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Juno & Roy's Journal
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[02/23/2003] (A note added later in the margin of this page reads, "Well, this journal may end up helping yet. I've always liked to keep journals when on quests so that I remember important clues and information that I have obtained. But in this case, it may well help against Blackthorn. Of course, I still must keep this locked away securely, rather than carrying it on my person, which means I can't take notes of things as they transpire and thus must go by memory. At least for now...") Blackthorn asked the CoCM guild (which was basically Banion and Tyranex, since Navien had left CoCM for RBW) to a private meeting at his castle. Just for kicks, Sygil and I decided to show up as they met outside the gates. I was amused that Blackthorn said I have been "a thorn for too long." Who's the "black thorn" here, hmm? Ahhh...but what's in a name? At any rate, not unexpectedly, Blackthorn sent us away, and watched us to make sure we left. Once we were well out of eyesight and earshot, I winked at Sygil, and he grinned back, knowing what I was about to do. I used the second to last charge on my cloak of invisibility and walked right back to the castle. Surprisingly, Banion and Tyranex actually thought to check for invisible listeners, and I ran a good dozen steps away while Banion cast Reveal. I don't know if I was far enough away or if this cloak is just that powerful, but I wasn't revealed.
Blackthorn said he would have the CoCM guild stone moved into his castle. He told the CoCM they could hold meetings there, which made me smirk. Ah, goodie, more meetings to eavesdrop on. He also gave them a task: to ally with RBW and show them that Chaos is not evil. Oh, and to not anger Soth. I found it curious that he said "we do not need Soth as our enemy, but neither is he a friend." Uh huh, Blackthorn. This Soth whom you don't know? Blackthorn also handed them rose-colored Chaos shields and told them to hold them and cast Bless on him. I'm not sure what the meaning of the exercise was, but it should be noted they were able to cast the spells while holding the shields, which may mean something. He also gave them arcane spell books, although I don't know with how many charges. Garn showed up after a while, and Blackthorn told the CoCM they must do whatever Garn requested, at any time, since Garn would be the future king. This is along the lines of what Blackthorn claimed to us earlier, that Garn is somehow blood-related to Lord British. Well, I don't see it an issue, since Lord British isn't going to go anywhere... Finally, I should note that Blackthorn did give them one specific task. He requested they gather four bloodstones. I don't know why he wanted them. Once Blackthorn and the CoCM had left, Garn fetched the CoCM guild stone and brought it to the castle. I finally decided I was going to learn no more, so I left the castle as well. I was bursting to tell Andrella and the others what I had seen. I was still invisible, but decided maybe I would stay that way for a little while, in case there would be more that I needed to witness. I went to Andrella first and explained to her the situation. It turns out I can speak while wearing this cloak without becoming visible, although of course everyone near can hear my voice and use that to pinpoint my location. Still, at least I could talk to the others. Andrella fetched Sygil and Navien, who were nearby, and we went to the Officer's Club where we could speak in private. Once inside, Andrella told the others to not be surprised, but that I was there, invisible. Just for fun, I promptly made an "OoOoo" sound like a ghost. Navien about jumped out of his robes, and I fell over laughing. We sat and I explained what I had seen. I don't know what it was like for the others to speak to an empty chair. Heh. Then something humorous happened... During the conversation, while I was in the middle of a sentence, I abruptly found myself standing in the Lycaeum without warning. Nystul was there, but of course he couldn't see me, because I was still invisible. I quickly tried to pull the cloak off, only to discover it was stuck in place and refused to move. Meanwhile, Nystul was looking around in confusion. I spoke out loud, telling him I was there, but that I was invisible, and that my cloak was stuck. I tried casting a healing spell on myself, but even though the spell landed, I was still invisible. I cast one on Nystul, and I was still invisible. I couldn't believe how powerful this enchanted cloak was, but it didn't help the fact that I wanted to get it off, and I couldn't think of how. Finally, Nystul made a "hmm" sound and told me to follow him. He was pretty funny as I did so; he kept looking around at thin air and asking, "Are you there?? This is creepy." We walked outside, and he told me to hit him. I had forgotten that the last time I had used the cloak, I had revealed myself when I had attacked something. I followed his instruction, and it worked, but afterward I wondered why he hadn't gotten me to punch a pig or something instead... At any rate, it turns out that Nystul had been wanting to speak with me, but hadn't been able to locate me in his crystal ball. So, he'd performed a summoning spell, and there I was. He promptly demanded that I never be invisible around him again. I laughed. He mentioned as we walked back inside that I had to learn how to work invisibility. Well, I'm still learning, I'll freely admit. Learning on the job, as it turns out... Nystul told me he wanted to thank me for returning his rod of magis, and to give me a reward. Just as I was saying that no reward was necessary, he added, "And don't say no!" We both laughed, then he offered to recharge my cloak of invisibility for me. Appreciative, I handed it to him. He waved his hands around a bit, said "um" a few times, and gave me back a bottle. As I blinked at it, he commented that the bottle was my cloak.
"Exactly!" he crowed. "It's invisible!" He went on to add that somehow the cloak had turned into the bottle. I didn't want to argue or complain, so I simply thanked him and said I would try using the bottle at another time. After all, I wasn't supposed to be invisible around him. Heh. Besides, if it turned out to only have one use, I wanted to use it when I needed it. As I was saying this, Nystul suddenly asked me if my cloak had been green. It had actually been a dark cyan, but a shade that was close to sea green, so I supposed that one might call that green. I was trying to explain it was a light green when he placed a cloak on the ground for me to see. It was...well, tuity-fruity. The fabric was multicolored, as if every individual thread making up the weaving had been turned into a different color. It almost looked like a rainbow effect, except the colors were out of order and included black and white and shades not normally in a rainbow. But, it was certainly a cloak, the same size and style as my invisibility cloak had been, and when I picked it up to examine it, I could tell its charges were restored. As near as I could tell, the cloak was the same as before except for its color.
"It's empty!" he said. I resisted the urge to fall over laughing. "That's what I was trying to tell you," I responded instead. "Egad," he replied.
I went away from the encounter chuckling. Nystul is a character. I'll be sorry to see him retire.
[02/25/2003] More orcs attacked Northwind today. Those of us who were around gathered to fight them off, but there were few of us and many of them. Over the global telepathy, Tyranex and Banion were taunting us, making a point of not helping us. I was in front of the Keep attacking foes when suddenly Blackthorn appeared out of nowhere. As I blinked in surprise, he turned and began blasting the orcs with magic. It was the strangest thing; I've never before seen Blackthorn get his hands dirty, so to speak, fighting. With his help, the orcs fell quite quickly.
Of course, death is not permanent in Britannia, at least not for humans, so this act meant little. It wasn't long before Blackthorn was hauling the two of them, in the flesh, off to his castle to reprimand them. I used a charge on my new cloak--despite its appearance it seems to work just fine--and eavesdropped. The conversation wasn't unexpected; Blackthorn berated them over the fact that their goal was to make allies of RBW, and they certainly weren't doing a good job of it thus far. On the other hand, Tyranex and Banion had found the bloodstones Blackthorn had asked for, so once they handed them over, he gave them a new task. This one was to gather at least 20 masks from orcs of the Reganade Clan (no, I'm not spelling that wrong... that's actually how it's pronounced). I found it curious that the first time I had ever even heard of the Reganade Clan was the day before, when Sygil told us about an encounter he'd had with their captain. Apparently, the captain wanted to offer RBW his clan's services for the payment of some gold, and was going to speak with Sygil about it in more detail on a later night. Interesting that now Blackthorn was asking for masks from specifically that clan, which of course would require the CoCM to go around killing the orcs to obtain the masks. Coincidence?
