"It will protect you more than a that simple cloak can. If you do not wish it then you do not have to wear it." Shateera says poignantly.

Back to the snowy hill overlooking the gnomes and Noraksu laid out on the wagon.

Nightshade ponders. "We could loose the horses and smuggle him off while the gnomes are distracted by a seeming assault from the other direction, but I think it might be useful to know what's going on with all these gnomes and the chick in the cave. So maybe we should follow them."

"I still have this Hydra medallion from Gorath. Do you think I can use it to move in closer?" Tieron asks as he fishes into his backpack to find the medallion. Tieron's hand slowly pulls out the item as if it were poison. "Jeez, I hate this thing."

Keridwynne hisses and slaps his hand lightly "No! Gads, don't you remember? That thing has possible mind control on it. That's all you need to make your day a perfect one, descended from werewolves _and_ controlled by Ashler." *shudder* "It was a nice thought though, I don't think we can afford risking have to fight you too."

Talorc squints thoughtfully. "I don't like the thought of abandoning this place to that mystery lady. It would be like admitting defeat, and I don't want to try to keep up with a carriage for several miles. But then again even though we seem to almost have our own army here it would be silly to simply attack."

"Tharaksu, you're good with boulders... Do you think you could get the cave entrance blocked from a distance? If we could divide them this would be a lot easier. Perhaps our stealth crew could get close and start a feinting attack, while we get our fighters on top of the clerics?"

"Talorc, I think that plan has merit, though Tharaksu would have to be a mighty clean shot to have it block the entrance so thoroughly that a humanoid couldn't slip around it. I think they are holding him hostage to get to us, of course. How can we turn the tables?" Mero ponders and then continues, "If these gnomes, know that Cahla had it in for you guys, they might be waiting for him to join them. Maybe we can disguise someone as him to get closer did anyone think to bring one of those hilts?

"Hrm. Disguising one of us as Cahla will get one of us close. True, but that in itself is not going to do much good...

"Hey, we could throw TWO boulders!" Talorc smiles widely at the moor, "...unless you can't out-shot-put a stone giant with those things, Akilah. I also still have a web. Seriously, we need only to slow them down. Torching some gnomes is very appealing to me this morning."

Mero turns to Talorc and says, "If they are waiting for Cahla, they may not know I'm with you or be looking for me. I could try to sneak up to untie that giant. You would have to be sure to have your boulder distraction free in case they caught me though."

"I told Noraksu telepathically that we are near. Nightshade can you become invisible and loosen his bonds?" Savi asks.

No response is heard.

"Nightshade? Nightshade? I hope she didn't go off and do something rash." Savi states.

Talorc lifts one eyebrow and says "If I know Nightshade, she has already gone way passed being rash. I think that we should set the plan in motion."

Akilah and Tharaksu scan the hilly, snowy horizon, searching for large rocks. Seeing an old riverbed, they start to jog down the hill to retrieve a couple of boulders.

"Its now or never," Mero states as he starts over the hill trying hard to move silently and keeping to the shadows, which is hard in this bright sunshiny morning.

Tieron looks at the hydra medallion and then thinks maybe Keridwynne is right.

"What do you think, Keridwynne?" He asks.

"For now I think that we should wait and see where we will do the most good and see how this plan pans out."

Tieron nods and looks around for Shateera. She is not in sight.

"Now where did Shateera go?" Tieron wonders out loud.

Keridwynne does a quick scan of Shateera's last position and says, "She is a highly trained assassin. I think that she is probably going to have a field day with these gnomes."

From the riverbed below, a ripping sound of earth tearing away from itself is heard. Tharaksu has ripped away a boulder that is vaguely bullet shaped weighing at probably around 500 pounds. Tharaksu wonders how a human, albeit a large human is going to heave a boulder, not of course knowing of Akilah's enhanced strength. A grinning Tharaksu looks at Akilah as if to say Beat that. Akilah steps over to a squarish shaped stone about three times the size of the one Tharaksu is holding. Tharaksu just shakes his head as if to say you are crazy. Akilah squats down and edges his fingers under the boulder and with one heave places the great cube above his head. Tharaksu looks as if he just swallowed a bug, a really nasty hairy bug.

"Fear not my friend, your strength is natural and mine is not. If I took these gloves off , I would be no match for you." Akilah says trying to assuage the conscience of the Stone giant.

The duo slowly trudges their way back up the hill the ground trembling a bit from each step.

Nightshade, left the party many minutes before. Now standing down by Noraksu with little Gnomish guards passing around, she looks closely at his bonds. Chains mostly, not easy cutting, but the horses harnesses are leather. Now those are good cutting. She pulls an invisible dagger from its sheath. She starts sawing on the leather straps.

Mero working his way down the hill is finding that there are very few shadows to hide in. Partway down the hill, the cry is sent up. Gnomes start racing up the hill. Mero turns and flees back up the hill about ten gnomes giving chase. A boulder sails out from over the top of the hill. Its course straight for the cave opening. Gorg, the big nosed gnome, who had returned to the cave looks up to see the boulder coming in. He screams for everybody to get out. From the opening in the cave comes one man. His copperish skin glowing in the morning sun. His antennae swivel slightly and orient on the incoming boulder. A small gnome tries to beat the boulder and fails. His body crushed by the weight of the rock. The stone lodged itself in the opening but there is still room to climb over it. A second boulder, more massive than the first whooshes through the air. Its impact is felt from quite some distance. It more than covers the small opening that was left from the first boulder.

Mero crests the top of the hill, leading a group of gnomes with him. Talorc crouching on one knee comes up with Altira in hand. The lead Gnome goes down with a wound opened from groin to throat. Nine more gnomes crest the hill, pulling short swords.

Gorg, goes ballistic back on the valley floor, screaming "Get up on that hill, Take out that damn catapult before it does anymore damage!!"

Right about then the horses bolt from wagon, Nightshade's handiwork.

"Damn it!" shrieks Gorg, "We are under attack from two positions. Protect the wagon and the creature."

Some of the second wave of gnomes that had started up the hill are now running back down the hill toward the wagon.

Savi whips around her broadsword at an attacking gnome. His head parts from his shoulders. Savi steps over the corpse and gets her first look at a fellow -what ever she is. A chain runs from his wrists and another from around his neck to Gorg who is holding both chains. Savi, rage crossing her face, starts down the hill, running. Her intention to kill Gorg and be damned if anything is going to get in her way.

