Kianne's Journal - Archive

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[9/1/2003]

We had offered to take Sami to Cove to see the Shadow Keeper, so today was the day we had scheduled. We met at the Lycaeum as usual. Sami was cute, she'd packed bread and cheese, a walking stick, and even a leather cap.

Of course, it wasn't a long journey, since I'd brought a rune marked for Cove. But I had marked it a bit of a distance from the Shadow Keeper, so we did have a short way through the town to walk. Sami enjoyed looking at the mountains and other things that she doesn't get to see often, since she rarely leaves the Lycaeum.

At the house of the Shadow Keeper, up on the cliff, Sami bulked outside the doorway for a few moments, nervous. Andrella and I coaxed her inside and up to the Shadow Keeper. He looks like a wraith, so I don't blame her for being nervous. The Keeper remained still and mostly silent, gazing off as if into nothing.

Sami finally gathered the courage to speak to him, although he didn't appear to be listening until she asked about the shadow quest. At that point, he suddenly looked at her and gave her the first Wand of Shadows, telling her to return all seven for her ethereal mount. It was the same basic thing he'd said to me, and probably everyone who had come for the quest. Sami looked astonished, then thanked him and we left.

So she now has a wand of her own. Andrella and I privately discussed trying to gather the rest for her to get her an ethereal mount. It would take some doing though, and unfortunately with everything else going on, I'm not sure we will get the chance for quite a while. But if we can, we will.

Also, Sami has given me a gem of entrapment from her father. She's asked me to trap a Shadow Guardian for her if possible, also for her thesis. We're a little bit worried that the guardian might be freed accidentally and wreck havoc on the Lycaeum. I don't know enough about the gems to know whether things trapped within can be freed at all, on accident or otherwise. I have a gem of entrapment, but I haven't tried using it yet--I haven't settled on what to use it on.

So I decided I would take both gems with me. I'd trap the Shadow Guardian in one, then try to free it. If successful, at least we would know how it works. Then I'd trap it again using the other gem if necessary (I'm not sure if the gems can be reused).

Andrella suggested the lava guardian, as that seems to be the easiest to get to. Perhaps when we have a few people, we will give it a try. Although there are still two shrines to do, and I don't know yet how we will get the runes...

---

[9/7/2003]

Andrella and I got together tonight with some free time on our hands. We debated for a moment trying to do Hythloth or the Abyss with just the two of us, but finally discarded the idea. I don't know for sure what those dungeons are like now, but chances are I still would not want to enter one with only two people.

So instead we decided to try to get that Shadow Guardian for Sami. We went to Deceit first, where the volcanic guardian patrols. We had agreed to get the wand from it for Sami, so that would mean defeating it once first. I took out my Water sword and decided to try to melee it. "Hit and run only though," Andrella warned me. "He hits hard."

We went in together, riding our ethereal mounts and slashing at the Shadow Guardian while always on the move. I wasn't quite fast enough, though, because it managed to get its massive red arm down across the back of my neck. I saw stars and fell comatose to the ground.

"Okay, so that didn't work," I chuckled when Andrella got me back on my feet and we'd retreated briefly to regroup.

This time, she went in with her ancient katana while I fired from a distance with my bow. Every time the lava guardian tried to approach me, I would run around it and keep firing. Andrella knocked off chunks from the magical beast with her katana, and relatively quickly it went down for the count.

I quickly picked up the Wand of Shadows and tucked it away so that it would be safe. Then I noticed that the Shadow Guardian had been carrying a red pouch, so I grabbed that as well. Andrella and I retreated to a safe corner where I pulled open the pouch curiously...and blinked in stunned surprise.

"What is it?" Andrella asked me.

"It's a cloak of invisibility," I laughed, almost falling off my ethereal mount. "And it's not tuity-fruity." I giggled uncontrollably at the sheer irony.

We waited a little while for the volcanic guardian to return (they are magical entities that regenerate, probably designed that way by the Shadow Keeper for the quest). But it was taking too long, so we went back to the Shadow Keep to peruse the other Shadow Guardians.

"Did you want this cloak?" I asked Andrella in passing. After all, I already have one, although it is getting low in charges, so I have been saving it for critical times.

"No way, I'm not spy," Andrella snickered.

"I never was either. You need to broaden your horizons," I teased her.

I stashed the wand and the new cloak into my bank box where they would be safe. Then we went to the runebook with the Shadow Guardian locations marked.

Andrella and I spent a little bit of time discussing our options, wondering which one would be the easiest to reach. The difficulty of the guardian didn't matter for this, since our aim now was to trap one rather than defeat it. However, the guardians are all surrounded by other monsters, so the challenge is in reaching them.

Finally we picked the Ice Fiend guardian. I exchanged my Water sword for my new Fire one, and we headed out.

There were Ice-based daemons wandering around of multiple types, so finally I ran on ahead and hid in a niche in the wall, watching and waiting while Andrella provided a bit of distraction for the fiends behind me. We knew basically where the Shadow Guardian tended to haunt. I just needed to get it in my sights...

Finally it came around a corner. It was massive. But I didn't hesitate. I snatched up the gem and spoke the spell that I had seen Cloud use against Lilith. "Val Ex Cor El Tri Ka!"

The gem burst into fiery color, light swirling like a furious fog around the Shadow Guardian. The beast had only enough time to make an aborted growl of anger before it was overcome. I forced myself to stand still, arms outstretched holding the gem, while the cloud of light was sucked into the gem like a hissing wind. And then it was over. The gem faintly glowed serenely, and within I could see the form of the Shadow Guardian, trapped and powerless.

"Got it!" I sent in a thought to Andrella, and quickly Recalled before something could happen that would make me lose the gem.

Andrella met me back at the Keep, and together we examined the gem. "Now to try freeing it," I said, and she Gated us to a safe location where there were no people and nothing but dead trees that could possibly be harmed.

I did my best to open the gem, trying to free the Shadow Guardian, just to see if I could. But the gem's magic seemed firmly sealed, and nothing I did had any effect.

"Great," Andrella smiled. "Then no one will be able to free it at the Lycaeum either."

I nodded and grinned at her. "We did it. And I still have my gem left."

If only I could decide what to use it on...

---

[9/12/2003]

Andrella and I finally found Sami at the Lycaeum today to give her the gem of entrapment. She was thrilled and asked us all about the fiend and its lair and such. I'm glad we were able to help her with her thesis. She's sure she'll get a good grade now.

On another note, our main quest took a rather ironic turn. Someone actually managed to mark a rune to the shrine of Humility in the Fire Dungeon. So even though we'd been saving the Abyss for last, we decided to go ahead and do that one now since we would able to Gate Travel straight to the shrine. I took the stone out of the bank before we left and carried it with me.

There were no evil creatures to pounce on us as we stepped out of the Gate, but those that had accompanied me spread out into a semi-circle anyway to stand guard. I stood before the ebony shrine and mediated.

"Welcome Avatar," came the expected mind voice of the shrine. "Being humble; all preach, rarely practice. Your head is low because you of all you have lost."

I remember noting silently how accurate that statement was.

You have done well in humility, not a thing many will do. Sometimes you have to lose on purpose in order to win."

Lose on purpose? My mind focused on those words. Was the shrine referring to a specific event, or was it speaking in the abstract? Have we lost on purpose? Well, there was that trap of Soth's that I'd stupidly walked into, but was that for a greater good?

"You are a humble Avatar."

The Stone of Humility began to glow, an odd black light that was almost unnoticeable. As with the Virtue of Sacrifice, there was no quest for us to perform.

I turned to the others to show them the glow, still deep in thought. Someone made a gate--I don't even remember who--and we left the Abyss before anything could go wrong.

"Oh Avatar," the haunting voice laughed. "Every day you get closer to me..."

"The Guardian is back," I grumbled to Andrella. I hadn't heard from him in quite a few days. It had been a nice reprieve.

"Do not be worried. I have waited an eternity for you..."

The voice's dark laughter faded away into silence.

---

[9/13/2003]

Today was the final stone. We would go through Hythloth, for the Virtue of Spirituality.

We gathered together our little band of adventurers and set out. This trip was much like some of the other dungeons, for Hythloth quickly becomes extremely dangerous on lower levels. Andrella told the others to guard me and scouted ahead frequently as we worked our way downward. I gave her my ring of invisibility to speed her travels. If we had tried to fight every denizen of this place, we would have been here for weeks. But our goal was more specific than that, so we fought only those which stood directly in our way, and avoided the rest.

We finally discovered the shrine in a small room, surrounded by metal gating. However we could stand before the fence and look beyond to see the ankh quite easily. "This worked before," I chuckled to the others, and took out the Stone of Spirituality. They stood guard to either side, giving me room to pass, and I positioned myself in front of the gate that was directly in front of the shrine.

Holding the stone, I spoke the mantra of Spirituality and meditated. After a moment Andrella's voice came to my ears: "The walls vanished!"

I opened my eyes and saw that two openings had appeared in the walls on either side of the room. Both led to the blocked-off space in which the ankh stood. The gate in front of me hadn't moved.

I walked around the wall through one of the new openings and stood before the shrine. Closing my eyes again, I meditated a second time.

"Welcome Avatar," spoke the shrine. "You have brought the nature of the spirit to these realms. Not tangible material. The spirit of the flame is the life blood of the realm. This is what your quest is all about. Not houses, wealth, or weapons of power."

As usual with meditation, I felt myself drifting in the words of the shrine, having lost all track of my physical surroundings.

"You have proved noble in your pursuits. You are a spiritual Avatar."

