The Spirit of a Heroic Villain In a snooty gated community in the United States, A 16 year old teen rises from

his worn out bed, and yawns as the sun beams down through the window. His mother calling him, he rinses his face in the sink, and goes through his morning routine. Little did he know, that today would be the day that would change his life. Frack, why does are my blinds even open says our teenaged protagonist, as he walks down the stairs. He puts on some clothes, grabs some breakfast and leaves gets into his dads car as they drive away. After about a half-hour he arrives at his pretentious overpriced private school and walks through the front door. Managing to arrive 20 minutes early, as usual for him, he plops himself down in the library, content to amuse himself with phone apps and watching the students around him gossip about the latest couple or whatever they went on and on about. After an incredibly boring and tedious day of classes, he comes upon a free period. Why do I have to go through this tedious cycle of going to school, coming home, doing some boring homework assignment, and then repeating it over and over again? I just want these days of schooling to end. Its the same thing over and over again, and it isnt going to get any better after I go to college either. The protagonist thinks to himself. He logs himself into a computer and passes the remaining time reading threads on a D&D forum. Wouldnt it be nice to be one of the characters I play? To go on quests, slay monsters and save the princess It would sure beat the daily toil that I go through in this place. Spells and magic swords, fighting the Evil Lich to secure the sacred artifacts. Just one day, one day as an adventurer and I would never go back. The protagonist thinks again to himself. As soon as he leaves the door he finds himself disgruntled to find that instead of walking out into the familiar entrance to his school, he finds himself in what appeared to be a small medieval village surrounded by thick woods, and overlooked by a menacing stone castle. Confused, he stumbles around trying to figure what was going on, and eventually decides to walk into what he thought was a Restaurant. Inside he found more than he found that he had entered into a tavern. Men were arm-wrestling on tables, drinking large mugs of ale, strangers lurked mysteriously in the corners just out of sight. He eventually after a good five minutes of plain staring, walks up to the tavern and asks the barkeep; Where am I? What is this place? The Barkeep laughs for a good minute and then a dawn of apprehension came upon his face. Youre serious arent you; you really dont know where you are? Why, you are in Pelors Beard the finest tavern in all the lands, where veteran adventurers come to take a breather and those wishing to pursue that path will find get their start. Now if you will. Tell me. What is your class? Class, you are kidding me right? I just got out of school! I dont have a class right now. Says our protagonist confused and enraged.

No class? Why you must really be a newbie, here take this The barkeep hands our protagonist what appears to be a sheet of paper Fill this out, choose your class, and show it to me when you are done. Our protagonist looks at the sheet. He sees that its what appears to be a simple D&D character sheet. Oh I get it, this is some elaborate LARP isnt it? And it just happens to be right outside of my school. What is this LARP of which you speak?Utters the confused barkeep Wow you really are staying in character. Says our protagonist very amused In character? Was I out of it before? Nope, you havent broken character since weve gotten here Well I would hope I havent broken it since I dont know of which character you speak Dude, seriously, stop role-playing for a second, man. You are taking it way too seriously. But Im not role-playing; Im serving the customers of my fine tavern good sir. Dude, I get your commitment to staying in character but could you break it just for a second to give me directions? Directions? Just fill out your character sheet first then Ill explain what to do Im not joining your stupid LARP, just tell me the directions out of this stupid park, and we can go about our day in peace. Again, what is this LARP that you speak of? You know, Live-Action Role-playing But Im not role-playing; Im just a bartender in my tavern trying to help my patrons. Now if you dont mind me I have other customers to take care of. The barkeep walks away, and addresses a short guy with a long beard wearing chainmail. Our protagonist decides to head into the common room and sees men playing pool, waitresses ferrying trays filled with large tankards of ale and flirting with some of the men who were winning. He hears a multitude of cheers after someone manages to sink the 8-ball into a hole. He eventually decides to walk away, and wanders out of the tavern for a bit. He eventually wanders into the thick forest and after walking for several hours, gives up and lies down for a bit. Ugh my legs, how long is it till I end up near a road or something. I mean seriously? Its probably been miles and I havent seen a single road and my cell phone isnt getting any signal. I guess it

isnt of any use to keep looking. Might as well wait until someone come finds me. Our protagonist thinks to himself Hours pass, and our protagonist gets incredibly bored. He already did all the homework he could take, his cell phone died, and he already made over 100 cootie catchers out of loose leaf paper. I guess it couldnt hurt to fill out the sheet, I think I remember most of the rules in my head. Our protagonist thinks to himself as he reaches into his backpack and pulls out the sheet that the bartender gave him. Suddenly, his hand started racing down the paper, filling in sections before he could even think. Every personal detail, every talent, every aspect of his being went down onto paper before the blink of an eye. Name? Colin Age? 16 Height? 510, Weight: 160, Size: Medium Race? Human Strength? 10 Dexterity? 12 Constitution? 14 Intelligence? 16Wisdom? 8 Charisma? 10 Class? Wizard Level 1, Alignment? True Neutral. Skills? Concentration 4, Knowledge (Earth History 4), Spellcraft 4, Perform (Stringed Instruments) 4, Perform (Sing 4), Knowledge (The Game) 4 Feats? Spell focus(Necromancy), Toughness No Spells Known Hit Points? 6 SERIOUSLY? I DO NOT HAVE A WISDOM PENALTY, THIS STUPID SHEET LIES! shouts Colin, our protagonist as he attempts to rip up the sheet. To his surprise the sheet did not bend nor tare, despite our protagonists best efforts, the sheet just would not be destroyed. Furious and irate, our protagonist walks back to the tavern and confronts the barkeep What is with this stupid piece of paper that you gave me, I did not mean to fill it out all the way, and my hand just kind of took control of me. What is this stupid thing says Colin So I see that you finally decided to fill out the sheet. Hmmm a wizard huh, I wouldnt have suspected it if it considering your actions yesterday. Albeit the wisdom penalty was expected, I did not expect it to be so small. Says the barkeep. Wait are you being serious, I thought you were just pretending about this, I thought you were just role-playing says Colin amazed and confused. You really arent from this world are you? Well as a greeting to an accidental planar traveler I guess I should introduce you to the world. Welcome to the Kingdom of Altaria, the land of the greatest adventurers, for the best and the worst. Meet me after the Tavern closes, Ill get you up to speed on the plan to get you home says the barkeep in a hushed voice. After hours, the barkeep lets Colin in through the back door and leads him up to a private room closing the door.

Ok so since you are from another world, I guess the one big question I have to ask first is: What do you already know about our world? says the barkeep in a hushed tone So I know we are supposedly in the Kingdom of Altaria, which seems to follow the rules of a game I play back on my world known as Dungeons and Dragons. It appears that adventuring is actually a major part of the world itself rather than done by a select few. Says Colin Ok, so you seem to understand the basics of our world. I guess you also understand the best way to get you back home is to either convince a higher-level wizard to transport you back or for you to level up yourself to a much higher level. Considering the fact that most wizards who are high enough level wouldnt make the detour around to just drop you off back home, your best option seems to be to become an adventurer and gain enough power. Says Barkeep Isnt that dangerous? says Colin Yes it is, and it is uncertain whether or not you would even go to the afterlife here, as your soul doesnt even belong here in the first place. You have to be careful. Says the Barkeep. Tomorrow morning, Ill take you shopping for your basic adventuring gear, and hopefully well find you a quest by then. A quest, dont I already have one? says Colin curiously I mean going back home seems hard enough Surely, you mustnt be serious. You need additional quests to find encounter to defeat. You cant get stronger simply by sitting around you know. Now get some rest in this room and prepare for tomorrow says the barkeep leaving the room The next morning, the Barkeep gave him 1000 gold coins and told Colin to go shopping for whatever supplies he thought he might need. Colin wandered the marketplace taking in the exotic scents, and examining the shiny blades of various types. He wanders into a scroll shop perusing the spells at his leisure. Eventually he decides on Ray of enfeeblement and Chill touch spending 50 gold, in addition he buys the spells presdigitation, know direction, daze, and flare. In addition, Colin decides to buy a Hand of the Mage because he thought it looked cool. As soon as he left the magic shop he bumped into a very large man with tusks protruding from his mouth. The mans hair was charcoal black, and he was carrying a large greataxe, whose blade was much bigger than Colins head. He was dressed in a large breastplate, apparently made of a bluish-green metal. Sorry there good sir, I appear not to have realized you were there. Humble apologies says the man Astonished Colin obviously confused by the half-orcs polite response replies Its fine, really its fine.

The half-orc sighs I guess you assume that because of my race I have to go act like some hulking brute huh? Well Ill have you know that Im Hortus, a master of the arts of weaponized magic, and one of the seekers of arcane lore. Colin laughs at the half-orcs remark Oh so you are a duskblade huh? Hortus responds stunned by Colins brevity Why yes, to put it in short I guess Colin replies Well Hortus, would you mind telling me if you are planning on going on any quests? Hortus replies Well of course, Im currently hunting for the lost tomes of Azarael which contain basic scrolls for tea-making and drinking Colin says Well thats boring, why on earth would you be trying to find that To which Hortus replies Well obviously because Im level 1, its better than slaying some giant rats in someones cellar, and I mean tea is great why not? Colin replies Fair enough I guess, do you mind if I join you after I finish shopping for some gear? Hortus says Hold on let me check your sheet first, Id rather know your stats before I decide Only if you let me see yours says Colin already holding out his character sheet Fair Enough says Hortus as he passes Colin his character Sheet On Hortus Character Sheet Colin sees: Race: Half-Orc, Alignment: Lawful Neutral Size: Medium Age: 21 Class: Duskblade 1, Str:16 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 14 Wis 12 Cha 10 Feats: Monkey Grip Skills: Ride 4,, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge( History) 4, Intimidate 4 Hmm interesting, you seem to have two skills Ive never encountered before. Says Hortus, stroking his chin. In all of my studies Ive never heard of Knowledge (The Game) and Knowledge (Earth History). Well despite your mediocre stats, your knowledge may come in handy for this quest; yeah you can come with me Yay, I guess, even though I dont like the comment about my stats being mediocre replies Colin. So Colin looked around the bazaar some more, then realized he completely ran out of money so the adventurous duo set off from town into the wilderness in search of the lost scrolls of Azarael. The barkeep and Colin shared a goodbye hug, as our protagonists (you thought that phrase was going to go away didnt you) set out at the break of dawn. Night soon falls upon our adventurous duo, and they set up camp. Im hungry! shouts Colin as his stomach grumbles

Then eat some of the trail rations you bought said Hortus, obviously annoyed. But I didnt buy any! says Colin stomach still grumbling What!? You didnt buy any rations what so ever? What did you spend your money on? shouts Hortus as he becomes incredibly irritated. IDK, whenever I played D&D, I never had to keep track of it. Said Colin Whats D&D? says Hortus Ohhh uhmm, Ok, I guess as a party member I should tell you, Im not exactly from this world, Im from a completely different one and the rules of this one is a game inside of mine called Dungeons and Dragons. My goal here is to try and return back to my home world, hopefully by leveling up enough to travel back using magic. So in the mean time Im going to try and take quests in order to gain the experience points necessary to get the spells I need to get myself back home. Im not sure much about the local history, but I do understand some of the rules, and such. I hope that you will still agree to adventure with me? Dumbfounded, Hortus replies hesitantly Why no problem at all, as long as you arent planning to betray me, Ive no problem with your past. In fact your skill set may come quite in handy in the times to come. I wouldnt worry yourself too much. For now I guess I shall loan you some of my rations good sir as Id rather not let my comrade starve. He tosses Colin some bread and continues to eat his in now awkward silence. The next day, they traveled along the road in relative peace. Both of them wanted to get on with the quest to recover the Ancient Tea Scrolls of Azarael. Along the way they are stopped by two men, both dressed in light leather armor, and carrying what appeared to be two long swords. Your money or your lives! shout the two men as they draw their blades. Hortus draws his greataxe and replies calmly Now you two good sirs, I would suggest that you reconsider this path of action. As you see my weapon is much much bigger than yours and my companion and I are both very well versed in the Arcane Arts. In fact, threatening us would on average shorten your lifespan. May I suggest that you find another course of action rather than highway thievery; may I suggest farming, or even working as an apprentice to one of the craftsmen? Both are much safer, and in the end much more rewarding than attempting to rob people in the middle of the road. While you may stumble upon some big haul of sorts once a year, youll have to make that last for a while, and avoid any sort of law enforcement. Now if I may, me and my companion would like to continue on our journey in peace. One of the Highwaymen looks at the other worried for a minute. He then shrugs it off shouts We are the great Braxton Brothers; we arent afraid of your fancy magic, give us your money or your lives!

Hortus responds still calm as ever Are you sure that is the wisest course of action? You see we are on a very important task right now and would use force if necessary to continue on. We are much stronger than you in strength of arms, and this axe could probably take both of your heads clean off. I would suggest that you back away and leave. The smaller of the two Braxton Brothers charges Hortus with his sword, very insulted. Hortus parries the blade with his axe and responds with a wild swing. The axe is blocked with the blade, but the man holding it is pushed back staggered from the force of the blow, obviously suffering some damage. Colin in attempt to aid Hortus casts daze on the other highwayman but the target resists it. The older of the two attempts to charge Colin with a wild overhead swing. While Colin does make an attempt to dodge, the blade does make contact, but not enough to be a lethal blow. Colin could feel a sudden drop in his head of his vitality. Shit, I only have 2 hp left, I have to figure out something he thinks to himself. Taking a 5 foot step back, Colin uses another spell slot in order to attempt to cast daze again. This time the highwayman fails his save and is rendered confused for precious moments. The other one attempts thrust his blade into Hortus, but Hortus armor blocks the blow. Hortus takes another wild overhead swing, this time making contact with the flesh, causing the highwayman to fall over bleeding. Colin now moves away from the highway man and finds a rock to use with a slingshot he had in his backpack. Hortus moves closer to the highwayman but not soon enough for the highwayman to charge at Colin. Colin, prepared for such action, fires a sling bullet at the highwayman stopping him for a brief moment just 5 feet from killing him, giving him ample opportunity to run away some more. Hortus charges at the highwayman, and delivers a killing sideways swing, cleaving straight through his body. After ensuring that there was no one lying in ambush, our protagonists search the bodies of the Braxton Boys for any valuable items that might be useful in their quest. Colin decides that he needs a weapon of some sort and grabs the older highwaymans sword. The sword is engraved multiple times in what appeared to Colin to be arcane runes. It appeared to be well-crafted and polished as if the highwayman felt that the blade was somehow rare. At the hilt of the blade, there was a single piece of quartz bejeweled within it. Hortus opted not to take anything from the dead bodies. After giving the bodies a burial. Our protagonists continue upon their quest to find the scrolls. After a good many days of travel, they come upon the wreckage of what appeared to be a trade caravan. Multiple bodies seemed strewn about in an odd fashion. In an obvious look of terror, Colin asks Hortus Should we go help them? We have to look for survivors however after looking up at Hortus he finds that Hortus has already begun the search. After many hours of searching, they eventually find a small Elven girl who was still breathing. After giving the girl medical treatment, they camp for days waiting for the girl to wake up. Eventually after two days, the girl wakes up and is confused to where she is. Excuse me mister? Im lost, can you help me find my parents? says the Elven girl Our protagonists remain speechless for a good minute, before Hortus speaks up My dear, Im so sorry. But I believe your parents to have gone to a better place now.

A better place? Like the happy sunshine farm that Pappy, our family dog, went to? responds the Elven girl. Uhmmm, yes my dear. They went to visit Pappy at the happy sunshine farm. We were told by your parents to escort you to the City of Lightflower for someone to look after you for a while so that they can visit Pappy As such our group made a detour into the city of Lightflower. Once they reached the city outskirts they say large castle walls covered in gold. Two guards stood guard at the guardhouse to guard the gate good. Our protagonists approach the gate and are stopped by the guards. Names and intent please. Orders one of the guards In addition please leave all weapons outside with us. We promise as guards not to steal them. It is against the laws of the city to carry weapons inside of the walls of our fine City. Our city council would prefer for violence to be kept non lethal at the very least. Says the other Our protagonists surrender their axe and sword and head into the city. Inside they find a crowded bazaar filled with goods of all kinds. Demons were selling blades, and genies were buying spices up from the human markets. Angelic beings are seen bargaining with Demons over the price of some street food. As our protagonists wander further in they find an orphanage. They knock on the door and are greeted by an elderly woman carrying a baby in one hand, and have a small child tugging at her skirt. There they drop off the young child. On their way out, they stop at a bar to see if there were any rumors of the tea scrolls and its location. They hear of a small secluded set of ruins that is guarded by a large tribe of goblins. Inside is the first of the scrolls. However to get through it they have to break through a blockade of soldiers who are busy fighting the dragon of Avalon, an ancient realm that the dragon was born in. In addition, crime was at an all time high, with the roads flooded with highwaymen and bandits. After leaving the tavern they made their way out of Lightflower, but were stopped by three young guardsmen. I think we have a lawbreaker on our hands here. Says one of the guards to the others Yeah they havent payed their guard tax yet. Says one of the other guards Well thats not good, they should pay it right now say the other Well thats not fair! We arent from this city, and I can tell you right now that you arent going to threaten us into giving you gold, you corrupt guardsmen shouts Colin obviously upset. Well then I guess we just have to throw you into jail then. Says the first guardsmen. Now now, lets not get hasty now says Colin trying to backtrack his way out of jail time. Thats a good boy; now cough up 100 gold pieces for the tax. Says the second guardsman. Uhmm I dont have 100 gold pieces. Says Colin worried

Well then hell have to be taught a lesson wont he says the first guardsmen as the three simultaneously approach our protagonists. After a brief scuffle and exchange of fists, our beaten protagonists are carried off and thrown into a Jail Cell. Well that could have gone better says Hortus You said it man replies Colin. After hours of waiting, our protagonists decide to break out of jail. Fortunately enough none of the guardsmen were smart enough to strip them of their magic items, so while the jail guard was sleeping, Colin used his Hand of the Mage to steal the keys. Using them they escape their cells. Once outside of their cells, they attempted to sneak down multiple corridors. Once outside of the building with their armor, they simply walked out the front gate claimed their weapons and ran as far as they could. Eventually, once they were far into the forest they stopped. However, when they stopped, they heard soft growling coming from all around them. Suddenly a wolf jumped out at Hortus. Hortus managed to kill it in one shot with his axe in reaction the lunge, but 5 wolves ended up pouring out of the woods. Surrounded, Hortus gave one mighty cleave and knocked three in one mighty blow. Colin casts daze on one and snipes the other one with a sling bullet twice. While the next wolf is charging at him, he casts ray of enfeeblement, weakening the wolf, causing the bite to hurt a lot less. Next he casts it again paralyzing the wolf. Then Colin slowly walks up to the wolf, and snaps its neck putting the wolf out of its misery. After the brief skirmish with death, the party dined on wolf jerky and rested in the woods before attempting to continue on with their journey. Over the next few days, very few eventful things happen. Eventually they meet a trader on the road begging them for help. Help me please! Some bandits have taken my children, please please help me! shouts the trader. Well be glad to help you get your children back says Colin Frustrated, Hortus pulls Colin aside and says As much as I like helping with these kinds of stuff, we dont have time for this. We have to get a move on and find the Scrolls of Azarael so that I can return to my study. Colin repliesWell think about it this way, the more side quests we do before we get to the ruins the more experience we get. As we get stronger the better prepared we are to tackle the challenges the ruins may give us. We dont want to be marching off to our dooms. Hey maybe if we complete this task well even level up this time. Come on think about it. Think about all those juicy skill points and hit points. It would be perfectly worth the detour man. Besides we are only finding the scroll for all the experience points anyways.

Reluctantly, Hortus responds I guess you are right sir. If we are to be able to level up before we get to the ruins, we may be able to navigate the treacherous traps better. I have no clue as to what to expect. In fact it may well be too hard for us to handle as of right now. So our two protagonists set off in search of the unknown bandits. After many days of searching, they find a set of tracks marking that 4 armed men passed through. Slowly following the trail, Hortus took the lead, while Colin watched the rear. One night as they were following the men, they decided to camp out in a small cave just outside of the woods. While setting up the fire, Hortus decides to ask Colin As I know, most wizards carry around a piece of their soul known as their familiar, is there any reason why you dont have one? It would be useful to have around. Colin replies Oh, I dont really know. I mean in my world magic is a fictional construct, rather than reality. I mean Ive always wanted to adopt a pet. But I mean, isnt it risky, I would have to risk experience points, and put a part of my very soul into a small fragile vessel. Hortus thinking carefully Well think about it, a familiar would be very useful to the adventure, and could keep you company on the quest. So our protagonists went to sleep and overnight a small kitten crawled into Colins sleeping bag. The next morning Colin discovered the kitten, and overtaken with its super adorable nature, he decides to adopt the kitten and names it Jerome. Colin and the rest of our protagonists after many days catch up with the bandits. It sure was good luck that those happened to be the bandits huh? Colin whispers to Hortus Yeah I guess, I mean we are adventurers stuff happens conveniently for us all the time. Like how the guards just happened to try and threaten us and throw us in jail for not giving a bribe. replies Hortus MEEEEOOOOOWWWWW screeches Jerome as it accidently bites its own tail See? says Hortus as the bandits head out to investigate the sound. Our protagonists hid in the trees and as soon as one of the bandits walked under the tree, Colin casted daze and stunned him. The Hortus drops down and silently snaps the bandits neck. The other three bandits continued to search the vicinity. Colin casts ray of enfeeblement on another one, all three discover his location. However, as they approach him, taking sling fire, Hortus flanks one of them and kills him in one stroke. Then Colin casts ray of enfeeblement again on the already weakened bandit paralyzing him. The two bandits attempt to strike Hortus down, but Hortus blocks the blows. Colin kills one with a well placed stone to the head, and Hortus strikes down the other with a series of well placed swings. After having defeated the bandits, Colin felt an incredible rush of power; his very spine was tingling in newfound might. Feeling some ideas coming on, Colin rushes to his notebook and writes down the formulas for two more spells, Cause Fear, and Color Spray. In doing so, he without knowing it also reached in and grabbed his character sheet automatically updating it.

When he looked up, Colin noticed Hortus doing the same thing. Colin now incredibly curious decides to take a peek at Hortus spell list. Inside he finds that Hortus knows Blade of Blood, True Strike, and was scribing Kelgores Fire Bolt. So the newly level 2 party finds that the girl was not with the bandits. However after some searching, they find a journal that writes of a larger group of bandits that the bandits that they just slain gave the girl to. Their headquarters were located a good two days journey westward, they were also aiming to find the Scroll of Azarael. See? I told you taking this side quest was a good idea says Colin Fine, I admit that you did have a lucky moment of insight replies Hortus in a resigned tone. So the two started journeying westward, fighting the occasional ambush. On the second day they run into an abandoned keep once occupied by the forces of Lightflower. Manned on the walls were a bunch of bandits armed with longbows and leather armor. The keep was surrounded by a large moat and drawbridge. The walls were made of incredibly smooth stone that would make it nearly impossible for anyone to climb up without some mechanical aid. Rather than risk their lives assaulting the wellfortified keep, our protagonists camp for the night away from the keep. After a couple of days of waiting, a wagon driven by a farmer carrying a bunch of supplies for the keep was seen heading towards the keep. Our protagonists hop on and hide underneath all the produce when the farmer was distracted. After a very light check, the wagon was let into the keep. As soon as no one was looking, the protagonists hopped off the wagon behind the kitchen. Hortus snuck then snuck behind two bandit guards and subdued them. Locking them inside a kitchen closet they then made their way further into the keep. Finally they found the location where the traders children were being kept. However in front of the cell was a hungry bear. Rather than risk the bear mauling the children, Hortus decided to sneak up on it and cleave its head off with his axe. However rather than a full blow, it only made a sizable cut. Colin immediately followed with a color spray blinding and stunning it. Hortus then followed up with a series of axe blows which felled the mighty bear. However this notified the guards that something was going on. So three bandit guards filled into the room and attempted to subdue them. However Colin followed up with another color spray and the party fled the room. Taking heavy arrow fire, Colin was hit twice and Hortus was just plain covered with arrows. However eventually they ran far enough that the bandits gave up on pursuing them. Having freed the traders children, the party returned to the trader, taking a relatively brisk pace, and received a bunch of high level scrolls as a reward. The scrolls contained a variety of summoning spells however they couldnt use them as they were meant for druids. After staying the night at the Traders Place, our protagonists traveled onward towards their destination. One day along the road they came upon what Colin recognized to be a wrecked car. Wait; there are cars in this world? We could have Driven Here!? exclaims Colin So you know of this contraption? replies Hortus confused, as he examines the car. Its a car! You know a machine designed for the transportation of people across large distances rather fast? replies Colin

Well it doesnt look like its going anywhere real soon points out Hortus. Yeah, but if a car is here then that implies that there may be a car somewhere else. says Colin Our protagonists decide to ignore it and continue on their journey. While the next few days were uneventful, they eventually run out of food. So they stopped alongside at the nearest town and asked around for some sort of job. An elderly woman approaches them in a tavern and says Ill pay you 2000 gold and pay for lodging and food over the course of the journey, if you escort me to the city of Silverfronds. The name is Beth by the way. Hold on let me discuss this with my business associate. replies Hortus Our protagonists scrunch up together and start discussing. I believe this will be our best paying job offer, even though it is a substantial detour from our plans, it pays well, and can give us a lot of xp says Hortus Agreed says Colin after hearing his stomach grumble really really loudly. So after agreeing to Beths contract, our party starts heading off in the direction of Silverfronds. After two days of travel, three highwaymen walk up to the party and threaten their lives. Quickly Hortus leaps into action, with three wild swings took down all the highwaymen. On one of their persons was a letter informing them that they would be paid handsomely for the assassination of the person known as Beth. This is above what you are paying us, do you have something to say? Says Colin showing Beth the letter. Youve got me; Im a diplomat traveling to the city of Silverfronds to negotiate a trade contract between the City of Alvesville and Silverfronds. There are lets just say certain parties that are against an economic deal like this. Particularly the fact that they would lose some of their business from the deal that we are making. replies Beth What is this deal? asks Hortus Its a deal that Alvesville will provide a certain amount of weapons in exchange for food and supplies replies Beth What does Silverfronds need with weapons? asks Colin No-one knows, but Alvesville is willing to supply that demand in exchange for food and supplies for our people. says Beth So you are just willing to supply those weapons, no questions asked? responds Hortus Would you rather let the people in my city starve? Beth shoots back. Would you rather have innocent blood on your hands replies Colin.

