Autumn 1372

Shamus thought for a moment and then spoke softly. "There are many possibilities... Very few things are impossible here.

"First of all... just because you did not see a wizard or priest directing the undead... does not mean he wasn't around. There may be items that allow the puppet master to maintain control over vast distances... or he could have been invisible behind you...There are spells that can shackle people's minds...Most of these do not work inside the mythal... However the Mythal is not what it once was... It would be best to take nothing for granted.

"In answer to your question, No. I have no idea what enemy you face. We have Beholders, Phaerrim, Illithids and their lich counterparts 'Alhoon." he spit the word out in disgust. "Any of the above may have their own mind slaves. Though if you were in a dead magic zone... That undoubtedly narrows the field.

"This of course discounts the various demonic hordes that like to toy with men's minds... and the more simplistic possibility of loyalty to a master." He seemed thoughtful for a moment and added. "I've never known Molydeus to operate in such a manner though. I will have to ponder on that bit of information. I don't like when old enemies start to learn new tricks..."

"You've met it before?" Elric asked.

"Depends on which one you've met." Shamus chuckled. "All demons and devils here are my enemies, whether I've met them personally or not. Though I don't believe there are many of that type here. Still, you are fortunate to have survived the encounter, unscathed and unturned."

"Unturned maybe... but I don't think any one would say I escaped 'unscathed'..." Elric chuckled and winked at Ashara.

"Uhhh yeah," Jorelon agreed in amazement. "I've never seen anyone take that kind of punishment and go back for more."

"Well... that gives me hope that you'll survive your quest and fullfill our bargain." Shamus said with a grin.

"Don't worry about that. We have no intention of falling here." Elric said with a grin. He smoothed out the map a little more. "We've got too many things left to see." The half-elf looked at the bag with the gold coins in it. A hefty treasure by anyone's standard. Shamus seemed pleased when she'd set the bag aside. He wondered if Josiah or her had ever seen that kind of tribute left at their own humble shrine? Somehow he doubted it greatly.

Shamus' laugh echoed through the barren halls. "I sincerely hope we meet again my new friends."

"The feelings mutual Sham...." the pleasantries died on his lips as he looked up into the place where the priest had been sitting this entire time. The rubble was bare and no sign of the priest was present. More confusing than that, even the bag of 'tribute' had disappeared. Two of the three windghosts were wandering away of their own volition, but the third still seemed to be watching them. Whether out of wariness or curiousity, the half-elf wasn't sure.

"Did anyone see?!? I... " He muttered in confusion. "Well.. the guy knows how to make an exit, that's for sure..."

"No doubt!" The priestess blinked in disbelief as the priest suddenly disappeared, but soon stood and clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Well! That was a welcome and unexpected surprise," she beamed. "Thank you, Kaldric for stepping in there, you certainly saved us from some blood being spilled unnecessarily. More than that even! Now perhaps the seed has been planted for an alliance between the Seekers of the Dawn and the Windwalkers...and if such a thing could happen here, then there is no reason that the two faiths couldn't work together elsewhere. Yes, this could be the beginning of an exciting new venture!

"And thank you," Ashara turned and bowed to the enormous windghost that hovered nearby, "for giving this handful of strangers the opportunity to state our intent! Hopefully we'll meet again but until then, may the Wind be ever at your back and may the Dawn rise warm upon you."

A wide grin alighted her face as she returned to her companions. "We have our heading then," she said, slinging the Haversack over her shoulder. "Let's see if we can poke around and get a look at what we're up against..."

Elric glanced back into the room with the shattered chest and dead body. Now he was able to identify it as a Scrag. A freshwater troll... He wracked his memory for weaknesses. Fire... Acid. both of those still worked, though if around water or wet there was added difficulty. Hezrou... they had already beaten a few of those their first day in too... That was just the two of them too... with a larger party it should only be easier.

He cringed as he heard Eldorath's voice berating him about overconfidence. They were still demons... Best to proceed with caution.

Following the blood trail wasn't difficult. Apparently trolls still bled, though seeing how badly made the half-elf especially glad they were able to avoid a confrontation with the servants of Shaundakul.