The only other thing of note which occurred was that Banion and Tyranex mentioned they thought they may be able to sway Balinor over to their favor. I made a mental note to speak with Balinor the next time I had a chance and warn him that they were up to no good. The two mentioned as an aside that "Sygil and Kianne are more witted." To which Blackthorn responded, "....Kianne..." I almost laughed out loud and gave myself away right there...
[02/28/2003] Sygil, Andrella, Navien, and I spoke with the captain of the Reganade Clan, Goarla. The encounter started off on the wrong foot, because he'd wanted Sygil to come alone, but I wanted to warn him about CoCM murdering his clansmen, and Sygil didn't entirely trust the orc to begin with. However, Andrella actually recognized him, as she had met him before, a long time ago. This helped to bring the conversation into a bit more of a civilized vein, although Goarla still had a habit of spontaneously whacking us with his axe for fun. None of us fought him back, although once Navien paralyzed him when he seemed to be going a little too far.
Goarla told us that the leaders of the Keeka and Euga clans would be meeting at the orc fort outside of Cove to choose new orc hunters. We decided we would crash the party so to speak and jail the leaders, then interrogate them to find out the new entrance of Soth's lair.
[03/01/2003] 
We went to the orc fort to capture the two leaders. It was very messy; there were hunters, who were immune to melee attacks, mercenaries who were immune to arrows, and shamans who were immune to magic. There was also a "blood orc" that took us forever to take down. At any rate, we captured the Keeka leader, but the Euga one wasn't around. After searching for him for a while, we finally went back to the jail to talk to the Keeka leader. We asked him where the entrance to Soth's lair was. At first, he offered to take us there, but as none of us wanted to trust him not to run away, Andrella finally entered the cell to knock the information out of him. He revealed, finally, that the entrance was in the snow orcs' fort, inside the stable. As she left the cell, the Keeka orc decided to get even and began summoning energy vortexes. So Andrella went back into the cell and killed him.
Our next stop was Cove, which had been overcome the night before by orcs. They had evidently been chasing away the humans in preparation for their gathering, which we had just disrupted. As a consequence, with the help of Dupré and the guards, we were finally able to drive the orcs away from Cove as well. Once the town was safe, we quickly regrouped and headed out to the snow fort to check up on the Keeka's information. After fighting through piles of orcs with skin so pale it was practically white, we finally entered their fort and found the stable. Sure enough, stepping into the stable would teleport you into the Twisted Tunnels, Soth's lair. Unfortunately, the fence barring the way into the rest of the tunnels was magically locked, and Soth saw us there, so I don't know how much time we will have before he moves the entrance again.
One last note: Blackthorn spoke with his lackeys again this night. I watched as usual. The CoCM gave him 21 Reganade masks, but Blackthorn didn't yet have a new task for them. As they talked about our capturing of the Keeka orc leader, Blackthorn asked them if they could free the shaman, and quickly tacked on, "I mean, could he accidentally escape?" But they had already found out that the Keeka had been killed, which really irritated Blackthorn for some reason.
They looted his corpse, and Blackthorn told them to take his helmet as proof. He also gave them Connor's ancient elven sword, to give to Connor as a gesture of friendship. As if they could possibly fool Connor to their side. I have no idea where Blackthorn got his hands on the twin blade. Probably the same place he got my bow and Andrella's armor... Finally, Blackthorn was recharging their arcane spell books when something curious happened. One of the two didn't have his book on him, and asked to go get it. Blackthorn asked him where his bag of holding was, which Blackthorn had given him earlier. He said in his house. Blackthorn told him he could get him another to use, and walked over to the empty chest where I had found the rod of magis. Then, for no obvious reason, he hesitated, then said, "Never mind." One of the CoCM asked him, "Did Kianne sneak in and steal it?" and mentioned they knew that I'd been in his castle. (They'd probably heard of the time that Blackthorn had accused me of such at the Rares Museum...) Blackthorn clenched his teeth together and growled that he wanted them to stop talking about "...Kianne." Then said he had to go "kill some things...er, think about some things." And he went into his room, sat at his desk, slammed some drawers, and finally Recalled away.
As amused as I was by the exchange, I have to admit my curiosity is sparked as well...
[03/02/2003] CoCM offered to make us ancient weapons to help us defeat Soth. As another way of trying to make an alliance with RBW, no doubt. I must have missed the meeting where Blackthorn told them to do that... [03/05/2003] 
Andrella had something interesting to give me from "Joe." It was a magical identification card from one of Blackthorn's guards. Using this, I could dress as a guard and slip into the castle and never raise an eyebrow of suspicion. This was good news, because I was running out of charges on my cloak again.
We decided to give it a try and make sure it worked. So Andrella and I went to the bank, where we found ourselves a quiet spot where I could change. I dressed in the uniform I had worn before, only this time, thanks to the identification card, I had the guise of one of Blackthorn's Chaos guards. We went together to the castle, where Andrella waited outside the gates while I went inside. Almost as soon as I stepped into the courtyard, another guard ran up to me. "What took you so long?" she complained. "Now I'm late for my date!" While I apologized and marveled in surprise that the magic identification card was working, she looked me up and down. "Where's your shield?" she asked me critically. I was still carrying the halberd that I had used before. That's when inspiration struck.
The guard rolled her eyes and thrust out her arm, passing me her Chaos shield. I quickly put my halberd away and hefted the round shield, then realized I had no weapon to hold. All of the guards here carry viking swords. All I had with me was my halberd, and of course I couldn't carry that with the shield--everyone would think I was insane. "Um, could I borrow your sword too?" Apparently, she was in too much of a hurry to argue. "I don't know why I pity you," she grumbled as she handed me her blade. Then she spun on her heel and quickly ran from the castle. I looked to the gate and winked at Andrella, who was hiding and listening just outside. Then I started further into the castle, just to take a look around and make sure everything was in place. I was inside when another guard ran up to me, panting. "I'm sorry I'm late!" she let out, and as I blinked in surprise I realized she must have been the one that had been meant to replace the previous guard I had spoken to. I don't know if Blackthorn's guards are all as rude as the one who had given me her shield, but I couldn't make myself be cruel. "It's okay," I replied to her. "You won't tell on me?" she asked, hesitantly. I shook my head and told her of course I wouldn't. She let out her breath. "Thanks. I wouldn't want to be hung. Like poor Sara..." I grimaced. "Let's not talk about that," I said, and she agreed readily. "Well, I'd better get to my post," she responded, and hurried away.
Tyranex also came, Andrella reported, but he didn't go into the castle, so I didn't have to worry about whether or not my disguise would fool him.
I resumed my wanders, doing my guard routine. Everything seemed to be in order. Although I did notice that the chest in which I had found the rod of magis could no longer be opened. It wasn't as if it was locked, it was as if...there was no longer an opening, as if the entire thing had been sealed into one solid piece of metal. I frowned, but I couldn't puzzle it out. I will have to come back again later when I have more ideas regarding this...
[03/08/2003] 
Today, Lord British called an open chambers for all RBW who could attend. We sat at a massive table with Nystul and Dupré, and listened as Lord British told us about his previous trip to meet with the queen of the Ophidians, Shalilissta. He warned us that the queen would demand a sacrifice before we would even be granted an audience with her. That sacrifice would be that one of us would have to stay there, forever. And...Shamino had been the sacrifice the last time.
I'm afraid I sort of lost it right around there. Even though I have no way of knowing if it was the Shamino I knew, the news came to me as a shock. I don't remember much of the rest of the conversation, just that, naturally, we would not lose someone else--we all agreed we had to find some other sacrifice that the queen would be willing to accept. Dimly, I remembered the Gargoyles and their offer of a sacrifice: they would take a sacrifice of self, of others, or of possessions... At any rate, somehow, although I can't remember how, we ended up at the new Great Hall in Northwind, where we discussed the matter further amongst ourselves. Dupré was with us for a while, but then Blackthorn came to fetch him, saying Lord British needed him. While he was there, Blackthorn also took the time to ask CoCM to come meet with him, so of course I went along while invisible. Unbeknownst to me, though, this particular spying session would prove to outstrip all of the others by a large degree. I still can't get over what has happened. But, let me not get ahead of myself here, and try to write things down in order, or else nothing will make sense.
