Part 23 - Courage, the Rise of a Hero of Misfortune

Speaking of Rhem, it was time for us to return. The town’s people would be happy to hear that the animated furniture would no longer bother them, although I wasn’t sure how they’d react to their collapsed city…and now that Araja was gone, I hoped they would listen to what I had to say. At least I had Melinda and Kedra with me. I ask Penelope and Sanji to stay behind. Too many new faces would only frighten the town’s people of Rhem and might cause some suspicion as to Araja’s absence.

Upon our return, we’re greeted by Gereth, the archer that was all too eager to shoot us when Araja, Isaac, and I initially arrived. Something is wrong though. When he sees Melinda, his face turns aghast, “M-M-Melinda?” he stutters. He turns his head toward the gates, “Szen, Melinda’s here…again!” he shouts.

Szen, here? I thought, How? What was he saying about Melinda? Seconds later an older man – Szen – came through the gate closely trailed by…Melinda? But, Melinda’s right here next to me. There are two?

“Veeeell, dis is confusing!” Szen said in his heavily accented, sing song voice. He smiled smugly, wringing his hands together.

“How is this possible?” I said, “Melinda was with us the whole time! When we reached the surface, Isaac went back to recovered Melinda’s body. He brought her back to life!”

As it turns out, the Melinda standing behind Szen was an exact copy of the Melinda standing by me. The strange plant I’d seen in room P on the Red November turned out to be a component of a spell to make a copy of one’s self. When the copy escaped the ship, she found Szen, who had been hiding as one of the strange sea creatures in the lake, and went back to town. Why didn’t the copy come back for us? Why did they just leave?

“I know how ve can solve dis,” Szen says exuberantly. He casts a zone of truth and both Melinda’s step inside, “Now, ve vill ask de Melinda’s which de true Melinda is.” I ask each Melinda a single question. To the copy I asked the name of the ship, and then I asked our Melinda the name of the man who’d died. To my astonishment, both got the answers right.

“Fascinating!” Szen exclaimed, “Dis means dey are both Melinda!”

Slightly irritated and still very confused, I changed the subject, “Szen, why did you have such a collection on the ship? What were you planning to do in the Under Dark?” The answers Szen gives me are less then satisfying and leaves me with a feeling of unease. It was clear Szen was trying to hide something.

“Tank you, little gurl for returning Melinda to us,” Szen said to me with a tone of farewell, “Now Melinda…and Melinda…shall we get back to our studies? There is much to do!”

“My name is Cortanna,” I said dryly. I couldn’t believe he was ready to dismiss us so soon, “What about the animated objects? The city, which is now a crater? Your people can’t continue to live like this. Their exhausted.”

“Oh, vell tank you, Cortanna. Tanks to you, ve can now rebuild and start anew. Now, ve really must be going,” Szen said.

“Szen, wait!” I said, grasping at straws. Why was he so eager to be rid of me? “Don’t you want to hear the good news?”

“And vat might dat be?” Szen said, mildly interested.

“I’d like to inform you that the animated objects won’t be bothering you or the people of Rhem anymore.”

“Is dat so? And how might you know dat?”

“I’m sure you already know,” I said acidly. It was he who had held Cutie Pie and the Ravid captive until their escape.

Szen thought for a moment and then a gleam of understanding shinned over him, “Fascinating!” he said, “Very, very, fascinating! Tanks again, Cortanna. Now ve can get back to rebuilding without does pesky chairs and ropes bothering us! Good bye!”

It was just as he turned to leave that I saw it. Something golden slid into view from around the wizard’s neck, a golden pendant in the exact shape of the mark!

“Szen, stop right there!” I commanded. Szen didn’t want to help these people! He was using them! My hand went to my weapon handle. Cutie Pie, I called mentally, Bring Sanji and Penelope, quickly!

“Hold it right there!” Gereth said warningly, knocking an arrow to his bow and pointing it in my direction, “I wouldn’t do that if I was you. Now ease off!”

“Gereth, Szen possesses the mark of Erythnull! I saw it!” I said.

Szen let out a crack of laughter, “Silly Cortanna! Little gurl, why don’t you go back to where you came and stop bothering us.”

“See for yourself Gereth!” I persisted. I wasn’t going to let Szen get away, “The symbol is on a chain around his neck.

Gereth was obviously shocked that I’d made such an accusation against their leader, “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt if I took a peak, right boss?” Gereth said, rolling his eyes, “anything to make the girl go away.”

Szen reluctantly complied, but as Gereth leaned in to have a look, I could tell that Szen was pulling out a different necklace from the one I had seen. This one bore the mark of Highronious.

“Dere are you happy? Now go away,” Szen snapped.

“All of them!” I said, “He’s wearing two necklaces.” I told Gereth.

“Look, girl I’m gonna have to ask you to leave,” Gereth said.

“No! He’s one of them! Would Araja have allowed a marked person to go unchecked within her people?” I prodded.

I could see my point hit home! Gereth was beginning to bend to my side, “Well…alright! I suppose it couldn’t hurt – ”

“Excuse me?” Szen said in shock.

“I’m sorry sir, but the girls got a point,” Gereth said. He leaned in for another look as Szen fumbled to put the first pendant back beneath his vest, “WHAT IN THE – ” I knew he’d seen it by the way Gereth’s eyes bulged, even before he was able to shout in alarm. And then, just as soon as he had made his discovery, Gereth turned to ash.

Szen retracted his hand from where Gereth once stood, “Pity,” he lamented, “I vas really hoping I vouldn’t have to do zat, and now Cortanna, I’m afraid you’ve seen too much.” Szen stretched his hand toward me. I froze. Where was Cutie Pie with Sanji and Penelope? There was no escape…

Suddenly Cutie Pie crashes into me, whisking me away. The Melinda standing behind Szen tackled him, and just before I lost sight of them, I saw Szen turn her to dust as well.

The next thing I know, Kedra and the real Melinda – as far as I was concerned – were flying after us, “Wait!” I heard Kedra called, “We’re coming with you!” I tell them to follow us back to the cave. We needed to get Sanji and Penelope and get out of dodge! Szen would surely hunt us down, but I was torn. What about the people of Rhem? We had to expose Szen for who he truly was, and before anyone else was hurt!

As soon as we met back at the cave, I told the others what happened. Sanji says we shouldn't wait. Now that Szen has used some of his more powerful spells, he should be more vulnerable. I hear Sanji’s words, but I was terrified on the inside. I’d only just been to the bottom of the lake in the Under Dark that morning. I’d only just lost two of my party members. I’d only just gotten through the cave and all its evils within, and I’d only just escaped with my life from Szen himself! How was I going to protect myself, even with Penelope and Sanji’s help?

I then remembered the Luggage. Isaac was always asking it for all kinds of obscure items. I tell Sanji and Penelope to gear up as well for the impending fight. Penelope gets a wild idea to have the Luggage dump out all its weapons, a big mistake because now some are unusable. I find a few items that suit me, but we are still short on healing items.

Szen was going to pay. When I came back, he wouldn't see a little gurl. No, I was done hiding whenever something bad happened. It was time to face my fears and stand up for what I believed in. “Shodan, let’s do this!” I declare, firmly gripping the weapon handle. Shodan doesn't say anything, but I can feel a strange energy coursing through her into me. Now I feel invigorated and strong. 