Id rather let my people live, and let them have their defense, than to be questioned by you two replies Beth. So they journeyed onward in awkward silence, for several days. Unbearably long awkward silence. Along the way they encounter a working car with keys. YES! Finally a Car! says Colin as he looks around to see if the owner is around. Im guessing you want to ride it? says Hortus suddenly cracking up at the innuendo he just accidently made. YES! Hop in! says Colin as he jumps into the drivers seat. The other two hesitantly hop into the other seats, as Colin speeds off in the car. After a joyride of over 1 hundred miles, the car runs out of gas. Never let me do that again says Hortus, Same here chimes in Beth; The three of them started walking towards Silverfronds which was still very far off. Over the next couple of days they ended up walking alongside the road, seeing no sight of civilization. Slowly but steadily they attempted to make progress but on the third day they collapse of exhaustion. Ugh, where am I? inquires Colin as he wakes up rubbing his forehead. He finds himself in a locked bedroom, sunshine pours down through the window revealing a pretty view of the forest. Beside him he sees his two travel companions as well as Jerome resting at the foot of his bed. Quickly he checks himself for his belongings and finds everything was still there. Slowly, his two comrades also woke up and experienced the same sense of confusion. Quickly they searched the room for any way out. Before funnily enough, an Elven maiden opens the door carrying three hot bowls of oatmeal. Rather than try and fight, they enjoy the oatmeal, and rest easy for a little bit, knowing that if their captors were hostile they probably wouldnt have given them hearty oatmeal. After lounging around for what seemed like hours, the Elven maiden walked back in and said Greetings travelers, I am Lessien Awamane. Welcome to my lovely inn. she says in a rather high pitched voice. Beth replies Thank you for rescuing us and treating us with such hospitality. Lessien replies slowly Thanks for your politeness, but I didnt save you out of sheer kindness. You three look like you are able bodied adventurers. I need your help to scare off some giants. Giants! Are you sure we are up to the task replies Colin nervously

If you arent well then, you are going to need to pay for the inn costs, your food, medical bills, the cost of labor for moving you, the cost of breakfast in bed. That comes up to about 10,000 gold. says Lessien without missing a beat. Thats extortion! shouts Beth in a very angry tone. Well then should I ring you up, or are you going to clear out those giants I was talking to you about replies Lessien Do we have a choice, we dont have enough gold to pay for it, I guess we have to go and fight those giants. says Hortus And before you get any clever ideas, Ive placed Marks of Justice on all three of you. If you dont go out and get the giants to go away theyll activate, making your lives very miserable. So dont even think of cheating me, and if you come back successful I have additional rewards for you. she replies. Dejectedly, our protagonists venture out to try and challenge the giants that were terrorizing the area. After a couple hours of running they discover the giants walking around and playing an incredibly complex form of chess. When one of the giants finally notices our protagonists watching them, he bends down onto one knee and says in an incredibly slow voice Hello there little fellas, what brings you to our fields? Uhmm, hi, we were sent by this elf girl named Lessien to ask you to leave these fields. says Colin nervously Well thats not very nice. says the other giant in a slightly higher pitched voice Weve lived here all of our lives, to ask us to leave is very rude. Well, we dont have much of a choice, when she captured us, she placed these marks of justice that says if we dont manage to move you off these fields then theyll activate and apparently bestow a powerful curse on us. replies Hortus I guess this lady named Lessien needs to be taught a lesson replies the Giant who gets up and grabs a giant club. Following our protagonists, the Giant makes his way to Lessiens house. Lessien steps outside with a longsword and says What is this asshole Giant doing on my lawn? The giant responds Young lady, Ive been hearing that youve been trying to get people to remove my family from their ancestral homes? May I ask that you not do so, as weve been living there since forever, and would rather not relocate all of a sudden due to the complaints of a single neighbor who weve done nothing but be polite and courteous to. In fact, if you hate us, your only neighbors, so much why dont you just move somewhere else.

Im not frickin moving because of some dumb giants. You dimwits should move somewhere else, dont you realize you are pulling property values down you morons? No one wants you around here. In fact all giants should just die, in fact why dont I bring down the population a little bit says Lessien as she starts generating lightning from the tips of her fingers. After a couple of seconds of chanting she casts chain lightning, sparks fly from her finger striking the giant straight on the heart. The giant tumbles back for a little bit before swinging his club at Lessien. She dodges but is hurt by the shockwave that is released from the mighty blow. Lessien then casts disintegrate, a small green ray shooting out of her fingertip. The ray misses by a hairs breadth, and the Giant takes a sideways swing of the club. Lessien rushes forward and casts another disintegrate, it hits the giant straight on, however the giant still stands tall. The giant finally manages to land a good solid blow on Lessien. Lessien is knocked through her house, causing it to fall down on her. The rubble laid on the grown haphazardly, her body certainly underneath a ton of it. Exhausted, the giant collapsed and started taking very shallow breaths. Slowly the marks of justice disappeared from our protagonists head and they set out upon their journey anew. After a few days of traveling, a storm starts brewing, rain poured down hard upon their heads. Quickly, our heroes started to search for shelter. After many hours of searching, our protagonists come upon an abandoned nobles estate. The gate was locked, but Hortus in desperation smashes the lock with his axe. They enter the abandoned manor, and start looking for sources of warmth. They light a fire using some firewood that was left behind. Warming their hands around the fire they start hearing some moaning sounds coming from outside. Looking out the window, Colin sees a bunch of corpses shambling towards the manor. Zombies! he shouts as he rushes to grab his longsword (I bet most readers forgot he had that) and starts moving furniture to block the door. Hortus upon hearing this draws his greataxe; Beth on the other hand takes Jerome hides upstairs with a club in hand. The zombies start pounding on the door loudly, the moans become louder and louder. Colin readies an action to cast color spray as soon as the barricade fails, as does Hortus. When the door finally collapses the simultaneous color sprays stunned the zombies, Colin takes pot shots with his slingshot taking down a couple of the zombies, Hortus brings down the stunned one with his axe. After the first wave was finished, they barricade the hole as best they can and set a trap of oil and a match for the first zombie to enter and retreat up the stairs pouring oil as they climb. The first zombie caught on fire as it stepped in the oil trap and set several other ones on fire, as more unscathed zombies started walking up the stairs; Colin drops a lit match on it setting the entire stairs on fire. Killing the remaining Zombies of that wave, they wait to see if the coast was clear. Then they barricade the hole and sleep taking turns every 2 hours or so to see if the zombies returned. They didnt so all of them drift off into the deep abyss of sleep. In the morning they wake up and find the manor around them to have disappeared mysteriously. However rather than look around for any reason why it disappeared, they decided to ignore it and continue on their journey. Over the next couple of days they journeyed quietly avoiding the main road, one night they hear some footsteps over freshly fallen leaves. Preparing themselves for trouble, our protagonists draw their weapons. Slowly a group of wolves surround our party, with a man dressed in green robes appears out of nowhere. Who dares trespass in the ancient forest of Antiqua says the man in green in a deep gravel-like voice. Those who trespass must be executed.

We are sorry good man of nature, we did not intend to trespass, we were but passing through. If you give us time well swiftly depart from your forest and we may avoid any bloodshed. No intruders, no exceptions. shouts the man in green. Attack my hounds of war, destroy the interlopers. The wolves surround Beth and attempt to attack her, but Colin intercedes with a well placed color spray rendering them blind and stunned. However the man in green managed to guide them back to him with the sound of his voice. He then casts entangle, tree roots popping up and ensnaring Hortus, rendering him unable to move. Next Beth uses her club to strike at one of the wolves. The wolf turns around and bites her lightly. At the sight of her own blood Beth faints. Colin swings his sword at the nearest wolf fending it off to grab onto Beth. Hortus swings at the roots entangling him and manages to get free just soon enough to dodge the blow of a nearby wolf. Colin lets loose another color spray and coup-de-grace the two wolves that he hits. The man in green lets loose a roar of anger, and casts Produce flame, engulfing his hands in flame and the paws of the wolf in flame. They both charge Hortus and deal an extraordinary amount of damage. Eventually Hortus takes enough damage to fall unconscious. Colin retaliates with another color spray, hitting both of them, and ends up coup-de-gracing both of them. Afterwards, he tries to heal Hortus, and eventually manages to bind his wounds. He waits for 4 days until Hortus wakes up from his deep slumber. They eventually continue upon their journey still many days out from finishing their quest. On their way there they stumble upon a large boulder blocking the road. On top of the boulder sits a young child carrying a large wooden staff. Stop this is the territory of me, Artinius the Bandit King! shouts the young child. Our protagonists laugh for a bit, until a bunch of much bulkier men comes out of the forests. Bow down before our martial might shouts the child Our protagonists surrender without a fight recognizing that they are heavily outnumbered. They are escorted to another castle filled with bandits; many of them have infamous reputations on their own, such as Crazy-eyed Sam, Hawkeyed Harold, Insane Ingrid, Mad Moody, Amazing Amy and Revolting Rory, Demon Donna, Mean Martha, Osiris Oswin, and Blood-Red Rose. Once there, they are tied up and left inside of a tent. The bandits made jeering noises at them as they walked by the tent. The bandit king walks into the tent and says So you may be asking why I captured you three, you see Im looking for some lieutenants. You three looked promising. Im here to make you a deal that you cannot refuse. Join me and you live, refuse and you die. Now tell me, what is your choice? Death in despair, or Riches in Life? All three of them agreed to join the bandits. After three days of pillaging the nearby countryside Colin notices a chance for escape. He nudges Hortus who sees the path as well, and Hortus nudges Beth and points out the escape route. Colin suddenly casts Color spray on the bandits around them and runs off with the other two. As the bandits gave chase, Colin weaved in and out of the trees casting Cause Fear on the bandits scaring them away. After that he cast know direction in order to find the direction to the city again. They walk under the cover of night to avoid the detection of the Bandit King and slept during the day hidden within the woods. Eventually after three days of travel in this fashion they decided that

they had gained enough distance already and resumed their normal travel pattern. They continued journeying for many days, but eventually they needed to stop in the small village known as Bluewhich. In Bluewhich they restocked on various supplies and found out about a great treasure buried by the Dread Pirate Bobby who robbed tons of ships and buried his gold near the ruined temple which contained the lost Scroll of Azarael. Hundreds of treasure hunters set out looking for the treasure. So with this information having been received they set out on their journey again and continued on their way to Silverfronds. So they continued traveling picking up the pace so as to finish their side quest faster. After a day or two, they came upon a series of slain trade caravans to the city of Silverfronds. Investigating them, our protagonists discover various burn marks and a single card, The Ace of Hearts, remained at each of the scenes. Rather than investigating they continued on their journey. Another day later they come upon a trading post manned by dwarfs buying selling weapons, Colin finally sells the longsword he got from the Braxton Brothers for a very very pretty sum of 500 gold. Hortus then uses that money combined with some of the stuff from before to buy the first magic weapon for the party, a +1 Greataxe. The hilt of the axe was bejeweled with glass rubies, and the blade was made from fine dwarven steel forged from the heat of lava. Our protagonists journey across the fields of Azaran as they enter the final leg of their journey. However they come across a huge standoff between what appeared to be a huge horde of orcs and an army of human militia men armed with basic spears and leather armor. The armies charged at each other, both sides letting out blood curdling screams. As the orc and human armies collide, multiple screams of agony were let out as limbs and blade collided. The battlefield was in complete chaos; our protagonists could not even bear to watch. The bloody battle began with bloody barbaric brawling of blades. Suddenly, a human cavalry charge plowed through the orc infantry, causing a great deal of casualties. Arrows were flying through the air, finding their targets in both Human and Orc flesh. Goblins on worgs slammed into the human infantry moments later. No path could be seen between the two battling armies. The bloody battle seemed to go on for ages. Neither side could seem to get an advantage for long. When one army seemed to be winning, some heroic rally or charge would turn the tides. Bloody parts flew everywhere, the field was filled with corpses, some barely alive, others dead as a doorknob. Slowly our protagonists were dragged into battle, having to cut off parts from Orc and Human alike trying to stay alive. Slowly but surely, our protagonists made their way through the battle alive, however, both commanders took note of them and continued their battle. As they continued their journey they ran into another adventuring party of 4 members. One an Elven bard with a lute strapped to his backpack and carrying an ornate rapier. Another was an Orcish Barbarian, covered in pelts, and carrying the heads of various humanoids. The third was a Dwarven Cleric of Pelor carrying a bronze shield with a lions head emblazoned on it and a mace covered in holy runes. The 4th appeared to be just a common man, with a slim build. Immediately the opposing adventuring party drew their weapons shouting gibberish about how Colin and Hortus were going to steal their treasure. Colin and Hortus were forced to respond in turn. After a brief clash of blades and spells, both sides found themselves to be evenly matched. Suddenly Colin lets loose a color spray on the opposing party and knocks out the cleric with a couple of solid blows to the head. The Bard starts playing the lute to try and rally his comrades, while the Orcish Barbarian and Hortus exchange axe blows. The normal man suddenly manifested claws on his fingers and attempted to claw at Beth, Beth managed to dodge, and Colin hit the man with two

rays of enfeeblement severely weakening the man. Hortus finally manages to land several blows on the barbarian knocking the barbarian out. The bard quickly surrendered afterwards. After a long conversation, the opposing adventuring party eventually realizes that Colin and Hortus were not after their treasure. They introduced themselves. The bards name was Jolanne, the barbarians was Urghsack, the clerics name was Reginald, and the regular man, who turned out to be some sort of soul warrior called a Totemist, was named Arthurn. The parties departed on good terms and our protagonists journeyed onwards the Silverfronds. The party eventually reached the City gates of Silverfronds, but the guards wouldnt let them through due to a plague going on. The guards however told them that if they could acquire proof of clean health they would be allowed in. So they set course for a nearby village, there they found out that the doctor had gone to another village close by to try and treat the plague. So they went to the next village where they found out that the doctor had died to the plague. So they searched for a cleric or an adept, having to head towards a nearby hamlet. There a local adept was available but did not have the necessary spells prepared. So they had to stay in the hamlet overnight. So they searched for an inn, however most inns were filled with people running to avoid the plague. So they ended up having to camp the night. So they started a fire, and cooked some local game. Eventually they drifted off to sleep. Overnight, a thief came and stole some of their stuff, including Hortus axe, and Colins spellbook. When they woke up, they discovered their stuff missing, but a trail of footsteps lead from their camp elsewhere. They followed these footsteps to discover some bandits guarding a chest, which probably included their stuff. Colin shot his slingshot at one of the bandits guarding the chest alerting them to his presence. He ran off providing a distraction for Hortus and Beth to sneak up to the chest and retrieve their swag. Retrieving all of the gear, they chase after the bandits pursuing Colin. Eventually they catch up just as Colin is faced with a cliff. Hortus quickly brings down two of the bandits with his axe, and Colin snipes a third with his slingshot. The remaining two bandits attempt to attack Hortus, but Hortus blocks most of the blows. Colin snipes another one, while Hortus brings down the last one with is axe. Having retrieved their stuff, the party returns to the hamlet, where the adept has the spells ready and waiting for them. After acquiring a clean bill of health, they make the long journey back to the city, where the guards reluctantly let them in. Inside the city, they find multiple large skyscrapers towering over the populace and other buildings. Each of them manned with thousands of workers working on something or other. Beth quickly departs from the rest of the party after having given them the ascribed payment. Hortus and Colin quickly go shopping, buying up tons of food and buying a magic sling for Colin and some discount magic armor for Hortus. After buying this, they decide to use some of their remaining cash to see a performance of Romerus and Juelita: A Lamentable Tragedy. As soon as they take their seats, the play begins with the servants of the two rival houses getting into fights. During the pivotal balcony scene, a crystal star starts lowering down upon the audience. Suddenly, the audience starts throwing money onstage; the only ones who werent were Colin and Hortus. Realizing something was wrong, they figured that the star must be the cause and walked on stage, and destroyed the star with an axe blow. The audiences, broken out of the illusion, enter into a raving riot out of anger and confusion. Many people were trampled in said riot. Seeking escape, Colin climbs onto Hortus back and Hortus attempts to wade through the crowd. Failing, they are pushed back into the center. Attempt after attempt ended in failure. After hours of rioting, the actors had already escaped through secret exits unknown to our protagonists. The city guardsmen arrive to subdue the riot. While the guards were subduing the riots, they also took the time to arrest both Colin and Hortus under

suspicion of causing a riot. After being processed and temporarily thrown in jail, they were quickly introduced to the prisoners. The Bandit King was captured, as was Amazing Amy and Revolting Rory who were captured along with the Bandit King. In addition, various tax evaders, murderers, rapists, and other serious criminals were locked into the cells. Eventually they were brought before the court. After hours of proceedings that will not be covered by this story they are determined to be innocent. They were then released with their possessions back into the city. However no Inn would let them stay because of the arrest. So they kept on walking though out the city. They passed skyscrapers with all the lights out because all the workers had returned home. They passed houses, with families settling in for a nice dinner. They passed hostels and inns that would refuse them due to the recent news. They could enter not one of those buildings. Eventually they knocked on the door to a small manor. A young man with a firm athletic build and dark brown hair answered the door saying How may I help you We are but weary travelers, not one inn would let us spend the night, could you provide us with a bed for the night? says Hortus Sure, our house is open to those in need at all times, call me Sir Kent by the way responds the man Thank you so much replies Colin in an enthusiastic but tired voice. Really, I must introduce you two to my beautiful wife Lady Olivia. She is the fairest maiden in all the lands. The one who makes the stars jealous with envy at how bright she shines. She who makes the gods wish that they were mortal just to get glances upon her fair face. She makes the brightest of days look like night when she is not around. She makes can make an elephant soar through the sky with sheer joy. My lady is so beautiful so fair that the sun and moon jostle just to see who can see her radiant face. Says Sir Kent in a happy tone Sir Kent escorts the two to the dinner table. Sitting at the seat reserved for the lady is a lovely young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She is skinny and curvy at places. However she was by no means as lovely as Sir Kent described. Oh my love, fair Sir Kent, why were you gone so long? Every moment without you is a tiresome burden that feels like centuries. Without your courageous self, I would not know myself. Without your beauty the world would turn towards eternal darkness. Every moment without you is worse than a seagulls gullet. Your smile is richer than a Dragons hoard. I cannot live without you, for without your beauty I would be lost. Without your courageous self, my own heart would be full of fear. Without your gentle soul, mine own would be forever rough. Without your virtuous mind, mine would be filled with sin. You complete my soul with your own perfection. Without you, Im nothing, with or without me, you are everything. My love for you knows no bounds, no limitations, and no restrictions. My spirit resides with you, my body belongs to you, and my soul is within yours. says Lady Olivia Oh my fair love, my radiant Lady Olivia, you are utter perfection in and of yourself. I am nothing before your perfection. Your radiant blue eyes could drown the sea. Your beautiful golden locks could outshine the sun. Your pure white skin is more pure than freshly fallen snow of winter. Your beauty is

unrivaled. Your virtue unmatched, your spirit untamed, and your love priceless. I am honored to be in your presence alone, for I am your lowly servant in this mortal plane. Yet the gods envy me for I am able to lay my gaze upon thee every day. Without you I am lost. Without you I am nothing. Without you, I cannot go on. A day without you is darker the darkest of nights. My very soul, essence and body are your playthings, to do with as you desire. To live with you is heaven on earth itself. To be without you is worse than the lowest layer of the abyss. I cannot live without you, you complete me. Yet you need no other part for you are perfection incarnate. The goddesses envy your beauty, while the gods lust after it. Yet you are an innocent soul more innocent than a budding flower. Sir Kent replies in an incredibly lovely dovey voice. The dinner went on, with multiple courses of fine dining, including roasted pheasant, boiled boar, grilled gullet of Dragon, fried fish, fine gold leaf lettuce, savory salted sardines, stuffed clams, breaded beef, and chocolate carrots imported from the Cardinian Plains. Guests trickled in from the richest parts of the city, the greatest merchants, passing nobleman, big-shot actors, famous war heroes, awe-inspiring musicians, and adventurers of all sorts. The party grew to tremendous proportions, Lady Olivia and Sir Kent seemed unphased by this party, and sat in the corner feeding each other food, and continuing to exchange sweet nothings into each others ears. Guests gorged themselves on the expensive food and tried to make connections with each other. Politicians sucked up to the nobleman, actors tried to make friends with directors, searching for the next big hit. Drunken people hit on the sober, sober people took advantage of the drunk. The party seemed to last forever, Colin and Hortus couldnt walk straight having consumed too much alcohol. They talked forever to the biggest names in the city, rubbing elbows with the merchants, complimenting the actors on their skills, listening to the performances of the best musicians. They seemed to thrive upon Sir Kents and Lady Olivias Trimalchiolike nature. Orchestras played rapid jaunty tunes, while gymnasts leapt into the air. Actors gave segments of their best scenes, while merchants displayed their exotic wares. Elven maidens flirted with gnomish warriors; Halflings drank dwarfs under the table. The world seemed topsy-turvy. Eventually Colin and Hortus fainted, and Sir Kent and Lady Olivia dismissed the guests and went to bed themselves. Colin and Hortus wake to high-pitched muffle screams. They rush in weapons drawn to discover three masked men carrying a tied up Lady Olivia. Sir Kent rushes in at the same time with a short sword drawn. The men manage to escape with the use of a teleport scroll. A note was left behind that read. If you wish to see your wife again, bring 500,000 gold pieces to the cross-kept towers once used by Lord Marin in 9 days. If not, you will never see her again. Come alone or she dies. My gods, what am I to do? Without my fair Lady Olivia, I am nothing. I have not the gold to pay this ill-omened ransom, nor the assets to do so. Without her, my days are darker than the blackness of death. Without her, my soul has fallen from out of heaven into the deepest darkest demonic layer of the abyss. The angels that once filled my heart with joy are now demons filling it with despair. Oh wretched ill-tempered bandits of ill repute, why have you kidnapped my one true love, my muse, my darling, my beloved. If I had the gold to give, I would give it in an instant. If I could give my soul in exchange for her freedom, I would. My life without her is meaningless. My soul is forfeit to the darkest of demons. I cannot do anything without her. She is my muse! My love eternal! If my blade could free her alone, I would do so in a heartbeat. But now I march to my death in the small hope that it will be enough to free

her. For I would do anything for my love. My love knows no bounds, but my body has its limits. I will die, but tell my love that I will love her eternally from beyond the grave. laments poor Sir Kent Why do you not have enough gold, for surely your friends could spare or loan the gold necessary to free her. says Colin trying to comfort Sir Kent What friends? They are but leeches, always taking never giving. My estate is far gone, but let not my Lady know, for I am deeply in debt. Ive been borrowing gold from multiple old friends and merchants that would give it. This manor and everything else can no longer be called mine, for my debt is too much that even if I were to sell all of my possessions I would still owe more than enough. It was all so that my Lady could live in the comfort that she always knew. I could not bear to ask her to part with any luxury she once had. It was worth it till now, now that I cannot afford to save my love with anything but my life. My so called friends wont help for they see no gain in it. My fair Olivia waits for me locked in a tower. I must depart to attempt to save her, or at least die trying. I was prepared for this since the day that I asked her to run away with me. Away from her engagement to the Baron, away from her fathers keep, away from the riches and comforts that I could not afford for her. My innocent Olivia, how must she wonder at her poor lover. She must pity me so much if she has been willing to stay with me so long. Sir Kent replies in a solemn tearful tone Let us accompany you, our arms may prove to save both your Lady and your life. Good sir, youve saved our life by allowing us to stay here, let us repay the favor volunteers Hortus Oh thank the gods! I now have allies in my quest. May your aid prove fruitful and productive towards your cause? Your aid will repay my favor many times over. For how fortuitous it is for Fortune to provide me with two allies upon this time of need. Thank the gods, for they have provided a glimmer of hope during these troubling times. Praise the stars for shining brightly tonight in the otherwise dark despair that is night. Praise the sun for lighting a bright light upon the day for which we may toil to our goal. My Lady might be saved yet. My Radiant Flower! Wait for me yet! shouts Sir Kent gleefully So our adventurous party sets out blades and armor already to combat the perilous foes that will await them at the tower. Five bandits formerly under the Bandit King attack them along the way. Sir Kent was sleeping at the time, so Hortus and Colin fight back. Hortus parries multiple blows from the bandits, as Colin fires rays of enfeeblement at two of them. Hortus manages to strike one down, but not before two of them got blunt jabs at Hortus ribcage. Hortus starts parrying blows again, as Colin throws Jerome at one of them. Distracted by the cat clawing at his face, the bandit screams and backs off a bit, allowing Hortus to bring down another bandit. The bandits decide to go after Colin instead. Fearing for his life Colin takes a 5 foot step back and throws a color spray at them. Weapons clattered to the ground as the bandits were stunned and blinded. Hortus then sneaks up behind them and takes them down with two solid axe blows. The last one finally gets the cat off his face and comes back to face the two adventurers. Casting mirror image, the bandit appeared to be at multiple places at once. Hortus takes a swing at one image of the bandit, but misses completely. Colin takes a sling shot at one and it goes through one of the copies of the bandit. The bandit then casts web trapping Hortus in one stop as Hortus struggles to free himself from the sticky webs released by the spell. Colin casts ray of

enfeeblement at the bandit, but the bandit seems unphased by the spell. The bandit takes a swing at Colin, grazing skin but not getting a clear stroke. Hortus finally frees himself from the net but is too far to intervene. Colin readies an action for the bandits next move. The bandit attempts to cast a spell, but Colin suddenly releases arcane energy wasting both of their spells. Hortus finally charges the bandit and lands a grazing blow. The bandit then casts Hideous laughter on Hortus; Hortus breaks down into a fit of giggles. Colin face palms then casts Color spray on the bandit again, rays of light coming out of his fingertips. The bandit surprisingly jumps out of the way in time. The bandit then attempts to coup de grace Hortus, but Hortus conveniently rolls away in time. Colin feebly attempts to bull rush the bandit but the bandit stands his ground. Hortus finally regains his composure and takes another swing, but the bandit yet again dodges. The bandit then manages to land a grazing blow on Hortus, swinging through the armor like nothing. Hortus and Colin both bulrush the bandit against the tree. And Hortus lands a series of axe blows against the Bandits armor. The Bandit still stands and attacks Hortus and lands one final blow before falling unconscious. Hortus collapses as well from the weight of the blow. Colin makes sure that he is still alive, and then rushes to his character sheet. The challenging nature of the encounter plus the previous battles, allowed both of them to level up twice. Colin chooses to take the feat combat casting, and improves his intelligence by 1 point. He then rushes again to unpack his notebook to scribe down additional formulas for spells. He chooses to scribe the formulas for Gust of Wind, Blur, Ghoul Touch, and False life. He continued to max out his skills as well. Eventually Hortus wakes up and levels himself up, choosing to take burning hands and obscuring mist. He also takes the feat Power attack and ups his strength by 1 point. Another day passes along the road, yet again they are accosted by bandits, and yet again they triumph over them in a long arduous battle while Sir Kent rests. They level up once more and Colin chooses Vampiric touch and ray of exhaustion and takes quicken spell as his bonus feat. Hortus chooses to learn Dimension Hop as his first second level spell. The third and fourth days were relatively quiet. On the 5th day, our protagonists discover that the tower was heavily fortified with ballistae and that they were going to need a plan. So as they journeyed over the last 4 days, they came up with a clever plan. As they came upon the tower they discovered it heavily fortified. As the bandits open the gate when Sir Kent approaches, Colin and Hortus sneak in through the back door. Suddenly, unexpectedly by both parties, Sir Kent starts to change shape. His human limbs began to be covered in fur, his muscles grow by a large amount, and the bandits look on in shock, as Sir Kent smashes the bandits, seemingly unphased by any amounts of sword or arrow blows. The bandits attempt to swarm Sir Kent, but he is unphased by it and charges through them clawing through their bodies like a hot knife through butter. Bandit after bandit fell to the hulking mass of flesh that was Sir Kent. A mountain of corpses was building as Sir Kent continued on his rampage. Blood pooled around the monstrous knights feet and soon many bandits came with silver tipped spears and started stabbing Sir Kent. It was incredibly effective till Hortus and Colin ambush the spear wielders from behind stopping their relentless assault. Blood pooled with blood as the slaughter continued. The monstrous hulk of muscle rampaged up the tower throwing bandits all over the place. Colin and Hortus cover his rear cutting down anyone with spears with spell and axe. Two floors below the prison cells, Sir Kent collapses and shifts back into his human form naked. The two trek on carrying Sir Kent on their backs as they climb the stairs hacking limb and slinging deadly spells at the bandits. Eventually they reach the prisoners cells where they come upon multiple prisoners being held prisoner in the prison cells. Many were covered with grotesque scars showing much physical abuse. Most were young women in their twenties. Most were shackled to the