At first, the meeting was between only Blackthorn and Tyranex. Blackthorn took his protégé out to the balcony where he asked him to sit in one of the chairs, then he cast an energy field against the doorway, blocking the entrance leading back into the castle. I had already stepped out onto the balcony, so I was trapped as well, but I was confident in the power of my invisibility cloak, so I wasn't overly worried. I was puzzled though, wondering why he did this. At any rate, after this setup was complete, Blackthorn asked Tyranex if he had the "ash." Now I knew I definitely missed at least one meeting, because I never heard him command them to get that. I supposed this had been his next task, after the masks. Tyranex replied, "Not yet." So that, I thought, may give me a chance to find out what this is all about. But then, Blackthorn said something unexpected that made my hair stand on end. He asked in his cryptic way, "Do you have something of Kianne's?" By now, I was really wishing I hadn't missed whatever meeting it was that had taken place. For not only do I not know what that "something" is, I don't know what he wanted it for. The way he phrased it made me think he just wanted anything of mine, not something in particular, but because I had missed the meeting where he had given them this instruction, I had no idea which was the case.
Blackthorn pulled out a poisoned dagger and touched its tip speculatively. "We had a visitor last night, the guards tell me," he mused. Tyranex confirmed that it had been a member of RBW. "Kianne!?" Blackthorn growled, but Tyranex shook his head, and said it was Sygil. This clearly caught Blackthorn by surprise. "Sygil?" he echoed. Tyranex explained. I had already known of this event, so I wasn't surprised. You see, someone named Erwind had discovered the entrance to Blackthorn's castle by accident, and he had shown Sygil...and Tyranex had seen this. Blackthorn went into a fit, teleporting off the balcony to the courtyard below to begin killing his own guards with bolts of lightning. I felt my skin crawl. "What if I had come here dressed as a guard?" I sent privately to Andrella telepathically. In fact, I had been planning to do just that--I merely hadn't had time to get into the costume, so I had grabbed my cloak instead. Finally Blackthorn had worked off the worst of his anger, and he teleported himself back onto the balcony and resumed the conversation as if nothing had happened. He told Tyranex to go fetch Sygil and bring him to the castle. I shot an instant warning to Andrella, but she assured me Sygil had heard it all. Blackthorn removed the energy field and the two walked back into the castle, where Tyranex Recalled away to try to find Sygil.
But no, it wasn't, and finally, before my eyes and ears, this fact became plain as day. Blackthorn didn't look at all surprised to see Soth. In fact, he didn't even greet him. "Hide until they arrive," Blackthorn instructed Soth as if he was a long-time partner of the creature. I felt chills run through me, and I couldn't help but send another anxious warning to Andrella, the only one I could speak to privately. Don't let Sygil come here, I prayed. Don't let him be taken by Soth... Soth didn't argue, didn't protest, didn't even respond to that command at all. He simply faded out of view right where he stood in the middle of the room. The next moment, his incorporeal voice floated from nowhere, "I sense Kianne is near." My heart leapt into my throat, and I teetered between panic and downright shock that he could not only detect me while I was invisible, but even go so far as to identify me by name. No wonder why he was able to so easily track me down at my house, that one time. I had known that Soth was powerful, but perhaps he had grown even more so than I had even anticipated. Blackthorn eyed the spot where Soth had once been standing, then let out a long-suffering sigh. "I will deal with her," he promised, and began casting Reveal repeatedly. I had already run out of the room and was standing by the stairs, pressed against the wall clutching my cloak and hoping it would hold. It did. I remained invisible, and Blackthorn finished with an expression of superiority. "Looks like you were wrong," he sneered. "I still sense her," Soth's voice drifted into the air quietly. By now I was cold to the bone. "I did not ask you," Blackthorn snapped. I crept carefully back toward the doorway to the room, relieved that Blackthorn seemed to be shrugging off the warning. "Just wait until I say," he insisted. "And then?" Soth prompted. Blackthorn gestured. "Take him away." Soth chuckled darkly. I tensed and sent another urgent message to Andrella. She assured me that Sygil was well aware of their plot. In fact, Connor and Sygil were in the process of sending Tyranex on a merry chase, which I could hear some of over the global telepathy. I smiled in amusement when Connor told Tyranex, "We are outside Trinsic. You can find us to the left of the green tree." Inside the castle, Blackthorn began to complain that it was taking too long. Soth commented, "You sent a fool to do a man's job." "Shut up," Blackthorn told him in annoyance. My cold chills had started to abate, and I was now beginning to watch their interaction in interest. It seemed to me as though the two barely tolerated each other, which made me wonder why they were working together. Soth shifted into view a moment later. "What are you doing?" Blackthorn hissed as soon as he became visible. "This is stupid," Soth replied. "I'm telling you, you're going to get caught." Blackthorn rolled his eyes. "I didn't do anything," he deadpanned. "It's you."
Blackthorn forestalled him before he could go. "Wait," he said, and tilted his head as a way of gesturing at the global telepathy. "They are leading him on a wild goose chase. Do me a favor." Soth paused, turning back to listen. "Send some undead to Northwind," Blackthorn requested. "Just a few to keep them busy, and flush them out into the open." I had thought that nothing could surprise me at this point, but this did. Soth made a grumbling sound, but he didn't protest. He simply Recalled away. It amazed me that with all of Soth's power, he was taking orders from Blackthorn. What was it with these two? Blackthorn stood there alone for a while, listening with an amused look as the cries over the global telepathy began sounding. "Attack on Northwind!" "All come to help!" I pressed my mouth into a thin line grimly, but stayed put. I knew RBW would be able to handle "just a few" undead on their own, and I decided at this stage it was critical that I remain in place to continue watching. After all, there would be fewer, if any, people left to listen in over the communication crystal since they would go to help fight.
Soth returned a few minutes later. "That is all I can do for tonight," he said. Blackthorn grinned and said they just had to wait. But Soth decided he didn't want to stand around waiting, so he left, telling Blackthorn he would come back once Sygil was there. Blackthorn listened to the world chat for a while longer, then wandered into his bedroom, where I watched him do something at the arcane shrine he has in there. I think he was recharging arcane spell books. At any rate, Blackthorn then left the room and went down to the second floor. I followed him, and watched him get out a crystal ball and place it on the table there. Apparently, he wanted to watch the events in Northwind himself.
