(Sorry for the massive wait, best laid plans of mice and men an all that. Because it is my world using bits from others, here is a brief history of my Greyhawk. As per usual, anything you recognize is not mine and I make no money from this; poor me.)

Far to the east of Waterdeep, there is a mountain range known as The Broken Fingers. There are four passes through the mountains, part of the reason for the name. At one time they were well guarded; a keep at each, situated near or in the pass itself, housed soldiers that kept the Savage Tribes from attacking the city that lay at the foot of the mountains, on the banks of the Selintan River. The city was once known as the Free City of Greyhawk.

Originally a small trading outpost it grew until it boasted to being the Gem of the Lands. Zagyg Yragerne, a man of unknown origin, came to the city and quickly made his way onto the Oligarchy, a small group of wealthy merchants who acted as the ruling body of the city. Shortly thereafter they named him Lord Mayor, and under his rule the city was brought into a Golden Age. The city's coffers were overflowing; trade in and out of the city had never been greater.

Then the Lord Mayor vanished. There was no indication of foul play and he left no sign as to where he was going or when he intended to return. Some speculated that he stole from the city and fled; but that rumor was soon put to rest. Nothing was missing except the Lord Mayor himself. The Oligarchy reassumed command of the city and tried to continue. Unfortunately, several of the outlying territories; that had been brought in under the Lord Mayor's rule, declared independence from the City. This caused the City to decline.

The Oligarchy launched a campaign to regain the outlying territories. Instead of negotiating, as Lord Mayor Zagyg had, they used force, stretching their armies wide hoping a show of strength would bring them to heel. All this succeeded in doing was losing countless lives and weaken the City's defenses.

Just a few short years after the Lord Mayor's disappearance, the Savage tribes tested the waters for invasion. They sent small forces comprised of goblins, orcs, and bugbears to the four passes and found that three of them were still fairly well defended, though not nearly as well as they had been in the past. The fourth was completely unguarded and it was through this pass that they spilled forth.

The Savage Wars were long and bloody. Refugees from the City poured west to escape the battles. Many abandoned lands that their families had lived on for generations, in the hope of staying alive elsewhere. There was a school for magic on the western shores, maybe the wizards would protect them should the City fall; and if the City's defenders were finally victorious they would return and celebrate.

Despite being severely outnumbered and under poor leadership, the City was holding, but the Savage Tribes wanted the Free City of Greyhawk to fall. No one was quite sure of the motives for the attacks, and many didn't care. They simply wanted the war over so they could get on with their lives. Then the leaders of the Savages did something very foolish. They summoned a hoard of demons to assist them. Under this new onslaught the City finally fell. However, as is the way of demons, they then turned on those who summoned them and drove the savages back over the mountains.

The demons have since occupied the remnants of the city. It was expected that they would wash across the land like a corrupted tidal wave, consuming everything in its path. However this never happened, for some unknown reason they simply stayed put in the ruins of the city and a few outlying areas. They took all but one pass from the Savages.

Despite the demon occupation, life in the west grew into what is now a slightly tarnished yet shining city known as Waterdeep. It is called A City of Splendors, though just like everywhere else it has its less than savory side. This city grew up around the Wizard's School known simply as The M.A.G.I.C. Academy. It was said to have been started by Thaddeous Spellbinder, and rumor has it that he still resides there to this day. This should be impossible, and some say that it is a different person, each successor simply assuming the master's name when they take over. Whether this is true or not, the school and city have flourished.

-x-x-x-x-x-

(Enough of the history lesson, on with the story.)

Delras stormed from his scrying room, his usually neat short brown hair stood at odd angles from him grabbing at it in his anger, his icy blue eyes flashed. For ten years that damned warlock had unknowingly kept him from his prize. But that was okay because there was no temporal conjunction in all that time. An alignment of time across all existence was necessary, and, since time is flexible, they do not occur at regular intervals. There had been one a few days after his first attempt to retrieve the girl, but a miscalculation had sent her to that infernal Alternate Material Plane, and no variation of the summoning had been able to even touch her. On top of that her damn familiar was with her now, making her stronger. He had gotten desperate and sent his golem, then that tiny giant had to go and kill it. Of course that wasn't really a bad thing, as the stupid golem had taken his instructions far too literally and would have drowned the girl. No, he needed her alive, her lifeblood flowing. Now another conjunction was approaching; it would be at its peak the fifth hour of the day five days after tonight, Long Night. The next one after that wouldn't be for approximately 8 years, give or take a month. Perhaps he should send something with a few more brain cells than the golem.

