A/N: With kind regards to the grand and inspiring Nicolas Cage.
Chapter 34
Nothing about the Planar Sphere seemed to surprise Leah of Candlekeep anymore. To discover that it drew its power from hearts of powerful demons, enabling its ability to jump from one plane of another, might have sounded shocking to her before, but having seen so many strange and disturbing things while in the sphere already, she simply turned around to ask Lavok where should they look for demons and how many hearts the sphere required. The sphere had taken them back to the home plane of the demonic essence possessing Lavok, so at least they had a wide array of demons to choose from. The downside was that demons were... well, incredibly dangerous, and naturally opposed to surrendering their hearts, or any other body parts.
At least the engine of the sphere required only a single demon heart, however, Edwin immediately interceded and asked that they would fetch as many hearts as they could, simply on the account that only Lavok knew exactly how to operate the engine of the sphere, and since he was unable to go to the engine room himself, mistakes could be made, requiring them to use a replacement heart. Leah could not refute the wizard's logic, much as she disliked the taxing requirement. And it was not as if they could harvest the hearts of imps or quasits, no, it had to be none other than the powerful tanar'ri. It was no surprise that Edwin wormed his way out of the actual demon slaying, claiming that he had to stay behind in the sphere and learn how to operate its control station, just in case Lavok expired before they had managed to return home to Faerun.
Once again, Leah was unable to find any gaps in the Red Wizard's reasoning, having to eventually agree with his suggestion. Deep inside, however, she felt a little concerned at how Edwin was acting. Certainly, the wizard had always behaved like a kid in a confectionary store whenever they had encountered something that involved mysterious arcane objects, so Leah had expected him to show interest in how the sphere operated, but she felt that there was something even more than that in Edwin's poorly disguised obsession with the sphere. Leah also wondered what would happen with the sphere once they had returned to Athkatla and Lavok had met his fate under his own sun. If Valygar insisted on the sphere being destroyed, Leah could already see that the tensions between the ranger and the Red Wizard could spill over to violence.
Still, she did not possess the time to think about such uncertain future just yet, especially not during their adventures on the abyssal plane. Leah was glad to eventually be done with their demon hunting, for she had hardly seen a more disturbing and depressing place than this home realm of the demons. The respite they had taken after the monumental battle with the possessed Lavok had not been sufficiently long, and slaying the numerous demons of the abyssal plane proved a heavy burden on their already waning reserves of strength, threatening to push them past the limits of their endurance. Lavok had explained that its own dangerous guardians protected the engine room of the sphere; Leah hoped that for their own sake they would be able to deal with these guardians swiftly. They needed to end this venture swiftly, the longer they took, the more their growing exhaustion made each subsequent encounter that much more dangerous.
Leah was grateful that at least she did not have to carry the demon hearts. She had taken the heart of the first slain tanar'ri from Valygar, a heavy, wet and still beating, mushy, fleshy bag of vileness, feeling disturbed from the mere touch. Fortunately, Minsc did not hesitate to relieve her from the gruesome burden, eventually presenting the three demon hearts to Lavok and Edwin once they had returned to the sphere, happy to take another short breather while listening to Lavok's instructions on just how to reactivate the sphere and initiate another planar jump. Leah's distracted and tired nodding along with what Lavok was telling them did not seem to convince Edwin, the Red Wizard insisting on coming along to the engine room to make sure that the demon heart was properly inserted in the sphere's control golem.
Having rested up and chewed on some tasteless iron rations, the large group of ten backtracked to the massive empty chamber with the floating obsidian sphere and the arcane runes engraved on the floor. To save time, Lavok had advised them on how to activate the runes in order to open the passage down to the engine room, but Leah was surprised to see that the recently sealed door with no lock or knob on it was looming wide open.
"Eh?" the young priestess blinked, scratching her head. "Was it already open when we returned from the abyssal plane?"
"I am... unsure," Jaheira confessed helplessly, the others around her shrugging as well. "I suspect we were too tired and unfocused to pay any attention to that doorway."
"I think it was open," Reyna, the Solamnic Knight, spoke up, but she did not appear entirely convinced either. "Or at least I think so..."