"What's taking so long?" he complained after a moment of viewing the swirling colors within the ball. "Go check on them." I was puzzling over who he was talking to when Soth's voice floated from the crystal ball, "I can't. You go." "I need to remain here," Blackthorn replied, and watched the ball for a few minutes in silence. Finally he spoke. "What did you do, summon your whole army?" "Not even close," came from the crystal ball. Blackthorn grumbled. "Well, they are taking forever." "Your idea, not mine," Soth responded dryly. I was resisting the urge to snicker when suddenly I was surprised to hear Dupré's voice yelling Blackthorn's name from the front of the castle. From the look on his face, Blackthorn was surprised as well. He hurried from the room, and I moved to follow. Dupré was at the gates, and by the time I got there, I had missed some of the exchange between the two. I'm not sure why he was there; I need to ask him sometime. At any rate, at this point Sygil and Tyranex showed up. Apparently, it had been decided to let Sygil intentionally walk into the trap. I just hoped he was prepared. Blackthorn said he needed to speak with Sygil privately and sent Dupré away. Once Blackthorn, Tyranex, and Sygil were alone, Blackthorn put on his "nice guy" face and told Sygil that he would speak with Sygil inside the castle. He then asked Sygil to lead the way. I almost laughed out loud when Sygil responded by walking straight to the locked gate, and then stood there expectantly. Way to go, Sygil! Of course, it didn't really accomplish anything, but it was downright funny, and it's always entertaining to have a laugh at Blackthorn's expense. Or even better, Soth's. At any rate, Blackthorn asked him about how he got into his castle, and Sygil explained it in an innocent way, claiming he was just walking along the coast and suddenly he was inside. Blackthorn requested he show him, so Sygil did. At this point, Blackthorn just made a "hmm" sound and stated that the teleportation tile was a mistake and he thanked Sygil for showing him. He then told Sygil to come with him into the castle, for he had found the key to Soth's lair while "walking along the coast." Uh huh. Sygil followed; he must have known full well he was heading into trouble, but he didn't let it show on his face. Blackthorn took him up to the third floor and told Sygil the item was in the chest. Yes, that same chest where I had found the rod of magis. Sygil never even opened it, because it can't be opened, but naturally, as soon as he approached it, Blackthorn yelled out "Thief!" and paralyzed him. Sygil kept his wits quite well, explaining calmly that he'd stolen nothing and that Blackthorn was being an idiot. Andrella and I noted privately that Blackthorn was pulling the same tired old trick he'd used on us. Except this time, Blackthorn said he couldn't just jail Sygil. After all, a member of RBW was the Warden now. Then he pulled out the poisoned dagger. I almost cried out in dismay, catching myself in time. Then my horror turned into almost giddy surprise when I saw that Blackthorn couldn't seem to even make a nick in Sygil. He jabbed several times, and each time the blade either missed entirely or simply glinted off Sygil's armor. If the situation hadn't been so dire, I would have laughed. "Wow," I sent privately to Andrella. "Blackthorn has lousy aim." Finally Blackthorn gave up and felled Sygil with a bolt of lightning. "Heh," he said to Tyranex. "My dagger skill needs some work. But at least he's dead." I grimaced and shook my head. Poor Sygil...but he had come in here knowing what would happen, and at least he hadn't had to suffer through poison...
Even Soth seemed to be enjoying playing along, at least as much as he can enjoy anything. "Back away, boys," he said with a grin, and Blackthorn and Tyranex scrambled to the side. "His ghost is mine!" My heart did a leap. His ghost!? This I hadn't counted on. I almost cried out again as Soth came forward and whisked away Sygil's ghost with a sweep of his hand. The next instant Soth himself was gone as well. "Scary," Blackthorn said, mopping his brow and coming forward to loot Sygil's corpse, which, incongruously, Soth had not taken. "Good thing he did not want us." I was barely listening at this point, since I was worrying too much over Sygil. I heard Blackthorn say he was going to move the secret entrance, which only made me groan inwardly. Now I would have to try to find it again. I could only hope that I would be able to eavesdrop on Blackthorn telling the CoCM where the new entrance was. As I was thinking this, the floor suddenly shook with the sound of Andrella's voice. "BLACKTHORN!!" she thundered. "GET OUT HERE NOW!!" Blackthorn winced. "Crap." Tyranex ran down the stairs, apparently to play interference for Blackthorn. I followed him down to the gate, where Andrella was standing. The conversation was, as usual, fruitless. Then, during the middle of it, Sygil suddenly spoke up over the global telepathy. He was still intact, at least, even if just as a ghost. He said he was in what looked like Yew Crypts. I immediately Recalled to Northwind to get rid of my cloak and go after Sygil. Andrella Recalled there as well, and so did other members of RBW, who banded together to save Sygil. I was in such a hurry I didn't bother to try to ask someone if I could hit them to remove my invisibility. I simply jumped through Andrella's moongate while invisible. Once on the other side, I decided to scope things out while I had the chance, so I raced straight into the Yew Crypts invisible. I found Soth and Sygil's ghost inside the room with the circle of golden rocks. There was still a force field blocking the doorway, and I couldn't get through. Black energy was coalescing inside the pentagram of blood. Soth was trying to get something from Sygil, although I had come into the conversation late. Sygil later told me that Soth had been trying to get his RBW cape. Again. I'm not sure why he persists in asking Sygil for it--he must have figured out by now he's not going to get it--but there it is.
By this time, the others had fought their way through the few black wisps about and reached the hallway leading to the room, where Soth began killing them. I ran back outside and revealed myself, only to get immediately killed by Soth, who had also come outside. Luckily for me, a wandering healer was so close that I had barely hit the ground before I was being raised again. I was able to run away and lose Soth in the forest before he could kill me a second time. With bated breath, I circled back around, aiming for the Yew Crypts. I got inside, and Andrella was there... Soth came back, but Andrella raised Sygil, and he Recalled away instantly as if it had been planned. I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly moved back down to help raise those who were still fallen. Soth proved to be annoying for a while, but we were finally able to regroup and get everyone out of there alive. We found Sygil, who had quickly thrown on some spare armor and stocked up on supplies to come help us. At least he was safe, even if he had to go through all of that. He said he had given Connor all of his items that were of any value, so he hadn't lost anything important. Once it was all over, I looked significantly at Andrella. Here it was. We had finally seen Blackthorn and Soth working together. Not only that, but we had quite a few witnesses. This was the last straw.
It was time to speak to Lord British.
[03/09/2003] 
Getting an audience with Lord British, as busy as he is, isn't easy, even when it is urgent. We weren't able to last night, and I was afraid today would not work out either. However, while I was in my house searching it for hidden communications crystals and organizing my things for the trip to the Ophidian lair yet to come, Andrella and Dupré came. They let me know that Lord British had a free moment for us, and so we headed for the castle without delay.
The king met with us in his study. I had already decided, days ago, to come clean and tell him the full story of the rod of magis. I just hadn't had the opportunity until now. I knew I had to start at the beginning, and work my way to the events of last night. So I started in with, "You asked where I had gotten the rod of magis. Well, the truth is, I found it in Blackthorn's castle." I expected the story to take some time to tell. But to my surprise, Lord British commented before I could say more, "I suspected as much." Perhaps I should pause to explain something. I have known three different alternate universes of Britannia. On the first, the one with which I was most familiar and had spent the most time, Blackthorn had been banished a long time ago, and I had never seen him there since. On the second, where Lord British did not know me, Blackthorn was still around, and he and British were...friends. At least, that's what I gathered based on what I had heard. I had never understood why that was, but it was the way it stood. Naturally, therefore, once I came here and saw that Blackthorn held such a high post, I immediately assumed that this Lord British was also friends with this Blackthorn--and therefore would not take kindly to someone making what would seem to be baseless accusations against him. Looking back, I realize now that I have made way too many assumptions about this world... At any rate, Lord British saved us a lot of time because he had already been suspicious of most of what we spoke. He told us he had long been wary of Blackthorn, but as of yet had possessed no proof to warrant taking action. So we were able to cut right to the chase and explain what had happened to Sygil, and how Blackthorn had been giving Soth commands and was basically working with him.
Once Dupré had delivered the message, Blackthorn brought himself to Lord British's castle via magic. He teleported in practically on top of Lord British, reminding me of the time when he had opened a moongate on top of Lord British's throne. What a guy. As if he sensed he was in trouble, Blackthorn immediately poured on the syrup, referring to Lord British as "my king" and "highness" and never forgetting to bow or show deference. Lord British, on the other hand, was direct and to the point. "Blackthorn. Kianne saw you consorting with Soth," he said bluntly. "Please explain." Blackthorn's eyes grew wide. "No no no no no," he repeated. He spun to face me. "When did you see this?" I couldn't resist. "Well, Soth did warn you I was near," I replied sweetly. "It's just too bad you didn't take him seriously." "What??" Blackthorn bellowed. Andrella and I poured it on, explaining that others had overheard as well, and we proved it by repeating various lines that Blackthorn and Soth had said. We also discussed Sygil going into the deathtrap. "He saw Soth there as well," I reminded him. "He saw you identify Soth by name. Soth whom you don't know," I added sarcastically, and smirked. "You've sneaked into my castle for the last time," Blackthorn growled.
