From the journal of Kenari Sanura
"I swear he was wearing the clothes of The Fated!" exclaims Ef Utan in doubt as he looks over the edge of the stairs.
Word of Wisdom returns through the air and lands next to us on the stairs. "I saw him teleport about half way down… I did my best to trace it, and believe he is in the bottom of the tower over there."
Multiple shots ring out and we all turn in surprise to see Melchior at the top of the stairs with gun in hand as he takes out more Scro snipers. "The battle is still going, people!"
There's a whiff of brimstone in the air and I turn back in fear to see that the succubus has returned with a wide grin behind Lenata. "My mind is my own, you undead skank!" I back pedal as fast as I can up the stairs to join Melchior and the red-skinned bard to try and help from a distance as Lenata dodges the monster's now clawed fingers. I can't help but grin in satisfaction as the air pops around her and suddenly Ef Utan is in her place with sword in hand. He swings it towards her midsection… but at the last minute turns it to the flat of the blade and launches her through the air towards the castle below like a ball and bat.
"Let's see if you can fly, bitch!" He yells down.
Word's eyes glow for a moment. "No… but she can teleport. I believe she is now in the same area where the golem retreated."
"Well here's hoping we don't have to go there, because we've got other fish to fry right now," Vedis replies sarcastically as she shoots an energy attack towards more Scro filling the other turrets. "By the way… there's a Reigar in the courtyard holding an unconscious Melchot captive… just in case you all might want to know."
There's a groan from the red-skinned woman as she collapses and her legs go out from under her. Lenata quickly wraps her arm around her shoulders to hold her up. "Come on, let's try and at least get some cover from these gunshots," she says as we return to the ruins of the room of cells to take cover behind a remnant of the wall.
"So… what is she?" Vedis asks curiously as Lenata tends to the unconscious woman. "I thought she was a Tiefling… but… she looks different."
"She's not a Tiefling… but she's definitely been touched by them," Lenata offers.
"She's a Hellbred," answers Ef Utan with a shrug of indifference. "Repentant evil souls trying to be good supposedly getting another chance, if you believe in that kind of thing."
"As a matter of fact I do," Lenata replies with a pleased smile.
Suddenly there is a great tearing sound as a chunk of the staircase we were on crumbles to the ground far below. "Great…anybody got another rope?" says Vedis in frustration.
"No need… looks like Kenari's is still here," Ef Utan calls out as he returns from the other balcony with rope and grappling hook in hand. He and I then return to the stairs to scope out the damage as the others discuss transporting the red-skinned woman. With a grunt and a heave the grappling hook soars through the air to catch on a large piece of rubble on the other side.
Once it's pulled taught and secured, I give it a test and with a wild grin run across the line with claws outstretched. With a leap and a roar I pounce on one of the hapless orcs and plunge my claws through his spleen with a satisfying crunch.
"What the hell," I hear Ef Utan say before he runs after me along the rope and follows with his own attack as he bull rushes one of the other Scro into falling off of the side of the tower.
The remaining Scro lunges at me with the bayonet on his now empty rifle, but I manage to twist to the side and avoid it as it chinks into the stone behind me. "One blade? Hah, I've got six!" I taunt as I flaunt them in front of my face. I am denied the satisfaction of seeing the Scro's response, however, as he's more occupied with the bullet that just appeared in his forehead.
"Dang it, Mel… that was a good taunt wasted!" I tease as the gunslinger and the others make it over the rope to join us with an out-of-breath Vedis bringing up the rear as she carries the unconscious Hellbred.
"Stow it, Kenari… we've got more coming!" warns Ef Utan as he kneels down to check the trap door to the balcony. Lenata quickly pulls a Tanglefoot bag and thunderstone from her pack and nods to Ef Utan, who opens the trap door just enough for her to toss them in and then closes it.
"Ummmn…. my head… where am I?"
All heads turn from the sounds of Scro below as we realize… the Hellbred woman is finally awake.
"We're on one of the turret balconies of the Walking Castle in the Harrowing fighting off a bunch of Scro looking for the Witchlight Marauder Key. Any of that ring a bell?" Ef Utan grunts as the Scro below push at the trap door and he reinforces it with his weight.
"Right… right…" she mutters as reflexively pats her waist looking for her gear that is no longer there.
"Oh, I imagine you'll be wanting this stuff back," I say with a start as I pull out the beaded mask, Black Nib & paper, and the scroll with the bard song.