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter," Leah shrugged. "I don't imagine that Lavok would have made it possible for those engine guardians to escape, so the door was probably opened by someone entering rather than leaving the engine room... the question is... who were they?"
"Hmm…" Yoshimo rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. "I think I can smell a rat..."
"A cowl-wearing rat?" Viconia chuckled, flashing a grin at the rogue.
"Precisely," the Kara-Turan nodded swiftly.
"What are you talking about?" Leah asked, feeling a little out of the loop and confused. "Are you accusing Edwin of something?" The Thayan appeared outraged at the implication, glaring fiercely at Yoshimo and looking ready to blast the rogue to smithereens.
"I don't mean our friendly rat-in-a-cowl, Leah," Yoshimo explained, ignoring Edwin's wilting glare. "After we had entered the sphere, I developed this... feeling as if someone had followed us inside. They must have been hiding under invisibility and non-detection spells, however."
"Cowled Wizards!" Leah exclaimed, instantly realizing what Yoshimo was getting at. "It's probably that backstabbing sneak Tolgerias!"
"The wizards have followed us here?" Valygar looked furious at the news. "I say this is perfect. They will meet their doom here, then."
"Leah... it had to be mages who solved the riddle of the arcane runes and opened the sealed door," Aerie pointed out cleverly, lending another supportive argument to Yoshimo's assumption that the sphere had been invaded by the agents of the Cowled Wizards.
"Very well, it seems we all agree that the Cowled Ones have followed us inside, but it changes nothing, we still need to get to the engine room," Leah raised her voice to silence the chatter that had broken out amongst the group. "Their presence simply means that we must be doubly careful. Yoshimo, Valygar... you know what to do. The rest of us will remain here and wait. Silently," she added, looking at Minsc who was currently trying to explain the finer details of planar travel to a rather dumbfounded looking pair of Solamnic Knights.
"It's our friend, Tolgerias, alright," Yoshimo reemerged to report less than a minute later. "With three younger looking mages. Probably his apprentices."
"I say we cut them down where they stand," Valygar grunted.
"What are they doing down there?" Leah asked impatiently.
"Just walking around, marveling at the craftsmanship of the sphere… the apprentices are all taking notes," Yoshimo explained. "Cataloguing things... it's as if they feel completely unthreatened."
"That should make things a fair bit easier," Leah said hopefully, although she really was not eager to fight another powerful wizard so soon after the possessed Lavok, a battle from which they had not completely recovered. "Perhaps we can pounce upon them while they are distracted..."
"I may have a better plan, Leah, if you are willing to consider it," Jaheira suggested, doing so unusually politely.
"I'm willing to consider just about everything at this point," Leah shrugged, urging the druidess to explain.
"This Tolgerias struck me as a mouthy type," Jaheira said thoughtfully. "Do you think you could keep him talking for at least a minute? I will not need more than that..."
"Oh... I think I know what you mean..." Leah's lips twisted in a knowing grin, the young priestess rubbing her hands excitedly. "And sure, I can keep him yapping, as long as Edwin or Valygar do not interfere..."
"I will remain out of sight, Leah," Valygar agreed easily enough.
"I resent the dismissive insinuation regarding my fine application of the art of Thayan Diplomacy," Edwin huffed, pretending to look insulted. "In any case, these are not circumstances that require many words. (A juicy fireball up his face should suffice... or perhaps a Finger of Death spell. Talk about Tolgerias getting fingered... hah! (Ach, I really should not be as crass as a common guttersnipe!))"
"Just... just don't do anything at all... I promise you'll be able to fireball Tolgerias to your heart's content after I've had a brief chat with the man," Leah sighed, glaring at Edwin until the sulking mage finally nodded in understanding. "Right, it seems we are all ready... let's go have a chat with our favorite Cowled Wizard..."
The large group of ten well armed adventurers swiftly entered the next chamber, but the mages currently examining some of the sphere's engineering did not even notice them until they had already managed to spread throughout the hall, making sure not to stand in one big clump at the entrance. "Uh... Master?" one of the apprentices facing the arrivals with a worried stare spoke to Tolgerias, eventually having to pull on the older wizard's sleeve in order to get his attention.
