Brus charged over. And grabbed one of Nab’s arms in his jaws. I couldn’t really see what was happening, since I was on the other side of the room. I heard Terrem scream and caught a flash of blue clothing as he ran out the way we’d come in.

Sadi and Ian, positioned on the walls on either side of the door, both had good shots at Kaurophon and Thearynn. I knew that both the enemies are spellcasters, so I cast silence in their  area to hamper their abilities.

The fighting was fierce. Myntilly, Acgar, Ian and Brus struggled with Nabthatoron. Myntilly threw more than one orb of acid at him. It made his skin bubble and smoke. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Acgar loosen her jaw to spray acid all over him. We’ll have him down in no time, I thought.

When I looked back to the doorway, Thearynn had come to the threshold. That meant she was out of the silence spell area! I couldn’t think of anything better, so I lowered my head and ran straight at her. With my new, improved lower center of gravity, I was able to keep my feet and accomplish my goal of getting her back into the room.

Which brought me face to face with Kaurophon.

I’d fought beside him for weeks. Healed him, helped him, trusted him. Only to be betrayed.

I stepped back to the threshold, where I could cast a spell and brought a flamestrike down on him. It didn’t hurt him as much as I wanted it to. He moved super-fast and avoided some of the flames.

I heard noises to my right and saw that Myntilly was down, hurt or worse, I couldn’t tell.

Nab was dead, too. One down. I was about to run to Myntilly, when Brus began to drag her away from the battle.

He pulled her into the room where Terrem was.

Later I found him guarding her body. It was really touching.

Sadi was doing her best to bring down Thearynn. Arrow after arrow flew into the room.

The rest of us regrouped and tried to focus on the battle and forget Myntilly for a moment. If she was dead, we needed to survive to resurrect her.

Kaurophon sent waves of cold at us. It burned horribly and I had to step back and heal myself again. I don’t remember who dropped Thearynn, but the battle had turned decidedly in our favor.

My biggest worry was that Kaurophon would blink away — teleport or something before we could kill him. I shouldn’t have worried. Sadi dropped him with two quick arrows. And the battle was over.

It had been a fight to the death, for both sides and we were victorious. I dropped to my knees in thanksgiving. A few moments later I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Sadi.
“I did ghost tongue. Myntilly wants to come back. Can you….?”
I nodded. “I have resurrect prepared. Not that I thought we’d lose, but….”

I stood and looked around.

So much death. Is it worth it?

Myntilly is a powerful sorceress, no question. But we were a little worried about how it would go, reading a scroll of disintegrate. What if she stumbled in reading it? Would she blow herself up? Or worse, all of us? Sadi laid down and shielded Terrem with her body. Acgar kind of snorted with suppressed laughter. Ian, ever gallant Ian, walked over to Myntilly and said loudly, “Brus and I are here to assist you!”

In spite of our antics, she read the scroll beautifully and the door raised to reveal a room similar to the one we had just left. There were two doors in the room and one was slightly lifted. I walked in and Terrem followed me. He immediately went to the far door and kicked it with his foot. “Mister Orbius! Where are you?!”
“Hush now.” I held my fingers to my lips. “Don’t you want to surprise him? Won’t he be surprised when you show up? All grown up and traveling practically by yourself!”
Terrem considered this. “OK. Sure.” And sat down against the wall.

Sadi and Ian crept slowly to the open door. Each walked partially up the wall on either side. All I could hear were muffled voices. Dwarves aren’t known for their grace, so I kinda shimmied along the wall, trying to be quiet. As I got closer I heard a female voice say “You didn’t follow the plan and now they are dead. Thank god things progressed father on the other side.”

I saw Ian reach under his shirt. He flicked his hand and in the moment of silence, I heard a “phink.” He’d thrown a fireball bead, intending it to go into the room with the voices. Unfortunately there was a shield of some sort and the fireball bounced off and landed in the center of the room. Where it promptly exploded. It knocked me off my feet and I hit my head. As I sat up I saw across the room, Myntilly regaining her feet. I did a quick heal on myself and the battle was on.

As the door opened fully, we saw Kaurophon, Nabthatoron, Thearynn. The sight of any one of them would have been enough to make me seethe but all three together…. I felt my war blood rise. “Fight!” I thought. “Fight to the death!”

to be continued……………

From: Gau Kleeoch, Master Trainer and Security Chief

Re: Divas’ Exploits

At our next summit, we must discuss the troublesome Divas. It is time they were eliminated.

