HomeFeaturesReferenceUltima LoreKianne's JournalJuno & Roy's JournalShadowDance | | HomeFeaturesReference | Ultima LoreKianne's JournalJuno & Roy's JournalShadowDance |
 | |||||||||||
[6/23/2003] Northwind is disappearing. It's simply fading away, bit by bit. And so are RBW members, and most everyone else who once lived in Northwind. Those of us that remain have quickly packed up any items we could, deeded our buildings, and evacuated. Mysteriously, items we remove from Northwind and place elsewhere seem to be surviving whatever has struck the land upon which Northwind once stood. I've moved my house back to its original location, just north of Guthnor's house. As I sit here looking at chests in which we'd packed my items, I can't help but marvel in a sort of stunned shock at what's going on. What sorcery could possibly be causing this? I only hope that those who have disappeared were sent to another dimension, rather than wiped out of existence. There are no corpses or any indication that they are dead, so I can only hope they are still out there, somewhere... Sariff's friend, before he disappeared, told us without any question that this is the work of the cloaked man. He also told us that there will be a meeting between Blackthorn and the cloaked man on Saturday. A meeting! My invisibility cloak waits in my bank box, and Andrella and I have already placed communication crystals in nearly every location we can think of that would be useful, including the one which is still in Blackthorn's castle. So we will definitely be listening in. Blackthorn has closed and locked the gates to his castle again, and the old secret entrance no longer exists. However, using the clues Navien was able to discover, I have found to where Blackthorn has moved the entrance. I will go in there on Saturday night, invisible, while everyone else listens over the communication crystal. [6/25/2003]  Andrella discovered a new contact for us, who had information on getting into Blackthorn's private chambers. His bedroom! At last, I could finally find the secrets he has been hiding in there.Andrella and I confronted the contact in Buccaneer's Den. What an appropriate place. When we arrived, the rogue had just finished up a tavern brawl in which he'd killed his opponent and left the corpse lying on the floor. Wonderful guy. There was quite a bit of back-and-forth; he said he had the rune which would take us into Blackthorn's chambers, but wanted 20,000 gold for it. I told him we'd pay him 20gp, the price of the rune. With a lewd look, he responded that was fine, as long as I threw in "a few hours alone." I smacked him hard full across the face. He gave up quickly after that, and handed us the rune for free. Not a bad deal, I say. Especially considering he was barely able to evade the bounty hunter that came after him. He'd have had no chance against Andrella. At any rate, the contact had claimed our new rune would not work because of magic restriction, but we decided to give it a try anyway. Andrella and the others kept Blackthorn distracted in Lord British's throne room while I attempted to Recall off the rune. Rather to my surprise, it worked. I was assuming Blackthorn would have magic barriers to keep people like me out, but if he did, they weren't working where this rune was marked. I appeared on the far corner of the balcony outside his bedroom. I wasn't invisible, since I'd decided not to use a charge on the cloak for this. Quickly, I slipped into the room after checking to make sure it was empty. Immediately I went to the desk and opened every drawer. I touched nothing at first, but took quick stock of everything that was there. Then I quickly opened the armoire, as well as any other container I could find in the room. I was a little disappointed; most of the items were actually rather mundane. Sygil's items, which Blackthorn had looted a while back, were nowhere to be found. I also couldn't find the "secret hideout" rune that I had earlier seen Blackthorn hide in his room. But I did find two things of interest. One was a short note from Garn to Blackthorn, which I hurriedly copied down onto a sheet of my own parchment. In it, Garn said he was declining to join the meeting between Blackthorn and the cloaked man. Garn said he would rather polish Andrella's boots than deal with the cloaked man. I smiled in amusement and sent this tidbit in a thought to Andrella, via private telepathy. The other item of interest was a dirty and tattered journal. I opened it and realized it had been written by Guthnor. Andrella had noted that "Joe" had once told her that Blackthorn had Guthnor's journal. And here it was. I was hesitant to remove anything from the room, as that would alert Blackthorn that someone had been in here. But it was much too long to copy, and I wanted to read the entire thing. Quickly I picked it up and tucked it into my pack. I turned to leave, telling Andrella privately that I was on my way out. As I did so, she suggested that I look for invisible teleportation tiles. It was an excellent idea. Since Blackthorn seemed to like them so much, it made sense that he might have some hidden in his chambers. I was out on the balcony by that point, since that was where I had planned to Recall back out. I turned and began walking across every spot of the floor. Almost immediately, I felt that familiar lurch, and my vision clouded for a minute as my location changed. When I reappeared, I blinked to get my bearings, and briefly panicked when I realized there was a person standing in front of me. Then I blinked again and stared. "Soth!" I gasped out loud. It was Soth, magically frozen and standing like a statue in a circle of glowing runes set into the floor. I stared at him for a moment, then glanced around the large dark room in which I found myself. I had found Soth's location. Carefully I stepped forward, toward Soth, who had not spoken or made any indication that he could see me. However, I was stopped by an invisible barrier when I tried to step across the runes. "Soth is here!" I sent to Andrella, and she asked me where I was. Quickly I pulled out my magical map. I felt a brief burst of disappointment when I saw that it couldn't place my exact location. However, the text at the bottom gave a rough estimate. "I'm in Felucca!" I gasped to Andrella. "No way!" she returned in surprise. I turned away from Soth to examine the rest of the room. There was an empty bookcase against one wall, a table with some tomes sitting on it, another table with some flasks, a third with some lumpy objects that I would examine later, and two chests. The exits to the large square room were magically sealed. I walked to the table with the books first, and felt my eyes growing wide as I examined each tome. Virtues of the Guardian. I opened it and carefully flipped pages. The text was full of axioms that might have been given to the Fellowship. It wasn't the Fellowship's teaching exactly, but held along the same lines. Things like "Silence," "Punctuality," and "Obedience" were touted as teachings of the Guardian, and required for any follower. Growing but disturbing evidence that Blackthorn is nothing more than a lackey of the Guardian. On the next parchment were some notes Blackthorn had evidently jotted down for himself. "Meet with Goarla. Get the stone of Justice. Need more nightshade and ash..." What is he plotting? The final book was a guidebook on ruling kingdoms. I smiled briefly in amusement when I saw the cover, but didn't take time to read it. I walked to the other two tables. The nearest one held potions in flasks and kegs, most of them brews of mana refresh. Upon the second, I realized, were globs of modeling clay, as well as clay-working tools, and paints and brushes. Lots of different shades of green paint. Various clay stones and sphere-shaped objects painted green. Is he trying to duplicate the Virtue Stone of Justice? Finally, I opened each of the two chests. Neither was locked, but neither held anything of significant note. Gold, reagents, mana potions, and a stunning 17,691 Shadowland tickets (I counted!). I touched nothing in the chests, and made sure to lower the lids as I'd found them. I returned to Soth and gazed at him for a moment. He didn't move, didn't even blink. Finally I turned and looked for the exit. Recall and Mark were not working due to magical barriers. However, there were two marked teleportation floor tiles near the southern wall. One was labeled "Throne" and the other "Chaos Castle." I really didn't want to pop into the castle, but I couldn't go to Lord British's throne room because that was where Blackthorn was currently meeting with Andrella and the others. So I stepped onto "Chaos Castle." I appeared on the third floor, in the room just outside Blackthorn's chambers. Quickly I Recalled away before anyone could notice me there. I met Andrella and the others at my house. Once we were safely locked inside, I took out Guthnor's journal. "Take a look at this," I said, laying it on the kitchen table. Together, we all leaned over and read it in silence. A fist closed tighter over my heart with every page I turned. Guthnor was writing at first for Thugnor, who had ordered him to keep notes in a journal. But then Thugnor's head was killed by Blackthorn, and Guthnor was alone. But not really alone, because he was befriended first by Dupré, and then Andrella, and finally the rest of us. He overheard Blackthorn speaking about the attack