She smiles and strokes the mask fondly before putting it in her sack, mutters something about how her song about Zagyg was much better, and then looks up with a start. "Wait… you have the Black Nib? There may just be a chance to fix things after all! The question is… do you trust me?"
"My magics revealed that you have a good heart, even if your appearance might not suggest it so," Lenata says with a smile and a nod.
"Hey, if Lenata trusts you…" Vedis mutters and the rest of us shrug and nod in agreement.
The Hellbred sighs in relief and smiles a toothy grin. "Great! My name is Violetta, and we really need to get to the basement where the Dream Stone is if we're going to have any hopes of making things right."
"The Dream Stone? It's in the basement of this castle?" Vedis exclaims in surprise. "But I thought it was huge?"
"Moot is what it is if we can't find a way through these Scro," Ef Utan mutters as he struggles to keep the trap door closed.
Hmmn… teleportation…transportation… I know I've got to have something… wait! What about that tapestry?
"Will this do?" I say as I sling my pack onto the ground and unroll the Tapestry of Psychoportation that we removed from that hallway in the Wax Works.
"I can't believe you have one of these!" Violetta exclaims in excitement. "Hmmph… this one is better than mine," she mutters as she skims over the symbols with her fingers. "Ok… this just might work!" She scoots over to Ef Utan. "I'm going to start singing, and I want you to count to 5. When you're done, we're all going to join hands as quickly as possible and hope to the gods that this works!"
Everyone nods and kneels within reach of each other as Violetta places her lips near the crack of the trapdoor and starts to sing a moaning dirge I have to struggle not to listen to.
"1…2…3…4…5!" Ef Utan shouts as we quickly grasp hands around Violetta as she manipulates the symbols on the tapestry and we disappear in a flash of light… to appear again in a large circular room with doors at the four directions that I haven't seen since the vision we beheld around the thrones in the pyramid before we came to the Harrowing.
Except this time… there seems to be a 20ft tall pyramid of crystal floating in the middle of it.
"Now I know my pack is bigger on the inside… but I don't think I can carry that," I joke as I move to investigate the doors.
"There's something odd about it…" Vedis mutters as she stares at the crystal pyramid in fascination. "It's like it's here… but not here." She reaches her hand out like she's in a trance and suddenly the pyramid flickers to reveal an odd shaped key in the middle of it.
Wait…was that what I think it was?
The pyramid flickers again, but this time stabilizes for a few seconds to reveal the key inside… just long enough for Vedis to lunge forward and remove it before it reverts back to the crystal pyramid. "Well there's that, at least… now what about the Dream Stone itself?
"This thing was supposed to be huge, right?" Ef Utan asks.
"The Imaskari wizard did say it was quite vast," Lenata nods.
"Hmmn…" he mutters as he walks around the stone and looks at it from different angles. "It's definitely not as big as it was described now… so perhaps…" he steps back to the edge of the room, covers one eye and reaches out to grab what has suddenly become a much smaller crystal pyramid that he puts in his pouch, "it's all a matter of perspective?"
I have to fight the urge to applaud the bodyguard from Sigil for his ingenuity as I refocus my attention on the doors in this room. "Just so everyone's aware… don't touch the doors. It seems that each of these babies has some wicked fireball traps rigged to them. It would be all well and good if they were pointing out… but these things are pointed in… probably to destroy the artifacts before anyone like us got our grubby paws on them." I chuckle. "Not that it did them much good."
"Okay… now that we have the key and the Dream Stone, we need to focus our energies on trying to get out of here," Violetta announces as Lenata gently helps her to sit on the floor with the tapestry. "Vedis, Word, I am going to need the help of both of you if this is going to work."
"I see…" says Word as he floats over to Violetta and sits cross-legged beside her. "You plan on pooling our energies in order to power the tapestry enough to return us to the Shadowsphere? I had tried this on my own previously…"
"As had I… but alone we were no match for the powers of the dimensional anchor. With this tapestry, however… and the added energy… we just might be able to make it work this time." Violetta grins hopefully as Vedis sits to her other side and they all hold hands. Their eyes close as a humming in the air starts to pick up… the vibrations getting stronger and stronger to the point that it makes me feel like my fur is going to stand on end. Hands begin to glow and spread as the energies of the three psions combine… and with a great flash of light and crescendo of noise we are suddenly falling through the air… towards the pointed top of a pyramid surrounded by Mulhorandi slaves and 10th Pit slavers.