ground with a lead ball and chain. The few males were covered in much more scars, blood pooling at their feet. Lady Olivia was found sitting among a group of children that were captured as well. She was teaching them how to play basic children games like tag and eye spy. Hortus and Colin search for the keys to no avail. Eventually, they find the keys to the cells and open each and every one of them. Those who were unchained rushed out of the cells door almost knocking Hortus and Colin over. Those who were still chained slowly pulled their chain along to try and reach the door. Hortus used his axe to cut through the chains, but there were so many prisoners that Hortus did not seem to make a dent into the number of people freed. Lady Olivia just sat there idling her time watching the unconscious Sir Kent with a very worried look. Oh my dearests love how pitiful you look in your unconscious form. Yet, I love thee so, for I know that youve risked life and limb to come to my rescue. Oh how brave a man you are, too brave for me. Your valor knows no bounds nor does your love. Oh my love, my brave knight, my ever stalwart hero, how much you mean to me. To think of the odds you must have faced, the villains you must have fought. Thou are my savior, my lord, my hero. I am forever bound to your eternal bravery. Why it must be fate that I met a true knight in shining, a hero that goes beyond the call, a paladin of true nobility. How Ive missed thee locked up in a tiny cell. Even in this crowd, I feel alone when you are not awake. My world, my soul, my very self is all but a portion of you. My heart pounds faster at the very thought of you. My brave soul, my ever wandering warrior, my stalwart defender, my bold knight, my champion, you are the greatest soul that has ever lived. Oh woe is me to put you through such misery. The only pain in this cell worth mentioning is the pain in my heart to be apart from you. No suffering, no punishment, no malicious intent could be worse than the pain I felt without you by my side. My love, my love for you knows no bounds, and this great act of valor only magnifies it. It is forever my honor to be your wife, and it is the greatest blessing that the stars have bestowed on me to even be in your presence. You are my champion, my hero; my debt to you can never be repaid. Says Lady Olivia stroking the fallen Sir Kents hair. After said speech, Sir Kent slowly opens his eyes, staring straight into Lady Olivias. He leaps up and embraces her. Oh my dearests love how I have missed thee. The hours weve spent apart felt like daggers at my very heart. I am glad to see you alive and well. Oh how Ive missed thee. No challenge, no obstacle would be too mighty that I would not attempt it to rescue you. The depths of hell would not stop me. I would defy the very heavens just to be with you again. It is my foolishness that got you into this mess and I would do anything to bring you back. For without you, my life would be worse than the greatest depths of hell. Without you, my soul is incomplete, my hear t shattered, my life no longer worth living. Without you, the angels would forever lament, the gods would weep eternally, the skies would darken, and the flowers would wither. To think, that if I were moments too late, I might never have seen you again. Death would have been a more desirable outcome than a life without you. You are perfection incarnate, if I let you go, shadows would haunt me forever, my soul would be torn asunder, my life forfeit to the gods. A life without you would be a blasphemy in and of itself. For you, my lovely bride, are the only thing in my life worthwhile. I would have given my soul, my very essence to just be in your presence. But you have blessed me with your hand in marriage. Even if your father came at me with his armies, or the baron with his, I would stand against them to just be with you. My life is yours to

command, my soul is but your plaything. I am not your champion but your blade. I would do anything youd tell me. I am your ever loyal pet, your pet pup in your care. In my eyes, you are a goddess and I your humble worshipper. For even the gods, if they laid eyes on you would swear eternal loyalty. With but a glance upon your beauty and generals would surrender their armies for another glance. Your soul is so pure that freshly fallen snow looks blacker than ash. Your eyes are so blue, that the sky and ocean seem almost colorless. Your hair so golden, that the sun pales in comparison. You are beauty eternal. You are a god amongst gods. You are the best thing in the universe, the multiverse, in all that has, is and will be. You are perfection incarnate. You are greater than anything else. You are unrivaled. You are the best thing that has happened to me. You are my innocent flower, and I but your humble pet. I would give anything to continue being with you, and I would die if you gave the order. You are perfect in any way, and I am sorry for failing as your husband. Oh my dearest champion, you had no failing as my husband. In fact you are greater than my husband. You are my champion, my knight, my stalwart defender. Youve rescued me from great despair. You complete my soul, you are my other half. You are my knight in shining, my noble paladin, and my greatest champion. You are not my pet, but I am your faithful servant. Do not humble yourself so. You saved me against impossible odds. You faced certain death to rescue me, and you succeeded. You are greater than the gods; you are mightier than the titans. You are the best there can be. You are my champion, my savior, my hero. It is my honor to be your wife. For I would not have it any other way. The only pain I suffered in this cell was the pain in my heart to be apart from you. I may have lost my official noble title and much power by running away with you, but I would do it all again. For you are my everything. You are my love. You are perfection. I am very flawed as a person. I am not as pretty as you say nor an innocent. But you, you are handsomer than the gods. You are stronger than the titans. You are braver than any hero of myth. You are heavens greatest gift upon this world. I am but your humble servant, your wife by fortunes gift. You are my lord, my champion, my master. It is my honor to be your wife, for I am blessed by the gods to have you as my husband. I worried not for my life in my cell, but how long I may be apart from you in the mean time. Replies Lady Olivia returning Sir Kents tight embrace and giving him a soft kiss. So I guess well be going to continue our quest then? says Colin slowly backing away with Hortus. So you are on a quest? Let us join you. We owe to you a great favor for your aid in reuniting us. We would be of great aid to your quest. As you know, within me resides a powerful beast spirit which I may call upon in times of great need. Its martial strength is great, but in order to use it I must let it take control of my mind briefly. However, I do retain a tiny bit of control, enough to differentiate between friend and foe. This strength may be useful in future battles to come. These claws are powerful enough to rend men in two. My hide is near invulnerable, all but silver are blocked by it. Silver, however, is a great poison to my kind, for it causes great burns and pains to our spirit. Silver is unnatural, it does not occur readily to our bodies. While strength of arms may not always be the best solution, to have it open to you is a great boon. Says Sir Kent

And I know some things about what goes bump in the dark. I know a smattering of everything. Find yourself in a royal court? I can help you identify the royals, or plead with the king. See an unknown creature? I might know what it is. My training as a lady in my household included a smattering of spells both of arcane and divine nature, as well as an in depth study of the world around us including local noblemen, monsters that may encroach on our lands, and the history of the nations. My knowledge may be of great use to you. I am also apparently very good at sneaking around. I remember when I was younger I would sneak past my bodyguards into the kitchen to steal some pastries to eat. I was never caught. I continued doing so, and would occasionally sneak around town to spy on minstrels and such and hear them play. Says Lady Olivia After a reluctant discussion between Colin and Hortus they agree to let the two super cheesy lovers come along with them on their quest to find the Scroll of Azarael. Secretly Sir Kent calls them away to another room. Yeah, could you please not tell my love that I am in debt? I am afraid that she would leave me once she finds out for she is used to fine luxuries that I cannot afford. To be honest, part of the reason why I wanted to come on your quest is to collect enough treasure to pay back my debt and give Olivia the life that she deserves. I hope that you understand my selfish desire, and are willing to go along with this scheme. Says Sir Kent in a rather desperate tone. While we cant approve of dishonesty, we understand why you are doing this. I guess we can keep it a secret as long as she doesnt ask. However you will need to pull your own weight, and not slack off. If you hold us back, we will tell Olivia about your lies. Deceit is not healthy in a relationship; we are only going to be willing to put up with it for so long good sir. It would be wise to tell her at your earliest convenience. A relationship built on lies is not a relationship at all. If she truly loves you shed understand and stay with you anyways. If she is only in it for your wealth, then she shouldnt be worth your time in the first place. You call her your goddess, but if you truly loved her, you would tell her the absolute truth and not pretend to be something you arent. Love is not love when it is hidden behind deceit, or lies or trickery. To think that you believe that you can get away with all these lies and call her your one true love. I think that if you do truly love her, we wouldnt need to keep these secrets. Responds Hortus So sadly agreeing to those turns, Sir Kent departs with our protagonists to the ruins. At the entrance of the ruin were hundreds of adventuring groups waiting to enter the ruins. Outside was a sign in booth surprisingly. Adventurers of all races and classes gathered into various groups. Merchants set up stalls carrying common adventuring gear, magic weapons, potions, food, and various other things that an adventurer might need before the trip. People were selling souvenir shirts, mugs, pants, even snow globes. Bards were playing adventurous tunes on various instruments, including an electrified guitar. Poets were negotiating with particularly famous adventurers to the rights to their next epic. Gold changed hands at a rapid rate. Wizards traded scrolls and spells looking to get a last minute edge against their opponents.

The ruins themselves were a spectacular sight. It was a gigantic pyramid much larger than any building or structure that Colin has ever seen. There were hundreds of entrances. Arcane runes covered the walls all the way down obviously proving that the ruins contained many powerful creatures. The tip of the pyramid seemed to shine as bright as a star, as the sunlight reflected off the golden tip. Our protagonists register as a team, and scope out the competition. Many of the other adventurers seemed to be very confident, and exuded a gigantic magic aura. Some were seen playing with illusions, while others were sparring with their blades covered in magic runes and expensive gemstones. Bards played beautiful melodies that some could only dream of. Eventually a short man wearing an expensive suit walked confidently onto the stage and shouted Good evening Brave Champions! Welcome to the official Dungeon Trek into the ancient ruins of Altaroun. It is said that many kings left their fortunes among the ruins as they were buried. But beware; the ruins were not left unprotected. The finest mages and warriors at the time captured and created monsters from the far reaches of the world. Traps that could defeat the best of rogues lie in wait behind every corridor. But those who reach the treasure room within will leave richer than the finest of kings. In addition, the first party to make it to the treasure room and back will earn the right to enter the Hall of Heroes and be forever memorialized as champions. So good luck noble heroes, and may the triumphant return Champions! The various entrances to the pyramid suddenly slide open, as a surge of adventurers charge through them. Our protagonists all rush into one of them, and immediately fall down a pitfall slide into another room. The room was dimly lit with torches, and the walls were covered in ancient runes. There seemed to be no immediate exit to the room, and the hole they slid through was shut. What now? says Colin worried that they had lost before they had even begun. I dont know, but whatever you do dont panic. I doubt the creators put in a dead end right at the beginning replies Hortus My lovely maiden, would you please do the honor of deciphering the runes on the wall as we search for a way out? says Sir Kent in a really polite tone. Lady Olivia examines the runes and recognizes them to be ancient Saltarian script. When fire and water meet, steam arises And when steam comes, the air rises. Soar through the sky upon heavenly wings From beam to beam does the exit lean she reads aloud

The entire party contemplates the Saltarian poem for a moment. Suddenly Lady Olivia rushes to each torch extinguishing them. In complete darkness, the entire party starts to panic for a moment, but then they hear a loud grating sound, as the door to the next room slid open.

You did it! Everyone shouts as they give Olivia a hug. The adventurous party continues down the hall, which was lit with what appeared to be orbs of light. They come into another room, with a snarling Minotaur stood carrying a giant axe. Immediately, Sir Kent shifts into the form of the beast, his muscles start growing exponentially, as fur seemed to grow out of his skin, claws shoot out of Sir Kents fingers, as his face becomes more and more like that of a wolf. Not a moment later, the Minotaur charges Sir Kent. In a similar fashion, Sir Kent lunges at the Minotaur. Latching his claws into the Minotaurs flesh, Sir Kent claws away at it. The Minotaur grabs Sir Kent, and in a show of great force lifts him up into the air and throws him against the wall. Hortus charges the Minotaur behind, striking it in the back with his axe. The Minotaur roaring in pain thrashes at Hortus, knocking him unconscious. Sir Kent having risen after the distraction lunges again at the Minotaur biting into its neck and sinking his claws into its ripped flesh. The Minotaur in its dying breath takes one last harmless swing at Sir Kents bestial form before collapsing. Sir Kent then takes a deep breath, and slowly shifts back into his human form, his clothes magically appearing on his body. The door to the next hallway slides open. Shall we proceed then? It seems that this quarrel has been finished quite quickly says Sir Kent quietly as he dusts himself off. After you my lady Oh my champion, you were lovely in battle replies Lady Olivia in a tone of admiration So onward our protagonists proceed through the tunnel, eventually coming to a giant common room with what appeared to be a chute leading downwards. Footprints on the obsidian floor revealed that other teams had already passed through. However, dried blood was present all over the place revealing that not all passed through this room unscathed. Rather than immediately jump down the chute, Hortus, after having woken up from his unconscious state casts detect magic on the room looking for any magic auras. He finds one near the chute emanating a ward of abjuration. After warning the rest of the party, he throws a pebble down the chute. After a mild explosion of heated water, the rest of the party suddenly backed away from the chute. Once again looking for another way into the room below, they finally decide to lower Colin down into the chute using some nearby rope. Once down the chute a little bit, Colin searches for the trap mechanism below him. After locating said mechanism he attempts to jam it using a rock. After jamming the mechanism, the party raises him back up and throws a couple of larger rocks in and waits awhile. After five minutes have passed with no explosion, they slower lower Sir Kent in beast form down the chute until he reaches the bottom. Then they send Lady Olivia down the chute, then Colin, and then Hortus climbs down the chute with the rope tied to the top. The next room is a giant chasm, on which are two large platforms. One of which they are standing on. Connecting the two platforms is a stone platform with tiles inscribed with large runes. The tiles stretch three across and seem to have the letters of the alphabet on them. On top of the other platform is an inscription that reads Politeness, my friend is the path to success. Rudeness may just lead to your death. Colin without thinking takes a step on a tile labeled with the letter A. The tile suddenly falls without a warning, while Colin leaps back saving himself from certain death. Bloody hell, that was close. Says Colin.

Whats with the sudden accent? inquires Hortus Oh blimey, my voice has changed, I cant seem to stop talking in this bloody accent says Colin irritated by his new accent. Well, your eloquent accent does not seem so terrible to me, but it does not compare to my beautiful Olivias sweet tender voice. For her voice is just like that of an angels but is much sweeter and tenderer. Her voice carries through like a dove through the air. Its so melodic so beautiful, that the sirens stop to hear her sing. Oh how beautiful her voice is. It is as if I was floating upon a beauteous cloud that floats above the heavens. Oh it is like the very earth stops its eternal orbit to hear more. Oh the only thing more beautiful than her voice is her very self. Her says Sir Kent cut off Enough about her beauty, we must get though this puzzle quickly before the other parties get there. We must be the first to claim the scroll of Azarael. My status in my order depends on it. If I do not succeed on this quest, I will be forever cast out of the Sacred Order of the Tea for my failure. I cannot be kicked out of the order, you hear me! My family has always been members of the Order. My family can trace its roots back to the beginning of the Sacred Order. If I get kicked out not only will I have disgraced my name, but that of my ancestors. Says Hortus in an annoyed tone stepping on the P by accident. The P lights up as does the letter next to it. Soon Hortus realizes the solution. He then hops onto the L lighting up the next line of letters. Then the E, then the A, then an S then another E. Suddenly, lights below the engraved sentence light up saying THANK YOU, The rest of the letters light up and platforms around the bridge rise up and complete the floor. Thank god, I thought we would never get out of this room says Colin. He then has an expression of joy Yes, thank the gods, my voice is back to normal, I lost that stupid accent. I dont know what I would do if I was force to keep it. Says Colin in a super relieved voice. So our protagonists safely cross the puzzle room, as soon as they step onto the second platform, the other platforms collapse leaving the bridge up. In the next room, Colin is suddenly attacked by what appeared to be a living vine. An Assassin Vine! shouts Olivia Be careful, they can suffocate someone really quickly as she pulls out a crossbow to shoot the plant. Hortus rushes to cut down the part of the vine strangling Colin. After freeing Colin, Hortus is immediately grabbed by another of the Assassin Vines tendrils. Colin then cuts it down with Hortus fallen axe. This back and forth exchange goes on for a while, till Hortus just fires a Kelgores Fire Bolt at it setting it aflame. The assassin vine screeches in horrible pain before dying a slow cold death. The vines eventually recede revealing another room. The protagonists slowly proceed to the next room trying to get the ashes off of their clothes. The next room they encounter another adventuring party. The other parties consisted of a short man with his flesh flaking off and pitch black robes being carried by two large skeletons. A taller Elven maiden with a lute strapped to her back and rapier drawn. A knight covered in blood red tattoos wearing a very elaborate full-plate inscribed with arcane runes from every nation in the world. And a

Halfling carrying two daggers and wearing a simple forest green tunic. Immediately the tattooed knight draws his sword and charges at Sir Kent. Sir Kent responds by shifting into beast form and attacking the knight with his claws. The man in black robes sends his skeletons to attack Lady Olivia, who uses a holy symbol of Syreth to ward them off. The bard attacks Colin with her rapier, but Colin narrowly dodges and casts vampiric touch on her, draining some of her life force to add to his own. Hortus casts obscuring mist, and then sneaks up on the Halfling who was trying to sneak up on Colin. The Knight barely deflects Sir Kents claws with his blade and swings it into Sir Kents flesh. Sir Kent howls in pain surprisingly as the blade emits a pale orange glow. The Halfling turns upon Hortus and stabs his two daggers inside chinks of Hortus armor. The bard manages to land many telling blows on Colin cutting through arteries and veins, blood pouring out of the newly formed holes. Lady Olivia finds herself backed into a corner by the necromancers skeletons. Sir Kent lunges at the Halfling, as Hortus blocks a blow from the opposing night. Colin casts color spray on the skeletons, while Lady Olivia, fires crossbow bolts into the bard. The bard falls unconscious, as the Halfling makes a leap attack against Lady Olivia in a fit of utter rage. Sir Kent interferes ripping the Halflings head clean off in one pull. The blood spurted out like a geyser. The Knight has visible fury on his face, whilst before he seemed emotionless. He charges in rampant fury and lands a glancing blow on Lady Olivia who falls over in shock. Sir Kent becomes very enraged as well, even more so than before. He leaps onto the knight and tears him limb from limb. When Sir Kent was finished, the knights body was unrecognizable, it could only be described as the end result when a cow goes through the butcher and the meat grinder and comes out into a sort of meat like paste. Hortus and Colin puke a little bit after seeing the end result and even Lady Olivia who usually admires and praises Sir Kents brutality in battle averted her eyes. They slowly after much awkward silence proceed onwards to the next room. In the next room was a giant scale with large weights on them as well as on the side. On the wall above the scale says Those who find balance with in their souls and on this scale Immediately Lady Olivia starts making calculations on how to balance the scales. Colin and Hortus examine the walls for clues as to the solution to the puzzle, as Sir Kent rests from the epic battle they had earlier. Olivia continues to do calculations for a while, as she cant seem to find an actual solution to the problem. Any solution she came up with turned out to be off by at least 1 gram. Finally, Sir Kent of all people comes up with a solution. He simply knocks off all the weights on both sides making the scale balanced. Two doors slide open to reveal two separate paths. Which path should we take? says Colin Only one path will lead to the goal says Hortus Well then there is only one course of action available to us says Lady Olivia Well have to split up, we should split off into two groups with one person skilled in weapons and the other with a different skill set. Ill go with beautiful Sir Kent of course, so Hortus and Colin you guys should go down the left path. So our protagonists split off as so. Colin and Hortus: POV

The two of them enter upon a room, inside are three beautiful Elven maidens standing in front of three doors. A sign appears that says One maiden tells the truth every time, the other maiden lies all the time, and the third maiden says the opposite of one of them. Two doors lead to certain doom the third leads to freedom. Colin cautiously asks them Name one door which is the wrong door to enter. The maiden on the left says My door is the wrong door to enter The maiden on the right says The door in the middle is the wrong door to enter The maiden in the middle says The door on the right is the right door to enter. Ok so we know that the Elven maiden in the middle is the one who says the opposite of the one on the left. says Colin. So if we take that into account, we know that one of the other two is telling a lie therefore either the door on the left or the door in the middle is the safe door to enter. Now all we need to do is figure out which of the two is the one who lies. Now that weve narrowed it down to two doors and have eliminated the answer of one of the maidens as being false, weve narrowed it down to the famous problem of the truth tellers and the liars. Therefore all that remains is the final question. Of the two of you, the maiden guarding the door to my left and the maiden guarding the door on the right how would the other answer the problem: Which is the safe door to enter? The maiden on the left answers with a smile The one opposite me would say the door on the left is the safe door. The maiden on the right answers with a frown The one opposite me would say the door on the left is the safe door. Since we know one of them is lying about the one saying the truth would say, we can therefore conclude that the left door is the remaining door that is dangerous. Therefore we should take the middle door. Says Colin opening the door with gusto. Impressive, maybe that wisdom penalty isnt so justified after all. Sir Kent and Lady Olivias POV (K+O): Oh my lovely lady, why must you accompany me into such a dangerous place? If any harm were to befall you, my own soul would never be forgiven. Your radiance may shine bright into this dark ruins, and your mind as insightful as that of a god of wisdom. But it is far too dangerous for you to be here. There are many dangerous creatures here, and all of them may attack you. My fair maiden, please turn back. Pleads Sir Kent as the two of them walk down the corridor. Oh dear knight, I must accompany you to prove my worth. I am nothing compared to you. As your humble bride, allow me to at least assist you in repaying the debt you took on to rescue me. You are my eternal savior and you have my eternal gratitude. I must use my knowledge to help them in order to help you. Your quest is my quest; your burden is my burden. I am your eternal bride and you

my eternal lord. I will assist you wherever you go and fight all fights you fight. I will accompany you to the ends of the earth and make sure that you are well. I would fight the heavens and hells if it meant more time with you. It would be my honor to be by your side. Allow me this one guilty pleasure my lord, allow me to be beside your side during times of trouble as well as times of bliss. Replies Lady Olivia The two of them come into a room; inside seemed to be a flowing river with no real way to get across. In the middle of the river was a giant flagpole on which has a single locked key, to their immediate right there was a locked door. It became apparent that to exit the room they were to somehow claim the key from the rushing river. Olivia attempts to come up with a plan while Sir Kent wades through the raging river in beast form barely standing up against the current. When he finally reaches the pole he is swept away by the current downstream and out of the room. Lady Olivia in a panic jumps in after him being swept away by the river.

Colin and Sir Hortus POV(C+H): Hortus and Colin have just made it out of the three Elven maidens room and came across a giant scorpion at least 6 feet long and 4 feet high. Its tail looked to be sharper than that of a spear, and obviously poisoned. Surrounding the walls of the room were a bunch of skulls and skeletons of men and women who tried to rob the tomb. Some fresh corpses were there of adventurers who had fallen to the scorpions stinger.

(K+O): Kent and Olivia end up washing onto a sandy shore, inside of another room. Inside the room was an altar of Pelor, the god of sun and goodness, next to an altar of Asmondeus, the king of hell. The seemingly contradictory nature of the room confused the two of them. Suddenly behind them they hear screams of people as they fall into the river. Readying themselves for battle they turn around

(C+H): The scorpion attacks. Colin and Hortus narrowly jump out of the way of the stinger. Hortus casts a firebolt at the scorpion which hits, but barely seems to have any effect what so ever. Colin casts ray of enfeeblement, which while it obviously weakened the scorpion did not seem to stop its momentum.

(K+O): Three adventurers wash up on shore in a similar fashion as Kent and Olivia. One of them was a human girl wearing bright yellow robes and had neon pink hair. Another of them was a male dwarf

wearing a strange mechanical armor. The third was a man with stone grey skin as hard as stone. When they woke up they immediately drew their weapons in fear of Kent and Olivia. We mean you no harm good sirs. While we are also adventurers we have no specific quarrel with you. As it is quite obvious that if we were to fight at least one of your number would be dead, and we would be outnumbered and risking our lives, it would seem to me that the best option is for us to go our separate ways and pretend not to see each other she says before being hit with a bolt of force

(C+H) Colin and Hortus continue dodging the scorpions tail. Neither the scorpion nor our heroes seemed to be able to inflict any damage. Eventually Hortus hits it hard with his axe. The scorpion survives it unscathed and uses the opening to skewer Hortus with its stinger. Colin in the mean time casts Gust of wind forcing the scorpion back and then Hortus while poisoned casts another Kelgores Fire Bolt.

(K+O): The sudden unprovoked attack enrages Sir Kent; he immediately shifts into Beast form and attacks the young girl in the robes who launched the bolt of force. She is shielded however by the dwarf who manages to stand tall against Sir Kent because of his unusual armor. After, a long hitting match, Sir Kent actually falls over and is heavily injured.

(C+H): The scorpion attempts to attack Colin avoiding Hortus as much as possible as Hortus was already poisoned. Colin casts vampiric touch on it followed by cold touch on the part heated by the firebolt. Cracks form as the cold air cools down the parts of the exoskeleton that was heated by the firebolts.

(K+O): Lady Olivia gets up slowly after waking up and is stunned and infuriated to see Sir Kent lying on the ground next to the dwarf with strange mechanical armor. She draws her crossbow and fires multiple times, each time jamming critical components of the armor. Eventually enough gears get stuck that the suit starts to overheat from the force being used to turn the gear. The dwarf gets a nervous look on his face

(C+H): Hortus in a rush of strength, leaps up into the air narrowly avoiding the stinger, and smashes into the crack that was formed by Colins cold touch. The Scorpion reels back in pain, not realizing the chink in its armor. The scorpion takes one last stab at Colin before Hortus manages to cut its flesh and kill it. After killing it, Hortus forcibly removes the stinger and places it in a large bag. For future research. He explains. (K+O) The Dwarf starts panicking, as the gears in his armor tries to overcome the crossbow bolts. Steam starts blowing out of it. The loud clanging sound whirred as the gears clashed against each other. Valves opened and closed at a rapid rate. The Dwarfs party members quickly sought cover. Olivia drags Sir Kent behind a wall and takes cover herself. The armor explodes ferociously; massive amounts of heat and wind were released, instantly frying the dwarf into a clean crisp. The other two party members werent so lucky. The mage girls robes caught on fire and slowly started frying her to death, in her panic she forgot to stop drop and roll, and she ran around not being able to cast any spells to counter it. The man with stone skin was blasted through multiple walls, his body died on the final impact. Thankfully, Lady Olivia and Sir Kent were behind a rather solid wall which while obliterated shielded them from the majority of the blast.

(C+H) Colin and Hortus proceed onward to the next room, there was no obvious exit, the only thing inside it was a single statue of a white dragon. On it was inscribed Beware the flame of truth behold, the room you seek be hidden behind icy lies, victory lies in loss, and shadows dont always lead to darkness. Prepare your soul, and find the way, or else you may never see the light of day. The entrance you enter is not the exit yet, so keep on searching, the gods permit.

Oh great a dead end. Says Colin disappointed There must be another way through hypothesizes Hortus There cant be, the only thing inside this room is this dumb statue saying that we are going on the wrong path replies Colin But dont forget what it said, the room you seek be hidden behind lies, maybe the exit is still in this room? says Hortus Suddenly Colin receives a short eloquent sending spell message from Lady Olivia and Kent.