Part 22 - Getting to know you

The cave is dark, but dry. Kedra, Melinda, and I rush inside. Kedra deposits the man nearby and the strange creature waits expectantly at his side. I have Cutie Pie stay hidden, and he seems happy to frolic about in the storm.

And then, we realize we’re not alone! The sound of hooves clip – clopping in the darkness, come toward us. Our advisory is well hidden in the darkness at the opposite end of the cave mouth. Suddenly, a terrible crash comes from the entrance. Our way out was caving in, trapping us in darkness!

“No, not here!” Melinda says with a gasp. What did she mean by that? Obviously there was something she knew about this cave that was yet to be shared. After all, Kedra did say this was where ice was stored and that it was used for…quarantine?

As we panic to find light before we’re consumed by the unknown creature, there’s a snap, and then an aura of light brightens the small area around us. It was coming from the seal man and he was awake! He introduces his name as Sanji and his little friend, that he calls a penguin. It reminds me of a toy I used to see rocking in the window of a trading shop in Eporhtnacyl. If you squeezed it it would make a Kuuuuuuuuah sound. I never cared for the toy, like I don’t really care for the real thing. Something about its buggy eyes was creeping me out…but I suppose…I turned my head sideways as if that would improve my view of the creature. It stared at me with its mouth agape and wiggled its strange little tongue. Nope! It was definitely creepy!

The hooves tip toed around in the darkness. Was the creature trying to sneak up on us? “Hello?” I shout into the darkness beyond.

“Hello,” comes a husky reply. Great, there was someone else trapped in the same cave with some creature lurking about. I could still hear it tip toeing, sneaking, trying to find its way toward us. We were all in danger! I reach for Shodan, preparing to smite my enemy.

Hello, master, I hear Shodan’s voice, full of rebuke, in my mind, Thinking of using me today? I think not.

“Shodan?” I say in confusion, “This is not the time! There’s something out there – ”

Not the time? Shodan mocks. It becomes rapidly clear why she was so testy, but you had the time to use Hubert. Shodan made a throat clearing sound and I instantly knew she spat after saying the swords name, You would use that inferior sword over me?

“Shodan, please!” I begged, my voice going up an octave, “Isaac was dying – died – Isaac died! I had to do something!” In a moment of anger I growled, “Can you grant wishes? I didn’t think so!”

My other hand went to Hubert’s hilt…a big mistake. Suddenly I heard two voices, Hubert and Shodan, shouting and screaming at each other like a couple of cats fighting. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t release my hold on either Shodan or Hubert. Then suddenly I feel myself throw Hubert to the floor. Shodan turns into a great sword and I feel myself arc the blade upward, my limbs being controlled by an unforeseen force.

“Shodan no!” I shout as I realize what was about to happen. Shodan shows no mercy. With a down ward stroke, she strikes Hubert, and the sword shatters into dust! “No!” I wail, “How could you Shodan? I’ll never use you again!” but as I go to sheath the weapon handle, I can feel Shodan resist me, as if arm wrestling with an invisible opponent. Her will outweighed mine.

Suddenly the blade grew hot, so much so that I could feel it burning my hand! No matter what I did though, I couldn’t release the weapon handle, “Shodan!” I complained desparately.

Promise me you’ll never use another weapon like him again, Her voice commanded.

“What? Shodan please! It hurts!”

Promise me! The handle grew hotter still.

“Okay I promise!” I said defeated. Finally, the handle goes cold and Shodan retreats from my mind. I hastily put the weapon handle away and examine my hand for damage, but it appears to be okay.

In my silence I hear Sanji conversing with someone whose voice I don’t recognize. When I look up I see a very, very, very tall being and she carries an even taller scythe. As the light illuminates her features, it becomes clear that she isn’t human, rather a mixture of all sorts of races. The clip – clopping sound was coming from her hooves!

“She’s a seccubus!” I hear Kedra blurt. She points an accusing finger at the woman. Instantly my skin crawls. As I scrutinize the woman further it becomes clear. She did share some similarities, but how would we know if this weren’t some disguise? I looked at Sanji who was babbling flirtatiously, and for a moment it seemed like he was within the seccubus’ control.

“What do you want with us, seccubus?” I demand. My hand absently reaches for Shodan as if I’d forgotten our little spat.

“What’s a seccubus?” the woman said ignorantly.

“You!” Kedra said belligerently to the woman. To us she said, “She’s only trying to lure us into trusting her, and then she’ll kill us!”

“She’s not evil,” Sanji said, siding up to the woman and brushing her arm, “If she were evil, I wouldn’t be able to touch her.”

“Seccubus’ are soul eaters!” Kedra warned, “She’ll lure us into her trap and take advantage of us when we least expect it.”

“Well if you’re going to stand around and accuse me of being a murderer, then I guess I’ll go my own way!” the woman said heatedly. She turned around and with a wave of her hand, shifted into an elf and walked off.

“My lady wait,” Sanji said, stumbling after her.

I looked at the others. Currently Sanji was our only source of light and what if the seccubus knew a way out of the cave? We followed reluctantly, but I kept my wits about me.

The woman introduces herself, Penelope, and Sanji introduces the rest of us in turn. Somehow Penelope took a liking to Sanji’s penguin – Gunther – and called for her own creature friend.

“Here, box puppy,” she calls. There’s a sound of skittering feet and then a wooden chest came bounding into view. As Penelope bends down to greet it, the chest’s velvety tongue licks her excitedly.

“Luggage?” I say dumbfounded. How did she get the Luggage?

“You know him, Cortanna?” Penelope says.

“Of course. He belonged to Isaac. When he died, the Luggage just ran off,” a creeping wave of suspicion swept over me, but Kedra beat me to the punch.

Kedra turned to me. “Maybe she’s the one responsible for Isaac’s death! Didn’t Isaac come back from the Under Dark with that hat?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Maybe she charmed him into putting the hat on so she could have the Luggage,” Kedra said. For once, Kedra was making some sense, and I found myself agreeing with her. Even though her theory was a bit farfetched I wasn’t about to let my guard down.

“You’re unbelievable!” Penelopy shouted, “If this Isaac was evil, then I’m glad he died. Don’t you think if I was trying to kill you I would have done so by now? I’m a good person, always have been.” She continued on and we followed with nothing better to do. Hopefully in our wonderings we’d find a way out.

As we keep going, our path becomes more treacherous and narrow. Suddenly we’re stopped. Penelope is stuck between the narrow walls. After some pushing and prodding, we manage to get her through. The rest of us squeeze through the narrow gap. The other side leads us into a large room. To one side there’s a group of goblins, surrounding a fire. When they notice us, I attempt to ask them for safe passage, but they’re not interested. Instead they move to attack us.

The fight turned dangerous when the room suddenly filled with smoke. Melinda was able to enchant my eyes so I could see the goblins and after then we were able to defeat them in short order.

Looking around, the room we are in appears to be well carved into the rock, as if someone had made a base there. Was this the place Kedra and Melinda were referring to? There’s dead goblins and ash all over the floor. Sanji says there’s something strange about the short swords the goblins were using. When holding one, it made your skin crawl uncomfortably.