Brought back to the present, I looked down, and sure enough, the Stone of Spirituality was glowing a pure white. I did my traditional bow to the shrine, then turned toward the others.

The Virtues had been restored. I felt a renewed sense of excitement. We were closer now than ever before. All eight dungeons were complete and behind us. Soon, we would be able to free Shamino...

We left Hythloth, and my mind was still racing even after we arrived safely at the Keep. I opened my bank box and replaced the Stone of Spirituality, checking each of the others as well. The circle of glowing stones made a beautiful rainbow in the bag.

Now, we just need to get the runes.

A few days ago, Andrella had told me that she had an idea about that. She had mentioned that the townspeople have begun to talk about the Avatar returning. It's encouraging them, and they are less inclined now to listen blindly to Blackthorn's words. Therefore, Andrella mused, Blackthorn would be unable to do anything against us in public, because with witnesses word would spread and then he would be in trouble.

So, she summarized, the trick would be to request the runes from Blackthorn in a public place. With all those citizens around watching, he would have to be on his best behavior.

We decided to ask Blackthorn to accompany us to the Avatar Museum, where the runes currently are on display. We would only make our request to him there. We will see whether he will give us the runes.

Andrella and I decided on a time for tomorrow, and we were committed.

---

[9/14/2003]

I met with Andrella and we discussed our plan briefly before heading out. She thought it would be safe to tell Blackthorn why we want the runes (that we are restoring the Virtues), but she suggested that I avoid claiming to be the Avatar.

"What if he asks?" I chuckled.

"Turn it around on him," Andrella proposed. "Say 'Do you think I am the Avatar?'"

I laughed at just the imagery of what sort of response that would invoke.

We Gated to the streets of Britain. As neither of us had a rune marked to the museum, we decided to walk there and make one first. We reached the museum and I wandered in to check on the runes. They were all here. The tiles on the floor representing each of the eight Virtues had been colored since my last visit. They were almost luminescent, like colored glass lit from within. I liked it.

I marked a rune just outside the museum, and we walked to Lord British's castle in search for Blackthorn.

As we crossed the drawbridge, we noticed a shiny new golden sign outside one of the rooms in the outer wall. "The Royal Tax Collection Office" it read. What was this? This hadn't been here the last time I'd visited.

Curious, we diverted and wandered inside the room. Shelves were filled with volumes about the tax laws. A particularly thick book rested on the table next to a box for tax collections.

Andrella took a cursory look at the shelves while I idly flipped through the book on the table. There were dozens of rules and enough taxes to make the head spin. Income taxes, property taxes, luxury taxes, death taxes... So many laws it was impossible to even begin to sort out exactly what taxes one might owe.

I caught Andrella's gaze, and we both sighed and shook our heads and resumed our search for Blackthorn.

He was in the throne room this time, napping on the throne. We cleared our throats and said "Greetings" to him until he awoke from his dozing.

Blackthorn blinked at us. "Where is Navien?" was the first thing he asked.

I guess I forgot to mention that Soth had offered to free Navien for us. He said he'd do it to make the score even. After all, Navien was the catalyst for Blackthorn freeing Soth earlier. Soth doesn't believe Navien really freed him, but he says at least this way Navien can't say they aren't even.

We were dubious of Soth's methods, afraid he'd send an army of undead to the Yew Jail to kill everyone and break down the cell doors. So we didn't take him up on the offer for a while. But eventually we realized Soth was our only option. We discussed the matter with Navien and asked him if he was all right with the idea of Soth freeing him, no matter what that would entail. He said he was.

So finally we went to Soth and told him Navien had accepted his offer. We had set up all the forces we could muster around the Yew Jail to protect the guards against whatever Soth might do. But the outcome was surprising. Soth sent a moongate into Navien's jail cell, and when Navien jumped through, he ended up outside Shadow Keep. That was it. No mess, no death.

So anyway, Navien is freed and we told him to keep himself hidden this time. I don't know if he will manage to or not--he seems to be lacking a little in common sense--but at least he has thus far.

Andrella and I told Blackthorn quite truthfully that we had no idea where Navien was. Because we didn't, at that moment. We knew he was out of jail, but that was all.

"Kind of hard to lose him in jail, isn't it?" I couldn't help but quip.

"He's not in the jail," Blackthorn grumbled through gritted teeth. "I am very busy looking for him now..."

He sure looked busy to me. "May we take a moment of your time?" I asked him politely.

"You already have," he pointed out.

I wasn't about to start an argument. "All right, a few more moments then. Care to come with us to the Avatar Museum? We have something we need to ask."

Blackthorn looked curious. "Oh? Like how our Avatar was so wonderful!? I can tell you all about our Avatar. How great he was."

I was getting the distinct impression that Blackthorn wasn't very happy with me.

"I would love to hear about him," I responded with a pleasant smile. I made no comment on his use of the past tense.

Andrella nodded in agreement. "The history of the Avatar would be nice."

Blackthorn broke into a sly grin. "Oh?" He stood up. "Well then, let us stop by the museum. So you can see all the Virtues he represents." He paused to tell the guards by the throne that he would be gone for a few minutes, and walked down the stairs to us.

I just barely was able to keep a grin from my face. Goal one, complete. That was easy!

I told Blackthorn that I had a rune marked, and he instructed me to give it to him. "I will Gate," he said. "Your power is not near mine. I can cast spells even in this blocked area."

Again, I just nodded and refused to comment. I handed him the rune, and he snatched it up, then opened his spellbook.

"Kal Ort Por!" he chanted with a flair, and vanished.

"Um..." Andrella started.

I waited, but he didn't return. "He used Recall," Andrella noted.

I nodded. "Aye, he did."

Andrella sighed. "Well, let's go meet him there."

We hopped on our ethereal mounts and rode through the streets of Britain to the Avatar Museum. You'd think if Blackthorn was really so busy, he wouldn't have wanted to waste time waiting for us. Oh well. At least he was there when we arrived.

"Glad to see you made it," Blackthorn said sarcastically by way of greeting.

"I'm glad I gave you the right rune," I returned easily.

Andrella snickered.

Blackthorn wandered idly into the museum, ignoring my retort as something else captured his attention instead. "What's this? All the tiles are colored?"

"Yes, sire," Isaac, the head priest, responded to him. "The Virtues have been restored."

I blinked in surprise. I didn't know it would have that effect. Wow!

"What!?" Blackthorn let out.

"Indeed," Isaac nodded. "We are all pleased."

Andrella and I grinned happily. Blackthorn looked less than amused, but managed to keep his voice even this time. "How is that so?"

"The Avatar must have returned, sire," Isaac told him.

"You...don't say..." Blackthorn practically growled, then took a breath. "Well," he tacked on before anyone could respond, and turned about to face us. "There, you see? We don't need you. Our Avatar has come back."

"Actually..." Andrella responded, and I chimed in, "We would like to request the Runes of Virtue."

"What? No way," Blackthorn retorted flat out. "Only the Avatar gets to use them."

"We would like to restore them," I told Blackthorn. "But we need the runes to do that."

Isaac was gazing at me with a suspicious look in his eyes. Blackthorn shook his head again.

"Nope," he refused. "You stole the stones and never brought them back."

I couldn't let that pass. "We did not steal them, we recovered them," I corrected him.

"The stones?" Isaac echoed, looking from us to Blackthorn and back. "You have them?"

"Be quiet," Blackthorn snapped.

Isaac apologized and stepped away, but I wasn't about to ignore his question. "Aye, we have the stones."

"Bring them back to me," Blackthorn demanded. "I will put them here for all to see."

"Afterward, we may do that," I agreed readily. "But first we need the runes if we are to finish restoring the Virtues."

Isaac couldn't resist stepping in again at that point. "If you have the stones, mayhap we could lay our eyes on them?" he asked hopefully. "If the Virtues are restored, they will glow..."

"Aye, they do," I nodded, and pulled out my bag of holding. I reached into the bank box where the stones were kept safe and took out the bag containing them, spilling the moonstones into my hands.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Blackthorn clenching his fists at his side. It's my bet he wanted nothing more than to put a stop to all of this, but he couldn't because he was in a public place. Andrella had been bang on target.

Isaac stepped even closer to gaze at the stones in awe as I held them up. "They are glowing!" he praised. Blackthorn smiled a toothy smile, but it looked forced.

"So you see," I stated calmly, all the while keeping an eye open just in case Blackthorn tried to somehow steal away the stones from my hands. I'm sure Andrella was doing the same. "We would like to restore the runes."

"It is in the best interest of the land," Andrella contributed, and aimed a sly grin at Blackthorn. "I'm sure you understand."

Isaac seemed excited. "Come," he said suddenly, and walked toward an ankh which was positioned amongst the colored floor tiles. "Take the stones and hold them to the shrine."

I walked over to stand before the ankh and held out my cupped hands before it like an offering, the stones glowing in my palms.

After a moment, the shrine spoke in that same singsong mental voice as the ones in the dungeons. "Welcome Kianne Cassidy, Avatar of the Shadowland." And the ankh began to glow a deep golden amber.

The room exploded instantly. "It's true!" a priest standing nearby gasped. "Kianne Cassidy is the Avatar!"

"Kianne Cassidy is the Avatar of legend!" another priest chimed in.

"Hail to thee, Avatar! Hail to thee, Kianne Cassidy!"

"Let it be known! Kianne Cassidy is the Avatar! The Virtues are restored!"

"Hail to thee, Avatar!"

They were standing before us, mingling in a semi-circle, filled with excitement. Isaac turned from the ankh and beamed at me. "Hail to thee!"

I was nearly overcome. I looked from face to face and smiled deeply. "Thank you, everyone..."

