~ The Quest for the Ring of Fire
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Turn 141.0: Recollecting
Posted: 2/9/01
Shortly after the dust
settles, the Caerloon soldier in front of Storm throws his weapon to the
ground, submitting to him in surrender.
Storm hesitates for a moment.
"Arrr...ye coward," he shouts, barely able to hear his own
voice through the ringing in his ears.
As such, his voice is in a yell.
He sheathes the sword in his right hand as he starts walking toward the
surrendering man, and with his left he smacks the pommel of the sword over the
man's head. With his right hand, he
grabs the man by the collar as he falls, catching him before he fully falls,
and starts walking toward the rest of group--dragging the unconscious solider
behind him--without even breaking stride.
Crayne stands there
silently. He looks angrily at the
surrendered soldier in front of him.
His dagger drips with Caerloon blood.
At first he doesn't even notice that his hearing has been effected. The sheer adrenaline and rage had carried
him through the battle and now suddenly it was all over. Rinder's Six had won again. 'But for what?' Crayne thinks to himself as
he sees the bloodshed all around him.
Suddenly, Crayne moves up
to the surrendered soldier and shoves him hard. "You fool!" Crayne shouts smashing the foot of his
staff into the ground. "Do you people
never learn? Look at your friends! All such a waste! And for what?"
He turns and begins to walk
away from the battle scene. He shakes
his head in a disapointed manner. A
sudden wave of tiredness then hits him as his heart begins to beat normally. He sees the arrowhead jutting out of his
waist. There was no blood though due to
Illena's healing spells. He had much to
thank her for.
Kneeling on the ground,
next to Alara, El thinks he can feel her heat.
He feels colder, certainly weaker, and his head has begun to spin. As he attempts to rise, he falls heavily
against her. Shaking his head and
pushing her away, he can feel the closeness of her body, ready to support him,
and remembers for a moment, similar embraces, long ago and far away. He clears his head of such thoughts, and
surveys the battlefield.
Emma walks out to rejoin
the rest of Rinder's Six. Her hair is
messed up and her body feels sore all over from two separate falls to the cold
packed dirt during the battle. Her leg
also aches badly from the crossbow-wound.
She limps a little as she nods to Canter. "Thanks for taking the heat off of me," she tells the
leatherman's son, clapping him on the shoulder as he keeps watch on the soldier
in front of him. She thinks it odd that
he doesn't respond and then looks more closely at him. The big warrior shakes his head and points
to his ears. "Oh...." she
says "...the song." She
looks to Dodgen and asks, "Their ears have been affected...is it
permanent?"
Dodgen shakes his
head. "No...not usually."
Hannibal enters the
El-Balans compound and gazes in astonishment at the destruction the priests had
delivered. "Damn! Why the hell didn't you just do that in the
first place?!!" he asks no one in particular but intended obviously for
the Priests of Hathe.
Shrugging, Hannibal
approaches Canter and gives him the once over.
"You look terrible friend, but I'm glad your okay!" Hannibal
smiles at the leatherman's son and pats him on the back.
Noticing Storm close by as
well, he walks over and this time wraps his arms around the stout and gives him
a hug. (Knowing full well the dwarf
will probably react poorly to the move!)
"Damn good to see you Storm!" he chides while picking the big
man up as high as he can manage.
"Skandor?" Emma
calls out, not seeing the young paladin anywhere with the interposing wall of
fog between them, "Has anyone seen the Sword Bearer?" Her chest tightens a little as she considers
the very real possibility he might have fallen despite the restorative faith
healing she had placed upon him.
"Skandor?!" she tries again.
But, with him also being deafened, there's no way he can hear her words.
Skandor drops his sword as
his blood-smeared gauntlets slowly descend from his ears, his eyes clenched
tightly shut in pain. He opens them a
moment later...and the sound is gone.
He is still surrounded by the fog, and looking down, the dead mage still
lies at his feet. His breathing comes
in heavy, weary gasps...but he cannot hear them! He cannot even hear his own breathing!
