the rest of us had climbed up, the barbarian stayed firmly on the ground, regarding the dangling rope with unwarranted suspicion.
“It’s all right,” I told him. “It’s a little room. We’re going to rest here for a while. Now get up here.”
Gore shook his head. “I’ll stand guard down here.”
“Knock yourself out,” said Jven.
“Oh, come on Gore,” said Val. “It’s perfectly safe.”
“No. I’m not climbing up into some magical… place.”
“It’s not magical,” said Ester. “It’s just extra-dimensional.”
Gore would not be convinced. So we all made ourselves comfortable and left him down there to stand guard… or do whatever else came to his feeble, little mind.
I tried to rest, but I couldn’t stop wondering about our mysterious ally. I got out my gems and looked longingly at them. Why is it that there’s always some vital quest that prevents me from using my magic to satisfy my curiosity? It hardly seems fair.
Jven looked at me and grinned. “Don’t even think about it,” she said. Jven knows me well.
“I just want to know who he is.” It occurred to me that we owed him and apology, and I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to make it. I wrote a note, then excused myself to the others and climbed down the rope.
“Where are you going?” Val called.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Take Gore with you,” Jven suggested. “He won’t come up here anyway.”
“Come along, Gore.” I allowed the barbarian to follow me to the map room, where I left a note apologizing to our mystery friend for the rude and unprovoked attack. I turned around only to see that the map was entirely devoid of pegs.
“GORE!” I yelled. “Didn’t I tell you not to move the pegs from the map?”
“I took them so they can’t plan any more attacks,” he said. The insufferable fool had the nerve to look pleased with himself. Now, assuming Donar hadn’t scryed on the map yet, would learn nothing from it. That map could have saved lives, and Gore had dismantled it.
“Get out of my sight.”
“But –“
I pointed to the door. “Get out of my sight right now!”
“But those were evil pegs.”
“OUT! Just get out!”
“Do you want the pegs?” asked Gore. He pulled the pegs from his pockets and handed them to me. Furious, I took the pegs and threw them at him.
“Now get out!”
Gore shrugged and went back to rejoin the others. Gods, I have never been so angry. I really, really wanted to cast a nasty spell on the stupid barbarian, but it would have been beneath my dignity. Instead, I pinned a note for Donar to the map explaining what Gore had done, and I started the painful and laborious process of replacing as many pegs as I could recall. It’s a good thing I’m extremely intelligent – at least Donar would learn something when he scryed on the map.
Ester came walking in a few minutes later. She’d been concerned that Gore had left me all alone in an “evil dungeon.”
Ester looked from me to the map in confusion. “Nikita, why did you take all the pegs out?”
“Gore did this!” I glared at Ester. “Ester, why did you pick him up? The next time you find a big, dumb idiot and you feel sorry for him, just keep walking. Don’t take him home with you.”
Ester looked contrite. “But he said he was the smartest barbarian in the world. I never would have taken those pegs out.”
“I know you wouldn’t have, Ester.”
“Everyone always used to call me stupid,” said Ester. “But now I know what stupid really is.”
“Who called you stupid?” I didn’t like the idea of people insulting Ester.
“Well, people used to be mean when I was growing up. They called me stupid, cause I didn’t figure out things very well. But they stopped calling me stupid after I got real big.”
“When you beat them up?”
She nodded.
“Feel free to beat Gore up any time you like, Ester.”
Ester waited more or less patiently while I replaced the rest of the pegs. It took a long, long time.
“You know,” said Ester, “I don’t think he’s really a diplomat at all.”
“That’s probably the job they give to the people they want to get rid of.”
While we were busy in the map room, Canliss had taken the time to go through all the loot he’d acquired. He handed Rings of Chill to Haquia, Jven and Ester, and he saved me a crossbow. He kept the glowing staff for himself.
After Canliss had sorted this out, some small rocks came flying up into the Rope Trick.
“Gore, eat your fish,” said Jven.
Val poked her head out. “What’s up?”
“I found the icy soul.”
“Really?” Val said unhappily.
“That’s nice,” said Canliss. “We’ll get it in the morning.”
“It’s a big pulsing sphere on top of a pyramid. It’s getting bigger. It’s with all these ice creatures on an island in the middle of a big pit of lava.”
“I can’t believe the stupid barbarian found the Soul of Ice,” said Val. “I’d better go tell Nikita.”