My peripheral vision picked up motion, and I turned in time to see Blackthorn fleeing the museum at a dead run.

Andrella raced after him, and after an apology to the priests, I quickly tucked the stones into their bag and followed her. She was checking all of the streets that branch away from the museum, but there was no sign of Blackthorn. Apparently, he had Recalled.

"Ugh," I sighed. Now what?

"Avatar!" Isaac called, following us out of the museum. "Come! We have waited long to meet thee!" He paused as he glanced at the street. "Where did his highness go?"

We shook our heads. "I don't know."

"Must be the call of the throne," Isaac mused. "He is very busy." Then he looked back at me. "You have come to restore the runes?"

I nodded. "Aye, we are going to restore the runes like the stones. But in order to do that, we need the runes."

"Lord Blackthorn will be pleased!" Isaac beamed. I wasn't too sure about that. But the priest went on without waiting for a response, "I cannot believe he is not here to grant them to you. But I will! Come."

I broke out into a grin. Wonderful!

We followed Isaac back inside to one of the two display cases holding the runes.

"Avatar, we are pleased you have returned," he said to me as he carefully unlocked the case.

"I am glad to be of service," I told him truthfully.

"We will let it be known!" Isaac grinned. "Kianne Cassidy, the Avatar!"

"Hail to thee, Avatar!" another priest called as she walked by.

I smiled. "The Virtues will soon be fully restored."

Isaac nodded, pleased, and then paused for a moment, glancing back at me. "Will you rescue our Lord British from the clutch of evil?"

My response was so heartfelt it came instantly. "Definitely! We are striving toward that with each day."

"Let it be known!" Isaac proclaimed. "Rejoice!"

He finished with the case and gently lifted the lid. "We have waited long to know you. The shrines have been restored. The colors have been returned."

I glanced out over the room. "It's beautiful," I agreed.

Isaac stepped back. "There, take them Avatar!"

I moved forward and looked down at the runes for a moment before lifting them gently from the velvet and tucking them carefully away into my pack. This was the easiest rune-gathering I had ever done.¹

Isaac walked over to the other case and repeated the process there. "There you are, Avatar."

"I thank thee," I told him from the heart as I retrieved the rest of the runes. I was falling back into the sort of half variant of Old English which was as close to Britannian dialect as I ever came.

Isaac continued to smile at me. "Everyone will be pleased to know you at last!"

I finished arranging the runes safely in my pack. "Thank you very much," I told him again. "We can complete the task now."

"I will inform his highness of this grand day!" the priest promised.

"It's true!" I heard another priest telling someone a short distance away. "Kianne Cassidy is the Avatar!"

"Hail to thee, Avatar," Isaac said again as a way of saying farewell. "Good luck on thy quest. May you walk the path of Virtues for eternity!"

I smiled at him, a wide, heartfelt smile. "Thank thee. Farewell, everyone. For now."

"Fare thee well, Avatar," the priests called as we left the museum.

I stopped outside on the street to take a breath and let it all sink in. What a reception. I smiled at Andrella, and she smiled back.

"Hail to thee, Avatar," greeted a Chaos guard who was patrolling the area.

Even the Chaos guards! Blackthorn is not going to like this.

We returned to my house so I could safely stash the runes and stones away without using another charge on my bag of holding. Right before leaving, I glanced again at the streets, wondering where Blackthorn had gone.

Andrella noticed the direction of my gaze. "I wouldn't talk to Blackthorn right now," she chuckled as we walked onto my porch. After all, Blackthorn wasn't terribly happy with me.

I couldn't help but giggle as I placed the stones and runes into my bank box. "I'm not sure if he was running scared, or angry, or what..." Whatever it was, he had sure left in a hurry.

Navien showed up, protected by Incognito at first, but we recognized him even before it wore off because he was wearing the same outfit he'd had on in jail. "Shall we go inside?" I asked, and tossed a smirk at Navien. "You're a tiny bit obvious."

We sat around my table and Navien told us he had met with Soth. "He told me to watch my back."

"Good advice," I chuckled.

"He has the power to be invisible whenever he pleases," Navien added.

I nodded. "Aye, he does." It was apparently a side effect to his incorporeal state. I had learned of it a day or two ago, when I'd encountered Soth at the Keep and had a few short words with him. He kept vanishing during the conversation, only to reappear standing right next to me. I always stepped away from him in disgust whenever he did that. It reminded me too much of the time when he'd been saying he wanted to be "close" to me...

We told Navien about our success in getting the runes. "I think Blackthorn freaked out," I giggled. "Because he turned around and ran away. But a priest there gave us the runes."

Andrella grinned. "Well, with everyone screaming 'Hail to thee, Avatar!' Blackthorn has no choice but believe it's true now."

I laughed. If Blackthorn hadn't believed Mondain, he either doesn't trust him as much as he appears to, or he was in serious denial.

Andrella added, "Seeing all of those priests saying that was amazing..."

I nodded and felt myself smiling almost in awe. "We are doing good here."

"Aye," she agreed. "Very."

---

[9/15/2003]

I went into town to buy some things today and overheard some people talk about the Avatar. "I've never met her," one citizen would comment, "but I heard her name is Kianne."

"I heard the Avatar has revived the Virtues!" another would say. And they'd be off.

Andrella met me at the Lycaeum. I was idly looking for Sami, since I was a little concerned that people might think she was lying to them about meeting me. "Did you notice?" Andrella smiled. "Everyone's talking about the Avatar."

I nodded with a wry smile. "I noticed."

She gave me a sly look, then walked over to a Chaos guard patrolling nearby. "Hey, have you heard about the Avatar?" she asked him.

"I heard the Avatar has a magical silver bow," he responded. "I bet she's a dead aim with it too!"

I almost laughed out loud. Andrella grinned at me, then walked up to another person and asked her the same thing. "I hear the Avatar's favorite color is purple!" the woman responded.

"Andrella, stop it, you're embarrassing me," I protested in a low tone.

Andrella grinned. "Word travels fast."

I shook my head and chuckled. It sure does.

---

[9/18/2003]

Well, now, this was interesting. Blackthorn issued a royal invitation for us to join him at the Royal Banquet Hall at the castle to celebrate the return of the Avatar with the Magincia Council. Given how he feels about me, he must have felt it necessary to do this to put on some sort of charade for the people. This, I thought, was going to be highly amusing. I wasn't terribly disappointed.

But before we left, I asked Andrella to meet me at my house. I'd been working on a small project today, and finally decided I had enough vials and I may as well give it to her. I stood holding the little bag and grimaced a little. She wasn't going to like this very much.

"So the Virtues are restored... Well done, Avatar!" the Guardian's voice laughed. "It will be all the better to destroy them now!"

I ignored him.

When Andrella came in, I greeted her and smiled a little but couldn't quite muster a cheerful countenance. "I have a request to make," I explained. I held out the bag I'd prepared. "The request is that you don't refuse to take this."

She blinked. "Hey, no fair! That's a trick!" She laughed and eyed the bag. "What is it?"

I waited until she reluctantly took it and opened it to look inside. "It's backup."

She went still as her eyes fell on the red vials. "Is that...what I think?"

I nodded. "If something happens to me," I told her in all seriousness, "Lord British must still be able to be saved."

I'd given her a small parchment where I'd written the names of the Shadowlords and the notes from Guthnor's journal regarding opening the Black Gate. And four vials of my own blood. It hadn't been easy collecting it, since I didn't have medical tools so I'd just made do with a dagger and a lot of effort. "I don't know if it's enough blood, actually..."

Andrella looked a little pained. "Don't say that! Nothing is going to happen to you!"

I smiled faintly. "I don't plan on it... But I'd rather not leave things to chance."

She finally tucked the bag away. "Well I guess I can't refuse a gift such as this." I gave her a grateful smile.

"The Guardian is talking about how much fun he'll have destroying the Virtues," I commented wryly.

"The Guardian... bah." Andrella shook her head. "He's full of hot air." And I laughed. "No matter what happens in the next few days," she continued, "we have accomplished a lot and Lord British will be freed. And the others too!"

I beamed at her. "I can't wait!"

We left then to meet the others at the Keep and head for Lord British's castle. We discovered the Council members already seated at the banquet table, waiting for us and talking amongst themselves excitedly.

Blackthorn stood when we walked in. "Well, hello." He nodded to all of us as we greeted him. Then he moved grandly around the corner of the table to the chair on one side at the end of the table, next to the end where his throne was positioned. "Kianne, I have a seat for you here."

I walked over and eyed the seat. It was worn and splinted and looked like it was going to fall apart any moment. And the plate on the table in front of the chair was scratched and dirty. Apparently, this was his idea of revenge. But what I couldn't believe was that he got away with it in front of the Council.

I wasn't about to make a scene, so I carefully sat down on the rickety chair, trying not to break it, and made no comment on the condition of the place setting. Blackthorn seated the others in places of his choosing, although he tried to tell Sygil he had no seat for him. I guess that's an improvement. Previously, Blackthorn had said Sygil was forbidden from entering his line of sight, so...

Andrella was seated next to me, and on her other side was Oakley. "Greetings, Barney," she grinned.

"What?" he growled, and glared at her.

We'd learned from Sami that Oakley's first name is Barney, but he hates it when anyone calls him that.

The food was served, and I noted with wry amusement that my lamb was so undercooked it was basically still raw. I still didn't want to protest, so I debated silently whether it was even safe to eat. Beyond the health issues of undercooked meat, I wouldn't have put it past Blackthorn to poison the food.

But then Andrella spoke up. "Excuse me, but serving raw food is against health regulations."

"Oh, it is raw!" Blackthorn gasped, as if he didn't know.