Before long the dwindling blood led them to a small house exactly as Shamus had said. He slid to a stop as the familiar stench of death washed over them. The doors had long disappeared, and the room they entered was strewn with rubble and old bones. It was obvious that this place had been used as a lair for many years.

Nothing above ground seemed to catch their attention, but the blood trail led towards a set of stairs going downward. By now the trail was sparse and getting harder to follow. Either the fabled regeneration had started healing, or it was just out of blood... probably the former, Elric thought to himself.

Quietly leading the way down the stairs with sword drawn and ready for anything, he listened for any sounds of movement. He heard none.

The stairs led to a room about forty feet across with a circular pool using up half that. The water was dark and opaque, and very... very still... The few drops of blood they were still following led right to the edge of the pool.

"Ok.... Hezrou? That was the frog looking ones right?" Elric asked aloud as he wondered what was about to spring on them

"The frog looking ones," Ashara confirmed with a grimace. "Though I have a much clearer memory of their stench and that huge mouth trying to wrench my arm from my body..." The thought of that encounter on their first day in the city still made her shoulder ache. A Myth Drannor welcome!

When she stepped up beside her husband to peer into the room, the collected pieces of the Arm of Valor that she wore burst into blue flame! They were close but yet unable to see the echoing glow from the wayward pauldron. The water in the pool was very still...and very murky. Murky enough to hide a glowing artifact, but was it deep enough to hide demons or trolls?

After pulling a couple of torches from the Haversack, she lit them and handed one to Jorelon.

"The piece probably lies within," the priestess whispered. "What do you think? Shall I disturb the water a bit?" She grinned and held up one of the enchanted marbles which glowed as brilliantly as a miniature sun.

Elric looked from the marble, to the dark pool and grinned. He watched as the glowing pebble broke the surface of the water with a quiet plunk and slowly disappeared into the murk. He never heard it hit bottom, but as the light faded and was swallowed by the darkness... he judged the pool to be at least Sixty feet deep, maybe more.

"Yep... it's got to be down there." He looked to the others. "Anyone know how to get it out? Can we 'purify' the water... or breathe down there or something?"

He took a step back and gripped his sword a bit tighter, as the gentle ripples started to agitate into angry churning.

Jorelon spoke up as he sidled into the room keeping a wary eye on the pool. "I can Purify Water today but not enough to make a difference in that much water."

"Actually, the piece we recovered in House of Song allows me to breathe water, so I could go down and check..." Ashara's voice was now nearly drowned out by the violently roiling pool. "But I think we're going to have to deal with these guys first!"

Many scaled and wickedly clawed hands gripped the edge of the pool as the scrags drug themselves up from the watery depths to greet the intruders.

"Oh... " the half-elf muttered as she revealed the armor's special property. "That's... wonderful!" His discomfort from the thought of her going into the murky water alone was obvious. For good or for ill, it looked like the monsters of the depths weren't waiting for her. Hopefully, the pool would be empty by the time she went in.

Elric cringed as he slowly positioned himself near Ashara as monster after monster started crawling out of the pool. A great stench filled the air and he saw not one Hezrou, as the man in the temple had suggested... but three. One was obviously larger than the rest, and he held little doubt that must be the Belkanz that they'd heard about. Killing one demon was rapidly falling on the list of impossible feats. They'd beaten more than that their first day here... but surrounded by trolls at least ten of them...

"Y'know..." he said as he started slashing at the nearest troll. "Maybe the Everdawn blade should be on fire...."

"We're definitely going to need to look into that," Ashara agreed, as she sent Dawnspeaker blasting into a troll already sporting a thin bloody line across its torso.

The salk-sirra master fell instantly into his dance. A whirlwind of flashing blades and feet, more than one troll felt the sting of getting too near the seasoned warrior and they turned on him in a rage hoping to put him down quickly. The priestess simply grinned and took a few steps away from her husband to make room for more of them.

Normally she'd stay at his side in the heat of battle but in this situation they needed to get these trolls put down quickly and deal with the real threat... The hezrou. Belkanz. Elric was at his best, his most deadly when surrounded and Ashara knew full well that the healing spell she'd placed on him earlier would keep him on his feet.