Kaurophon succeeded in luring them to Occipitus, but failed in his major tasks. The Divas did not falter on the evil plane, passed the tests, and became heirs to Adimarchus’ realm. This is most unsatisfactory. Under orders from Orbius, Ike hired the best assassins in Cauldron. These assassins studied the Divas and their strategies and lay in wait for the perfect opportunity. Miraculously, the Divas survived this attempt as well.

The Divas have also spread their influence beyond Cauldron. Outside of Kingfisher Hollow, Alurad reports that they have disrupted his plan to create armies of undead for our cause. Thankfully, his plans will be able to continue after this minor setback.

The latest interference occurred yesterday at my training facility in Sasserine. As you know, I have recruited a new set of trainees to become wise in the ways of trap-setting, ambush, hand-to-hand combat, and torture. The abandonned brothel, the Lotus Dragon, has been perfect for this endeavor. We have been able to select from the city’s downtrodden certain test subjects who will not be missed. Most recently, the Mayor of Cauldron came to my attention as he was investigating the background of our own Lord Vhalantru. My trainees captured him, and we spent a few days practicing terror and torture on this weakling.

The Divas showed uncanny resources to penetrate my stronghold. Despite the many traps, the minions, and the secret doors, the door burst open to the torture chamber. Right on target, the slashing blades swung down and cut through the half-dragon. I saw her sink to her knees before the door shut and the blades re-set. I ordered the nearest trainee to give the Mayor one last slap for good measure. The door opened again, and the red-haired sorceress was laying down opening the door with her staff. The blades came down again, but the cursed trainees had placed them for standing invaders. The new gnome of the party crouched down and threw something in the room. Suddenly the room was in flames.

I burst through the door to take on the Divas myself. I picked up the gnome and threw him out of the way. After goring the half-dragon, slashing the gypsy, enduring the pesky bites and claws from the bear, and the sound lances from the sorceress, it seemed time to move on. By this time, the fire had spread through the building, and I could hear the floor collapsing behind me. I ran through the burning wall, jumped to the ground, rolled to put the fire out, and ran a few blocks. Two potions of cure moderate wounds later, I ended my rage, and made my way to my lodgings.

I hope my tale serves to convince you of the need to eliminate these heroes once and for all. The good news is that the fire completely consumed the building along with any evidence that may incriminate us. And the Mayor of Cauldron certainly perished in the blaze as well. I look forward to our summit in Cauldron in two days.

Signed,

Gau

The plan was simple, but difficult. Meet the Divas. Tell them the truth, but not all the truth. Lead them through the Test of the Smoking Eye. And betray them to gain the reward. I was convincing. They had their doubts at times, but they accepted me as part of the team.

In the end, it was their acceptance that defeated me.

Thearynn instructed me to follow these heroes and learn them. So I could fool them. So I could thwart them. So I could use them to our ends. I’d been scrying on Alek and on the Divas for a few months now. I knew their fighting styles, and I could anticipate their moves. I teleported to them during their fight with Nabthatoron to help them, and to gain their trust. I brought them gifts. The plan worked; they plane shifted with me to Occipitus.

I identified Alek as the easiest to sacrifice to the flames. But Alek died, and I needed a new target. I decided to put my efforts to Acgar, the half dragon paladin as my next target. She was actually prepared to sacrifice herself. I couldn’t let that happen. Then there were newcomers. A gnomish druid and his bear companion. A wizard. A fighter. Their actions were unexpected, and I couldn’t anticipate them. So they foiled the plan. And the Divas have control of Occipitus. And a link to Adimarchus.

These new members of the team, accepted by the Divas, and they were able to confuse me and thwart me.

I will rejoin Thearynn. We will make new plans.

Myntilly drew her cloak a little closer to her. “That’s really gross.”
As Acgar started to reply, Cinder interrupted. “There is a light down there! Just past the bend in the tunnel.”

Ever since the angel has told us about the fire giant, I’d been thinking about how to fight it. When I heard Cinder’s words, I cast cold shield on myself. Whenever the giant attacked me, he would take some chilly damage right back. I hoped that, as a creature of heat, the cold would hurt him that much more.

We quietly walked down the tunnel. At the bend, I took a deep breath and walked around the corner. My lantern showed two figures. A fire giant and a tiger-like creature. The tiger also held a lantern. The beams of both lanterns shown farther up the tunnel. The words of the mummy rang in my head — I wanted to avoid a fight, if possible. I set the lantern on the floor and raised my hand in greeting.

The tiger nodded quickly, but did not move. The fire giant shifted his weight. I realized I’d been holding my breath. I exhaled.