Delras strode with new purpose through the halls of his keep. He enjoyed the fear he saw in the eyes of the few servants he passed. After leaving Waterdeep he had spent a few years travelling on his own, eventually he met a few people he could get along with. They weren't friends, nor really companions, they were useful to him. The first he had met was Brega, a swordswoman with some serious anger management issues. She had just escaped a hangman's noose, having killed everyone in a small village after a kid tried to take a silver necklace from her. Apparently it was the only thing the muscular blond girl had kept after killing her parents. There was probably more to the tale but Delras simply didn't care.

Then there was Kalysta and Namine, twins yet polar opposites. Kalysta had hair as black as night that she kept in a braid so tight he was sure it would split the skin of her face, and her eyes were just as dark and filled with a malicious glee that only got brighter the more pain she inflicted on her victims. Namine had inscrutable dark blue eyes and long white hair that reached past her knees. Delras had never seen any emotion on the woman's face and often wondered if she was a simulacrum gone wrong.

He strode with regal grace down the stairs and headed out into the courtyard, casting a quick Endure Elements to protect himself from the biting winter's chill. There chained in the center was his Winter Wolf. The creature had fur as white as new snow and stood almost 5' at the shoulder. It had sought to live in the caves near the keep, believing it to still be ruled by savages. Now it, its mate, and cubs were his slaves, resistant and annoying slaves, but his slaves none-the-less. Delras hoped that, with its icy breath and substantial claws it could defeat the tiny giant, should it make an appearance.

"Wolf, I have a task for you." He grabbed the chain and led the beast back to the scrying room. He cast the spell to show the wolf the Halfling. "I am going to send you to near her location, retrieve her; she is the only Halfling on that plane as far as I can tell. Bring her back to where you entered that plane." Delras grabbed an amulet he had on a nearby table and placed it around the wolf's neck. "I want her in one piece, I don't care what you do to anyone with her, but she must be alive. Once you have her and are back in the forest speak 'return' and the amulet will bring you and her back here as long as you are touching her. Fail and I will kill your mate and cubs; they will join my undead army. Understood?" What he didn't tell the wolf was that all but one cub was already dead and reanimated into his undead army. At the wolf's nod, Delras removed the muzzle he kept on the animal and directed him onto the runic circle that would send him to the Alternate Material Plane. With a flash of light and a sound of ripping canvas the wolf was gone.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Lora woke on the morning of Dec 21st with a severe case of homesickness. She missed Oakhurst, and her friends, but most of all she missed Max. For as long as she could remember, her birthday always started with him standing by her bed smiling. Max wasn't really the hugging type but on her birthday he always gave her at least three. But this year, there were no hugs to be had from him, there would be no Long Night celebration, there was no Damis to make her laugh, no Amaryllis to make potions with, and no Max to cheer her up.

She sat on her huge bed with her knees pulled up, as a few silent tears rolled down her cheeks. All the other girls, including Hermione, had gone home for the holidays so she had the dorm to herself. She considered hiding in there for the whole day, but she had promised Harry and Ron that she would go to breakfast with them. Remembering that promise had her dragging herself from her bed and getting ready for the day. She could not bring herself to spend the time needed to do her hair, so she just put it into a single braid that she pulled over her right shoulder. Then she made her way to the common room.

Harry and Ron were waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. Upon seeing the broad smiles both wore she gave a slight smile, "Ready for breakfast?" It was a silly question really. Ron was always ready to eat, no matter when it was, and Harry always ate a little breakfast, even if he often skipped lunch. One time she had asked him about it, and he had said that he was used to not having lunch and then shrugged. She didn't press the issue. Hermione however often tried to force him to eat.