Kedra examines two doors on the other side of the room. Both are locked and she determines one is trapped. Penelope goes to physically knock down the door, like a humanoid battering ram, when Kedra shouts, “Wait!” It’s too late. As Penelope smashes into the door, it triggers a trap, causing a pendulum to slice across the path in front of us – narrowly missing.

“I thought you said the other door was trapped,” Sanji said, a bit singed. Kedra gave him a sheepish look.

Melinda finds a key in this room with the number 1 on it. We keep it in case we need it later. As we explore the cave we narrowly encounter more trap doors. On one, Melinda and Sanji aren’t so lucky. As Melinda goes to open the door, needles fly out, peppering them all over. I heal the halfling, but she remains unconscious. Finally they regain consciousness, but Melinda is delirious. I go to touch Melinda and as soon as I do, the room goes black. I thought I’d gone unconscious, but I could still hear myself, and feel Melinda under my hand.

I try to calm Melinda, but this only seems to frighten her. Finally I let go, hoping this madness would end, but it’s still dark. When I reach for Melinda again, I can’t find her! Frantically I try to find her and I shout her name, but it’s no use. She was gone.

After a while the darkness fades and I realize we’re back in the hall where we were just minutes before. Melinda lands heavily on the ground. I try to explain to Sanji what happened, but whenever we talk, Melinda babbles in a high pitched scream.

With nothing to do until Melinda regained her senses – if she regained her senses – Sanji and Kedra decide to check out the room next door. When they come back they report there’s a strange tentacly creature chained to the wall.

Sanji tries asking the Luggage for a wand of cure poison, after Melinda had shown no improvement in their absence. Luckily the Luggage rewards him with the desired item and Melinda is cured!

Now that we were able to move on, we find another door. Melinda carefully opens this one with no harm. In this room there’s a single torch with a chest in front of it. Sanji warns us not to approach it. He throws a rock at the chest, which sticks, instead of bouncing off. A moment later, the chest suddenly slurps the rock up. As the chest opens its mouth to digest the rock, we can see a key resting inside its maw.

We quickly defeat the mimic and take its treasure, including the key. As I pick up the key – marked number 2 – I hear a voice in my head that says, So, you have come uninvited. I will consume your mind! Startled, I throw the key to the ground. Sanji picks it up and he hears the same thing. As he holds onto the key a bit longer, his limbs start to move without his control.

Supprised, Sanji puts the key down, “If its evil, it shouldn’t have worked on me,” he says.

We continue exploring, avoiding traps as best we can. Finally our path takes us to some stairs. At the bottom there’s a short hall way that opens up into a large room. A man and woman stand at an alter with unrecognizable objects. One is cutting something fleshy on the alter. They see us enter, but they don’t seem to mind our presence and continue.

Penelope mentions something about rituals and Hyroneous. Suddenly I wonder if she knows Araja, but when I ask, she shakes her head. She only knows stories of the great General.

As we come closer Sanji asks what they’re doing. The woman, in disgust, spits at Sanji’s feet and resumes her project. We rapidly realize the things their cutting up were once people! In a burst of anger, the woman thumps her staff and an icy pillar narrowly misses Penelope.

The fight is on! In a few hits the woman dies…or so we thought. Golden light flew out of her and she returns to life, this time seeming stronger. Orc that we hadn’t seen before join the fight, making it a bit difficult to focus on the woman and man – who is now chanting over the thing on the altar.

When he finishes his chant, the thing comes to life! A tentacle reaches out, wraps around him, and sucks him inside. While Penelope tries to deal with the woman, Sanji is seriously weakened by one of the orcs. Kedra rushes over to the orc and as she grabs him, dark energy passes from her into her opponent, and he turns to ash.

The woman flees the room, passing through a door behind the altar as if she were a ghost. The creature on the altar rises, taking on the shape of an ooze. I remembered oozes were weak against fire and remembered Jessica used to have a fire staff. I quickly called the luggage over and asked for it. Fortunately it coughed up the right thing, but shards, I’d forgotten how to activate it. I looked over the staff and saw an inscription written in elvish that said burn baby burn! I pointed the staff at the ooze, shouted the phrase, and a gout of fire poured over it, wounding it significantly.

I gleefully shout as I burn the ooze over and over, but then an orc distracts me. When he touches me I feel a fowl energy course through my body and I feel weakened. Kedra tries to help, but I suddenly find her two daggers sinking deeply into my flesh. As I feel myself fading, I remember my amulet. I quickly heal myself, and then char the orc to ash.

Penelope delivered the finishing blow on the ooze and the creature was no more. Sanji manages to find a religious symbol behind the altar he suspects to be some sort of key for the door the woman passed through.

We decide to take a rest in a safe dimensional room Sanji has to heal from the fight. We take turns keeping watch to see if the woman comes back. Unfortunately, we weren’t rewarded in any such way. Once rested, Sanji grabs the symbol. It seems to want to control him! Finally he’s able to put it in the door and he passes through, just as the woman had. Once we’re all through, Sanji throws the symbol on the floor.

We’re now in a larger room and the woman waits for us at the other end with a creature next to her, a Braxat. Apparently the creature was known for powerful mind control abilities and had been the one all along talking to us through the objects. We rush in to fight. The Braxat is pretty resilient against our attacks, but then Sanji turns into a many headed hydra! He takes on the Braxat with ease.

 I go after the woman again. She doesn’t look so good, but she gets away from me after hitting me with a spell. Now I’m compelled to attack my allies!

Finally the Braxat is dead and the room is clear. Penelope finds a stone door. When she opens it there’s day light on the other side. We’re free, we’re free, we’re…

We hear Penelope scream and rush to her aid. There are two more Braxat’s and they were going after Penelope. Sanji rushes in and seemed to be holding them off okay, but then Melinda runs past both creatures unharmed, as if they were ignoring her. Melinda seems to be equally shocked. Sanji kills one of the Braxat’s and Penelope bloodies the other, but just as she’s about to kill it, Melinda hops on its back and they fly up in the air.

“Melinda!” I shout, unsure what had happened. I hastily ask the Luggage for boots of flying and chase after them. The creature is fast and I’m unable to keep up. Suddenly it drops out of the sky and when it lands, it’s now doubled in size! The same size as hydra Sanji! Fortunately Sanji’s able to tear him apart and Melinda falls to the ground.

As I go to make sure Melinda’s okay, she takes flight, speeding away from us. I send Cutie Pie after her, but Melinda refuses to return. Did she intentionally cause the Braxat to fly up in the air and double inside or was she under the Braxat’s control? I call Cutie Pie back after Melinda cast a slow spell on him. Several minutes later he returns and Sanji dispels the slowness.

A while later, while we’re recovering, Melinda returns. She ran away because she thought we were angry at her for what happened with the Braxat. As it turns out she was only trying to help as best she could.

I thanked Sanji and Penelope. Despite what Penelope is, I can’t deny how helpful she’s been. I thought she would have turned on us in the cave, but she seemed to have nothing to do with the evil man and woman we’d just defeated. That being said, I’m not about to open up to her just yet. There must be a reason why she is the way she is, but it’s also clear that if we don’t show her some trust, she won’t be sticking around. Her aided protection would be most valuable now that…now that Jessica, Rekka, and Isaac are gone. I’m not even sure if Gideon and Araja will return.