(K+O) Lady Olivia sees the wall next to the ashes of what used to be the dwarf has a huge gaping hole blown out of it leading to another room. Seeing an opportunity for a shortcut, she drags Sir Kent with her into the next room. Inside the room is a black dragon statue similar to the white dragon one that Colin and Hortus were seeing. After reading the inscription, Lady Olivia immediately searches for a hidden door of sorts. After giving up she pulls out a scroll of sending she had on her and sends word to Colin and Hortus. Bad Luck, apparent dead end. Kent unconscious. Black Dragon Statue. Any Luck on your end, yours must be correct path. Need any help you guys? she sends No good, also apparent dead end, white dragon statue, look for clues? Try and keep posted. Must be a way around. He replies

(C+H) After Colin replies to Lady Olivias message, he immediately looks for a hidden door as well. Hortus does likewise. After no success, they attempt a closer examination of the statue. Inside they find a singular switch.

(K+O) After sending the message to Colin, Lady Olivia continues to look for a hidden door. After no success whatsoever, she examines the dragon statue closely. Inside she finds a singular switch. After a close examination looking for traps, she decides to flip the switch.

(C+H) As Colin reaches for the switch, a continuous jet of ice shoots out of the dragon statues mouth. Narrowly dodging said stream of ice, he examines other parts of the statue.

(K+O) Olivia after seeing nothing happening in her room decides to flip the switch again continuing to search for a mechanism to open a secret door.

(C+H)

The jet of ice suddenly stops. Colin curious approaches the statue again, and flips the switch.

(K+O) Olivia jumps back in surprise, as a bright orange jet of flame shoots out of the dragon statues mouth. She then continues her search for a way out of the room.

(C+H) Hortus and Colin after seeing little effect on their room, decides to turn off their switch.

(K+O) After seeing the jet of flame recede, Lady Olivia connects the dots; she pulls out her last scroll of sending and sends one last message to Colin. (C+H) Colin receives a message from Lady Olivia A small hologram pops up of her. Switch are keys, must turn on both at same time, exactly 10 seconds after, flip switch, hopefully will open a path on our sides. It says Colin counts off 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi

(K+O) 9 Altarian, 10 Altarian Lady Olivia counts off. After hitting her switch, the jet of fire starts coming out again as expected. A hidden door slides open letting in a cool breeze.

(C+H) After the jet of ice started coming out of the statues mouth, a hidden door slides open revealing another stone room. They head through it to discover three rings. A placard sits besides the rings that state Congratulations on solving the puzzle, these are our gifts as the guardians of the tomb to you. These rings are localized rings of wishes; each one of them contains one wish which can only be granted within the temple. You cannot wish yourself into another place, but you can teleport yourself to another

person. While we do not appreciate those who rob our temples, we must stand and appreciate the cooperation and trust between two parties. Good luck, and may your death be painless

(K+O) Lady Olivia drags Sir Kent into the other room where cold air is coming from. There she discovers the room to be covered almost completely in ice. In the center is another statue on it is inscribed Congratulation on making it this far temple raiders. As a sign of good luck weve placed this healing ice room to allow you to recover before you enter the actual temple. To utilize them, place a large chunk of it onto the injured person and let it melt. It will then magically heal that person. Good luck, and may your death be painless and swift.

Lady Olivia immediately places a large chunk of ice onto Sir Kent, the ice slowly melts. Scribbling a quick note on a piece of paper, she goes on to scout the next couple of rooms.

(C+H) Colin and Hortus secure the ring in their bags and move on to the next room. Inside of the next room is half of another adventuring party. A ghastly looking man with red hair, and an alluring brunette lady with skin-tight robes and a long gnarled staff, they both seemed to have come from the open door on the opposite end of the corridor, in the center is a single stone idol about the size of two fists. Hello handsome says the brunette lady as she walks up seductively against Hortus. Hortus starts sweating a little bit. Uhmm, hey there uhm shouldnt you be adventuring and looking for the exit right... now? says Hortus very nervously and stuttering. Well, sexy, it seems we have a problem. This room can only be exited by four people handsome, and we only seem to have two, now would you two gentleman be willing to help a poor lady out? she replies pushing herself against Hortus tapping her fingers against his chest. Uhm, Hortus, I dont think we should trust them, there is no telling whether they are going to backstab us or not. Says Colin staring nervously at the ghastly looking red-headed man. Oh dont mind him, big strong and handsome, we wont betray you. Do I look like a woman who would betray someone as handsome as you? she says

Uhm of course not. Now Colin, we should trust them, as she said there is only one way out of the room and it requires 4 people, there is no reason why we cant include more people in our quest. Says Hortus looking directly into the womans eyes and then his eyes started to go down a little bit. Ugh Whats the holdup we need to hurry says the red headed man in a wispy but raspy voice Now hold on Charles, it wont take long to convince these strong fellows to help us. Just hold on a moment. She says briefly turning her head to face her companion before turning back to Hortus. Now then dears, we just need you two fellows to put your hand on the idol at the same time we do and another passage way should open to the next room. We may need to cooperate on further puzzles though so may I so much as suggest that you two big strong men help a feeble woman like me get through this? she asks No problem Im sure that I, Hortus, would be willing to help, and Im sure that I will be able to convince my compatriot to help as well. Says Hortus with quite a visible blush as he observes the brunettes rather visible breasts. Thanks a bundle Hortus was it, my name is Isela. You know? You are quite charming with that stutter. I could use a big kind sensitive man like you. My companions name is Charles if you need to know, She says So Hortus after giving puppy dog eyes to Colin for awhile convinces Colin to ally himself with Isela and Charles. The four of them place their hands on the idol opening a door to the next room.

Lady Olivias perspective: In the next room, is a single monkey idol, on it is inscribed the words To leave this room you must behold, the union between true souls. Cooperate and you may survive, betray others trust and you will take a dive. 4 souls are needed to open the door, 4 souls are needed to leave the room. Cooperate and live, or die alone on this cold stone.

So she sits down and waits waiting for either more people to come or for her beloved Kent to wake up from his wounded slumber.

Sir Kents Perspective: Sir Kent awakes with a shiver. He finds himself surprised to find himself in a room full of ice. He finds the note and reads it aloud.

My beloved Sir Kent, I am saddened to say that I have left you, your valiant nature has led to untimely injury. I am scouting the next few rooms to see of what dangers we must face. I hope you find it within yourself to forgive this. I love you clear as day, and do not want to see you further injured. I hope that you wake up in time as to catch up to me, for it gives me great sorrow to be apart from you for so long. As I write this, I already miss your radiant face. I give thee a hundred blessing and hope that you may come and see me as soon as thou wake. He reads aloud Why my Lady Olivia, I must catch up to thee. It is too dangerous for thou to go alone; you must have me by your side to protect you. Please let it not be too late. Please let my beautiful radiant goddess be unscathed. Let her beauty be protected eternally gods, or let my soul damned to the darkest of hell as it would be a better place than a place without her. She is my radiant sunshine, I must chase after her. He says to himself as he morphs into werewolf form to catch up.

After barreling out of the room he discovers Lady Olivia to be just sitting there twiddling her thumbs. She looks up and has a giant grin on her face as she sees Sir Kent alive and well. She gets up and gives him a gigantic hug. Thank the gods that the ice worked. You are unhurt. I am glad for it she says.

The stone door to her left slides open with a loud thud. A girl with feathers covering her body and wing like arms hovers in on what appears to be a golden cloud. She has long flowing brown hair, and was of short stature. Following her is a man wearing the brightly colored garb of a jester. His fools hat seemed to be shifting colors every few moments. On his belt were several brightly glowing orbs. In his hand was a long gnarled spear covered in skulls, which stood in stark contrast of the mans gaudy clothing. After a couple moments of awkward silken, the man in the jesters outfit speaks up Ohhh two lovers in the nest are you? Two birds of a feather, two lovers in a bed make it wetter. Oh goodness me, can you two tell me how a raven is like a writing desk? Oooh I do love riddles, I dont know though, how is a raven like a writing desk? says Lady Olivia in a curious tone Why a raven is like a writing desk as they both are not lovers of this sickly magnitude. The jester replies breaking out into rancorous laughter. Well that isnt very funny good fool. What sort of jester are you supposed to be says Lady Olivia with a sigh. To be? To be or not to be, that is the question. Many claim to be wise, but I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. We are all fools. But by any other name I may smell just as sweet. Replies the Jester as if he were making a joke.

Forgive my comrade; he is not quite right in the head. He often makes reference to things that do not exist. Plays that were never written, novels that never were. It would seem that his mind is in some other place, some other world, some other time. But in a fight he comes in handy with his nasty spear of his. My name is Caroline and my less than sane companion here goes by the name of Cicero, may I be so kind as to inquire as to yours says the bird-like girl now known as Caroline.

Charmed, my name is Lady Olivia, and this is my beautiful husband Sir Kent. We are also adventurers and request your aid in exchange for ours during this arduous race to the end. I postulate that to exit this room we need 4 people to lay hands on this idol. Since our groups are two and two it would be in both of our interests to do so. I would imagine that to defeat the rest of the dungeon we will need at least that many people. Says Lady Olivia Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real. However, to move is to stir and to be valiant is to stand. So I shall not move to stir when I can still stand to watch. Replies Cicero with a light chuckle Oh wayward fool, why must you puzzle us so? Speak plainly or speak not at all, this race is of uttermost importance. We must move posthaste with great haste. Shouts Sir Kent obviously very annoyed. Oh crying babe, what happened, did someone steal your sweet roll. No lollygagging, lest you get an arrow to the knee. Or have you not already, for I see you already have your willing bride. Yet there are so many things to chide. Come now a roundel and a fairy song, for thy eyes are already bewitched. Laughs Cicero. What does though words say, for thou speak of nothings? It would seem that we would reach an impasse, please Madame Caroline, free us from it. Convince your comrade to part his wit and aid all of us in our mutual goal, or help us find some other willing person to open this gate. Says Lady Olivia obviously annoyed Oh I wish I could, but Cicero never stops talking. While he is a great boon in combat and wit, he does not seem to have an off switch. However, I am sure he is quite willing to aid you in this quest. Replies Caroline obviously sympathetic with Olivia. Two households, both alike in dignity, from forth the fatal loins of these two foes, pairs of star-crossed lovers take their life. Says Cicero rather nonchalantly Oh for the gods sake, what is the fool prattling on about now? Almost everything he says seems to be complete and utter nonsense, his voice is irritating, and we are no closer to completing our quest says Sir Kent obviously irritated. After much annoying prattle, the four of them finally touch the idol, causing the hidden door to slide away to reveal a much greater secret. Oh the gods! cries out Lady Olivia

(C+H and others) Colin, Hortus, Isela, and Charles all enter the next room, inside are what appear to be ancient scrolls, carrying arcane formulas that neither Colin, nor Hortus could understand. From one of the scroll emerges a ghostly spirit. The spirit cries out Beware those who pursue this path, the reckoning of the world lies at hand. To those who pursue, half may die. The other may find that they are no longer themselves. The living shall find the lost part of self. The dead may find themselves to be lost. Beware the path that lies ahead, crossroads lie in wait for both the living and the dead. Charles started chanting a spell, and the spirit started being pulled with great force towards Charles waiting mouth. In a scream of agony the spirit is consumed whole. And Charles just walks away nonchalantly after passing a covert note to Isela. Isela covertly reads it and passes a shy nod to Charles. My apologies, I should have warned you two about Charles little quest. You see, Charles was born without a soul. So in his quest for a true soul hes learned plenty of dark arts. He believes that the path to a true soul lies within the treasure tomb of this temple. So it is of great importance that he gets there. However thanks to his soulless state he can absorb parts of other peoples souls and gain some of their knowledge, skills and memories. Replies Isela Oh yes my love, I could never stay mad at you. For you are a beautiful and kind mistress my dear lady. Says Hortus in a lovey dovey tone What the hells? What are you doing man!? You just met this girl a couple of minutes ago, and you are now willing to forgive soul-eating? Dude what happened to your morals? This girl is probably bad news. Says Colin in a suspicious tone Think about it, if we argue with them now well have them as our enemies. We need firepower on our side; we need Sir Kents muscle to aid us. If we argue with them now we lose potential allies in this mad scramble for the treasure. Let us not forget that we are questing for the scrolls. Scrolls that they are unlikely to need let me add. It is in our best interest to be allied with them. Morals or no, this quest to me is much more important than the souls of the deceased. My familys honor and my own are at stake. If I must compromise some moral values to keep up honor then I will. Please, let us not quarrel over this. I would prefer to keep our friendship intact. Replies Hortus

Dude, you know that I know that you are just trying to get into Iselas pants says Colin suppressing the hints of a giggle.

That is not the only reason why I am doing this replies Hortus in a very annoyed voice.

So you admit that is part of the reason why you are willing to put up with that. Says Colin now no longer suppressing the giggling.

Yes, I admit that she is very attractive to me. But I am mainly doing this for the quest, not for some night in the hay with her. This quest is important to me and you know exactly why I have embarked on this quest let me not have to repeat it again. Replies Hortus now much more annoyed. Whatever you say replies Colin continuing to laugh.

So the impromptu party proceeds onward to the next room. Inside of it is a small group of goblins, 6 in number. Their faces were covered in ceremonial face paint. Their bodies covered in scars obviously from previous battles with adventurers. Two of them wore skulls as helmets, while a third wore a very elaborate headdress made of stone, feathers, and flesh. Upon seeing the adventurers, the goblins immediately charge our mismatched half-one group half another party. Isela immediately casts a spell, and one of the goblins eyes dilate, and he suddenly turns upon his former comrades. The goblins surprised at the sudden betrayal, are unaware of Charles suddenly jumping out of the goblin with the headdresss shadow. Charles snaps the goblins neck. The treacherous goblin is quickly cut down by its former comrades. Charles then bends down over the fallen goblins body and seemingly sucks on the air right above it. A faint blue wisp seemed to rise out of the goblins mouth into his. He then shouts in fluent goblinish for the other goblins to surrender or forfeit their lives. And then he repeats the command in English. The goblins refuse, and one of them throws a spear at Charles. Charles catches the spear barehanded and throws it back, piercing through the goblins eye. Blood spurted out of it as the remaining 3 goblins charge Charles. Isela then shoots two crossbows at the charging goblins, killing two at once. Charles then simply draws a dagger, dodges the initial couple of stabs from the goblin, closing the distance between the two of them. He then thrusts the dagger into the goblins heart. The goblin cries out in great pain, as Charles continually thrusts it deeper into the goblin twisting it as he goes. Seeming to relish in the goblins pain, Charles stabs it again into the goblins eye, until the goblin after much torture finally is put out of its misery by another two stabs to the chest.

Colin looks a bit nervously at the mutilated goblins corpse Are you sure you want to ally with these folks? They seem rather evil dont you think. Charles seemed to enjoy killing that goblin way too much for comfort. I think it might be better if we parted company from them as soon as we can. Lest we become their next targets

Hortus responds Nonsense, those goblins attacked us. It was perfectly within his right to fight back. Besides, who doesnt love a little combat once in a while? It seems quite obvious, that Charles wasnt doing anything particularly evil. Not everything a stranger does is evil Colin. If we were to accuse

everyone of being evil for one or two vices, everyone would be wicked. There is room for leniency on the path to good or evil. Evil people are allowed to occasionally pet the dog. And Good people arent always going to be squeaky clean. To judge Charles on his soul eating is to judge a mad dictator by how well he treats his pet dog. It is not an accurate measure of someones personality. Do not forget that we need them until we can regroup with Kent and Olivia. Until then please try and get along for now. Id rather not have you get killed by them. I cant believe you are willing to go this far in order to get into someones pants. Charles is obviously evil; there is no doubt in anyones mind about it. And Isela cant be all good either if she willingly adventures with him. Replies Colin getting visibly annoyed. Hortus just silently walks away with Isela and Charles, as Colin rushes to catch up. In the next room is a simple table with 8 different potions on them. Each of the potions were numbered 1 through 6 Also on the table is a singular sheet of paper. On the paper was written in fine cursive a bunch of clues.

To move on towards your path towards utter destruction, you must find the holy nectar of freedom. But beware there are imposters, drink the wrong potion and die a painful death, drink the right potion and you move onwards towards your path: 1 is free, no work or burdens to carry. 2 sides to love ever-changing 3 makes riches upon one and the others nothing 4 wishes death upon those who do not die 5 is best for greater than them all 6 is great, for bountiful harvests and feasts all around 7 is none, poorest of them all 8 is riches beyond belief, wealth beyond imagination

Obviously number 8 is the right one. Riches rule, and we are seeking treasure after all. Says Isela confidently. No no no, number 5 must be the right one. It outright says that its greater than them all. Replies Charles You are both wrong, sorry my dear, but number 2 must be right, because true love triumphs over all.

Oh for gods sake, why on earth would the answer be so obvious? They are trying to kill us! If it was obvious then they wouldnt have used the puzzle in the first place. Replies Colin obviously exasperated by his comrades idiocy. Ok, sir, what would you propose is the solution to this conundrum replies Hortus irritated at Colins arrogance. Seriously, the potions are a reference to the seven deadly sins. Potion number one is obviously representative of sloth, to have no work and no burdens are to be slothful. Love in number two is everchanging, therefore is representative of lust, true love is supposed to be stable and unwavering. Number three is obviously envy, as it is a natural result of someone having wealth while the other having none. Number 4 is wrath, to wish death on immortal things is pretty randomly wrathful if you ask me. Number 5 is obviously pride, to think of themselves to be the best is an obvious lie as there will always be someone better. Number 6 is gluttony, while not immediately obvious an over abundance of food and water would lead to it. And number 8 is obviously greed; to have richest above them all requires a lot of greed in the first place. Therefore number 7 must obviously be the correct answer. I mean it is even number 7 for gods sake, it is too much of a coincidence to ignore. Says Colin with an obvious tone of great annoyance as he takes hold of number seven and gulps down the entire thing.

Instantly he seemed to start fading away bits of his flesh seemed to pixelize and disappear. First it was his feet, then his legs, then his arms, then his torso and then finally his head. The rest of the party looked on in awe as he disappeared. After 15 minutes, the potion started to fill itself up again. Isela takes a sip of potion number 8 and the same thing happens to her. Charles drinks number 5 like a flask, and he too disappears. Hortus after seeing those two things picks up number 2 and drinks it. The room ends up empty and the door seals shut. Hortus finds himself in what appears to be a sultans harem. The walls are covered in fine gold, as beautiful ladies enjoyed fine wine and grapes. An Elven maiden with long flowing blonde hair and generous curves, wearing a thong and little else, approaches Hortus and silently plants a soft kiss on him. After watching Hortus initial shock, she goes in for a much rougher one. A red-headed human girl wearing a similar outfit comes up to him and starts stroking his hair. The Elven maiden whispers Come, stay a while, youve earned your rest. Dont fight it, well do the rest for you as she starts slipping off Hortus armor. Hortus tries to resists but succumbs to his instincts. After being stripped however he finds the willpower in himself to try and get up. His mind wanders back to his childhood. He was swinging on a swing when his female childhood friend comes up from behind him. She gives him a giant hug from behind and says Well be together forever right? Hortus replies with a small smirk Id hope so, who else would put up with me? The girl replies back You know? I dont know the answer to that. I dont even know how I put up with you. You are so damn annoying at times you know? But I guess thats part of your idiotic charm.

Hortus in playful annoyance pushes over the girl; she smiles and pulls him down on top of him giving him a kiss. Hortus mind darts forwards a couple of years. His village is on fire; bandits have come and are tearing apart huts, stealing everything that isnt nailed down to the ground. Men and women were cut down by the bandits vicious blades. Hortus runs as fast as he can from the scene. However he falls down and sees a bandit approaching about to cut him in half. Blade raised he swings his sword; however his childhood friend jumps in the way pushing the bandit. The bandit in anger cuts her down but not before a couple of Order members show up and fight them off. The bandits flee, and Hortus swears a solemn oath never to forget her as he goes with the order members into a life of quiet study of arcane knowledge and martial lore. Hortus mind darts towards the present. Ill never forget her he whispers to himself as he rises up. The girl and maiden and the rest of the harem fade out of sight as he finds himself inside of a stone room. As soon as he walks out of it, the door shuts behind him. Inside the next room he finds Isela, Charles, and Colin all sitting down in chairs waiting for him. See told you I was right, those potions sent us to trials based off of the sins that the potion was based on. And I got to avoid the entire trial. So what was your trial? Colin asks Hortus with a smug grin on his face. Shove off, Im not in the mood says Hortus in a tone unusual for him. Oh prissy today huh? Must be that time of the month says Colin irking him on. Whats your problem huh? Just because you were right doesnt mean you can get all uppity about it says Hortus very very annoyed Says the guy who was obsessing over Isela over there just a moment ago says Colin Its ok, I like handsome guys obsessing over me, I find that uber attractive replies Isela winking at Hortus I cant, there is a girl I love, and you are not her. The girl I love will be in my heart always. Ill never forget her. Ill move on eventually, but Ill never forget her. But your shameless come-ons are no longer attractive. Im my own man, and eventually Ill find someone to replace the one I lost. But I am no longer under your influence, magical or otherwise. Says Hortus Yeah bro preach it! Wait magical? says Colin Yes, I hadnt realized it till now, but Isela here used her skill in enchantment spells to put me under her charm. I do not believe that it was entirely for the partys benefit either. Says Hortus explaining things to Colin.

Are you rejecting me!? No One rejects me! No one! I am the powerful Isela master enchantress. No one should be able to escape my beauty and my spells! No one! You shall pay for this! PAY! Isela shouts as she casts what appears to be a teleport spell taking Charles with her. Told you they were evil. But you didnt listen, now can I say I told you so? says Colin with a small smirk on his face. Dude shut up, I was under a frickin enchantment spell, I wasnt thinking straight. Replies Hortus as he opens the door to the next room. In the next room there was a single door out besides the one that they entered. In the center of the room was an ornate crystal ball. Beside it were instructions on how to operate it. Hortus and Colin carefully read the instructions for the crystal ball and decide to check on Sir Kent and Lady Olivia. What they saw amazed both of them as their entire lives were about to be changed yet again.

(K+O): Inside the room that Sir Kent and Lady Olivia and Co. opened was a single scroll. When Lady Olivia opened the scroll and read it, she fell over and cried a little. Sir Kent goes and reads the scrolls and falls down into tears as well. Cicero reads the scrolls aloud Journal, 7th day of the 7th moon of the 7th year of the reign of King Stravinius. I have stumbled upon the most confusing of things. It appears our world was not like this before. It appears that we used to belong to a much more advanced civilization. Relics have been appearing in weird places that show technology that seems to be millennia beyond what we are capable of doing without magic. In addition strange dreams have been coming to me recently, Ive received visions of another world, a world that seems deprived of magic, but has technology beyond our wildest dreams. Horseless carriages, international instant real-time communication, weapons that could level entire countries, the technology that they have surpass ours by a great deal. I fear for war, their world seems deprived of any racial diversity. No elves, no dwarfs, no gnomes walking about, I fear that they are warmongering racists. I fear for the lives of those around us.

Journal, 10th day of the 10th month of the 7th year of the reign of King Stravinius, The dreams have been getting more and more real. My mind seems to follow this fellow who shares my name. He seems to be a scholar as well attending lectures given by other scholars. It seems that he is studying in the literature of his people. He seems to have this strange fixation on this dead poet of their culture known as He who Shakes his Spear. While I admit this Shakespeare has an expert command of language, it is quite obvious that he is ripping off plays of our time. However if I study this scholar more I may be able to attain some knowledge of this threat to our world.

Journal 15th day of the 10th month of the 7th year of the reign of King Stravinius. This is feeling weird, the names of the people that the scholar from another world is friends with seems to correspond to the names of people in the royal court. It seems that there might be more to this world than I previously thought. I will continue to write down my observations as I continue this line of investigation.

Journal 17th day of the 10th month of the 7th year This is getting very freaky. I cant tell whether this world is even real anymore. This is so strange. His world starts to feel more normal than mine I must continue this investigation more. For the King

Journal of the 20th day of the 10th month of the 7th year It seems that I have located the source of the relics. This world is a new one; our memories must be constructs of something. It seems that apparently some races are a construct of this new world which is overwriting the world that Ive been dreaming of. There appears to be a way of stopping this though. The ancient demons of hell wrote a scroll. While most modern day scholars believe it simply to be a manual of tea spells lost to time, I believe that it may be the key to reverting the world to the way it was.

Journal of the 21st day of the 10th month of the 7th year I have not much time left to write. The king is dead. The court fool is onto the scrolls. I must escape as soon as I can. The scrolls are the key, the only key. The jester must not get his hands on it. The world must be reverted. It is within the rights of those who are real to regain their lost memories. The world must know of this previous world. They must know of who they truly are. While the loss of life will be great, no cost is too great for true freedom of the mind. The scroll is hidden safely in the temple hidden behind devious wards and traps. The fool may be bright but he will never get past the traps and monsters laid out for him. However I fear that he might try again and again. The divine sphere of immortality is within his hands. It is only a matter of time before he figures his way passed the safeguards. However I hope that someone else does so before he does. Someone who understands the importance of mental freedom. While I am resigned to die in this tomb, it is my hope that eventually everyone will know the truth. The truth of the shifting world, and the true memories of millions of people. I hope that I am doing the right thing, and that Cicero, the fool, will never get this far.

This cant be, we cant be living a lie. My beloved is not only real but her true self. Even if she is halfElven, she must be real. This scholar is full of hogwash I dont believe a word of that journal. The magic

power necessary to make such a large change is huge. It cant be true. I cannot accept that my beloved isnt real, she is real. Her perfection is a testament to it. Says Sir Kent

Nature thou art my goddess. For while this noble fool lives the scholar is dead. Yet the scholar and fool are but the same person. For fools are fiends and fiends are fools. The foolish scholar wished to change the world to the past, but the wise fool knew better. He knew that the world would be better this way. For a world without me Cicero the fool, the world would be a foolish place. Foolish men grant foolish errands but wise fools know better and work towards true perfection. Cries out Cicero with great glee.

Wait, if any non-human person is supposed to be an imaginary construct, then arent all of us just constructs, I mean Cicero claims he is one of those constructs, Lady Olivia is a half-elf, Sir Kent is a werewolf, and Im a Raptoran. We are all not human. So if this journal is speaking the truth, hypothetically, wouldnt that mean we all have some interest in seeking the scroll and safeguarding it says Caroline as she worriedly sits on her cloud.