Tieron and Keridwynne are doing battle with four other gnomes. One of Keridwynne's opponents, suffers from a broken nose, thanks to the butt end of her staff. Tieron has stabbed one gnome repeatedly, but he has not yet fallen. Tieron and the gnome circle each other. A second gnome is stalking Tieron from behind, when a dagger plunges deep into its back. It gives a short cry and falls to the ground. Its blood mixing with the snow giving it a pinkish hue. Tieron swipes at his attacker and lands a good blow to the neck. Blood gouts from the wound, the gnome tries to staunch the flow and realizes it is far to late. He topples over backward. Tieron whips around to see who his benefactor was. Shateera stands there, hands on hips. Tieron looks at her and starts to smile but the smile turns to a frown as he sees a gnome coming up from behind Shateera. His facial reaction was enough to alert Shateera, she turns the dagger around so the blade is pointing backward. With a quick upward thrust, she drives the blade deep into the chest of the oncoming gnome. She rolls forward and out of the way of his attack. He lands hard on the ground. A large stone foot comes down hard on the skull of the gnome. A resounding crack echoes across the valley. Tharaksu winks at Shateera and proceeds to grab another gnome that had the gall to attack him.

Keridwynne smacks the bloody, nosed gnome again in the face.

"Enoushhhhh." He slurs out.

Keridwynne looks at him puzzled for a moment and then says "Enough?"

The gnome nods and tips his head back to try and stop the bleeding from his nose. Akilah grabs the other gnome that was about to attack Keridwynne from behind and flings him. The gnome sails down through the valley and smashes head first into the boulders covering the cave opening.

Gorg shrieks some more, "By Sentares, they are using these gnomes as catapult fodder. Just what the hell are we up against?.

Under his breath, he mutters, "At least maybe they are out of boulders."

The hydra priests have moved over to where Noraksu lays. One of them has crawled upon his chest, holding a bastard sword pointed at his heart. He brings the sword up and is about to ram it down into the heart of Noraksu, when Nightshade slips a dagger into the back of the priest. She wavers back into visibility. The priest staggers forward, dropping the sword that was about to kill Noraksu and falls off of his chest and to the snowy ground below. Nightshade whips around, crimson colored cape flowing around her. The wounded priest staggers to his feet, his back to the wagon. From around the wagon, gnomes start backing off and muttering. On the cape of the priest, just under the dagger hole, a blood red wolf paw print is seen. The gnomes start to mutter amongst themselves. The other priests start yelling, "Attack her. Kill this arrogant elf!"

They start to shuffle forward, but none of them pull a weapon.

Gorg, seeing this, roars, "What the hell are they waiting for?! Kill her!"

The first gnome steps tentatively up on the wagon. He pulls a short sword, turns and leaps at the nearest priest, screaming, "For the Crimson wolf, High priest of Flandal Steelskin!" He plunges his sword into the chest of the priest. The other gnomes pull their swords and swarm the priests of Ashler, pulling them to the ground. Nightshade atop the wagon and Noraksu's chest looks down at the carnage being ravaged on the priests and shakes her head.

Mero thrusts his sword up and catches the gnome in the stomach. With a grunt, the gnome topples over backward and down the hill. Mero's eyes scan the rest of his party. Only one gnome cowering on the ground. As one the party rushes over the hill.

Gorg looks in disbelief as his own Gnomish guards just turned against him. He turns around to see Savi rushing him. He barely ducks in time to keep his head. Double crossed and now outnumbered, Gorg runs, pulling the chains of the member of Savi's race along with him. The copper skinned male drags his feet allowing Savi to gain on him and Gorg. Gorg enraged, pulls a loaded crossbow from his side and stops. Sighting down the barrel at Savi, he aims. Savi notices the crossbow but continues to pursue. Gorg, looks at Savi and then at her countryman. He fires the crossbow bolt at the male prisoner, it hits him in the chest, toppling him over. Savi rushes Gorg and swings her broadsword. A long line of blood crosses the chest of Gorg after the swipe. He throws the crossbow at Savi and turns to run again. He sprints into a copse of trees, Savi on his heels. The party races for the trees that Savi and Gorg just disappeared into. Keridwynne pulls up short at the wounded prisoner. She starts to bind his wounds but seeing that he is also bleeding from whip wounds on his back, she without her healing for the day knows he is done for. A clash of swords can be heard from within the trees, a scream and then silence. Talorc and Tieron step to the edge of the pines and peer inside. Savi steps out bearing with her the head of Gorg, his big nose pinched between her fingers. She drops it unceremoniously on the ground. The party converges around the dying countryman of Savi. Savi looks at Keridwynne. Keridwynne shakes her head. Savi gently lifts his head off the ground and sets it in her lap. She takes his head in her hands.

As one, Savi and her countryman start to speak, "Savisorbs, she who has forgot but who, we have never forgotten. Sentares searches the world for you. This party of talkers fates and yours are intertwined, Mero's in particular. Ashler is afraid and soon Sentares will cower. An answer you seek is no farther from you than your arm. Find it in Bedegraine forest. North, deeper into the forest. Find the path and some answers. The road watches you and searches for you. Beware it, Savisorbs."

His black pupiless eyes close and the last breath passes from his lips, a rivulet of blood trickling from his mouth. Savi looks up at her party, the same ribbon of blood trickling from her lips as well.

(What are you going to do with the blocked in enemies in the cave? the gnomes that turned to your side? I see many questions, so start asking. No hit points were lost by any of you in that battle. Good rolling. :) )

The surviving gnomes scurry off into the hills many working their way east heading into a small copse of trees. One stops at the edge of the forest and turns, looks back at the party, lingers for a moment and steps into the forest.

Keridwynne throws in "yeah, and um, hurrah for Flandal Steelskin too, who sent the crimson wolf to free the gnomes from their enslavement!"

This is great, Keridwynne thinks, I'm traveling with the prophet of Flandal Steelskin, for Gnomes, Zarakfen Reborn of the Stone Giants. I suppose Talorc will turn out to be Avatar of the Pixies or something. *mumble*

Keridwynne says "hey, about that "an arms length away" that he said, do you think he could be referring to your tattoo of a number you have on your arm? Maybe we should look at it closer. It could be a Wizard Mark or something, and maybe they are using it to track you. We should have you, Tieron or Talorc look at it and see if it seems magickal. I will look at it too, as soon as I rememorize spells."

On a more somber note, Keridwynne says to Savi "Is there some special ceremony for your dead?"

Savi looks away for a moment and then says, "Maybe, but only if I could remember them."

Talorc frowns at the rubble-filled cave entrance. He climbs the new mound and tries to see through. Then with an evil grin and elven sing-song, "Hallo-o! I will be the one to hold you down and take your breath away..." Talorc begins digging at the entrance.