Kedra has also earned my praise. It seems like this journey has done her some good. While there’s still some things she does that makes me cringe, I kind of…sort of…wouldn’t mind if she chose to stay with us. Melinda has been equally helpful. I’m sure she has lots of work to do back at Rhem, but I’d wish she’d come with us as well. 

Part 21 - What Does the Penguin Say? Kua, Kua, Kuaaaaa!

When I return, Araja is just leaving! "Wait!" I shout but she keeps going. The nerve! I turn to Isaac, "Now what? Are you going to leave too?" I say with concern. Besides Isaac, it was only him and me now. Our party was rapidly dissolving. We weren’t sure where Gideon made off too. Maybe he was in trouble with his deity again? Would I ever see him again? At least Araja was kind enough to leave a note, I guess.

“We'll be ok,” Isaac says less then comfortingly, and I soon discover why, “I'm going to try something a bit... risky.” Wha-wha-what?  “If things don't go so well you should use Hubert's last wish to undo the misfortune.” Isaac unbuckles Hubert from his waist and hands me the sword, scabbard and all. I don’t know what he’s talking about. I look from Isaac, to the sword, and back again, confused. And then, he pulls out a seemingly mundane hat and puts it on.

I watch intently as a look of stern concentration crosses over Isaac's face. A moment passes, long enough for a look of triumph to begin spreading across his face. And then…he keels over.

"Isaaaaac? ISAAC???" I drop Hubert in time to catch Isaac before he falls over. I ease him to the ground as best a 16 year old girl does a skeleton.

Suddenly he turns to ash in my hands, leaving nothing behind. Body and gear alike are consumed. No bones, no clothing, nothing is left behind! Nothing except the wretched hat!

"No! No! Hubert? No!" I cry. I didn’t know what to do, torn between the ash, the sword, the dissolution of the party, and…I was alone!

The Luggage leaps over to where Isaac once was, sniffing, like a dog looking for its lost master. A few moments later, the Luggage begins hastily running off into the woods, following a trail only it can detect.

"Let’s follow him," I say mentally to Cutie-Pie. I start running after the Luggage as fast as my legs will allow, but even then it’s too fast. “Cutie-Pie!” I say in despair. The next thing I know the Asperi swoops down, whisking me off my feet, we speed after the Luggage, but still it is too fast. Soon we lose sight of it. I slap my leg, chagrined, “Lets go back!” I command, “We've got to find Hubert!" Hubert was the only hope. Hubert would undo the wrong and make things right again.

I leave Cutie-Pie in the trees and bolt for the sword. I unsheathe it, holding it skyward, “I wish for this misfortune to be undone!" I yell. I wait for something to happen, for the magic to start flowing, for the ash to turn to bone and flesh…but nothing happens.

“ I'm terribly sorry, My Lady,” I hear the sword say, “but I’m afraid it's too late. My powers can only change things that have happened very recently."

I drop the sword in shock. What have I done? What…have…I…DONE? I’ve failed him. I fall to my knees, my throat knotting with sobs, "ISAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC!” I scream. I wanted him to hear me. I wanted someone, something to hear me as if my screams would write the wrong and bring Isaac back. I pound the ground with my fists, “EVERYTHING I KNOW – EVERYTHING I LOVE – TAKEN FROM ME! WHYYYYYYYY?” My sides heave and I cough as I inhale some dust. When the coughing fit ends, I lay on the ground, curled in a heap. The hat is conveniently ahead of me, as if purposely placed there. "Isaac?" I say again hoarsely.

Suddenly I’m aware I’m not alone. Melinda, speechless, babbles while pointing at the hat, and Kedra bows her head. A soft sob can be heard and Kedra’s shoulders seem to shake. "He was the only person to ever help me become a better person."

After some time and letting the shock settle in, we’re finally ready to move on. I collect Hubert and the hat, carefully, ceremoniously. "I really don't know what just happened to Isaac,” I say, “I can only hope for the best and that one day...we see him again. Araja - I mean, the General - has gone off to do some of her own investigating...I hope she will return safely as well. We should probably go back before it gets dark. I think the problem with the animated furniture has been solved."

We begin to walk when suddenly the weather changes. A huge thunder storm gathers and lightning begins streaking across the sky and large pellets of rain beat down upon us. Kedra and Melinda shout something to each other but it's inaudible over the storm.

Seconds later, a bolt of lightning strikes the ground in front of us, leaving behind a human in singed clothing and penguin on his back. They appear to be unconscious before us. The man is clothed in lots of fur, and leather

"What else could possibly go wrong?" I say dryly. "I think there's a beached seal lying over there," I shout to Kedra and Melinda while pointing toward the man. "He smells TERRRRRIBLE, like a horse stable that hasn't been mucked out in a month!"

The storm continues to rage. The rain turns into heavy hail "Help me get him to shelter!" I say to the others, "Oh and watch out for the, the, whatever that thing is." I point at the penguin. When I get no response I yell, “MELINDA! KEDRA! MOVE YOUR ASPERI'S! HELP ME!”

Kedra rushes in and heaves the unconscious man over her shoulder, pushing her way forward. "There's a cave over this way!" She shouts over the storm. "We use to use it as an ice house and quarantine area."

"QUARANTINE???" I shout back as I grab the penguin. The noise of the storm carries my words away and Kedra doesn’t seem to hear me. Melinda is running after her, but her short legs can’t carry her as fast. When I touch the penguin it turns to me and says:

I drop the penguin in fright and decide to chase after Melinda, "Cutie pie can you carry two?" I ask mentally, he’s there a moment later. I scoop up Melinda and hop on the Asperi’s back, "Follow that girl." I say, pointing ahead to Kedra.

Cutie-Pie flies ahead, unaffected by the wind, and we're able to catch up with Kedra. The penguin shuffles on, grabbing Cutie-Pie by the tale and swings along, merrily taking up the rear.

Part 20 - Can I Trust the Brony Pony from the Frosted Peaks of Wheyrune?

"I'd recognize your scent anywhere!” I hear in my head. The voice is soft, but obviously male. It also has a strange quality to it as if carried on the wind, “You're an elf from the Frosted Peaks of Wheyrune. I use to live there until I was captured and brought here, but you've come to rescue me, and take me home!" The flying horse looks at me with big, round eyes, expectant.

This is what you guys see

“Wha-wha-what?” I say to the voice, shocked when I realize its coming from the horse creature, “I don't even know where that place is! Who are you? Where are you taking me? What are you talking about? Please take me down this instant!”

The creature instantly takes me town below the treeline, "Oh...okay. I'm sorry, but you smell just like my home and the people there. If you aren't an elf from the Frosted Peaks of Wheyrune, where are you from?"

"I come from the small town of Eporthnacyl. I lived there all my life, although I was adopted when I was a baby. I don't know why I'm explaining this to you. Who are you really? You're obviously not a horse." I pull at his ears and mane as if the creature were some sort of aberration. Could this be Briar in disguise? "The last horse I helped stabbed me in the back." I explain.