He glared at me. "If I did, I would use it on you!" I just laughed. He couldn't scare me now. He was trapped in his own lies and the truth of what he had done. Lord British declared that Blackthorn would be jailed, and there he would await his trial. Andrella held Blackthorn in place while Dupré went to fetch the Warden. "This is stupid," Blackthorn growled. He pointed at me. "Jail her too then! Jail them both! And Sygil too! Jail them all!!" Lord British shook his head sadly, asked us to watch Blackthorn, and left to tend to business. "Andrella," Blackthorn wheezed. "Let me go." "No way, Blackthorn," she responded instantly. I shifted, hoping to forestall another outburst. "Shall we take a message to the CoCM for you?" Blackthorn looked back at me. "Yes," he glared. "Tell them to kill you."
"You know this is absurd," Blackthorn growled. "You know I will have my revenge." I eyed him. "Tell me, Blackthorn. Why does Soth do your bidding?" He just spat at my feet. Andrella jerked his arm again, but at that point Dupré showed up. He hadn't been able to find the Warden, but Lord British had given him authority to act as the Warden in his stead for this, so Dupré had brought back the Warden's axe. "Dupré, don't do this," Blackthorn whined. "You're making a terrible mistake." "Nah," Dupré responded easily. Andrella chimed in, "You made the mistake." Dupré used the magic of the axe. Blackthorn vanished, whisked away to a jail cell.
"Good riddance," I said.
[03/14/2003] Blackthorn sent a message to RBW by courier from jail. I couldn't help but feel surprise when I read it. And, I will admit, I had truly hoped it was sincere, that Blackthorn really does care about Britannia even if he has somewhat misguided methods of trying to protect it. I suppose maybe it could still be true, but I have spoken to Blackthorn in the jail hall twice since reading his letter, and he doesn't seem to have turned over a new leaf. He's still as despicable and unhelpful as always. Personally, I consider that failing the sincerity test with flying colors...
I think at some point he slipped. The second conversation, which took place today, he went into a little more detail about how exactly he wants to "protect" me. He said he would cast a spell which would "bind" the golden rock to me, so that I couldn't "lose" it. I couldn't get him to tell me what sort of other effects such a spell would have, or even how the spell works. I have to admit I don't like the sound of it at all. On a different note, something else happened today. I went to Lord British's castle hoping to speak to him about what Blackthorn had said. Instead I encountered Nystul, standing out front being entertained by the jester. (All I can say is, at least the jester isn't Chuckles.) At any rate, Nystul at first didn't seem to recognize me. Then Navien walked up, and Nystul immediately cried out "The spider!" and ran. (I should mention that Navien has been given the form of a Terathan drone in hopes he can speak with the Terathan queen regarding what the Ophidian queen might accept as a sacrifice. Nystul is the one that performed the enchantment; however, he doesn't remember doing it, so now he runs from Navien every time he sees him, thinking him a monster.) Navien and I chased after Nystul, trying to remind him that it was Navien and that he wouldn't do any harm. Nystul kept using the Teleport spell to jump from place to place in the castle. Finally, he teleported himself onto the roof, then started calling out, "Guards, come! I am stuck on the roof!" We tried to help him off; he said he was out of reagents and couldn't Teleport off. I tried to Teleport up there to give him reagents, but an anti-magic field blocked me. I have no idea how Nystul was able to cast through it. Navien ran off to get something, and after he was gone, Nystul decided to give Teleport another try (he couldn't remember what reagents it required), and it worked. So he evidently wasn't out of reagents after all, at least not those required for Teleport. Once he was off the roof, Nystul thanked me for chasing away the spider. "Hey, I remember you!" he said suddenly. "You're the one who smacked me!" I rolled my eyes a little. He hasn't let me live down the time he had me hit him to remove the invisibility cloak. "It was your idea," I grumbled. Nystul said he had something to give me, asked me to wait, and Recalled away to get it. I waited as he asked, but when he came back, he appeared distracted. "One minute, lady," he commented to me. "I am looking for Kianne." I only had time to say "um" before he'd run off. I tried to chase him, but there was no sign of him anywhere in the castle. How does he disappear so fast? After running up and down stairs and hallways for a good five minutes, I finally encountered him again near the front hall. "Nystul!" I called out, and dragged in another breath to add my name and remind him who I was. Before I could get the words out, he looked at me and announced, "Kianne! I've been looking for you!" Winded from running around so much, my breath wooshed out in a huff. Nystul stopped in front of me. "I had something for you," he said, "but I gave it to someone." "Who?" I asked. "A guard," he replied. I thought, that's helpful. So I asked him which one. Nystul responded, "She looked like you, but her hair was different." He rubbed his beard thoughtfully, looking me up and down. "And so were her clothes. She didn't have a cape either. Or boots. Actually," he finished, "it might have been a man." By this point I was about ready to fall over. "Then how did she look like me?" I asked in exasperation. "The guard had two legs?" Nystul tried. I let out a gusty sigh. Great, that narrowed it down to anyone but Navien. "Well," I said, trying to hold onto my patience, "what was the item? So that we know what to ask for." Nystul scratched his head. "I don't remember." I very nearly fell over again. "Hoy. Well, I can ask all of the guards. Here in the castle?" "I am thinking." Nystul paused. "No, it was actually in Vesper." I looked at him in disbelief. "Vesper?" "Maybe it was Minoc," Nystul corrected. "Well, it could have been at the Moonglow zoo?" I leaned against the wall. "This is going to take a while..." "Oh, Kianne," Nystul shifted tracks suddenly. "Let me buy that invisibility cloak from you." I blinked at the sudden switch of topic. Keeping up with Nystul was becoming a losing proposition. "Buy it?" "I need it to sneak up on that spider," Nystul explained. I stared. "Um, about that spider..." Nystul went on as if he didn't hear me, "Or at least let me borrow it. I'll return it later." I let out a breath and handed it to him. "Here, you're welcome to it--it's only got one charge left anyway. But that spider is Navien, remember? You don't need to sneak up on him." "That's the same story the spider tried to tell me," Nystul replied, tucking away the cloak. "Don't let it fool you. I think it ate him." I tried to bite back a sigh, although I'm not sure I was successful. Nystul lowered his voice. "So next time I see it, I will pretend it is my friend, sneak up on it..." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Navien return. Nystul spotted him at the same instant and broke off suddenly. "Excuse me for a year!" he let out, and ran. Navien apparently decided to have a little bit of fun with this. "OOOGA BOOGA!" he yelled, chasing after Nystul. "Nystul! Navien!! Argh..." I shook my head and followed. "Maybe I'll let Navien handle this..." Navien managed to corner Nystul at the end of a hallway, where the royal mage stood gazing out a window. "I am a window," he declared, as if it was a chant that would transform him into such. I couldn't help but chuckle, and turned to leave Navien to his own devices. After a moment I heard Navien yelp. "He's going to start casting spells! Kianne...better come back and help me up!" I retraced my steps and found Nystul flinging probably every spell in the book that targets an object instead of an area. And I mean literally every spell--including beneficial ones like Bless. I moved closer to Navien to help heal him. "Nystul, stop!" I protested. This was just going too far. "Why don't you just undo the enchantment temporarily? I mean, that way you'd know it's really Navien!" "It's not Navien," Nystul argued, "but it is one smart spider. It knew I wasn't a window." He shrugged. "But Dispel doesn't work." I stared at him in disbelief. "You don't know how to turn him back?"