on the Shrine of Justice, warned Dupré, and went to help fight. He sounded so happy to be able to see us again. The journal ended there, of course, because Guthnor had died there. We had been half a minute too late to save him. Because of petty bickering among our ranks. He had been looking forward to seeing us, and we let him down. I sat in silence for a long while, just staring at the pages. Something else jumped out at me. Thugnor had once told Guthnor the secret of the golden rocks, the key to the opening of the Black Gate. ...The names of the Shadowlords and the blood of the Avatar... Curse that Soth. And curse Blackthorn, for wanting the rocks so much that he engineered Guthnor's death. Blackthorn, who had been the new king beast according to this journal. Not Soth after all. After Andrella and Ayla had to leave, Sygil and Navien discussed the glowing runes on the floor around Soth. I got out my handy-dandy translation guide (I've gotten a little rusty with the old English runes) and we fiddled with the letters that the runes represent, as well as the Words of Power that correspond with those letters, trying to decide whether the letters are significant, or if the runes are merely there as a focus for the spell. As far as I can see, there are at least two spells at work here--one being the barrier that prevented me from crossing the runes (and, I would assume, will keep Soth from leaving the circle, should he ever be freed), and the second being the spell that magically froze Soth. The runes didn't really make sense to us, though; several letters were repeated multiple times, which I've never seen happen in a spell incantation before. Even so, we decided to go to Wind and ask around. We chose Wind because, in various places of the city, there are glowing blue runes on the ground much like the ones surrounding Soth. We weren't able to really learn anything from the trip, but one thing of interest did happen. Navien and Sygil were unable to step upon any of the runes on the ground, but I was able to walk right across them as if they weren't there. Does this mean something? [6/28/2003] This would be it. The rumored meeting between Blackthorn and the mysterious cloaked man. If this turned out to be anything like the meeting we witnessed between Blackthorn and Soth, I knew it would be a night to remember. I left early to get to Blackthorn's castle ahead of schedule, just in case. The others were going to listen in over the communication crystals at our "all things Blackthorn" location. I hadn't yet tried out the new entrance with my invisibility cloak. The old one had allowed me to stay invisible even after using it, but I'd found, much to my surprise, that the exit tile (which is situated just inside the gates and clearly marked) would reveal me. I was afraid the new entrance may reveal me as well, and that would mean I would waste a charge on the cloak. So I debated going to the castle first, and then putting the cloak on once I was inside. I finally decided to risk wearing the cloak, so I put it on a short distance before the entrance. And when I appeared within Blackthorn's courtyard, still invisible, I looked up and was suddenly glad I had. Blackthorn himself was sitting on one of the seats on the balcony just above where I came in. He would have seen me for sure if I'd been visible. I hurried inside the castle, glad that the cloak made me almost completely silent as well as invisible, so I was able to hurry to the third floor. Once there, I paused to glance around, and stopped dead in my tracks. "Hey! Our guildstone is here!" I gasped to Andrella. Once again we had established a private telepathic link before I'd left. "What?!" she gasped. I walked closer to examine the stone. "Half the letters are worn off..." She wasn't surprised. That's the way it was happening. Northwind and most everything related to RBW was simply being wiped clean off the face of the planet. Finally I looked around at the rest of the room, since Blackthorn was still sitting on the balcony waiting. On the table I discovered four bars of gold, valued at 50,000 gold pieces each, and a note on a parchment. I stood beside the table and looked down at the note without touching it. "Goarla," it read. "As per our previous discussion, you are now the Beast King. Valkoris has been killed..." What!? "...Now onto the next issue. You may begin your quest for the golden stones tonight..." I felt a little faint. It was like time was repeating itself. This was Thugnor all over again. Just like what Guthnor had described in his journal of Thugnor's quest to gather the golden rocks for Blackthorn... I heard Blackthorn stand, so I turned and hurried to take a look. The cloaked man was outside, in the courtyard. Without hesitation he started his way up to the third floor to join us. Blackthorn walked back inside, and I moved out of his way with bated breath. "The cloaked man is here," I sent to Andrella. Then I frowned as the cloaked man walked off the stairs and into the third floor. "He looks...different somehow..." "How so?" she asked, but I couldn't quite put a finger on it. Then I realized, "He's got a red beard...?" "Didn't the cloaked man have a black one?" Andrella asked. I was pretty sure he did--I'd been close enough to him to tell that, even if I couldn't see the rest of his face. "Well?" Blackthorn was asking in the meantime. "Got something for ya," the cloaked man replied in a cheerful voice that just didn't seem to suit him. He reached up and pulled off the cloak, and I almost gasped out loud. "Hook!?" I sent like quicksilver to Andrella.1 "Hook?" she repeated. It had been years since I'd seen Hook, but it sure looked like him. "Not him! He was the cloaked man!?" "Punk," Hook was saying, dropping a large bloodied pack onto the table. "Dead as a nail." "Who's dead?" Andrella asked, since they could hear what was being said over the communications crystal. Blackthorn opened the top flap of the bag, and I risked getting close enough to him to peer over his shoulder as he examined the contents. The sight of the severed head on top almost made me sick. "It's Garn!" "Good job," Blackthorn said, closing the bag and turning back to his visitor. "I knew I could count on you." "You betcha," Hook responded in his easy-going manner. "Next?" Blackthorn walked over to the other end of the table and picked up the gold bars and the parchment. "Meet with Goarla and give him the gold and the note." "Gotcha." "And do not kill him," Blackthorn admonished. "Yet?" Hook grinned. Blackthorn then gave Hook 200,000 gold and told him it was for "later." Hmm. "Thanks boss," Hook said as he was leaving. "Don't say that," Blackthorn growled, but Hook was already gone. "Moron." I watched uneasily as Blackthorn packed up the bag and then began to pace, as if he was waiting for something. There was something bothering me. "How did Hook get that powerful?" I queried Andrella. The cloaked man had killed Sariff so permanently his ghost didn't even appear, and erased Northwind off the face of Britannia if the rumors were true. Hook was a skilled assassin, but he hadn't been that powerful when I'd faced off with him. Of course, he'd also been very dead after that encounter, so clearly something different was going on here. "So Hook was the cloaked man?" Andrella asked, just to be sure. Listening on the communications crystals can be tricky because it's nearly impossible to tell who is speaking. "Yes," I replied, "unless he is masquerading as the cloaked man. Wouldn't that be a twist?" "Yeah, but that's a scary thought to have two cloaked men," Andrella replied a bit grimly. "Tell me about it." I shifted my weight on my feet. Blackthorn wasn't doing anything, but he was clearly expecting something else to happen. I was chatting a little with Andrella when a sudden flare of light caught my attention. I snapped my head around and was just in time to see what looked like a jagged tear in the very fabric of space. As if someone had taken a cleaver and simply sliced open the air itself. For a very brief moment, I could see a thin line of what looked like a starry void. Then the cloaked man was popping out of the tear, and in the next second, the opening was gone. The cloaked man was faintly glowing. "Welcome back," Blackthorn greeted without any sign of surprise. I frowned in amazement. Was this the same cloaked man that had been here earlier? I stepped closer and my heart rate went into double-time. This cloaked man had a black beard. "How does it look?" he asked in a deep, eerie voice. "Northwind has been eliminated," Blackthorn reported with pleasure. "Almost all traces of RBW are gone." "Almost?" the cloaked man queried. "Well..." Blackthorn sighed heavily. "Andrella and a small band are still here." "Of course they are." The cloaked man reached up and pulled back his hood. "They have my relics." I nearly fainted on the spot. "MONDAIN!?" "What?!?" Andrella responded. Okay, that's it. No more joking about these things. First two cloaked men, and now Mondain was here. I don't know why, but I recognized him immediately. I was sure his face had been burned into my mind, even though my memories of that encounter are distant and hazy. "The golden rocks?" Blackthorn was asking, and Mondain nodded an affirmative. And suddenly it became clear. Navien and Andrella and Sygil and I. We had all survived the disappearance of Northwind, through no real effort of our own. We each had a golden