"I am,” there’s a whooshing, whinny sound that quickly dies away. The creature continues, “and you are clearly from the Frosted Peaks of Wheyrune. Just because you don't remember living there, doesn't mean you aren't from there. My nose can tell. That's just awful that a horse stabbed you in the back, though how a horse could hold a knife is beyond me...mind you, I don't know much about horses. I'm an Asperi, you see, and though we look alike, we're actually quite different."

I flush with embarrassment realizing my folly. I should have known the creature wouldn’t have understood what I truly meant, "No, I mean she lied to me about what she truly was; an evil, murdering mare that used me so she could do whatever it was she was trying to accomplish. If I ever see her again..." I trail off darkly, fists clenched.

After some thought I say, "Wheyrune, that sounds like a beautiful place. Is it any better than here?" He seemed trustworthy…Briar was a mistake. I was stupid then – vulnerable even. I wanted so bad to have her that I blinded myself to reason, a mistake I’ll never make again.

"Wheyrune is a wonderful place...or well, I hope it still is,” the creature said, “We were attacked and I was taken captive, but the elves were on our side and the elves are really good warriors, so there's a really good chance that they fought off the attackers.”

I mouth the word elves in amazement, "When my mom - foster mom - told me I was part elf I didn't believe her. I just thought I was like everyone else, but everyone else treated me differently." Her shoulders slump as memories cloud her mind. "I feel like I've changed a lot since leaving Eporthnacyl. I feel like I need to fight. Is that what being an elf is like?" I looked at the Asperi expectantly as if to gain some unforeseen wisdom. Then I shook my head not wanting to delve deeper, "Do you know who, and why you were brought here? Were you being held hostage on this plane? Perhaps you were freed once my companions and I figured out how to obstruct the anti magic field. I wouldn't be surprised if this person(s) is the same one we're after."

"The ones who first caught me sold me to a man named Szen,” he says. My ears perk at the name, “He said I could help him with keeping his Ravid company. So I was kept in the same pen as the Ravid, and we got to know one another. She was a nice Ravid, sad, lonely, and we tried to break out a number of times. We almost were found a few times, but Szen would catch whoever was poking around his shed and stop them."

"What's a Ravid?” I ask, “Is it still around? Where is Szen now? Surely he'll be looking for you. What if he finds you with me?"

"A Ravid is a wonderful creature that gives life to things around it. I don't know where Szen is now; I haven't seen him in a long time. The Ravid and I only survived because the objects it gave life to would bring us food."

My eyes go wide, "Would you be able to find this Ravid again? I wonder if the objects it's been bringing to life have been causing some problems with the people who used to live here." I explain the situation with the towns people and animated objects, the discovery of the under dark and anti magic field, and the events leading up to the Asperi's freedom. "By the way, what do Asperis and Ravids eat?" I had to ask, as if this were some final test.

"I think the Ravid has already made his escape. He did bring a lot of things to life in the hopes of either making Szen release us, or else getting discovered. It sounds like all he succeeded in was chasing the people away. That would explain why we haven't seen Szen in so long...or anybody else.” The creature humers me by answering my question, "Ravids eat just about anything. But I prefer fruits and grains. I can't stand that meat stuff." Sigh, what a relief!

This is what Cortanna sees!!!!!!

"We should go back,” I say, my nerves settled, “The towns people will be happy to know they won't be chased or bothered by animate furniture anymore. Although, I think you should stay hidden. My party members might not react favorably to your presence...and perhaps the towns people too. Will we be able to communicate this way from a distance? Did Szen give you a name? May I call you by it? I can't promise your return to Wheyrune immediately, but if you'd like to join our group, in the mean time, I will make sure it happens. Uh...may I ride you back? My father - adoptive father - was a great horseman and I've learned a lot from him…" I grimace at the stinging memories of my father, "You will be in the best of care!" I say in an affirmed voice.

"Call me Cutie-Pie, that's what Szen called me. And I would love to help you and your friends, after all, you set me free so it's the least I can do. Though I do agree that it would be best if I stay hidden from the towns people until we figure out why Szen kept me, and if he's still around. I don't want to go back to that cage. And I can speak in your mind as long as we're not more than a mile away."

Cutie-Pie takes me back. I instruct him to land in the trees just before the crater and hide there. If I needed him I would use our mental connection to call on him. There is much that needs to be done!

Part 19 - 31 Leagues Beneath the Sea. Another Town Bites the Dust.

When we get back the town seems quieter than usual. All the guards are sleeping. It made sense for them to sleep during the day when the danger seemed to come at night. Melinda was still fast asleep with the unicorn in our mud hut, but the fire has long since burned out. I go to find more wood in case we stay longer.

Everyone knew when Kedra returned, “That was amaaaaaazing!” she said exuberantly, and louder than necessary, “Is this what you do aaaaall the time?” As Kedra keeps talking my mind goes blank and my vision blurs. Her words seem to come faster and faster like uncontrollable diarrhea. Suddenly my neck prickles and I’m snapped back into reality as she says, “Can I come with you?”

The others are silent, but I’ve decided to put my foot down, “You know Kedra, there aren’t that many people who speak giant here. What if you’re town has problems with other giants? There seems to be lots of giants in this area. Your services are invaluable to this town. They need you here.”

Perhaps Kedra could hear the blandness of my tone or maybe it was the bleak stare I was giving her, but she seemed to get the hint…and left crying.

Melinda wakes close to dinner time and rushes off. We find her and Roselyn in the infirmary, and tell them that we’d dealt with the giants.

And then Kedra is there. When she finds us she’s her warm bubbly self again, and she’s gloating about going on an adventure with…ARAJA??? Wha-wha-whaaaaat? I guess someone thought it would be funny to undermine my life saving desire to leave – her – here!

Isaac gets down to business and asks Melinda more questions about the Well and her master. The story is the same. Her master tried to enchant an item with an anti magic field, but just as he was about to complete the spell, he was dragged down into the well. Several rescue attempts were made, all of which were unsuccessful, and the rescuers themselves were never seen again.

When Isaac mentions the Under Dark, Melinda pulls out a book, “That’s what Sven was talking about!” she says mysteriously, “He was researching this!”

It turns out Sven was Melinda’s teacher and he’d been trying to find a way into the Under Dark for some time. Why would he want to go there? I think, shuddering. That was his reason for coming to Rhem because of stories heard and his desire to learn more. Melinda thinks Sven is still alive and contemplates a way to go to the Under Dark. It would also explain why none of our magic items worked. Sven’s anti magic field was indeed working.

“Tell you what,” I say, business like, “We’ve all ready been down there and know what its like. On our first trip down, we lost a lot of our gear that we’re really interested in getting back. If we help you find Sven, will you help us get our stuff back?”

Melinda’s face glows, “The Gnomes!” she says aloud and rushes off. We follow her as fast as we can. Along the way she tells us about a ship the Gnomes have been repairing that can supposedly submerge itself under water. Perhaps we could use the vessel as a means to safely get into the Under Dark and collect our lost gear.

We come to a shed where the sounds of Gnomes feverishly pounding and banging away at metal rings toward us. The ship is like one I’ve never seen before…a tin can with holes all over it…actually it was more like a metal turd that when dropped into water, the water would separate out of its way, allowing it to plunge unceremoniously, until it splattered flat against the hard bottom of the sea…

We’re to set out at dawn the next morning. The Gnomes have assured us that all repairs would be complete by then. They seem overly eager for a chance to try out their…new toy.