Oh, the foolish lark finds a hidden mark. The wolf may hunt and eat its prey but the knight is not just wolf from hear say. Another spirit lies within the knave, A true wolf lies within the knight not so brave. Secret within, secret without, the cowardly knight relies on stuff on the out. Bestial flesh with medieval mesh, true lycanthropes shout. But oh poor Kent, he cant make rent. He has none of the lycan blood with in him. Sings Cicero in an off-key tone. It is true; Im not a true lycanthrope. Rather inside of my soul lies a second spirit. The spirit of the beast. I suffer none of the maladies of being a true lycanthrope, but if I have to shift, I must let the spirit out. While it retains a sense of friend or foe, it is bestial in nature, reveling in bloody gore, and gorish blood. However if this scroll truly has the power to unmake my bride it must be destroyed as soon as possible. I will not stand for my beloved to be unmade, destroyed, unraveled. I will keep her safe at all costs no matter the costs. Says Sir Kent My beloved, I cannot let my life be what keeps you caged. If this rumor be true I must let you live true. If there are truly another life locked with in you, and that life be the true you, I must let it out. If every passing moment as I live, you are amnesiac, lost from your true self, then I must live in dread. I cannot bear for you to be incomplete. You are my lawful and beloved lord; I must attempt to seek what is best for you. If my life be the price for your true freedom then so be it. I would gladly pay the price. Replies Lady Olivia. And the prophesy comes true yet again. The two houses feud among another for dominance of this world. And tragic lovers of both houses find themselves pulled by the two. Fate and fate decides the fate of others. Yet this fool, and many others have taken arms, others foolishly fop about thinking death upon others. Hurry noble knight, let us not dally, you must take my side, ensure that youre beloveds

not be tallied dead. Says Cicero as he prepares one of the orbs he was carrying. The orb seemed to shimmer with an image of another room further into the dungeon. Yes, sorry my beloved. But to save your life I must embark on this quest. No part of mine is worth the loss of you. You are more important than my past. To save you I must do great wrongs. I beg of you forgive me when this is over. But if I must choose Id choose your life over mine. Says Sir Kent as he walks over to Cicero. No, my beloved! I must not let you do this. Would you really leave my side to pursue my safe fate? Id sooner die than let your memories be locked forever. You are not free. If I truly am some construct you deserve better. Let not the mad words of a fool sway you, you deserve to be free. If it is true, that this is not the original world, then we may not have been meant to be. But the feelings in my heart ring true! I love thee and must let you be free. Come back to me, come back to our side. Colin and Hortus wait for us on the other end. Let us complete this quest and set the path right! cries out Lady Olivia with tears streaming down her face. Tis better for my soul to die, than for your body to do so. Your radiant beauty is all I live for. If it were to disappear from this world, my life would be meaningless. My soul and body belong to you, my beloved. I would sooner give my life for yours. A part of my memory I didnt even know I had is an easy price to pay for your safety. The path I follow will save lives, many live, including yours. It is the best path and you know it. No amount of lives is worth some unearned memories of the past. My life is only happy with you. I would ever forgive myself if I let this scroll erase you from my life. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I will not let you leave it. Your untainted beauty, your ever flowing radiance is the only thing that is worth living for. Replies Sir Kent with a single tear rolling down his cheek.

And upon this lovely note, I the fool will be transporting this noble fool onwards to our noble end of securing the safety of lives. For foolish foppery has no fortunate place in famed fictional places. It would be better to begin the path of innocence and ignorance than to ignite the flame of death. Whilst nobly foolish your foolish fighter findings are fantastically correct. For if this course left untaken, death shall be tolled upon the clock of life. The hour shall strike twelve, and many less foolish than myself shall die. Tis a shame the scholar was so unending, his life has brought mine with much misfortune. This journal shall be burned, as I shall save the world. Says Cicero crushing the orb

Sir Kent and Cicero appear to fade in and out of existence as the orb shatters into millions of glass shards. Eventually they fade completely out of existence leaving Lady Olivia on the ground crying, as Caroline tries to comfort her.

(C+H)

Having viewed this scene Colin views with awe My world has been changed? This universe which I thought was a different is my own? What happened to my parents? My loved ones? My friends and enemies? My world seems to have completely shifted, now that it has come to the forefront of my mind; my memories have been slowly fading. I can but remember a shadow of my parents faces, nor the house I was born and raised. I must find this scroll before this Cicero does. I must use it, to see my friends and family again Are you so sure? Am I not your friend? Im a little saddened that you value my companionship so little replies Hortus with a small smirk. Yes I value you as a friend, but I dont value you more than my parents! shouts Colin I understand that, but do you understand the magnitude of the task you are undertaking? You will be known as one of the biggest mass murderers in all of history. Youll be killing a significant amount of lives just to try and revert a bunch of peoples memories. Are you sure you want to do that? Youll be killing almost every companion youve known in this world. The barkeep, Beth, Lady Olivia, Me? Are you so easily willing to let our lives go in order to lift some locked memories from the back of someones brain? Tell me is this stupid quest to see your parents more valuable than the lives of millions? You arent even just killing us, you are going to wipe out our entire existence, just for some stupid memories? replies Hortus in an even louder voice.

Dont you think I understand the consequences!? I do value your lives. But is living an existence as some imaginary construct worth it to you? Are the lives lost that shouldnt have been meaningless to you? The world that we live in is fragile. Medicine that can save lives is lost from the shift, technology that could encourage peace and research are lost. Memories of loved ones and our pasts are lost in the shift. Id rather go down in history as the greatest villain in history than let my family live in ignorance of their true selves. There are millions whose current existence is just a lie. Fabricated memories, fake dreams and desire. Is there true freedom meaningless to you? Their memories of their past, their memories of their loved ones now deceased? This is not the natural order of things Hortus; this is a mockery of our life. Weve killed people already. This can save just as many lives as it will end. Hortus, this is not just about my family, but every family that was broken up by this shift. Freedom is more important than lives. There is a famous quote in my world; about a populace rebelling against the current order Give me liberty or give me death! our lives are worth the price of freedom. Currently, everyone is living in a giant cage, a nice beautiful cage, but a cage where we are not allowed to see our true selves. While I wish there was another solution, there isnt one. There isnt some nice clean solution where the world that we are living in now and my world can coexist. Replies Colin. Fine Ill go on with your idea for now. I guess letting every mind be free is worth the bloody price. If only because my true loves life may be saved by this bloody murder, I guess my own life is worth that price. But remember although you have a heroic spirit. It is the spirit of a heroic villain. The world wont look favorably on what we are about to do. Well go down as despicable villains, terrorists without a cause. I hope however that youll remember the lives you are going to kill, the lives that will be lost by

this cause. Forward we march, into the history books as villains. Says Hortus with a resigned tone walking into the next room. Inside the next room is a giant pool of boiling water at the other end of which was another platform. There seemed to be no other ways onto the next room. At the bottom of the pool was what appeared to be a lever. There is no way across, none of us could survive the dive into the boiling water to flip that switch. Says Colin as he walks into the room. There has to be a way. Remember what the journal said? That he knew that Cicero would be able to get around these traps, and so they were designed to be defeatable so someone who could better defend them would be able to do so. Think, there must be some solution to this, some way of reaching into the boiling water and flip the lever. There must be some way of doing this! shouts Hortus in frustration Wait my amulet! The hand of the mage? I could use a mage hand effect to flip the switch. He says as he casts mage hand. Having flipped the lever a door opens on the other side. However no bridge rises to allow them to cross to the other side. Frack, there must be a way to get across. With the door open there is obviously some way to raise a bridge or something, maybe some other switch? Or maybe we have to say some password from the other side? There has to be a way to get across to the other side. We definitely werent supposed to swim across; the water would boil us all alive to a painful death. Exclaims Hortus We could try and cut off the source of the heat suggests Colin The source of the heat would probably be inside of the boiling water replies Hortus still contemplating the situation Wait if the water is boiling, shouldnt all the water have evaporated already? says Colin confused Obviously the water is going to have a continuous source somewhere. Replies Hortus So we have a self-replenishing, self-boiling body of water that we need to get across. Couldnt we make a boat of some sort to float across? inquires Colin Out of what? We dont exactly have a bunch of trees to ferry us across. Replies Hortus. The Rings! We could use them to teleport to Lady Olivia and continue that way! exclaims Colin And waste the wishes now? What good would that do us? They are obviously meant for another puzzle down the road replies Hortus

Well do you have a better idea? There doesnt seem to be many options shouts Colin obviously tired of coming up with ideas on how to get across the room. Well do you want to waste what few resources we have at our disposal? Dont forget hundreds of other adventuring parties, many much more experienced than us, are racing towards the treasure. And if they discovered our cause we would be slaughtered. If they beat us, weve lost the scroll. And lets not forget plenty of them would be plenty willing to kill us as soon as they encounter us without saying a word. This is a dangerous game we are playing, and I do not want to use what little we have for a puzzle like this. There is a way around it I am sure, and we are going to find that way. Replies Hortus Well do you propose we just sit here, while other adventuring parties gain distance on us? Plenty of them are already ahead of us, and if we hesitate we are just as screwed. This is our only solution that wont cause them to gain more ground on us. We have to hurry quickly before they get to the treasure room before us. Heck we know for a fact that Isela and Charles are already working on another way. And that Fool Cicero has already got Kent in a room ahead of us. We dont have any other options right now. Unless you propose we give up right here right now, we dont really have any other choice do we? shouts Colin Well we cant just use up power like this to go horizontally; we have to use it to go forward! But we cant face Isela and Charles; their powers are much greater than ours to say the least. And facing Kent and Cicero seems utterly suicidal. Kent alone could massacre an army let alone us. We have no way of moving forward as of right now, but we have to be able to proceed from this room. This quest is already dangerous, let us not create even more dangers? replies Hortus Rather than continue arguing, Colin suddenly puts on his ring and shouts I wish Me, Colin, and the HalfOrc Duskblade known as Hortus to be teleported next to the Half Elven noble known as Lady Olivia who is currently located inside of the ancient ruins of the temple containing the Scrolls of Azarael with all our possessions plus an assortment of magical artifacts to be given to me and other mentioned parties that will be helpful on our quest and to be unharmed upon arrival

Both Colins and Hortus bodies seemed to break down into millions upon millions of pieces. Colin could feel the distinct tingle of his composite atoms just breaking apart. It seemed possible to him that they were only heading to complete oblivion, and not heading towards Lady Olivia and onward towards their journey. However he felt a weird distinct feeling of his body forming back together, bonds being reformed into complex cells, the cells then joining together into living tissue, the tissue into organs, and the organs starting to function again bringing him back to being a full human. Next his gear started forming again around his body, a magic staff appeared on his person, and his spellbook seemed to explode with new light. In Lady Olivias hands, a deck of many things appeared in a new pouch on her belt, in her hands the legendary Staff of Shadows appeared. Hortus receives an unknown magical axe covered in blue arcane runes that seemed to call forth echoes of forgotten power once held by legendary heroes whose names were forever lost to time, on his head a helmet appeared dented from centuries of warfare and battle.

Ok I admit, maybe that was a valuable use of our resources. Especially since we seem to control two great staffs of power, and the infamous deck of many things. However we dont know what the majority of our items do, and most of the Staff of Shadows powers are lost to the annals of history, all I know is that it provides the user invisibility on command but that the time that the user is cloaked she powers the staff using her own life force. It seems that the items you have wrought us have terrible prices to be payed if we know it to be true. Many famous adventurers who thought that they could conquer the fates were trapped by that deck, and the Staff of Shadows caused many adventurers to die premature dooms due to their life force being drained away. I fear for what the consequences of our new items may bring us. Says Hortus Oh come on, nothing says we have to use them. For all we know we wont need them. However, I did word the wish, so that the artifacts have to be helpful towards our quest. If they gave stuff that would only be harmful, well then, the rings are a lie and we wouldnt have gained anything anyways. Replies Colin. Lady Olivia seemed deaf to all of the arguing that was going on and silently went onto the next room. Colin and Hortus both realizing this, realized what Lady Olivia was going through and decided to remain silent for the next couple of hours. Inside the next room is a young black dragon slumbering on a small pile of gold. The dragon snored loudly, seemingly shaking the very room they were in. All three of them looked in astonishment and in disbelief as to how they could not have heard it in the other room. Slowly, Colin opens his spellbook and finds that his usual spells were replaced with what appeared to be gibberish. I cant cast anymore whispers Colin in utter astonishment What? Thats impossible, a wizard cant just suddenly lose his spells replies Hortus Colin shows Hortus his spellbook, Hortus jaw drops in disbelief This is impossible, the rings must be lies, this spellbook is utter rubbish, and you lost your original spellbook. He whispers Wait, if I remember what my Dear Sir Kent told me, he told me rumors of a powerful spellbook, a spellbook that if one could decipher it could create entirely new spells, spells with power never before seen. This might be it! You might have a spellbook which allows you to utilize the basic nature of magic! whispers Lady Olivia at first excited, and then remembering Sir Kent broke down crying. Colin wracking his mind seems to think about everything he knew about magic. Every magic equation that he had written down comparing it to all the laws of science that he knew. His mind seemed to just fill with various equations as he sat down trying to silently figure out the powers of his spellbook. As soon as all hope was lost, he suddenly shouted out multiple curse words. The curse words, while waking the dragon, also caused certain parts of his spell book to start glowing. A spray of fire, lightning, ice, and wind seemed to be let loose and caused the dragon to bellow in pain. The dragon let loose a mighty breath of fire, but Lady Olivia out of panic managed to create a cloak of shadows which easily warded off the dragons futile breath attack. Winding up for a swing of its claws, the dragon was surprised to come face to face with Hortus whose axes runes seemed to glow a myriad of colors. When the color finally

stopped on red, a radiant burst of pure elemental flame seemed to spring out of Hortus axe as a fire bolt shot out of his other hand. The combined might of the blow and spell caused the dragon to unnaturally reel back especially since that kind of dragon was normally immune to such flames. A series of axe and spell blows later and the dragon fell to the immense power. Finally after the adrenaline had cooled down, Hortus sheathed his axe, Colin put away his spellbook, and Lady Olivia put down her staff.

See? I told you that the artifacts would be useful. See? Hah and you thought I was crazy for wishing for all this free stuff. Says Colin

Yeah, because you arent stuck with a spellbook with equations that you have to guess to activate, Lady Olivia didnt just use part of her lifespan to block those flames, and I dont even want to guess about what the drawbacks of my artifact are going to be. These artifacts are dangerous; we should use them with utmost caution. It is lucky that this time there werent any harmful consequences, besides Lady Olivia sacrificing part of her life span replies Hortus Way to be a killjoy about this said Colin a little upset This isnt some game, while you may think it is, this is our lives on the line. If we die, we die for real. We cant afford the gems to raise us from the dead and neither can you. You have to realize we are playing a very dangerous game, these artifacts are dangerous. We might support you on this quest, but we are alive, we are people too. What we are embarking on is dangerous and will cost us our lives. We think it is worth it for others, but that doesnt mean well give our lives needlessly. This is not some game to us, and you shouldnt treat it as such. While experimenting with dangerous artifacts might be fun to you, to us it is risky and might blow up in our face. This is not some game. Stop treating it like one. Responds Hortus in a very angry tone.

Colin opens his mouth to speak but he can find no words to say. His mind seems blank for a moment as he finally realizes what is going on. He finally realizes how much he has been treating this as his adventure. His game, his story, the epic of his life. In the end he can only manage out one word, Sorry The adventuring group advances into the next room. Inside of this room, were a bunch of statues, statues with plaques giving names and achievements of a bunch of adventurers, their deeds forever memorialized in stone. In their they saw their own names, inscribed with the inscription Those who changed our world forever for the better or worse, a hundred lives shall disappear upon the doing of their deeds, immortalized in immortal stone their villainy and heroics shall be encased forever. Let time not forget the deeds that were or will be done. For this is the hall of those inside.

Sufficiently creeped out, Colin, Hortus and Lady Olivia march out of the room as fast as they can. But they find the door sealed, gas seemed to fill the room, soon Lady Olivia and Hortus find themselves asleep. Colin trying to get out slowly pounds on the wall, the pounding getting slower and slower until slowly he finds himself falling asleep. Hours later, Hortus, Lady Olivia, and Colin find themselves waking up stripped of their gear and tied up on the ground right outside of the hall of statues. Caroline was found tied up next to them, her wings cut slightly as to make it incredibly painful to fly. The blood seemed to trickle down her wings, like tears rolling down someones cheek. A beautiful woman dressed in what appeared to be fine robes and a silver crown embedded with jewels walked in. She was carrying the Staff of Shadows and Hortus artifact axe. Why why why, Cicero told me to expect some guests. But I didnt expect to find them so weak. Why if gas is so effective against you, why do you dare go up against something solid like the royals. You will make fine specimens in my garden. Says the woman without introducing herself. Colin squirms as he attempts to call for Jerome, his cat familiar, but no link could be heard. Don even think about calling your little pet, I took care of him long ago. Says the woman quickly comprehending what Colin was trying to do, Dont think of using magic either, and the ropes are enchanted to block all who are bound in them from casting magic. Hortus attempted to cast a light spark from the remnants of a firebolt, but found that the arcane energy just sort of fizzled before it left his finger. Lady Olivia just seemed to sit there quietly, listening to what was going on. Not a single thing gave away what she was thinking. She just appeared to be sitting there apathetically. Oh the forsaken bride so forlorn. I do believe your lovers body would do quite well as my toy for a week or two. Then why, he might make a good front piece for my garden, maybe hanged upon a heartshaped cross. Why a martyr of love, willing to sacrifice anything for this ugly wretched girl? Says the woman in a loud voice. Suddenly Lady Olivia slipped free of her bonds, and drew a dagger hidden in her boot and presses up against the woman. The dagger just barely puts a cut into the womans neck. Thin beads of blood spilled slowly out of the cut. Oh a feisty one hey, too bad this isnt my real body. Its not like you could do any real harm to that anyways. So I guess I shall leave you there to starve, shant waste my art supplies then hmm? the woman says as her body falls over lifeless and cold suddenly. A note was pinned to the womans back; Lady Olivia took it up and read it. Fools oh fools, you are all fools. This false world is but a true world. Art is art not matter the form. Bodies are but things to be used. Come to the horizon and see, your tools of the trade are but a moments away, maybe you shall see, the power within. The Queen

Lady Olivia went to work untying everyone. Once everyone was free, Hortus used detect magic to locate their gear. Caroline attempted to stretch her wings but as soon as the wings move an inch she recoiled in pain. It Hurts! She cries out in pain as she tries to mend it. Hortus and Colin attempt their best to mend the wound, bandaging it with spare cloth, and using the heat from a torch to cauterize it. Caroline could barely move her arms and couldnt fly but she was still able to go on adventuring. So the 4 of them rushed out past the hallway of statues, the door now unbarred to find themselves in the treasure room. After many hours of searching they could not find a single sign of the scroll. They checked under every pile of gold, every magic item, every blade and arrow they could see, but nothing could be found. What was left of the treasure was but a few minor potions and 2 swords of no magical import. A single note was left Tools and Fools go along well. Might not let the fools wield the tools to demise. A looted room, clean like swept with a broom. The walls are bare, no hope of respite there. You have been played conned, out of anything you could have donned. The scrolls you seek are long gone. We have fled, but fear not this fool shall give you a fighting chance. We have fled to the mount long ago, tall among the clouds and ferocious in fire. Outside of the elements you shall find, what my plans have in mind. Go forth brave fools, off to your doom you go The Wisest Fool of them all He must have gone to a volcano they all exclaimed at the same time. Wait, he wouldnt have really told us where he was going would he Colin says Ive traveled with Cicero for many years; I wouldnt be surprised if he thought our actions as entertainment. He could never take anything seriously. And even if he did, I doubt he wouldnt give his opponents a chance, even if just for some crude laughs. I have no doubt about it, he has definitely fled towards a volcano. Says Caroline So if he is heading towards a volcano, then he must be heading to Mount Vulcanus. Its lava is said to be hotter than the elemental plane of fire. It is the only place Cicero could be heading to destroy the artifact. However there are other places to destroy it which are not volcanoes. How are we sure Caroline isnt one of Ciceros agent meant to mislead us. I mean, she did admit that Cicero used to be her adventuring pal. And she does have vested interest in us not succeeding in this quest. How are we to trust her word? She has admitted to at least previously being an ally to Cicero. Because she is the only real lead we have? There isnt exactly a choice, we only have to hope that Cicero is really heading there, or else we have nothing to go on. This is our last shot at succeeding, and setting the world straight, if Caroline is really a traitor well deal with her when it becomes apparent. But until then well just have to wait and see what is going to happen. We need all the help we can get. Says Colin Well, if he really is heading that way we have a good 2 months of downtime. The journey is only 7 days. But, in order for Mount Vulcanus to be hot enough to burn the scrolls, the planets have to be in

complete alignment which is happening in 2 months and 7 days. While Cicero might have already started the journey we have time to train and get stronger against our enemies. May I suggest that we get stronger before we attempt to take on Cicero and allies. Said Lady Olivia as soon as she said allies, as it was quite obvious that her mind was still on Sir Kent. Agreed, if we are to have any chance at all of success well need to train incredibly hard, however the question is where? There are not many places we could quest to in two months that will make us strong enough to take on Cicero alone, not to mention the queen. Says Colin Id hate to say this, but the artifacts seem to be our best chance, if we are able to completely master the powers of our artifacts then we may stand a chance. The Staff of Shadows is known to decimate armies given a powerful enough owner, and the various other artifacts must have a similar amount of power. Given enough time we may have access to the powers of the artifacts like no one before. There have been rare moments when someone is granted complete access to artifacts for a period of over two months. However it may be best if we used our two wishes now before we leave, as they will be useless once we leave. Says Hortus So our only hope is that you guys master a bunch of artifacts that you were just given in two months to face a mad fool with powers that we only barely comprehend? And on top of that, apparently we dont know what 2 of the artifacts even do, and another one is incredibly risky to use. The deck of many things isnt some joke. Says Caroline Yep pretty much, great plan right? says Lady Olivia already packing up her artifacts and preparing to leave. Hortus puts on the second wishing ring and says I wish for the Raptoran known as Caroline be healed to the fullest extent as possible by the constraints of the ring, for no additional wounds to be inflicted due to this wish and that death not be involved in the process Colin then puts on the last wishing ring and says quietly I wish for the me, Colin, the half-orc duskblade known as Hortus, the half-Elven noblewoman known as Caroline, and the Raptoran known as Caroline to be teleported to the best place for us to train in the use of our artifacts and our abilities that would still allow us as a group to travel up to Mount Vulcanus before Cicero destroys the Scrolls of Azarael. And at the end of that wish, the entire party shattered into millions of pieces, and started reforming on the other side of the teleport. To each of their surprise they ended up in completely separate locations their companions nowhere in sight.

Hortus finds himself in an abandoned monastery once belonging to the head abbot of his order. After a brief investigation he finds the scrolls of the first Abbot of the order, the great centaur Padfoot who after the Great Era of Heroes was over settled down and started the Sacred Order of the Tea, a group of talented adventurers who would explore the greatest depths of Tea lore and protect them from those

who would give it harm. Finally recognizing the helmet and axe from a picture of Padfoot in battle, he opens up the scrolls with a sigh and begins reading them.

Lady Olivia finds herself in a remote forest. No signs of civilization to be found. She finds herself wandering the forest for the entire morning. After hours of searching for civilization she finds that night soon approached, a full moon beginning to rise above the horizon. Howls could be heard from all sides as wolves that she could only hear begin to rush looking for new prey. After many moments, of which Olivia felt were eternities, the sounds of howling stopped, Olivia could only hear the tiny sounds of branches being snapped, as the wolves seemed to close in on her. She readies her staff to retaliate, when two dryads step out and seem to calm the wolves. As Olivia approaches them, they turn to face her and see the staff. Unafraid they walk up to and touch it. There is much darkness in that staff, even the dark wolves fear and despise it. Yet I sense in you a noble enough heart filled with much love. You have neither the wisdom nor the power to wield the staff but you seem to wield it anyways. Why? says the dryads in unison. I want to free the one I love oh noble spirits of Nature. But he is far too noble for my goal, as he only sees potential for my own destruction. I can see no other choice but to turn towards the path of shadows to see this through. Says Olivia So it is because of the light of your love that you seek the shadows? If the path of light you seek you must learn to temper the shadows within the staff, you must overcome the darkness. You must truly find balance both to the darkness within your staff and the light in your love. Balance is key, with love must come hate, and with darkness must come light. We will teach you, but you must also learn. Balance is key, balance you must learn say the dryads continuing to speak in unison. Balance my love with hate? I do not understand. Darkness is an evil which must be tempered yes, but love? Love is pure light, it is the driving force of a hundred epics, it is the purest thing in the world, there is no balancing Love with hate as Love is the side of good. Love is what drives us all in the end. To balance love with hate is to balance clean water with poison. To try and taint pure love with hate is an awful thing to think of. To try and purify darkness with light is noble, but to try and balance love with hate is unforgivable replies Olivia with tears in her eyes. Love is not love without hate. Without pain there is no joy, without sadness there is no happiness. You must learn to balance all facets of yourself, your fear with your bravery, your hate with love, your humility with pride, your intellect with idiocy. Without hate you can know no true love. For without hate you could not feel what the contrary is. Too often do mortals rush out and seek love without first feeling hate and loathing. To feel those are natural, without them we do not grow. Do not reject the hate within your heart, but do not let it control you. You must know hate to know love, and you must see the darkness before you can know the light. Responds the dryads, leaves falling off their branched hair, and new leaves springing up in their place.

I do not understand, but I wish to study under your tutelage, teach me wise guardians of the forest, so that I may learn. I must learn to temper my own soul, as you have said, but I do not know how. I do not understand the tainting the purity of love, but I wish to learn. I believe and place my trust in you, but I cannot believe the words that you say. Teach me oh wise ones, teach me your ways teach me how to find balance within myself. Teach me how to use that which has been given to me so that I may further benefit others. I am a fool, that I know, but I must learn to be as wise. Teach me your wisdom please. Says Olivia in a pleading tone To find balance with in ones self, one must study for many years. The staff of shadows would consume you beforehand. The only chance you have is to study yourself. Look inward, look within yourself. Find the balance with in your own soul and bring it out. The deck you hold and the staff you wield are one and the same in that respect. They consume much out of your soul if you do not have balance. We can only guide, we cant just toss you towards balance. You must seek for yourself your own balance. Two months is not enough time, but you must make do. Follow well lead you to a place where you can meditate in peace. Says the dryads walking away seeming to float along the leaves like they were being carried by the wind. Olivia tried to follow as best she can, looking hurriedly around her. Snarls could be heard from a distance by other wolves, and maybe even a bear. She started panicking, her breath quickening and her heart pounding as fast as ever. She started running, sprinting, the dryads picking up pace in front of her to keep her behind them. The darkness seemed nearly overwhelming, she tried to think of Sir Kent to calm her nerves, but it only made them race even faster. There seemed to be no solace, no safe haven, for her to turn to. The dryads eventually stopped, and showed her the place she was to meditate. It was a cave overlooking a small lake that was crisply reflecting the full moon. The stars seemed to twinkle brighter in this area as if the gods commanded it. Inside the cave was nothing however, it was pitch black, jagged rocks pointing off in random directions. The dryads ordered Olivia to sit, and so she did. Then they left her there saying that every 5 days they would come with food, and until then she was to meditate in the cave on the nature of balance, in order to find balance with in her soul.