"Talorc, do you *REALLY* want to let them out just now?" Keridwynne says tiredly, "We've been up and fighting 36 hours straight, I am out of healing so if anyone goes down... *she gestures sadly at Savi's fallen countryman* I can't do a thing, and well, you are about to release a someone who is probably a Big Nasty Mage. Is this well advised, my comrade?"

"I agree with Keridwynne, but before I take a nap I want to make sure this cave doesn't have another exit." Mero chimes in.

Mero starts climbing the snow covered cliff face.

Talorc scowls. In Elven, "Put it this way. Do you want to sleep in the shadow of a cave entrance while her minions break her out?" The highlander agitatedly throws another rock aside.

Nightshade replies in elven "Why don't we wander off and rest, and then attack them when they finally drag their exhausted bodies out? Or consider trying to bring them over to the Path of the Crimson Wolf?" She smiles invisibly.

The howl of a wolf echoes across the valley seeming to accentuate Nightshades statement.

Mero crawls up over the next hill and stands surveying its snowy visage, a brushy patch catching his attention. Closer inspection reveals a way into the backside of this cave. Carefully looking about for footprints Mero notices at least 10 different sized footprints scattered about. The trail in the snow stretches on into the beginnings of Bedegraine forest. Scanning the horizon, many plumes of smoke rise from those woods. Campfires for breakfast no doubt, which means people in the woods and the number of campfires being around 50 indicates probable army.

Mero climbs quickly and carefully back down the hillside trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Um, you may be interested in knowing there is a back exit to that cave. Oh and a fairly large army about two hills over" Mero says rushing back to the party.

*Looks around for good hiding spots*

Talorc just growls at hearing the news of a back door and of his prey's escape.

Akilah steps into the discussion with, "Well, we have a few options, I must return to Nottingham to warn my friends of this army that passes so close to the north. You can come with me if you so choose. Otherwise to the west, another cave beside the one that we just closed can serve as a resting place for you. It is very near a small stream."

Talorc speaks, "I would like to keep an eye on that army, so this cave sounds like the best place for now."

Tieron concurs, "I would like to know who or what that army is made up of, so keeping close by using the cave is my vote as well."
Nightshade pipes up, "But Nottingham has warm beds and fireplaces."

The party starts to move off to the west, whilst Nightshade continues to speak, "But what about comforters? and how about pastries for breakfast? Doesn't anybody like pastries? Damn."

Akilah leads them along the cliff face down from the sight of the battle about half of a mile. It is big enough to house the party and well covered so no one will disturb them while they rest.

Akilah bows to the party, his long black hair sweeping the ground as he does so, "I can never repay you for the things that you have done this day. I can only hope to somehow come to help you. I believe that I will stay in Nottingham for a time. I have wanted nothing but vengeance for so long that now that I have it. I am unsure what to do next. I will help you in your fight whenever and where ever I can. Tharaksu, join me in my walk to Nottingham. I will retrieve their horses and you can bring them back. I for one have had enough sleep and you are about the only one that has rested in the past 36 hours. I won't say good-bye for somehow I don't think it will be."

Akilah bows once again, hefts his axe and starts out across the plain, heading south for Nottingham. Tharaksu following close behind. The party files into the cave and settles down quickly for some much needed rest. The party wakes some eight to ten hours later. A leisurely meal is eaten and it is decided that you should wait for morning to set out north for Bedegraine Forest.

As the clock approaches midnight on December 31, 522, Keridwynne rises and says, "At the beginning of each year, the Lady of the Lake grants her followers, a vision, like no other. She will show us glimpses of the future year. The vision is special in that I can take others with me and show them what I see and hear. I am going now to seek that vision in the stream outside. Anybody interested?"

Everybody gets up and walks outside.

Tharaksu and Noraksu were standing guard outside. Tharaksu having long returned from having brought back the horses.

"Are we leaving now? I thought we were leaving in the morning?" Noraksu questions.

"No, we aren't leaving, Noraksu. I am going down to the stream and see if I can contact my goddess. The others are coming to watch and maybe join in to see their fates. Would you like to see what your future holds?" Keridwynne says.

Noraksu shakes his head, "No thanks, visions and gods make me a little nervous."

Keridwynne steps down by the stream and focuses on the water rippling by.

(With thanks to Babylon 5.)

All sound seems to stop and only the sound of the water rushing by can be heard and then only silence.

Keridwynne's voice breaks the silence, "Lady, we stand before you, a glimpse of the new year we seek."

Though no one speaks, Savi's voice seems to come from the water. "It was the year of freedom from chains."

Talorc's voice, "It was the year that I tried to become King by my own hand."

Mero's voice, "It was the year of silent discovery."

Nightshade's voice, "It was the year the gods fell to earth."

Tieron's voice, "It was the year the prophecies came to pass."

Keridwynne's voice, "It was the year that treachery from within was revealed."

Shateera's voice, "It was the year, we lost so much."

A deep resonant voice, you don't recognize, "It was the year I exacted a terrible revenge."

A moment of silence passes and then Keridwynne stands.

"It would seem to be an interesting year awaits us." Mero says wryly.

January 1, 523 8am.

The party packs up and readies for the trek north into snow bound Bedegraine forest. The day is cold and windy. Tieron motions over Noraksu and Tharaksu.

"The time has come to for you return to the mountains. Noraksu was almost killed and I don't want to see either of you die. I must do this, but you do not. I know that you think that I am Zarakfen. I can't tell you if I am or not. But, I will promise you this, that I will return when I have found the truth." Tieron says.

Tharaksu starts to open his mouth. Tieron cuts him off.

"I don't want to hear the arguments, Tharaksu. I gave them all to myself last night. Go and wait for my return."

Tharaksu nods once, reaches down and grabs his equipment. He lumbers out of the camp, nodding to each party member as he goes. Noraksu follows but every now and again, you hear. "We can't leave or man it was just get exciting or are you sure you don't want to argue."

The party has been unusually quiet since the vision of last night and it is even more so as they mount up and pass into the forest of Bedegraine. The woods are somewhat warmer, the wind has been quieted by the trees. A game trail winds its way around large old growth trees, whose branches reach upward at least a hundred feet. The fires that Mero saw yesterday have moved farther west toward the Pennine mountains.

"What do you think?" Mero starts, breaking the long silence, "Should we go see who that army was?"

"I think that some of us should take a look and some should stay here. It won't take more than an hour or so to find out who was there." Nightshade says, "I will go."

Talorc starts to invoke the powers of magic to cast a spell. When he finishes, he says, "Just a detect magic, I forgot that I wanted to look at Savi's arm and see if there was something to it. I think that going to investigate is a good idea, but I might want someone else to go with just in case they left traps or someone behind."