He mutters one word, mostly
out of concern, but partly out of fear..."Emma?" his mouth moves, but
he hears nothing!
'Am I dead?' he
thinks. 'Did the mage get one last
spell off, realizing his doom was at hand?
Is this...it?' he wonders, barely able to move. The fog slowly starts to clear around him,
and he feels tears slowly slide down his face.
Many questions fill his mind suddenly.
'Am I worthy to enter
Anhur's Great Hall? Will I get to see
my mother and father again? And will
they judge me worthy...redeemed?'
As the fog clears a bit
more, he can slowly make out the appearance of buildings, and people, in the
distance. Quickly, with minor embarrassment,
he wipes away the tears from his eyes.
How embarassed he would be to stand before his mother and father, or
before Anhur himself, with tears streaking his face like a little baby! But once again, his bloody forearms only
serve to smear the sweat and blood around his eyes and cheeks further. He catches his breath.
There was Emma, walking
towards him.
Her mouth moves, and though
the paladin can not make out her words, he can tell that she seems quite
relieved, perhaps happy even.
"Oh, thank the
heavens!" Emma says, "I feared we had lost you." She hobbles toward him and gives him a
congratulatory hug for surviving the conflict.
"Our faith has seen us through," she says, blinking back the
mistiness in her eyes. Soon she pulls
away however and can tell by the stunned look on his face that he doesn't
fathom her words...but clearly he can understand the look upon her face. Simply relief and happiness to see him once
again.
Stunned with the
realization that he was not dead, Skandor merely blinks unmoving as Emma
gently embraces him for a moment.
Indeed, as she pulls him close, he can smell her hair, her own sweat
from the heat of battle--nay, he was not dead.
Far from it! Skandor cannot
recall the last time someone embraced him in an effort to show that they merely
cared for his well-being. He knows not
how to respond, so he doesn't. His
weary muscles relax, though, as he realizes that he enjoys her nearness,
awkward as it may be.
As she pulls away he avoids
her eyes, and instead looks silently down at the mage's dead body, and beside
it. Slowly, he bends down to retrieve
his sword. He lifts it slowly, and for
some reason now, many minutes after the battle, long after the adrenalin rush
has worn off, the blade suddenly feels as though it weighed many times more
than it actually did.
He feels
almost...disappointed? He had felt so
close to death, and believed for a few moments that he was, indeed, dead. Perhaps still being alive was Anhur's way of
shunning him from the Great Hall? Or
perhaps the Almighty was telling Skandor that he was not yet ready to
enter? Not yet...worthy?
Slowly, his hearing returns
to him as he hears someone else approach.
Hannibal nods his agreement
with Emma's words. The paladin had
certainly proven his worth over the last few engagements. Approaching the wounded Sword Bearer, he
smiles broadly and shakes his hand.
"You're tough as nails, you know that, right? Next time I want you out of the picture I'll
remember not to drop a slab of ice on your head." Hannibal smiles and pats the paladin on the
shoulder before moving on.
The paladin wearily shakes
Hannibal's hand. He attempts to smile,
looking at his fellow warrior with an almost-dazed-like expression and
nods. Softly, slowly, he whispers,
"I will take that as a compliment, sir."
He glances once again
towards Emma, to be sure that she was indeed alright. His eyes look her over for any sign of any major wound. Not seeing any, his mind attempts to snap to
attention whe he sees her about to speak.
Crayne makes his way back
to where he had left Illena earlier, behind one of the dead horses that
littered the battle field.
"Illena!" he bellows.
He begins to worry a little as he dosen't receive a reply. And there suddenly he sees her head poke up
behind one of the horses.
"Arhh! You are safe! That is good! Come now, I believe you have friends that would like to see
you!"
Illena smiles and jumps up
from behind the horse, "Thank you!" she says.
Crayne replies,
"What? I can't hear you!"
