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Iridia
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YASD

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3763 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 39 seconds ago.

Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2003 at 05:34 (GMT -5)

Stone Giant was peacefully sleeping in the depths of the rock walls of solid granite. He had been hibernating there for two months now. Maybe when he woke up, the Chaos presence would be gone, and all would be peaceful again.

Suddenly a dwarven miner slashed away a piece of the wall next to him with the silvery blade on a sturdy pickaxe. It awoke him immediately.

"Who dares disturb my slumber!" roared the Stone Giant.

He opened his eyes and peered at the burly looking dwarf...

The dwarf glanced up, grasped the handle of a double-bladed axe, and prepared to fight for her life. She raised the axe, hoping for a lucky blow against what seemed to be an invincible tower of solid stone.

Stone Giant seemed surprised at the attack--this was the first time someone so small in comparison to himself had stood up to him.

He tried to grasp the blade with his stony hand and push the dwarf over with his other; his movements were slow but strong.

With a deft twist of her weapon, the dwarf freed the axe from the giant's hand. She stepped back and held the weapon at ready. "You don't want to kill me," she said. "Why?"

The stone giant eyed the dwarf suspiciously for a few seconds.

"You're no threat to me. You should hide away like the rest of the creatures before you're killed--Chaos is coming and when it does there'll be no mercy for those that stand and fight!"

Stone Giant rose from his burrow in the wall and strode slowly past the dwarf. He seemed experienced and wise; yet his gaze was lost and distant.

"Hide!" scoffed the Dwarf. "And wait for them to come kill me? No. Chaos is merciless, but it's not going to get any mercy from me." She followed the giant towering ahead of her.

"Hide," she muttered to herself. "No. My father fights Chaos; he is not hiding. My family was killed fighting Chaos; and they did not hide. Neither will I." As she had intended, the stone giant ahead of her heard every word.

Stone Giant stopped and seemed to think for a bit. Then he turned around and looked at the dwarf.

"You want to fight Chaos and die like the rest?" He raised a stony eyebrow; then suddenly, he seemed to have a change of thought. "I guess I should at least accompany you to a place where you can get help. I know of a dwarven city a short distance from here. Maybe we can find ye a warrior there."

The dwarf grunted her thanks, shouldering her axe now that she was sure the stone giant was not a threat, and trudged back down the tunnel she'd been working on. Perhaps, she thought, there would be a master weaponsmith in the city the giant had spoken of. The mithril ore she carried should serve to make a mighty weapon, worthy of wiping out Chaos once and for all.

As they entered the older portions of the dwarven mine, neither of the travelers noticed the multiple eyes of the creature inhabiting the shadows ahead...

"The city shouldn't be too far away from here. Oh, by the way, my dwarven friend, you can call me Stoney." As they spoke, they entered a dark area of the mines.

Suddenly a huge multi-headed hydra attacked the stone giant through the darkness. Stoney crashed to the ground under the assault, smashing some of the ground beneath him.

Sengoku, the dark elven weaponsmith, had just finished making a large battle shield. He flung it onto a pile of other weapons and armor.

"At last, my day's work is done! I hope some people buy some of my wares soon; I'm running a bit low on gold pieces and ore. That reminds me; I'd better buy some food before the shop closes." Sengoku left the Dwarven forge and headed towards the shop.

After stocking up on food, the elf sensed a crashing vibration in the ground below him. "Damn ants again. Someone should stick a fire vortex down their ant hole!"

Suddenly, he had an idea. "Hmmm, ants knocking down walls means plenty of ore to be found..." thought Senguku to himself. He grabbed his elven armor and his bow and left for the deeper parts of the caves.

The dwarf replied, "I'm Iri--"

She whirled around at the sound of breaking stone and saw what looked like a mass of snakes attacking the stone giant. A hydra! Grasping her axe in both hands, Iridia frantically hacked at the creature, with more speed than accuracy, until it detached itself from Stoney, who picked himself up with a grunt and began swinging his massive fists at the creature.

The hydra's multiple heads flicked out in both directions, darting past their defenses and striking over and over. Iridia's axe bit into the monster's flesh; one of the creature's many heads flew off what passed for its shoulders. A few heads hung limp, stunned by the giant's bludgeoning attacks.

Still, Iridia could feel herself weakening, and see the giant slowing down. If something didn't happen soon...

"Stoney! Back off, now!" she screamed. "I'm going to try something!" The giant stepped back heavily; the hydra now had its full attention on the dwarf.

Jamming a hand into her pocket, Iridia brought out two large, shimmering red crystals. She took one and threw it at the dungeon floor next to the hydra.

A gigantic fireball erupted. The hydra's multiple mouths opened and it screamed! The second crystal hit the floor; another fireball! The hydra stumbled, its many heads writhing like severed snakes.

The stone giant's huge fists crushed the hydra. It lay limply on the floor, dripping a green fluid that might have been its blood.

Iridia drew a shaky breath. "Well. That could have been worse," she said, opening her pack and retrieving several bandages. "My father mined those crystals in the deepest parts of our caverns. They sure came in handy."

"We're not out of trouble yet," said the giant.

"What do you mean?"

As he bandaged yet another wound, the giant replied. "Hydras are poisonous."

The orc was quite pleased with himself. He had stumbled upon a nice shiny two-handed sword that burst into flame whenever it struck something. This was just the kind of weapon he needed to make the Scorchers of his tribe (those arrogant bastards) green with envy. He felt cocky and powerful wielding such a mighty magical weapon.

The sound of steps echoed though the halls--someone was coming down the stairs, probably one of those cursed dwarves that lived above. Now he finally had the chance to prove what a great warrior he had become! The orc raised the sword high above his head (with some effort), let out an orcish war cry, and charged screaming into the darkness at the bottom of the staircase...

Stoney staggered back and cringed in pain as the heavy dose of poison coursed through his veins. Recovering his balance, he applied a last bandage to a crack across his arm.

"How many times did it hit you, Iri??"

"My name's Iridia, and it hit me a fair few times. We may not last too long if we don't head up to the city and get medical supplies."

Rubbing his cracked skin, Stoney slowly got up and walked with Iridia, heading towards the stairs.

"Hey, Iridia, thanks for saving us back there with your crystals." As Stoney smiled, a loud war cry echoed through the dungeons.

"Sounds like orcs!" said Iridia.

"I'm not sure how much more I can take. This poison is taking its toll on my joints. I feel all achy," moaned Stoney.

"We've got no choice but to go up those stairs," said Iridia. "But try to walk quietly. It might not notice us. If not... hah, I've handled orcs before, the chaotic little weaklings."

The companions started up the stairs, only to hear another orcish war cry, and the angry scream of something that could not have been an orc...

Sengoku began eating a green apple as he descended the stairs. The air was colder down here, and the darkness was a menacing mist, like a cloudy shadow rising from the earth. As Sengoku checked his surroundings and took another bite out of his juicy apple, his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.

Suddenly, from within the darkness came a great war cry, immediately followed by an orc, charging with raised fire-red sword.

Sengoku didn't have time to move out of the way fully, and the fiery blade caught his left shoulder, sending him sprawling to the ground with his beautiful cloak burnt to ash. As he fell, Sengoku managed to throw the half-eaten apple at the orc's eyes, blinding it for a few moments and allowing Sengoku to load and fire his crossbow.

Iridia stopped, turned, and ran toward the sounds of battle.

"Are you insane?!" yelled Stoney.

"Yes! Now follow me!"

They skidded around a corner just in time to see the ugly figure of an orc, wielding a blade that seemed to be made of pure flame. In the glare of the blade, they could see little of whom the orc was attacking, but the arrow protruding from the orc's shoulder told them that neither the battle-crazed orc nor his victim was going to go down without a fight.

Ignoring the ever-increasing effects of the poison, Stoney and Iridia threw themselves at the orc.

Sengoku staggered up against the wall with a slight sigh of relief as two strangers charged the orc. "Phew! I might just live long enough to thank them!"

Sengoku clutched his bleeding shoulder and quickly applied a bandage, then got up to help kill the orc.

Things had suddenly gotten very bad for the orc. He had expected to cleave an unsuspecting dwarf in two, but not only had his opponent survived the attack, and proven to not be a dwarf at all, he had gotten off an arrow at the orc, too.

The wave of pain from the orc's shoulder had caused him to lose much of his confidence already; and the sword was heavy enough as it was, but with a wounded shoulder it was nearly impossible to swing.

Just as the orc was gritting his teeth together to launch a stabbing attack at his opponent before the elf had time to recover, a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. The orc spun around and launched a powerful swing, but he miscalculated and cut nothing but thin air. In his weakened state, he lost his grip on the sword and sent it flying into a corner; the orc, off balance, stumbled backward just in time to avoid a large stony hand that smashed into the ground where he had been a moment ago.

Once he recovered his balance he quickly realized that he was not only unarmed and wounded, but also outnumbered; and, to make matters worse, one of his attackers was a huge stone giant!

With the illusion of power the sword had granted long gone, reality finally caught up with the would-be orc warrior. He turned and ran down the corridor in a mad panic. Had he been more cool-headed, he might have noticed that his attackers were barely able to stand up, let alone chase him; but the orc was mad with panic and didn't stop running until the literally collapsed in exhaustion.

Iridia wasn't quite sure what to think about this sinister-looking dark elf. Like most dwarves, she had a deep distrust of the fallen elves, which prompted her to force herself to wield her double-bladed axe once more and rid the world of this unnatural creature.

But something about this particular dark elf prompted her to hesitate. He seemed to be a courageous warrior. He had been attacked by an orc--a more repulsive species to Iridia than the dark-elves would ever be. Still...

"I am Sengoku. May your mines yield much gold," the dark-elf said.

Iridia stifled a cry of surprise at the familiar rough sounds of the Dwarvish tongue. "How do you come to speak my language?"

"I have lived and worked with your people for many years."

"A dark-elf? Living with dwarves?" Doubt tinged her voice.

Stoney broke into the exchange. "Iridia, we had best be going."

"Yes..." Iridia was starting to feel faint. Her smaller body couldn't take as much as the stone giant, who was just as tough as any dwarf--and much larger.

"What happened to you?" Sengoku asked.

"Tangled with a hydra. We're trying to get to the nearest town, if we can make it."

A cloaked figure was gathering some plants growing from the crack in the floor when he noticed a wounded orc lying in the corner. The orc saw him too, and tried to pull a dagger from his belt, but found himself far too weak to do so.