"Ah... at long last, our traitorous friends arrive," the arrogant old coot turned around to face them with a grand, imperious wave of his hand. "Fool girl, did you believe that you could betray the Cowled Wizards and live to tell the tale? But in the end, you have served our needs just the same, opening the entrance and forging the path for us... but now you have outlived your usefulness, and so we can simply discard you."
"Are you sure that it's all quite so simple?" Leah spoke up quickly, sensing that Tolgerias was eager to blast them with his undoubtedly impressive array of magic. "I don't think that you have considered some issues where our aid might be necessary."
"Issues such as?" Tolgerias hesitated, giving her a suspicious evil eye.
"Well, I'm sure that a wise wizard like you would have noticed that we have traveled to some distant abyssal plane," Leah continued, with a corner of her eye watching Jaheira starting to murmur the quiet chant of her spell, standing behind Minsc's broad frame, out of sight. "Have you asked yourself how you will return to Athkatla?"
"A wise wizard such as myself will have no difficulties in understanding the intricacies of this magnificent sphere and how to control it," Tolgerias declared proudly. "If a mere hedge mage of the Corthala family could create this wonder, I should have no trouble comprehending its workings."
"You seem to be having difficulties comprehending simple piping," Leah pointed out with a sarcastic smirk, noticing that Jaheira was almost done with her spell, which meant that Leah no longer had to toy with Tolgerias to keep him distracted.
"You should watch your slanderous tongue, harlot, or I shall remove it for you!" Tolgerias barked, drawing himself up proudly, at first not noticing the effects of Jaheira's completed spell, insects beginning to emerge from every crack in the floor, wall and ceiling, buzzing black clumps forming and beginning to swarm around Tolgerias and his lackeys, ignoring Leah and her companions, Jaheira standing still and focusing, guiding the mass of insects at the hostile Cowled Wizards. The swarm fell upon the hapless foursome, the Cowled Ones desperately trying to fight off the buzzing gnats, but to no avail, the insects crawling under their robes and starting to bite them remorselessly, eliciting the first cries of pain, the younger apprentices starting to run around the room in panic.
"Aaaaaah! Nooooooo!" Tolgerias screamed, waving his hands frantically, trying to chase off the swarm, a doomed effort that only enraged the insects even more. "Not the bees! Not the bees!" he cried, dropping on the floor and starting to roll around as if he had been set on fire.
"Boo says the evil wizard is losing his shit," the Rashemi ranger stated, his sword at the ready. "Minsc is confused... but Minsc still knows one thing for certain - it's butt-kicking time!" he bellowed, leaping into the fray and swinging his sword with reckless abandon.
Panicking and being driven mad by swarms of biting insects, unable to cast any of their powerful spells, the four cloth-wearing mages were no match for ten seasoned warriors. The battle was over in seconds; perhaps the shortest and most one-sided fight in Leah's adventuring career. Looking at the stung, bloated, sliced and eviscerated corpses, and watching the clouds of summoned insects beginning to dissipate, Leah felt especially glad that Jaheira was on their side, and that they had not come across any hostile druids with intentions to use this unusual and cruel spell upon her group.
With Tolgerias and his goony apprentices out of the way, Leah and her friends were free to continue on their journey. After traversing several more chambers filled with more or less bothersome guardians of the sphere, the group of ten arrived at what seemed to be the very heart powering the magical construction. Narrow and rickety metal walkways stretched across dark and oily water underneath them, towards the center of the chamber, where a massive, fleshy and pulsating... blob was spread out in a shallow pool, connected with all manner of tubes and wires.
"So... when Lavok mentioned the golem at the heart of the sphere... I was thinking of something like a big friendly iron golem," Leah mused, staring at the disturbingly writhing mass in front of them. "This... isn't what I would call a golem..."
"A golem is an inanimate matter given life," Edwin explained, sounding impatient. "This inanimate matter could be anything, such as this blob of flesh. So yes, for all effects and purposes, this would count as a golem. (But if you are looking to meet a more common representatives of golem-kind, two of them are currently racing towards us with their fists raised.)"