The mage shakes his head
violently for a few moments, and slowly his hearing improves. "Phew!
That's better!" he says as he looks to Illena. The two of them then head back to the
courtyard side by side.
As Storm reaches the group,
he throws the man into the middle of the circle, and inadvertently shouts his
comments to the group. "Here be a
Caerloon coward fer yer executioner's blade!
'course, I can finish the bugger fer ye if ye don't wanna wait that
long!" He says the last bit as
more of a joke, not taking any motion forward to actually do such an act.
Emma turns around and
starts taking an assessment of the rest of the battlefield. "Is everyone else accounted for? Crayne?
Illena? Robert?" She can't quite see the desert clearly
enough outside the gate, though she believes she saw a small head poke up from
behind one of the dead horses.
"Hannibal? Can you check on
them?"
Hannibal perks up at
mention of his name and nods.
"Yeah, I'm on it."
Hannibal runs off and
retrieves the young lady (along with Crayne), returning to Alara's care as she
seems to be closest to her anyway.
Then Emma's eyes settle
upon Crayne...or rather six different Craynes!
She blinks her eyes at this latest surprise. A smile crosses her face, their heated argument all but a
forgotten memory now. "Crayne the
Ever Resourceful," she says, "I think you deserve that new title to
go along with Highbrow. It certainly
fits you just as well."
Illena giggles at Emma's
expression. Crayne is little a confused
for a moment before he realises. To
both sides of him stand illusionary Craynes.
He had been so caught up in the battle that he hadn't even noticed that
they were still there. Crayne bursts
into sudden loud laughter.
Crayne smiles again. The rage in him had been succumbed for
now. He was tired and he needed
rest. He knew now though that he would
find it hard to put trust in any of the Six again. He had been deeply hurt by their suggestions of megalomania.
The priestess gives a groan
as a new wave of pain shoots through her leg and she wobbles, finally letting
herself down easily to the ground to take the weight off. "El?
By the gods, you look more beat up than me, Canter, and Crayne put
together," she says, "Come let me invoke a prayer to Anhur that he
might heal your wounds. Skandor? You too." She gathers both the man and elf next to her and then prays
quietly with a hand on each of them.
What carnage. Elloharin the Dimmed has grown no brighter
in the company of the Six. His path has
only gotten more bloody, more gruesome, more stained. He sighs heavily and considers the dead bodies. He can see the members of the Six wandering
almost aimlessly through the last tendrils of fog. Emma approaches Skandor, his tabard nearly gone, and then comes
forward to him.
Elloharin regards the tall
paladin closely. He thinks he can see
the light shimmer off the man's bloody cheeks.
What?! Tears? He can see how he
follows the priestess around. His eyes
never leave her. And they seem so
desperate, and so cold. Skandor's eyes
seem in someway to reflect his own.
Flashing painfully through his memory, the sight of a nearly crushed
Skandor, sword upraised, ice cascading over his trembling body. Was it a god that held him up then? Was it faith? Or...was it Emma? His charge. Suddenly the desperation in the paladin's
eyes seems more pathetic, less holy and admirable, and more deceitful.
As Emma's hands close on
El's shoulders, he follows her eyes as she looks him over. Bloody rents torn through his clothing,
leather armor, and through to his body.
He can feel cool comfort sweep through him as his wounds begin to close
of their own accord. He studies her
closely, a wry smile comes to his face as a rhyming couplet appears in his
mind:
Oh Emma, emma, she so
sad,
she done her best, and
still we bad.
tried so hard to make us
believe,
help our hurts, our pain
relieve.
and still we hurt and
hurt and bleed,
and follow her around
wherever she lead
oh emma, emma why so
sad?
Don't chou know we
really so glad,
to follow you 'round
where ever you lead.
our light, our hope,
your fearless steed,
To follow your god, your
light, your creed.
He speaks it softly under his breath, as she prays. Looking steadily into her eyes, and smiling
a sort of sardonic, half-grin, half-grimace.