"Yes," Andrella said patiently. "Kianne and Sygil have been given raw food." I looked down the table to where Sygil was sitting near the other end, and sure enough, he'd been given undercooked food as well.

"My apologies." Blackthorn called the servants back and got us fresh servings. At least this one was cooked. I mostly nibbled on it.

Blackthorn dug into the large whole pig that was on a giant platter in front of him. "So, how are things Avatar?"

I smiled at him. "Getting better all the time. The Virtues are complete, and the Runes will be restored soon."

"Good to hear." Blackthorn waited while the servants poured wine, then lifted his mug. "Let us cheer to the Avatar."

"To the Avatar!" the others chimed in. I substituted, "To the land!"

We ate some more. Finally Blackthorn turned to me. "There are some issues I would like to bring up."

"Business?" Andrella commented. "Silly me. I thought this was for festivities."

Blackthorn gave her one of those sly smiles. "I understand you like to take lots of breaks and do not like to discuss real matters. So why don't you go get some tickets for the prize palace or something? The Avatar and I have things to discuss."

He's one to talk. I have something like 600 prize tickets to his 17,691.

"We will all listen," I broke in. "Go on, Blackthorn."

Blackthorn leaned back in his throne. "About the shrines..." He glanced around the table. He had everyone's attention. "I speak for all us when I say..." He took a breath. "Thank...you. And we wish you the best...of...luck. I know I will personally do...anything...to...help."

He paused to take another breath and smile grandly at the Council. Good thing too; I was beginning to think he was going to pass out from critical heart failure before he was able to force all of the words out.

I grinned at him, vastly amused. "Of course, you are all very welcome."

"But I must say," Blackthorn commented with much more ease, "it would be terrible if this were the last time I ever saw you alive." He smiled one of those hideous smiles.

I eyed him. "Now why would you say that?" The others in my group began to echo similar things. Curiously, the Council was mostly silent.

"The shrines and such might be dangerous I mean!" Blackthorn responded. News to me. The shrines are normally very peaceful. "You take great risks for all of us. I know you put your life on the line everyday." He shrugged. "I am just saying, it would be terrible if something really bad happened to her." He couldn't keep the sly smile off his face.

Blackthorn obviously has something planned, I thought. And he isn't terribly subtle about it. "Thank you for your concern," I told him out loud.

"Or lack thereof," Andrella snickered privately to me.

I finished, "But I have wonderful companions." I smiled around the table.

"Good to know." Blackthorn seemed amused. "Will all of them be joining you?"

"Perhaps," I said without committing to anything.

"It would indeed be terrible if something happened to the ruler of our land," Sygil spoke up wryly.

"Indeed!" Oakley agreed. "I have to add--the Avatar may be great, but I thank the stars for our fair king!"

Blackthorn beamed. Sygil held up his wine glass. "Indeed Oakley! And may we soon have him back in this land!"

I almost broke out into a fit of laughter. Andrella snickered. Oakley appeared to be confused.

"Oh, you meant Blackthorn," Sygil finished with a sarcastic grin. "My mistake."

Oakley looked affronted. "Of course I did!"

Sygil grinned. "I thought you were speaking of Lord British."

Blackthorn coughed and interrupted the little joke. "Of course I am doing everything for our Lord British."

"Everything?" Andrella echoed.

"I almost have the Tome of Stars." He smiled.

"You do?" we asked.

"I know you have been very busy decorating your houses and such," he told us sarcastically. "So while you have been busy, I have been working."

"Oh, I guess you have forgotten that we finished reviving all of the Virtues just recently," Andrella retorted sarcastically.

"Well, anyway," Blackthorn finished. "Do you remember how I asked for your help in getting the tome and all? Well, since you are so busy..." He made a dismissive gesture. "Don't worry about it. I will save Lord British alone."

He wouldn't save Lord British if he was standing in front of his prison door with the key in his hands.

"Oh, so you will be defeating Minax?" Andrella asked him pointedly.

He glanced at her. "Don't worry, I will do it. I will pick up your slack. I will save Lord British."

I stared at him. "We are almost there. Lord British will be freed, fear not."

Andrella nodded. "How can you sit there saying we have done nothing? We just revived the Virtues. We are making headway and now you want to say we haven't helped?"

"No, I am saying I will get the Tome myself," Blackthorn told us. "And I will free British with it."

I leaned my elbows on the table. "I thought it was to destroy Minax."

He ignored me. "So go do your thing. I will take care of things while you while you go retard Virtues. I mean, restore!" He laughed.

I gazed steadily at him. Uh huh.

Blackthorn smiled at me. "So Kianne. Enjoy your time as the Avatar." Under his breath, he muttered that it wouldn't last long.

So does he think I'm doing this for personal pleasure? "Don't worry, Blackthorn," I said cooly. "We will succeed." I put extra emphasis on the word 'we.'

He just nodded. "I wish you luck with the shrine quests. And hope you don't get..." He smiled slyly. "...stuck, on any of them."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, I'm sure we will manage."

"It might be dangerous," he reiterated. "But I know you are brave, and will look death in the eye."

I grinned. "And I'll bypass it."

"She has many times," Sygil pointed out.

Blackthorn clapped his hands and looked around the table, particularly at the Council members. "So, see? We have it all worked out. The Avatar and I will work together to free British and restore the Virtues!"

I felt my eyebrow climbing. "Aye, we will definitely free him." I picked up my wine glass. "To Lord British!" But I was out of wine.

Oakley lifted his own glass. "To King Blackthorn! And his hard work!" He glanced at the end of the table. "You are too humble, sire."

Sygil handed his napkin to Oakley and told him there was something brown on his nose.

Blackthorn finally stood. "So good luck Kianne, I hope to see you again!"

We all got to our feet to begin to make our way out of the room. We said farewell to the Council members, some of whom seemed sincere when they said it was good to see us. I guess they are all still scared of Blackthorn, which is a shame. Well, except for Oakley, of course, who was brown-nosing brazenly.

"Good evening, Barney!" Andrella called, and grinned.

"Farewell, all." I waved to everyone before I went through the door.

Behind me, Blackthorn muttered, "Goodbye Avatar...forever."

---

[9/19/2003]

I actually wasn't confident we would be able to do all of the shrines in one day. I had thought it would be relatively simple compared to the dungeons, but I wasn't sure if the shrines would give us quests as the underground ones had. Also, there was Blackthorn's thinly-veiled warning hanging over our heads--he clearly had something planned, which was certainly going to put a twist on things.

Soth appeared at the Keep as we were preparing to leave for the first shrine. "I came to warn you," he told us. "The shrines are under the control of Sin... And this is all your fault."

I think I forgot to mention that Soth has brought Larix Vageous back to life. Again. He's not in a spectre guise this time, but actual solid form. And, if what we are told can be believed, Vageous has brought back the Order of Sin.

"Our fault?" I echoed. "I thought you controlled Sin."

"Yeah, who brought Larix back?" Andrella chimed in. "Who brought Sin back?"

Soth ignored our questions. "I have been more than generous. Come with me now. I will take you to Minax and you can defeat her." He smirked, but it was without humor. "Or try..."

I blinked in surprise. "You will take us?" Before, he'd been insisted we go ourselves.

"Don't waste your time with the pathetic Virtues," Soth growled as a response. "Can't you see it's all a game?"

I crossed my arms. "We're getting you an Orb of the Moons to get out of here. Or have you forgotten?"

"Then you will come?" he asked, as if surprised. "Meet me at the Hedge Maze."

And he vanished.

Navien scratched his head. Andrella shook her head. "He's nuts! We're not going after Minax right now!"

"I'd say he has a death wish," I snickered, "but it wouldn't be him risking death."

Andrella turned and got out the runebook she'd taken from the Rune Library. "Good thing we don't care what he says."

"Well, look at the bright side," I chuckled. "He told us what to expect." I paused thoughtfully. "But... Did Blackthorn know about Sin? Or is he plotting something entirely different?"

"I don't know..." Andrella shook her head. "Well, let's get going."

She made a Gate to the Shrine of Compassion. We ended up right near the ankh, behind a loose half-circle of undead members of Sin that were surrounding the shrine. Apparently their helmets were so tight against their heads that they didn't even hear our entrance.

"Let's just sneak in," Andrella giggled, and we walked over the small bridge of land that leads to the shrine.

I took out the Rune of Compassion and chanted the mantra, meditating.

"Welcome Avatar," the shrine intoned. "You have restored Compassion to this land." And the ankh itself began to glow golden, like the one in the museum. I glanced down at the rune, but it hadn't changed.

I had just turned and taken a step from the shrine when Navien suddenly cast Invisibility on me. He proceeded to repeat the spell on Andrella and himself. "Did you see him?" he hissed. "Larix Vageous is here."

I peered out over the desert and saw Vageous on a dark steed, asking his soldiers if they had seen us. They hadn't.

"Shall we deal with Vageous or leave him here?" I asked quietly.

"I'll make us a gate," Andrella whispered in response, and quickly ran to the other side of the small island where the shrine stood. She formed a moongate and we all jumped through.

The Sin members guarding the next shrine were much closer to it and thus spotted us as soon as we came through. We fought them off without much troubles, and I went forward to the shrine.

We repeated the procedure at the various other shrines. Each time we fought the Sin members to gain access to the shrine. And each time, I took out the rune and spoke the mantra and meditated, and the shrine would announce that the Virtue had been restored and begin to glow. The Shrine of Spirituality teleported me to its midair perch, then teleported me back to land when I was done.

At the shrine of Honesty we encountered Vageous again. He seemed like he wanted to tell us something, but he ran away instead.