rock. Blackthorn grumbled. "It's all because of that fool Soth..." "No," Mondain replied calmly. "They each have made such an impression on this shard that they cannot be easily erased." Blackthorn looked exasperated. "Why don't we just go to another shard then? It will be less of a bother than dealing with...Kianne," he growled out between his teeth. Mondain looked infinitely patient, which rather scared me. "Blackthorn... The multiverse is very complicated. I have searched hundreds of years for this land. For when the Avatar struck me down, and the shattered legacy began..." "You should have stayed down!" I growled silently. "...I knew one shard held the core of the Gem of Immortality." "Oh no..." I breathed to Andrella, the only one I could make comments to. I had a sick feeling I knew where this was going. Blackthorn was also catching on. "The Shadowland?" "Exactly," Mondain affirmed. "The core itself shattered into five pieces and scattered here. That is how I know this is the Sosaria I have been looking for." Five pieces. The golden rock. I was feeling definitely faint by now. We'd known this was going to be a meeting to remember. What we hadn't known was that the stakes were so high. Mondain continued calmly, "When Minax twisted time and killed the Avatar, it was still not enough to bring the core together." I started. "Killed..!? This world's Avatar is dead?" Andrella mused, "Minax changed things, is that what he's saying??" It sure sounded like it. But she was supposed to be dead too...grr... "I have been trying to get those relics for some time," Blackthorn reminded him. "I know," Mondain responded. "And I am glad. But I will not release Exodus until I have the core." Finally, some good news. Somehow, though, the bad news and the good don't quite balance out. Blackthorn ran a hand through his sparse hair. "I just get so tired of dealing with these fools." Somewhere in the back of my mind came a tiny thought that wondered what that made Blackthorn, if he was unable to get the best of a bunch of 'fools.' "Exodus could so easily slaughter them." "And at the same time annihilate the core," Mondain pointed out. "I understand." Mondain paced a couple of steps. "You need to get the stars tome from the golem. Then Minax will help you." Well. There went that quest. No way were we getting the tome for him now. "I am doing what I can," Blackthorn replied. "But I do have something for Minax." He picked up the backpack with Garn's parts and handed it over. "I want Garn to be the new leader of Sin." I stared. Oh, great... Mondain tucked away the bag. "A wise choice. But not until..." "Of course," Blackthorn agreed. Then he frowned. "What of the Black Gate?" "After I have the core," Mondain told him, "Minax will call the Guardian and offer the Avatar to him." Andrella and I both did a double-take. "Then the Guardian will be in your debt." "Offer the Avatar?" Andrella repeated uneasily. I frowned in confusion. "The Avatar is dead, isn't he?" And then, for the first time I can remember, Blackthorn actually echoed my thoughts. "I thought Minax killed the Avatar." "She did." Mondain shrugged. "But in the shattered legacy there were born many Avatars. But only one Avatar answered the call in this Sosaria." He looked Blackthorn straight in the eye. "Kianne Cassidy." I think the world careened to a halt around me. Andrella gasped in my mental ears. And Blackthorn looked distinctly unhappy. "No..." he moaned. "Anyone but her..." Mondain gave him an irritated look and said shortly, "You called her here. Now you deal with her." "I called her!?" Blackthorn repeated as if such a thing was utterly unheard of. Mondain explained patiently, "As your grip on the Virtues tightened, you bent the very Virtues to chaos. You were so close to finishing the task. Only one stone remained untouched." Blackthorn rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The stone of Justice..." Mondain nodded. "You see?" The Stone of Justice? Was that what this was all about? I frowned. The Shrine of Justice had been attacked, and the Rune stolen. And then Blackthorn had been making stones out of clay and painting them green, the color of Justice. And he wanted us to hand over the Virtue Stones... "The Avatar felt the call," Mondain finished. "She stopped you from getting the last stone." Blackthorn growled somewhere low in his throat. "Learn from the future," Mondain told him, moving to place a book, opened to the first page, on the table. The past. The future. Minax was playing with time again. And if that was the case... Something suddenly dawned on me. "Wait a minute," I gasped to Andrella. "If Minax has been doing all of this, maybe the Time Lord is in danger?" Blackthorn walked over to look at the book. I was a couple of steps behind him, to the side so that I could see around him. The title of the book leapt out at me. "The Ages of Armageddon?" I repeated numbly to Andrella. There were two books of Ages in the library that Andrella had shown us sooner. I already knew their tales. The Ages of Darkness, which was the Triad of Evil: Mondain, Minax, and Exodus. All stopped by the hero from another world. And then the Ages of Enlightenment. The Avatar. And after that...what was after that? I began to read. Nearly 200 years passed between the end of the Ages of Enlightenment and the period now called the Ages of Armageddon. Britannia, deprived of the guidance of the Avatar, slipped further and further away from the Virtues and Principles. The noble Shrines of the Virtues were left to rot and decay within the wilderness, and as the land descended further into the darkness, the time approached for a new evil to arise... No. This couldn't be Britannia's future. I wouldn't let it. We wouldn't let it. Blackthorn turned pages in silence, and I read over his shoulder, my entire body feeling cold. At the end was the only glimmer of hope. The tome stated that scholars were noting portents speaking of the hero's return. And the redemption of the lands, and a destroyer's fall... "You see?" Mondain asked. "You can change it." A small, evil smile spread across his face. "You will rule the Shadowland. I will have my gem. And the Guardian will have the Avatar." "Eep!" Andrella gasped. I felt nothing but a grim determination. "Not if I have anything to say about it..." I vowed silently. Blackthorn reached the end of the book and shook his head in wonder. "You are amazing, Mondain." Mondain turned and replaced his cloak hood. "I will be back when the core has been gathered. I have other shards to erase for now." "Erase?" Blackthorn echoed. "As I join the Gem of Immortality together, Sosaria is becoming one. And you will rule the core of it all." Blackthorn grinned and rubbed his hands together. I stared in shock. All of the shards...were merging? "I wonder if that's how Dupré and Iolo got here..?" I asked Andrella rhetorically. "Perhaps," she replied. "It would make sense. That means Mondain has been around for quite a while." That wouldn't surprise me. "Good job erasing Northwind," Blackthorn added, and gestured at the guildstone. "Now the stone is all that is left of RBW." "In five minutes it too will vanish," Mondain told him. "Good luck my friend." "Thank you. And I will not let you down." Mondain turned and vanished into another tear of reality. "How...?" I sighed. "He travels between dimensions like it's nothing...." We'd known the cloaked man was powerful. But this was ridiculous. I glanced over and noticed our guildstone fade into nothingness. The Britannias were merging...and Northwind had not existed on any other shard except for this one. So now, it didn't exist at all anymore... "When you came to help Guthnor long ago, that was Blackie trying to get the last stone!" Andrella commented. I was still feeling cold and numb, so I just shook my head in wonder. This wasn't 'my' Britannia, but I was going to fight to protect it as if it was anyway. And at any rate, if Mondain is correct, it may well become my Britannia. And everyone else's. And what will happen to all of the alternate versions of people then? I shook my head again. The Ages of Armageddon would not come to pass. Mondain was right about one thing. The future will change. We will change it. We will prevent it. Blackthorn watched the guildstone vanish and laughed. Then he turned and went into his bedroom. I watched through a window as he walked out onto the balcony and disappeared. "He went to where Soth is," I told Andrella. "I don't know if my invisibility will last if I follow, but..." "I wouldn't go in there," she returned immediately. I hesitated. "You sure?" "Not when he's in there. He may have a magical trap." I could almost see her smiling. "You are the Avatar now. You have to be more careful." I almost giggled out loud. "Are you kidding? I was never careful." She laughed. "Okay, you have to be careful," she teased. I sighed a little and acquiesced, turning to Recall away to meet the others at the tower. We would have plenty to talk about... But before we could get there, we heard summons that Skara Brae was under attack. We quickly Gated there to find a pile of orcs and their various allies, like ogres and ettins, near the bank. It was messy for a while, but we finally beat them back enough that they gave up and retreated. The orcs were all of the Reganade Clan. Goarla was at it already. We'd dealt with him before, but I didn't think our friendship would be enough to surpass a fee of 200,000 