(OOC: 7 hp restored to
El; 4 hp restored to Skandor)
Next Crayne looks to the
arrow that is stuck in his side.
Usually he would have approached Emma with something like this, but his
pride wouldn't have it. Making his way
off near to the Temple walls, Crayne sits slowly down. He closes his eyes and grips the arrow
head. With a large yelp of pain he
snaps the top of the arrow off. Blood
begins to gush from the wound. Quickly
he slides the arrow out through his back.
He quickly throws the arrow and again yells in pain. Quickly he moves for one of his belt pouches
and begins to apply one of his healing balms to the open wound. Once applied he then takes a long swig from
his water bottle. He rests there
silently for a moment as the pain begins to soothe.
"Now, perhaps a minor
blessing for the rest of us," Emma says, muttering to herself. "Anhur favors the victorious," she
reminds herself, touching the wound in her leg. She feels a little better and stands once more, testing her
weight upon the injured limb. Then she
walks to Alara, Canter, and Hannibal, healing them. Crayne is, for the moment, nowhere to be found.
As she makes her way to
Storm and begins casting, he suddenly interrupts her by slapping her hands away
from him. With a sneer, he says (again
in an inadvertent shout, which in this case might get taken the wrong way)
"save yer healin' fer someone else, priestess. Accordin' to ye, I ain't worth yer stinkin' god's
healin'." He turns his back on
her, walking away, mumbling a strange mix of common and dwarven. But since he's talking louder than he
realizes due to his partial deafness, most of his words are heard. "...enjoys killin'...know the half of
it...dwarven..."
Emma sighs and watches the
Dwarf walk away. She puts a hand to her
mouth and bows her head, focusing on the hard-packed earth beneath her
feet. 'I'll never get through to any of
them,' she thinks, 'Even when I try...I just make things worse. Why did I have to use those words? I insulted virtually everyone I tried to
help.'
She sighs and straightens
up. 'Just let it go,' she tells
herself, 'Stop berating them all the time...stop expecting so much of
them. Maybe if you lower your
expectations, you won't be so disappointed all the time. And maybe if you keep your mouth shut for
once you won't say something to make people hate you so much.'
When she is finished
healing as many of the party's wounds as possible, Emma returns to Dodgen. "We returned with your Coreognate's
body," she explains, "Though it was no easy task to save it from the
undead creatures that had gathered to feast upon his bones. It was only through the grace and blessings
of Anhur that we turned them away.
"Before we returned
here," she continues, "I summoned his spirit once more into this
realm so he could tell us what happened.
These Caerloon troops escorted several Red Dragon mages to El-Balans for
the purpose of uncovering the hidden locations of the Rings of
Damacht...powerful devices which control the power of the elements themselves. Your Coreognate told us of the Ancient
Chambers that lie beneath this temple.
He explained that the information they seek is contained within a
written play that lies in Killner's Vault.
We must reach that place before they do."
The priestess motions to
the dead soldiers spread across the courtyard.
"We questioned the leader of these men and he tells us that fifty
soldiers were garrisoned here before our arrival...and that two of these Red
Dragon mages remained. We faced only a
portion of that force here in the courtyard.
The others must still be searching for the play. Can you help us to find them and the play
first? Even now I suspect they have
Director Amos with them. Amos is a good
man, but he fears for your safety. The
death of the Coreognate has unnerved him and he might have already told them
the location of the vault. Can you help
us once more, Dodgen? It is paramount
that the rings not fall into the hands of our enemies."
A troubled visage sweeps
across Dodgen's face. "Killner's
Vault...the Ancient Chambers. These are
places heavily guarded for centuries, generations."
"I realize the sacred
importance, Artful One," Emma replies, but is cut off.
"And not a soul has
set foot beyond the subchambers of the Temple in quite some time. The scrolls, scores, and writings sealed in
Killner's Vault are there for a reason, a purpose. They have been deemed by great scholars past simply too dangerous
for study!" Dodgen lowers his
head, cupping his mouth with his hand in thought. A morning breeze, cool and fresh, ruffles his dirty robes.