Balinor joined us when we had one shrine left to go. We picked him up at the Keep, then headed off to the shrine of Justice.

To our utter surprise, we encountered Blackthorn there, with a bunch of his Chaos guards, and Larix Vageous was dead at his feet.

"Wha--?" I blinked.

Navien ran, but not before Blackthorn had spotted him. "Navien Trailwind--found you at last. Jail him!" he called to his guards, but Navien was already gone.

Balinor wandered up and began to take items off of the corpse of Vageous. "Hey! No looting my kill. Jail him too," Blackthorn snapped. "Jail them all!"

"Wait!" Andrella protested.

"You are in serious trouble," Blackthorn told her. "Harboring a criminal like him..."

I opened my mouth to speak but suddenly found myself standing in a jail cell. Not the same one this time, but still a cell. "Argh!" I let out instead.

Balinor was in the jail cell across the hall from me. "Kianne?" I heard Andrella call, and realized she was in the cell next to mine.

"I can hear you," I told her. "I'm over here, next to you. What a...moron," I sighed.

Blackthorn came into the hallway and looked over the jail cells. "Hmm. The thief. The Avatar. And the liar." He smirked.

Blackthorn accused us of harboring Navien, and lying because we hadn't turned him in.

"Just like you said you didn't know Soth?!" Andrella growled.

"Yes, just like that!" I agreed with a roll of my eyes.

Blackthorn shrugged. "I lied and got punished."

I glared at him. "Only you were lying and we were not."

"You lied to protect Navien," Blackthorn claimed. "I lied to protect me. Because my actions were wrong--but justified--I was punished."

Andrella was muttering a stream of words. I didn't catch them all, but I know "selfish," "greedy," and "egotistical" were in there.

Blackthorn looked between the two of us. "Tell me how to justify you protecting Navien."

"He showed up to help with the shrines," Andrella responded.

I nodded. "He wanted to help restore the Virtues to this land. To help the land," I repeated pointedly.

Blackthorn gestured. "To help the land he can come and turn himself in."

"How will that help!?" I retorted.

"I will free you." Blackthorn grinned slyly.

Of all the--!

"And," Blackthorn finished, turning. "If Balinor returns the things from Larix I will free him."

"Like we can believe you," Andrella and I grumbled.

"I will return shortly," Blackthorn smirked. "When I have Navien." And he left the jail hall.

We spent some time banging on the bars and poking at walls, and discussing the situation. Navien came in thinking he was invisible from his arcane magic, but he wasn't, so he ended up getting snagged as well. Blackthorn came in moments later. "Good job," he praised the jailer.

"Sire, why have you jailed me?" Balinor asked.

"You stole my treasure," Blackthorn returned. "All you have to do is return it."

Balinor put the items he'd gotten from Vageous into a bag, and Blackthorn had a guard go into the cell to inspect it. Once Blackthorn was satisfied, he released Balinor and turned to the rest of us. "Now..."

I tapped my foot. "Come on, Blackthorn, promises..."

But Blackthorn turned to Navien first, and the two were soon tossing words back and forth so quickly I couldn't even follow. But finally Blackthorn commented, "If Soth even thinks about freeing you again, I will freeze him."

I couldn't help but smirk grimly. We know how to undo that spell now.

"You can not touch what is not living," Navien returned calmly.

Dryly, Blackthorn pointed out, "I did before."

"He was a man before," Navien reminded him.

"As close to a man as he ever gets," I interjected with crossed arms.

Blackthorn looked amused. "Taking up for Soth are you?" he asked Navien.

Navien nodded. "Aye."

Blackthorn nodded. "You are not very smart. But that's okay--there's a tax on being dumb as well."

I was growing impatient. To think he'd stopped us when we had one shrine left to do! "Okay, Blackthorn, let us out. We have a job to do."

Blackthorn turned to us. "So. There will be a hefty fine. Or," he grinned, "you can wait for trial."

I slapped my forehead. Andrella was muttering again. "Greedy, selfish, egotistical..."

"You did the crime of harboring a very dangerous man," Blackthorn smiled slyly. "Now, pay the fine."

"How? I'm in jail," I pointed out sarcastically.

Blackthorn rubbed his chin consideringly.

"Come on, Blackthorn, let us out!" Andrella demanded.

"One hundred thousand," Blackthorn decided suddenly. "Or wait for trial."

"They can get out for a hundred grand?" Balinor asked.

"Balinor, get him the gold, I'll pay you back," Andrella told him. She was as impatient as I was. There was no way we could wait for a trial and delay our quest any further.

Balinor nodded and ran off. Blackthorn smiled. "So you plead guilty?"

"No, but we'll pay the gold to get the heck out of here," I growled.

"Paying the fine indicates guilt," Blackthorn insisted.

"Say what you will Blackthorn," Andrella added. "This land is learning enough about the Avatar to know who to believe in."

I actually wasn't too sure of that; Blackthorn lies brazenly and has lots of influence. But then I remembered the townspeople talking, and hoped she was right.

Blackthorn turned. "So. The judgment has been made. Navien will be executed for his crimes..."

"What!?" Andrella and I let out.

"And Andrella and Kianne will pay a hundred-thousand fine," Blackthorn continued as if he hadn't heard us. He dusted his hands with a pleased look on his face.

"Executed?" Andrella repeated. "For what?"

"For his crimes against the kingdom. For allying with Soth."

"Did you get executed for allying with Soth?" I snapped in exasperation.

"I have been banished for dealing with Soth," Blackthorn reminded us.

"Not that you paid any attention," I commented dryly.

Blackthorn ignored me. "So... Navien will be executed or banished." He shrugged as if it made no difference to him either way. "I will have the trial as soon as I can fit it in to my busy schedule."

I hoped that wasn't for a long time. "Let's let Lord British conduct the trial," I suggested. I'd rather trust Lord British to give Navien correct justice than Blackthorn.

"Oh, certainly," Blackthorn agreed, surprising me for a moment before he continued, "but I can't let Navien stay in jail that long. So I must take justice into my hands." He smiled slyly. "And Navien must be banished," he declared as if the trial was already over. "After British comes back you can talk to him and get Navien back. Though," he added thoughtfully, "British would not like anyone who deals with Soth. You know that." He smiled.

"So you two will get banished to the same place together?" I asked wryly.

"Sure," Blackthorn grinned. He rubbed his hands. "Now..."

Balinor came back with the gold and handed it over to Blackthorn, who snatched it greedily and made great show of counting it. "There is only seventy-five thousand here..." he said finally.

Andrella and I made disgusted noises at Blackthorn. Balinor was much more patient. "I don't think so, sire," he replied. "Maybe the tiresome work of the job has gotten to you. Please count again."

"Ahh," Blackthorn smiled at Balinor. "He understands how tired I am. So even though you only gave me seventy-five thousand, I will pay the rest of the fine."

"Blackthorn! He gave you the full amount," Andrella growled in annoyance. "Don't pull this again...it's getting old."

Balinor nodded. "Two piles of fifty thousand...I cashed in both of my golden bars."

"It is all right, Balinor," Blackthorn assured him. "I am generous." He turned to face us. "And once again, King Blackthorn is just and helps the lands by freeing the criminal Avatar." His lips parted into a sly grin.

I rolled my eyes. Balinor commented, "That is an oxymoron sire."

"Can we get out now?" Andrella asked.

"They can be freed after I leave." Blackthorn paused. "Good luck with the shrines. Are you going to thank me?"

I glared at him. "For getting in the way, yes."

Blackthorn glanced over at Navien's cell. I couldn't see what he was doing because he was in the cell on the other side of me, but it apparently caught Blackthorn's attention.

"What a monster..." Blackthorn murmured. "Perhaps you would hold better at Moonglow Zoo?" He grinned at his own idea and walked to a nearby jailer. "See to it that he gets transferred to the Zoo. He is a monster."

"Rather a monster than a terrible king," I heard Navien return.

Blackthorn shook his head. "A banished man..."

"Talking to a banished man," I finished for him. Andrella snickered.

"It's too bad." Blackthorn shrugged. "Your friends did everything they could. But I am sure your friend Soth will come, eh?" He grinned. "I am ready this time..."

Blackthorn walked the rest of the way down the hall to the door. "Good day Balinor."

And then he was gone.

A guard came in a few minutes later and released Andrella and I. We stood with Balinor in front of Navien's cell and talked with Navien for a bit, but the discussion wasn't fruitful. I guess I never really knew Navien. He insists on standing by Soth no matter what happens to any of us, himself or otherwise. He thinks we don't understand his love for necromancy, but if you ask me, he doesn't understand us at all. How can he even imagine that I could forgive Soth for all he's done? He stole my body, stole the golden rock...opened the Black Gate and loosed the Guardian, and caused the disappearance of Lord British, Dupré, and Nystul. In short, he's the main cause we are all in this mess to begin with. Minax and Mondain probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere without the rock and getting rid of Lord British first. Britannia is under assault from every evil imaginable, and Soth was the catalyst of it all, and Navien expects to be friends with him?

We finally had to leave without a resolution, because we had one more shrine to do. We went out to the Shrine of Justice, quite prepared for something more to happen. That's why I wasn't at all surprised to find Goarla there. To be honest, once Blackthorn had indicated that something was going to happen at the shrines, I had figured he was going to sic Goarla and his orcs on us.

So what surprised me was that Goarla wasn't there to attack us at all. He was there to visit Thugnor's grave. We spoke with him briefly, and he mentioned that the Sin members had not attacked him when he had come to the shrine. But then Blackthorn had shown up with his guards and killed them all.