Talorc walks over to Savi and stares intently at her arm, "Strange, the numbers glow with the school of alteration."

Tieron states, "I will go with Nightshade."

Tieron turns his horse due west and starts out through the woods to the campsite. Nightshade, the ever invisible, turns her horse and follows. You watch Tieron and the seemingly riderless horse ride off. Less than an hour later, the pair ride close to the campsite. It still has a few burning embers smoking, but otherwise looks pretty abandoned. It is a large clearing about 100 feet across, it could have housed an army of 500 easily and judging by the campfires built, that was probably the case. Nightshade and Tieron move around the outside of the campsite searching for traps or other clues. The footprints they find are small but not so small as the gnomes. Just a bit bigger and booted with big clunky shoes. They move in closer to the fires. Burning embers, a cast off link of chain mail armor, a broken haft of a battle axe and an empty wineskin bearing a symbol of gauntleted fist in front of two battle axes crossed just below the blades. Tieron pockets everything but the burning embers and mounts his horse again. Nightshade follows.

After awhile, Tieron asks, "What do you think? Gnomes or Dwarves or something else?"

"Personally, I'm guessing Dwarves." Nightshade answers.

The ride back into the party and show the items that they recovered. Nightshade reiterates her original statement.

"Well not a whole lot we can do about them. I think that we should move on to the north." Talorc says.

"Well if it is the Dwarves, we are probably ok, because the Dwarves are our friends." Keridywnne states.

The way is slow picking your way around trees and following what game trails there are. Night closes in on the party. It overtakes them in the middle of supper. Watches are set and the night passes. The sounds of the forest and deepness of the night make the watches a bit uneasy.

Morning January 2, 523.

Travel is still slow but bearable. The weather a bit warmer but the wind howls through the tops of the trees, sending whorls of snow off of the snow-laden branches. The snow drifting off the branches makes it looks like it is snowing under the cover of the forest, but glimpses of the blue sky can be seen through holes in the canopy. The foothills of the Pennines are quite close now. A shadow passes overhead. The forest quiets for a time and then returns to its regular sound. The sun starts to descend into the world of night once again. No path has presented itself yet. Night arrives and the party camps at a clearing near the edge of the forest. A cliff face parallels the forest for many miles.

Keridwynne and Mero are on the first watch. A sound like leather scraping on rock pierces the night.

"What was that?" Mero asks.

"Not sure, you want to take a look or me?" Keridwynne says.

"I will. Probably an owl or something."

Mero lifts himself up and dusts off the snow and ice. He heads toward the edge of the forest and peers out at the cliff face. Two figures are on top of the cliff. Reptilian in nature, long sinuous heads and tails with a barb pointing on the tail end. Wings flap in the night and then fold up on their backs. Mero turns back to the camp slowly and hears another alight on the cliff face. He comes back slowly trying to count the number of landings he hears.

"So what did you see?" Keridwynne queries.

"Shhhhh," Mero continues in a whisper, "Wyverns, at least five, I heard only saw three though, might be more now. They are landing on the cliff face and looking into the forest."

The full moon breaks through the canopy of the forest casting its light onto the trees in the clearing.

"Oh that is good irony," Mero says, "just when I want it to be dark, it gets lighter and then the moon spotlights us."

A glow from one of the old growth trees catches Keridwynne's attention. She blinks and looks again.

"Mero is that tree have some sort of glow coming from it?"

Mero turns around and looks, "Yea, looks like it."

The wyverns temporarily forgotten, they look at the tree. The number, 3122, is carved on the tree glowing white in the moonlight. The moonlight sweeps many of the trees, many of them have numbers. 3110, 3104, 3098 are glowing on the trees to the south. North the numbers get bigger 3202, 3256, 3313.

"Didn't Savi and the other guy say something about a path to follow." Mero says, "I would say we just found it."

"The number on Savi is 7197 and the numbers get bigger to the north. Lets get them up and take a look before we lose the moonlight"

The party is awakened and a theory is put forth that the numbers are the path they were supposed to follow. Mero also explains about the wyverns sitting on the ledge. The party starts to move north. The moonlight shining on the trees the numbers get larger and larger. 4678, here, a 5897 there. 7197 is emblazoned on a very large pine tree. Its base about 6 feet in diameter. Under the number on the tree is a pretty large fistsized hole. A shadow passes over head and then another. A wyvern lands on the upper branches of the tree that you are looking at. More land in trees around you. They are agitated and a large one keeps shifting his weight from foot to foot, flapping its wings and hissing.

(I leave you here. Think fast.)

Tieron moves a hand and mumbles something. Then says "I am going to take a look in the hole but I am not going to put anything into the hole, just look into it." as he goes invisible. "But I think that you are supposed to reach into it, Savi. It is for you." Tieron moves silently toward the pine to look into the hole.

Savi quietly inquires "What are these wyverns and are they friendly? Can anyone see anything in the hole in my tree?" Savi also detects magic on the tree. Savi also tries using telepathy with the trees.

Tieron looks into the hole in the pine and then says, "I can't see a whole lot but there seems to be a some notches on the inside and no wyverns are not known for their hospitality."

Talorc slowly slides Altira from her sheath. Brandishing it in front of him, the blade catches the moonlight and it turns a glossy greenish color.

Keridwynne mutters to herself something which sounds like "consarned flying scorpions". She then leans heavily on her staff, and says "Lady, do these beasties mean us harm?"

Keridwynne is silent for a moment as she waits for a reply from her goddess.

"I figured as much. Get ready for the attack everyone!" Keridwynne says a bit loudly.

The large wyvern shifts its weight and spreads its great yellow colored wings and starts to spring for the attack. The reptile shifts its weight some more and then folds its wings down.

"The trees have magic in them, but are not sentient or they are not answering to a telepathic scan." Savi states as if nothing else in the world is wrong.

A tail ofa wyvern lashes out from above Mero's head. The spike plunges deep into the top of the shoulder, just at the point were his neck and shoulder meet. Mero falls to the ground more from the impact of the wyvern then the actual pain. That reaction, saved him from the injection of poison that was to follow. For dangling, just above Mero's head the tail of the wyvern releases its poison into the night air. A steady stream of warm liquid rains down on Mero's head. Savi's broadsword arcs through air making an audible wind parting sound, slamming into the wyverns tail and then impacting on the tree. The tail of the wyvern flops on the ground, severed from its owner. A warm rush of blood douses the already wet head of Mero. The tail twitches a bit on the ground as if trying to reach out for its owner and then falls still. A shrill cry of pain from an inhuman throats races into the night.