I felt Sadi move behind me and to the left. Alek came to stand at my elbow. “Don’t worry” he whispered to me. I looked down and saw a fireball bead in his hand. Before I could stop him, he lobbed it between the two creatures.

In the small space the blast from the fireball was loud. My face felt tight from the heat. In the blink of an eye, the giant threw a boulder at us. He was aiming for Alek, but I got in the way. The giant threw two more in rapid succession.

That's me underneath the boulder.

Myntilly used the chaos of the boulder attack to go invisible. She slammed the tiger and the giant with sonic damage. It really upset the giant. That combined with the cold that hit him when the boulder hit me, and he was in pain. The tiger did not move until Myntilly’s spell hit him. Suddenly he disappeared. Sadi let two arrows fly to the place where he’d been a moment ago, but they both bounced off the walls of the tunnel.

Cinder shot her two arrows at the giant. One hit his arm and he brushed it away like a bothersome insect. Acgar had narrowly missed being bowled over by one of the giant’s rocks. Later she told me that she decided that she might not get a cleaner shot at the giant, so she unleashed her breath weapon and covered the giant in acid.

Myntilly, who looks different now that Pelor has touched her soul,  helped me out from under the rocks. Since she was still
invisible, I knew it was her only when she spoke. “We have to do something different or we’re going to die.”

No sooner had she spoken but the floor and walls began to move in a wave-like motion. Everyone except the giant and Acgar was pushed back towards the opening of the tunnel. Myntilly grabbed my hand, “Use magic! Stay away from the giant!”

I’d had an idea in the back of my mind and I decided to try it. Since I was now effectively behind the battle, sheltered by the boulders, I had time to attempt a  difficult spell. I glanced down at my holy symbol. “Pelor, shine your face upon me.” And then I cast dismissal on the fire giant. In theory this should send him back to the plane of existence that he came from. I’ve successfully cast the spell before, but it was on a small extraplanar creature who’d been summoned to Cauldron. The giant, however, was 10 feet tall, almost as wide and had come to Occipitus of his own free will. This would be no simple feat. I imagined the hand of Pelor pushing the giant off the plane, through time & space and back to wherever he’d come from. I gripped the holy symbol tightly, concentrating.

Later, possibly in a bid to make me feel better, Sadi told me she thought the giant looked almost transparent at one point. “That must have been when you were casting your spell. It almost worked.”

Alek had been standing beside Acgar through most of the fight. He, like Sadi and Cinder, was shooting arrows at the giant and, when he’d been visible, the tiger. Myntilly moved up beside him to cast another bout of sonic on the giant. She heard Alek muttering to himself. “Too weak, too weak.” He dropped his bow, pulled out his sword and charged the giant.

It was a beautiful move. From where I was, I saw the giants eyes get wide. Alek took a running leap and slashed at the giant’s face. He almost succeeded in blinding him, I’m sure of it. But the blow was not quite strong enough. The move almost turned Alek completely around. He landed badly; he seemed to twist and almost fall. The giant roared and brought his fists together over his head. He smashed them down on Alek, who crumpled to the floor. As the giant raised his fists to smash again, Cinder and Sadi both fired arrows. The arrows found their marks in the soft flesh under the giant’s arms. He staggered and fell.

I’d forgotten about the tiger. The reality of Alek’s death was heavy and it wasn’t until Kaurophon spoke that I remembered. I heard Kaurophon say “It’s over. Show yourself.”

The tiger suddenly appeared right in front of Kaurophon. Myntilly walked up. “You might have noticed, we just killed your friend. Surrender or we’ll kill you, too.”
In a guttural voice, the tiger said, “He offer me to join! All time in fight, he say ‘join us. Join us’” He was pointing at Kaurophon. Sadi turned her notched bow at Kaurophon.

“He’s wrong! That’s not what I said. Or rather, before Alek threw that damned fireball I was trying to negotiate. Why waste time fighting them when we could join forces!?”

The tiger began to speak again and I cut him off. “My friend (I pointed at Myntilly) has a very short temper and if you want to live, you will leave now without another word.” I stepped out of his way, to clear a path out of the tunnel.

After the tiger left, we pulled the giant off of Alek. I knelt beside his body. I prayed: “Sleep, for now, favored son, Alek Tercival in the safe embrace of St. Cuthbert” and I cast gentle repose on him. If we can get back to Cauldron before 10 days pass, I can resurrect him. I couldn’t save him from himself, but I will do my best to return him, whole and healthy, to Jenya.