"What? Oh... crap!" Leah swore, looking up only to see a pair of stone golems charging towards them, dangerously rocking the rickety metal bridge with their thundering steps. Reyna and Onvo stepped in to halt the charge of one of the golems, but the other ignored them and went straight for the defenseless Leah. The massive overhead swing would have cut her adventures short there and then, if not for Jaheira and Viconia, both simultaneously raising their shields above the covering Sorlyn, absorbing the terrible blow. The druidess and the drow were both knocked aside by the blow, but then Minsc was there in a flash, making short work of the unbalanced golem. The two Solamnic Knights were aided by Valygar, the ranger appearing behind the other golem's back and then quickly dismantling the massive stone guardian, leaving their path to the heart of the sphere finally free.
"Thanks, both of you," Leah looked gratefully at Jaheira and Viconia, the two women slowly getting back up to their feet, having endured the blow of the golem.
"Not worth a mention," Jaheira grunted, wincing as she rubbed her sore shoulder, picking up the shield that she had dropped and walking away without any further comment.
"Yes... what she said..." Viconia managed, looking in a great deal of pain as she held her shoulder tightly. "What in Shar's name possessed me to do something so stupidly heroic?" she hissed at herself angrily before starting to cast a healing spell to soothe her badly bruised shoulder.
"I really appreciate the effort, though," Leah leaned in to whisper, then calling on the dark gifts of her sire to channel the healing energy into the dark elf's hurt arm and relieving the pain. Still, even with healing, Viconia was unable to keep using her shield, Leah having to strap it on the drow's back. Fortunately, it seemed as if they were just about done with fighting planar interlopers and misguided guardians of the sphere.
"Yes, well, don't expect a repeat performance of something so stupid on my part," Viconia rolled her eyes expressively as they quickly rejoined the others, already gathered around the disturbingly pulsating heart of the sphere.
"Right, I guess we should put an end to this crazy adventure," Leah said with relief, reaching into Minsc's backpack and retrieving one of the grotesque, ugly tanar'ri hearts. "So, as Lavok said, we just... toss this heart to the... golem, and the sphere will jump back to Athkatla?"
"Give me that, you low-brow peasant. (Trust these uneducated brutes to destroy my precious sphere through such gross mishandling,)" Edwin scoffed, snatching the bloody heart from Leah's hands before she had managed to toss it to the golem. "Throwing it to the golem would simply overload the power source, and make any further planar jaunts impossible! (And we do not want that.)"
"Sounds good to me," Valygar grunted, giving the Red Wizard a threatening glare.
"Now wait just a moment," Onvo, the knight from Ansalon, spoke up, frowning at Valygar's suggestion. "We helped you brave the dangers of the sphere, and you would deny us the opportunity to return home? I judged you to have more honor than that."
"Hmm, Onvo does raise a good point, Valygar," Leah agreed after a moment of thought. "Why should we destroy the power source unless we really have to? We could use it to deliver Reyna and Onvo back to their world."
"I suppose," Valygar eventually backed down. "I still think that wizard is up to something, mark my words."
"Edwin is always up to something, I know that, but he wants to return to Athkatla just as much as we do," Leah replied, nodding for the Red Wizard to continue. "Do what you have to, Edwin, and get us back to Amn safely."
"Some recognition, at last," Edwin huffed, turning back to the fleshy blob spreading at the heart of the sphere underneath them, carefully examining one of its many hungry looking maws after another. "Yes... I think I see it now... (Based on the size and the weight of the heart, it should go into the large maw over there, in order not to overload the power source.) There we go," he exclaimed, having tossed the tanar'ri heart into the gaping, pulsating hole of the unsettling looking golem.
"And hopefully we won't wake up in a tiny cage and surrounded by drooling, inane feral halflings," Viconia whispered in Leah's ear, making the younger priestess chuckle, but her amusement did not last long, the sphere lurching again, power fading for a moment, but coming back on much more quickly than before, the massive heart underneath them bubbling and pulsing with a healthy pace, looking even more disturbing than when it had been inactive.
"So... did it work?" Aerie asked timidly.