Talorc always keeping an eye on the biggest wyvern, hears the cry from behind him as Mero was struck and decides that it would be best to watch the front rather than turning around. If these creatures were smart or being controlled they would attack now from both ways. The large yellow wyvern leaps from the tree and dives straight for Talorc. Talorc sets his stance for the attack. The wyvern realizes to late that Altira is poised and waiting for the impact of his body. The wyvern tries to turn to avoid the outstretched sword. Its spreads its wings and attempts to catch enough air to either slow the dive or to turn to avoid it completely. It succeeds in doing both but not good enough. The blade catches the large forward wing bone. The impact snaps it and the blade tears into the soft wing tissue tearing a large gash all the way down it. The wing looks like a great sail now torn in two. The wyvern crashes into the ground unable to fly or even to glide down gently. It rights itself almost before Talorc is on it. It snaps and hisses as it tries to back away from the blade that keeps seeking its blood. The tail slaps around several times searching for a target.

Keridwynne turns from the fray to see what the other wyverns are about to do. Sensing their impending attack, she pulls a small wooden stick from her cloak pocket.

"Expand and Energize." She states calmly.

The wooden stick expands quickly into a staff. Small sparks of blue fire dance down the staff, sparking into the ground and off into the air. Keridwynne's eyes reflect the building intensity of the staffs power. Lightning fires out from the staff end and touches the first of the new wave of wyverns about to join the battle. Blue energy engulfs the wyvern, suspending it in the air for a brief instant, beautiful and almost angelic it appears in that moment. Then the instant is gone and it drops to the ground a blackened heap. The second and third wyvern are touched by the power of the staff. Thunder roars around the party, shaking the trees. The wyverns fall to the ground, though these still live they will not fly for some time. They turn and try to shuffle off into the forest hoping a second wave of blue hellfire doesn't reach them. It doesn't. The staff having done its job already collapsing back down to its normal size. Keridwynne drops it back into the pocket of her cloak.

Mero rolls out from underneath the bloody rain shower that he was receiving. A screech and flapping of wings is all he can hear. He frantically rubs wyvern blood out of his eyes, trying to pierce the red haze that has covered them. Fearing another attack, he pulls his Grandfather's sword. Mero's vision clears and he notes the wyvern after losing its tail has lost its appetite for the fight. It has retreated. The blinding flash of lightning threatens to take away his sight once again, but only for an second. He sees a few light spots in his vision that fade rapidly and then he sees only Talorc still battling a wyvern.

Nightshade and Tieron having not yet acted are unsure of how to react. The battle was very quick and now it has come down to just Talorc. Nightshade turns to look back into the forest, her elven eyes adjusting to the darkness. Her infrared vision notes four blobs of red slowly ambling forward.

"Tieron," Nightshade whispers, "Those blobs out there do you see them?"

"No, where?" He replies.

"A little left of center. See it now?"

"Yes, I do. What are they?" Tieron queries.

Nightshade stares at them for a moment longer and then says, "Horses---with riders."

Nightshade raises her voice, "People, we have riders on horseback bearing down on us!"

Savi stares at the hole in the tree with her number on it. It didn't really reveal anything that she didn't already know. It just beckons her to dare and plunge her arm into it. She wonders as she plunges her arm in if she will ever see her arm intact again. Images of blades slamming down on it make her wince involuntarily as she touches the back of the hole. The wood seems to squeeze in on her arm. It holds not painfully but just enough so that she could not get it out without considerable pain. Then the tattoo on her arm begins to itch and then burn. Savi tries to pull back, but like a Chinese finger puzzle it only gets tighter.

Talorc pushes his advantage against the wyvern. He has wounded it several more times, but it still keeps fighting. It has nicked him a few times with its jaws but nothing of a serious nature. Both of the combatants are tiring, but the battle still wages. It becomes a battle of blood loss that the wyvern loses. Talorc kept nicking it and more blood kept flowing. It finally collapsed to the ground to weak to move more than just its head. It snapped once more at Talorc. Talorc knew it would die soon, so he struck the final blow and sent it on its way.

Keridwynne moves over closer to Savi. Keridwynne seeing Savi with her arm stuck in the tree, thinks, oddly, back to the time that she had to help a cow give birth to its young. A situation that bears a striking resemblance to this. But this time, the offspring doesn't ease itself out. It drops the ground out beneath her and Savi. Savi's arm pulls free of the tree and they slide down a very steeped slope.

Nightshade spins around at the gasp that Keridwynne let off as she fell. Looking at the horsemen coming and the hole, she leaps for the hole. Standing in her way invisibly is Tieron. She slams mightily into him and they both topple over into the hole in the ground. Mero resheathes his sword and starts off after his disappearing party members. Wyvern blood seeps back into his eyes and obscures his vision again. His eyesight goes out again as he slides down the embankment. Talorc turns to watch as Mero slid down the hole. Shateera steps out from behind a tree, knife in hand. She smiles.

"Come on, Talorc." and sitting down, she slides down the embankment into the darkness.

Talorc ever mindful of his collection of odd and various body parts, hews the tail of the wyvern off at the base, slings it over his shoulder and steps into the hole.

The ride is a rough one for those of you that went in without expecting it. It unceremoniously drops you on a hard rock surface. The landing is going to leave several bruises.

Before you stretches a large pool of water. In the center of the pool of water is an island and on the island a building. A path leads in two directions each moving around one end or the other of the lake.

(I am going to leave you here. What you do next may not seem that important but it could be.)

After regaining some semblance of order he unsheathes his short sword and inspects it, at the same time inspecting the path back to the surface should climbing be necessary.

After washing in the pool Mero turns to Keridwynne and says, "I hope this clears, I can't imagine that acid is very good for the complexion."

"I don't think you have to worry too much about it, Mero, you are vision of loveliness, even with Wyvern Entrail Mousse." beams Keridwynne, after dusting herself off from her tumble.

"I thank you, my dear lady. You are entirely too kind. I regret that I cannot truthfully return your compliment just at the moment, for I seem to be having some difficulties seeing," Mero says wiping more blood and venom from his face, "Your goddess seams to have a thing for lakes, do you have any information about this one?"

Tieron staggers up from the ground and scans the area. "Looks friendly enough. But why?" He looks for the way that they dropped. "Did it close? Can we go back up it?"

Tieron looks up at the hole in the ceiling. He forms the opinion that it could be possible with some good climbing gear to scale back up the hole but it would require a great amount of time to rescue the not-so-skilled climbers in the party.

"Savi, can we take a look at your arm? Has it changed? How does it feel? It seemed like it was a specific lock which you opened. You had the code and only you could open it." Tieron continues after scanning the ceiling.

Savi looks down at her arm, number still imprinted there. She holds it up for all to see.