"Easy, my friend. I won't hurt you," said the elf. "Here, rub your wound with this."

The elf gave him an herb. The orc looked at it suspiciously, but did what the elf told him. His wound closed quickly and, as soon as he was able to get up, he ran away down the corridor. The elf knelt on the floor and continued gathering the plants.

"You should stay here and apply first aid. I know of herbs nearby which will help you last long enough to make it to the city above."

"I don't trust dark elves. Let's just head off," said Stoney.

"Me neither. How can we trust you?" demanded Iridia.

Sengoku reached into his pocket and held up an amulet of Law, made by dwarven craftsmanship.

"The dwarves gave this to me when they accepted me into their city. I'm not like other dark elves. You have to trust me." Sengoku didn't waste any more time; he sprinted off into the darkness.

He arrived just in time to see the very same orc that had gotten away; he raised his bow to finish it off at last. As he aimed the bow, a cloaked figure blocked his way.

"Get out of my way!" shouted Sengoku.

"Or you will kill me in cold blood where I stand?" replied the cloaked elf.

Sengoku scowled at the elf as the orc got away again. He lowered the bow and looked at the elf closely before he spoke. Though Sengoku sensed a peaceful aura around the elf, he was still angered that the elf had given protection to an evil orc.

"What tribe are you from, stranger? And where did you get the herbs? I need some for me and some friends--give them to me!"

"Easy, my friend, calm down," Guinea said, calmly meeting the dark-elf's angry stare. "The herbs are growing in this room. They are on the floor, on the walls, even beneath your feet. You would have spotted them too, if you had taken some time to look around. Of course I will give you some. I, Guinea the high elf, try to help every living creature."

Guinea took a few herbs out of his pocket, put them on the floor ad moved few steps backwards. The dark elf moved forward and grabbed the herbs, but said nothing.

"Now, you can go back to your friends who need those plants, or you can chase that poor orc I just saved from a certain death. The choice is yours."

Angrily, Sengoku snatched the herbs and grabbed his bow, intending to chase the orc. Then he remembered his new friends, barely able to move, with the poison flowing painfully through their veins. He was caught between two duties. Fortunately for him, the decision was taken from him. As he stood there debating with himself, the herbs suddenly slid from his hands and he heard an odd snigger and a patter of feet.

"Hey!" he shouted, spinning and drawing his bow. He was too slow; the arrow went wild, clattering off the walls, and the goblinoid figure disappeared into the gloom.

Apoc the Timid thought himself pretty brave. He hadn't even had to throw a rock at this one to get a prize. He could probably go back to his tribe and describe the harrowing chase and how he'd distracted his numerous enemies by hurling rocks into their midst; then he could show them his spoils and be honored by all the tribe, just as he should be. He was certain he had gotten away with it scot-free; until, that is, he heard the arrow hit the wall behind him. Screaming in fear and panic, he ran headlong into the darkness, missing the turn that led back to his tribe's current den. He kept on screaming as he ran through a door, pausing for only a second as he ran into a giant wall of stone, bounced off it and fell flat on his back. In that second, he took a breath, looked up, realized that he was staring at a giant wall of stone that had arms, legs, and a head, as well as a fierce-looking dwarf standing next to it, resumed screaming at the top of his small lungs, and began scrambling backwards quickly.

This movement, however, stopped when his head thumped into a pair of boots. Looking up at this new menace, and still screaming, he realized that it was the old menace, and that this particular menace had a crossbow aimed at his head. He let out the last of his breath in a scream and fainted.

Stoney and Iridia looked at each other after the goblin disappeared down the corridor.

"Stoney, that goblin was holding some healing herbs!"

Both of them instantly ventured after it as fast as they could, though both grew weaker with each step.

As Stoney stumbled to the ground, his legs weakening and Iridia's vision fading, Sengoku emerged, carrying a limp goblin and some herbs.

"Here--quickly, take these!" shouted Sengoku as he threw the herbs to his friends.

Iridia and Stoney looked relieved as they caught the herbs, which, when applied, almost immediately neutralized the poison in their blood.

"Did you two know that there's a high elf surviving down here!? Oh yeah, and I found this grubby goblin trying the steal the herbs once I got them." Sengoku threw the goblin in front of the two adventurers so they could get a closer look.

"So, what do you want to do with it?" asked Sengoku.

"I say kill it," said Iridia. "Ugly little creature. Goblins have been pests to the dwarves ever since they were spawned."

"Kill it in cold blood?" Stoney said. "What harm did it ever do us?"

"It's a goblin. That should be enough."

The goblin on the ground stirred, interrupting the argument.

"Tie it up before it wakes!" Iridia said, pulling a rope out of her pack. Holding the goblin down, they restrained it securely.

"Don't! Don't kill!" the goblin squealed. "Me got plants for you!"

"We've already got them. Don't bother," Sengoku remarked. He explained the goblin's pitiful attempt at thievery to the others. "Strange, this miserable little scrap probably saved your lives. If it hadn't been running in your direction you might never have gotten the herbs. No credit to the goblin, of course."

"Yess! See, me good. Me save life!" the goblin pleaded. "Don't kill! Don't!" it whined.

"Well?" Stoney looked at Iridia.

Iridia relented. "We'll take it to the village. The village elder can judge it." Iridia chuckled. "Not that the judgment will be favorable, of course." She turned to the goblin. "You hear that? We'll let you live--for now. One false move--" She left that hanging.

The goblin whimpered, trying to sink into the floor and get away from the fierce dwarf. "Me be good! Don't kill! Don't kill!"

Sengoku looked a bit cross. "Everyone's becoming more pacifist by the minute! This goblin deserves no such mercy!"

"The decision has already been made, my friend!" snapped Iridia.

"But it's just a pathetic goblin! I say we sacrifice it to our gods," argued Sengoku.

"Come on, Iridia, let's get out of here," growled Stoney as he grabbed the goblin by its legs and stuffed it into a sack.

Sengoku followed them back up into the village, thinking.

The high elf heard the discussion. He was curious about what they would do with the goblin, so he also followed them, unnoticed.

"We're here, Iridia! This is the dwarven city!"

The stone giant followed Iridia, carrying the sack with the goblin in it. "We'll go to the village elder straight away and get rid of that goblin," Iridia said.

"That sounds good to me," replied Stoney.

The three of them walked through the dwarven city, quite conscious of the watchful eyes of dwarven guardians.

Iridia immediately felt at home in the magnificent dwarven city. The dwarven villagers gave the odd-looking group curious glances; children hid in their mothers' skirts, peeking out to peer at the stone giant's deadly fists. The guardians were drawing closer, hands on weapons. Stoney shot a questioning look at Iridia. "Should we fight?"

"Not yet," Iridia answered. "If they'll accept a dark-elf, they'll accept a stone giant. Probably."

A group of five burly dwarves had completely closed in on the adventurers. "We'll have to ask you to come with us. The village elder wants to see you."

Sengoku stepped forward. "Why does Tholin want to see us?"

"No idea. Orders. Come with us," the guardian said. They didn't resist.

"Why did you have us taken here?" Sengoku asked the elder.

"Before I answer your question, you must answer mine: What is your purpose here, and why have you formed such a strange alliance with a stone giant?"

When Iridia told the elder of her quest to avenge the people of her village, of meeting the stone giant, fighting a hydra, and finding curing herbs in the hands of the goblin thief they now held prisoner, the elder straightened in his chair and suddenly grinned.

"Very well," he said. "Now I will answer your question. Our priest has told me that I would soon see those who would banish Chaos from Ancardia. I put my guardians on the lookout for any warriors passing through this village, and you already have quite a few battle scars, Iridia."

"We had been hoping you would give us judgment of the goblin," Iridia said.

"Show him to me," said Tholin.

The giant turned his sack upside down, tipping the struggling goblin onto the stone floor.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" demanded the elder. "Someone take off the gag," he added, hearing the goblin's muffled squeals.

Iridia stooped down to remove the gag, cursing and pulling her fingers back as the goblin, having gathered his meager courage, tried to bite her. "Nasty thing. Should've killed you when we caught you," she said.

"Please, please don't kill," the goblin pleaded.

"We've already heard that," Sengoku noted. "You have anything else to say for yourself?"

"Wasn't killing. Don't even have knife anymore," the goblin said, glaring at Sengoku, whose pack now contained the goblin's flimsy weapon. "Just wanted little bit of plant to take to chief. Don't kill, wasn't me, didn't do it!"

Tholin laughed as he stood up and surveyed the pitiful little creature. "Oh, no, little goblin? And why not?" he asked, raising his axe over the goblin's neck.

"Please, don't kill! Don't kill!" squealed the goblin.

"What is your name?" demanded Tholin.

"Apoc. The timid."

Another gale of laughter from the dwarven elder. "A fitting name! Well, Apoc the Timid, are you willing to repay these travelers for your crime?"

"Yes, yes, anything!" the goblin gulped.

The elder crossed the room to a large chest, which he opened to retrieve an amulet, made of gold with a ruby set into the center. He muttered a few words to it, making passes in the air, then turned to the travelers.

"This is an amulet of binding," Tholin said. "As long as you are wearing this, the goblin will have no choice but to obey your every command. My sentence is this: Return to me after one year's servitude, and the goblin's debt will have been repaid." He handed the amulet to Iridia, who hesitated, then put it on. Sengoku looked decidedly sour at the elder's decision.

"Oh, and don't try to steal it, or to kill its owner, little goblin," the elder said, noticing the cunning look which had crept into Apoc's eyes. "It's enchanted against thieves." He turned to the party. "Untie him and give him his weapon."

Dubiously, Sengoku drew his dagger and cut the ropes that bound the goblin, who squealed, stood, and started running for the door.

"Stop!" commanded Iridia.

The goblin stopped as if it had run into a stone wall. Tholin laughed once more. "Now, what can I do for the rest of you? Ah, and before you ask, you may want to visit the village shop. It does stock healing potions."

"We want to fight Chaos," said Iridia. "What information can you give to help us?"

"Not so fast," said the elder. "I, too, wish that you fight Chaos, but many champions have died trying. You must prove yourselves to me."

"What do we have to do?" demanded the dark elf.

"Vanquish a ghost lord. Then we'll see."

Apoc shuddered. "Ghost... Lord? Oh no. Me no fight ghosts! Me kins all got older by ghosts! Please master, don't make me go!" He whimpered and strained against himself; he wanted to run, but because of the amulet, he wanted to stay. The urge to stay won.