gold and the gift of the title of King Beast. But, what did he intend to accomplish by attacking Skara Brae? We finally left for the Lycaeum once we were sure that Skara Brae was safe. Andrella led the way as we checked all of the rooms and finally came across Sami. Andrella asked her for tomes regarding the use of magical runes. I was fairly certain the ones surrounding Soth were a part of the spell somehow, although I wasn't sure how. Still, the answer was rather surprising. "Lord Blackthorn took them," Sami told us. "Every single book on magic." "What?" we gasped almost in unison. She shrugged. "He is a very learned mage. It is puzzling why he would take all magic books." "Bastage," Sygil muttered. I agreed. It wasn't very puzzling to us. Unexpected, perhaps, because it meant he was thinking ahead. And that was scary. Sami looked at our disappointed faces and apologized that she couldn't be of any help. "I will get the books I can back from Lord Blackthorn," she offered. "I will tell him you need them." We blinked. "Er.. Best not mention that," Navien commented. Andrella added before Sami could respond, "Perhaps ask if the scribes may view them." She smiled. "As you wish," she nodded. We thanked her and started to leave. Somewhere along the way, though, Andrella had mentioned to her that I was an Avatar, and Sami went a little gaga, asking for my autograph, and then upgrading that into asking to do a biography. Funny, all these years, and I still haven't figured out how to deal with people who treat me like a celebrity. We went back to the new Shadow Keep (actually it's more like a tower...enh, details) and divided up the items that we'd found on the orcs from the raid on Skara Brae. While we were doing that, I asked Andrella privately what she wanted me to do with the statue of Guthnor that she had entrusted to my care when we'd evacuated Northwind. "Your house," she replied, and smiled. I blinked. "Really?" "Of course! You're the Avatar that came to save the stone of Justice." I blushed. We discussed plans to keep Blackthorn distracted while I went into his chambers and tried to free Soth. I was thinking perhaps a few Flame Strikes might do the job. After all, on the world where I had mastered the Elements, if someone was magically frozen, all you had to do was hit him with a Fire-based spell, and the ice would be broken. Of course, you would harm your target in the process, but small price to pay. And besides, Navien reminded us of the time when Sygil had been similarly frozen by Soth. Navien had killed him, as hideous as that sounds, as a way of freeing him. It had worked too--Sygil was released from the spell by his death, and was back to normal once he was raised. So we thought maybe it would work in this case as well. I cracked my knuckles. I sure wouldn't have a problem killing Soth. "Can you keep Blackthorn distracted for fifteen minutes or so while I do this?" I asked Navien, who had volunteered. "Yeah, easily," he responded, and grinned. "We can talk about women again." I felt my eyes roll up into my head. The last time those two had talked about women...well, I don't want to even think about it. Sygil made fun of Blackthorn by mimicking the way he growls my name out between clenched teeth. "Kianne..." And I rolled my eyes at him too. "I can't believe you two," I commented to Navien. "Bah, Kianne," Navien teased. "One day, you will like boys." I'd had a crush once. I had decided afterward that it wasn't worth the effort. "Not boys--men," Sygil corrected with a grin. "Blackthorn is not a man," I grumbled. Everyone laughed. [7/1/2003] Since Blackthorn had taken all of the books, we decided to search for them in his castle. The others went off to keep him distracted again while I took a trip to his chambers. I was visible, but nobody was there, since Navien and the others were doing their job well. I quickly went to Felucca where Soth stands. The bookshelves there held nothing new. On the table, all of the clay objects Blackthorn had been painting green were gone. With nothing left to do, I decided to search the rest of Blackthorn's castle. I left using the Chaos Castle floor tile and was startled to hear a noise from the bedroom. One peek inside showed me that Hook was in there, sitting at the desk. And apparently he had heard me teleport in, because he got up and walked for the door. There was no time to Recall, so I quickly grabbed my cloak and got myself invisible just as Hook emerged from the bedroom. He was wearing what looked like a disguise, but at least he wasn't dressed as the cloaked man this time. He looked around the empty room, then spoke out loud, "Who's here? Don't mess with me. Show." I wasn't about to do that. But just in case, I moved toward the stairs. I'd wanted to search the bookcases downstairs anyway. Hook began counting down from five, then there was silence. "Looks like you get away this time," I heard him say from upstairs; by now I was on the second floor. "I don't have any Reveal scrolls--but, I'll find you next time." Uh huh, I chuckled, and Recalled into Blackthorn's chambers. Since I was invisible, I may as well make the most of it. I searched Blackthorn's chambers, then left the room and checked all of the books in the library on the second floor. Finally, I went downstairs and even peeked into all of the crates in the kitchen, and the chests and such in the various bedrooms on the first floor. No sign of any magic books anywhere. I was disappointed and frustrated; where had Blackthorn hidden those books? Returning to Soth, I decided to just try to free him without the books. I was carrying both Flame Strike scrolls and a wand on the hopes that if the magic restriction prevented me from casting, perhaps the scrolls or wand would still work. I tried the scroll first, but the Flame Strike simply bounced off the invisible barrier that is surrounding Soth. After grumbling privately to Andrella, I began poking around the barrier. I wasn't really expecting to find anything, but to my surprise, I discovered a very small break on the far side. Apparently, one of the runes on the floor wasn't quite doing its part, producing a hole just large enough for me to step through. I could walk right up and touch Soth now. And, I could cast through the hole as well. I stepped back and flung a Flame Strike at him, but it had no noticeable effect. I tried a few more without results. Apparently, the Elemental solution wasn't going to work here. Not terribly surprising, since Britannian magic doesn't follow the Elements anyway. I stood for a moment, my mind whirling. Navien had once freed Sygil from a similar enchantment by killing him. I reached into my pack and pulled out my ancient katana, which I had been carrying around with me this entire time. Well, let's try killing him then. I whacked the frozen Soth with the sword, and there was an explosion of fire and vapor. I looked closely to see if I was having any effect. It appeared as though I was, but even as I tried over and over, Soth remained standing like a statue. By the time the katana broke, it was quite apparent that this solution wasn't going to work either. We were just going to have to think of something else. "We'll have to ask Blackthorn about the books I guess, Andrella commented to me. "I hope Blackthorn doesn't notice I've been meddling with his Soth statue," I chuckled as I turned to leave. We met back at my house, where I learned that, during the conversation, Blackthorn had "banished" Sygil from his "sight." What was even more amusing was that Sygil insisted he'd been as polite as possible. So it wasn't like they'd been at each other's throats again. Blackthorn had just done it out of nowhere. We were chatting about this when Hook showed up without warning and started attacking Sygil. We counter-attacked immediately, and Hook's disguise was knocked off. He kept doing hit-and-run attacks, finally bringing Sygil down while sending the rest of us on a wild chase trying to find him. We brought Sygil back to life, but his hair was white. Hook had been using some sort of a strange magical sword. Navien arrived, and we caught him up with recent events. Navien agreed to try to convince Blackthorn to let him see the magic books, using an excuse of wanting to study more magic. We went to listen in over the communication crystals. The conversation started out okay, but when Navien mentioned the books casually, Blackthorn asked him if it was he who had asked "that scribe" to come inquire about them. Oops. We immediately feared for Sami's life, but luckily for us, Blackthorn couldn't remember her appearance or her name. Hopefully, that will keep her safe. But we realized we would have to convince her somehow to give up on this. We didn't want her in danger. Blackthorn also mentioned that the only books he had taken from the Lycaeum were those about barriers...and that was only to learn how to freeze Soth. Also, I'm afraid he became suspicious of Navien by the end; right before he left, he mentioned that the only person who knew of Soth's location was Navien. [7/4/2003]  At Andrella's suggestion, I got in touch with Starfire and arranged for her to meet up with Lita. Andrella's idea was for Lita and Starfire to get into Blackthorn's favor and learn things from the inside. I don't know how it will work, but Starfire seemed willing.Also, Navien told us today that Blackthorn was asking for even more gold now for the reagents that he