Val came into the map room, where I placing the last of the pins in the map with a little more force than was strictly necessary. I was still seething with anger.
“Uh, Nikita,” Val said sheepishly. “We think we may have found the Soul of Ice.”
“In the rope trick?”
“Uh, well, Gore found the Soul of Ice.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’ve got to be kidding me? Are you sure he didn’t just find an ice cube?”
Val shook her head. “He said he found a pyramid with a pulsing orb on top.” She described what Gore had told them. Ester was right – it did sound remarkably like the frozen child above Meridoth’s altar.
“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe Gore found the Soul of Ice. Does he even know what a pyramid is?”
“Well, I haven’t verified it,” Val admitted. “But it does sound like it.”
I sighed. I finished the map, and we all regrouped in the Rope Trick. Except Gore, who continued to stare at the rope with distrust.
“Gore, you need to get your but up here. Everyone is out of spells. We need to rest.”
“But if those creatures come after us, I can cut the rope bridge to their island,” Gore protested.
“They can probably fly,” Val countered.
Gore shook his head. “No, they were humanoid.”
Val sighed. “Come on. Get up here. We need to go over this.”
Grudgingly, Gore climbed into the Rope Trick. We all moved as far away from him as we could get. I couldn’t help but notice that the others placed themselves between me and Gore.
“Maybe we should go now?” Ester asked anxiously.
I understood her concern. We needed to destroy the Soul of Ice before it was too late. But rushing in and getting ourselves killed would not help anyone.
We had several hours to kill before we could sleep. So I used one of my precious gems, asking how we could best destroy The Soul of Ice. The answer was “smash it or magic force.”
I told the others. Frankly, I was disappointed. I’d expecting destroying an artifact of ultimate evil would be a little more complicated. Brute force seemed so primitive.
“It’s very cold in that cavern,” Gore warned us. “I wasn’t even inside and I was starting to get frost bite.” He smiled triumphantly. “Aren’t you all glad you have me?”
“Yeah,” Jven said bitterly. “What would we ever do without you, Gore? We probably would have walked right past the Soul of Ice.”
Gore described what he’d seen again, at Val’s urging.
“There’s a big blizzard in the cavern. Lots of wind. A rope bridge over the lava is the only way to the island. The pyramid is eighty feet tall. There’s a glowing, pulsating sphere on top, and it’s getting bigger.”
“Could you see anything inside the sphere?” I asked, thinking about Madeleine’s dead baby.
Gore shook his head. “I couldn’t see inside it.”
“What color is it?”
“It was sort of bluish.”
“And you said there were creatures? Were they undead?” I asked hopefully. Undead I was well equipped to handle.
“No,” said Gore. “They were icy, humanoid creatures. They were all climbing up the pyramid, and the biggest one was throwing the others back down. They were trying to get to the Soul of Ice at the top. Oh, and there were salamander statues on the pyramid, too. They were covered with ice. The ice seems to be spreading – it was covering the rope bridge.”
“So the Soul of Ice is getting bigger while we’re sitting here,” Ester said nervously.
Sadly, there was no help for it. We couldn’t fight our way to the pyramid without spells. We wouldn’t even survive the blizzard Gore had described.
We planned our attack as best we could. I would ride on Ester’s shoulder in mouse form, since she really does need her own personal healer. In addition to keeping the giantess in working order, I would be able to cast spells to banish some of the icy humanoid creatures, and I would be able to summon creatures to aid us. I would also cast Air Walk on Val and Ester, assuming Jven was able to magically calm the blizzard. Jven would also cast protective spells to make sure the cold didn’t kill us all before we’d even gotten started – that was a very important first step.
“And I can cast pebble to boulder,” Canliss piped up.
“Great,” said Val. “We’ll just pebble them to death.”
“And I’ll hit stuff,” said Ester.
"I could fly up to it and smash it with my new staff," Canliss offered, raising the glowing staff for emphasis. Jven and I looked at each other in alarm. This plan seemed to involve more risk to the six-fingered mage than was healthy.
"After I cast 'Sanctuary' on you, Canliss," Jven amended.
“Great,” I said. “We have a plan.” Well, it was sort of a plan, anyway. Torodin willing, it will be enough.
posted by Nikita of Istur @ 3:21 PM
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