Iridia was similarly frightened by the concept. Ghosts were bad enough, and she had fought (and destroyed) more than a few of them. But she had heard tales of promising youths turned into shriveled old corpses in a matter of seconds by ghost lords. Even Sengoku didn't like it. "A ghost lord? Even if we could find one, they don't go down easily. I'm an elf, and even I would have a hard time with the unnatural aging."

The elder nodded. "Yes, a ghost lord. I know it sounds daunting, but it must be done. It is the ghost of Dram Gorefist that I want you to prove yourself against. He has gathered a host of undead in an underground graveyard deeper down. He once was a mighty Gnome, but his spirit succumbed to the forces of evil after his death. He was born the younger son of a king, and when he realized he would never have the throne, he joined a monastery. He became very deadly with his fists; thus the name, Gorefist. He gained much fame in many places, and did many good deeds for this settlement. Now his soul has been captured and corrupted by Chaos, and he commands an army of undead, and seeks to use our bodies to create more troops. You must defeat him! Without his leadership his army will be far weaker."

Iridia groaned. "I've heard of Dram; if he retained any of his skills from life, he will not only be very deadly, but he will have a small retinue of elite guards. This promises to be a difficult quest."

Apoc whimpered.

"Well,well, well! So you're going to slay the ghost of a mighty gnome? Maybe I can help you."

"Who said that?!" shouted Stoney while looking around, but he saw no one.

"I'm here! In the corner!" Now they noticed a cloaked elf leaning against the wall.

"How did you do that?! Do you know the Invisibility spell?! And why do you want to help us? You didn't want to help me when I was chasing the orc!" said Sengoku.

"That's not a spell, just a potion. And I want to help you because you spared that puny creature." he pointed at Apoc "It's quite likely he'll be killed by that mighty undead or his minions, but at least you gave him a chance."

The goblin wasn't blue anymore; his face was pale white now.

"That's why I'm going with you. If you have nothing against it, of course."

Iridia sighed. "No, I've nothing against it. Unless my companions do, that is."

"Fine with me," Stoney said. "One more weapon could come in handy."

Sengoku frowned. "Last time I saw you, elf, you were healing an orc that happened to have just attacked me. How do I know you aren't going to help our enemies again?"

The elf looked puzzled for a second, then chuckled. "Ah, but I will be helping them. The tormented souls of the undead must be put to rest, and the evil that drives them destroyed. Helping a fleeing, wounded creature, orc though he may be, is quite a different matter. And anyway, if it were a choice between you or the orc, I would help you."

"All right," Sengoku said, seeing the sincerity in the elf's face. "It's fine with me. But we'd better get some supplies before we head out."

"I know a shop near by," Sengoku told them. "I say we stock up from there and head out as soon as possible, for the hour of the evil moon nears."

Sengoku walked across to a large building with a sign that read, 'Jelvin's General Adventuring Gear', pinned above the doorway. A beaming dwarven shopkeeper admired his stock and nodded to Sengoku as he neared.

"The hour of...what??" Stoney asked.

"Just dark elven beliefs," Guinea muttered. "We better catch up with him."

"You still have plenty of those herbs, right, Guinea? We'll need them," said Iridia.

"Yes, but we'll need more than herbs if them ghosts manage to get their icy grip on us."

Stoney looked up at the cold dark rock above, puzzled. "How does that dark elf know about the moon from down here?"

The band entered the store and examined its wares.

"Ahh, the adventurers!" Jelvin remarked. "How ye be?"

"Fine, Jelvin," Sengoku said. "You got anything that'd help us defeat a ghost lord?"

"Dram Gorefist?"

Sengoku nodded.

"Ah, yes, that one'll give you a good fight. It's high time someone defeated him," the shopkeeper said. "See this?" he lifted a milky potion from one of the store shelves. "'Tis guaranteed to cure unnatural aging instantly, or yer money back."

"If we were around to collect it," Sengoku said, grinning.

"Got to cut my losses," the shopkeeper shrugged.

"How much?" Sengoku inquired.

As the dark-elf haggled with the shopkeeper, the rest of the party looked over the merchandise, picking up rations and looking over ammunition for missile weapons. Iridia's eyes glittered when she saw a particularly beautiful weapon, though much beyond her resources. Maybe later...

The party paid for their newly acquired supplies and left the store decidedly poorer, though much more well-prepared for the coming battles.

"So, where is this ghost lord?" Iridia asked.

"Most of us here know where he is but no one goes there... except us, apparently," Sengoku said. "I'll take you there."

They left the town; the way was dark, dank, and very chilly. Apoc was constantly fingering the dagger he had bought from the store with his meager funds, entertaining thoughts of escape, slim as the chances were. They didn't encounter much on the way, mostly just a few rogue orcs, a couple kobolds (who fled before the advancing companions), and one goblin. Iridia made Apoc do a lot of fighting, although all Apoc ever really did was to jump on the enemy's back to bite, stab, and claw at them. Once or twice they had to pause to allow the elf healer to tend their wounds.

Gradually the tunnels became colder and darker. Suddenly, the monsters stopped coming. For a long time they encountered nothing but the dark, chilly tunnels; tension was building in the air like a static charge. Every time they turned a corner, they expected something to leap out of the darkness at them.

In the distance, they heard faint sounds of battle. They heard metal clashing against metal, shouting. Screams came out of the darkness, always sounding as though they were coming from just around the next corner. It was frightening. All of them were scared; Apoc was positively terrified. The only thing that kept him moving was Iridia's will, and that was weakening. Even the giant, rock-solid Stoney was failing in his resolve.

Then, suddenly, the sounds of combat vanished. The cessation of it came as a shock to the companions; Stoney froze, Sengoku drew his weapons and crouched, Iridia started, the elf raised his weapon, and Apoc screamed and soiled his loincloth.

Once they had recovered their composure (which included a very harsh reprimand on Apoc for screaming; he could have alerted their enemies to their presence), they warily continued. They came around a corner and all of them froze. At the end of the hall was a door. The shriveled body of some unfortunate creature lay in front of the door. Cautiously, they approached it. Apoc threw a rock at the body, just to make sure it was going to stay dead; it did. They got to the door, and Iridia made Apoc open the door.

Within was a gruesome scene that would have made most people sick. Blood was smeared all over the walls, corpses lay everywhere--some missing limbs, some half-rotten, some nothing but blood-covered skeletons. Weapons lay everywhere--spears, swords, bows, arrows, bows, maces, axes, just about everything imaginable. All were soaked in blood. While most of the bodies were orcish, some were definitely human; the weapons were a mix of both.

In the middle of all this lay a man.

The man was white. Pure white. His hair, his skin, his eyes, his cloths, even his blood was white. There was blood on his face, and he was clutching his side. With a groan he looked up at the companions. They could see the pain in his eyes, and felt a deep sympathy for him and an urge to help him however they could.

The elven healer moved forward, heedless of any danger. His friends filled the hall behind him slowly, cautiously, not sure what to do. None of them realized what they were facing until, with a terrible howl, the eyes full of pain turned to orbs of blazing hate for all things living; and the man leapt up and made a grab for the elf's neck.

Only now could they see the semi-transparency of the man's body. Thanks to his quick reactions, Guinea evaded the ghost's initial attack, but the ghost continued on towards the clustered companions. Before Guinea could recover his feet, the bodies strewn about the room were climbing to theirs, grabbing weapons and shields that lay about. With a hiss, an orc skeleton leapt towards the prostrate elf, a blood-soaked scimitar in one hand, a battered and pitted medium shield in the other, and a small dagger held in a third arm and hand, which had welded itself onto the skeleton just above its sternum.

Guinea swung his long sword, and the hand holding the scimitar fell onto the ground. That didn't stop the skeleton, which fell onto the elf and tried to stab him with the dagger. Two more undead pinned him down, so Guinea was unable to get up. Fortunately, Guinea was wearing good elven chain mail, so, despite that he was at the bottom of a pile of undead, the skeletons couldn't hurt him seriously. His companions, terrified, tried to defend themselves. Suddenly a thundering voice came from the pile of living corpses:

"I SHALL HEAL YOU!!!"

Zombies roared in terror as they turned into white smoke. Guinea stood up and light streamed from his hands. The rest of the skeletons, frightened, moved to the corner of the chamber. Stoney grabbed a piece of the wall he was standing next to.

"Help me, Iridia!" he shouted.

Iridia quickly realized what he was trying to do. A few swings of her pickaxe, and the giant was holding a rock almost as large as he was. He threw it at the skeletons that gathered in the corner and they collapsed into a crumpled heap.

"It won't be so easy to defeat me," the ghost laughed.

"Want to bet?" shouted Sengoku as he shot an arrow at the ghost; but it passed through harmlessly, and the ghost just laughed again.

"Got something better for you," Guinea smiled and took a holy symbol from his pocket.

"NOOOOOO!!!" the ghost's face contorted in terror as Guinea murmured some cryptic words. He was getting more and more transparent with each word. When he finally disappeared, the elf turned to look at his friends.

"Are you all right?" he asked... and fell, unconscious, to the floor.

Sengoku rushed to the healer's side. "It's okay," he reported. "Still breathing."

"What's wrong with him?" Iridia demanded.

"That's a magic user for you," Sengoku said, clearing some of the gruesome debris from the healer's robes. "Thinks he's tough enough to cast spells he hasn't got the power to handle. He'll be all right, but he's going to take time to recover."

Anticipating the dark elf's next request, Stoney sighed and posted himself at the door. Iridia took up a position next to him. "Don't worry," the giant said. "Nothing gets in this room unless we let it in."

"Hey! Where's that scum of a goblin? Dead?" Sengoku suddenly said.

"Wait a minute." Iridia cautiously edged into the passageway, sensing the goblin's presence through the amulet. "No such luck. He's still alive." She dragged the goblin out of the side passage into which the pitiful creature had managed to crawl before passing out yet again. As she deposited him next to the unconscious elf, she pried the dagger the goblin had been clutching out of its grasp, intending to replace it in its sheath. Suddenly she held up the weapon and looked at it carefully. Bits of decaying flesh were stuck to the blade. "I didn't order him to fight..." she thought. Ah, well. Probably the creature had gotten itself cornered and realized there was no pleading with a zombie.

Iridia took up her station at the door once again, axe at ready. If they were lucky, this room wouldn't be disturbed until Guinea had recovered well enough to travel. But then, Iridia thought, when had they ever been lucky?