said he'd sell us for making the Felucca moonstone. Now Blackthorn was trying to claim we had gotten the list wrong, and asked for only half of what we really needed, and therefore we'd have to double our pay in order to buy the rest. What a slime ball. He was plainly trying to soak us. Andrella stormed off to "speak" to him, and I went along to watch the entertainment. The conversation wasn't quite as humorous as the previous time she'd, erm, had a "word" with Blackthorn, mostly because Blackthorn was being such a jerk. We did, however, finally get him to re-agree to the original deal, and give us the full number of reagents for the (full) pay that we had already given him. So at least now we can make the Felucca stone, although our reason for getting it keeps changing... [7/5/2003] Today I decided to head to Deceit and gather gold. I need some for Starfire's training, and I figured I may as well scourge the undead from the dungeons while I was at it. On the second level, I began to come across corpses of creatures I didn't kill. And when I found an iron door standing open, it became increasingly evident that someone else was here. I entered the next room and saw a man with a bardiche just finishing off the last skeleton. I blinked in surprise when I realized I recognized him. Caton, the guard who had called to Andrella after the opening of the Black Gate! "Greetings!" I said to him, and he responded in kind. He was dressed in a beat up pair of plate leggings, along with what looked to be a fairly new set of ringmail arms strapped across a plain white shirt. Definitely not typical guard uniform. "Were you looking for someone?" he asked me. I told him I was just here to get gold. He said he was here for the same reason. My curiosity was already sparked. Sami had mentioned that the Order Guards were not being supplied by Blackthorn unless they defected to being Chaos Guards. That jerk. I wasn't sure how to bring it up politely, so I commented, "The guards are in need of gold? I had heard rumors..." He blinked. "How did you know I was a guard?" "You were in Lord British's throne room, were you not?" I asked, beginning to wonder if I'd made a mistake. "That fateful day..." "Have we met?" he asked in surprise. "I may have the wrong person, but you look like him," I told him sheepishly. I removed my stuffy helmet. "I am Kianne." "Kianne!" he repeated. "I thought you were gone!" Now it was my turn to blink in surprise. "Gone?" "I heard rumors that RBW was annihilated," he explained. "Or deserted..." "We haven't deserted!" I assured him. Then I described to him what had happened. "I once served beside Lord British," Caton commented. "Before he was..." I didn't let him finish. "We will free him. We're working toward that." "That was the day I lost my love," he said sadly. A fist closed tightly over my heart. "I'm sorry." "Nothing to be sorry for! It was unstoppable. I have come to accept that." I'm still not so sure that I have. But at any rate, I got in touch with Andrella via the telepathy, and made a Gate for her to join us. Ayla was with her, and the three of us promised to help supply the Order Guards. Caton tried to refuse at first, but luckily our stubbornness outlasted his. And so we will supply the Order Guards in the absence of Blackthorn doing his self-appointed duty. We agreed to gather armor, food, and other supplies. Once properly equipped, the Order Guards will be able to defend the towns from Goarla's attacks--something the Chaos Guards seem to be turning a blind eye to. Hmm, imagine that... [7/6/2003] Goarla has been attacking various towns. We respond when we are able, and help hold off their forces until they retreat. I still had no idea what Goarla expected to gain by all of this when, today, he attacked Cove. I was the first one on the scene, moving quickly through the town attacking orcs and orges and urging the common folk to get off the streets and hide somewhere out of danger. Navien joined me and told me that he had seen Goarla. Quickly we finished off the evil forces near us and ran for the entrance to the town, where Goarla was watching from atop the wall. "Goarla!" I called to him in disgust. "What do you think you'll accomplish?" On either side of him were members of the Euga and Keeka clans. Goarla just snorted. "We know. People are hiding gold rocks. And we will find them." "They aren't here!" I told him in exasperation. "You're killing innocent people." "They are mine," he persisted. "My brother clans are here to see. They will then to join me. And find them stones." "Don't be fools." I raised my bow and aimed it at him. "You'll all die if you persist in this." He shrugged. "We live to fight. It is humies that care to die." "Well, I don't want to kill you," I told him, "but I will if I have to." "Let's go," the Keeka shaman suggested. I fired a shot over Goarla's head as his two companions turned and left. "Let this be a warning!" Goarla didn't seem very concerned. "More to plan. More to kill." And he was gone. I growled and replaced my bow across my back with a sigh. Navien and I turned to look at the town, and he went off to help the healers aid the citizens who had been harmed. Afterward, he asked me if he could meet me somewhere private. He said he wanted to show me something. We went back to my house; I've been keeping my doors locked, and you can see things coming from all around, so I figured it would be secure enough. Once we were alone behind locked doors, Navien pulled out a small moonstone and handed it to me. Its color shifted even as I gazed upon it sitting in my cupped hands. "I made it last night," he told me. A Felucca moonstone! "Wow!" I gasped. "You did it!!" "Aye. Took me all night." "Was it difficult?" I asked him. "Yes...the spell I found in Soth's lab was tremendous. Plus, there was a lot of alchemy and potions needed." "Thank you," I told him. "Of course, we still have to plan how we are going to use this..." We spent a little time discussing Soth before going our separate ways for the night. Navien felt sure that freeing Soth had to happen first, because Soth has been to Felucca before. Surely, it will be in his best interests to help us, considering if he doesn't, he'll be eradicated along with the rest of us. This is going to be interesting... [7/8/2003] Today was a mess. I was startled when I learned all at once that Navien was in Chaos Castle. He had talked Blackthorn into freeing Soth. I had heard about this yesterday, but I didn't realize Blackthorn was actually going to go through with it. Of course, to get Blackthorn to agree, Navien had to make all sorts of promises that I'm afraid will harm him heavily when he is called upon to honor them. Such as where he agreed to be responsible for anything that Soth does... I grabbed my cloak and quickly ran for Blackthorn's Felucca chambers, fearing I was already too late. It was risky to barge in there while knowing full well that Blackthorn was in there, but I wanted to learn the incantation for undoing the spell. By watching Blackthorn, I would know how to cast the spell in the future, just in case I needed it. Given that Navien had agreed to share any punishment Blackthorn might later dish out on Soth, I figured we may very well be needing the counter-spell. Luckily, I found Blackthorn still preparing for the spell. I watched as he laid Nightshade in four locations around the frozen Soth. Then he stepped back and raised his arms. "Ort Port Rel Mani!" he intoned, then repeated it when nothing happened the first time. I think he was putting too much of a 't' on the end of the 'Por'... At any rate, it finally worked; Soth's skin faded back to normal tones, and he blinked and looked around. "What the hell is this?" Blackthorn actually had the gall to say he'd simply "found" Soth frozen like that, and was now going to release him. Apparently, my theory had been correct--Blackthorn had unfrozen Soth, but the barrier keeping him in the circle still remained. "Good," Soth responded. "Prepare to die." I covered my mouth to prevent myself from snickering out loud. "Wait a minute!" Blackthorn protested. "I am helping you." "Good," Soth repeated. "Prepare to die." Blackthorn eyed him. "I won't free you if you are going to kill me. At least let me explain..." "No thanks," Soth responded. "I would rather rip your heart out." At least he saw through Blackthorn's deception this time. Finally Blackthorn turned in a huff. "Fine then. Just remember. I tried to help." And he left. I remained where I had been standing, waiting and watching. Soth stepped forward experimentally, only to run up against the invisible barrier. He seemed to be inspecting it inch by inch, but at the rate he was going, it would take him forever to find the hole. Finally I made a decision and walked around to the break in the circle. "Soth," I said out loud. "Step this way." He hesitated, his eyes narrowing at the sound of my voice floating from seemingly empty air. But then he turned without a word and took a step in the indicated direction. He managed to walk onto the rune this time, but then he was brought up short. "Can you make it?" I asked him. "Feet are stuck," he muttered, shifting. I let out an exasperated sigh. This wasn't working out the way I had intended. I'd wanted to be visible when we freed Soth. There was just no way for me to do much of anything with the cloak on. But then Soth managed to take another step, and although a burst of green fire