"So I had to escape," he finished. "We will never fight against the Blackthorn. He is too tricky, with traps and lies."

I couldn't help but snicker. He'd really nailed it.

Goarla went on his way and we moved to the shrine. I stood before it with the rune, still feeling disgusted at what had happened, but pushing that aside to meditate.

"Welcome Avatar," the shrine spoke, then surprised me by breaking the trend to say something new. "Justice has been stunned this day. An evil man is hurting this land."

For a moment I felt a little cold. Would Blackthorn yet get in the way of our finishing the restoration of the Virtues? If we didn't finish the Quest, we would be unable to meet with Shalilissta and go on with our plans. Yet how could we truly restore Justice with Blackthorn still around?

The shrine was silent for a moment, as if giving me time for my own thoughts. Then, as if completing my thoughts for me, it finished, "You will restore Justice to this land." And it began to glow.

I let out a long breath and opened my eyes. The shrines were restored. The Quest was complete. At least for now. We can return to Shalilissta now. I inclined my head at the shrine. We would restore Justice.

I was about to turn away when the shrine gifted us with items, as it had done before. This time it gave us scrolls of ancient weapon crafting. Perfect! My plan has been to circle the Black Gate with as many people holding ancient weapons as we could muster. That way if the Guardian did come through after we opened it, we would have a fighting chance. These scrolls would give us that many more weapons to use.

We went back to the Keep and made plans for tomorrow. We know that Soth has attacked Shalilissta and apparently she has fled her lair, but we don't know where else to look for her. So, tomorrow, we will use that same floor tile again, and hope it works enough for us to reach her.

---

[9/20/2003]

Today... I don't even know where to start writing. My hand is shaking, but with happiness and excitement, not fear. I'm writing so fast that this probably isn't even legible to anyone but me, but I can't slow down or I'll never keep up with my thoughts.

Okay, where to start? Well, we prepared ourselves by removing our magical items and getting out our gifts for Shalilissta. We didn't know what sort of rules she would have this time, but we figured in absence of guidance we would merely abide by the same rules as the last meeting.

When we were ready, we stepped onto the floor tile that Goarla had given us before. The magic was fading, but it was enough to transport Andrella, Balinor, Ayla, and I to Shalilissta's lair.

The place was in shambles. All of the treasures Shalilissta had gathered through the years were gone, and there were still some corpses of Ophidians lying scattered about. I ran across the empty to where Shamino had stood. He was gone as well.

"Shamino!" I cried in dismay. I'd hoped that Shalilissta had come back after Soth's attack. I had hoped we would have some way...

An Ophidian warrior came out of hiding. "Sssstand back!" he hissed. We jumped in surprise, but moved quickly to obey. "Thissss isss stillll Shalilissta's laaair," the Ophidian growled.

We stood in silence, as the previous rules had dictated. The Ophidian stared up and down our line for a moment. "Ahhhh, you," he hissed finally, stopping in front of me. "The Avatar." I nodded without comment. He was silent for a moment, then said, "You mussst go to the secrettt lair. Ssshe will comee tooo you. Thisss will bee the lassst time you speakk to one of usss. Foreever."

I frowned in confusion, but just nodded again.

"Ssstep on thisss tile," he told us, and put down another floor tile. "And goooodbye."

We moved forward and entered the tile. It transported us to an empty torch-lit hallway. I blinked at the sensation of darkness that I recognized. "We're in Felucca!" I gasped out loud.

We looked around. "Why would we be in Felucca?" Andrella asked, then stopped.

Shalilissta had come around a corner and was looking at us in surprise.

We immediately fell silent, respecting her rules. She moved forward and looked us over. "Hail to theee Avatar."

I offered her my gift, then like last time, I went around and gathered the gifts from the others. I nearly fell over from the weight when I took hold of the bag Balinor gave me. I took a peek inside and was stunned. There were more serpent's bane weapons in here than I could count, plus I saw some gold bars in the pile as well.

I gave her the gifts, and even Shalilissta seemed stunned, particularly when she got to Balinor's. She knew it was his too, since she had seen me take it from him.

"Thisss isss overwhelming!" she gasped out, then shook her head. Strangely, she looked as though she was going to cry. "I doo noot desserve thisss..."

I blinked in surprise. Since when has she ever thought that? Shalilissta may be honorable, but she has never put aside greediness before that I've known of.

"I am sssorrry," she said finally, shaking her head. "Thisss iss too kind. Please. Come walk with me."

We followed her as she moved down a hall and entered a room. I nearly gasped out loud in surprise when I realized I recognized it. This was the same room that had held the Ice Fiend Shadow Guardian. This was the Felucca mirror location for the Ice Dungeon!

In the center of the room stood the statue of Shamino. I felt a wave of overwhelming relief that Soth had not harmed him.

"Ssooo it musst be ssaid," Shalilissta spoke. "The Avatar hassss returned..." She still looked sad, and shook her head as if resigning herself. "We mussst continue... Come ssstand here Avatar..."

I moved to where she directed me. It was at one point of the five-pointed star in a circle that was drawn on the floor. Shamino stood in the middle of the circle. Shalilissta directed the others to other points on the star. Once we were all in place, she moved to stand beside Shamino and hesitated for many long moments. She still looked excruciatingly sad. I assumed she just didn't want to give up her greatest treasure. But she was keeping her promise anyway...

Finally she let out a loud sigh that was more of a hiss, and lifted her arms. "Kal El Is Ak Ar Es!" she intoned fiercely.

I was watching Shamino with bated breath and was taken by surprise when a sudden sensation hit me. The magical energy landed like a blow, but I couldn't fall over, because I was suddenly rigid, unable to move at all. The most I was able to do was to shift my gaze enough to look down and see that my entire body, clothing and all, was a light gray.

My first thought was a blast of raw fury that could not be expressed in words. My second thought was that it was a good thing that I had given Andrella the bag with my blood, and shown her where my golden rock was hidden, so that she had the tools they needed to...

Just as I was thinking this, I looked out over the room--I could still see and hear, which rather surprised me--and was stunned to see that everyone else in our group had been turned to stone as well. Including Andrella, the last remaining hope for freeing Lord British...

I would have stood in stunned silence even if I had been able to speak. The impact of what Shalilissta had done was so overwhelming that my mind couldn't even grasp it at first. Before my thoughts and emotions could come to order, I was horrified to see Minax walk into the room.

"Ahh..." the sorceress breathed as she looked at us. "At last. Very good Shali. I will bring Lash to get her."

"What about Ssssoth?" Shalilissta asked. "You promisssed to bring him to me dead."

Minax gave a shrug. "Don't worry. I will return in a few minutes with Soth." She paused to stand before me, looking me up and down with a sly smile on her face. "I will be back for you." She grinned evilly and left the room.

I was feeling cold to the bone, and I was sure I would be trembling if I could have moved. Shock, horror, fury... Emotions tumbled over themselves as if each was competing to dominate. I had prepared for Shalilissta to turn me to stone, but I'd never anticipated...!

Shalilissta was standing silently, gazing sadly at us. "I am sssorry," she spoke finally in a quiet voice. "Sssoth has killed ssso many of my race. He has butchered all of us and tortured usss greatly. I had no choisse. Pleasssse underssstand."

I felt my heart go out to her for what Soth had done, and in sadness that we hadn't been able to help her. Looking back, I am surprised, but my anger more or less melted away. But it was replaced with almost pure horror at what had been done.

"I do not have long to explain," Shalilissta continued, knowing we could not respond. "But my word to you will be kept. After Ssssoth is dead at my hands, I will take mine own life. My death will free you."

I stared at her, stunned. Surely she didn't have to resort to that!

"And for the generousss one," she went on, moving to Balinor and placing a magical floor tile in his bag. "My treasssures are yoursss."

Shalilissta, don't do this, I wanted to call to her, but of course I couldn't speak. She didn't have to do this. Just set us free, and we would fight with her. We would defeat Soth, and Minax, and she would be able to live...

Shalilissta returned to the center of the room. "I jusst hope when I die, you will be able to win. I wisssh you luck. I know you mussst hate me," she added sadly. "But I mussst take the full blame for all of thisss. Do not hate my raccee. Do not hate my people. Ssstand strong and I hope you the bessst."

My thoughts were spinning like a storm. Minax came back with a winged Gargoyle following behind.

"Sssooth?" Shalilissta asked anxiously.

"You know," Minax replied flippantly, "I do not take orders from a fat ugly snake. It's easier to kill you."

Shalilissta hissed. "You dare!?"

"Lash," Minax commanded with a wave of her hand, and the Gargoyle leaped forward with a long jagged sword in each hand. There was a brief scuffle. Shalilissta let out a horrible cry and folded to the ground, serpent blood pooling beneath her where she lay motionless at Lash's feet. Minax laughed.

I trembled with anger at what she'd done to Shalilissta, but within that was a brief ray of hope. Minax had done something hideous, but she'd also made a serious mistake. Or at least I could only hope she had... Yet I still couldn't move...

"Screw the snake," Minax chuckled, and brushed off her hands. "Take the Avatar to my laboratory," she instructed her Gargoyle companion. "I have someone who wants to see her." She smiled evilly.

Mondain, probably, I figured. My fear had been replaced by disgust and fury at Minax.

"Yes," Lash responded, and stepped forward. I felt a flicker of surprise. I'd never seen a Gargoyle speak here. If they weren't mindless monsters, like they weren't in the Britannia I knew, then what were they doing fighting for Minax?

Lash hefted me off the ground like the statue that I was. I squirmed and kicked, or at least I did my best to. No way was I going to just stand passively by and let them win!