"Back to Navien!" Nystul looked almost offended. "Of course I can!" Navien commented, "He said after Saturday, he would help me. But after he changed me...he ran off!" I shook my head. "Look, Nystul, he's not attacking us. If it wasn't Navien, he would be." Navien nodded in agreement and decided to help cement this idea by giving me a big hug. I have to admit, I've never been hugged by a Terathan before. "Hmm." Nystul rubbed his beard. "Okay. I believe it." And he waved a hand. I blinked in surprise as I noticed that Navien's form was changing. Spider legs disappeared as his body began to take on a humanoid shape. Brown scaly skin turned flesh colored. And then I felt my face flushing bright red when I realized he was changing back stark naked. Immediately I spun around to face away from him just as Navien let out a high-pitched shriek of, "AHHHH!!!" I quickly pulled off the cloth tunic that I wear over my chainmail and held it behind me, without looking. The tunic is quite long on me, going down to mid-thigh, so I was hoping it would sufficiently cover him. I felt him take it, and waited a beat. "Can I look yet?" "Um, aye..." he said, but he sounded distracted. I turned back around and saw that Navien had fully reverted back into human form. I was relieved to see that the tunic was covering the important parts, although it did leave his legs bare pretty high up. Then I blinked as I registered that something was amiss. "Hey, you look funny Navien." I frowned, and felt my face growing hot again. "Oh no. He didn't..." "What?" Nystul asked, apparently not noticing anything wrong, while Navien stood there looking absolutely mortified. Laughter exploded out of me without forethought. "He turned you into a girl!!" I fell against the wall, my legs too weak to hold me as I shook with laughter. Nystul looked from me to Navien. "I think I better go." "Oh no you don't!" Navien cried, chasing after the mage as he fled down the hallway. I tried to follow, but I had to do so at mostly a walk because I had a hitch in my side from laughing so much. "Okay, okay, I said I believe you," Nystul was saying when I caught up to them. "And then you are a girl..." "But I'm supposed to be a man!" Navien whimpered. I found myself laughing all over again. Nystul frowned. "You look like a man to me. You have a goatee." I laughed harder. "He's a woman with a goatee!" "Change me back into a spider!" Navien demanded. He still hadn't had a chance to speak with the Terathan queen. Nystul looked flustered. "I have to go. Oh, Kianne," he added, moving closer. "Here is your cloak." He handed me the multicolored bundle of fabric. It was still tuity-fruity. And it had even more charges now than when he'd recharged it last time. "Thanks, Nystul!" I called after him as he ran off. "Nystul!" Navien yelled, running after him. In the distance down the hallway, I heard Nystul chant "Kal Ort Por!" and realized he had escaped. Navien came back slowly to where I was standing. For a moment we stood in awkward silence. Finally I spoke. "You know... If it weren't for the fact that you need to be a spider, I'd just offer to take you shopping for new clothes." "I need help," Navien groaned. "Maybe Andrella will know what to do." I agreed, and he created a moongate back to Northwind. We wandered the town for a while until we stumbled across Andrella, Sygil, and Gameboy inside Gameboy's house. "Someone save me," Navien moaned as he walked through the door. "I'm a woman." The others gawked. "Um, dude, you have a beard," Andrella finally spoke. Navien covered his face with a hand. "A man can only take so much..." I think the others were struggling to resist laughing. All at once Navien's body began to glow, and his shape shifted again. As we stared in surprise, he turned back into a Terathan. A male Terathan, at that. "Wow," I said. "I guess whatever Nystul did was temporary." "Hate to say it, but you look better like that!" Andrella chimed in with a grin. Navien handed me back my tunic and cursed a little in elvish. "Hey, at least that problem is solved, Navien," I tried to console him. "Yeah," he agreed with a shiver. "But I can never look at another woman the same way."
I snickered.
[03/16/2003] We spoke to Lord British today regarding Blackthorn. I probably came out of the encounter with more questions than I when I went in, but I have seen that Lord British has decided Blackthorn has used up his chances so to speak. The satisfaction I felt upon seeing Blackthorn jailed has begun to wear off. I realize grimly that even though we accomplished that much, the problem is far from solved. It worries me that Blackthorn has been banished from this world once already (he was later forgiven by Lord British and given a second chance). Worse, Dupré, Lord British, and even Blackthorn himself all seem sure that, after his trial, Blackthorn will be banished a second time--this time to the void. I can't help but fear this will not be the solution it appears to be on the surface. A lot could go wrong, and if Blackthorn ever did get free of the void, it may be a long time before we ever discovered that fact. Yet keeping him in jail forever doesn't seem terribly viable either, and we certainly can't banish him to another world--not only would he have an easier time causing more trouble from there, but it's just not right for us to send another planet our problems.
It seems there is no perfect solution...
[03/16/2003] Yes, another entry for today. It seems I wrote in here too soon. Something else of interest happened this day. Banion came to my house and proceeded to offer me outrageous sums of gold for absolutely anything and everything that was nailed down to the house. Like 10,000 for the stool sitting on my balcony. He asked for my shells, my serpent scales, my boulders, my logs, my anvil, my pitchers of water, the fur on my floor, you name it.
Sygil came during the middle of this, and by that point Banion was starting to get the idea I wasn't going to sell him anything. Finally, he dropped a dagger on the floor of my house. "Just pick that up and give it to me. Please." That's it. That's all he needed. Didn't even have to be something of mine, just something I've held... I played dumb, pretending to inspect the dagger from a distance for poison and such. Sygil got impatient and picked it up himself, handing it to Banion. This went on for a while, until finally Banion got frustrated (mostly at Sygil I think) and left. As he was leaving, he said something strange. Sygil had noted that they wanted my "mark" (e.g., something I had touched), and Banion said he already has "Kianne's mark" if he needed it. I figure he was just saying that to scare us, but there may be a grain of truth to it, hard to say. Of course, I still have no idea why they wanted such an object. (Sygil suggested perhaps they would be able to use it to trace my every movement. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the binding spell Blackthorn was talking about.) The good news is, at least Tyranex was wrong, and Banion didn't actually get anything of mine. Yet.
Also, Soth came to Northwind this night, after sending a small army of undead before him. I found the encounter very odd, because he actually joined the battle personally--and not only that, but he cast normal Britannian spells, rather than using his powerful lightning attack. I managed to stay alive for quite a while by circling around and attacking the other undead instead (although Soth kept healing them on me--why do heal spells in Britannia work on undead anyway?). Finally, after killing most everyone else who was there at least once, Soth managed to get in two Flame Strikes on me in a row, which even after all of my magic resistance practice, I still can't seem to survive. By the time I was raised, Soth was gone. Andrella told me that, after killing me, he said he had "what he came for" and left. We think he was after flesh for more golems or something or other, but this does not bode well.
[03/19/2003] I've been asking guards in various places for the item that Nystul gave away, but no luck so far. Most of them just give me a strange look when I ask. And silly Nystul--there aren't any guards at the Moonglow zoo! [03/21/2003] This evening was strange. Blackthorn called anyone who could hear to the Yew Jail. Andrella, Dupré, Sygil, and I decided to go. None of the Chaos mages made it, which of course didn't make Blackthorn terribly pleased. Still, he seemed quite subdued, and even said he would believe me now when I say that I wish to protect Britannia (it's about time!)
And, later... I discovered Blackthorn had forgone his trial and had been banished. It was done. I went back to the Yew Jail, and it was true. He was gone. I was surprised to discover I feel mostly numb about this. There is no rush of victory, no sense of vengeance. I'm not sad to see him go, but I'm not happy that he is gone either. I'm not sure what to think...
[03/22/2003] 
Today we went to the serpent queen to ask her to allow Dupré to carry the staff. Overall, I suppose it went well, but I have mixed feelings on the matter.