resulted, singeing him, he finally emerged from the circle only a little burnt around the edges. He turned immediately and started examining the room, ransacking the two chests. I was still debating. Should I take the cloak off and come back? There was no telling if Blackthorn would return. And Soth would have troubles using either of the exit tiles; they both led to guard territory, where he could be quickly subdued. That is, of course, assuming anyone was around to see him. "Where is Blackthorn?" I asked Navien and Andrella. Navien was still in Chaos Castle, and Andrella was watching Lord British's throne room for me. "He just Recalled," Navien told me. Andrella reported that Blackthorn wasn't in the throne room. Which meant he could be absolutely anywhere, and could pop up anywhere at any time. Soth walked back to the center of the room, pausing. "Can you hear me?" he asked into the empty air finally. "I'm here," I replied out loud. "I know you are," he assured me dryly. "I have a rune for you," I told him, "but we have to get out of here first. And both exit tiles are guard locations." "This is Felucca," Soth informed me. "I know." "Remember what I told you about it? Books don't work, but you should be able to cast off the rune." "I couldn't get Mark or Recall to work," I told him. "Just give me the rune." I sighed again. "I can't while I'm invisible. And I can't turn visible without attacking something." There was a moment of silence. Finally Soth turned and summoned a skeleton. I wasted no time in whacking it, turning visible with the first blow. Immediately I pulled off the cloak and stuffed it into my bag, hoping without much hope that Soth hadn't seen it. I really hated having to give away secrets. I pulled out my bow and finished the skeleton off with a couple of arrows while heading over toward where Soth was standing. "Here," I said, tossing him a small drawstring bag. I'd already had it prepared for this occasion, and had been carrying it around with me. It contained a rune marked to the Shadow Keep, since I figured that was the most logical place to put it, and 10 of each of the reagents, just in case Blackthorn had taken all of Soth's. I was turning back to the exit tiles when Soth simply vanished right where he was standing. I didn't even notice him chanting "Kal Ort Por." Just poof, he was gone. How does he do it? I shook my head and jumped onto the throne room tile, then Recalled away as soon as I was out of Felucca. I found Soth outside the Shadow Keep, as expected. I had informed the others over the telepathy where we were, so they were arriving as well. It was already a mess, and things went immediately downhill from there. I had thought that, once we explained the current situation to Soth, he would realize it was in his own best interests to work with us. But no. We couldn't seem to get him to realize that if we failed, he would cease to exist along with the rest of us. Instead, we ended up in fiery arguments and a couple of outright clashes. Soth couldn't seem to get past petty things like when Navien mentioned that he'd killed Soth once. While we were trying to tell Soth that the world was hanging in the balance, all he cared about was arguing that he'd never lost to us. The only thing I can remember of any value that came out of the conversation was when Soth mentioned that he'd known all along that the cloaked man was Mondain. I did an eye roll. And, naturally, Soth has no desire to fight either Minax or Mondain. All he wants to do is get his revenge by killing Blackthorn. He doesn't even care if Mondain comes along and wipes him off the face of the planet afterward. What a bonehead. Oh, and he has the golden rock, if what he claims can be believed. So now of all things we're back to getting an Orb of the Moons, just so we can bargain with it to get the golden rock. I'd really hoped something more might have come from this. What a disappointment. [7/9/2003] This morning I was with Sygil, giving him some of the metal items I'd gathered for the Order Guards. Our plan was to have Tungstyn melt them down and re-forge them into weapons and armor. We took a trip to the Shadow Keep and were startled to come across Soth wearing nothing but a death robe. Soth told us he'd been killed by Hook. And Hook had looted all of his things. And then Soth had used the "Help" spell to teleport to Northwind, only nobody had told him that the location had changed to Skara Brae (now that Northwind doesn't exist anymore), and so he'd landed in the middle of town. And he'd gotten whacked by the guards. I was rather pleased with myself that I didn't fall over laughing, as much as I may have wanted to. In fact, neither Sygil nor I rubbed it in or poked fun at Soth. I'm actually not one to normally laugh at someone's misfortune, but just seeing Soth sulking in a death robe telling us this struck me as extremely funny, in a tragic sort of way. Here he'd spent so much time last night talking about how he never failed, and now he'd just been toasted by Hook. So Blackthorn has decided to eliminate Soth, has he? Rather wise of him, although pitifully belated. Soth mentioned that Hook had ambushed him with a surprise attack. "You know," he added, "it's almost as if that fool Blackthorn wants me to attack his castle. So I guess I will be a nice guy this one time and give him what he wants. A bloody war on the streets of Britain." We ended up in another argument about the weak versus the strong, although at least this time there were no spells being flung around. At one point, I remember him mentioning that one thing I didn't realize at the time was that only my blood would open the Black Gate. "And I'm not stupid," he added. "I have a bottle of it in safe keeping." "You're sick!" I scowled, disgusted. "You can't stop me if you tried," he commented. I let out an exasperated sigh. "You haven't figured it out yet? This isn't about stopping you anymore!" "Then why challenge me? You say you admit defeat?" "Defeat to what? We're fighting Mondain now." "I don't see you fighting anyone." "And what are you doing?" Sygil countered. "I am gathering an undead army. The likes of which this world has never seen." "Send them after Minax then," I grumbled. "I don't want to fight Minax," Soth reminded us. "She is the love of the cloaked man. And that would be begging for death." "Of Mondain. Just say his name," I grumbled in irritation, then shrugged. "And anyway, we have to take her out first, or she will just twist time again." "She can't," Soth said simply. We both raised our eyebrows at him, so he went on, "Every time she uses the silver gates, she creates another black void golem. And she can't fight them. They get larger every time. She has to fear them." Well, now, this was interesting. For one thing, it suddenly dawned on me that perhaps we could just disable Minax's time gates, rather than fight her head on. Without her gates, she wouldn't be as much of an issue. And also, if she truly can't control the black void golems, we could try to use that against her. It would also explain why Blackthorn had commanded us to get the Tome of Stars from one such golem... "I still think though that we have to at least get rid of the time gates first," I mused. "Before trying to go after Mondain." "I just can't believe this," Soth commented. "You fools are marching to defeat." "No. If we were doing that, then we'd have left already, like you keep saying," I grinned at him. "We plan ahead. We don't just jump into hot water without at least looking first." Soth crossed his arms. "Well, I hate to burst your bubbles, but you're forgetting one thing. The cloaked man fears only one--and he is already dead." "The Avatar?" Sygil and I asked in unison. "Of course the Avatar, idiots." Sygil and I glanced at each other. "Well, then, we will give him something new to fear." I gave him a meaningful smile and couldn't resist adding, "How else did you open the Black Gate, Soth?" "What do you mean? I used your blood and the five stones." And something else. He was leaving out the names of the Shadowlords. Probably he was trying to withhold that little bit of information for himself. After a moment's thought I decided not to call him on it. "So Blackthorn never told you..." I murmured thoughtfully. Sygil had caught on immediately. "What is it about the stones and blood?" he hinted to Soth. Soth looked from Sygil to me and back. "Do you know something special?" "Never mind," I stated suddenly. If Soth didn't know, I wasn't about to tell him. Although I can't imagine why Blackthorn never informed him, or Soth never bothered to ask. Actually, come to think of it, I guess Blackthorn himself didn't know, until Mondain told him just a few days ago. But I had always assumed Dupré had told him. Maybe he'd never believed him? And anyway, how would Blackthorn know to specify my blood for the opening of the Gate? It's confusing. Sygil, respecting my wishes, dropped the subject. Soth waited a beat, then apparently decided we weren't going to say any more. So he shrugged. "Well anyway, I have a fight to prepare for. And people to kill." I scowled at him. "You better not be thinking of killing any innocents." He just grinned at me. I hate it when he grins like that. Finally he relented. "I will be very nice to innocents, okay?" "Good," I said. Soth's smile widened. "I will be very nice to kill them and raise them to my army--my army that will be victorious." I glared. "Then