The stench of death that still hovered over the area intensified ever so slightly as the dwarf and the giant stood guard over the unconscious healer. As the two warriors watched, a black-robed figure shimmered into existence about three paces ahead of them. The hood of the robe had been thrown back to reveal a man who looked as old as death itself. His withered, clawlike hands clutched a sturdy staff; his reddened eyes blazed with the unmistakable fire of madness.

As the two guards readied themselves for a fight, the man began to chant evil-sounding words, grabbing at the air, gesturing. From the tip of his staff, four pillars of green light appeared and solidified, revealing four animated--and armed--corpses, sickly white, bathed in the green light. Ghuls.

The necromancer continued chanting; but his words became faster, urging. His minions advanced.

For the next few minutes, neither dwarf nor giant had time to think. Block one blow, dodge another, dart in where a vital spot was left unguarded for even an instant.

One of the ghuls fell, then another, their corpses dissolving back into the green light they had issued from.

The fighters were getting into their rhythms now; ghuls--even necromancers--were nothing new. Another of them fell, though not after having slashed the giant's stony hide open with its spectral blade.

A momentary break in the fighting gave Iridia time to look up...and gasp in horror. Rather than the dwindling group of undead she had expected to see, a horde of zombies, skeletons, ghosts and ghuls now flooded the hall--and the necromancer's staff still spewed forth gouts of green flame. Unlike so many other practitioners of the dark arts Iridia had met, this necromancer seemed to have unlimited resources of power to draw on.

A blade slashed across one of Iridia's arms; she renewed her concentration and began fighting once more. The battle began in earnest.

"Go for the summoner!" Iridia shouted. "Get him first!" A sideways glance at Stoney told her the giant already understood and was trying to do just that. Hampered by the constantly multiplying ranks of unnatural life, he was getting nowhere.

Behind them, the dark elf joined the battle, loading his bow and firing at the attackers. Carefully aiming at the robed figure, he let an arrow fly. Direct hit! the necromancer staggered. Another hit! The green light still flowed from the tip of the staff; but now it covered the necromancer, dissolving arrows and mending wounds. The ranks of the undead began to thin.

Iridia saw her chance. Gripping her axe even more tightly, she began hacking her way through decaying flesh towards the robed figure. Three more of the necromancer's ghastly creations fell; and then she found herself face-to-face with the enemy.

The green light that covered the necromancer�s body intensified and thickened; Iridia's axe sped towards the figure's neck.

The axe bounced off the energy field that protected the robed figure; the blade vibrated crazily, then shattered. Iridia drew a dagger from her belt.

Suddenly, the dwarf was pushed down from behind; the stone giant leaped over her, landing with a crash between her and the necromancer. The giant raised his fist and brought it down... he was going to miss...

But Stoney was not aiming for the necromancer. The giant's fist smashed instead into the necromancer's staff, splintering it; breaking it. A vortex of pure energy erupted from the shattered weapon, throwing the giant violently to the ground next to his companion. Just before consciousness faded, Iridia thought she could hear the necromancer's dying wail...

His elven agility allowed Sengoku to dodge the main force of the blast. Recovering his balance, Sengoku looked into the passageway. What was left of the necromancer could no longer trouble them; but those undead that had escaped the blast were still dangerous. Methodically, the dark elf loaded his bow, fired, hit. Loaded, fired, another hit. The undead advanced; hand-to-hand combat seemed inevitable--and tricky, with the disabled healer to protect.

Movement caused Sengoku to glance to one side--Guinea had recovered his senses. Having struggled to his knees, the high elf was aiming his longbow. A zombie fell to a well-placed arrow.

Aiming again, Sengoku renewed his effort; now, the enemy was falling faster than they could advance; soon, the last of them lay in the passageway, motionless.

Guinea now stood, his strength mostly recovered; and he and Sengoku ran towards the fallen fighters. Guinea touched first one, then the other. A cleansing blue shimmer passed over their bodies; wounds mended, and they sat up. Stoney had taken the most damage; the arm with which he had smashed the necromancer's staff was punctured by bits of wood from the staff.

Apoc stirred, then sat up, his eyes wide at the sight of the undead corpses.

"Hold still," Guinea said, beginning the task of extricating the splintered wood from the stone giant's arm.

"Who was that?" Iridia demanded. "That wasn't an ordinary necromancer. That staff..." She picked up the top part of the staff; at the tip of it was set a green crystal.

Sengoku took what was left of the staff, examining it. "Iridia," he said suddenly, "Let me see your amulet."

Slightly puzzled, Iridia lifted it for the dark elf to see.

"I thought so," said Sengoku. "The same cut of the gem... different colors, but the same nevertheless..."

Guinea threw away the last bit of wood and took the ruined staff from Sengoku.

"Ah, yes. I've seen this before," he said. "The two gems are not altogether alike. The gem in Iridia's amulet contains a rune of binding. The gem in this staff held the same rune... only reversed."

"What does that mean?" Sengoku said.

"This necromancer was under someone's power, controlled by someone. Probably powered by that person's energy. They were connected, through this staff."

"Who?" But Sengoku already knew the answer; Guinea said it.

"Gorefist. He would tolerate no other lord's dominion over anyone in these parts. Being immaterial, he needed someone to do his material tasks for him."

"Then he is more powerful than we thought," Sengoku said.

"Yes," Guinea answered. "He'll know we're coming now; no doubt he's sensed the breaking of that connection. We had better hurry; I'll do my best to see to the rest of your wounds on the way."

As the party left that spot to find the ghost lord, Apoc could not believe his ill fortune. Wishing fervently that he had never thought to steal those herbs, Apoc's mind spun around the axis of one thought: Escape.

They moved forward, and the dungeon seemed to darken with every step they took. Each of them alone could have escaped back into the dwarven city, but no one wanted to show his (or her) fear to the rest of the group--save the goblin, of course, who shuddered all the time.

They stopped at a bend in the corridor.

"I feel there is something evil around the corner," said Sengoku. "I can't explain it, but I just know there is someone there who wants to harm us."

"I know what you mean," said Guinea, "because I feel exactly the same."

Iridia, Stoney and Apoc agreed: so did they.

"We aren't going to turn back just because of a feeling, are we?" asked Iridia.

"No, of course not," confirmed Stoney, "but who will go first to see what's around the corner?"

"I know who." Iridia smiled and looked down at Apoc.

"No! I won't go! Nooooo!" scowled Apoc "You won't make me go!"

"You will go!" said the dwarf. The goblin's left leg moved forward, then the right one. Apoc fell to the ground and started to crawl in the opposite direction. The ruby on Iridia's neck began to glow as the goblin resisted her command.

"Stop!" said Guinea "His fear is too strong. He won't go."

"So who will go first?" asked Sengoku

"No one," answered Guinea, "We will go together."

Guinea moved forward and his friends followed. Apoc went with them without a complaint; he didn't want to stay alone in a dark dungeon.

The five companions cautiously moved round the corner... and suddenly a ghastly figure appeared a few steps before them!

"YOU WANT TO DESTROY ME, PUNY MORTALS?! YOU DON'T HAVE A CHANCE!" roared the ghost lord, laughing.

"Gorefist!" shouted Stoney and leapt forward to hit him.

"DON'T!!!" Iridia and Guinea cried in one voice, but it was too late. Stone giant jumped through the ghost and fell onto the floor... which suddenly collapsed beneath him!

Dram Gorefist faded and disappeared.

"It was an illusion!" said a shocked Guinea. "He's lured Stoney into a trap, to fall to his death!"

"Quiet!" shouted Iridia, "I can hear something from the pit!"

Sengoku looked into the dark hole and saw Stoney several meters below hanging on a small rock shelf. Nothing could be seen below him.

"Help!" he cried. "I can't hold on much longer!"

The companions tried everything they could to get Stoney out of the pit. Guinea searched his pack for a spell; Iridia searched hers for rope; but in the end they could do nothing. They watched helplessly as the rock Stoney was hanging onto slowly began crumbling, and Stoney fell away into the deep blackness of the pit.

After the initial shock had subsided and the realization that Stoney was gone slowly hit them, Iridia used her pickaxe to break off some stones from the side of the passage, which they built into a small cairn for Stoney. A few of them shed tears, including Iridia.

They rested for a short time once they had finished the cairn. During the rest they were silent, and didn't interact with each other except to pass food and drink around.

They were in a bad situation, and they knew it: the stone giant had been their best fighter. Strangely enough, no one spoke of turning back, as if by unspoken agreement to destroy the one who had killed Stoney.

Sengoku, realizing that there would probably be more traps, took the lead and searched the passage as he went. Suddenly he held up his hand. "Stop," he said.

"What is it?" Iridia wanted to know.

"Look here," Sengoku said, pointing to the wall. Nearly invisible inside a carved niche were the sharp points of four spears.

"Gorefist's minions have been here," Sengoku noted. "Stand back while I try to disarm this." Using a dagger, Sengoku carefully attempted to cut a tripwire. There was a hissing sound as the first spear cut through the air. Sengoku jumped aside; the spear clattered harmlessly to the floor. "Close one," he said, brandishing the dagger and trying again. This time he was successful. His companions let out a breath of relief.

Iridia picked up the spear, grasping the wooden pole and trying a few experimental stabs with it. "This will do better than a dagger," she said, "though I long for a good dwarven axe to wield."

They started forwards again--and were instantly enveloped by a gigantic fireball! They could not breathe, could not see, could feel nothing but a searing heat. Then, as suddenly as it had come, it was gone; and as their eyes readjusted to the dark, they could see an evil rune on the floor of the cave.

All of the party had suffered burns, but Apoc, small as he was, had been hurt the worst. Guinea immediately rushed to the goblin's side, applying herbs and healing spells until Apoc's charred skin had returned to normal (though the goblin still huddled in as sorry a heap as if the fireball had thoroughly roasted him).

Guinea opened his now-charred pack and retrieved several bundles of sweet-smelling herbs. "Here, take these," he told his companions. "Rub them onto the burns." Gratefully, the dwarf and the dark elf did so; their wounds vanished.

"I've failed you," Sengoku said. "I didn't check this section of the tunnel well enough. We shouldn't have run into that trap."

"Don't bother yourself about it," Iridia told him. "If it weren't for you we'd have been skewered by the spears already. But we had best watch out for more traps along this passage."

They proceeded with caution now, carefully checking each step of the dungeon, lest they should tread on any runes or touch any tripwires. Several more traps were discovered and disarmed; and now, the end of the passage was in sight; a heavy oaken door stood in their path.

"I'd give much to know if there's anyone behind that door," Iridia remarked.