We went through the halls of spiders, with Navien as a Terathan as planned. It was a nasty journey at times. The Ophidians joined with the Terathans in attacking us. I must say, although the Ophidians are fast, the Terathans were far more deadly. They had strong warrior classes, and each could poison with the slightest hit. We spoke with the Terathan queen first, to gain admittance to the Ophidian queen. For the most part Navien did all of the talking as we had agreed. The Terathan queen created a gate for us to the lair of the Ophidian queen. It was filled with more gold pieces than I've ever seen in one place (even after the Wisps filled our packs with as much gold as we could carry), a number of rare items...and Shamino, who had been turned to stone. A statue. She had him on display between two pillars like any ordinary piece of carved rock. I was furious, but I forced himself to remain silent and in place. The first thing Shalilissta wanted was to see some duels. Since we were not allowed to use magic or magical items (unless she said otherwise), and since many of us had brought nothing but magical weapons, we ended up having a bare-handed mass wrestling match. I actually lasted into the finals, when it was just Andrella, Dupré, and I. Andrella and I began to go at it when Dupré commented to me, "Sorry, Kianne." He then proceeded to whack me so expertly I didn't even feel myself hit the ground. Remind me to never get into a tavern brawl with him around. Once we were all revived, Shalilissta decided to allow Dupré to carry the staff if we offered her 100 serpent's bane weapons. I was just thinking that perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all when she said she would also demand a sacrifice. Dupré had earlier discussed with us that Lord British had decided to put his foot down on this. There would be no sacrifice, even if we had to kill the Ophidian queen herself. After all, just because we are asking for Dupré to carry the staff does not make Shamino's sacrifice null and void. The peace treaty still stands. Dupré and Navien explained this to Shalilissta, and to my relief she relented. She agreed that all she would demand was the one hundred weapons. And something from Sygil, who ended up losing his only two items of any value to her--one of which was the vampire bow he'd received from the Shrine of Justice. He is taking it very well, pointing out "easy come, easy go," and even mentioned that he received the bow from Justice and it was taken by Sacrifice. Even so, it rubs me the wrong way that it was so entirely unfair. No one else lost anything that night, but Sygil lost his two best items not to mention two full suits of armor and other accessories to Blackthorn. I'm going to try my best to right this, if I can...
"Soth is here and mortal!" Andrella called out. Everyone burst into action. Soth stumbled backward, still suffering from the looks of it, and frantically cast Recall. We tried to finish him off then and there, but he managed to escape, and at any rate we had to turn back to the rest of the undead still assaulting Northwind. Once peace had returned, Andrella commented that the spell Walkyrie had used was a spell of true death. But since Soth was dead already, it had made him lose power instead. I am feeling encouraged that we will have a much easier time when we find a way to penetrate the Twisted Tunnels and go after him at his hideout. This was one of those rare times when Soth's appearance had actually been a good thing!
So, Dupré has the serpent staff now. It is a nice bright blue color, and it is good to see him carrying it. We will best Soth, and then the trees will be pretty again and flowers will bloom once more... Until then, we must focus on finding 100 serpent banes by Wednesday...
[03/24/2003] I have been hunting for serpent's bane weapons without any luck. I've tried lizardmen, orcs, ettins, ratmen, and you name it. Tonight, Andrella and I decided to tackle Deceit together. It ended up being more than we anticipated, however, for we stumbled across Soth in one of the rooms, doing something or other with various necromancy ingredients. I stared in surprise for a moment, then grabbed my ancient katana and raced toward him. He saw me coming and quickly Recalled away. We decided to ransack his little lab--I still wonder why he was here instead of in the Twisted Tunnels--and to take away his spell components so that he can't use them for more evil. Afterward, we resumed our hunt for serpent's banes. We were attacking some skeleton archers when suddenly I couldn't move. I realized instantly that I was under the effects of a paralysis spell, but funny, I didn't know skeleton archers could cast that. The next second I saw a Paralyze spell hit Andrella, and I realized it had come from behind us. Quickly I freed myself using the pouch trick and whirled. To my surprise, Soth was standing a short distance down the hallway. Andrella joined me as I ran close enough to be within speaking range, then stopped again. The fact that Soth had come here knowing full well we were here, and had used Paralyze rather than attack spells, told me that he was here to speak with us, not to attack us. I said to him, therefore, that he had five seconds to say his piece before I sent him to kingdom come.
"Look at me," he said. "Your weak mage did nothing to me." "You look different to me," I commented wryly. "Oh Kianne," he responded. "I will look very different to you soon enough." Then he Recalled away. Andrella and I gazed at each other. "What in blazes did he mean by that?" I grumbled. Probably, he's just doing more of his game of irritating me. Well, blast it, just because it's working doesn't mean he has to keep it up! Sheeeesh...
The good news is, Andrella and I quickly thereafter hit pay-dirt. We discovered five serpent's bane weapons within about half an hour, on skeleton knights. Five doesn't sound like much, but after spending two days finding absolutely nothing, it was like a jackpot. We can do this after all....
[03/26/2003] Today was the day that Shalilissta would come to Northwind for the serpent's bane weapons. Luckily, Andrella had discovered that Sariff was hoarding them, so that solved our problem pretty quickly. Sariff showed up with about 89 of them--hoarding them is right! Overall, we must have given Shalilissta more than 150 of the weapons. We think she wants to ticket them as a way of destroying them so that they can no longer be used against her people. She also really likes unique and rare items, so, she'll want to use the resulting tickets to buy some for her collection. Two birds with one stone. A crafty one, she is. Afterward, Andrella and I stood behind the hedges listening while Shalilissta spoke with Navien. She said she had looked into his past and could not find any Terathan clan which knew where he had been born and raised. She then began rapid-firing Dispel spells on him. The first four or five didn't work, but finally, suddenly, the enchantment was broken. We stared in surprise as Navien returned to human form (male, this time). Then we looked away until he was able to get some clothes, heh. Luckily, Shalilissta took it well, and did not get angry as I was anticipating. She said she admired Navien for what he had done, and that now he had seen how Terathans and Ophidians live. She did want a rare item from each of us (always making demands), but she did waive the requirement from Sygil, who had already lost so much to her, for which I was grateful. I gave her some facial hair cream that Dupré had given me--apparently, Nystul had concocted it, and Dupré was hesitant to try anything Nystul had created. Personally, I don't blame him--I wasn't about to use it either, even if I had been a male with facial hair in the first place. And it was a unique item, which Shalilissta happily accepted.
Shalilissta let this go on for a while, saying "More" each time he brought her something. Finally, her coils twisted as she cast a spell, and I stared in shock as Banion turned pale gray. She'd just turned him to stone! We protested, insisting there was to be no sacrifice. "Not a sacrifice," she argued, "but a gift." She picked up the Banion statue and placed him near the entrance to the Keep for us to "enjoy." We asked her to undo her spell, but she claimed there was no way to undo it--that its effects are permanent. Then she gave us 30 ancient weapon scrolls as her gift to us, and left. For a while, we stood around Banion trying whatever we could think of to undo the spell. I had already been planning to hit the libraries as soon as I got a chance--searching for serpent's banes had taken too much of my time until now. I wanted to find a stone-to-flesh spell for Shamino. And if we found a way, we would free Banion as well. Sure, he may have been working for Blackthorn, and was trying to find "something" of mine, but he doesn't deserve to be a statue for the rest of time. I don't know if anyone on Britannia has ever known such a spell, but if so, I will find it. Perhaps, while searching the libraries, I will look for information I might trade with the Wisps1. I'm thinking of trying to duplicate the whistle that Trellek2 had made. The Wisps here do not speak to me if I hail them, but perhaps with the whistle, I could get one's attention. Surely, if the Wisps know how to cast Armageddon3, they'll know a stone-to-flesh spell...