Caroline finds herself back home, inside the chief Raptorans hut which was covered in paintings of the winds and clouds. The chief was sitting there unmoving, smoking a pipe of airgrass, wispy puffs of smoke coming out of the pipe, like miniature clouds. It seemed like ages until the chief Raptoran spoke. Hello daughter, I had not expected to see you so soon. Has your rebelliousness finally stopped now? Are you ready to be the noble princess you are supposed to be? he says in the native Raptoran tongue This is not a phase, Father. This is who I am; I am not some girl who is to be sold to the highest bidder. I am an adventurer, and a good one at that. Ive seen so many things beyond the space of our mountain and Ive seen people kinder than any Raptoran. Ive seen free-spirited people who deserve to take to the air more than any Raptoran she cries out in the same language

Enough! The Raptorans are the only ones to be blessed with the Sky-fathers blessing. Those who do have not the wings to fly are inferior to us. We were and are the ones blessed by him, because we were the most worthy. To believe otherwise is utterly foolish. You have learned nothing from your exile. The chief responds in an angry tone We are not superior! Ive become much more powerful than you have from learning from the so called inferior races. They are ingenious coming up with machines and technology you couldnt believe. While we have the physical ability to fly in the air, we are too rooted towards the ground. The traditions weve used for millennia are outdated! We are doomed to be outpaced, out innovated, and out armed if we just keep to the same traditions over and over. Shouts Caroline You dare make a mockery of our traditions! Our traditions have more power than you know! The words and songs of our culture have given us power! Power beyond the so called technology of other races. We have taken to the skies! We can soar beyond the farthest reaches of the earth! We can soar higher than any cloud, higher than any bird, higher than the heavens. We are closest to the gods! We have power beyond their wildest beliefs he shouts, the winds start picking up as he does so. The huts flapped doors seemed blow outward as if a storm was forming within the hut itself. Furs flopped helplessly as the winds seemed to never stop. Both of their wings flapped in the wind as if they were ready to start a flight to the stars. The chiefs eyes started to glow as if celestial forces had taken over his body. Caroline attempted to calm the wind, she started chanting ancient songs. But the wind refused to listen; it continued to grow as if some great force was fueling it. The chiefs anger seemed to grow as if it were feeding off the wind. You do not have the power to fend off me. You have grown weak from your time among the other races. You have lost sight of our traditions, our ways, and our life. The spirits have grown apathetic to your cause. You have lost your way! The Sky-Father does not look favorably upon your cause. The chief says in a stern tone. With but a single rising of his hand the winds suddenly stop as if they never existed. The furs settled back down to the wall. The door settled into the closed position. If the spirits no longer favor me then I will find my own way, Ill train, Ill gain my own power. The traditions we use have left us a constant strength. However this constant strength is no longer enough. Other races are growing in power, improving their technology. Soon theyll be able to soar higher than us; theyll be able to see the heavens. If we do not change then we will die off. If we were truly closest the gods, then we would be able to live forever. The dwarfs are hardier than us, the elves are more longlived. The gnomes are inventive and come up with things that well never invent. Orcs are stronger than us. We are losing our edge. We must adapt or die. This is not a choice or a threat but a statement of fact. We must either adapt or the times will go on without us. We cannot continue to rely on tradition forever. The Sky-Father did not give us the power to fly to see us waste it and rest upon it forever giving us strength. He gave us the power to fly so as to see things from another perspective. He gave it to us to be free. To be free and free-spirited. Yet we use it to ground ourselves to these mountains, in our smug misconception that wed forever remain dominant. We have grown complacent rather than ever

reaching. Our people have not stepped foot out of the mountains except for exiles such as myself. Our culture has decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world, in the notion that we have nothing to learn from others. If the spirits believe that is right, I dont want their power, Id rather be broken and forever grounded to the earth physically, than let my soul be chained to the ground. Caroline replies. After her sudden reply, the winds seemed to pick up a little into a light breeze as if the spirits were floating upon the rivers that interlaced the mountains. Leaves flowed into the hut, and floated in place for several minutes before settling onto the ground. The chief, her father, looked at her sternly for a few moments, and then broke into a sad smile I guess you take too much after your mother. Too stubborn for your own good. At least stay for a while, maybe youll change your mind after a few celebrations. The Mid-summer current is just arriving after all. Hopefully youll learn your lesson after a few more years. Until then stay and rest your wings. You must have traveled far. I will teach you what is left for you to learn of our lore. Ive already heard word of your quest from a few of my friends. However, if you really must embark on this, then I must tell you to be wary. Ill support you however I can, we are a proud race, and we must not back down from such a challenge as our unmaking. Ill guarantee you our race will survive. Our traditions are too strong to not stand up to such a threat. We were here before the humans, before the elves, before the dwarves before the orcs. We are the original race, the one who was blessed by the Sky-Father to take to the sky, to see the greatest of valleys, to skim the heavens. Let Pelor or Hextor attempt to strike us down, they would not have the might to conquer our race. We are too mighty to fall, too great to be beaten. Our race will endure the challenge. Colin wakes to find himself strapped into a bed. An old woman with tons of wrinkles, and a witch hat is stirring a cauldron while whispering to herself Oh twisted world, oh cruel fate I over you this fools mate This golden coin from the kings brow This stone upon the widows crown The wood upon the a ship oh so brown The steel upon which the light is now Oh cruel fate, give me this potion Upon which the worst may fall and others may rise My final offering to thee is but a taste of myself, my own hair from magic is born to the night of now.

The witch tosses in a pebble, a coin, a piece of wood, and a dagger into the cauldron stirring it, black puffs of smoke emerged from the cauldron at irregular intervals. When she finished mixing she plucked a single hair from herself and put it in. A huge fireball emerged from the cauldron and she grabbed a glass bottle and dipped it in. Out she drew a bottle-full of green liquid which bubbled at the surface. Placing the bottle on the shelf, she turns her attention upon her hostage, Colin. So my young mage, you appear to be lost. Youve wandered into my woods seeking some training have you not? For few come by the house of Penelope the Witch of the Havens, except for neer-do-wells who seek to do evil with the wand. You seem to me a strapping sample, maybe Ill harvest some nice eyeballs or a liver from you. They would make a good reagent for some of my finer potions. Ive come to seek your tutelage so that I may confront a foe many times my strength. To bring about freedom for humanity says Colin trying to sound as humble as he can. Do not talk of your quest, I know all about it. While I hold no sympathies for this world, I hold no particular interest in your world either. I, the Witch of the Havens, have no time to trifle with which world upon which I reside. I am timeless, I am ageless, Id rather wither and die but I cannot. I age but I do not die. I know you hold the True Arcane Book, however you have no idea how to use it correct? Penelope says stroking Colins hair. If you do not care than help us, and Ill help you. Ill remain as your assistant afterwards; your training would help me do so. Help me and you gain my service, dont and you gain nothing. He says Do not think so highly of yourself, my arcane might is far superior to yours. You know not how to use the Book, I do however. The Book in and of itself is near useless, the formulas to complex to arcane for any mere mortal to understand. You must also wield the Staff of True Wisdom to decode it. Yet you have not the years of experience to operate the staff, nor do you have the knowledge to pay for it.Penelope says Then teach me! Teach me how to use them. Teach me how to use them, so that I may become strong, so that I may have the knowledge to pay the price! he shouts excited I will teach you upon the moment you learn how to respect those around you. I am not some child to order around. I am stronger than you, my arcane knowledge deeper than yours. Youll need to prove your worth. Face me in a duel of spells, beat me and Ill teach you what I know, lose and be boiled in the cauldron Penelope says Colin seeing no other option nods his assent. Penelope unties the ropes and offers Colin some soup. Rest for now, in 1 weeks time I will face you. Prepare all of your strength or you will die. Face me with all of your strength or die. You stand no real chance, and you were a fool for deciding to face me. Do not attempt to run for I will hunt you down. Penelope says

Colin nervously started to try and decode the True Arcane Book to no avail. He tried putting the staff over it, nothing happened. He tried cursing again and nothing happened. Finally a week passed, Colin nervously walked out of the hut prepared to face Penelope in a battle of spells. Penelope instantly called forth a great ball of lightning in her palms and threw it at him. Colin narrowly dodges, and the ball of lightning cleaves through several trees as if they were nothing before separating into the lightning bolt and scorching another one. Colin tries to close the distance between the two of them. But Penelope teleports behind him and shoots a ray out of her finger. Colin again very narrowly dodges the beam tripping upon his own feet. The beam hits a neighboring tree and turns it into ash. Colin brings out his old sling and launches a sling bullet at Penelope, but it bounces off of something invisible before it could hit her. Colin then starts cursing and hating upon him, when the book started to light up, runes after runes started to become clear. He started chanting them, and a giant Skeleton much bigger than the dragon they faced appeared to face Penelope. IT roared a mighty roar, and Colin hesitantly ordered it to attack. Penelope stands calm and casts another ray from her finger. The skeleton becomes reduced to ash as if it were nothing. Colin starts panicking and starts spouting random gibberish his eyes starting to glow a little bit, the runes started to activate one after another and random beams started to emanate from the weirdest parts of Colins body. Fire balls shot out of his fingers which when they exploded caused bunnies to appear. Lightning struck the ground sprouting full grown trees upon impact.

Penelope was mildly surprised by the outburst of chaotic magic. After being still for a moment, due to her surprise, she recollects herself and calmly walks over to Colin, the bolts seemingly to conveniently miss her. She seems to conjure up some powerful spell, but when she released it nothing seem to happen. Five seconds pass by silently, as Colin continued to pour down rapid wild magic, magic that he could not control. Slowly but surely the magic seemed to slow, as one by one runes seemed to fade from the book. As the runes faded back to their original state, Colins eyes return to its normal color. After a brief look of despair, he falls over unconscious, defeated. Hours later, Colin wakes up to find himself in a modern prison cell. He quickly springs up and looks for his gear. After hours of futile searching, he could not find a single bit of his magical items. The jailer comes around carrying a tray of grey gruel. With a look of disgust and pure hatred, the jailer slides the tray under the walls of the cell. Eat up you murderous scum. You should have died instead of them Says the Jailer a tone of pure malice in his voice. Colin struggles up to his feet and stumbles over to the tray. Until now he hadnt realized how starving he had been. He takes the food in one hand and slurps it down, eating as much as he can. While he was shoveling the disgusting gruel down his throat, he could hear the jeers of other prisoners, saying how horrible of a person he was, and how he deserved to die for what he did. He finally noticed, after eating all the gruel he could scavenge, that there were cuts and wounds all over his body. Obviously inflicted upon him, he could feel nothing from his limbs. Anger rose with in him as he wanted to shout how he

did the right thing for humanity, but no words could escape his mouth. He suddenly thought back to his companions; the barkeep, Hortus, Beth, Jerome the cat, Lady Olivia, Sir Kent, Caroline He rose up off the ground carrying himself as far as he could into the cold hard prison bed, and wept himself to sleep. When he next woke up, he found himself floating in what appeared to be a blank void. He could feel no sensation, no gas seemed to escape or enter his nose when he attempted to breath. He could barely here cries of pain and suffering. Eventually after a couple of minutes he hears familiar cries. How could you do thissss whispers a voice similar to the barkeep Didddd youuuu reallllyyyy vallluuuueeee our liiivvveeeessss soooo littttlleeee? cries out a voice similar to Hortus Why did you killll usss Coollllliiiinnnn! shouts out random voices that sounded like his companions. Slowly he could find the walls in his mind that he built up to resist the nagging feeling in his brain telling him to stop his quest crumbling. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he attempted to recollect himself. Eventually he comes upon an image of his parents. Realizing how much he misses them and how much he wants to do to save him, he cries out, beyond the tears, Humanity Deserves to Be Free! Our minds are not playthings for mother nature! We deserve our real memories not fabrications! While they may be people to, they are being controlled by their very nature! I do not regret this choice, nor will I ignore the consequences! I will do what is necessary to be done, not what is right! While history may remember me as the Worlds greatest villain, I will die knowing that I set Earth back onto the right path. The lives that I will have saved due to reintroducing modern medicine will eventually equal that of which I killed upon this path. Freeing their minds is the only option that is available to me. While Cicero may think he is doing good by destroying the scroll, he is forever imprisoning our minds with in a cage. A gilded cage is still a cage. While opening the cage to let some of the birds go may maim the other ones, the birds that live will fly free and grow and prosper. The world that would be without this interference would die off. It is not sustainable. There is no industry to produce what is necessary, no scientific advancement to help save lives or make ours more comfortable. Without those, our reason for existing is little to none. Each generation would take more and more and would be outputting less and less until a generation will consume all the resources without producing anything. The world must be reverted, not for my parents alone, or for others, but for the benefit of mankind of this I insist. Suddenly his eyes open as he finds himself in the bed of Penelopes hut. She is again stirring the cauldron adding in unusual reagents to make a potion of unknown use. I see the young apocalypse-bringer has woken Penelope comments without even looking up from stirring. I do not bring about the apocalypse, I am restoring the world to its former state says Colin

Thats what that old fool said, but now hes changed his mind and has decided to keep it the way it is. Says Penelope You knew Cicero? asks Colin Yes, he was my brightest pupil, learning all the arcane arts I could teach and casted spells I never would have thought of. His mind was brilliant, but he was always plagued with dreams of your world. He always talked about it. I dismissed it as a fantasy of the youth. I never expected him to sneak into the court and murder them to try and destroy the scroll. Says Penelope as a single tear drops down her cheeks. You loved him like a son didnt you? says Colin in a very understanding tone. Penelope nodded silently, returning to her work as if she had said nothing. Colin waited on the bed for what seemed like hours before she finally spoke up. Ill train you, what happened to Cicero was my fault and I must make amends. Where he learned the magic of Law and Order, you have a natural talent for Chaos and Disorder; the two must be in balance for the world to be at peace. I will teach you as much as I can. Says Penelope

After the two months had passed, Colin stopped at the rendezvous, the entrance of the very ruins that they once entered in hunt of the scroll. He is now dressed in black robes; an aura of power seemed to surround him. His spellbook constantly glowed, as he now mastered basic control of chaos magic. His entire body was now covered in arcane runes that glowed at infrequent intervals. The Staff of Wisdom, which was once unlit, now burned a radiant glow much brighter than any torch. After 15 minutes of waiting, Lady Olivia emerged from the nearby woods, her Staff of Shadows completely transformed. While half of it remained cloaked in shadows, the other half seemed to glow brighter than the sun. Her dress now in tatters and seemed to be repaired with a bunch of patchwork, roughly done as if with no tools. The deck of many things now seemed to be in a new holster of which she could quickly draw cards if she needed to. She silently sits down, not speaking a single word to Colin. After another hour of waiting, a shadowed appeared beneath Colin and Lady Olivias feet. Colin, looking up, is stunned to see Caroline gliding in with her wings tucked in, being held aloft by wind force alone. Caroline lands gracefully, and takes a bow, half expecting applause, half for the sheer fun of it. She quickly gives both Lady Olivia and Colin a quick hug before creating a cloud for her to lie down on. She lounges around for a while before reciting a quick prayer to the Sky-Father. After 3 hours, Colin, Lady Olivia, and Caroline almost give up on Hortus showing up. However, eventually a tall well-muscled figure shows up. Hortus appears to have gained a bunch of new scars and the axe seemed to be bathed in scarlet red blood. His right eye is now covered by a black eye patch, and a large gash became apparent near his nose. The helmet seemed to whistle silently as the axe continuously started to shift colors on the embedded gem.

After many greetings and stories were shared, they all started to head in the direction of the Volcano. During the afternoon, they find a corpse of a man in a fools outfit lying on the ground in the middle of the road. Caroline walked up to the body, when it suddenly sprung up swinging a sword that seemed to burst into the flames upon every swing. Caroline quickly floats back and casts a healing spell, that instantly mended all damage that the sword swings hand done to her. Hortus charges with his axe, chanting the spell to a firebolt, the helmet shines for a bit and then stores absorbs the firebolt, and the axe bursts into a much brighter and hotter flame than that of the enchanted sword. The man in the jesters outfit jumps out of the way and gives a couple of passing lunges, which Hortus easily parries. Colin starts chanting what sounded like gibberish, and then the mans sword suddenly morphed into a needle. The man, while briefly surprised, drops the needle and brings out a smaller dagger. Weaving in between axe blows, the man almost manages to stab Hortus, but Lady Olivia pulls Hortus away using what appeared to be a living shadow duplicate. She then conjures up a blast of pure light at the man in the fools outfit; the man is suddenly blinded and attempts to stumble out of the way of axe blows. Colin starts chanting again and the clothes that the man was wearing suddenly disappeared. The man suddenly collapsed as if lifeless. A remote controlled body, animated via enchanted clothing. Cicero sure knows his way around magic. Says Colin Cicero did this! Thats impossible, to create a temporary undead animation? Not only that, but one that is able to fight well with a blade enough to avoid all of our blows for a bit? says Caroline surprised. Cicero is a master of Order Magic. While his magic does have strict rules that it must follow and never can contradict, he has a much finer degree of control over how his spells act, and how they activate and so forth. The only real counterpart to Order magic is Chaos magic, which can do what is impossible under the normal rules of magic, but is hard to control, and the fine details are unable to be controlled. Penelope the Witch of Havens seemed to believe that the only way to combat Cicero is either to be a master of Order Magic or Chaos Magic. However, there hasnt been a true Chaos Mage in a hundred years. Replies Colin Then what about the magic you just performed. I doubt you meant to change that guys sword into a needle, or for his clothes to just suddenly disappear. I would say that would be pretty chaotic Replies Hortus Yes the magic I just performed is Chaos magic; however most of it is being done by the artifact. If this book is for some reason stolen from me I would not be able to cast any of the spells I just did. This book is what is guiding my magical energy. As of right now Im only serving as a battery and a general guide to what the book produces. I have no actual control over what it does. Colin replies in a hushed tone. But what about sorcerers? Dont they cast magic that naturally manifests from their bloodline? That seems pretty chaotic to me asks Lady Olivia.

The average magic of a wizard or sorcerer falls into neither Order Magic nor Chaos Magic. They fall into a rather broad category of Traditional Magic. While all three draw upon the external arcane energies of the world how they are shaped are different. Wizards and Sorcerers all guide energy from outside of themselves through their own bodies. Sorcerers instinctually know how to do so from instinct that is passed along in blood. While Wizards mimic the natural arcane manipulation that Sorcerers do using their own knowledge of the rules in place. While Sorcerers might seem like they are doing Chaos Magic and Wizards might seem like they are doing Order Magic they are both doing the same thing which falls into a third much broader category. However Order Mages and Chaos Mages never bring the energy within themselves. They manipulate it completely outside of their own bodies. Order mages can do so through large amounts of training, memorizing thousands of rules and equations on how to do things. Cicero learned how to do so from Penelope and while insane is also a mad mad genius. By using the laws and equations, Order Mages can through the rigors of their practice manipulate the arcane energy in such a way as to avoid bringing it into themselves, and losing some of the arcane energy into their bodies. Order Mages however tend to be short-lived. The laws and rules that they have to follow eventually become too much upon the mages mind and they may shortly go insane. Cicero however is not completely mad, however if he relies too much upon his magic he may indeed go insane. Chaos magic apparently works a little differently. Rather than attempting to memorize the rules and equations, a Chaos Mage only attempts to paint a general picture. He does not do the fine manipulation the arcane energy in order to produce the finer aspects of the spells effects. Rather he lets nature take its course and however the arcane energy was already arranged is how the spells finer effects take place. For example, I attempted to transform the sword into something else, so I made one giant brush stroke of transfiguration, and then I simply let magic take over. Thankfully it happened to turn it into something harmless like a needle. One time when I was experimenting I accidently turned a tree into a dragon. That took forever to subdue. I lost two days of training like that. Penelope hypothesized that the magic used to enchant the deck of many things was Chaos magic. The natural emanation of magic in its most natural state. Replies Colin. Interesting, we have acquired artifacts that rely upon more chaotic means than our opponents. Symbolically, that must mean that we are serving as catalysts of change which I think is rather fitting, dont you think? replies Hortus in a rather philosophical tone. I guess, if you want to look it at that way. Says Colin already searching the fallen man for anything that may be of use to them. On the mans naked body was a single tattoo. The tattoo was a series of blue arcane runes that seemed to glow relatively dimly, as if an enchantment was fading. When Colin starts to focus in on the runes, his eyes open wide, as he attempts to back away from the body. An explosion erupts destroying the body, and launching Colin and Caroline into a nearby tree, knocking them unconscious. Hortus is knocked off his feet and pushed into the bushes, coming out incredibly wounded.. Lady Olivia instinctively as soon as the explosion emerged encased herself in a shield of shadows, so she emerged unhurt with a look of shock on her face. Lady Olivia bandaged Hortus wounds as best as she could, and dragged their bodies under the cover of trees. There she waited until it got dark. Strange rustling sounds could be heard as what sounded like armed men and women tried to sneak around the forest. The loud clinks of armor

resounded with the muffled whispers of soldiers, both orc and human. Suddenly from the dark cover of the forest, emerges three men, all armed in full-plate emblazoned with an emblem that even Lady Olivia, who was raised in a nobles house and taught the emblems of most kingdoms, could not recognize. The blades at their side seemed well worn as if used frequently in battle. Their faces seemed impenetrable as they maintained a stoic expression. Sweat seemed to pour down their cheeks, as if they had been marching for a long time. After a couple moments of silence, one of the men, a tall blonde one who seemed to be the leader of the group, spoke in a confident voice, We are the United Paladin Army of Pelor, and we have been pursuing a war band of orcs claiming to have formed an Orcish nation known as Grummishtan. They have raided multiple villages in our fine kingdom. You may want to vacate the vicinity, as a battle may be about to take place my dear damsel. Seeing an opportunity for them to continue on the quest, Lady Olivia puts on her best pleading face and with false tears pouring down her cheeks says Dear knight, please help us, my comrades have fallen ill and we have no way to go on through the forest. Please upon your blessed hearts; escort us through so that we may find respite in the nearby town of Astranoth? The leader paladin replies with a sad face Damsel, I cannot for the army cannot spare me. The Orcish threat is too imminent for me to abandon my troops here. Upon the shadow of the gods, please escape on your own, abandon your comrades here; Ill post a small guard to make sure that they are safe. Hurry, tarry not unless you wish to be caught up in the battle that will be about to take place. You are asking me to leave my comrades behind? Sir Knight, I cannot be asked to do such a horrendous thing, especially when you yourself admit that a battle will be about to take place in such a dangerous spot. As a paladin are you willing to risk the lives of the innocent because of your negligence? You have plenty of men; if you have men to spare to guard this tactically unimportant position, then certainly you must have men to spare to escort us through the forest to the town of Astranoth. Or, as a knight to say, that you have no concern for the innocent? Why spare the life of only one when you can spare them all. Would Pelor agree to such a harsh plan that involves risking the lives of the innocent, when a plan exists that could save them all? says Lady Olivia in a pleading tone You cannot interpret the will of Pelor. Pelor would not approve of me risking the outcome of the battle for the lives of hundreds for the lives of three. What purpose could you have that would make the blood that would be spilled in raids worth it? I tell you once more, flee while you can, the battle is about to begin. While I cannot guarantee your comrades safety I can guarantee yours if you escape now. Do not dally, do not stop to argue, hurry before the first drop of blood is shed. The orcs are almost upon us, hurry before it is too late! shouts the paladin. Suddenly, a few shouts are heard, and the distinct sound of blades clashing rang throughout the forest. Cries of agony resounded through the forest as both man and orc fell to the power of the blade. What appeared to be brief flashes of lightning appeared every few seconds, briefly illuminating the outlines of the soldiers as they fought their merciless conflict. Orcish and Human blood filled the valleys of the area. Trees fell, being cut down to be used as both cover and weapon. Mounds of corpses lay

scattered upon the ground, almost as plentiful as the autumn leaves. Lady Olivia attempted to lift Colin as she attempts to break through the opposing armies. Even if I cant save the others, you have to be able to make it through this alive. You are the only one who can use the damned Chaos Magic using artifact. Geez you are heavy. We have to hurry, before the battle becomes too big and the gaps between the lines are filled with reinforcements. Cmon, wake up already. Says Lady Olivia as she struggles to walk, carrying Colin over her shoulders, the staff of shadows in her other hand. Both sides seemed to almost ignore their presence, partially because of the Staff of Shadow concealing their presence, partly because of the utter chaos that was going on around them. Swords struck upon shields, blades, and occasionally flesh, as the two sides continued to clash. Yet Lady Olivia still carried Colin through the thick woods, as spells and blades clashed under the full moon night. The autumn winds picked up as neither side seemed to be coming any closer to a resolution. Eventually after hours of walking, Lady Olivia manages to carry Colin out of harms way. She takes a locket from around her neck, as she collapses on the ground from exhaustion. Opening it, a picture of her and Sir Kent during their wedding is shown. A single half-formed tear lingers upon Lady Olivias cheek. Eventually she falls asleep, on the side of the road, only the stars and the moon above her head, and the cold hard dirt beneath her. Eventually dawn comes as Lady Olivia eventually wakes up, she barely rises, still exhausted, both physically and emotionally, from the night before. She slowly attempts to pick Colin up, and limps towards the direction of town. The dim orange light barely illuminating the road ahead, Lady Olivia limps for a while more. Eventually she comes upon a friendly trader, who she convinces to give them a ride to town. As the morning sun rises higher and higher above the sky she waits in the cart slowly drifting off to sleep. She is suddenly jolted awake to find herself tied up. She sees the trader accepting a rather large coin purse from a man in a similar jesters outfit to the one they fought before. The man is rather muscular, and tall, towering at a monstrous 7 feet. He carries a large executioners axe, and has stone grey skin. Lady Olivia recognizes him to be from the Goliath tribe of Unatak, well known for their cruelty in battle. The man was tattooed with a red snake upon his left arm, signifying that he was a criminal who killed someone within the clan. His right arm had three red bands tattooed around it signifying a high rank in their military. Fear coursed through Lady Olivias veins as she tried to think of a way for her to get out of the situation. The ropes that kept her bound were far too tight to escape from. She did not have Hortus or Sir Kents strength to break through the bonds with brute force. She had no access to magic to magically undo it either. The goliath approached her silently with an evil grin upon his face. So you thought you could chase after us huh? Now the hunted have become the hunters. Your life now lies within our palms. Shall you live or shall we die. Cicero told me that you could recognize the marks that I wear. Then you know then how dangerous I really am. I know for a fact that you fear me. That you think that I am a monster. And the thing is? You are right. I am your worst nightmare. I am the scariest, and the last thing youll ever see. He whispers continuing to hold his wicked smile as if it were glued to his face.