"Not a problem, friend," Guinea replied. Rummaging in his pack, he brought out a stethoscope, put it on, and held it to the door. "Nothing," he said. "All clear."

"Thank you," Iridia said, preparing to open the door.

"Wait!" Sengoku held her back. "If I know Gorefist, the door's probably trapped too!"

It was, of course; Iridia should have expected that much by now. Sengoku's experience in disarming traps was once again put into practice, this time in disarming a rather nasty explosive rune.

When the door was finally opened, the party stepped through into a small room. At the center of the room, a staircase led down into the darkness; stepping closer to it (and once again checking for more traps), Sengoku could smell the familiar odor of decay that heralded undead. Closer still, the stench became almost overwhelming.

"Well, looks like this is where he's hiding," Sengoku said. "Everyone ready to go down?"

"Aye," said Iridia. "But we'll need a plan."

A sudden voice forced them to turn: "Nah, you don't..." A dark elf in dark robe was standing in a dark corner of the room.

"What!" Iridia screamed. "Another dark elf?! What in Chaos are you doing here?"

"Just wandering around..."--the elf peered at Apoc-- "looking for some goblins to eat. Their meat is very delicious, when fried with a fire bolt."

Apoc automatically huddled next to Iridia. Not long ago, he had started to feel secure near her, not quite understanding that this was an effect of the amulet.

"No..." Iridia hesitated; she didn't want to tell anyone that she had begun liking the goblin in a strange sort of way. "...we'll eat him ourselves!"

Apoc tried to run but she stopped him using the amulet.

"You told us, that we don't need a plan," Sengoku said. "Why?"

"Whoa, a dark elf!" the stranger said, as if he wasn't one himself. "That's interesting. You DON'T need a plan, because Gorefist is not as powerful as you think. And he is much deeper down in the caves, so you all may walk without danger of Gorefist for quite a ways yet."

"We are not afraid of him," said Guinea. "We are going to defeat him."

The dark elf looked the party over. "You are going to slay a ghost?.. Hm-m... I can help you."

"No!" Iridia cut in. "We don't need YOUR help."

"We need," Guinea said evenly, "a spellcaster. Magic users are always useful, even if they are dark elven spellcasters."

"Especially if they're dark elven spellcasters," the stranger corrected.

"Okay, okay," Iridia agreed. "What's your name, then?"

"Zarge. Call me just Zarge."

"So," Iridia sighed, "let's get moving!"

The party continued down the tunnel, the addition of the strange new member making them a bit more tense than they usually would have been. Gorefist was not as tough as he seemed, Zarge claimed. How did the dark elf know? Had he seen their enemy? And if he had seen Gorefist, how had he survived the experience? One of the obvious answers to that question did not bode well for Zarge's loyalty to them.

Iridia could recognize the dwarven workmanship of the passages they now walked through. Evidently, this place had once been the habitation of dwarves, though they must have been driven out by Chaos long ago.

In a side chamber, they found an ancient forge, its fires long ago gone out.

"Sengoku, do you think you could make me a new axe?" Iridia asked. "I have some mithril ingots that you might use."

Sengoku looked at the ancient forge, a smile appearing on his face.

"This looks like a powerful forge, you can see the runes of fire and steel along the sides yonder. I'll fix your axe and make it even better!"

Iridia passed him the ingots and the axe handle. "Thanks. I'll be glad to have a weapon better than this puny dagger!"

As Zarge watched the dark elf work with the ingots and hammer, he raised a question. "Hey brother, what kind of dark elf are you?? That's dwarven work!"

Sengoku smiled "I was raised by dwarves to do this. Has anyone got a torch handy?"

Zarge cast a fire bolt and lit the forge. "Try that," answered Zarge.

An hour later, the axe was fixed. Iridia looked at it and said, "I think it's even better than it was before." She smiled at Sengoku. "Thanks. I don't think I could have done it better."

"Not at all," the elf answered, "it wasn't very hard."

"So, let's go downstairs," sighed Zarge.

"What downstairs?" asked Iridia. "I don't see any stairs."

"Well, actually, the stairs are right there," Zarge pointed at the door. "I checked it out while he was making your... er... weapon."

"And what's wrong with may weapon?" asked Iridia suspiciously.

"Nothing. A very good axe. Hope you'll kill many goblins with it," Zarge said, casting a meaningful glance toward Apoc.

"Than let's go," said Sengoku, checking the door for traps. Finding none, he opened it and the party went through.

The staircase seemed infinitely long; but of course they knew it couldn't be--the only place in Ancardia that was truly infinite was a corrupted monument to Law, and it was several weeks' journey from this place.

The end of the stairs brought them to a small room with a single door.

"He is here," Zarge said softly.

"Where?" asked Apoc, shivering.

"Close."

"Behind the door?"

"No."

"Hey, what's up with you?" Guinea looked at Zarge suspiciously. Silence was the only reply Zarge gave. Guinea passed his hand back and forth in front of Zarge's face; the dark-elf simply stared into space.

"Uh-oh," Guinea sighed. "We've got trouble. The power of Chaos is very strong here. So I'll need some time to do one thing... You see, healing can be done not only with herbs... it can be done with..." he raised his fist.

"You aren't going to do that... are you?" Sengoku asked.

"Oh, yes I am," answered the healer determinedly, and hit Zarge with full force.

"Ouch!" screamed his "patient". "What the?! Why did you just do that?!"

"There was a... problem. The Chaos forces seemed to have stunned you, but you're all right now."

Iridia opened the door; behind it was a long tunnel.

"A tunnel full of traps," noticed Sengoku. "I'll go first and disarm them."

As they went further, Sengoku disarming traps before they stepped into them, Sengoku found a secret door.

"Look!" he pointed at the wall. "See that?"

"No," Iridia said.

"It's a secret door, and I bet Gorefist is in there! Everyone, ready your weapons. Let's go!"

Iridia kicked the door open and leapt inside swinging her axe and screaming dwarven war cries. Guinea and Zarge followed. The high elf was holding his long sword, and the dark elf had a quarterstaff. Sengoku stayed to the rear, his crossbow ready.

"There's no one here," said a surprised Iridia. "OUCH!" she cried as she jumped backwards and fell onto Apoc, who was following her closely. "Something just touched my leg!"

"Let's see what it is," decided Guinea. He moved his hand, creating light with a simple magical incantation. "Ah, it's just a cat!"

"Sengoku, you want me to collect on that bet?" asked Iridia. Sengoku pretended he wasn't there.

Apoc screamed as the large brown wildcat bit him in his leg. He went to stab it with his dagger, but Zarge stopped him. "Don't kill this cat. The ancient prophecies say that killing felines is very unwise," said the dark elf.

"What do I do?" screeched Apoc. The cat had bitten him again, in the hand this time.

Before Iridia could stop him, Apoc kicked the cat, hard. It went flying across the room, hissing and spitting, and landed on its feet, cowering against the far wall.

Suddenly, a cloud of noxious purple energy exploded from a dark rune set into the floor under the cat.

"Pure Chaos!" Guinea exclaimed.

"Yep. There's your Chaos presence, Guinea," Iridia said. "I've seen 'em before. You don't want to step on them, trust me. They'll turn you into a blob of Chaos. Eventually, anyway."

"Yes, that would be the source of the chaotic energy... at least... some of it..." Guinea's voice trailed off; he sounded unsure of himself.

Meanwhile, the stunned cat had triggered the trap twice more.

"Someone grab that damn cat while I disarm this corruption trap. The less of these there are down here, the better!"

Iridia quickly grabbed the cat and stuffed it into a leather bag.

Sengoku swiftly disarmed the trap--just before a closed door flew open to reveal a whole room full of bloodthirsty vampires!

The atmosphere darkened and the stench of decay and death was in the air.

"Ohh crap, we've got enemies. Zarge, we need more light in here!" cried Sengoku as he loosed an arrow in the vampires' direction.

The vampires leapt into the corridor and started to pile into the room, some climbing along the walls and some silently advancing, sliding invisibly through the shadows.

Iridia raised her mighty axe and as Sengoku reloaded, Zarge stood beside Guinea as he muttered arcane words. Guinea held his sword in a defensive position.

"If anyone has any good ideas, better speak up now," Iridia muttered.

"Back up into the corridor before we get surrounded! Now!" Zarge commanded them. Iridia and Guinea stood at the front of the group; Sengoku fired arrows into the vampires while Zarge prepared to start throwing spells. The vampires advanced; the battle was joined, and they found themselves fighting for their lives. If they were going to win at all, it would be a close shave.

Physical attacks did little to stave off the vampires' advance. They all but ignored Sengoku's deadly-accurate arrows, not even bothering to dodge them.

Guinea kept parrying with his long sword, but seemed preoccupied as he muttered arcane words to himself, trying to remember a spell, then darted out, touching a vampire. It screamed, smoking, stunned. "What'd you do!" Iridia yelled, hacking the arm off another vampire, which completely ignored the loss.

"Blessed it!" Guinea almost laughed as another vampire reeled backwards, stumbling. "And this one gets my best healing spell!" Guinea's efforts were taking their toll on the vampires. Soon, three of them lay on the ground, incapacitated.

But Guinea was tiring. "I'm a healer, not a wizard," he shouted over the din. "Zarge, do something!"

Guinea had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when what looked like a fiery missile suddenly sprang from Zarge's upraised fingertips. The missile zipped past Guinea and exploded as it struck a vampire in the middle of the group. Five vampires were hit; one of them screamed, crumpled to dust, and disappeared. Iridia's axe took care of two more of the stunned vampires.

They backed off just in time to avoid being hit by another of Zarge's fireballs. Three more vampires were hit. The party finished these off as well. Two vampires left.

"I can't do any more!" Zarge cried. "You'll have to finish them yourselves!"

Guinea had fallen back; exhausted from casting such powerful spells, he knew he would be of little use in this state. Sengoku was trying to reload his crossbow, but kept fumbling; his arm had a long bloody gash in it. Zarge had collapsed. Apoc was nowhere to be seen.

Grimly, Iridia readied her axe and took a step towards the vampires. Both had quarrels sprouting from different portions of their decaying bodies. One was even missing part of an arm. But both appeared as healthy as when they had first swarmed into the room.