"It feels no different except for a few scratches I got from the fall." she says.

Tieron turns to Nightshade, "Nightshade, who do you think the riders were? The only guess I have is that the wyverns were like hunting dogs for the riders."

Nightshade snorks. "Hunting dogs? My goddess, I hope not. If those are the trackers, I'd hate to see the wolfhounds." She peers around the cavern.

"Guess we're all here and still walking. Keridwynne, you should check out Mero's eyes...that wyvern juice may be still harmful. I know some types of poisons work that way. Which reminds me," and she takes out a small flask and, grasping the tail slung over Talorc's shoulder, squeezes some ooze into the flask, " this stuff seems handy. Hurm...just like milking a cow. Wonder who's cow fixation keeps swaying our descriptors?" Then she disappears. Red footsteps can be seen heading around the path to the left.

"Here, let me take a look at your peepers," Keridwynne says, taking Mero's head into her hands, "Oook, that must tingle! You need to really wash those out. Are you having any trouble seeing now that the goop is off? If so, I may need to memorize a cure blindness for tomorrow. Nasty critters. Regarding the lake, nothing comes to mind but I could request a vision to appear in it, if we would like to ask something related to the hunters, the number, the tree, whatever."

As Nightshade leaves, Talorc quickly wraps the wyvern tail in some spare cloth before anybody else can bother it. He cautiously wanders a bit to the right listening and using his infravision. He'll clean and sheath Altira crouching as he stares into the water for surely something dreadful is about to come out of it.

"As a matter of fact I can't see a thing, unless I'm holding this," Mero says, unsheathing his sword, looks around and notices the red paw prints, "And what's with the red paw prints, anyway?"

"Ah, so this," Keridwynne lightly taps Mero's shortsword, "must be your phallic symbol of far seeing!" She smirks.

"Sorry, Mero, I'm sure it isn't terribly amusing to you just now. I will pray for a vision, then after I collapse with exhaustion as I typically do after a vision, I will wake up and rememorize and ask for the spell to heal your eyes. The paw prints are a side effect to Nightshades invisible cloak along with delusions of grandeur. Talorc identified the delusions as only going to affect the general populace and not the wearer. One wonders if an identify spell can be wrong."

Keridwynne then sets down her things out of the way and wades hip-deep into the silvery pool. "If nothing else, this should alert us to any "dreadful something's" that lurk in these depths."

"I don't wish to be a burden, please take your time and make sure this place is safe before trusting yourself to sleep." Mero says.

Nightshade turns down the left path and continues along the way for some time. Nothing unusual about the path. Stone walkways show the wear of many feet, but seems to have fallen into disuse a while back. Small stones litter the path. She comes to a portion of the lake where the island in the center is only about 100 feet from the shore. It would afford a good view of the building, should there be more light available. But only using her nightvision in this dim light, it is hard to pick out details of the squarish building. It seems to have columns on the front of it, at least four and maybe more. This corner of the building doesn't seem to have much in the way of windows. After a good scan, she starts back down the path.

Keridwynne stares into the water, searching its depths for a key to unlock the mysteries.

"Goddess, hear me, I have come searching for a clue to lead us farther on our quest, but I do not know which way to turn. Show me the right way, Goddess."

The ripples in the water still. A flat expanse of water stretches out in front of Keridwynne. Images begin to fade into view. A picture of the party sweeps out in the water. The viewpoint changes to just above the left path that leads around the lake. A fast moving image follows the path around the lake. It scans many a red paw print as it speeds around the lake. It passes the point of the red prints with great haste. It travels in caverns and on stone paths for several minutes. The vision swings wildly to the right as the trail breaks off from itself. Descending into a deep canyon in the rock, outcroppings appear and here and there light comes out from windows carved into the stone itself. More and more light appears from these stone houses. The vision's speed slows to allow for more detail. It is a city of underground people. They are short, and walk in grey cloaks. A few whose heads are showing, reveal those heads to be dwarves, but of a different kind. The faces are bearded, but they are far more angular at the chin. The skin is grey in pallor and seems almost slick as if it were covered in a sheen of water. The eyes are much bigger in general and much larger in pupil than that of the average dwarf. Those grey pupils shine with every reflection of light, as if looking at wolves eyes in the night. The vision focuses on a group of riders that are riding down a main street. Four riders, two of whom are carrying wyvern bodies. A group of wyverns passes by low overhead to alight on several building outcroppings. The riders moving slowly on their lizard mounts, stop at the approach of another older looking dwarf. He looks up at his armored riders. They slowly dismount, carrying the bodies of the wyverns. These they lay at his feet. Both wyverns are tail-less, victims it would seem of a recent battle. They speak in a language that is guttural and incomprehensible to you at first, but then the words change to common in mid-sentence, a gift from the goddess no doubt.

"--battle. This wyvern was dead upon arrival, the other died shortly of its wounds. There was nothing I could do to help it." one of riders says, speaking to the newly arrived dwarf, "The elves and humans then escaped down a hole in the earth. Sir, the one that opened the door was one of the old ones."

The other dwarf looks cross for a second and then said, "The old ones were taken away, before you were born. How would you recognize one even if it came and stabbed you in the butt?"

"The antennae from the stories, sir. It had antenna and copper skin, pupiless black eyes that bored holes in you. All children are told the stories of the old ones that lived in the cavern. If these are just stories, then why are we forbidden to even see the great lake or the city of the old ones?"

The old dwarf doesn't answer for a long moment and then says, "The hole they dropped into, would it have come out near the great lake or the city of the old ones?"

"Yes, sir, we would have been right over the lake."

A look of worry flashes over the grey dwarfs face, "Send the wyverns out to scout and proceed to the great lake immediately. Make sure that the wyverns do not engage them, I do not want to lose any more of them to this group. Engage this group in hand to hand combat. Kill the old one first and do not stay at a distance to them. The wizards in the group will kill you from afar. Go. I will follow as soon as I can with the army. Just slow them down until I get there."

The vision speeds out of the town and back down the path to end at the lake. The picture sweeps over the party and races down the right path around the lake. It goes a very short distance to another city, long abandoned. Most of the buildings in collapse, the buildings in the center of the town are laid to waste as if a huge explosion leveled them to the ground. Only the outskirts of this town, have any buildings standing at all. The picture focuses in on the worst section of town. Nothing bigger that a brick here and there survives. The vision ripples and the street comes alive with Savi's people everywhere milling about. The buildings in pristine condition. Suddenly a fireball consumes the image, people awash in flame. The image flickers to just outside the town. A short black haired man stands here, laughing around him a group of large nosed gnomes watch in silence as Savi's people burn. A few copper skinned people rush out of the burning city only to be cut down by the gnomes. Lord Sentares, turns and places a finger under the chin of a very young looking Savi and forces her eyes to watch as the town and its people burn.