The hezrou were coming in too but more hesitantly, waiting for their troll minions to 'soften' up the intruders before they attacked. The large one, presumably Belkanz, hung back.

With Dawnspeaker thrumming in fury at the nearness of the tanar'ri, Ashara brutally swung out with the holy mace taking one of the trolls try to charge past her, full in the the chest. "Oh no you don't! You deal with me first!" The soggy troll shrieked in pain and turned on her as she reached out to strike another gangly arm that was swinging in.

Trolls presented an interesting challenge, the young Salk-sirra master realized quickly. Most opponents (and even himself) had a natural tendency toward self-preservation. Holding back, just a little... Always the internal debate of whether the next action brought more reward than risk...

Trolls didn't do that.

Trolls were fearless. And why shouldn't they be. They nearly unstoppable. In the wild where there was no fire... and no acid... Nothing would stop them. Even if they died... even if dismembered... it was only a matter of time.

They through themselves at their opponents with such devout purpose that Elric almost admired them. Almost...

As Ashara stepped back, More trolls quickly tried to take their place. Most were content to try to tear the unarmored meat limb from limb... Some wanted to get past him to the others. He did his best to keep their attention on him. And his best was pretty good!

He heard Durlan chopping away between screeches of pain from the scrag to dwarven curses when blood of his own was hit. Elric himself cried out as sharp fangs dug into an exposed shoulder and claws cut across his face. Knowledge that the pain was temporary and that Ashara's Regeneration would soon begin did little to dull the pain...

Again, he almost admired them...

Suddenly all Hell broke loose! He heard the largest Hezrou barking orders in a guttural language he couldn't understand. The sound of air being displaced behind him caused a quick look backwards. Standing in front of Kaldric was large antennaed creature. Some kind of insect that he'd not seen before. Strangely enough, though it appeared in front of the mage... it was much more interested in Durlan.

"RUST MONSTER!!" He heard Jorelon shout to his stout friend. For the first time he could remember, he saw true fear in the dwarf's eyes! The priest cried out as a large buzzing sound filled the air and he was swarmed by a mass of flying insects.

Quickly he looked at Ashara and stumbled for a moment. For a moment he wondered if Eddick had joined them. Somehow his wife's normally golden armor was sprouting large green leaves. Ivy seemed to be be poking through and entwining in her auburn hair, but it didn't seem to be hampering her in any way.

In the face of an oncoming troll and a stinging swarm of insects, Jorelon grimaced through the final gesticulations of a spell. The troll got a nasty surprise! Fire burst from the priest's palm, startling the regenerating brute for just a split second. Long enough for Jorelon to dodge those wicked claws!

He'd intended on using it against the troll. Intended to... This first handful of flame however, was hurled directly at the rust monster wiggling its antennae at the heavily armored (and thus tasty) dwarf. As the fire burst over its chitinous shell, the morninglord prayed that it would be enough to divert that insect's attention and backpedaled quickly, trying desperately to get himself out of that swarm of much smaller biting and stinging ones.

Demons, trolls, wyverns, ghouls... It was all fine with him! Those were all well and good for killin' but Durlan wanted no part of that rust monster!

Clutching his mithril axe tightly, the dwarf hacked viciously at one of the nearby trolls, using the momentum of the swing to position his opponent between himself and the hungry looking bug.

"That metal eatin' monster's eyein' up me axe!" Durlan shouted in a voice just this side of panic as the afore mentioned weapon struck true once more, causing a great gout of blood to spray from the troll's gashed leg.

Soon after the scrags emerged from the murky pool, Kaldric retreated to a safer position behind the line of warriors and priests. The appearance of hezrou demons behind that initial wall of flailing flesh, claw, and teeth determined his initial target, and that one of that trio stood almost two feet taller than the others helped that decision-making further. A plan rapidly formulated as to how best to dispose of the demon, and he began the complex weaving of the first powerful spell to lower its resistance for the more potent casting to follow.

A large insect-like beast of rusty coloring suddenly materialized before him, its long antennae waving in the air like a blind man attempting to gain his bearings in a new environment. No doubt summoned in by the demons, Kaldric recognized the rust monster immediately but paid it little heed, as he equipped little enough metal to entice the creature his way. Certainly his companions would rather not see such a monster, adorned as they were in plate armor and wielding metal weaponry, but he hadn't any time to worry about that now, not with three hezrou in the room!