For understandable reasons, I was unable to sleep that night. Not only was the ground hard, wet, and cold, but visions of us plunging back into the acidic waters of the Under Dark in the Tin Turd had me tossing and rolling in my sleep. Araja had an anxiety attack and feinted just before she finally found rest, but at least she got some sleep! It wasn’t until I saw the sky lightening with the rising of the sun that I finally blacked out from fatigue.

I’m rudely awakened a short while later and it’s time to go! Breakfast is over, and Isaac and Araja are dragging me to my feet and shoving me out the door! Melinda meets us as we head toward Rhem. Isaac asks her about the integrity of the ship, but all Melinda can tell us is that the Gnomes have everything under control! Am I losing my mind? Is this a dream?

We find the sorry excuse of scrap metal – that looks more like a 21^st century car wrapped around a telephone pole from high velocity – sitting on its keel near the well. The Gnomes are still pounding away, making adjustments here and there. Some of them look like their pounding just to hear the melodic sound of their hammers on steel. The sound was very familiar…like that pendulum that smashed that poor warrior against the wall in the dwarven ruins…

Anyway, Isaac devises an ingenious plan to launch the T.S.S. Halibut – as the Gnomes fondly called it – down the well. The only question now was what to do once the Halibut cleared the hole. There was still a long drop before it would hit the water. Those crafty Gnomes had an answer for that though, WINGS! In fact the wings were assembled on sight, and then attached willy-nilly to the sides of the ship like a two year old with super glue.

At this time Araja started having another anxiety attack and I couldn’t take it any longer. If we were going to die in this ship, I might as well get a good look inside the hull. Surprisingly, the interior of the ship was substantially better then the outside. I felt like I could live in there! Oddly enough, the interior of the ship is clearly more specious than the outside.

As we prepare to depart, Isaac, Melinda, Kedra, and the Gnomes drag a screaming Araja along like a pig to slaughter. They show us to the passenger quarters, which turns out to be a panic room for wary sea faring customers. The gnomes now show us to the real passenger quarters, but not before turning the lights out on Araja to conserve power. Tee, hee, hee!

We seat ourselves and before us is the control room. Glass walls separate our quarters from the control room and we can clearly see the Gnomes flying about like gerbils on crack as they press buttons and pull levers to get the ship going. The ship begins to shake and lurch. I grip the arm rests of my seat until my knuckles turn white. The ship groans as it finds its way into the chute and it deafeningly grates forward, gaining speed.

And then there was a feeling of weightlessness as gravity pulled my weight toward the ceiling against my restraints. We fall, and fall, and fall. The Gnomes scratch their heads and shrug to one another. They look back at us when they suddenly realize we’re watching. A couple of them hastily give us a thumbs up as they go back to pressing buttons and pulling levers. You’ve got to be kidding me –

Suddenly I fall back in my seat. The wings have deployed! The gnomes shout excitedly and high five each other, and belly bump, and then realize no one is at the controls. They hastily steer the ship in a wide arch, and the Halibut lands with a splash in the lake.

Again the Gnomes rejoice, “We’ve made it!” one shouts over the intercom. With more excitement than I care for. Their rejoicing is short lived as I feel the ship list to one side. Again the gnomes scramble until the ship is able to maintain equilibrium. Watching through the windows, we can see the ship sink, and sink, and sink, into the depths of the lake. “We’ve never made it this far without a fire!” I hear a Gnome say. My heart begins to race. You’ve done this before?

My heart begins to settle as the time passes, but all too soon a yellow light starts flashing. The Gnomes report numerous fires! They tell us no to worry and send some of their crew to deal with the problem. One Gnome returns a minute later, but the other doesn’t. The light begins to flash faster.

“Would one of you go check on Billy?” A Gnome asks, “He should have been back by now. He went to this room.” Isaac and Kedra bravely volunteer and go quickly to see what the problem is. The light continues to flash and a Gnome tells Melinda and I, if the light should go steady, we should press a button next to our chairs, but he doesn’t say why. Melinda and I exchange nervous looks and we watch the flashing lights intently.

Finally, the lights turn off. Isaac and Kedra return with an unconscious Gnome. After a very long time, and a couple more fire scares, the Gnomes announce they’ve detected the bottom! We were currently…30 miles deep…and the bottom was still a mile away. The Halibut gracefully hits the bottom. The strange lights that illuminated the lake before shine bright, but the silt from the lake bed makes it hard to see anything.

Then, a green light starts flashing. One of the Goblins gasps. Araja’s air supply was accidently turned off! We rush to go check on her with some of the Gnomes in the lead. Fortunately Araja appears to be fine. The Gnomes release her from her restraints and take us to the observatory, a large glass bubble at the bottom of the ship. Now that the silt has settled we can see items scattered all around! Now it’s just a matter of collecting it –

A large fin moves past one of the windows, then BOOM! The ship groans and shudders as it begins to roll to one side. I trip over a railing, but as the ship continues to roll, I land on my feet. The others manage to keep their footing. We make out way back on deck and buckle ourselves back in our seats. The Gnomes are rushing around in the control room again. They turn on some flood lights, which illuminate a gargantuan creature! As it swings around for another attack, the Gnomes prime our only defense.

A laser beam fires at the creature, but it misses and the ship rolls again. The Gnomes look back at us for a second as the T.S.S. Halibut makes an eerie groan. Suddenly the Gnomes scramble out of the room, pressing a button as they leave.

“Where are you going?” we shout. We struggle against our belts, but they won’t release us. Isaac frees himself just as Melinda says, “Hurry! We must get to the escape pod – ” A whooshing sound comes from outside the ship and we’re able to make out a tiny, round ship that’s hastily propelling away from us. The Gnomes had abandoned us!

Isaac hastily frees the rest of us and we make for the control room as the creature continues to assault the ship. Araja, Isaac, and I man the laser and land a few good hits, but soon more fires are breaking out, and suddenly the laser died! While Araja tries to fix the laser, Isaac, Melinda, Kedra, and I go to put out fires. We find where more extinguishers are stored and put them to use.

As I go from room to room, I realize there’s a lot of strange things stored on the ship. In room B there’s a lot of crates. I suppose that wasn’t so odd, but I didn’t have time to see what was inside. There were other fires to put out. There were some cargo nets in room E that looked like they were holding something against the wall – again, no time to look. Room F contained…plants?

I meet Melinda on our rounds. Her extinguisher is out and she warns me not to go into room Z because there was something strange in there… Now room C – the room we were getting the extra extinguishers from – was on fire. We quickly put out the fire and load up on more extinguishers. Then we discover the O room – the oxygen room – is on fire! But where is it? Neither Melinda nor I had discovered the room’s location and it wasn’t between room’s N and P. We’ve got to find it before the ship explodes!

Somehow we manage to get all the fires under control. The one in the O room must have burned out all on its own because we still haven’t been able to find it. When we return to the control room Araja reports that another creature seemed to have detoured the Abolyth – the creature that sought to destroy us.

With a moment of calm, go back to the observatory to see about collecting our items. Most anything that wasn’t made for durability would have been dissolved by the acid by now or broken due to the sheer pressure of the water.