"Even underground," Sentares says, "you can not hide from me. Your last bastion of hope and the last free city have been burned to the ground. The only thing left is to find those bracers. Savisorbs, you or your friends wouldn't happen to know where those are would you?"

The visions speeds down the path and to the lake with the building on the island. A lone copper skinned woman slips out of the water and crawls onto the beach. Her hair gone and both antenna adorning her head burned to nubs. Her face burned beyond recognition, she staggers to her feet. Crossing the distance to the building, she enters into its inky darkness. A single light shines from an orb raised on a golden tripod. She places her hand on the orb and in a voice little more than a whisper, "Release only to 7197." No longer able to hold her feet she kneels and then sits on the floor, her hand still on the orb, she says, "Protect yourself." Her hand slips from the orb, leaving a bloody trail. The view switches to the outside of the building, which then shimmers and disappears, the island going with it. Lord Sentares emerges from the path. He stops to gaze out across the featureless expanse of water.

"Just where in the hell would you hide those bracers, you telepathic vermin?" he says.

Keridwynne collapses into the water. Talorc and Tieron plunge into the water to retrieve her. They pull the unconscious form of Keridwynne to the shore. She is breathing easily.

"The vision showed a very long path down the left side of this lake. I would say that we have a few hours and maybe as many as eight before these grey dwarves get here. I hope Keridwynne wakes before then." Talorc says.

Tieron heads out down the left path.

Mero calls out, "Where are you going?"

"To find Nightshade, she doesn't know what just happened and I don't want her to find out the hard way." Tieron replies.

"Memories are still difficult for me, but something stirs back there. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I wake and can feel the lingering touch of Sentares. Once in while I sense fear in him, but of what I don't know." Savi says.

Talorc turns to Savi, "About that Lorac and Yendor... do those ferrets track crimson wolf tracks?" One of us should probably get a familiar.

"Lorac and Yendor could track the wolf prints but I think Tieron was going off to seek her. I am sure that he can find her. Though invisible she really isn't that hard to track."

"On another note, do you think if I cast fly on you, you could drag Keridwynne across? But then it would be much harder to do Tieron or I in the same way.

"I don't see a problem with that, I am much stronger than I look." Savi states flexing.

"Maybe if we fashioned a raft..." Talorc glances about for available timber.

Meanwhile Tieron has wandered around the left side of the lake. Small wolf prints start appearing in front of him as he walks and then they pass right by him.

"Nightshade." Tieron summons.

"Tieron?"

"Yes, it's me. You aren't the only one that can go invisible you know. We should head back. Keridwynne did that vision thing in the lake and ..."

Tieron explains the whole situation to Nightshade.

So Nightshade ponders and says. "Let's regroup." And heads back.

Talorc speaks the last word of the flying incantation. Savi lifts experimentally off of the ground.

"It is a strange sensation, one that I seem to be oddly familiar with, but I feel as if I should be riding something rather than flying solo." Savi says.

Savi floats over to Keridwynne and lifts her in her arms, "Be right back for you, Mero."

Meanwhile, Nightshade and Tieron have announced their return by standing behind Talorc and in a very loud voice saying, "WHAT are you up to, Talorc?"

Talorc spins about quickly and nearly has Altira out of its sheath,before he registers who it actually is.

"Savi is transporting us across the water by means of a fly spell, I gave her." He says resheathing his blade.

Savi flies across the water in a straight line aiming for the columns that are visible on the front of the building. She approaches the shore and gently sets the unconscious form of Keridwynne down. She lifts off again and starts across the water to pick up Mero. Halfway across, she pulls up and puts her hands on her antenna and then doubles over as if in pain. She looks up at her companions on the shore. Her eyes no longer looking at them but through them. She turns around, almost zombie like and speeds back to the building. She passes the columns at a high velocity as if she knows where she is going and disappears into the depths of the structure.

A minute of tension passes as party members scan the building waiting for Savi to come out. She doesn't.

"Oh, that's great. Savi just freaked out, left Keridwynne on the shore, unconscious. Two of the party are invisible and Mero can't see. Druegar are about to come screaming around the bend. What the hell else can go wrong?" Talorc shouts at no one.

Nightshade pipes up, "How about a Druegar with a staff on the island picking up Keridwynne?"

Nightshade points to the person lifting Keridwynne up off the ground, course no one can see that.

True to her word, a druegar has appeared from around the side of the building and nearly stumbles over the body of Keridwynne. It reaches down and feels about a bit and then slowly puts its hands underneath the body of the prone Keridwynne. Lifting her off the ground, the druegar plods slowly and methodically back around the side of the building.

"Ya, I would say that qualifies." Mero states, sword in hand.

"I hear that you are awake," the female druegar says, "are you hungry? I found no wounds upon you but you were out cold on the shore. I had thought that maybe you swam across but you were not wet."

Keridwynne looks around the room a bit. She is laying on a cot made of wood and stray. Cooking utensils hang from the ceiling. A set of dishes sit on a shelf. A staff leans against the stone door. A table sits in one corner with just one chair. There is a window that looks out over the shore and you can see the water lapping on the beach. You could squeeze out of it if you had to. A woven straw mat covers the bare floor and a few vegetables and things sit in baskets at the foot of the cot.

"No, thank you, I am not hungry. I am not sure how I got here." Keridwynne says.

"I did not check your head, have you hit it? Do you remember anything at all? Your name, perhaps?" She asks sincerely.

"Keridwynne and yours? Perhaps, if you told me where we are that may joggle my memory,"

"Jens is my name and you are on an island in the middle of a lake. In an underground cavern that my people call the cavern of the forbidden. An ominous name don't you think?"

"I will let time and events judge that." Keridwynne says smiling.

Keridwynne stands and queries, "Do you make your home on this island?"

Jens says, "Yes now for about..., she pauses and steps for the door and placing her left hand out reaches and feels the scratches in the door, "50 years now."

"Just you?" It would seem like a lonely place. You speak the common tongue very well."

Jens walks over and sits down on the chair, placing the wooden bowl down on the table.

"I had a friend that lived here with me for a time. He was human with maybe a little bit of some other blood mixed in. He arrived one day on the shore just like you. He was old already, but he lived with me for a few years before he passed away. He taught me his tongue, saying that Druegar was far to hard to learn."

"Are you here of your own accord or are you exiled from your people? I thought that your people were somewhere nearby." Keridwynne asks.

"A bit of both. The Druegar are not very pleased with anyone having a disability, so to make a long story short, no I wasn't exiled just pitied to death. So I left." Jens says.