Barely a full a second after the summoned entrance of the monster, the Veil Initiate's own spell released without hindrance. Unfortunately, none of its effects were visual to the naked eye, making it impossible to determine for sure whether it actually took hold or not, but, when dealing with the Art, confidence in calculated risk more often than not proved essential to success in combat. Some might argue detrimental, but absolutely not he!

His spell away, Kaldric hardly skipped a heartbeat before initializing its all-important follow-up.

"SWITCH!!!" Elric yelled to endangered dwarf. It was a spur of the moment call, sure to leave the dwarf in worse trouble then was already in, but it was too late take the call back. Durlan seemed more than willing to move into the horde that Elric was leaving behind, and the Salk-sirra master was probably the best suited for metal eating bugs.

At the sound of his voice, Durlan ducked low and dove toward the mass of trolls, as he felt the half-elf leap over top him with a dwarven battle cry of 'Powerful Heart'... Confusion nearly cost the dwarf as claws scraped off his shield. Didn't make no sense... but that's what happens when half-elves speak dwarven... The fact that he even tried brought a grin to the beleaguered dwarf.

"Hold this for a moment!" Elric told the troll Durlan had been hacking away at mercilessly. His precious 'Sword of I-go-first' slid through the creatures collarbones and into it's scaley torso. Just like a living sheath. Which is exactly what the half-elf wanted as he released his grip and kicked the troll away. "I'll be back for that in a moment..." he said already kicking out at the segmented bane of adventurers everywhere.

Enchanted leather boots on his feet. Cloth wraps on his hands... nothing the monster in front of him would damage as he stomped and slammed into it. He could feel it's shell cracking under his blows as antennae and tail whipped in trying for the axe at his belt. Quick hands batted it away.

Suddenly a fit of overconfidence nearly cost him. One hand wore the dragonbone ring and mystic wraps and was safe from anything the creature could do... the other held the mithral ring he'd just activated! Suddenly realization stopped his blow short, and his wrist twisted poorly against the hard shell. Grunting in sharp pain, he readjusted his stance to protect what little metal he did carry.

The verdant priestess quickly brushed the blossoming branches from her face with her off arm to survey the scene and was more than pleased to see that the rust monster was being dealt with. She made a note to thank her husband for that later. It was disturbing to see the metal-eating insect salivate at the smorgasbord that was laid out before it!

Instead of insects, she focused her attention on putting one of the trolls in front of her down as quickly as possible. Things were getting...interesting. The longer those hezrou lived, the hairier...or leafier things were bound to get!

Again and again Dawnspeaker smashed into soggy troll flesh and though it seemed to be weakening, it most certainly did not slacken the ferocity of his attack.

Suddenly a fellow troll that had been attacking Jorelon behind her, burst into flames and flew past her shrieking in agony and pain. The priest cheered and quickly fled the swarm that had encompassed him. Ashara spent only a fraction of a second in shock but it was a fraction of a second too long apparently. As the flaming troll dove into the pool to extinguish itself, the creature in front of her capitalized on her distraction and sank its teeth deep into her left shoulder. Now it was her turn to cry out in agony!

Then she swallowed a bug. Then another one flew up her nose. A third, a mosquito-like insect perched on a tiny flower bud on one of the thin green branches growing out of her chest and mocked her openly. The hezrou had been busy again... Stinging, biting flies swarmed around her like a thick cloud and she quickly shut her mouth, ignoring the pain and launching herself at the trolls in front of her with desperate fury.

That first bite from the sudden swarm of creepy-crawlies that swept over his entire body changed everything. Kaldric would have later wished to attribute his failure from concentrating too hard upon the spell-weaving that he hadn't noticed the similar swarm enveloping Jorelon, but if that were true the catastrophe would never had occurred because his concentration would have been so focused. Then, his spell would have gotten off as intended, and the lowered resistance---which he was certain had worked---would have helped to dismiss the most powerful of the hezrou back to its abyssal home.