"Obviously. (Or my name isn't Edwin Odesseiron, which it clearly is,)" Edwin mumbled, looking proud as a peacock. "I changed our planar jump path to Athkatla back in Lavok's control room before coming here, of course. Though you are welcome to verify my success at the sphere's observation room. (Even if anyone doubting my brilliance deserves to be roasted alive in a slow cooking oven.)"
"You mean the room with the glass floor, is that right?" the avariel asked, but Edwin did not dignify such a question with an answer. "Let's go and make sure we're really back in Athkatla," the blonde elf urged, Minsc, Yoshimo and the two Solamnic Knights immediately agreeing to accompany her, leaving the others to return to the control room and the dying necromancer Lavok.
Relief spread through the entire group upon the discovery that they had indeed returned safely to Athkatla. But even as Minsc was carrying the feather-light ancient necromancer out of the sphere to fulfill his final wish, to meet his death under his own sky, the tension and uncertainty surrounding the future fate of the sphere once again broke out amongst Leah's comrades, ignited by Valygar's simple question of who would now take charge of the sphere. Edwin, of course, was quick to argue that he deserved to be in control of the sphere, since he was the only one who had mastered its controls. To that, Valygar claimed that he would rather destroy the sphere than see it fall into the hands of another crazy mage.
"Listen, we already agreed that we would help Reyna and Onvo to return back to their home plane," Leah's patience finally ran out, urging her to snap at the two bickering parties. "Edwin will be needed to operate the sphere's controls, yes? And Valygar, you can accompany them if you don't trust Edwin..."
"I most certainly will do so," Valygar spoke darkly.
"Afterwards, you should return back to Athkatla, where we can all calmly discuss and decide what is to be done with the sphere," Leah continued. "How does that sound?"
"Why that sounds positively and perfectly acceptable, dear Leah. (Hah!)" Edwin replied sweetly.
"We will do so, unless the wizard succeeds in provoking me," Valygar finally nodded in agreement.
The argument eventually seemed to fade with that as they stepped out of the sphere, into the warm afternoon sun of Athkatlan summer, relieved and happy to once again be back on solid ground after the bizarre and dangerous planar jaunt. "Ah... it is the sky, after all," Lavok gasped after Minsc had carefully placed the old necromancer on the ground by the sphere's entrance. "I had forgotten how it looked after so long. I thank you... I wish..." He never got to finish the sentence, however, his strength fading quickly, head lolling to one side as he peacefully passed away now that his final wish had been granted.
"He is dead... Lavok the necromancer is finally dead," Valygar grunted, looking at his dead ancestor with a conflicted stare. "I can scarcely believe it. My family's vow has been fulfilled, and I am now safe, and yet I feel no satisfaction. I had no idea that it would be like this."
"I suppose it would be difficult to take in the discovery that the vile necromancer, menace to your entire family line, maybe wasn't as evil as you thought he was," Leah remarked.
"There is that, yes," Valygar nodded. "Could he actually have been redeemed, after all that time? Did he actually fight that demon presence to prevent it from escaping the sphere? If you had asked me this question even a day ago, I would have answered that such redemption was impossible. Now I am not so sure. Perhaps... perhaps I do not know all that I think I do. I have not seen as much of the world as I thought I did. A disturbing realization..."
"Yes, well, while you are wasting your time with pointless soul-searching, I will make a brief return to the sphere," Edwin announced loudly, turning to walk back inside. "It occurs to me that I have left my spell book at Lavok's control chamber."
"A likely story, wizard!" Valygar shouted, dashing after the Thayan.
"Accompany me if you wish, ranger, it is your own time to waste," Edwin replied in a dismissive tone, refusing to slow down as he walked, Valygar hot in pursuit.
"Should we follow them?" Leah wondered, feeling a little worried, considering the constant arguments and bickering.
"Let's just allow them to kill each other," Viconia suggested, looking dead serious as she spoke. "Face it, that is the only way this constant arguing will end and we will all be able to have some peace."
"Umm... tempting as it is..." Leah admitted. "Let's just give them a few minutes before we go check up on them..."
"Very well, wizard, here we are," Valygar barked once he and Edwin had arrived back at the control chamber. "Grab your vile spell book and let's be out of here."