"I left my own home for similiar reasons, after my husband passed away. They don't look very favorably at women who no longer have husbands. What occupies your time here, if I may ask?"

"I do many things. Mostly I try to make the most of living on the island. Currently, I have been trying to collect enough driftwood to make a second chair. My garden takes up most of my time here."

"Do you have any contact with other peoples or are the druegar the only ones that come to the forbidden cavern?" Keridwynne says lilting her voice on the word forbidden.

"The druegar are the only ones still alive after the old ones left the other city. The old one city is down the path that leads east around the lake. The druegar don't come here. Too superstitious. They fear that the old ones are going to come back and mess with minds again." Jens says.

"But you don't share that fear?" Keridwynne questions.

"No, I don't. The old ones that I have heard about from the stories of the building don't depict a race of slavers."

"Let us share a fine bowl of soup then and I will tell you a little bit about what I remember."

Jens gets up and ladles another bowl of soup out and sets it down on the table. Withdrawing her own soup she steps over to the cot and sits down on the edge bowl in hand.

"I'm listening."

"I serve the lady of the water. We were lead down here in order to help a friend of mine. I spoke truly, as I do not know how I got here, as I was taken with a vision at the time. In this vision, I saw what must be the city of the old ones. One of these people is my friend, who does not know of her origins. In this vision, I also saw that the druegar were coming here and they weren't happy about our intrusion. More than that I could not tell you, except that if I am here, my comrades are not far behind." Keridwynne says recanting the tale.

"An old one has returned. How many comrades do you have and do you know where they are? The building will rejoice in this news. Are all your friends old ones or human as you? Is the island visible or still invisible when you came across?" The words tumbling like a waterfall out of Jens mouth.

"The Building will rejoice?" Keridwynne says puzzled and raising an eyebrow, "The island was visible from the shore."

"The building has a brain as I call it. It speaks from a orb in the central room. It was waiting for the one that had the key. If the island is visible then your friend has the key. This is bad only for the fact that the druegar can now see the island and if they are coming they will smash the orb and all the remnants of the old ones culture with them."

"Well, I guess that depends on what the key opens." Keridwynne extends her hand to help Jens up, "shall we go meet my friends?"

"Yes, we probably should." Jens stands up quickly and smashes into the underside of the extended hand of Keridwynne.

"Whoops, sorry didn't mean to smack you one." Keridwynne says.

"No problem, I didn't see it, but then again, I don't see much of anything." she says.

"Well nonetheless, I am sure that you know this place far better than I, so lead on." Keridwynne say.

"Here, take this. It is my spellbook copy of Fly. Try to cast it as a scroll. Hurry. Don't argue. Just do it. I would recommend casting it on yourself and taking Nightshade. She might be the lightest here. The rest of us can try to delay the Druegar heading this way. Or maybe we can just hide."

Talorc winces at the offered page, and then grabs the spellbook from Tieron with a sense of inspiration.

"No, I have a better and definitely less repugnant idea. And we can all get across." He pulls out a potion from his knapsack, and grins at his audience. "I hate losing something this useful, but desperate times..." Talorc quaffs, "Form of... a white dragon!"

Talorc's body starts to reform, his skull elongates and stretches out, the color of his flesh changing to a stark white. Wings burst and erupt from his back, to unravel in great white sails. The skin toughens and forms a leathery scaled covering. The great white head of an arctic dragon turns about.

"Get on." It says in Talorc's voice.

Nightshade peers through the billowing puffs of lavender fog surrounding Talorc. "Oh!" she cries. "That's so....cute!"

Talorc turns his massive head around and looks out from underneath his eyebrows. He deeply inhales and then opens his great white maw, exposing jagged and savage looking teeth. A great billow of white envelops Nightshade. The fog passes and Nightshade looks a bit bedraggled from the wetness of the exhale.

"Very funny." She says and climbs aboard none to gently.

Mero, Tieron and Shateera follow.

With a great flap of his wings, Talorc launches himself into the air. The theory of flight and the study of birds are well known to Talorc. But being the first time that he has ever flown as a dragon. The practice is a bit shaky. His great wings touch on the water, spraying foam and lake water all over. It takes several large swoops of his wings to actually start skimming over the water rather than bathing in it. Talorc starts to gain in altitude. The ride is a bit unsteady but straight. The landing is quite rough as Talorc extends his feet and touches down. He starts running from the momentum built up. Using the wings as air brakes he pulls up a short distance from the building. The sudden stop at the end is rather whiplike. People dismount, quite soggy. Talorc's form starts to reassemble into his familiar one. His features stop at a slightly more angled look. His ears much pointier than before.

The party moves down to the beach where Keridwynne lay, the outline of where she was easily found in the sand. The small footprints in the sand lead back up the hill and toward the back of the building. The party follows the footprints around, where they disappear into the dark of a corridor. The opening is pitch dark. No light seems to shine from within.

Nightshade calls out from a distance away, "Over here. I'm behind you about 25 feet, in the mushroom garden."

The group turns around to see mushrooms of heights not normally seen on the surface. Some standing as tall as small trees, a hundred different colors and types of mushroom grow.

"Mushrooms, so? They grow all over in the Underdark. The drow cultivate them in much this similar pattern." Shateera starts, "but why would someone cultivate mushrooms on an island that is forbidden to the druegar?"

"Someone that lives here, maybe?" Mero says, "a druegar that no longer lives with the rest?"

Talorc growls, "Why are we talking about mushroom gardening when Keridwynne is in that building somewhere?"

"Because you said yourself, Talorc, that the length of that path, it would take a few hours and maybe as many as eight for the druegar to get here. Then how did they get here so soon, unless some or maybe just one, for that is all we have seen, get here so quickly?" Tieron ponders.

"So we face a lone druegar, rather than an army of them. Let's get an early start on the one so that the when the rest get here we don't have an army and one to kill." Talorc says bearing his wide toothed grin.

He lopes across the distance back to the building. The rest soon follow. The darkness is inky with no light to see by. No heat traces are visible to lead the party to Keridwynne.

Mero steps into the corridor, "A long corridor with a lot of side passages and doors. Where do you want to start?"

"First I think that we start with a light in this gloom. For being blind you certainly see well, Mero." Tieron says, rummaging again in his backpack. He pulls out a lantern and starts to light it. Nightshade notices it first a light coming from the corridor. Two figures backlit by a light coming from the door at the end of the corridor. Talorc pulls his sword.

The couple walks down the hall coming closer and finally are recognized as Keridwynne and a grey dwarven female. The grey dwarf is amazingly good looking as dwarves go.

Keridwynne explains. See her response.