With a whoop and a holler I land on the side of the pyramid near the top and begin a controlled slide. Ef Utan begins to slide down the pyramid not far from me and launches one of his TK punches into one of the overseers at the bottom. I take that as my cue and begin to yell…
"People of Mulhorand, your freedom is at hand! Rise up and take back your power from your oppressors!"
There's a second of shocked silence and then the crowd of slaves below goes wild as they use shovels, picks and whatever else they can get their hands on to break their chains and join in the fight. I hit the ground running once we reach the bottom and weave my way through the crowds looking for that elf I talked to before… what was she called… The Mithral Scarab. If I can find her, she can help be organize the resistance and rescue of the people once we're done with these slavers once and for all.
Ef Utan reaches the bottom and barrels through groups of slavers as golems and their 10th Pit riders are pulled down like the statues of deposed leaders. "What in the hells are Doomguard and Fated doing here?" I hear him yell in confusion before he begins to question their ancestry in Lower Planar Tongue.
I run past the offending bodyguard and dodge out of the way as Violetta focuses a blast of psionic energy into the crowd of slavers and golems before she collapses once again. We need some more help here… I know… we need a stampede! I turn quickly back towards the pyramid, grab Ef Utan, and slide down the edge of the hole to where the remaining large beetles that the slavers were using to dig are huddling from the noise and confusion. "We just need to give them some good incentive to run that way," I suggest.
"Leave that to me," Ef Utan says with a grin as he holds up a hand crackling with electricity. The large beetles squeal and chitter as he slaps each one of them on their hind quarters and charge up out of the hole in the sand at full speed in order to escape Ef Utan's makeshift cattle prod.
I grin wildly and charge up the hill after them with guns ablaze as I shoot at two Doomguards at the top of the stairs, with Melchior following suit and Vedis hurling her mindblades. Lenata finishes the last one off with a barrage of magic misses as we get to the top to witness the chaos we have created. Overseers are being torn to pieces as dead slaves litter the sand. I whisper a prayer that Bast might guide their souls to the afterlife… for they fought well for their freedom and fought to their last breath against this unforgivable evil.
"Hey, it's that guy I told you about!" yells Vedis as she points to a well-dressed man walking through the battle totally unaffected by the destruction around him. He stops and lifts his arms in a gesture before a large metal lion appears at his side.
"It's a Shakti!" gasps Lenata in amazement. I can only assume she meant the lion.
Ef draws his sword and growls before charging towards the stranger. "And he's got blasted Fated with him too!"
I'm about to run after him with the others when out of the corner of my eye I finally catch sight of the beaded hair of the Mithral Scarab in a struggle against a green-haired woman. She believed in me when none of the others would… I owe her! Making a quick decision I run through the battlefield and leap with claws drawn onto the unsuspecting woman's back and quickly finish her off as I grab her hair and embed my claws into the back of her neck.
"You have returned! I am glad to see that you are well," she says with a smile.
"As am I… time became very unpredictable inside that pyramid," I reply. "If you still have that vial I gave you, gather the survivors and meet us behind the dune I told you about while I look for that sorceress leading these 10th Pit bastards."
The Mithral Scarab nods and smiles wryly as she pulls an ornate dagger from her belt and tosses it to the ground at my feet. "No need… consider it a gift for all that you have done for us."
I grin and put the dagger in my sash as I run back to check on my friends. The stranger has disappeared, and the lion, it seems, has returned to its original state of a small metal statue on the ground. I reach down to pick it up, but get stopped by Ef Utan's hand on my shoulder. "Bad idea," he warns as he shows me the burn marks on his hand.
Suddenly there is a cheer in the distance. I look to see what the cause could be… and behold a sight for sore eyes as a saber-wielding Hadozee, a well-dressed Shou… and a black-furred Catfolk lead the charge of a group of armed slaves into the battle to clean up what's left of the 10th Pitt slavers.
Oh Gods… is it? "DASSAM!" I yell as I run towards him and leap into his arms, knocking us both into the sand.
"You're supposed to take me with you, remember?" he chuckles as he rubs his cheek on my hair and wraps his arms around me.
I swallow the tears that threaten to fall as I smile into his chest and clutch his shirt. "I couldn't help it… I'm sorry… I didn't know…"
"Sssh… it's ok… time to talk to your people, love." He stands up and helps me from the sand before gesturing to the remaining Mulhorandi slaves gathering around us.
I quickly wipe my eyes before turning to the Mithral Scarab and the rest of the slaves who are beaten…battered… but free.
"It's time to go home."