Then, he looks up,
addressing Emma once again. "I
will lead you'n to the gateway to the Ancient Chambers. But I will venture no further. If these mages you'n speak of have
undertaken such a quest, and have caused Director Amos to accompany them, then
I simply request of you'n to consider his safety whereupon you find him. But be forewarned!" Dodgen
emphasizes, "Your'n mettle will be tested in the Ancient Chambers, Shield
Maiden of Anhur. I know not of the
obstacles you'n face; there have been no plays, no songs, no poems on the
subject. And no one living in this
realm today has ever set foot there..."
"Alright then,"
Emma nods, "We need time to prepare ourselves for the trials ahead. This battle took a toll on all of us, I
fear. Skandor? Canter?
Secure the prisoners and let the Hatheans decide what to do with them. Hannibal?
Storm? Why don't you two scout
out the rest of the compound and see if you can tell where the rest of Robert's
men disappeared to."
Skandor merely nods, still
shaking off the effects of the tiresome combat and the 'near-death'
experience. Shouldering his claymore,
he instead draws his gladius. It was
small, lighter, faster...it would make it easier to discipline the prisoners if
need be. The Sword Bearer was a
gruesome sight both to his captives, but even more so to his companions. They knew Skandor always one to be clean as
a whistle, from his daily shaving regimen to the care and cleanliness of his
chain mail, weapons, and especially his tabard.
But now, his tabard hangs
in charred, tattered strips from his waist, a few stray pieces of cloth hang
down to his knees. His chain mail is
rent and torn in a few spots, and blood--some dried, some still wet, mingled
with some of his own--smears his face, hands, knees, arms, and various other
parts of his body. Sweat streaks down
his face, creating small rivulets of up-and-down stripes on his cheeks. Slowly removing his chain hauberk, his hair
is matted with sweat.
Without speaking, the
paladin watches the prisoners closely, waiting, daring them to move.
"Speaking of
Robert..." Emma continues says, "Where is he?"
"Everyone's accounted
for, although some of us look better than others I think," Hannibal
replies, winking at Skandor.
"Wade's body is gone. I
think I saw one of the Caerloon officers grab him and ride off to the
south."
"What?!" Emma
responds, "But...that can't be...we need...but..." She stumbles over the words, sorting out the
ramifications and possibilities behind Robert's 'escape'. Finally she calms down and says,
"Well...for all our arguing, I think this solves our problem for us. Robert is back in the hands of his men. And he's far away from those that still seek
the Rings of Damacht...so he can't warn them about us by betraying our
confidence in him.
"No doubt, he's well
on his way to whatever encampment his force originated from," she
continues, "Probably to the south somewhere. That's for the best, I think.
His own men won't see him as having consorted with us. And, if he lives up to his word, we might
have found a well-placed ally in the ranks of the Caerloon army. Only time will tell."
She looks back toward
Crayne and Hannibal...the two she had argued the most with over Robert
Wade. "I'm sorry for the harsh
exchange of words between us," she tells them, "I care about Robert
Wade the Younger. I cannot deny
it. How much I feel this way about him,
I haven't sorted out yet. But I do see
a noble spirit in him...the potential for great good. If we can just open his eyes and separate him from his father's
ambition and evil, I know we can save him from a path of personal
destruction. That's my goal. But I can't let it interfere with our goals
as Rinder's Six."
Hannibal then nudges
Storm. "If you can forgive me for
hugging you I think we need to set off and scout the place out, maybe snoop up
in the temple some more. Up to
it?"
Storm, who had been
inspecting one of the long, bleeding gashes down his side, looks up. "Aye, it be better than waitin' around
fer nothin'." Before heading in to
the temple, though, he goes back toward the gate of the temple and scavanges
for any unstepped-on caltrops that he can re-add to his collection. (OOC:
Storm finds and replaces 15 caltrops.)