Lady Olivia shuddered as he heard these words, but her mind kept on racing trying to find some means of escape. While the ropes were still too tightly bound she had just enough maneuvering room to reach the holster holding the deck of many things. Praying to as many gods as she could, she quickly shouts I draw 1 card, as she pulls the top card as fast as she can. A picture of a valiant knight in plate armor about to confront a mighty dragon appears on the card that she draws, as the knight seemingly jumps out of the picture. She then shouts Mighty knight cut me free of these bonds so that I may make my escape. The knight obeys and cuts the ropes. Soon after, the goliath from Unatak strikes him down with a single blow. Lady Olivia dives after her Staff of Shadows, and uses it to propel a bolt of pure light into the Goliaths face. The flare of light temporarily blinds him, as she reaches into her bag and pulls out a vial of pure alchemists fire. She then flees into the cover of the woods, covering her tracks with the Staff of Shadows. The Goliath, after his field of vision is restored, chases after her. While he is searching for her in the woods, Lady Olivia draws a small crossbow from her satchel, and loads in a bolt poisoned with a vial of fluid used by the wicked Drow to subdue their opponents. As the Goliath approaches, she uses the staff of shadow to project a duplicate of her. The Goliath moves to investigate, and while his back is turned; she launches the bolt, planting it straight into his back. The blow briefly staggers him, but it fails to knock him out. The Goliath in a fit of rage uses his axe to chop down the tree that Lady Olivia was hiding in. Taking a quick breath, Lady Olivia leaps out of the tree into another one, tossing the vial of alchemists fire behind her, the vial hits the Goliath dead on, lighting his flesh briefly on fire. A tiny spark ignites the fallen tree, serving as a deterrent from pursuit, as she jumps from tree to tree. The Goliath, still aflame, gives chase, nimbly navigating the ground below as if he had lived there all his life. Lady Olivia uses the Staff of Shadows to try and pick up Colins location by sending out bolts of light to light the path. Unable to find him, she takes cover underneath the leaves loading the crossbow yet again. She then waits until the Goliath is very close by, and then she leaps out of the cover of leaves shooting another bolt into the Goliaths chest. The Goliath screams in fury and raises his axe preparing to end Lady Olivias life with one solid blow. But he is rebuffed by a swift jab of the Staff of Shadows, as Lady Olivia swings it as if it were a quarterstaff. The Goliath takes half a step back and then prepares another vicious swing of the axe, which Lady Olivia narrowly dodges. She takes another few jabs, but with each jab the goliath seems less and less phased. Lady Olivia could feel the fatigue set upon her body as each dodge and each jab took more and more out of her. She uses the power of the Staff of Shadows to quickly shield herself, as she draws a dagger from her bag. Dodging the next blow, she lunges, plunging the dagger into the Goliaths body. Blood dripped from the dagger, but the goliath seemed unphased his axe rearing to take off Lady Olivias head. Suddenly she drops to the ground and rolls out of the way, just a hairs breadth from being chopped into two pieces. The Goliath rears for another blow, but Lady Olivia barely manages to swing the Staff of Shadows around to block the axe blow. The Goliath continues to try and force the axe through and into Lady Olivias flesh, and Lady Olivia struggles to keep the axe away from her body. She rolls away using the staff to aid her momentum. The axe hits solid ground and buries itself slightly. As the Goliath tries to draw his axe from the ground, Lady Olivia draws another dagger, and stabs him in the back, more blood pouring out of the wound. The Goliath still seems unusually unphased by the dagger blow in what would normally be a mortally wounding spot. Fearing for her life, Lady Olivia starts running again using the Staff of Shadows to cloak her appearance. The Goliath

eventually pulls his axe out of the ground and gives chase, seemingly able to pierce through the cloak given by the staff. Lady Olivia starts slowing down, fatigue getting to her legs. She places her other hand on the Staff of Shadows prepared to go down fighting. The Goliath slowly catches up; his clothes long burnt from the fire, blood pouring out his side and back as if it was a river. A look of sheer anger upon his face, he slowly raises his axe prepared to use the lethal blow, but he suddenly collapses, his pulse stops, as he finally dies of exhaustion. Lady Olivia lets out a breath of relief as she slowly limps back in search of Colin. Using the Staff of Shadows of a crutch, the journey back was incredibly painful for her. Slowly she makes it back to the camp where the trader once was, Colin is still there tied up and barely alive. She briefly considers falling asleep but attempts to pick up Colin anyways. After about an hour of struggling, she collapses from the fatigue of fighting the Goliath of Unatak. The space between her breaths slows, as she slowly drifts off into the well-deserved embrace of sleep.

The sun started to rise as the second day finally begun; the light seemed to shimmer through the cover of the trees. Birds had begun chirping, singing their lovely melodies as they dart back and forth through the branches. Caroline and Hortus stumble awake, as if waken from a deep slumber. Hortus rubs his head as if he had a terrible hangover from drinking one too many ales at the inn. Ugh, how long was I out? says Hortus, as his eyes widen when the view of the carnage of the battle the night before comes into view. Mounds of bodies lay on the ground; soft moaning could be heard in the distance, as men and orc alike died. Blood flowed almost as swiftly as a river. Blades were on the ground as if they were leaves. Scorch marks could be seen among the trees, remnants of arcane might that was once there. Quickly, he attempts to look for his comrades. Colin and Lady Olivia nowhere in sight, he utters a quiet prayer to the gods, as he attempts to look for Caroline. He finds her, clothes in tatters from the explosion, unconscious, with but a whisper of breath left in her. Panicking, he picks her up and starts running off to the village Astranoth, holding but the narrowest of hopes that there may be a healer in the village to help her. As soon as he hit the main road, he starts picking up the pace, the sun now shining at high noon. Eventually after an hours worth of traveling down the road, his thirst becomes overwhelming; his stomach starts grumbling, resentful at the lack of food in his stomach. However, he tries to push onward, hoping that Carolines life may be saved if he hurried. Eventually he reaches the village in the middle of the afternoon. Farmers could be seen, hard at work, harvesting the well-earned crops for the year, in preparation for the frigid winters that often were common in the region. Children could be seen playing with their toys, tops could be seen spinning, balls bounced up and down. A few young men could be seen attempting to court the hand of an Elven maiden, who blushed and giggled at each attempted compliment. As soon as Hortus stepped into town, he could feel glares of anger and resentment from the villagers, who stopped what they were doing to give him wicked stares that could pierce into the very depths of his soul. The children fled in terror, as if he were some big scary monster out to eat their flesh, or steal their souls while they slumber. Hortus tried to ask for a healer, but the villagers ignored him, only continuing to give him a wicked, but scared glare. After several attempts, a young man, dressed plainly in the outfit of a blacksmiths apprentice says Your kind arent welcomed here, weve experienced far too many Orcish raids to allow some mongrel like you to walk onto our doorstep. Leave, before we make you by force.

Please help, my comrade is very injured, and she needs medical attention right away. If there was somewhere else I could go and make it in time, I would. But as of right now this is the only chance I have of saving her life. Please, dont turn me away, she needs medical attention! He pleads in a very desperate tone of voice As the glares continue, the villagers remain deaf to the pleading. Hortus starts in a much angrier and desperate tone Are you really going to let this life wither away? Please, dont turn me away, she needs medical attention! Are you really going to let this innocents life waste away because of some racial prejudice, we have the power to heal her. If its labor you need, Ill provide it, Ill work for several months if I have to. Please, dont let her die for something as stupid as this unprovoked racial grudge. Another villager, a farmer almost as big as Hortus was, walks up to him and says in a very angry tone Unprovoked! Orcs have raided our village for many years. I lost my wife to those raids. Many of us have lost loved one to your kinds unprovoked raids upon us! My children are left motherless thanks to your kind. Many children have been left orphaned; many parents have lost their kids. Your kind is not welcome here for a reason. I do not believe that you can come around and talk to us about the loss of innocent life. Anyone who is willing to associate with your kind deserves to die. You evil and despicable lot. You think we have not suffered loss. You deserve what your kind has wrought upon us. The blood your kind has drawn upon us has been going on for decades. Now you expect us, to forgive such crimes that have taken the life of my too-soon departed wife, and left my innocent children motherless? You deserve not our help; your race has been a scourge upon our planet. Draining us of what little we had left. Leave, Leave now, or for the gods sake die like the rest of your kind should. Your comrade is of no use to us, we want not of your labor, or blood stained coin, we just want your putrid kind off of our land, out of our sight and an early death to be inflicted upon you and all that are like you. Hortus breaks down into tears as he responds in an incredibly pleading tone, Please just help this innocent life. I am not of the same kind of those wicked orcs. I have no intention to rob or pillage, I only wish to save this one innocent life. I would willingly walk to the gallows if you help this innocent girl. She is my comrade by necessity, for our quest is of great importance. Along the way, we were separated from our comrades. I can but only hope that they are still alive. Please help her; Ill give my life if that is all you ask. Ive experienced the pain that youve gone through. My parents were lost in similar raids, by another Orcish tribe. And Ive had to live with my evil heritage my entire life. So please, just help save this one life, Ive lost too much in my life, to let this one life slip through our fingers. Ive lost my entire family, most of my friends, and the one who I believed was my one true love. I cant afford to lose another life because of me. My family and friends died protecting me. If I must, I am willing to sacrifice mine to save hers. Tears continued to roll down Hortus cheek, as the painful memories start surging back to his head. His mind goes numb, until he starts to remember the scrolls teachings. Padfoot taught that true strength came not in the acts of heroism, but dealing with the burden of the consequences. Padfoot taught that true enlightenment came from accepting death and moving beyond it. To the Order, death was supposed to be an ever flowing constant. Tea is something to calm the soul, to heal it and prepare it for the afterlife. That was the whole reason why the Order was so obsessed with tea. Padfoot believed

that tea was healing for the soul. That in order for a soul to move on to a good afterlife, the person while still living needed to sort out all the burdens weighing them down. That they need to acknowledge their mistakes, and rip out the guilt and suffering that they have, and mend the wounds with a nice cup of tea. Tea acts as a purifier in that sort of way, however Padfoot also believed in another way of healing the soul. The act of acceptance, in and of itself, is very powerful. However, it is not enough to mend the soul. Only by truly detaching oneself from the situation can they see the true wound within themselves. The nexus of the soul is a harrowing place, where emotions could take control and the powers within may cause a person never to heal. However, by truly removing ones self from their problems they may be able to create a temporary purification of the soul, and truly mend their soul and be considered prepared for the afterlife. While the Order focused on Tea for the sake of tea eventually, Padfoots original intention was to use the wisdom he had gained to teach others to purify themselves and prepare themselves for the inevitability of death. The souls of the living must learn to reject the burden inflicted upon them by the souls of the dead. The artifacts that Padfoot had passed down were objects of great power, but also served as conduits for the souls of the dead on occasion. Remembering this, Hortus strikes the ground with his axe, as his eyes start to glow. The souls of the dead started flooding into his very body. Voices appeared to be channel with great bellowing thunder. Apologies were given by the dead to the living for the slights and burdens they inflicted upon the living. The villagers wept as they were briefly reunited with the dead. The children got to hear from their mothers again, the parents could see their deceased children for one solemn moment. However after a few minutes, the flow of souls became too much for poor Hortus, and he suddenly had to cut off the flow and let the souls return to their proper resting place. The villagers, grateful to Hortus for giving them a brief visit from the deceased, suddenly called for the healer. An elderly man walked out of a tiny hut, his face wrinkled with age, displaying a small homely type of wisdom. He inspects Caroline carefully, and then starts uttering a small prayer to Pelor. Holy light appeared to surround the old mans hands as he prepared to start the ritual to heal Caroline. Sacred chants were performed as the sacred light within the old healers hands grew and grew. Eventually he was ready to begin the spell, singing the holy hymns of the Church, the wounds surrounding Carolines body started to slowly heal, her breathing became slightly more solid, and her clothes slowly started to mend. Eventually her breathing became stable enough that the old healer stopped, out of breath from the rigorous work as a healer, and pronounced that in a day, Caroline should awaken to find herself healed, and that for now the best thing to do was to let her rest. Eventually night came; the stars seemed to shine a little brighter, as Hortus wandered into the nearby church. Inside the stained glass windows portraying the glory of the light of Pelor seemed so much brighter. Sacred organ music played in the background, as Hortus dropped to his knees and prayed, thanking Pelor, Heironeous and all the other Good Gods for their aid today. The starlight shimmered through the enchanted windows providing a luminance greater than normal. The path to the altar seemed to be lit by the stars themselves as Hortus walks down it praying along the way. The holy music seemed to get louder and louder as Hortus continued to thank the gods for what blessings they had given. An elderly priest wakes, hearing the prayers, he stumbles out of bed and walks following the sound of Hortus words. When he discovers Hortus on his knees praying to the gods words of thanks, he starts brewing a pot of tea, as soon as Hortus seemed to be finishing his prayer, the priest approaches him, and offers him to stay for a cup of tea. The heat of the tea wafted into Hortus nose as he clinks the

teacup in his hands against the one held by the priest. The sip seemed to cure the remaining impurities in the soul.

The dawn rises on the third day, as Olivia wakes to the serene calling of the birds. Colin is still barely breathing, and Olivia feels a sense of dread, the only hope in their desperate quest barely surviving on the barest of threads. She packs what few bags she has on her, and carries Colin over to the nearby stream, as she prepares to bathe, not wanting to get ill because of the grime of the area. Setting her clothes aside in some nearby bushes, she dives into the water with great amounts of energy. Her breath visible in the cold autumn air, she wades a little bit, trying to scrub off the dirt accumulated from the previous nights battle. After an hour of bathing, she gets out of the water, drying herself off with a towel from her bag; she dons her clothes and tries to locate their position. The sun barely shined over the horizon in front of her, the moon still above the horizon behind her. The chirping of the birds sang melodious melodies as Olivia consulted her map.

Olivia stops checking her map, when in the distance she hears light footsteps. The birds suddenly stop chirping as they seek to hide from the potential danger. Lady Olivia slowly draws her crossbow, hiding the Staff of Shadows inside her bag. She hides the unconscious Colin in the bushes as she climbs up into the cover of the trees. Two orcs, wearing red insignias that Olivia recognized of being from the fledgling nation of orcs that fought the paladins of Pelor earlier. They seemed exhausted as they marched silently through the area. Suddenly as they were passing right under the tree they stop. Olivias breath tightens, as she worries about being caught.

One of the orcs, a tall one with a long scar going across his face, says in a local form of Orcish Hey Gruuntak, excited for the raid on the village Astranoth? Gruuntak, a shorter orc with no scar on his face responds in the same Orcish dialect Nah Lastinak, weve pretty much milked them dry. It just isnt worth the effort anymore. There is no thrill to it.

Lastinak responds Lose the thrill of it? Impossible, pillaging the goods, slaughtering the innocent, having some fun times with the woman. How could you possibly get much better than that? Who cares that we take a loss on raiding them, its still fun nonetheless.

Gruuntak responds Yeah I guess, but I mean how does this exactly help our nation of Gruunistan? We are taking a guaranteed loss of funds here, there doesnt seem to be much point to it.

Lastinak sighs and answers We are doing it for the morale of our troops. If we didnt do it, our men would get bored and there would be dissent among us. Rather than risk rebellion, our King just means to spend the funds to keep our troops as happy as they can be.

Lady Olivia outraged at the current conversation, loads her crossbow, and carefully takes aim at Gruuntaks head. After a few moments of silent calculations, she launches the pointed bolt straight through his head. Gruuntak falls, stunned at the sudden crossbow bolt to the head. His breaths started to become shorter and shorter, until finally they stop completely. Lastinak, panicked by the sudden loss of his leader, starts blowing on a horn, attempting to summon reinforcements. Lady Olivia, fumbling with the crossbow trying to reload it quickly enough, does not hear the footsteps of the advancing Orcish infantry unit as they come to investigate the horn. After finally managing to reload her crossbow, she quickly shoots Lastinak, and drops down from the tree. Dragging Colin on to her back, she uses the cloak of shadows to conceal their presence and starts running, attempting to find some place they could hide from the advancing infantry unit. The infantry unit consisted of 6 orcs, one of whom seemed to be holding a runed staff of some sort, indicating that he was a shaman. Olivia dives into a bush, taking Colin with her. As the Orcish infantry spread out, looking for her, the shaman slowly passes by the bush they are hiding in. As the shaman passes through Lady Olivias view, she notices that on the shamans left arm was a tattoo of a fools hat. The shaman in a deep voice says Find the human girl, Martino, the stupid exiled Goliath, didnt return to the camp last night. They must have escaped. Hurry find them, or I will feed you to the worgs. Lady Olivia is shocked to hear the news that the nation of Grummishstan was allied with Cicero. She quietly jots down a note, as she prepares to cast a dark shadow bolt at the shaman. However, the shaman suddenly turns towards the bush, and slowly approaches it, preparing to cast a spell. Lady Olivia could actually feel the arcane energy being drawn towards the shaman. Fiery energy could be felt, as the air begun to be heated by the raw heat of the shamans spell. He fires it into the next tree. The tree turns to ashes. The shaman raises a curious eye, and then continues along the way. Lady Olivia fires the bolt hoping to do some damage. The shaman turns around completely unaffected by the bolt of shadows. He starts charging up a lightning spell, Olivia still exhausted from the previous night attempts to quickly puts up a shield of shadows to protect herself. The lightning penetrated through the shield readily like a hot knife through butter. Luckily for Lady Olivia the lightning spell missed her by a hairs breadth. Seeing no other option, Lady Olivia as quickly as her fingers would allow her, reaches into the holster and draws the top of the deck, shouting I draw one card! Suddenly a giant orb of black energy started to form as the void card was displayed. A great force started to pull Lady Olivia in. Before she could be sucked in however, Lady Olivia shouts Oh might fate, let balance rein, let this mighty evil be balanced! Reverse this evil fate, and let good come in where evil lies. Reverse this void! Upon saying this, the magic card on the ground flipped itself the other way; the giant orb of black energy stopped pulling her and started to condense into a small bright white orb. The orb

immediately flies into Lady Olivias hand. Knowing instantly she must do, she threw the orb as hard as she could at the shaman. The shaman, fearing the devastating results often associated with the deck of many thing dimensions door out of the way. The orb slams against a tree, and the tree literally disappears without a single trace as the orb shatters. The shaman, now taking the threat seriously, raises his staff I am Altorak, mightiest shaman of Grummishstan and Lieutenant of Ciceros Forces, I shall not fall to some petty gambler who thinks that her petty tricks can save her! As he said this, he slams his staff on the ground, skeletons started to dig their way up to the surface. Necromantic energy seemed to ooze out of them as a dark aura just lingering out of sight. The skeletons moved with purpose swinging blades better than most train soldiers. Lady Olivia attempts to ward them off with a holy symbol, but the skeletons seem unphased by it. Ha! You think petty trinkets given to you by your charlatan god can save you! Inside of these skeletal warriors are the spirits of the greatest warriors in Orcish history! Nothing can save you now cackles the Orcish Shaman now prepping another lightning spell. Lady Olivia starts slowly backing away as she attempts to come up with a plan to flee with Colins unconscious body. She casts a few desperate shadow bolts at the Shaman, which the shaman easily deflects with his own staff. Drawing a card was no longer an option, as she already drew her allotment for the day. She uses the light-end of her staff to produce a flash of blinding light. Buying herself a few seconds as the shaman is temporarily blinded, she takes cover behind a tree, hoping that the Shaman wouldnt kill Colin on sight. The shaman after recovering his sense of sight, immediately calls for the skeletal warriors to form a defensive ring around himself as he ventures forth slowly into the woods Come out Come out wherever you are! You can run, you can hide, but we will find you! You might as well give up now; if you do I can give you a swift and painless death. Its not like you can beat warriors like mine! The Orcish blood is strong in both Arcane Magic and Strength. We are the master race, we will be victorious, and none can stand against us. Cicero is a mighty boon to us for he provides us with intelligence with which we could hunt our foes. But we are not beholden to him; he too is just a pawn in our quest for conquest. When he uses up his usefulness he will be disposed of. Until then, we might as well fulfill his request and hand over the overtly romantic werewolf. Whats his name again Sir Pent? Sir Lent? He is but Ciceros pawn, Cicero has no use for such a pitiful fool, and he was hoping that with Sir Kent out of the way he would be able to strike at the true hero, the potential Chaos Mage. Lady Olivia could feel anger boil up as the Shaman hurled insults like they were pennies. She quietly draws her staff as she tries to suppress her anger. Gathering up one powerful bolt of pure holy energy from the light end of the staff, she also gathers necrotic energy from the dark end of the staff, attempting to feed off the necrotic energy being given off by the skeletons. Remembering the Dryads teachings she attempts to balance the two sides of her soul, the light and the dark, as she combined the two different types of energy. Feeling the incredible might of the two combined energy, she emerges from her hiding spot and launches it at the defensive circle Its Sir Kent! And he is the most noble, most brave champion of them all. He is Ciceros biggest threat and the most lovable man in the world. He is much better than you and your Orcish champions. For he cares about others, and can feel empathy. You utterly lack balance in your soul. You believe that your Orcish race is superior, so you only inflict death and suffering in the world. Let the gods judge you for your sins, and may they find some light

within it for I can see none. Your soul is pitch black, blacker than the dark abyss. Go to your god, find some solace, but you will find no solace in this mortal life. Die so that the gods may redeem your soul. Die so that you may find balance. Nature is unforgiving, but the gods may be more so. The bolt slips past the skeletal warriors and hits the shaman dead on. An explosion of radiance and darkness engulfs him and his skeletons. When the radiance disappears nobody could be found, just a simple pendant, an amulet of Grummsh. Lady Olivia, seeing potential use for it, picks it up and puts it inside of her bag. She goes to recover Colins body, and begins heading out of the woods, to finally arrive at the village of Astranoth. Once she had arrived in the village, she immediately asked after a healer. However none of the villagers could help them, as the village healer was exhausted from performing a tiring healing rite the night before. So Lady Olivia walks into the local tavern and rents a small room preparing to wait for the elderly healer to awaken from his rest. Upon exiting the tavern, having rented the room, leaving Colin to rest on the cushy tavern room bed, Lady Olivia stumbles upon Hortus leaving the local general store carrying a small sack full of general supplies. Hortus sees Lady Olivia with a look of utter surprise as he drops the sack and gives Lady Olivia a gigantic hug, bigger than any hug anyone has ever felt before. Lady Olivia hugs back with a small and sad smile on her face. Hortus puts her down and with a smile and says So I take it Colin is still alive? Where is that young man? Lady Olivia stays silent for a moment with a solemn look on her face, as Hortus grin slowly turns down to a frown as he starts to assume the worse. Lady Olivia finally finds the resolve to speak Hes barely alive, hanging on by a thread. There doesnt seem to be anyone willing to call the healer, they all say he is asleep. There doesnt seem to be much we can do about the situation. All we can really do is hope for the best, and that the healer will wake up in time to heal him. Hortus lets out a sigh of relief, while Lady Olivia gives him a weird stare as she is confused by Hortus relief. Hortus seems this awkwardly weird stare and decides to elaborate. As it turns out, Caroline studied curative magic during the two months that we were training. It seems to be a traditional part of Raptoran culture. IT is possible that shell be able to heal Colin back up to peak condition; if not well the healer probably wouldnt have been able to either. Shes waiting back in the tavern room, having just woken up from her injuries, for me while I went shopping for some supplies. It shouldnt take long at all. So you are telling me, Caroline could just heal any of us right now? Is she likes a cleric or something? says Lady Olivia still incredibly confused at the current situation. Yeah pretty much, I think the curative magic parts are just a natural part of Raptoran culture weve never heard about. I mean they are pretty mysterious; our only source of information is from the few exiles that leave the village in the mountains for some crime or another, for all we know they could have other mysterious powers that we dont know about. We know nothing of their culture or their religion. To be honest, I think that if it werent for our quest, we should spend more time questioning Caroline on this stuff. I mean she could be the best source of information about this stuff; researchers would go nuts over her. How has she not been mentioned in any research journal or anthropology based

study. She is literally a gold mine of information; she should be famous by now. The Raptoran are legendary both for their innate flight and for their mysterious nature. Hortus responds in an utterly amazed tone of voice. The two of them head back into the tavern room, where they walk in on Caroline amusing herself with some toys she happened to pack with her. Upon looking up from her toys, Caroline is startled to see Hortus and Olivia just watching her play with her toys. She quickly puts them away, a bright red hue visible upon her face. Hortus and Olivia quickly explain the situation, and Caroline agrees to at least take a look. Upon seeing Colin, Caroline carefully examines his body, upon seeing no erratic movements of the heart, but rather a steady and firm beat she quickly takes out a journal in a quickly written hand. Quietly beginning to read, Caroline just kind of sits there, Lady Olivia and Hortus share a confused look on their faces. Caroline finally realizes that shes been just kind of sitting there without explaining anything, and the fading blush on her cheek suddenly flare a brighter shade of red. Uhm, well this is awkward, you see Colin is perfectly fine it seems, he doesnt even have any injuries from the explosion. His consciousness just doesnt seem to be here. It just kind of disappeared; his body is in fine condition. We just kind of need to wait for it to return, there isnt much we can do. Lets just say hes taken a spirit journey of sorts, maybe hell even come back stronger than ever before. Or he could just come back normally. Who knows? she says rambling on and on. So you are saying there literally is nothing we can do about him right now? Hes just going to be unconscious for an undetermined amount of time? So we just have to hope that he somehow wakes up in time, that he is somehow much stronger than before, and that he will be awake enough to help us beat Cicero and his allies? Great that just improves our chances so much. Replies Lady Olivia in an annoyed tone. Hey at least it was better than your worst idea, that he had died. There really isnt much else we can do, so all we can do is get a move on, I can get packed within the hour, and then we depart from this village, and hopefully cover a good deal of ground, we are already a day behind schedule and we arent even halfway through, we need to hurry as fast as we can. Ive already arranged for someone to provide us with horses for the journey, hopefully it will be enough to overtake Cicero and allow us to plan an ambush. But we need to hurry anyways; I doubt the idea of mounts did not just occur to me alone. They are certainly going to come up with the same idea either earlier or later than I did. We must hurry lest they beat us there. There isnt much time to lose! says Hortus already heading up to his room to pack. Lady Olivia and Caroline just sit in the room for a while, awkwardly waiting for Hortus to finish packing. So you know healing magic huh? asks Lady Olivia trying to make conversation Uhmmm, yeah its part of traditional Raptoran culture, so why were you even in that dungeon crawl in the first place? I mean dont get me wrong, you are strong enough to be an adventurer. But noblewomen dont typically go on random dungeon crawls for no reason you know? I mean there

was no reason for you to even embark on it, unless it was fame you wanted, which doesnt seem like a really good reason to risk your life, you know? says Caroline inquisitively Well you see, my husband, oh the brave champion, had to rescue me from some bandits. He ended up enlisting Colins and Hortus help in saving me. It apparently helped save his life. Seeing a debt that must be paid he pledged his services in the dungeon crawl. Not wanting to be so far from my love for so long, I volunteered my services as well. And you should be able to figure out the rest of the story pretty easily. Responds Lady Olivia. Well thats pretty romantic. So, what happened to you guys while we were separated? asks Caroline trying to continue the conversation. Well two of Ciceros lieutenants attacked us at separate times. I fought this really resilient exiled Goliath general who like seriously wouldnt die, I stabbed him twice, set him on fire, jabbed him multiple times with my staff, shot two poisoned crossbow bolts into him, one of which was through the chest. And you know what? None of that killed him, what got him in the end was exhaustion; he literally died of exhaustion rather than any of the normally lethal wounds. It was really ridiculous. I was scared for my life. Right before he died, he was about to execute me with my axe. I fell unconscious and just laid there over night. The other lieutenant was a goblin shaman, who seemed to really be a fan of necromancy. He summoned these weird skeletons that were apparently infused with the power of ancient Orcish heroes. He seemed to be able to deflect any spell I could throw at him, and the skeletons that he raised didnt seem to be affected at all by the holy symbol of Pelor or Heironeous, or any other god for that matter. I ended up beating him by making this yin-yang type blast, by channeling tons of holy light energy, with some siphoned off necrotic energy creating an explosive charge of energy. All thats really left of him is this unholy symbol of Grummsh Lady Olivia replies taking out the unholy pendant from her bag and handing it to Caroline. Uhm, Wow are you sure well be able to handle them? I mean a near immortal goliath and a powerful Orcish Shaman seem pretty dangerous. And Im presuming that there are stronger ones out there. Do you really think that well be able to handle them all? It sounds like we would need an army to take them down. Replies Caroline examining the pendant as she speaks. Well we really dont have much of a choice do we. If we want to succeed in this quest then we are going to have to come up with a way to defeat them. They are all standing in the way of success we have to be able to beat them or else well have to abandon the quest. Lady Olivia replies. If you say so, but there must be a better way to do this. I mean restoring memories are great and all, but this is literally a suicide mission. Its die or die trying. Are we really going to do it? Restore the world to its previous state? replies Caroline in a worried tone of voice. I would hope there is, but if no other option exists Id rather the scroll remain an option. The world has to be restored. My dear Sir Kent must have his memories restored; I could not live without that happening. He deserves to be free. If I must be unmade in order for that to happen, its a price that