Suddenly, the corridor filled with a low whirr. This was rapidly followed by a sharp snap, resulting in one of the remaining vampires' faces caving in. The incapacitated creature reeled backwards and collapsed in a heap. Then, with an earsplitting scream of terror, a small bluish shape hurtled out of the darkness and into the remaining vampire. Caught completely by surprise, the vampire hissed and fell to the ground. In a few seconds the fight had resolved, and Apoc curled into a ball and began whimpering. The vampire's head had been hacked off, and the dagger was still sticking out of its chest.

For a moment, Iridia just stood there, axe still at ready, unable to quite believe her eyes. Apoc was huddled in a corner, as usual, but there was the dagger, and there were the motionless vampires.

Slowly, the exhausted Zarge picked himself up and put a hand on the wall to steady himself. Guinea dug a bandage from his pack and began wrapping it around Sengoku's cut. Sengoku, who had put away his crossbow, looked at Iridia and smiled wryly. "You can put your axe down now, friend," he said.

Iridia did so, still amazed that Apoc had managed to save all their lives. And, if that weren't enough, she hadn't even thought about the amulet during the entire battle.

Suddenly Zarge turned completely around towards the wall. With a finger, he traced the outlines of yet another secret door.

"He must be through this door," Zarge exclaimed. "Your quest is almost done!"

"No way," said Iridia. "We're staying right here until we're good and ready for whatever Gorefist decides to throw at us. Your magic can't be near half its full power yet."

"I know mine isn't," said Guinea. "And, after those vampires, who knows what we can expect. Who knows." Guinea shuddered.

As they sat down to recover, Iridia turned disgustedly away from Apoc, who had begun eating the remains of the vampires...

"Someone please tell me why that damn goblin is eating those... corpses?"

Guinea started, and then stared. "Corpses..." he muttered, and then moved over to one. Carefully, he used his sword to saw off a finger. After examining it, he took a small bite. Immediately he spat it out. "Friends," he said, standing, "the corpses of the Undead often still contain the energy that strengthened them. By eating the corpses, we could become more powerful."

Shuddering, Sengoku moved towards one. "We're going to need all the power we can get for Gorefist."

Before he could get to the corpse, Guinea stopped him. "The energy is dark! Consuming it will turn your will nearer that of evil. It is a risk you might not want to take!"

Meanwhile, Apoc had ceased his consuming of corpses and was now sitting on the ground. Somehow, he seemed larger than he had before.

Iridia turned away from the now rapidly decomposing vampires. "I'm not taking a chance on it," she said. The two elves nodded in agreement, but Zarge shrugged, said, "Suit yourselves," and proceeded to stuff the remaining corpses into his pack.

"I think we're ready to go on now," Guinea said presently.

"Yeah. Let me check this door for traps," said Sengoku as he walked over to it and began carefully probing its edges.

Iridia was rummaging through her pack. She brought out a green crystal. "Good time to use this," she commented. "We can see the caves beyond this door."

"Are you sure?" Sengoku wanted to know. "You might want to save that for later..."

"Just watch. This place is full of tricks. We need to know as much as we can about it." As Iridia's hand warmed the crystal, it began glowing, brighter and brighter until the light almost blinded them. Suddenly, the walls seemed transparent, and they could see a large area of the caves around them! As the light faded, the crystal crumpled into silvery dust.

"Well?" Iridia said, smiling. "Told you." They had all seen that beyond the door was yet another small room--filled, probably, with yet another group of undead. A large chamber, with a secret door on the other side of the room they were in, looked much more promising.

"But will Gorefist be there?" Zarge wondered.

"Oh, yes. He's got enough of an ego to choose the most magnificent caves he can get for his lair," Sengoku said. "No doubt about it. If I know the legends, he'll be there. This used to be an old dwarven court, you know."

"Well?" Iridia said. "Do we go in now?"

Several nods answered her. Sengoku moved towards the second secret door and began checking it for traps; yet another explosive rune was carefully disarmed. The door was unlocked; then it swung open...

But instead of swarms of once-living bodies waiting to make an attempt at eating the companions, only two figures stood in the room.

Standing on the far side of the room was a huge skeletal .... thing, which may once have been humanoid. Now, however, it was twice as large as the largest troll. Three arms clutched a massive greatsword, while two others wielded a battleaxe and a mace; the sixth sported a giant crystalline shield. A huge horned helm covered a skull that looked like it once belonged to a giant of some kind; the lower jaw, however, showed huge teeth that had to have come from a dragon. Shining chain mail covered the rest of the undead beast's body.

Next to it was a creature that seemed diminutive in comparison. The being looked like an elf, but it was pale and misty; it seemed neither real nor unreal. Its robes were similarly transparent, as was the long staff it wielded. The only real part of the whole creature was the stone that topped the staff. It was black as a nightmare, and glowed with a dark light that seemed to leave a shadowy hole in reality. Even though it was much smaller, and didn't even seem to exist fully, the group was far more terrified of this guardian than of the skeleton.

Apoc scowled in terror and rushed back to the door they had come through, but it suddenly closed itself and hit the unlucky goblin in the face. He squeaked painfully and ran to the door they hadn't opened yet, but Iridia stopped him--there was no way of knowing exactly what was beyond the door; if they opened it to release more undead creatures, they would have little chance of winning against the combined forces of their enemies.

"We must fight!" said Iridia. "There is no way out."

"I don't like it," said Guinea, holding his sword. "One hit from that bastard and I'm dead, and this ghostly one seems to be very powerful."

"Why aren't they attacking?" whispered Zarge.

"They are waiting for us to attack," answered Guinea. "We have no other choice and they know that as well as we do."

Iridia moved to the front, axe ready. The group advanced on the two creatures.

As they came to within ten feet of the creatures, the two undead seemed to come to life, and the chaotic energy that powered them became almost palpable. The skeleton brought its sword down, preparing to crush several of them with one blow. Iridia raised her axe and caught the sword on its blade. She felt the force of the blow through her entire body, but Sengoku's workmanship was good, and the axe held. Before the thing could recover, Iridia dodged under the creature's two remaining weapons and caught the creature's bony leg in the backswing of the axe. A chip came off the bone, and the creature screamed, maddened, and readied itself for another attack. It was huge... strong... but it wasn't any faster than Iridia or her companions. She resolved to use that fact to her advantage. Apoc was still cowering near the door; she concentrated on the amulet and brought him running reluctantly towards her. The skeletal horror started after the goblin.

Guinea and Sengoku had both loaded missiles into their bows and retreated further back from the melee. Neither was too willing to get close to either the spectral form or the menacing skeleton. A quarrel and an arrow, released almost simultaneously, found their marks; however, the crystalline shield deflected one, and the other passed right through its target.

Zarge had not backed off. Now he was close enough to touch the ghostly form. Chanting, he stretched his fingertips out towards it, and flames suddenly burst from the tips of his fingers and, for a brief moment, engulfed the creature. It reciprocated with a bolt of energy which hit Zarge, throwing him backwards. The wizard picked himself up and started chanting again.

Now the shadow was waving its staff in the air. The black stone seemed to suck in chaotic energy from the air around it. Zarge felt his own power draining away, even as he saw the creature growing stronger... and now it had moved between him and the two elves, trapping him between the ghostly mage and the skeletal creature, which was still heading towards the goblin.

Raising its staff, the ghost screamed incomprehensible words. From the tip of the staff came what looked like a red missile, headed straight towards Zarge.

Suddenly something hit Zarge from the side, knocking him to the floor for the second time. It was Iridia, who had glimpsed his predicament. The missile zipped past them, past the bony creature's shield, and smacked into its rib cage, where it exploded into a fireball! The creature, severely hurt now, screamed in what passed for agony--for the undead, anyway.

Meanwhile, the spectral mage had not noticed Guinea sneaking up behind it, intending to let loose with his best spells.

Guinea leapt forward to attack the spectral mage. He knew that fighting it in melee would be useless, so he hit the stone on the staff with his sword, while trying to strangle the spectre with his other hand. White light emitted from his hands, and the undead mage scowled in fury. Guinea left his sword sticking in the black stone and now held the mage with both hands. It apparently didn't like Guinea's healing touch. A wave of energy lifted the elf up, but he still grasped the creature's "neck".

The great skeleton rushed to help its companion. It was heavily injured, but it could still fight. Iridia's axe parried a powerful blow which would probably have cut Guinea in half. Sengoku showed his skill with missile weapons when he shot off the bony hand that wielded the axe; Apoc leapt forward and bit off the hand with the mace. But the skeleton still had one more weapon.

Guinea was still desperately holding onto the mage when he suddenly felt something hard hit the side of his head. "I should have worn a helmet," he thought distantly. Another blow from the crystalline shield: The shield shattered into tiny pieces; Guinea lost consciousness.

The bone-creature was stumbling, its shield now gone. Zarge stood, yelling one last spell. A fiery missile zipped straight towards the skull of the creature and hit. The creature's skull exploded. For a moment, the now headless thing teetered, hanging in midair; then it collapsed into a heap of dusty bones.

That left the spectral mage.

Through the amulet, Iridia forced Apoc to launch a berserk attack on the spectre. It concentrated its attentions on the small goblin while Iridia, trying to stay out of its field of vision, went for the stone.

The mage had managed to grasp Apoc's arm. The goblin screamed and went limp. But Iridia was already close enough. Her axe swung through the air, connecting squarely with the black stone, which shattered.

Expecting another explosion, Iridia grabbed hold of Apoc's other arm and dragged him with her as she dove to the ground. But instead, she heard a shrieking sound, as of a thousand damned souls.

"Get back!" Zarge yelled. Iridia scrambled to get away.

As she looked back, she could see a black... something... which was already six feet in diameter. It looked like a black rip in the very fabric of reality. Air rushing into it, creating the shrieking sound; dust trickled in around the edges. A violent wind clutched at them, trying to drag them towards the hole.

"Guinea!" Iridia screamed suddenly. The unconscious elf still lay where he had fallen--dangerously close to the black hole. As Iridia watched in horror, the elf began rolling, sliding towards the edge...

...when something stopped him. Guinea's foot was mere inches from the edge of the tear, but somehow he had stopped sliding towards it. Slowly, incredibly, he began moving away. As she watched, Iridia suddenly became aware of a peculiarly familiar grinding sound coming from beneath Guinea.

It took her a few moments to recognize the sound. Just as she did, the stone hand holding Guinea emerged fully from the ground to get a firmer grasp. The hand was followed by a granite-like arm that held Guinea up in the air and moved him away from the terror of the black rip.

Guinea opened his eyes only to see the hand of his presumably dead friend dragging him away from a hole in reality. It was a bit too much for him, and, combined with his terrible headache, caused him to lose consciousness again.