Rather to my surprise, Lash's grip fumbled and he nearly dropped me. "Stone to be moving?" he asked Minax in confusion.

Minax stared with a dumbfounded look as we all began to slowly turn to flesh. "No..." she breathed. "Impossible..."

Lash put me down. "Go," he snapped to her. "To be me who kills them."

Minax hesitated, but she saw us straining to move and quickly fled the room.

"Minax!!" was the first thing out of my mouth the instant I was released from the spell. I snatched up my bow.

Lash attacked us immediately. He managed to fell Andrella just as she was freed, not giving her a chance to fight back. Then he went after Ayla and Balinor, who at least had enough time to grab their arms. This gave me the barest of opportunity. I did not have my staff of resurrection on me, since it was a magical item and I hadn't wanted to offend Shalilissta. It seemed like such a distant concern now. I quickly grabbed Andrella's wand of resurrection and raised her. She immediately moved to heal herself and get herself back into fighting shape, since the wands do not restore to perfect health as does the staff.

But by this time, Ayla and Balinor had fallen, and Lash turned to me. "Avatar..." he hissed between his teeth. "Your death to be at my hands will make me king!" And he lunged.

I danced aside, hearing the clanging bite of his swords against the stone wall that had been behind me. I still had my bow in my left hand, but of course I couldn't fire it while holding the wand in my right. I raised Balinor and Ayla, then tossed the wand into my pack and began firing for all I was worth. Lash made another strike and drew blood, and I stumbled away, scrambling to stay out of his reach...

"Wait!" Andrella called, and the suddenness of her voice caused me to about careen into a wall. I leaned against the cool bricks, huffing, as Lash paused to turn to her.

"Leave the others be," Andrella snapped to the Gargoyle. "I challenge you!"

I took a breath and wondered if she knew what she was getting into. Lash was bleeding from multiple wounds, but he was strong and fast.

Lash spun his blades in his hands as he inspected her. "You?" he laughed.

"Yes," she responded calmly, and in all seriousness. "A one-on-one duel."

"Then to be dead forever when I slay you," Lash smirked. "To say your ghost will go away. And to be no healing."

"Andrella!" I cried out in worry.

"I accept the terms," she responded cooly.

"To fight!" Lash declared, and leaped forward.

My fingers clutched the bricks of the wall behind me as I watched in terror, afraid for Andrella. She was an outstanding warrior, but if she fell here...

Swords clashed and the movement was too fast to follow. Finally, I saw Andrella make a long lunging swipe with her sword, passing Lash completely and coming to a halt a few steps away, her sword still held out. Blood dripped from the blade...and from her body. She was gravely wounded. She couldn't possibly withstand much more...

Lash straightened up and regarded her for one long moment.

Then he crumpled dead to the floor.

I nearly sank to my knees in relief. Andrella straightened and sheathed her sword, mopping up her own blood with bandages. I couldn't help myself. I ran across the room and threw my arms around her.

She laughed and comforted me with her smile.

We helped bandage Andrella up, then took stock of our situation. "Poor Shalilissta..." I sighed, looking down at her body. "I wish we could raise her..."

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted motion. I lifted my head and realized that Shamino was regaining his color. The light gray of the stone spell faded, and he stumbled forward.

Freed...

"Shamino!" I cried, running over to him.

He looked at me with a weak smile. "Avatar. You have returned..."

Then he collapsed.

Luckily, Balinor was behind him and able to catch him before he could strike the floor. We gathered around him worriedly. Apparently, being turned to stone for so long has negative consequences on one's health. It was probably also why the spell had taken longer to wear off for him.

But Shamino waved away our concern, as if relegating it to something of unimportance. "The skull of Mondain..." he breathed instead, looking around from where he was leaning on Balinor's support. "Did Minax take it?"

I blinked. "Where was it?"

"In Shalilissta's hands..."

Andrella went over and inspected the corpse of the snake queen. "Here it is," she said, and handed the skull to me.

I shuddered just looking at it. "This horrible thing..."

"Shalilissta had taken care of it all this time," Shamino nodded weakly. "Though stoned, I could see and hear everything...for twenty years..."

I gave him a pained expression. I'd had no idea, before today, that he could still see and hear. I'd thought it was more like sleeping. To have been forced to stand there for twenty years... My mind couldn't begin to fathom it. "Shamino..."

He stretched, trying to stand on his own without support, but we still offered our arms. "We need to get out of here and take him somewhere he can rest," Andrella said worriedly, and we all nodded in agreement. The problem was, we were in Felucca...

"Avatar," Shamino spoke up. He reached weakly into a pouch at his side and took out a small object, offering it to me. I held out my free hand and he dropped an ebony stone into my palm.

"The Orb of the Moons!" I gasped. And suddenly I knew what to do.

Shamino watched as the stone pulsed for a brief moment in my hand. "It only glows to the Avatar's touch..."

And Lord British's, but he knew he didn't need to tell me that. "Thank you, Shamino," I breathed. "Let's get you out of here."

The others gathered loosely around me while I lifted the Orb. This one worked a bit differently than the one I had known. It could open a gate to any coordinates at all. I tucked the skull into my pack and pulled out my runebook with my freed hand, looking up the coordinates for the Shadow Keep. There. Closing my eyes briefly, I held out the Orb and concentrated on the numbers.

A red moongate opened before me.

I gestured to stop the others and went through first, just in case I had made a mistake. But I came out exactly where my Recall rune would have placed me, on the grassy lawn in front of the Keep.

Freed...

The others followed me through, and I reached out to put an arm around Shamino's shoulders as he staggered again. "Whew," I breathed, smiling giddily.

"Wow!" Andrella grinned, glancing momentarily back at the red moongate that had broken straight through Felucca's barriers.

"It is good to see the sun." Shamino smiled.

We helped Shamino into the Keep and sat him down on the first available chair within. Ayla ran off to get some food, and I pulled out what little I had available. "No ale, though, I don't carry that with me. You know that," I giggled. But just as soon as I had said it, I wondered if he did.

Andrella and Ayla provided the drink and more food, and Shamino ate as if he was starving and drank straight from the pitcher. "Thank thee, all," he said finally.

I think everyone in the room look relieved. "No, thank you, Shamino." I smiled at him.

He smiled back. "At last, the Avatar has returned. I have waited a long time for this day." I hesitated, wanting to ask him which Shamino he was, but not knowing how to phrase it. "I know most of what has happened," he went on before I could decide. "Shalilissta spoke to me daily. She took good care of me...though she treated me as a treasure." I grimaced a little, but nodded in understanding. One thing we knew was Shalilissta loved her treasures.

"Poor Shalilissta," Andrella sighed.

Shamino nodded. "Another victim of the dread lord Soth. Minax used her...but Soth tortured her." I grimaced again. "Even though in the end," Shamino finished, "it was Minax who killed her."

"The Gargoyles speak," I mused, "but they follow Minax?"

Shamino nodded. "The king, Draxinusom, was overthrown. They worship Minax."

"Yikes," I said. "No wonder..."

"Draxinusom is still alive," Shamino mused. "Shalilissta knew him." He shook his head. "Everything she knew...is lost with her." He sighed. "The serpents already have a new king.She made sure of it, knowing she would take her life to free you. But the new serpent king will not speak to humans."

I sighed as well. "I wish there had been another way...not that it would have mattered with Minax..."

"It was a shame to see the great queen suffer at the hands of Soth. Curse Blackthorn for ever bringing him here!"

We nodded in wholehearted agreement. "I'm sorry we weren't there to help," I told him with heartfelt sadness. "We didn't find out about it until after it was all over..."

He nodded. "I know, Kianne." He knew my name even, but he could easily have learned it from Shalilissta. I was just going to have to come out and ask him, but I wasn't sure when I would have an opening.

"Blackthorn, who's named himself King..." I grumbled at the reminder.

Shamino shrugged. "It is no surprise. He has always eyed the throne. British knew that."

I nodded. "But first, we need to free Lord British."

Everyone else chimed in with multiple "ayes." Shamino agreed as well. "We need the Tome of Stars," he said. "Do you have it?"

I blinked in surprise. "No, we haven't gotten it yet. But why would that help?"

"It was Michael's," he stated. We knew this already, of course. "He had the coordinates to all places written in it. Even Earth. Mondain's lair and Pagan as well. He went everywhere with it."

I stared at him as I realized what he was getting at. "I see! We won't even have to open the Black Gate! We could use the Orb of the Moons to just make our own gate!

Shamino nodded. "Opening the Black Gate would only bring pain to us all."

"That is grand news then!" Andrella grinned. "We can save Lord British a lot sooner!"

And bypass Soth's part in all of this. It sounded great to me. "We'll get Michael's journal with all speed then," I agreed.

"Not if the black void golem still has it," Shamino warned us. "I lost one Avatar. I won't lose another."

"Huh?" I was startled. "Is it that horrible?"

Shamino looked at me. "From what I heard, it is the only thing that will destroy you."

I blinked. The only thing...?

"That is where Minax was going to take you," he explained. "The black void was caused by Minax rewriting history when she killed Michael."

Soth had told us something similar. But the black void golems he had loosed on us hadn't been all that bad, really...

"We have to make a plan," Shamino stated gravely, looking around at everyone gathered in the room. "The black void will engulf Kianne if she faces him now. That is their plan." He nodded his head toward me. "Mondain will not dare come to this land with the Avatar alive and well."

I smiled grimly at that thought. Give Mondain something new to fear...

"Does Kianne have to face the black void golem?" Andrella asked, voicing my own thoughts perfectly.

"Aye," I chimed in. "Is there something about it that affects only me?"