Instead, that first bite jolted him as if starting awake from a nightmare, which in turn caused a hand to twist this way rather than that way, and the entire casting was suddenly broken. The magic slipped away from him like warmth from a dying man, leaving him alone and numb to the bone, except for the faint traces of feeling piercing his flesh from a plethora of mundane insect bites. At that moment, it occurred to him how poorly his mindset on tactics had become recently. He had become too offensive-minded, and not readily prepared his defenses as they should have been.

Kaldric decided it imperative for that tendency to fall by the wayside starting immediately, and that required him to gather his concentration against the assaulting bugs so his next spell wouldn't suffer the same fate as the last.

For a moment the dwarf was glad the other warrior had switched with him. Rust monsters... were well known beasts... and even if you won, many times you lost. For a dwarf with the best armor and weapons he could find... the idea was horrifying.

His relief was short lived however as he found himself utterly surrounded by grasping claws and scaled arms. He bashed away with axe and shield, and while he scored more than one good hit, and the spray of ichor told him at least one had lost an arm... the lines of blood across his own face and the tears in his own armor made it clear that he wasn't winning this fight. Moving just a second too slow, he saw a scaled arm claw straight through him and he flinched.

With a start he realized it went Straight. Through. Him.

Blinking he realized the troll seemed as shocked as he was. But the creature was as insubstantial as wind, and a solid blow to his shield told him to forget it. If it wasn't a threat worry about the other four that were!

Despite his years in this city, and the many battles before hand. as claws grasped and teeth chomped he quickly started to fall under the onslaught. Worse, he suddenly found claws latching on tightly, and began to panic as he felt his feet leave the ground!

Elric could hear the battle around him, but there was little he could do. A driving punch cracked through the shell of the rust monster, and the metal dissolving antenae went limp.

That wasn't his only opponent though, by switching with the dwarf, he'd inherited the trolls he'd been fighting. Swatting away the claws was well and good, and as he tried to work his way over to the beleagured dwarf he mistepped. Sharp fangs drove into his leg and he grimaced from the pain.

Almost surprised to notice, he saw a familiar handle sticking out of the chewing creatures shoulders. The beast screamed as the blade snapped back out into it's master's hand. Spinning wildly he did the only thing he could to help.

Eyes still on the dwarf, he whipped his hand axe squarely into the back of one of his captors. The blad struck deep, but trolls are a hardy bunch. He watched in horror as two trolls and their dwarven prize splashed into the murky pool.

Kaldric easily held his concentration against the swarming insects this time, but on this occasion that worked against him as the spell he sought to protect himself with decided to go elsewhere. Upon completion of the incantation, one of the open trolls suddenly lit up with green flame all around its body. That recognition elicited a short, exasperating sigh that became a slight wince of pain from a sharp sting on the inside of his right thigh.

One thing, at least, worked in their favor here: the troll that was suddenly protected by fire aura misinterpreted the spell's intention, and it flailed about in terror at being aflame!

It was difficult to see...difficult to focus. Between the distraction of various trolls bursting into flames and screaming, branches sprouting from her skin and the swarm of biting flies, Ashara was doing all she could to keep her attention on fending off the teeth and claws of the trolls in front of her while punishing them severely with her holy mace.

Jorelon's shout of fear changed all that.

The priestess' eyes were immediately drawn to the pool where she watched two trolls drag the squirming, irate dwarf down into the murky depths. Her heart, as hard as it was pounding from combat, sank deeply in her chest.

Decisions were a funny thing in battle. The same risk could either save lives or cost them depending on how the dice rolled (as the priests of Tymora were known to say) and when Durlan went into the drink, there was only one decision that Ashara could make in that situation. Whether it worked or not remained to be seen but Elric was not going to like it...

She managed to dodge the gangly limbs flailing at her and one maw filled with dagger-like teeth, but the other clamped hard on her shoulder, punching through the chain on either side of her pauldron. Suddenly from behind her, a fistful of flame hurtled past her head and ignited the offending troll who let go with a screech of pain. His twin lept back instinctively. This gave Ashara the opening she needed.