"This is a portal to the cHaOs plane!" cried Zarge. "You don't want to go there--trust me!--so stay away!"

Iridia rushed forward to help the unconscious elf, but she stopped when something suddenly flew out of the hole. It was a purple bat... or maybe it wasn't; if it was a bat at all, it was a very strange bat. It had two wings, six legs, and three heads. It was quite large and it circled near the ceiling, screeching loudly. Apoc scowled and crept into the corner. The others watched the thing in amazement.

Sengoku fitted his last quarrel onto his crossbow and aimed carefully. The others, who hadn't quite noticed what he was doing, jumped as the missile whizzed past them and thudded into a crack in the wall of the chamber, pinning the screeching bat to the stone.

"We have to get out of here!" Zarge exclaimed. "That portal isn't stable--when it collapses we'll end up just like that bat over there!"

"Where do we go?" demanded Iridia. "The door's on the other end of the room!"

Stoney, who had managed to pull himself completely out of the floor by now, slammed a boulder-like fist into the wall behind them. The wall very rapidly developed a very large crack, which, with a little more coaxing from Stoney, widened enough for them to pass through.

The companions exited the room as quickly as they could. Once they were all through, Stoney replaced the rubble that had fallen out of the wall where he'd torn it open. Moments later, they heard a bone-jarring moan move through the area, passing through stone as though it were air.

Hearing the moan, Apoc gasped and ran, only to find he had nowhere to run to.

"Gorefist," said Stoney. "I've heard him--seen him. It couldn't be anyone else." Guinea, partially conscious now, groaned. Silently, Stoney agreed with him. The party had obviously been weakened by their battle with the two creatures. They couldn't fell Gorefist in this condition.

The moaning continued, growing higher... then lower... then louder.

Sengoku was digging in his pack. He brought out two swirling purple potions and pulled the stopper on one. He turned to Guinea, pouring the liquid between the elf's lips. Guinea swallowed it; a few seconds later, his eyes opened and he woke to see his companions standing around, looking anxious. "Did we win?" he asked. Then, "Stoney? How--"

Zarge was paging through a spellbook when the moan suddenly grew louder and, somehow, much more real. "No time to talk!" he shouted. "He's here!"

Across the room, the wall rippled as though it were water. Suddenly it stretched into a bubble that then seemed to pop. Out of it stepped--if it could be called stepping, for the figure hovered in midair--something that struck fear into the companions' hearts.

On the surface, it looked like any other ghost they had seen. A gnome--heavily muscled, dressed in shadowy leather armor, brass knuckles wrapped around its hands. Its head looked as though it had been split in two by an axe blade, though the gnome appeared not to notice the wound. On the surface, this could have been any other ghost; but they knew, right away, that it wasn't. As soon as it stepped through the wall, all the companions immediately felt the immense quantities of pure Chaotic energy that radiated from the creature. Around its neck hung a spectral amulet, in which was embedded a stone that seemed to contain all possible colors--or no color--all at once. The ghost lord raised its head; it looked straight into the eyes of the adventurers. Its gaze was one of pure hatred.

Had they been any less experienced, had they seen any less horror than they had, the companions would have been frozen with fear. As it was, they were certainly frightened enough, but each of them gripped a weapon or ran through the words of a memorized spell, readying themselves for battle.

"Coward!" Iridia shouted, breaking the heavy silence. "You think you've weakened us by sending your minions against us!" She raised her axe, preparing to charge the ghost lord. "You haven't, Gore-fist. You've been teaching us! We know how to destroy you, and we won't retreat!"

With that, she charged, her companions only a few steps behind her.

Silently, Gorefist watched them rush towards him. Iridia had led their charge, so she reached him first. With a mighty yell, she swung her axe with all her might at the apparition. The axe slipped through him as it he were butter and it, a hot knife--but it did no noticeable harm. The momentum threw Iridia to the floor, and her axe went skittering away.

Iridia grabbed a dagger from her belt; it would have to do until she could recover the axe--which didn't look likely, since it now lay against the far wall of the chamber. Or--was it possible?

She saw Stoney attacking the ghost, but the giant might as well have been attacking a cloud, for all the good it did. The ghost lord simply ignored the stone giant.

Zarge was chanting, power gathering on his fingertips. The ghost turned its full attention to the wizard, ignoring the stone giant. Iridia concentrated on the amulet and sent Apoc edging towards the axe, back to the wall, looking terrified (as usual). Gorefist didn't appear to notice him.

The ghost lord had yet to make a move; when he did, they were unprepared. The stone giant's body distorted just as the stone wall had; it seemed to bend and bubble, looking less like a stone giant and more like a piece of clay, deformed beyond recognition. As the giant slumped to the floor, there burst out of it not a motionless phantom but a misty streak rushing towards them.

The mist that was Gore-fist engulfed Zarge just as he completed the spell, and a magic missile zipped through the ghost, bouncing off the wall and back through the ghost again. The moan became a howl of agony; then it mixed with Zarge's renewed chanting. The wizard could feel the cold, clammy hand of death. His knees weakened and he thought he would fall, but he kept casting spells.

Suddenly, the mist lifted and Gore-fist retreated. Guinea was standing, holding his holy symbol, invoking the power of Corellius over the undead. The misty image of the ghost lord thinned a little, wavering. But Guinea was at the end of his strength. The holy symbol dropped from limp fingers and he slumped to the ground beside Zarge. The ghost lord advanced again, and suddenly Guinea felt the ghost hitting him, its fists suddenly, inexplicably solid. He tried to defend himself, but it was nearly useless. He thought he heard a dwarven war cry, but then everything went dark.

Apoc's errand had been successful and Iridia snatched her axe from the goblin. "Attack him!" she ordered. "Use rocks!" Apoc obeyed, sending an irritating series of rocks through the ghost lord. Iridia aimed her axe at the amulet Gore-Fist wore, hoping to break the stone. Sengoku stood guard over the two fallen elves, holding a bottle of holy water.

Iridia's aim was good. The axe connected solidly with the stone of the amulet. Iridia felt raw Chaos smashing into her, like electricity. She tried to move and found she couldn't. Gore-fist's amulet glowed, many colors blending in a whirl of confusion to form a blinding white light that flashed out and connected itself to Iridia's amulet. She could only watch, paralyzed, as the red stone in her amulet began to vibrate wildly. An explosion turned the world red, then dark.

Sengoku held the holy water in one fist, a dagger in the other, and watched as Iridia's amulet exploded, hurling her against the wall. He and Apoc were the only ones still standing, and Sengoku was nearly weaponless. If this wasn't a last stand, then nothing was. The dark elf straightened his shoulders, determined to fight to the last.

Gore-fist was now hovering in the center of the room, observing. The ghost lord's lips parted in a sickly white smile, his mouth opened wider, and up from the undead gnome's chest issued a horrible, wailing laugh. His amulet glowed in a kaleidoscope of maddening color.

Apoc ran towards Sengoku. Was the goblin trying to help? Or--

Still a little confused as to what exactly was happening, Sengoku didn't expect the tiny hands that snatched the holy water from his fingers, and he was just a little too slow to stop the goblin's flimsy dagger, which Apoc rammed into Zarge's chest--Or, tried to, anyway.

The wizard wasn't quite unconscious. He managed to evade the dagger, and instead of piercing his heart it sank into his shoulder. The pain jerked him awake just enough for him to sum up the situation, and he pulled a scroll from his belt. A single word was enough to activate it, and a white flash engulfed Apoc. When the wizard's eyes adjusted, the goblin was gone.

Apoc found himself in a small, musty chamber, still clutching the bottle of holy water. He was finally free of Iridia's amulet, free to go as he pleased. But the goblin did a double-take as he saw what filled most of the tiny room, leaving just enough room to walk around it: A platform, on which rested an open sarcophagus.

Curiosity prompted Apoc to look inside, and what he saw there threw his mind into confusion. In the coffin rested the skeleton of a gnome, dressed in leather armor, with brass knuckles wrapped around its hands. Its skull was split in two. Around the skeleton, spilling out of the sarcophagus and onto the ground, was a greenish mist that stank of death and Chaos. Apoc drew back, afraid.

There was the door--the pathway to the safer upper levels of the dungeons. But, there was the coffin, with its grisly contents. And--there was the choice.

Apoc only had to think about it for a few seconds. Then he laughed and marched out the door, intending to find some rocks and go kill a bat for lunch.

A sudden chill went through him. Feeling something was wrong, he jerked to a stop, just as a spectral blade shredded the air where his head would have been. Screaming, he ran back into the room he had just left, pursued by a ghostly figure in faint, shadowy mail. He was watching the ghost, not where he was going, and as he ran screaming around the pedestal, the ghost in hot pursuit, he tripped over a broken part of the floor. His scream hit a new pitch, and the vial of holy water he still clutched flew out of his hand--and into the open coffin.

Sengoku stood his ground as the ghost advanced, still laughing grotesquely. But suddenly, the ghost stopped dead. On its face was a look of pure surprise, which melted quickly into anger, then terror, then pain. The edges of the ghost's form melted, twisted, and flowed; its features became unrecognizable as it screamed, a never-ending sound that seemed to cut through the fabric of space. Gore-fist became more and more transparent, his amulet flashing crazily, confused color and sound and misty features melting into one deafening spectacle--

Suddenly, all was silent: The ghost lord was gone. The amulet it had worn, somehow having survived its master's demise, clattered to the floor; the stone was colorless now.

Sengoku stood, speechless with surprise and amazement. But as he stood there, he heard something new: A deep, rumbling sound, seemingly from the depths of the caves. Soon he could feel vibrations; then, small stones began falling from the ceiling, pinging off the walls. Realization dawned on him: Earthquake!

Apoc's flight carried him out the door and down a passageway he had never before seen, the ghost hot on his trail. He didn't hear the first rumble of the earthquake, or much heed the pebbles which began to pelt him; but when small boulders began falling, Apoc paid attention to them--only to have the entire passage collapse inwards! He was trapped--the ghost could walk through walls, and he couldn't. But, strangely enough, as Apoc dodged flying rocks, the ghost didn't come.

The earthquake became even more intense. Sengoku was doing his best to protect Guinea and Zarge; he couldn't see Iridia or Stoney anymore. He was already bruised all over from falling rocks. Now, the very floor of the dungeon was moving in heaving waves, like the sea in the midst of a hurricane. Despite his native agility, Sengoku was thrown to the ground--just as the far wall exploded inwards.