we will get in your way. Just a friendly warning." He didn't seem overly concerned, of course. "So will meet again soon I am sure." And he Recalled away. Sygil and I sighed. (A page has been torn from the journal at this point.) [7/13/2003] Okay, let's try this again. Writing it all down was probably good for me. An outlet for fury that harms no one. However, I'd rather that it never be read, even by myself. I'm feeling much less emotional now after a good night's rest. I think this version of the recounting is going to be a lot shorter than the one I tore up, but that will probably be all for the better. The less I write, the less likely I will be to rant and write things I don't really mean. In all honesty, I suppose we are all partially to blame. Soth and Andrella were going to do an "honor dual" since Soth wasn't wanting to discuss things civilly with us otherwise. Balinor made us a moongate to the Duel Pits, except he didn't tell any of us that the gate actually led to the Britain bank. We all stepped through and Soth was killed on sight by the guards, of course. And as we left Britain and returned to the Keep, Soth was there waiting for us. He killed each of us as we came out of the gate and looted us of anything of significance that we were carrying--including Andrella's katana of life drain. But I think what really got to me was when Soth accused all of us of being untrustworthy because we had "lied" and "deceived him" by leading him into guard territory. The problem being, none of us knew what was going on except for Balinor, and I don't even know if he planned it. It could have just been an innocent mistake. Not that Soth will listen to reason. So, needless to say, Soth has become such an even greater annoyance that I think he's just moved to the top of our "kill on sight" lists. I can't believe I ever thought there was anything of redeeming value in him. We're going to have to deal with him just like Blackthorn, Minax, and Mondain. So be it. [7/15/2003] Today, Andrella and I were assisting Balinor in retrieving some of his items from Shame when suddenly a haunting voice sounded through my mind's ear. "It's been a long time Avatar..." I skidded to a halt immediately and looked around. I was alone at the time, dodging Earth Elementals on my way through to the others. No one was around who could have spoken. Not physically, anyway. I had a sick feeling I knew who it was. "I hope you enjoyed your short-lived victory Avatar," the voice whispered tauntingly. "I will be waiting for you." And it laughed. I growled a little and moved on. Later, once we were clear of Shame, I asked Andrella if she would back me up as I went back to the Yew Crypts to check the pentagram. The gargoyles still roam around that area, but the two of us were able to make our way to the room which had once held the Black Gate. There was nothing suspicious that we could see. We returned to the Shadow Keep and I told her about the voice. "This happened once before, when the Guardian would speak to me," I explained. "My companions all thought I was crazy at first." I chuckled a little. We decided it must be the Guardian, because there wasn't really anyone else who seemed likely to be doing it. "But does that mean he is getting closer to returning?" I mused. I could have sworn that the Guardian required some sort of conduit to speak to people on another world. Like the Cube. Hmm, perhaps we should be searching for a giant cube.2 But then again, things are so different here, anything could be possible. Andrella and I were discussing this when Soth wandered up. "Oh great," I grumbled in irritation. Andrella simply attacked him on the spot. "Wait," he protested, but not soon enough to prevent himself from being felled. Andrella checked his body quickly before he was able to raise himself, but didn't find her katana of life drain. "Where's my sword!?" she demanded as he returned to life. "Forget your sword," he grumbled. "I'm just here to give you a message for Blackthorn." "Why should we do anything for you?" Andrella shot back. "Just tell him he's dead." "This is the only message I have for you," Andrella countered, and attacked him again. When she brought him down a second time, she demanded again, "Give me my sword!" Soth raised himself again and glared. "Okay, I see how you are," he spit out, and turned to leave. "You are a target now Soth," she warned him. Soth responded by paralyzing her and escaping. I walked over to Andrella. "I would have helped, but you were doing fine on your own," I chuckled. Andrella sheathed her replacement sword. "He makes me sick." I agreed wholeheartedly. [7/17/2003]  Today Caton came to collect the first batch of supplies we have been gathering for the Order guards. He also brought gifts for us as the guards' way of saying thanks. They were cloaks embossed with the silver serpent and imbued with magic. They will be good replacements for our RBW cloaks, which lost their power when Northwind was erased."Yes, help the Order," the haunting voice laughed suddenly. "I am sure British will be pleased." I wanted to shout out loud and demand to know if Lord British had been harmed. But I gritted my teeth and remained silent. Later we decided to check up on Soth's lair. We had earlier discovered that he has established some moongates in the center of the Hedge Maze, one which leads to the Shadow Keep, and another to the Twisted Tunnels. Inside the Tunnels we discovered he had once again gated and barred off the vast majority of the space, preventing access. But that's not all. Behind one fence was his golden rock! We bashed on the barrier, but we weren't able to get through it. I guess we'll have to find a key, somehow. Also, Soth has been gathering his undead army beyond another gate. We yelled to him and managed to get his attention. But he wouldn't come through the gate to challenge us. While Andrella was trying to convince him to come out, a banshee ghost wandered through the bars as if they weren't there and attacked us. We finished it off, and Soth protested immediately. "Stop that!" "It attacked first," Andrella pointed out, which was perfectly true. But I was feeling reckless and impulsive. "Make us," I demanded airily. As I expected, Soth focused on my statement rather than Andrella's. He turned slowly to look at me. "Did I just a hear a challenge from a whelp?" "Yeppers," I responded, more Earth dialect coming through. It's funny, it comes and goes. "You are the one hiding back there." "Oh, is that so?" he returned with narrowed eyes. "Rel Por."3 He reappeared behind me, but I heard the sound of his teleportation and immediately whirled. My bow was already in my hand and I shot the first arrow almost before I was turned facing him. My companions joined in attacking him, and Soth didn't have a chance. "Loot him!" Andrella urged when he went down. Soth raised himself and quickly plunged through the moongate that leads out of the Tunnels and back to his lair in the Hedge Maze. We chased him through, then chased him around his lair for a bit, killing him a couple of more times. "We can do this all day," I told him after one of those times, "or you can give her the sword." Finally he managed to circle back around to the moongate that leads to the Twisted Tunnels. And though we continued the chase, he made it back to the fence and teleported back to the other side, to safety. We gathered on the other side of the fence, unable to duplicate his teleportation because of magical barriers that affect only us. Soth scowled at us. "You see how it is," I smirked. Andrella went through the items she'd managed to grab off Soth's body during the times that he was down. "Hmm, I believe this chain tunic belonged to Sygil. I'll be keeping that." Soth had himself wrapped in a tattered cloak. Andrella had taken his shiny black Krynn cloak already, and was wearing it to spite him. "This is ridiculous. You took my pants." And most of the rest of his clothing, as it turned out. "Yup, the same way you 'earned' our things," she returned. I grinned. "So come on out here and let us earn some more." "Idiots," he growled. "You know, after I get this army together, the first thing I will take down is you!" "We'll take you down, you mean," I snickered. "Over, and over, and over..." "You wish," he spat. "Just wait until you are facing an army of wights." Andrella put on a bored expression. "Bah. Thanks for the clothes there, bud." "Idiots!" he yelled with more heat. "Get out of here!" "Of all the things to grab, Andrella..." I giggled. We tried to offer to trade Soth his things for ours, but that ended up not working out. Soth is so stubborn sometimes. So we took his things back with us and divided them among us. I have my original sack of reagents back, and my bag of holding that he'd taken from me earlier (luckily he was carrying those on him; he has stashed most of our items away in his lair where we can't get to them). I also have a few miscellaneous things such as his war hammer and such. I'm keeping them tucked away in case he does decide he wants to trade for them after all. I hate to say it, but that encounter left me in better spirits than the one a few nights ago. Even so, we will need to break into the Twisted Tunnels somehow and stop Soth's undead army before he can unleash them. One more thing to add to the pile of tasks... [7/23/2003]  We have learned that Soth believes that Shamino possesses an Orb of the Moons. Soth plans to