With no time to waste, she flung her torch into the body of the quickly regenerating troll on the floor to finish him as she reached for the leather thong out of her pouch of spell components. She quickly bound it about her forearm as she called on Lathander to grant her the requested power. To her ultimate relief, the thong disintegrated and the spell took hold successfully!

"Mela lle, lapse' <Love you, babe>," she called out to her husband as she hefted shield and mace to arms. "Amin nauva entula rato <I'll be back soon>!"

With that, Ashara broke out into a run toward the dark pool and the three hulking demons.

"What was that?!?" Elric asked aloud as he tried to process his wife's words. Steel cut trollish flesh as hands swatted away claws.

The battle was chaos personified. Trolls were everywhere. What had started as a stereotypical mob, was now broken into various smaller chaos. Trolls on fire... trolls that thought they were on fire... trolls that were insubstantial and clawed futilely at it's opponents.

He'd heard Durlan go down, but wasn't sure what he could do. One more troll fell at his feet, but he still had at least one... and another was crawling out of the water again looking for more targets. The half-elf was frustrated. Every troll that went was immediately replaced... They hadn't even touched the demons yet... and he was fairly certain that their wizard was contributing to the chaos. Bugs... wraithforms... The one that was scrambling toward the pool now, didn't look like it was actually burning...

And now, what did Ashara mean she'd be right back??

He could barely see her through the flurry of scaly flesh, but she wasn't heading toward the demons like he'd thought... She was headed toward the pool... full of trolls... In armor....

Every instinct was to leap after her... but that would leave their dwindling allies to the full wrath of their enemies. With gritted teeth he could only watch and hope she was right about those armor pieces letting her breath water...

As much as the priestess wanted those hezrou out of the picture, Durlan may not have the time it would take her to dispatch them. Not only that... If she went up against them alone, it was quite possible that she wouldn't be able to make good on her promise to Elric to 'be right back'. She'd intended instead to bypass them entirely and go after the dwarf, but at the last moment she grinned and cut to the right, making a bee-line directly at the trio of hezrou who were standing in front of the pool.

With Ashara's holy symbol tucked beneath her cloak and her recent abandonment of the more mundane light source in favor of her shield, it was pretty shadowy this far in to the room. Even so, there was no missing the frog-like behemoths in front of her and they did not miss her change of course, their eyes well adjusted to the darkness. Good. Let them focus on her. Every moment they did, was one less moment they spent focusing their fury on her companions. She wanted to buy her friends a little time!

The young morninglord raised Dawnspeaker high as she charged into their midst and just before she got within their reach, when each pair of squinty, demon-frog eyes were on that dreaded, holy weapon, the glassteel head erupted in an single burst of blinding sunlight! The hezrou reeled back in surprise and pain and Ashara dismissed the Continual Light as abruptly as she'd called for it. It wasn't much but it was something and they'd be seeing that blazing ball of light in their vision for a few moments at least!

Dodging around one of Belkanz' goons, she avoided that fight for the time being and dove headfirst into the murky darkness of the pool. The frigid water swallowed her, forcing the air from her lungs with the shock but Ashara trusted in the magic of the Arm and demanded her body to suck in one tentative breath. By the grace of Lathander it worked!

Now, she worried as she fumbled to pull out her holy symbol, now, I just have to find Durlan in time...

Bat like wings curled around the observer as he watched the battle unfold. The demons were winning. The two in the heaviest armors were undoubtably drowning by now. Was it time?

If not now, then soon...

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"What's she DOING?!?" Jorelon called out in shock as the fully armored priestess dove into the pool.

"She can handle herself! Less talking, More Burning!!" Elric answered as he watched a troll snatch one of it's fallen companions and try to throw it in the pool. Whether to save its life.. or get it out of the way, the half-elf wasn't sure. Nor did he have time to worry about it. As the troll corpse went flying toward the water, it ignited in flames. Flames that were soon extingusihed with a hiss and a splash.

Elric hoped Jorelon had acted fast enough...

Despite his confident words to the other priest, he still whispered to his wife. "Good luck, but don't take too long... Or I'm coming after you!" He wondered what their whispers would sound like underwater...

The Hezrou in the back were looking fairly smug as half of their enemies were gone now. Still blinking their large bulbous eyes, one staggered forward ready to get in on the fun. Claws swung in toward the half-elf but to its surprise, hit nothing. The noise it made was a strange combination of annoyance and gleeful anticipation.