Apoc was suddenly released from his prison, though, unable to stand on the shifting floor, he couldn't do anything about it. Screaming in terror, he clutched at anything he could find to hold on to--which wasn't much.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sengoku looked up at the ceiling. A huge crack had begun to form, circling around a section of the ceiling. Horrified, Sengoku realized he, Guinea, and Zarge were lying beneath what would become a huge boulder--and more than likely, it would drop on them. Gathering his strength, Sengoku forced himself up on one hand. With the other, he grabbed Zarge's wrist and half-dragged, half pushed the wizard out of harm's way. Small pebbles had begun to sift out of the crack in the ceiling now; Sengoku picked himself up as yet another heave of the floor sent him sprawling. He grabbed Guinea, pushing frantically, using strength he hadn't known he had. A large chunk of rock hit Sengoku's shoulder, throwing him down yet again.

The boulder fell.

Apoc's screaming was so loud that, for a minute, he didn't notice that the earthquake was dying down. But then, he picked himself up, realized that the ground was only shaking slightly now, and looked through the gap which had been created in the passageway. He was looking into a huge room, the floor of which was covered with boulders. In the center of the room, a rocky, waist-high pillar jutted up from the floor. At the top of it, something metallic winked at Apoc.

The goblin was starting to feel cocky again. Thinking there might be gold to be had here, he ran towards the center of the room (the earthquake had all but ceased) and peered at what lay on top of the rock.

It was an amulet. The stone was gray and lifeless, though the mithril chain was fine and the setting ornate. Apoc recognized it as Gore-fist's amulet. Hesitantly at first, then quickly, he put forth his hand and touched the amulet. Nothing happened. Apoc giggled to himself, then grasped the chain in a grubby fist. Lifted the amulet. Held it up. And put it on.

Once again, nothing happened, and Apoc giggled again. He'd survived the earthquake, and he'd found the amulet; so Apoc felt it belonged to him. Finders, keepers, finders, keepers, he chanted silently to himself. Tucking the pendant under his ragged clothing, Apoc headed for the nearest gap in the wall.

Guinea woke up, feeling terrible pain in his head and his arm, not counting numerous bruises and cracked bones. He tried to get up, but he couldn't. He tried to look around, but he couldn't do that either. He slowly realized that he lying under something cold and hard... Rocks? Was he lying in a pile of rocks? Guinea tried to free his hands. His right hand was stuck, but the left one seemed to have a little more room for movement. With his left hand, Guinea started to throw away rocks that were covering him.

Several dozens of rocks later, the elf was able to stand up. The chamber was ruined. Walls were broken to pieces and half of the ceiling had fallen down. Guinea felt ruined, too--weak, dusty, and exhausted. His chain mail had been completely destroyed, and he had lost all of his weapons. Nevertheless, the first thing Guinea did was to look for his friends. He walked around the room (or rather, the remains of it), but found nothing. Suddenly, he heard a weak voice coming from a pile of stones. Despite his pain, Guinea started rolling the rocks aside.

"Thanks," said Iridia. "Where are the others?"

"I have no idea," replied Guinea, "I guess somewhere around, buried by the rocks. Can you walk?"

"I think I can."

"We should try to find them."

"Yes, and my axe too. I've lost it, and my dagger. Damn! I don't have any weapon to defend myself with."

"So we have the same problem," sighed Guinea as they started the search.

The edge of a robe betrayed Zarge's presence beneath a pile of rubble. Guinea called Iridia over, and they began extricating the wizard from the rocks.

It didn't look good from the first, and once they had Zarge completely uncovered, their fears were confirmed--the wizard wasn't moving. Guinea knelt next to him.

"Is he alive?" Iridia asked.

"I don't know," Guinea replied. "oh..."

"What?"

"There's a heartbeat, but so weak..." Guinea said. "If only I had my healing potions..."

"Can you manage another spell?" Iridia asked.

"I don't know," said Guinea, but he touched Zarge's forehead and closed his eyes, murmuring the cryptic words. Slowly, energy built up on his fingertips and flashed over Zarge's still form. Guinea collapsed next to the wizard.

"Guinea!" Iridia exclaimed, just as Zarge stirred and opened his eyes.

"I'm all right..." Guinea's voice sounded utterly exhausted. Iridia breathed a sigh of relief.

"Stay there. Rest. I'm going to look for the others," Iridia ordered. Not that the two could have stood under their own power to help her, in any case.

As she searched the rubble, something caught Iridia's eye. It was a hand... long, elven fingers. Sengoku?

He must be dead, Iridia thought. There's no way... She put her shoulder to a gigantic boulder that rested on top of the elf's body, then began clearing away yet more rubble.

Sengoku was dead. His chest had been completely smashed by the boulder, and a trickle of blood from his mouth ran through the dust on his face. His crossbow had been broken in two by the rocks. Iridia dug further, moving the body aside, and discovered Sengoku's pack. Though most of the equipment inside had been smashed beyond recognition, Iridia managed to salvage a few rations and a set of throwing daggers.

Guinea and Zarge had recovered a little and were now cautiously standing. Iridia reported her findings to them, seeing her sorrow at Sengoku's death mirrored in their faces.

Together, they began to search the rubble again, but, though they searched thoroughly, they never found the stone giant.

It was an almost inaudible sound at first, and none of them noticed until Guinea paused, stopping the others. "Listen!" he said. And they all heard it: A low moaning...

"They've gotten out..." Zarge murmured.

"Who's gotten out? What do you mean?" Iridia demanded.

"All those undead in those secret rooms... the earthquake has released them!" Zarge said.

Iridia gasped. "We're in no condition to fight them! Run for the stairs, now!"

"But which way?" Guinea looked about the ruined room. "Not only did we come into this room through a wall, but that earthquake certainly mangled all the hallways. I would be amazed if--"

Iridia interrupted him. "It doesn't matter! Just run!"

They ran. They picked a hole in a wall and ran. Because of the earthquake, there were lots of new pathways, so each time they hit a dead end, it wasn't hard to find another crack to crawl through. Several times they found holes in the ceiling they could climb up through, but often, the holes only went up a few yards.

Suddenly they heard a high-pitched scream. Iridia recognized it at once. "Apoc! Where the hell is that little creep?!"

"Ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta..." The little goblin was really happy; as he walked along the passage he sang, "Me tricked the silly peoples, me tricked the silly peoples!"

A sudden moan from out of nowhere stopped him. He remembered that thousands had been buried here--but was the gate of death secure enough not to be broken by magic? Another moan came from the wall just to his right, making him shudder. He began to run as the wall collapsed, freeing dozens of half-rotten dead bodies. It didn't take long for Apoc to realize that zombies were not as slow as goblin legends made them out to be. In fact, some of them were very, very fast. He screamed.

Iridia stopped for a second, but then continued to run, not wanting to be left behind. She heard another high-pitched scream. The goblin's? Iridia dismissed the possibility.

The voices of the undead were chasing Apoc. The goblin ran mindlessly; and the horrors of death ran behind him. Suddenly he felt something heavy on his shoulder. He turned this head and saw a bone, which long ago had been someone's hand. Apoc screamed again and began to run faster, but the hand remained. He turned his head further and saw that the bone was not connected to anything. A skeleton, missing one "hand", was running six feet behind him.

At last he saw a door in the end of a long corridor. Apoc was breathing heavily, and he was tired, but the understanding that the end of chase was near sped him up. The end was near...

Iridia and her friends ran to the stairs and climbed up. On the upper levels, the wails of undead were faint, and they understood, that the chase has ended...for them.

Apoc was three feet away from the door when from a side corridor came a *HUGE* skeleton. The goblin didn't know it, but in life, the skeleton had belonged to a Moloch. Apoc screamed for the last time in his life.

Zarge, Iridia and Guinea sat on the stone floor. They were very, very tired, but not sleepy. No one could be sleepy after that kind of a chase. They were silent, thinking mostly of Sengoku. Finally Zarge sighed and pulled himself up.

"We must go," he said. His friends got up too; they all began to walk.

Two days later, three tired, hungry, and disheveled warriors entered the Dwarven village and were immediately ushered into the town hall for an audience with the elder. The trek back had been hard; traveling through the caves was dangerous enough for well-equipped travelers, and the group had had to make do with very little food and almost no weaponry. Still, the obstacles they encountered seemed childishly easy compared to their struggle with Gorefist.

For nearly two hours, Iridia recounted the events leading up to and following their defeat of Gorefist. Tholin listened in silence, though Iridia could see he was grieved at hearing of Sengoku's death. Finally, when Iridia finished, he spoke.

"The amulet Gore-fist wore is an also an amulet of binding; but as it bound Gorefist to his minions, it was also linked irreversibly to Chaos itself--in fact, was probably the thing that turned him to Chaos in the first place. I did not know it still existed; but its existence explains why so many have been killed trying to defeat Gorefist.

"That you have succeeded where others have failed can mean only one thing: You have proved yourselves; you are indeed the ones our priest has foretold, the ones who will finally vanquish Chaos once and for all. If you are willing to undertake the quest, I will do my best to help you."

It took only a brief conference between the three before Iridia again turned to the elder. "We will defeat Chaos, or die trying."

"Thank you," replied Tholin. He stood, pressing a hand against a hidden panel in the wall. A soft click was followed by a low rumble as the huge stone chair slid along the floor, revealing a lever. Tholin grasped the lever with both hands, throwing his weight against it, and, from the depths of the caverns, they heard another low rumble.

Tholin turned to them. "The portal which once stood between us and the deepest parts of the caves is now open. If you are to win against Chaos, you must win quickly, or it will overwhelm us all."

As Tholin's chair slid back over the lever, the dwarven elder turned towards the chest in the corner of the room. He opened it and removed a silvery cloak, handing it to Guinea. "You will need this," Tholin said. "Wear it, and you will become completely invisible." To Iridia he gave a new axe, keen-edged and made of a metal that Iridia immediately recognized as eternium. To Zarge, he gave a large purse full of gold, saying that the wizard would know best what he required.

"May Morodwyn bless your quest," Tholin said. They left the dwarven elder's presence with the knowledge that their adventures had just begun.

EPILOGUE

Deep in the caverns, a tiny wisp of a ghost rose from the mutilated body of a goblin. Around its neck, it wore a mithril chain from which hung a stone that seemed to flash every color at once, or perhaps no color at all...

Die Gedanken sind Frei

[Edited 6 times, last edit on 1/10/2003 at 14:56 (GMT -5) by Iridia]

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