Shamino nodded. "Yes, there is something about it. But what, I don't know." He shrugged. "But I know it is certain death for you."

I made a "hmm" sound as I considered that. "It won't help if the others go without me?"

"That may be the only way," Shamino replied slowly. "But, are your friends ready to risk their lives for you?"

"I am," Andrella spoke up instantly.

"Aye," Balinor chimed in.

"Absolutely!" Ayla smiled.

I looked from one to another. "Wait, you all..." I started to protest.

"No waiting, Kianne," Andrella retorted, giving me a small grin.

"No question," Ayla agreed.

"You are the Avatar and our friend," Andrella smiled.

"I would risk my life for you." Shamino shifted. "But I must admit that I would only be a burden. I don't even have a bow..."

I put my hand to the magical silver bow that I wore strapped across my chest. "Take mine," I offered without hesitation.

Andrella laughed, and Shamino smiled. "Let me regain my strength first," he said.

I nodded. "Of course, you need to rest first and foremost. At least eight hours." I grinned a little sadly at the flashback memory that thought caused, to another time when I'd come to Britannia and encountered Shamino while he was injured and in need of rest...²

"You sound like Michael," Shamino chuckled. He took a breath and shook his head. "We called the Avatar. We waited. For years..."

I nodded slowly in understanding, and sadness. "But Michael was dead..."

"The wars with the serpents took a toll on all of us here," Shamino sighed. "Dupré... Iolo... We had lost so many waiting for the Avatar to come."

I blinked in surprise.

"But he never came..."

Something wasn't matching up for me. "Dupré and Iolo... lost?"

Shamino nodded. "Aye, this was twenty years ago."

I stared at him. "Then... Then the merging..."

Again, he nodded. "I know. I saw Dupré again. But I was stone."

It all made sense now. That's why Dupré and Iolo from my universe were drawn here. Their counterparts had died, and so with the merging of the universes taking place thanks to Mondain, they had been pulled in to fill the void.

Shamino reflected, "British and I decided the only way to stop the war was for me to be their gift."

I looked at him sadly. "Shamino..."

He went on, "I stood for twenty years...waiting... Then I heard the Avatar was killed." He grimaced. "I cried. I had lost all hope. But then, Dupré came. He talked to me while I was a statue. He told me about you. About his Avatar." Shamino lifted his gaze. "Even though I lost Michael...this world did not lose the Avatar. And that is what is important."

I was speechless. I ran my gloved hand across my eyes, trying to hold back the tears. I knew now which Shamino this was. This was the Shamino that walked beside the Avatar from this shard. He walked beside Michael. But I still felt as though I knew him. Yet what he had gone through...

"Do not be sad for my despair," Shamino said to me. "You have brought new hope...for all of us."

I took a steadying breath. "I'm.. I'm just sorry for what happened to you all..."

"But you can fix everything." He smiled. "I know you can."

"I will!" I agreed instantly. "I will do everything that I can."

"And I will aid you." Shamino smirked a little as he looked over the room. "Though your companions look very great."

I giggled. "Of course, you are always more than welcome with us, Shamino."

Shamino nodded and looked around the room again. "Balinor, Shalilissta really liked you. She talked for days about you. And Andrella...your sword skill has become legend."

Andrella blushed. I grinned.

"And you all went with the Avatar," Shamino finished. "Even though certain death might await."

"And almost did," I grimaced.

"Taking down a swordsgarg is no easy task," Shamino informed us. "That Gargoyle, Lash Fkarik. He was the one who trained V'Kail, the most feared swordsgarg in the land."

We grinned at Andrella. "And Andrella will beat him as well," I snickered.

Shamino smiled. "I am pleasured to at last see you all from my eyes."

"I'm so happy you are here," I smiled at him. "But we are keeping you from rest."

Andrella nodded. "You have had a long and exhausting journey."

"I would like to go to Skara Brae," Shamino told us. "And I would like Blackthorn not to know of me. I will not go to the castle. I will never speak to him. I can't..."

We all nodded. I don't really care to speak with Blackthorn, myself.

"I hope word doesn't get back to him from the town," I commented.

"No one in this day will know me," Shamino pointed out. "I will stay at the inn."

I nodded. "I understand. Let me make a gate," I offered, pulling out the Orb of the Moons with a grin.

I formed a red moongate using the coordinates from my Skara Brae rune, then again held up my hand to stay the others. "Let me check first," I said, and jumped through.

I was standing right outside the bank, right where I should be. I sent a thought to Andrella to tell her it was safe, and the others came through behind me.

Andrella let Shamino borrow her ethereal mount, and we accompanied him to the inn.

"Allow me to rest for a few days," Shamino requested. "Then come find me. We have much to discuss."

We nodded. "By what name shall we search for ye?" I asked with a smile, since we couldn't very well run around town asking for "Shamino." That would definitely get Blackthorn's attention.

He pondered that for a moment, and we tossed out a few names in a joking manner. Finally, Shamino decided, "I always signed our name under Michael."

"Ohh," I breathed.

"Let me sign his name," Shamino finished. "For my heart is with him."

Andrella nodded. "That is a good idea."

"I heard Iolo has come too," Shamino mentioned. "I hope to see him."

I nodded. "He is trapped in Dawn right now. But if we can find the coordinates..." I held up the Orb with a grin.

"The Tome, I am sure," Shamino agreed. "It will contain all the coordinates."

I shook my head a little at the thought. "No wonder why they wanted it!" And the others nodded in understanding.

Shamino gazed at the stone in my hand. "The Orb... Mondain has Michael's Orb..."

I grimaced.

"What you hold is that of British. He knew this day would come."

I shook my head in wonder. "Lord British is always so wise."

"You are so humble," Shamino chuckled.

"Get some good rest Sha...er, Michael," Andrella grinned. "We will come see you soon." She reached into her pouch. "Here, take some gold."

"Do you need anything else?" I asked him as Andrella handed him a good sum of money. "Armor? A bow?"

"Can you find me a nice bow?" he asked. "I know you can find the right one." He smiled.

"Absolutely!" I agreed.

"I would ask Andrella," he teased, "but I am afraid to see her idea of a weapon. A tree trunk?"

We laughed.

"Want to wait here? I'll head to my house and be right back," I offered.

"I will get my room," Shamino nodded.

I took out my runebook and paused. "Do you want chainmail? Or leather?"

Shamino considered it. "Michael always equipped me. I would like to leave that in your hands now."

I was honored. "Then I will pick silver," I grinned. "I wear mostly silver."

Shamino nodded. "Aye, it is good armor."

"And pink and purple," Andrella poked me with a grin. I happened to have a fuchsia tunic on that day. It was a little frilly, but I liked it.

I laughed. "No, I won't make him wear pink!"

Ayla teased, "He would look nice in pink."

"Can we put bows in his hair?" Andrella giggled.

I laughed even harder. "I think I'm leaving now before they get started."

Shamino laughed as well. "Just like Geoff. Always humorous."

That reminded me. "What became of Geoffrey? I haven't seen him since I have been here..."

"The serpent isle took him as well." I grimaced sadly again upon hearing those words. "If only Michael had come..." Shamino sighed and shook his head, then finally looked up. "But you are here. And for that I am grateful."

I smiled faintly. I would do whatever I could, but sometimes I wished I had come earlier...

"Forgive me if I speak of Michael often," Shamino was saying, snapping me out of my reverie.

"No, it's okay," I assured him, and I smiled. "I like to learn about him. I would have liked to have known him." Then I blinked when I realized we were still standing outside the inn. "But you should go sit down. And I am going to get you some equipment."

Everyone nodded, and I Recalled to my house. Quickly I went through the supplies I keep in stock there, gathering armor and weapons. I normally don't bother storing bows, since I already have the one that I like to use, but recently in my travels I had come across a rather nice one, so I'd stashed it away like the pack rat that I am. It was a bane to ogres and quite powerful, a solid combination of strength and suppleness. I tucked it into my bag along with all of the arrows I could find. I also added my silver crossbow--the only crossbow I own as I really don't care for them much--along with my stash of bolts.

I also dug out two magical swords that I had, lightweight ones that would be good for dual-wielding. The Shamino I had known had been an expert at attacking with two swords at once. I didn't have two matching swords, but there was a bane to titans and a bane to dragons which were the exact same size and weight, so I knew they would go well together.

When I returned to Skara Brae, I discovered the others had waited outside while Shamino went on his own to get his room. We walked into the inn and checked the guest roster. "Michael is in room 2," Andrella informed us, and winked.

We walked to the door and knocked. Shamino bid us enter. He was seated next to the bed, waiting for us.

I gave him the items I had gathered, and asked him if he wanted the crossbow or not.

"Save it for Iolo," he smiled, and I grinned at the idea.

We left Shamino so he could get to sleep, and headed back to the Keep. It was late, but we were keyed up and discussed what had happened. We had lost Shalilissta, which is sad, but we had gained Shamino, the Orb of the Moons, the skull of Mondain, and a lot of useful information.

"We know more about the Tome," Andrella commented.

I nodded. "And we don't have to go through Soth."

She grinned. "We'll have to send him outta here!"

"Sending him to the void might be too nice," I teased. Then I sighed. "Of course... I made a promise. So..." I looked around the circle with a chuckle. "Anyone know the coordinates to Krynn?"

---

¹ In many of the Ultima games, the Runes of Virtue must be gathered from all over the world. Most of them tend to be hidden cunningly and require searching out clues to figure out where they are to be found.

² In Ultima 5 the Avatar no sooner arrives in Britannia when Shamino is hit with an arrow from a Shadowlord and is gravely wounded.

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