*****************************************************

This is how it ends. The morbid thought echoed through the dwarf's mind as he slowly sank towards the darkness. The cold trolls barely showed in his infravision, but he could still sense them swimming around him.

Years of fighting. Battles that would make his ancestor's proud. All this and more... Durlan wasn't afraid to die. When he entered the hall of Moradin, he'd do so with his chest puffed in pride. Though he'd have prefered to postpone the trip. As the armored dwarf sank ever deeper, he couldn't think of any way he'd survive this.

Broken, bleeding, but still clutching his axe, he was determined to fall in battle. He swung towards a moving shape but the resistance stole any power the axe would have. Claws raked against his armor and battered him around. Blood clouded the water around him.

Suddenly, a sharp pain in his side drove the air from his lungs in a gurgling scream, and he felt rows of sharp teeth clamp around his neck.

Slowly the mithral axe slipped to the bottom of the pool to join whatever other trophy's had been collected over the years.

Sometimes, in his younger years, Kaldric had wondered how his homeliness could possibly get any worse. As he aged, the years of long study had added fat to his body in easily-noticeable locations, and lines from his many cares and worries in life had begun their slow creep around his eyes and mouth most recently. The Veil Initiate hardly wished to imagine how incredibly vile his appearance must be now as his skin swelled and puffed up due to all the incessant biting and stinging insects. Of course, that was the least of his worries at the moment, since his wife decided to give him the cold shoulder this day, and during a time when he desperately needed her help as opposed to her displeasure.

But, such was the way of married life . . .

Finally irritated enough with the distracting swarm, Kaldric sought to repulse them with one of his more powerful spells, but it wasn't to be. She had yet to forgive him for whatever slight he had visited upon her recently, and rather than scattering the insects to the four winds, a relatively useless effect washed over him for the current troubles. And still the innumerable pricks continued to dot his body, with the oldest ones becoming more vexing as they started to itch terribly.

The only thing more aggravating to him than the constant annoyance of the summoned swarm was how completely ineffectual he'd been during this time when the others needed him most. Wouldn't his Mother be laughing now . . .

A globe of light tethered to Ashara’s neck led the way as she plummeted into the blackness. It was a disorienting darkness, cold and foreboding, but the tug of her heavy armor left no doubt as to which way was down. It didn’t take long for her to reach the churning water beneath her. Then her light went red…

So much blood!

Two of the trolls were attacking the dwarf’s limp body as if they were in some sort of wild feeding frenzy and the priestess kicked hard trying to speed up her decent, but her presence did not go unnoticed.

The troll with the weakest claim on the meal abandoned it with eager eyes and swam with frightening speed toward Ashara, raking and biting with its serrated, shark-like teeth. Then another from above her came in with a fury! This one quite singed and bloodied, had taken refuge in the pool after Jorelon lit it up and was more than happy to take a bite of priestess on his own turf.

She wondered if she’d taken too big of a risk. The water around her seemed to grow colder as her own blood now flowed freely from half a dozen new gashes in her flesh but if she stopped to fight them off, Ashara knew there would be no hope for Durlan. There was little enough as it was! Instead, she gritted through the agony and twisted and kicked away from the monsters, thankful that the Free Action spell she’d cast just before jumping in wasn’t ‘reworked’ by the Mythal.

The troll below her had his teeth around the Dwarf’s neck, shearing corded muscle and arteries alike as he jerked his head from side to side, flinging her friend’s body around like a rag doll. She felt like she was going to be sick. For a priestess that devoted herself to life and hope and new beginnings, Ashara was no stranger to death and death is exactly what she saw there. A shell with no spirit.

Durlan was gone.

Refusing to let the troll have any more of him, she swung in, definitively denting in the side of the chewing troll’s head to make him let go of his prize. The dwarf’s body was freed and she grabbed on before he was dragged to the bottom, wrapped herself around him, and activated another ability of the Couter piece of the Arm of Valor.

Back up above, a Dimension Door opened a few feet away from Jorelon and a sopping wet and bloody priestess tumbled out holding the stone cold dwarf beneath her.