Suddenly the silt stops glowing. A shadow falls over the ship and we can see the Abolyth decending toward us! A dark substance is leaking from it…moments later the Abolyth’s body lands in the silt, dead. As we look closer, the Abolyths body lurches once, twice, then we realize something is sucking it under the silt, as if eating it!

Araja tries to manipulate the controls to move the ship. The lights all around us continue to fade, and then it begins to come back. After repositioning the ship, we search for more items. We use the robotic arms to collect items and pull them into the ship. The light goes out again. Isaac concludes where the light isn’t glowing, magic doesn’t work.

There’s a thud against the ship. Isaac sends Brook to investigate. Brook finds lots of bones, and goo, and rocks. Melinda brought along a led box to store the stone that was enchanted with the anti magic field. But how do we go about collecting it and which one? Melinda then yields a led bag. With some repairs it would serve as a net we could use to scoop up a bunch of stones. We would know once we captured the stone that the light would return.

After a tape job that would have satisfied any school teacher…or Gnome for that matter… the bag is deemed fit for duty. We jerry rig the bag on one of the robotic arms, and after a few sweeps, we manage to capture the stone! With the stone successfully captured, we try to collect more items.

As time goes on, we suddenly see a spherical object floating down. It looks similar to the escape pod…only it’s in poor shape. Isaac sends Brook to check out the wrecked and twisted heap. He reports that there were no Gnomes inside. The hatch though, looked as if it’d been ripped off its hinges. I shudder not wanting to think of such a horrible death.

As we collect more items, others seem to be settling beneath the silt. We can see something stirring beneath the silt, as if sucking the items under. Unable to collect any more, I decide to explore the ship and check out how much oxygen we have left. At the control deck I discover our oxygen tanks are three quarters empty.

I find some pressure suits and a pressure lock in room P. I go back to room B to look in the crates and find a lot of buoys. The cargo room – room E – has tall fish tanks with six food eels inside, eww. I also find a note and pocket it. Room F – the room I found all the plants in – contained lots of flower looking plants. I’m careful to avoid them and find another note, which I take. As I’m exiting this room I bump into Melinda. I tell her about the strange flowers and she looks inside. She says some of the flowers are used in spell casting…I show her the note and then she runs off! I don’t think much of it and decide to head back to the deck.

I get back to the observatory in time as I hear a crack! Apparently Araja found her God slaying dagger, only it was imbedded in a stone tablet. When she tried to free it, the weight of the tablet broke one of the arms off. Now, the glass of the observatory was beginning to crack! We scramble out of the observatory and seal the room so if the glass were to shatter we wouldn’t be instantly killed by the water and pressure. I alert them that our oxygen is getting low and we should probably start thinking about returning to the surface…I hope we can get there…

Suddenly, out of one of the windows on the control deck, I see something moving through the silt. As the creature bob’s up again I see the Luggage! I ecstatically tell the others, dragging them to the window and point as the Luggage swallowed up an item.

I take Isaac to room P, but the pressure suits are much too small for either of us to fit. Isaac transforms himself into a Gnome – How noble! – puts on the pressure suit and hops in the air lock. I watch from the other side as water starts to fill the cabin. Once I see Isaac off, I go to put out more fires that have suddenly come to life.

When Isaac returns, not only does he have Araja’s dagger, but the Luggage as well! He looks pretty tattered though. The water hasn’t been good to him. Isaac fixes that with some cure spells from a wand it coughs up.

After a while I realize Melinda’s been gone for a long time. Isaac and I head for room Z. When we get there the door is jammed. As we try to pry it open, acidic water from the lake begins leaking through. We quickly close the door again. Isaac sends Brook inside. The room is filled with lake water. A window on the far side had broken, and Melinda…is dead. Brook says there was some sort of plant growing out of her. I tell Isaac about the plants and how Melinda seemed to be fascinated by them. We go to the room and see that it’s a mess. There are broken pots everywhere and some of the gray plants are missing… We seal the room.

With everything we need, we attempt to go back to the surface, but the ship seems to have no power. I tell everyone about the buoys in room B and hope to use them to float the ship back to the surface. Isaac volunteers to get back in the pressure suit – how noble! – to attach to buoys to the ship. More fires brake out. Was the ship finally giving up?

Finally the ship begins to rise! Isaac makes it back in the ship in time, as we float upward. A long while later, we breach the surface! We open the hatch and its pitch black. Isaac tries casting a spell and suddenly the darkness dissipates and we can see! Isaac lends me a pair of flying boots and with Kedra in tow, we fly out of the cave. The shell like structure begins to crumble around us an large chunks fall into the water and pummel the ship. We dodge the falling debris until we feel the warmth of the sun on our faces once again!

I’m afraid though, the city of Rhem is worse off than before. As we look down, we stare into the maw of a large crater that was once the city…

I see in the distance a slithering snake like creature rising from the ruined remains with a chain dangling behind it. It appears to have broken free from somewhere. The creature keen’s happily, but as soon as it see’s us, it bolts away. Isaac assures us the creature is nothing to be afraid of, though it was peculiar that someone would have it chained up. Araja and Kedra don’t seem to know anything about the creature.

Then, out of the rubble, another figure stirs. A bluish-white light seems to fly toward us. It looks like…a horse? There’s no time to react though, the creature swoops down, scoops me up and flies off with me screaming, “ISAAAAAAC!!!”   

Part 18 - The People of Rhem and Taking Out the Trash

Bone weary, we forge ahead. We decide to try and find the settlement the other villagers referred to before the happenings with the Well. We follow a smoke stack that leads us to the village. When we break through the trees, at the entrance to the village we are stopped by a tall, large, well armored woman.

“Halt, who goes there?” She says in a voice so deep it startles us into silence. When none of us reply, the woman takes up a defensive posture and rings a gong. Archers appear at the tops of the walls and we can make out the sounds of others flanking us from behind.

“Please, my name is Araja, and these are my guards, Isaac, Gideon, and Cortanna,” Araja says lamely. The trick seems to work. The others appear struck when they hear Araja’s name.

“What is it you want?” the woman asks, who we come to know as Roselyn.

“We are weary and we bring some of your people. We ask to seek shelter so we can rest and be on our way,” Araja says.

“Very well,” Roselyn says. She and her guards allow us into the city, “I do apologize, we recently lost town and have been living in this make shift spot for some time. Things started going south for us and we’re just trying to protect ourselves, you see. We are honored you, Araja, would come here, although I’m afraid you won’t find finery and frippery here. Hope you don’t mind sleeping on the ground ‘cause I’m afraid that’s the best we can offer. Gereth here will lead you to your lodgings.”

Gereth, one of the archers who was all too eager to shoot us in the beginning, leads us to a nice mud hut, that is, in comparison to the other mud huts that dotted the hastily assembled town. Apparently they’d been living like this for three and a half years! As soon as the town reached an advanced point of development, inanimate objects would start coming to life and tormenting the people. A well respected wizard amongst the towns people tried to come up with a solution by creating an anti magic field around the city, but just as his plan was about to be executed, some ropes dragged him down into the Well, never to be seen again.    