Im willing to pay. Now my question to you is, why are you helping us? You dont have any motive, and as you said this is a suicide mission, why are you trying to help us? says Lady Olivia Im helping you, because this is the only real way for progress in my clan. The Raptoran have remained isolated for too long. They know too of the scrolls, and believe that they can survive it. I have faith in that, but I believe that changing the world around them is the only way for them to learn how to adapt and change the culture. I know that we stand to be considered great mass-murderers but if its the only way for progress to happen for my race, Im willing to take that burden upon my shoulders. And if I am unmade, then it just proves that I was never meant to live in the first place. There would be no harm done because of it. Raptoran religion teaches that fate will happen to those that will it, but those who remain idle shall never know their true fate. The Sky-Father will be proud of me that I know, for he encourages change, yet for my people, change never comes as they are unwilling to pursue it. They think themselves better than all other races, but we are losing our edge, as the other races catch up to us. Our people are unwilling to understand that we cannot rest on our laurels; we have to chase after self-improvement. Im hoping that by unleashing humanities true potential I can force my clan to adapt and start becoming more ambitious. Our wings seem to be a grounding factor, making us feel aloof, rather than letting us take to the skies. Replies Caroline twiddling her thumbs waiting for Hortus Oh wow, that is really a large goal you are undertaking. I really hope that that plan of yours will work. It must be awful living in an intolerant culture. I mean to simply think that your race is better than ours is a little ridiculous. Sure most sentient races only recently came as far technologically recently; weve been making huge strides towards various aspects of culture. We have invented rituals that can heal the wounded, fortresses to protect ourselves from the dangers of the wild. We have been making large strides in terms of progress, fewer and fewer people are dying of sickness, while war used to be common in the lands, professional adventuring has caused most war mongers to turn their aggression upon monsters and criminals rather than the innocent. Our society has been improving for years, yet your race still maintains that it will always remain superior to ours? I mean that idea is slightly preposterous, as the various races have been advancing for millennia. Even the world that we are going to turn this one into has technology that makes it equal to the Raptorans. Replies Olivia slightly annoyed at the idea that Raptorans thought themselves superior to all the other races. I know, thats what I just said, werent you listening? Or were you too busy thinking of your beau Sir Kent. I mean I dont know what you see in that man, he doesnt seem to have any redeeming features. Sure hes pretty strong but so are plenty of other men and those other men dont have to go furry in order to do it. He isnt that bright, he isnt as rich as your status would dictate necessary. He isnt particularly humorous, has overtly inflated romantic ideas that are not applicable to modern day. I mean for all intents and purposes you could get a much better man. I mean I know your father to be Baron Smithfield of Bountania. Hes one of the most powerful men on the continent. You could literally marry a prince! There doesnt seem to be any reason why you are willing to go so far for that man. Says Caroline. Look, I know Sir Kent isnt the brightest bulb in the shed or the richest. But he is romantic, brave, and truly cares for me. He would actually stand against an army of bandits for me, for gods sake,

he is romantic, and can make my heart pound like no one has before. He treats me better than any princess, is more romantic than any prince, and is nobler than many champions of myth. I love him and he loves me, and that is why I have to go on this quest, because my life is worth the price of giving a man as noble as he his life back. Replies Lady Olivia passionately Colin awakes to find himself in a strange room. It seemed to be both infinitely large, but also incredibly small. He could see the ends of the earth within the room but could not move a single inch for there wasnt room. He could hear a single innocent voice calling out to him. Here! Here! Hurry up! Come On, play with me! it shouts. Colin follows the sound of the voice, slowly as if in a daze. Eventually he finds the source of the voice, a small young girl, wearing a dainty little pale blue dress. Come on mister! Play with us! shouts the little girl running off again. Colin chases after her, trying to ask about where he is. The girl however eventually eludes him, and he is stuck wandering the room, both lost and confused. He eventually finds the girl yet again, behind her are two doors, one made of oaken wood, with a solid gold knob, such as the one that you would find within a kings castle. On the other one is a door you would find to a skyscraper, made of glass with a company logo that Colin couldnt recognize no matter how hard he thought. The girl says to him Come on mister play with me. Colin responds Can you please tell me where I am? The girl responds to him Oh come on mister, you know where we are! We are at the crossroads! The crossroads? asks Colin obviously confused by the genericness of the little girls answer. You know the intersection of two paths? Come on mister, you have to know what Im talking about responds the little girl pulling on the edges of her dress. I know what crossroads are. But what crossroads? I mean what are we at the intersection of? asks Colin with a tone of irritation quite obvious with in his voice. The crossroads of your mind silly! Mister, you arent very bright. Weve been in your mind the entire time! says the little girl with a slight giggle suppressed with in her voice. Wait, weve been in my mind the entire time? How is that even possible! I cant be in my mind, has this entire adventure been just a dream? Thats impossible, if this is a dream, then what else is a dream? Has this entire quest just been some weird dream? Has the moral agonizing just been a trick of the sub-conscious? It cant be! This must be some sort of vision quest then correct? I have to find the right answer to this problem. You are probably my spirit guide who is supposed to help me through this with some cryptic hints or something right? Says Colin utterly confused and annoyed at the possibility that he has been agonizing over what could be absolutely nothing.

I dont know mister; all I know is that I want you to play with me and my friends. Says the little girl. Ok little girl, Ill play with you and your friends, wherever they are. What do you want to play? says Colin wanting to get the vision quest over and done with as quickly as he possibly can. Come on mister follow me! she shouts running away from the doors. Colin quickly follows her, however once again the little girl outruns him, and he finds himself alone in the infinite room yet again. How does a little girl run so fast? Even in my head that shouldnt even be possible Colin says to himself very out of breath. Colin continues to wander the room trying to run into the little girl again, but instead he comes upon what appears to be a small fountain. Finding himself very thirsty, he attempts to close in on the fountain, but he could never seem to reach it. Realizing that it must be either an illusion of his mind, or a test of character, he tries to ignore his thirst and tries to come up with a solution to the problem at hand. He attempts to walk away from it only to find himself getting closer and closer to the fountain. Upon seeing the solution he starts running away from the fountain. By the time he crossed half the distance between him and the fountain he started heading away from the fountain again. Confused he starts walking towards the fountain again, but he continues to get farther away from it. Suddenly he hears mad cackling in the background. Fearing for his life, Colin starts running as fast as he can from the fountain, but he can neither get neither farther away nor any closer. He seems to be making no progress what so ever. Eventually his energy is expended and he falls to the ground in despair, fearing that hell never make it through this. After a few minutes of moping he remembers all his comrades, and how they are making a huge sacrifice to further his quest. He gathers all his resolve and starts channeling raw arcane energy into his body letting out a huge scream. The scream pushes the fountain farther away through sheer force and thus moves it closer to him. He takes a well-rewarded sip of water before continuing on his vision quest. He then comes across the crossroads again, the two doors once again facing him, as they did before. The blood in his veins seemed to stir as he is figures out that he is once again forced to choose between the companionship of his new friends or the love of his parents and the companionship of his old friends. He has become more torn than he has ever been. It was as if there were two of him, one who wanted nothing more than to stay with his new friends and continue their careers as adventurers, and the other who only wanted to see his parents faces again and go back to school, and live an ordinary life. Eventually, Colin could see two illusionary bodies each standing in front of one of the doors. They each look ready to open one of the doors, just waiting for the mental command to. Colins mind seemed to fracture as his soul was conflicted by the decision. Eventually he thinks back to the little girl and how all she wanted was to play. Seeing the child-like innocence, he thinks back to the cartoons of his younger childhood. No one died in those, the hero always managed to save everyone, and sometimes the villain was even redeemed. Yet in this situation he couldnt tell if he even was the good guy, if the current planned worked out as he wanted it to, he would become known as the worlds biggest mass murderer, taking millions of sentient lives. However, Colin wanted to believe

that he was on the side of good, that he was doing the right thing, for the right reasons, at the right time. That he wasnt evil that he was on the side of justice and truth, and everything that was good in the world. But he couldnt be sure, he couldnt be sure that what he was doing was right, that the side that he was taking was the just one. There was no way to be sure, the only thing that he could be sure of, was that what he was doing would make him a criminal, one that would be charged with the biggest genocide in the history of the world. But in his mind, he could already do the calculations that what he was doing would save the equivalent amount of lives. The medicine could save millions that would otherwise die, it would reverse deaths that should never have happened, it would give the technology to feed and clothe everyone rather than just the rich. He would be yet another sacrificial lamb in this quest, but he would be doing so for the benefit of mankind. He would go down as a villain in history, but in his head it was the only way to be the hero. However he didnt want to lose those lives, he didnt want for those lives to leave the world that they were living in. He wished that there was some way to have both worlds. To have both worlds, coexisting living in peace, two separate worlds where they would be able to give the healthcare that they need to humans, and let the elves and dwarfs and Halflings and Raptorans, and all the other races continue to exist in their own world. To let his companions continue on without him, and continue to have adventures and quests. Yet at the moment he could see no other option. However, he did realize he could hope, put off the usage of the scroll, and look for another way. But if he let the scroll be lost now, he may lose the only chance to restore his world. Finally making a decision, he gives the mental commands to his illusionary doubles, as the little girl appears behind him and gives him a hug saying You did the right thing Colin wakes with a sudden flash of light. He finds himself in a new tavern room in a village he had never been in. He is wearing burnt clothes, as he suddenly remembers what happened before the vision quest. He quickly locates his gear which seemed to be stacked up rather neatly as he goes to look for his companions. He quickly locates both Caroline and Lady Olivia who seemed to be having a small awkward conversation. They both look up in surprise to see Colin up so early on. Caroline asks to do a small medical examination of Colin to make sure that he is physically alright after having endured a vision quest for a few days. However Colin excuses himself for a bit, so that he may grab a meal from the tavern proper, as he hadnt eaten in days. So he walks off and into the main tavern, which was pretty similar to the first one he had ever entered. He walks up to the counter, and in a confident voice asks the barkeep, a stout dwarf with a full head and beard of lush red hair, for an ale and a piece of the pig currently roasting on the fire. The dwarf responds in the affirmative, and goes off to fill a tankard for Colin. Colin reaches into his coin purse and takes out 20 gold coins, more than enough to pay for the meal and the ale. After receiving his food and drink, he goes off to find an empty table, where he begins eating his meal with much relish. Afterwards he goes through with the medical exam, Caroline could find nothing wrong with him. Hortus comes downstairs and sees that Colin is up and walking, drops his bag yet again and gives him a giant hug. Colin lets out a painful yelp, as the wind is squeezed out of the lungs. Hortus puts him back down, and pats him on the head. They spent the next few moments explaining what happened. Colin remarked in amazement at how Lady Olivia survived not one but two attacks by Ciceros lieutenants by herself while safeguarding him, and how

Hortus had managed to channel the spirits of the dead, to allow the villagers to have some closure. But he was more amazed at the fact that apparently, he wasnt healed, and that he wasnt actually damaged by the explosion at all. His clothes in tatters however, he went out and bought a bunch of new clothes. After a brief explanation of the vision quest, Colin and the rest of the party set off on the road to adventure, on their new horses. They journeyed on these horses for the next two days relatively easily, aside from a couple of foolish bandits, no serious attempts on their lives occurred. There was little else to say about those two days. Colin, Lady Olivia, Hortus, and Caroline continued upon their fine steeds into the Thieves City, Terranoth. Terranoth is known as the Thieves City for its eye-raising level of organized crimes. It seemed everyday that some gang or mafia would get into a war, or rob some big nobles house. They all held allegiance to the Thieves Guild which was headed by a mysterious figure only known as The Shadow. The Shadow has evaded capture for many years, his true identity unknown. Some say that he is a 7 foot tall Orc with well defined muscles and a small neatly trimmed beard, others say that The Shadow was a beautiful Elven maiden just under 5 feet, who could make any man fall in love with her, whose guile and wit outmatched all others. The stories varied from person to person, not a single characteristic could be held in common between them except for the fact that The Shadow is the best thief there ever was. The three major gangs, The Demons, The Dragons, and The Witches all held some allegiance to him and enforced his will whenever called upon. As the adventuring party entered the city, they walked into a large battle between the two gangs. Five thugs wielding bastard swords engraved with red arcane runes, with a dragon tattoo running down each of their faces faced off against 4 girls who appeared unfrightened with wands drawn and pointed at the thugs. One of the thugs charge the girls with his sword drawn. As soon as he got within 10 ft of them, the girls let loose a volley of searing bolts of pure fire. The other four thugs upon seeing this, charged with all their might, hoping to catch them off guard. However the girls managed to quickly subdue them. The girls, upon seeing the protagonists standing there watching this battle with awe, turn towards them and give a polite bow Sakura Arcana requests that the adventurers known as Colin, Hortus, Lady Olivia, and Caroline come see her. We were sent to escort you to her. Not seeing much of a choice, not wanting to anger the gangs of the city, our protagonists reluctantly agree to follow them. The girls led them through narrow alleyways, twisting corridors, and bustling streets. All of them filled with beggars, shady merchants, and those with a talent for the illegal. Eventually, the girls stop in front of what appeared to be an All-Girls Academy for Magic. They led the party inside and told them to wait in the lobby. The suspense killing them, they all amused themselves in their various ways. Colin looked around examining the portraits of famous alumni, trying to find out as much of the culture as he can. Hortus took one of the books off the shelf and began reading it. Lady Olivia sat there meditating, while Caroline took out the toys in her bag and started to play. Eventually a young slender woman comes out in a flowing white dress. She speaks in an incredibly flowing and poetic voice. Hello dears, you may be wondering why Ive invited you. I know of your quest, and I approve of it. However, I know The Shadow to be in direct opposition to you. I think it would be in our mutual interest to put our combined might together in order to defeat The Shadow

before you leave. I know that he is working for this fellow in a fools outfit, I believe his name was something like Misero? Prospero? Cicero? The party exchange glances of surprise with each other. Then Lady Olivia speaks up in a voice just as polite and flowing, Good madam, may I ask how youve come across such a name? It does not seem like you would know of such a name just by chance. Unless you were listening in on him, there doesnt seem to be much in the way of proof of the matter. For all we know, this could be a trap laid for you by us, or a trap for The Shadow so you could usurp his power. Sakura says in a charming voice and a smug smile My dear, you dont have much choice in this. Youve walked into the middle of my headquarters. If you dont do what I say, I could just have you killed on the spot. Every student and teacher here works for me. Youve walked into one of the biggest organized crime rings in the nation. Its not like you arent going to walk out of here alive unless I say so. So either you have to trust me, or you have to die, Im giving you an honest choice. As much as Id like you to succeed on this quest, as it results in less competition. I really dont have much to lose by killing you. Lady Olivia replies in a calm and practiced voice Oh buy you cant, as you see we must be valuable assets to you or else you wouldnt be doing all this anyways. You need our help to overthrow The Shadow. If you make any direct moves against him, the other two gangs would attack you while you are vulnerable. You cant kill us, because we are the wild cards. We are the trump you have to try and gain more power. And it is quite obvious to all of us that you are quite ambitious. You arent willing to let a bite like us go so quickly. So tell me whats in it for us. We dont need to kill all of Ciceros associates; we just need to get the scroll away from him. Give us something we need and well talk Sakura frowns for a bit and then calmly replies I know where Cicero is staying in the city right now, he is still here. However if you dont help me usurp The Shadow, he is going to help him escape. If I am in control of the resources however, you will have earned yourself a powerful ally. Reluctantly agreeing to the plan, they scheme for a bit in the private Headmistress Office. After planning for several hours, they are escorted back out with 3 agents of The Witches. The three of them enter the Bannered Field, a seedy tavern where all the neer-do-wells drink. There they are greeted by a short Halfling. He hands them the map to where The Shadow is located. The Lady Olivia and one of the agents then stay in the tavern, as the rest of the party leaves in order to alleviate suspicion. Then Lady Olivia and the agent leave out the back way. The rest of the party then continues on their way following the map. As soon as they come to the building that the Shadow is supposedly in, the agents bribe the guards to let them through using a large sack of gold coins. As soon as they are inside, they start calmly walking up the stairways as if they knew what they were doing. When they reach the top floor, the door to the bedroom opens as if The Shadow was expecting them. Nervously walking in, three throwing daggers suddenly fly through the open door way striking the three agents dead on the spot. Hortus quickly draws his axe, Colin opens his spellbook preparing to cast a spell, and Caroline starts channeling the winds around her.

After making sure no more knives were going to come through the doorway, they slowly approach it. When they walk inside they see an ordinary man, with no traits to distinguish him from a crowd. A small smile seemed to cover his face. He greets them Hello, my would-be assassins. Sit! Sit! Have some tea, I just put some on. You must have some! Its imported from Bountania, a new friend of mine introduced it to me when we last met. You might have heard of him? I believe his name was Sir Kent. Nice man, although not too bright in the head. He asked me to make sure that when I eventually do kill you, to make sure that his precious love was out of the way first. But sit! Sit! Have some tea first as I explain everything. And before you worry, no, I didnt poison your tea, Ive got much faster ways to kill you. Colin and Hortus calmly walk over and graciously accept a cup of tea. Caroline after a moments of hesitation also does likewise. Thats better. Now was that so hard? I mean how hard is it for people to just sit down and calmly drink some tea before they die. I mean can you believe that is the first time someone actually took me up on that offer? They always seem to try begging for their lives first or running away, or killing me first. Its finally nice to have some nice clean conversation before the killing has to begin. So now then, what did you want to talk about. Says The Shadow calmly sipping his tea slowly Well we wanted to know where Cicero is, we kind of have a quest we need to do that requires him asks Colin sipping his tea, enjoying every little sip, a dazzling amount of subtle flavors dancing in his mouth. I know very well what your quest is. And I must admit, if it werent for the fact that Cicero is an old friend of mine I might have been inclined to support your side for the right price. Alas, your quest just isnt meant to be. I see no harm in actually telling you, seeing as though you are about to die. Cicero is staying in the Wayward Mare Room 101. He Is leaving tomorrow after he gets his rest and picks up the rest of his supplies. Would you like some more tea? says The Shadow pouring Colin more tea without waiting for an answer. Do you know who else is with him? I mean we know Sir Kent is and that two of his allies have already been defeated. But do you know his other companions. Asks Hortus calmly sipping the tea in tiny sips, attempting to go through the soul purification process while asking the question I in fact do know his other two lieutenants. They mentioned your name in quite a negative light I might add. I believe their names were hold on Ive got this. Oh yes! Their names were Charles and Isela. One of them was soulless while the other one tried to shamelessly seduce me. If I were a bit younger and a bit more nave I might have taken her up on those advance, but Im not so, and was not willing to take the risk. Replies The Shadow drinking more of his tea I do believe you are a member of the Sacred Order of Tea, I remember Padfoot quite well back in our adventuring days. Weve crossed blades before, and have shared many good cups of tea back in the day. Gods bless his soul. So you knew Padfoot then? Thats amazing, you must be ancient in order to have known him, hes been dead for a hundred years! replies Hortus in amazement.

Yes, and I am quite old myself. You see I also do not aid your quest for selfish reasons, mostly that in doing so I would be ending myself. Ive been kept alive with this magical artifact I found back in my adventuring days. It was known as the Philosophers Stone. It could brew a potion that kept me immortal. If the world were to change, I would be left mortal, and dead of old age. He says continuing to sip his tea. If thats all then you must let us through, immortality must put a toll on your soul. If you do die then youll go the afterlife, and although you are a criminal you provided stability and order to this once lawless place. Youll be able to get the treatment you deserve, you can still redeem yourself let us go freely and let us free the world from its chains. Exclaims Colin after putting down the tea cup. Yes, I suppose you are right, I guess we must move onward from your sins. Go, leave this place, before I change my mind. Says the Shadow putting away their tea cups as he says so. Caroline, Hortus, and Colin leave the building quietly, the guards not even glancing at the fact that the three members of The Witches did not leave with them. The three of them make their way over to the Wayward Mare. Along the way, they are stopped in the middle of the street by a couple of guards who draw their blade and charge at Caroline. The citizens on the street dropped whatever they were doing and started to charge at the party. Caroline manages to summon a great gust of wind that stops the approaching mob. Isela emerges from the crowd with a wicked grin on her face. Youve taunted me long enough Hortus! Today I shall make you mine! Youll resist my charms no longer! she shouts cackling. Caroline summons an even larger gust of wind blowing the crowd aside Go! Ill hold them off here! as she prepares an even larger storm. Hortus and Colin rush through the pathway that Caroline managed to make for them and continue to run, narrowly dodging various attacks by citizens,as Caroline flies through the air using the winds to keep the mob at bay and to prevent Isela from casting more. Eventually on the way there they encounter Charles draining the souls from some ruffians. He turns and sees the running Colin and Hortus and stomps on the ground. A huge wall of stone appears in front of them blocking their pathway through. He approaches them with a grotesque smile as he draws a long sword with narrow sharp teeth lining the blade. He attacks Hortus who only narrowly manages to parry the blows overwhelmed by Charles sheer skill. Charles says in his half-whisper voice Give up I have the knowledge of a hundred master bladesmen in me, you cant beat me in a contest of skills. Hortus eventually falls on the ground, as Colin can do nothing but watch. But a bolt of shadow comes from one of the nearby rooftops. As they all turn to look over there. There stands Lady Olivia with the Staff of Shadows at the ready. Charles fires multiple eldritch blasts, fueled by demonic pacts, at her which she dodges by jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She blasts a hole through the wall with her staff, which Colin and Hortus run through, leaving her behind to fight Charles.

Eventually Hortus and Colin reach the Wayward Mare. Making their way through the crowd, and up the stairs, they reach the rooms for rent. Counting off the rooms one by one they eventually find room 101. Hortus kicks down the door axe at the ready, coming face to face with Sir Kent already in beast form. Sir Kent lunges at Hortus as Hortus braces himself. Sir Kent forces him up against the wall, when Hortus lets loose multiple firebolts into Sir Kent which seemed to stun him. Go on, Ill hold him back here! Cicero has to be close by! They must have heard our approach. You have to stop him before he reaches the city limits! he shouts, only to be interrupted as Sir Kent charges into him. Colin breaks into a run, finding Cicero rushing down the stairs. Chasing him, Colin weaves through the crowd. Cicero tosses behind him a red sphere which explodes into flames, burning the wood around him, attempting to stop Colins pursuit. Colin runs through the flames anyways, his robes lighting a fire, he then creates a water spell which created a thin layer of ice around him due to the chaotic nature of his magic. Cicero then starts manipulating the arcane energy around him preparing to finish the rest of his journey with a lawful teleport. Seeing no other chance of stopping him, Colin latches onto him to be taken along the way for the teleport. Cicero sees too late that Colin is latching onto him and is forced to take Colin with him in the teleport. Cicero lands after the teleport on the top of a large column of rocks. Colin lands on an equally tall column of rocks next to him. Seeing that they have no way down without risking get attacked by the other, they start preparing magic spells to kill the other so that they may continue their quest unhampered. Cicero lets loose his magic first, shouting Fools Fury often Fools the Furious, but foolish folly that fool known as Colin has made as foolishness has begotten fury and fury Colin must receive launching a bolt of electricity from the heavens. Colin seeing this alters his spell and releases a bolt of blue energy into the air. The energy then morphs into butterflies that fly into the bolt absorbing the electricity, but frying the butterflies in the mean time. Cicero having seen this exclaims in a remarkably normal voice Chaos Magic! Thats impossible! There is no way on earth that some boy, some foppish boy has managed to master the arts of Chaos Magic that have been lost for millennia in this world? Thats impossible! I must kill you, you are a danger to the world we live in. The art of Chaos Magic must remain lost to this world! Our world must remain the same! The lives lost are too great to enable. You must not allow this to happen. While I admire your genius, Chaos Magic shall die once again by my hand. Shouts Cicero letting looses a giant infernal fireball from the heavens. Colin upon seeing this giant fireball about to fall upon both of them exclaims Youll kill us all, that fireball will blow up the next few square miles! Neither of us would survive it! Exactly, and the scroll will be buried under tons of rubbles, so that our world can continue for millennia more! This world is worth my life and yours. I would give my life to my cause, yet you are only willing to give up the lives of other you fiend! shouts Cicero. Not seeing any option, Colin starts manipulating as much Chaos Magic as he can without any control over it what-so-ever. He places his fate and the fate of the world at the hands of luck. He utters a quiet prayer Please gods, please let this work he whispers. Colin releases all the arcane energy unguided and out emerges a blast as big as the fireball about to intercept it. The two forces of arcane

energy collide creating a big explosion, the force of which destroyed the columns that they were standing them and sent both of them flying through the air. Landing painfully upon the hard ground, half-alive, they both look for the scroll. Eventually they look up to see it land in between them. Colin dives after it, as does Cicero. They both get their hands on it at the same time, they start tugging and shoving in order to try and get the upper hand on the other. Eventually, Cicero with a free hand draws a dagger and attempts to stab Colin with intent to kill. The dagger buries itself deep within Colins gut, but Colin continues to tug attempting to ignore the pain. Colin, blooding gushing out of the wound, tugs and tugs, but Cicero begins to get the upper hand. Cicero shouts Where are your allies now? Where are they now? Where are those friends that you can count on? Where are those friends with whom you would have murdered? My cause is just and the gods have deemed it so, so why must you interfere so? You have no hope? No chance of winning! Ive defeated you at every turn but still you persist! Why!? Losing hope and strength, Colin starts to consider letting go and accepting the sweet embrace of death. However a whisper enters his ear as his eyes start fading You are not alone, we are still with you, all the things weve done together will give you strength. Our dreams and goals will be carried on! We are willing to do this quest of our own free will. You are not alone. Whispers the imaginary voices of his friends. Finding the strength in him once more, he tugs the dagger out of his wound, and uses it to stab Cicero straight in the heart. Cicero looks at him in surprise, and falls over laughing an evil laugh Oh I am slain, oh the fool is slain fighting for the cause of the just! What life be it that this must happen, have the gods no moral? Or did I end up on the wrong side of the battle? Oh you would have made a great friend in another life Colin. But now it appears that I must die your enemy he says as his lifeforce starts to fade. Colin puts away the scroll into his bag and responds No, you are not my enemy, nor are you some cost, but rather a tragic set of circumstance. Your quest was not in vain, for you have changed my mind. You have given me the time to find hope of another way, the time to hope for a way that allows for both worlds to exist. And I will not use the scroll unless that hope is crushed. As long as that hope exists then I will pursue it, and if I may die, may my heir pursue, and his heir. Until one day our worlds may be separate and the people may be free without the bloodshed. But until then the knowledge must come out to the general public! We need their help! I wish that we could have been friends, but now I can only see you for the wise fool you were. Wisely said my friend in another life. I hope that the quest will serve you well. Perhaps you are right. May I see you on the other side responds Cicero as he finally dies. Colin walks away with tears in his eyes. Eventually he makes it back to the city where he finds that his friends had managed to subdue their opponents, and that Sir Kent and Lady Olivia were reunited. Isela and Charles were tied up and being transported to be arrested.

Several Weeks Later:

Colin stands in a room while Sir Kent helped him get dressed in fine Altarian formal wear as he starts exercising his voice. Lady Olivia was giving him last minute oratory tips, while Hortus in the corner was sipping on some tea with Caroline. After exercising his voice for several minutes he walks up to the podium and clears his throat. The crowd seems confused at the entrance of a new speaker. Colin begins calmly We are not alone. We are not free. There is another world locked within ours. And Ill need your help to free it