“Durlan!” Jorelon shouted in surprise and horror as his companion of so many years fell to the floor with a clang.

The priest was dealing with his own trouble at the moment as the swarm of insects had found him once again. And the troll he’d lit on fire earlier was back for revenge!

Ashara wanted to lend an encouraging word… A rallying cry… Something! The only thing that came up though, were the remains of the ripe autumn pears she’d had this morning. Between the sudden nauseating jolt of magical travel, tasting an ally’s blood in her mouth yet again and the knowledge that she had failed, there was no hope for her breakfast.

"LIGHT it!" Elric yelled as two halves of the same troll collapsed at his feet. How many were left, he wasn't even sure of anymore. But he had bigger problems now. The familiar stench of frog demon wafted over him as the disgusting thing started clawing at him.

The first strike was a lucky one and grasped him hard but a quick twist freed the half-elf before the second claw could find purchase. As such, while the gaping maw closed around nothing... Elric's sword cut a deep slash down the front of the demon.

When he head his wife return, his heart both leapt and sank so suddenly his whole chest ached. They'd been doing so well... but Myth Drannor was earning it's reputation today in blood!

A small dark shape blurred past his vision making a beeline for the two remaining Hezrou. A dark cloud seemed to appear suddenly blocking his vision. When it cleared he only saw one of the demons... naturally the biggest one.... swatting at... something followed by a splash.

Then there was four of them.

The dangers inhabiting Myth Drannor were so great, and so plentiful, that too often those who chose to live their lives in the midst of those dangers became desensitized to them. Death seemed an all-too near and dear friend within the City of Song, especially when it fought so hard to be recognized so often. Somehow, the bitter news of its arrival still slapped the mage square in the face with the subtlety of an iron golem's hand, which was exactly how he felt seeing the dwarf's lifeless body appear through the dimensional doorway in the Morninglord's arms. Another valued friend and ally replaced by the dear old friend none truly wanted around.

And what a time for the grim old cuss to show . . .

For a brief moment in the heat of battle, the crawling and biting insects devouring Kaldric were forgotten. In their place within his mind arose a strong desire for some modicum of revenge against the demons that stole a precious life away--a life he should have done more to protect; a life that had often protected him. His arms swept about in fluid, large, circular motions as his fingers formed intricate gestures that called upon his specialized arcane forces. While the gesturing proved necessary, the ostentatious arm-waving was meant specifically for the abyssal tyrants to perceive from their safe location behind the slaughtering trolls. This one, he deemed it necessary to articulate is designed especially for you.

Two words of power released his weaving, which erected a twofold barrier of orange and blue before the hezrou demons--all save one, which had decided to brave the fight against Elric just before his warding had completed. To come forth into the fray now required the remaining pair to pass through the walls, else they would both be trapped back there until their minions and one true companion were slain or banished. As an added bonus, the shimmering orange wall stopped any form of ranged magical attack, while its bright-blue counterpart prevented all divination and mind-affecting spells or like abilities from crossing through from the demons' side.

Acid and petrification awaited only their abyssal bravery to join the fight.

"ASHARA!!" Elric screamed out in concern! Durlan was gone, and while he had no idea what had happened below... or how she got back... But something had happened and the ramifications scared him. She was obviously staggered and swoonish and heaving out her morning Hero's Feast!

"Are you still with me?!" He asked as he swatted away a troll arm eager to replace it's fallen brethren.

The sudden appearance of the shimmering colorful wall sent waves of nervousness through him. One of the prices of being an 'adventurer'... you learned to fear rainbows. This one looked very similar to the one they'd seen in Amn. Though there was more colors in that one. Seeing the pleased look from their mage, he assumed it was his doing.

He couldn't help but wonder if 'only two' colors was easier or harder than all seven? Something he would have to ask Therogeon about someday...

His curiosity was interrupted as a claw swung hard for his face, Spinning low, the warrior shot both feet out into a dropkick that sent the troll stumbling backwards. A horrific scream filled the room as the monster seemed to melt before their eyes and collapsed into a melted statue of stone.

Oh yes... He decided as he stared at what he'd just done with wide eyes. Fear the rainbows.....