After this, he nods to Hannibal and walks off after him to scout the
temple area.
Emma slips her broadsword
back into the scabbard at her waist.
"So let's concentrate on the Rings of Damacht and forget about
Robert for a little while. We need to
prepare for a confrontation with the other wizard and the soldiers that are
with him."
Crayne merely nods his head
at Emma and says, "Indeed! I will
certainly not let this happen again. As
you say Emma, we need to prepare for the future."
"El? Alara?" she suggests, "Why don't
you go ahead and count the dead. That
ought to give us an idea of what to expect in the Ancient Chambers. Meanwhile, Crayne and I can perpare our
spells and prayers..."
Crayne turns to El,
"El look out for the mage. Search
his body closely. Be careful not to
miss anything!"
Hearing her instructions,
El and Alara go out to count the dead.
El is merciless to the
dead. The light in his eyes is nearly
extinguished as he rifles through their belongings. From the archers, he takes what shafts are still whole and places
them in his quiver. The dead are like
wood, and must be treated like such. He
doesn't expect his own tattered body to be treated any differently when it
falls to the ground, dead or exhausted.
Care can be taken for the living--not the dead.
(OOC: Elloharin scavenges
16 sp, 9 cp from the soldiers, but no composite short bow or suitable leather
armor. He does find 17 usable arrows.)
While Storm and Hannibal
are busy scouting out the temple, Emma approaches Elloharin, and then Skandor,
imparting her Anhur-given healing power on the two soldiers. Then she uses her remaining Orisons upon all
who remain--and who accept them.
(OOC: 7 hp restored to Elloharin (CLW), 7 hp
restored to Skandor (CLW), 1 hp restored to Alara, Canter, Elloharin, Hannibal,
and Skandor (Orisons).)
Stepping into the interior
of the Temple, Hannibal and Storm immediately jump into the shadows. Caerloon soldiers could be hiding anywhere,
just waiting for the right moment to pop out and stab them. After a tense moment, though, all seems
quiet. As their eyes speedily adjust to
the dark interior of the large stone structure, they begin to survey the scene.
The wood pews have been
pushed aside, tossed off to the right (as one enters the sanctuary), leaving a
large open space in the middle of the sanctuary. Storm furrows his brow as he observes this, and gives a silent
look to Hannibal, making sure the human noticed it too. Hannibal, however, is already noticing
something else: the stone wall that encompassed the hidden, magical doorway to
the study below has been breached!
Large stones, formerly part of the wall, lie next to the wall, and an
odd, jagged hole in the wall leads to the narrow staircase to the study. The hole is big enough for a human to get
through, and as Storm follows Hannibal's sight line, he notes that the torches
formerly placed along the wall of the descending staircase are conspicuously
missing.
Meanwhile, outside the
temple itself, the priests of El-Balans begin to assess their situation,
gathering the remaining clerics and students from the stable and directing them
to clear the debris from the sleeping quarters. The gate is shut and sealed and the outer walls inspected for
breaches. A fire is soon lit near the
kitchen area and a few scroll-boys are sent for water for soup. The Coreognate's body is brought into one of
the smaller buildings near the stable, to be cleaned and prepared for a proper
Hathean burial. As things begin to come
under control, Dodgen returns to Emma.
"Shield Maiden,"
he begins, his tone serious, "My Brothers in Song and I give you'n our
thanks, and our gratitude for rescuing us'n from the clutches of the evil
soldiers. We'n were taken by surprise
during morning prayers five days ago, and for some, this morning is the first
sun they'n have seen since then. Some of
my Brothers wish to offer you'n and your Sword Bearers a bit of Hathe's rejuvenating
elixir, if you'n will accept it."
"Artful One,"
Emma replies with a smile, "Your rescue was my duty. And your offer of healing is gladly
accepted."
With a nod, Dodgen leaves
Emma's side, and with a few of his fellow priests, begins to heal some of
Rinder's Six.