"Ah, would you look at that... I had my spell book with me all the time," Edwin chuckled, looking thoroughly amused as he retrieved the book from a hidden pocket in his robes. "What a silly misunderstanding!"
"Are you playing games with me, wizard?" Valygar glared at Edwin, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"I don't even have to play games with someone as gullible as you," Edwin laughed in reply. "The ease with which I was able to lure you back in here was embarrassing, and you should be ashamed for being so predictable."
"Lure me here for what?" Valygar challenged angrily. "Is it a fight you want? I would have given you the satisfaction back outside the sphere!"
"No, it is not a fight I want, the fight was already won when you foolishly followed me back into the sphere," Edwin grinned as Valygar suddenly felt a pair of massive hands picking him up from the ground and squeezing him in a bone-crunching grip, the huge guardian golem holding him tightly and barely allowing him to draw breath. "You see, I made good use of my time studying the controls of the sphere while you brainless monkeys ran around the abyssal plane, fetching the demon hearts for me. I managed to discover a way to make the sphere recognize me as its owner, thus gaining access to many controls... such as those of the guardian golems."
"And you lured me back here for what?" Valygar managed, the ranger close to losing consciousness. "To... to just kill me? Some sort of... petty revenge?"
"Ah, but I do not plan to kill you... no, wait, actually I do, in a way. But you are not going to stay dead, my disagreeable friend," Edwin explained smugly. "Once my lovely guardian golem has finished squeezing the life out of you, I will proceed to raise you as my friendly undead pet servant."
"What... why?" Valygar wheezed. "Why would... you do..."
"Isn't it obvious, ranger?" Edwin scowled, crossing his arms on his chest. "Entrance to the sphere is irreversibly keyed to Corthala flesh and blood, which is why I still need you with me. But you have proved that while alive, you are a threat to my life and my plans, hence... I plan to rectify that and make you pleasantly obedient and agreeable."
"No… don't..." Valygar pleaded, but Edwin ignored him, instead giving a nod to the guardian golem. As the massive arms intensified their grip, Valygar felt like he was getting crushed between giant clamps, passing out from pain when the sound of his own ribs getting splintered reached his ears.
"That's enough, golem," Edwin ordered, watching the guardian construct release the lifeless corpse of the ranger, his broken body tumbling to the ground in a heap. "Now, let's make a planar jump somewhere safe, where I can begin the process of creating my friendly Valygar-zombie servant... (I believe I will call him Jeeves. Traditions are important, after all…)"
"So, this is the fabled Abeir-Toril of yours?" Reyna asked, looking around the dilapidated buildings and muddy streets, filled with foul-smelling puddles. "I must say, first impressions are somewhat... depressing."
"At least we will not be staying here for long," Onvo nodded in agreement.
"I can assure you that this is perhaps the most sorry looking place in the entire continent of Faerun," Jaheira remarked. "But there are also places of great beauty here... though I suppose you are more interested in returning home than sightseeing."
"Very much so," Onvo agreed, then frowning worriedly. "Your two friends have been in the sphere for quite a while now. Should we go check up on them?"
"I was thinking that too, actually," Leah said decisively, walking up to the sphere entrance and about to climb in when suddenly the doors slammed in her face and refused to budge. "What the... what's happening?"
"I have no idea... but in your place, I would get back, young lovely," Yoshimo warned, Leah quickly following up on his advice, noticing that the sphere was by now lurching and trembling, crackling with spikes of energy.
"What is that crazy wizard up to?" Onvo asked, clenching his fists helplessly.
"Edwin!" Leah shouted at the sphere, knowing full well that the wizard could not hear her, or simply would not care even if he had heard. "Stop doing whatever it is that you're doing and come out of the sphere!"
As in reply to Leah's fierce demands, the sphere crackled with angry, blinding purple energy that made them all briefly close their eyes. When they opened their eyes again, they saw the sphere popping out of existence with a flash of white light, leaving behind a massive spherical crater in the rubble of the collapsed buildings of the slums.
"That little Thayan snake!" Jaheira exclaimed, seething with anger. "He just stabbed us all in the back and took off!"
"And… he left us behind on Abeir-Toril..." Reyna gasped, slumping down on her knees, tears streaming down her face. "We will never be able to return home now..."