They entered the Great Hall to shouts of Happy Birthday at the same time as the Weasley twins launched some confetti that as it landed on people it left an inch wide dot of the same color. Lora actually laughed out loud when several dots blossomed on her friends' faces, including a fluorescent pink one on Ron's nose. No one in the room was spared, not even the lone Slytherin 7th year that proceeded to storm out of the room in a huff muttering something about "stupid Gryffindors."

The rest of the morning was spent telling stories of Long Night and her world, she even recounted the first time she did magic (having accidentally set Max's hair on fire). By lunch the spots had finally faded, relieving Professor Flitwick of the black one that had happened to surround his left eye. After lunch they managed to convince the twins and Percy, mostly Percy with promises of leaving him alone for the rest of break, to spend an hour having a snowball fight.

It had started off Harry and the twins against Percy, Ron, and Lora then swiftly devolved into a free-for-all when Harry hit George, or was it Fred, in the back of the head. Ron had just pegged Fred, or was it George, in the shoulder when a loud howl rent the air, sending a shiver down all of their spines.

"Perhaps we should all head in; we are a bit wet and should warm up." Percy, ever the voice of wisdom, stated, "I am sure the house elves would love to give us some hot cocoa and biscuits." Just then a white dog like form leapt out of the snow and landed right on top of Ron. He didn't even have time to scream. In less than a second the twins and Percy had their wands out and trained on the unfamiliar creature.

Just as they were each deciding what spell they should cast the creature spoke, "Surrender the Halfling and no other shall be harmed. Chose otherwise and none shall live." Lora watched in horror as Ron's eyes became unfocused and red started to stain the ground under him. Her mind flashed back to seeing Damien crushed by the giant and a strangled "no" fell from her lips. She refused to be the cause of another friend's death.

"I'll go with you no fuss. I'll even drop my wand belt here, as a show of compliance." She stressed the word 'wand' and her eyes cut to Harry then to what little they could see of Ron, his face growing paler by the second. She could only pray to whatever deity was listening that Harry would understand. She then unclasped her belt and let it fall into the snow. On shaking legs she walked as quickly as possible toward the wolf. She saw Ron's legs sticking out the other side, one twisted up underneath him in a most unnatural fashion.

She heard four voices behind her call out in protest. "I have to, I can't let any of you die for me. Hopefully, Ron will be o-okay." A small sob escaped her as the amount of red snow at the wolf like creature's feet continued to grow. When she was standing directly in front of the creature it reached its head around behind her and lifted her by the back of her cloak and her hair. It then turned and bounded off into the forest

(Stay tuned for the next chapter)

Hehe, just kidding.

As soon as the wolf took off Harry darted for Lora's belt, swiftly drew her silver wand, and raced to Ron's side, the rest of the Weasley's right there with him. "Pelor, heal Ron with your healing light." He touched the wand to Ron. He truly began to panic when nothing happened. "What am I doing wrong? I'm missing something, but what is it?" He feared that maybe he couldn't use the wand because he didn't have magic like Lora's. He looked at the wand, the silver engraved with a sun. The sun! Swiftly, he slid his thumb over the engraved sun then tapped Ron again. This time golden bands of light leapt from the wand and wrapped around Ron.

Just as the light was fading, Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore arrived. "What happened?" McGonagall, with her no-nonsense attitude got straight to the point. Four voices began all at once each trying to quickly tell the story. Dumbledore stepped in "One at a time, please. Percy, you are a prefect, what happened?"

While Percy explained Harry turned to Ron. Somehow his leg had straightened out and he was now either asleep or unconscious.

"…then the wolf like creature took off into the forest with Lora. Harry grabbed her silver wand, which I have never seen before, and said something then he was encased in light. Then you showed up." Percy was panting slightly as he finished.

Professor McGonagall's face was grim, "Fred, you take Harry and Ron to the hospital wing. George, you go get Hagrid and bring him here. Percy, you, Professor Dumbledore and I will begin searching for this Wolf and Miss Brushrange. Yes, yes once they are either delivered or retrieved you two may return to help with the search, since I doubt I could stop you anyway. Harry, I want you to stay in the hospital wing and explain what happened to Madam Pomphrey. Stay there until we return."