(OOC: 5 hp restored to Alara, Canter, Crayne,
Elloharin, Emma, and Skandor. (Storm
and Hannibal are in the Temple at this time.))
Following the administration
of Hathe's Elixir, Emma and Crayne find themselves two quiet spots and in their
own ways, set to study. Crayne takes
out his spellbook, smoothing out some of the pages that were creased in his
pack during the ride from the desert and the confusion of battle. First he memorizes Armor, promptly casting
it upon himself for protection in the dangerous days ahead. Then he sets about memorizing a whole new
slate of spells, a task that will take many hours.
Emma, meanwhile, finds a
quiet place for prayer. Kneeling and
laying bare her weapons, she closes her eyes, filtering out the sounds of pots
and pans, songs and voices, and other happenings going on around her. A sense of peace arrives after a few
minutes. She begins her formal prayers,
requesting Anhur invest in her a modicum of his power so that she may once
again draw on it when faced with the challenges that will surely be in her
future.
Emma rises at about the
time when one of the Hatheans announces that the midday meal is ready. At the same time--as if one cue!--Hannibal
and Storm emerge from their activities in the temple. Elloharin meets the priestess at the tables outside the kitchen,
reporting to her and the rest of the party his tally.
"The foot soldiers and
archers number forty. Also present are
two officers and," he looks to Crayne, "one mage. Aside from a little pocket change, we found
no usable weapons or armor in conditions better than our own. And," he continues with a hint of
disappointment, "the mage seems not to have carried with him any wizardly
items."
"Forty," Canter
repeats, slurping some soup from his bowl.
"And if Robert said there were originally fifty, that leaves ten
foot soldiers unaccounted for."
"Plus at least one
officer, I'd imagine," Skandor says.
Emma nods to Skandor and
Canter, "plus one Red Dragon mage."
"Where could they have
gone?" Alara asks.
"To the Ancient
Chambers," Hannibal answers.
"Storm and I had a look inside the temple. It seems they somehow found out about Amos's
secret subterranean study. The wall is
blasted enough for some men to get through and head down. And I don't think they're there to
study."
Storm nods, agreeing with Hannibal's
assessment. "The race be on."
Alara leans forward over
the table, as if about to speak, but then stops. Something was holding her back.
Finally, she opens her mouth, her voice tentative. "I will not be joining you in the
Ancient Chambers," the half-elf announces. Her eyes stare straight down the table, past Canter and Emma,
Skandor and Hannibal. She looks
directly at Illena. "I think I
have found here, among these welcoming people, and with Illena, a place that I
might someday be able to call my home.
It is a calling."
Her eyes begin to moisten
as she begins to look at her friends sitting around her at the long table. "I have no desire for war and battles
anymore. I'm not sure what I will do,
but I know that she will need someone of her own kind to look after her,"
she motions to Illena, who stands at the end of the table, watching and
listening, her large eyes taking in all that she can see and hear.
"Do you see me a
traitor? A coward? I do not wish to be any of these. I will be here for you, my friends. But I will be here, at this lost,
forgotten place on the edge of the world.
Will you allow me to take my leave?"
1. HP Status at the end of
141.0: Alara 27/41, Canter 32/44,
Crayne 29/16*, El 25/25, Emma 42/42, Hannibal 15/26, Skandor 28/38, Storm
22/50.
* these values include the
effect of the Armor spell
2. At the end of Turn 141.0, Crayne
will have memorized the following spells:
1: Detect Magic, Magic
Missile, Color Spray, Read Magic
2: Knock, Levitate
3: Invisibility 10' Radius,
<one slot empty>
3. At the end of Turn 141.0, Emma
will have the following spells:
1: Anti-Vermin Barrier,
Command, Cure Light Wounds (x3)
2: Augury, Find Traps, Cure
Moderate Wounds, Hold Person, Remove Paralysis
3: Dispel Magic, Locate Object, Summon Animal Spirit
~ The Quest for the Ring of Fire
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