somehow gain audience with Shalilissta and free Shamino. Soth taunted us that he would then kill Shamino and take the Orb.So we have decided that we must get there first. To that end, we worked on meeting up with Goarla, who is the new King Beast. As King Beast, he has the ability to get us an audience with Shalilissta. We finally found him at the Cove orc fort, after Balinor and others had mentioned that they'd seen him there. Goarla wouldn't speak with us unless we were fighting his minions, so we had to battle a slew of orcs just that night. "Speak while fighting!" he would say, but I guess the good side is, Goarla didn't join the battle himself, so at least we didn't have to worry about accidentally killing him. Goarla mentioned that he was attacking cities and killing people with the intent of getting us to give him the rocks to put an end to it. So, Blackthorn had told him more than I had thought. From what Goarla said, we learned that the Order guards are now sufficiently equipped to quickly halt the orc raids, which was putting quite a crimp on Goarla's plans, and he wasn't terribly happy about it. But it was Andrella who hit the bulls-eye. Once we realized that all Goarla cared about was battle, she threatened to simply stop fighting. I joined in that idea by putting away my sword, and using only my shield to parry attacks from the orcs around us. "You would stop fighting?" he stared. "No more raids on our forts? Then who would we fight?" "Exactly," Andrella responded. "Life would be dull," I chimed in. "You either help us or we won't fight," Andrella stated baldly. I agreed. "Starting now if need be." She and I exchanged glances and hoped this wouldn't backfire. Goarla considered that. "We would be nothing if not for the fighting." He paced a bit, and finally came to a decision. "I will help you get to the spider queen." As before, the spider queen was the one that would ultimately be able to get us an audience with Shalilissta. "But first I will want 100 orc masks to prove you fight!" "Reganade masks?" I asked, thinking of Blackthorn. "Any orc masks," he responded. "But only new ones! Still wet with blood!" Personally, I found it odd that he would want us to slaughter his own race. But, if that's the only way he will agree, it's what we will have to do. We got about 30 orc helms just that night. It shouldn't be too difficult to gather the rest in the two days that Goarla gave us. We will meet him at the Reganade Fort soon enough...and, with any luck, Shamino will soon be free... [7/25/2003]  Tonight we went to the Twisted Tunnels to eliminate the undead army that Soth has been building. We needed to do so to prevent him from using them to kill innocents on his way to Blackthorn...and also to slow him down from going to Shalilissta. Because if Soth gets to her first and manages to free Shamino, he will kill him. And we must prevent that.We didn't even have to break down the fence, however; Soth meet us and opened the door of his own accord, probably with the intent to be our demise. This made me a little wary at first, because the last time he had done this, it had led to the opening of the Black Gate. Luckily, this particular night came out more or less in our favor. Soth himself had gained quite a bit of power since our last meeting; I don't know what enchantment he had active, but our weapons could barely touch him. We ignored him at first and went after his undead minions instead--very much irritating Soth in the process. It became quite obvious that he had wanted us to attack him directly. Perhaps he thought that, with the rest of his undead forces backing him, he could finish us all. I'm not sure, exactly. But we managed to keep him at bay until we had destroyed every last one of his minions in the place. Then at last we turned our attention to Soth. Our weapons and spells still were not harming him, but some of us, including myself, still had ancient weapons. We drew them immediately and went after Soth. These seemed to have a much better effect, and Soth was forced to flee. He ran from us and finally managed to disappear again without even sounding a "Kal Ort Por," just as he had from Blackthorn's Felucca hideout. So Soth got away, but we have eliminated his army, severely slowing him down. And not only that, but after Soth fled, we trooped over to his lair. Andrella, Sygil, and Balinor worked together to break down the gates there, and we were able to retrieve nearly all of the items that Soth had stolen from us and stashed there. I have my staff of resurrection and life, my armor and other items, and most important of all, Andrella has her sword of life drain back. So the night ended on a good note indeed. [7/26/2003] I spent most of the day hunting for more orc masks for Goarla. While I was in Orc Valley, the Guardian spoke up out of nowhere, as he does, to inform me that Lord British was being tormented. "You should hear the pleas for help, Avatar!" he laughed. My blood nearly broiled. I'm sure the Guardian is saying things like this for just that purpose. But it's infuriating nevertheless. Please, Lord British and everyone, just hang in there a little bit longer. I'm so sorry it's taking so long as it is... We gathered the required 100 helms at almost the last minute, but it was enough. We left for the Reganade fort in the Lost Lands as soon as possible. Goarla was there as promised, and after we did the obligatory wading through his orc brethren, we were able to exchange words with him. "There are something Shally says for me to say," he told us. "There is a step she gave as a present to see her. But it lasts only one time." His grammar is difficult to follow, but we figured out that he was telling us he had obtained a magic item from Shalilissta that would allow us to travel to her. "But she does not want anyone to talk to her," he warned us. "Only Keean can answer her." "Keean?" I repeated, then stopped cold. Goarla's orcish accent had made the name sound unfamiliar to my ears. But the instant I spoke the word myself, I suddenly understood what he was saying. We were briefly interrupted by the arrival of more orcs who wanted to battle. When they were done, Goarla returned his attention on us. "So Keean will answer Shally only?" he wanted to make sure. "If any more talk she wants me dead." "I will," I promised him. He eyed me in surprise. "You are Keean?" "Aye," I nodded. "I am Kianne." I repeated the name just to be sure we were both on the same page. He snorted. "Ugh, I was thinking he was a man! The Avatar my father fought was a man." That helped answer the question as to why Shalilissta had specified my name. We discussed a few more things; Goarla explained that we would each need to bring Shalilissta a gift. "I gave her much gold," he said. "Golden bars, she is liking them." Those things are worth 50,000 a piece. I may have to dig up a rare item instead. The conversation broke down again when Balinor said he was bored. Goarla immediately fetched some orc hunters from the Viabgor clan, and the night degenerated into mayhem. Finally we got disgusted and made a moongate back to the Shadow Keep. We had to gather our gifts for Shalilissta, so we would just have to postpone the meeting for another day. But to our surprise, Goarla followed us through the gate. He revealed that he had wanted to give us the magic item that would give us access to Shalilissta. It turned out to be a teleportation floor tile. "And there is no magic to cast in her lair," he added. "She said you all cannot ever cast a spell there, or I am dead." He was very nervous and worried that we would fail and bring about his own doom. We assured him that we would follow her rules. Finally, we made a gate for Goarla to return to his fort, and he left. We retired to the Keep to discuss these events and go over the rules that Goarla had outlined for us. That's when Andrella mentioned something interesting. "Shalilissta obviously just wants to talk to you," she told me. "So I think she has something to say." Something to say. So Shalilissta has agreed to this for her own reasons. This isn't about our desire to meet with her at all. Here we thought she was honoring our request to speak with her, and she's just granting us an audience because she wants to speak with us. How ironic. This also means that I'll have to think of some way to work in asking about Shamino. But since none of us has any idea what it is Shalilissta wishes to ask us, we will have to play it by ear. The problem is, the honor and integrity of all of us are on the line here. I've never really had to deal with such a diplomatic issue before. Oh, I've had my share of touchy encounters with leaders, such as Draxinusom of the Gargoyles, but generally, all of those times I was speaking only for myself. Now I will be representing all of the others as well. And one slip could have horrible repercussions. I pray that I will possess the wisdom I will need. 1 Hook was once a member of the Fellowship, a willing lackey for the Guardian, and a master assassin. He earned his name from the fact that one of his hands is missing, replaced with a hook. 2 The Guardian once used a giant Cube made of blackrock as a conduit to allow his mental voice to reach his cultists. 3 "Rel Por" are the Words of Power for the spell Teleport, which transports the caster to a location within his sight range.
| |||||||||||
| HomeFeaturesReferenceUltima LoreJournalJuno & RoyShadowDance | |||||||||||