I ask about the chibi girl and I’m answered with vehemence. She was responsible for the deaths of their old and weak, even after they’d showed her kindness and compassion by taking her in. Her family was supposedly murdered. No doubt by her own hand! I thought with amused satire (not sure if that’s the right word). They described the girl’s victims with bite marks, as if being sucked dry by a blood thirsty creature…In fact; the last person to die was the town’s last Cleric!

As the sun goes down, Araja, Isaac, and I settle in, only Isaac just sits in a corner, lost in his own thoughts. Araja manages to drift off, but I can’t sleep! The cold, wet ground is unforgiving and offers no comfort. Finally with an exasperated sigh, I jump up, grasp Shodan by the handle, and with a swift downward ark, cut at a log in the fire place. The blade of a shortsword meets the unoffending log and it bursts into flame. Finally, with enough warmth from the crackling fire, my tired body is lulled to sleep.  

I wake achy and frozen to the bone. My body might have slept, but my mind seemed to keep me awake with vivid and fleeting dreams. Rekka’s death punctuated these dreams, and so did the deaths of my loved ones. Each time they would be tortured in a different way, but always with death as the end result. Not only that, but I couldn’t help but overhear the town guard as they argued in the night. They didn’t really approve of our presence. We were just another mouth to feed. They too sounded tired and worn. At least my lungs didn’t sting as bad and my cough was beginning to subside.

When Araja finally wakes, she sits us down for a talk. Maybe I pretended not to listen, but she was right. If we were going to be a better team, we needed to trust one another and talk to each other. We owed it to Rekka…

At the end of our conversation, there’s a knock at the door. Gereth is there. His face is pale, his clothes are haggard, and his bow is missing, “Hate to trouble you,” he begins, “Last night was bad. We’ve been fighting these great winged lizards for some time. They only seem to come at night. A while back one of our scouts saw a small group of giants. We didn’t do anything about them ‘cause they seemed to hunt the lizards and kept to themselves. But last night, three of the giants attacked. One of the men said they’d be coming back tomorrow night, and that we were going to pay for what we’d done.”

“Why didn’t you come get us last night?” Isaac said.

“It happened so fast…we did what we could,” Gereth said, fatigue weighing on his words.

Isaac asks Gereth if there’s another wizard in town that might have known the one that fell down the Well.

“You’ll wanna talk to Melinda. I’m afraid she’s the only wizard we’ve got. I’ll go get her,” Gereth says. Before he leaves he adds, “Breakfast will be starting shortly. We eat in shifts ‘cause the mess halls a bit cramped. You’re welcome to get something to eat when you like. The food’s good, though it ain’t no biscuits and gravy.”

A short while later there’s another knock. This time there’s a halfling at the door. She looks exhausted and irritated at the same time. Isaac goes to greet her warmly, but is cut off curtly as the halfling barged into the room. She proceeds to make herself at home and even relights the fire, even though the wood that I’d light previously was nothing more than ash. Melinda warmed her hands by the fire before plopping down on the floor.

Isaac asks her about the anti magic field, but as he and Araja begin telling her about our time in the Well, Melinda breaks into an uncontrollable sob. She blubbers something about her master dying in vain. Araja’s unicorn tries to comfort Melinda, and the halfling ends up falling asleep.

We leave Melinda with the unicorn so she can get some much needed rest. In the mean time, we try to find someone who speaks giant. Every soldier we meet tells us the same story about the attack. They refer us to a woman named Kedra who was currently working in the infirmary.

When we get to the infirmary, it’s filled with soldiers from the previous nights attack. Their injuries appear to be from bludgeoning weapons, which was consistent with the stories the soldiers were telling us. After asking some of the patients, we’re pointed to a person whose back is to us.

Once we get Kedra’s attention, we realize Kedra is not the person we were expecting. She looks similar to Isaac, but with some differences. She greats us with more enthusiasm then the all the people in the infirmary could muster. They seem to treat her differently, and very quickly the reason begins to show.

Kedra is a scholar and even the smallest things seem to fascinate her. We ask her if she’d be willing to go with us to see if we could make deal with the giants. Kedra is intrigued, but she’s not sure talking with the giants would be benificail. She’s excited and willing, but it rapidly becomes evident she is no soldier… We still have some time before breakfast so I volunteer my time and help out in the infirmary. It was the least I could do.

After breakfast, I point out to the others that I’d need some armor if we were going to go up against these giants. The idea of talking to them doesn’t bode well with me. A guard named Carl, that Araja had been conversing with points me to the armory. Kedra finds us there. She looks like a collage of armor and weapons. My stomach wrenches and I try to tactfully tell her to let us do all the heavy lifting.

“Oh I’m very strong!” Kedra says, assuring us of her ability. I mentally face palm…

Geared in armor that had likely seen better days when my grandfather was alive, we set out to track the giants. Giants aren’t that hard to track due to their size. All you have to do is follow the path of destruction. We crest a hill and hear sounds of large things moving about. There’s a clearing in the valley below where four giants are wondering about. Kedra goes pale at the sight of them. I face palm…twice for good measure.

I put on my goggles of far sight to get a better look of the giant’s camp below. There are half eaten remains of the flying lizard creatures Gereth was talking about earlier. One giant appears to have an infected wound. Another keeps scratching his neck, and upon closer inspection, seems to have a strange fungal infection. The third appears to be blind, and the last one had an arm bound in a sling. Kedra takes out a journal and begins scribbling notes and babbling to herself excitedly.

“Are you sure you can speak giant?” I ask the scholar dryly. Kedra assures me she can.

Suddenly Kedra goes into shock, “I can’t do this, I can’t do this!” she says. I grit my teeth, fearing the giants would soon discover our presence as Araja calms her. “Okay,” Kedra says with a note of finality. Then, just as quickly as her shock had started, it ended, and Kedra was marching down the hill toward the giants, shouting in a strange language at the top of her lungs. It sounds like gibberish to me and I cringe as our cover is blown. The giants take notice and say some garble in response. “They’re ready to talk!” Kedra informs us merrily.

As we approach, the giants look pretty bad, obviously having suffered an attack. Kedra translates for us. The giants say they were out hunting when the stumbled upon the village. When the people started attacking them, they attacked back in defense. Araja has Kedra tell the giants she will offer healing, and that we would tell the towns people they meant no harm, so long as they held off their attack. Her words seem to have no effect on the giants though. They seek revenge!

No longer interested in entertaining us, a giant chucks a boulder in our direction. Araja, Isaac, and I scatter, but Kedra’s too slow. She stares at the rock like a cow does at an oncoming train, and then smack! When the rock rolls away, Kedra is flattened to the ground and does not get up. The giants advance and we have no choice but to deal with them.

Sometime during the fight, Kedra regains consciousness and peels herself from her impression in the ground. She knocks an arrow to her bow. I nervously stand at a distance as Kedra fires her first shot. By the grace of the Gods, her arrow flew true, stabbing one of the giants in the eye. As it turns to flee, it trips, landing face first on the ground, arrow thrusting through the back of his skull. The giant was dead!

Once the other giants are confirmed dead, Kedra runs over to the giant she killed and is very fascinated by it. We try to pry her away, but it’s no use. The scholar sits down, pulling out her journal, and begins scribbling notes feverishly, stopping periodically to peer at the body before her or mumble some words to herself. We decide to leave her and head back to the village.