If only I could summon Elemental magic here....
1 Wisps in Ultima are actually pan-dimensional extensions of a singular entity, similar to the Borg in Star Trek. They thus have a hard time grasping the concept of singularity, and use the terms 'I' and 'you' lightly. Wisps are in the business of trading information. 2 Trellek fashioned such a whistle for the Avatar in Ultima 7. 3 Armageddon destroys all living creatures on the planet except for the caster. The Wisps do not consider it very powerful because it affects only the dimensional plane on which it is cast.
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![[Screenshot of Blackthorn saying 'Keep your friends close and enemies closer' with Ki watching while invisible]](closer.jpg)
"I see an empty bottle," I said.
I thanked Nystul again and did not comment on the color change. Nystul asked if he could have the bottle back, so I fished it out and handed it to him. He looked it over and asked me if I had used it. I told him no, truthfully. Nystul turned it around in his hands for a while, peered at it from different angles, and even uncapped it to look inside. Finally he looked back at me.
Once peace had returned to Northwind, Blackthorn turned to us and apologized that the CoCM had not lent us a hand. I accepted his apology mostly because it was just too much fun watching him have to voice it. Tyranex and Banion came, and for the crime of giving Chaos a bad name, Blackthorn punished them by killing one of them. After all, according to Blackthorn's warped view of the Virtues, one who does not show Valor must take his own life.
At any rate, as I mentioned, Goarla wanted to offer us a little bit of information for 30,000 gold. In return for the payment, he explained to us that Thugnor, which was the other head on the ettin I usually call Guthnor, had once been the King Beast. Apparently, the King Beast is in charge of all of the monsters, and the title is pretty much chosen based on pure strength and power. But Thugnor's head had died somehow, and Guthnor's was too kind to hold the title. That explained why the Guthnor we had known had been so sweet, whereas Thugnor, whom I had never met, had been a truly evil beast--so much so that he even frightened his other head. Of course, Guthnor was dead now as well. To replace him, new King Beast had stepped up to the plate...in Goarla's words: a tall dead man. Soth.
After grumbling a bit, Blackthorn cooked up a story involving CoCM going into some dungeon and killing the leader of the Euga clan, which had "really" been behind everything. This way, according to Blackthorn, the CoCM could claim to have saved all of Northwind by putting an end to the orc attacks. To help cement this cover story, Blackthorn actually went out and summoned the Euga orc captain to his castle and told the CoCM to kill him while the poor orc wandered around saying "Where am I?"
"Actually, I'm late because I was looking for it," I said to her. "It just disappeared." She let out an exasperated sound, and before she could say anything I quickly added, "I don't suppose I could borrow yours?"
First of all, I should mention that this time I did not exactly go in alone. Before I left, Andrella and I had time to establish a personal telepathic link between the two of us, so I was able to transmit thoughts to her and tell her what was going on. Furthermore, the communication crystal we had planted when I had been dressed as Blackthorn's guard was in fact working. (Ironically, CoCM themselves were the ones who gave me the idea of using a communication crystal, as they had planted some in our own houses, which Andrella had stumbled upon and then alerted the rest of us.) Andrella's "friend" Lita offered the privacy of her small tower, so Connor, Sygil, and several others that we knew we could trust gathered together around the receiver crystal to listen in. And what a shocking event they overheard...
As I watched uneasily, Tyranex replied that Banion had it. I felt my face taking on a new expression. For I had actually stumbled across Banion in my house just minutes before, when I had gone back to grab my invisibility cloak before coming here. He had left immediately, saying nothing aside from "I enjoy your house," and I had been in too much of a hurry to confront him about it.
Not more than a minute after he left, while Blackthorn was still standing there in the third floor room, I was stunned to see Soth appear in the room. This was it, I realized with wide eyes as I stared, frozen in place with surprise. I had in the past seen Soth in the castle, but I had never seen him actually with Blackthorn before, and Blackthorn had always denied knowing who Soth was, so it could have been a coincidence that Soth had been in his castle...
"Yeah, whatever," Soth sighed. "I'm leaving. Call me when they get here."
An instant later, Soth popped into the room. Blackthorn played it up with an over-dramatic cry of, "Oh my, it's Soth!"
At any rate, my plan was to try to establish a telepathic link with Sygil and warn him to be ready to use his rune book to Recall away as soon as I raised him with my wand. Before I could do that, though, I discovered that I couldn't use my wand while covered with the invisibility cloak. And, of course, I couldn't get the cloak off without hitting something living. Great.
"This is the last straw," Lord British declared, and asked Dupré to fetch Blackthorn. I glanced at Andrella. This was going to be interesting.
I didn't let up. "You had a poisoned dagger," I revealed. "Do you have it now?"
Andrella jerked Blackthorn around toward her and slapped him in the face. "Shut your mouth," she commanded while Blackthorn and I goggled. "They get no message."
As fruitless as the two conversations were, Blackthorn did say something interesting, although it doesn't make me feel any more confident about him. For a while, he kept trying to convince me to give him the golden rock, as if I'm somehow going to lose it or abandon it. In fact, he even hinted in a not-so-vague way that the rock could give Blackthorn new powers, powers he doesn't have already. Yikes. At any rate, eventually he began to get the clue that I wasn't going to back down and give him the rock, at which point he said that, if he couldn't protect the rock, he would protect me. Uh huh. Blackthorn, protect me? I will believe that when I see it.
It got more and more clear as he went on that all he wanted was "something" of mine. This led me to realize that Tyranex had been wrong when he had told Blackthorn that "Banion had it."
Of course, Sygil and Blackthorn went to it as usual (I swear you can't put the two of them in the same room together). I don't even remember most of the conversation. What I do remember is the astonishing part. At some point, Blackthorn actually teleported himself outside his cell and began attacking Sygil. I couldn't believe it. Oh, I had suspected that he had the power to leave his cell if he wanted, but to actually go and do so was pretty much condemning himself for all time. He said it didn't matter, that he was already condemned, but it worries me. He was finally dispatched by a guard (after several tried and failed to take him down), and his ghost went back into the cell as if his job here was done. He didn't speak with us again.
Another thing happened tonight. Soth visited Northwind again, and got two ancient weapons by killing their owners when they tried to attack him with them, and then looting them off their bodies. He was actually wounded, but I think perhaps he allowed it on purpose to egg us into attacking him. My guess is he was trying to disarm us. I did take out my ancient weapon, but Soth left before I could use it on him. Soth also teleported people to various dungeons, froze a couple of ghosts so that it made it very difficult for us to raise them, and make my skin crawl by saying he wanted to be "close" to me. Uh huh. This is like him wanting to "thank" me, as he told Navien at any rate. Thank me for what!? I think he's just trying to drive me up the wall. Unfortunately, he's succeeding...
"Oh, I'll speak," he responded, not looking overly worried. He then issued what basically amounted to a challenge to Andrella. He said it was time for us to end this. In five days, he said, let RBW come to the Twisted Tunnels, and we would settle this feud once and for all. As if that isn't a glaring indication that he is plotting something, some sort of trap or trick. Oh well, I suppose this means we at least won't need to find a key to the gate leading to the Twisted Tunnels--he will hopefully just let us in. Soth also added to me that he had a surprise for me, but wouldn't tell me what it was.
Everything might have ended well, but Banion apparently did something to extremely irritate Shalilissta. I have no idea what it was, as I was in my house at the time looking for a unique item to offer her, and I missed it. By the time I came back with the bottle of cream, Banion was running back and forth between Shalilissta and his tower, dropping things at her feet--I mean, coils--and saying "GIFT" over and over, trying to appease her. When I looked closer, I noticed he had been cursed, and on top of that had been changed into a woman. A bearded woman. Well, well.