The duo landed in the middle of the mountains. Nenam didn't like the place already, but apparently Whiz didn't care; he was running off towards the west. "Where are we going?" Nenam shouted to the quicker Gnome. "To find us that rock we need!" He shouted back.
Talendor gazed across the mountains. He loved it here. Being a Dragon wasn't so bad, he thought to himself. Then he saw two tiny things scurrying across his home. He spread his wings wide, he loved flying as well. Talendor took to the air, and chased the tiny duo. He quickly overtook them, flying over their heads by just inches. With a thunderous roar, he landed on the ground in front of them. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Talendor spoke to them. Whizbang responded in a language Nenam never heard before. He picked up some Elder Wurm, but couldn't make their conversation out. Suddenly, Talendor roared violently, and spat fire at Whizbang.
The fire was searing hot, but Whiz expected it. He quickly summoned up his shield to protect him. "Go! Find a rock that will work!" He shouted to Nenam. "How will I know which one will work?" Nenam yelled back. "You will know, just GO!" Whizbang yelled as he countered Talendor's fire with an Ice Bolt. The Dragon and the Wizard were at a stalemate; with the fire and the Ice Bolt colliding there was no clear victor as the collision point fluctuated back and forth between the two.
Nenam ran, as fast as he could. He had no idea what to look for. Whizbang's instrucitons weren't the clearest. Then he saw it. A massive globe, floating in mid-air. It was Norrath. He could see Antonica, Odus, Faydwer, Velious...Kunark. He didn't know this continent that well, but he could make out the Dreadlands, the ruins of the Combine Empire. He gazed closer. He could make out Skyfyre Mountains, or so he thought. He sensed...something from the area on the map. Out of instinct, he reached toward the mountains. The next thing he knew, Nenam was holding the part of the globe in his hands. It was pulsing with magic, he could feel it. He ran back to Whizbang, hoping he wasn't too late.
Whizbang strained under the magic. He wasn't used to stretching his spells out like this. Talendor and himself had been locked like this for 5 or 6 minutes. "You know, this is getting boring!" Whizbang shouted to the dragon. "I do not care, you shall die for trespassing!" Talendor answered back. The answer was what Whizbang was waiting for. With the dragon using his mouth to both attack and talk, the power was dramatically weakened. Whizbang used the opprotunity to retaliate. He poured all of his mana stores into the attack, and unleashed an Ice Comet.
Nenam crossed over the last ridge to where Whiz was. With no warning, a giant ball of ice shot overhead, missing him by a few feet. Talendor was dead. Nenam ran over to the little wizard, who was sitting and panting. "What...did...you...find?" Whiz got out in short breaths. "How about this?" Nenam said as he handed the piece of the globe to the wizard. "This is it! Excellent work!" The plucky little Gnome said as he jumped up. "We have to get to work immediately! To Erudin!" Whizbang cast another teleportation spell, and they were gone again.
Odus. The backwater place of Norrath. Just as remote as anything can be. There were two major cities, Panieel and Erudin. Panieel was the "Evil Erudin"; a city of Heretics. They studied Necromancy and worshipped the evil gods. Erudin was in contrast, studying the arts of wizardry and worshipping the good gods. But the most important, and appealing to Whizbang, was the Library of Erudin. Every book made in history was there, and soon, so would be the duo.
Nenam landed in a forest, amidst a set of Wizard Spires. Whizbang was right behind him. "Lets go!" the tiny wizard yelled as he ran off. "Don't you ever tell me where the heck we are going!" Nenam shouted back. 'That would ruin the surprise, wouldn't you think?" Whizbang yelled back.
Nenam had been to Felwithe before. The marvelous castle in the Faydark stood out amidst the forest like an Orc in a crowd of Gnomes. Felwithe paled in comparison to Erudin. While the High Elves used stone for their castle, the Erudites used polished white marble for theirs. The architecture enveloped Nenam as he entered the city. It was beautiful. He would have to show Chioke. Nenam's thoughts flashed back to Kelethin. The final battle...the teleport pads...Chioke...
Whizbang opened a tome written in Elder Dragon. It told of ancient portal-making techniques, including the one Whiz was looking for. He went to a scribing tablet, made specifically for the task he was going to try. He spread the spectre's robe over the tablet and put the meteorite onto the robe. Taking the vampire's tooth from his pocket, Whizbang charged it with magical energy. Then, he started carving into the rock. He carved ancient and present runes, from Human to Elven to Dragon symbols. Nenam spoke: "What ar--" "Shh!" Whizbang interrupted. "I need complete concentration.." He continued carving. The meteorite was becoming a Rune. A very intricate rune, at that.
Nenam visited the local smith while Whiz was carving the rune. He looked over the weapons and was disappointed. Normal, run of the mill weapons that he used in his training. "Don't you have anything better than these?" He asked the smith. "Yeah," the smith replied," but I don't want to sell them to the likes of you." Nenam was surprised. "Fine, gimmie this one, a smithy hammer, and the use of your forge." "Fine, here ya go." The smith said as he handed Nenam the materials. Nenam walked over to the forge, and started working. He was an avid smith, and could make a normal sword in no time. This one, however, was different.
Before, the sword was nothing more than a sharp piece of metal. Now, it was an instrument of Tunare. One that Nenam had made himself. He looked over at the owner as he left. "Thanks for the help!" He said as he walked out of the smith's, new swore in hand. When he got back to the library, he started training with it, swinging it in very advanced patterns that very few have seen.
Whizbang walked outside the Library to the courtyard. "Done!" he said as he placed the Rune, wrapped in the robe, on the ground. He backed up a few steps, raised his arms, and began casting. The spell crossed several languages, required a vast amount of energy, and was very long. After an hour, Nenam could see no change in the area around Whizbang. A crowd was growing. A tiny point of light was showing, at first, but it grew larger and larger, until it dwarfed the tiny wizard standing next to it. Suddenly, Whizbang's casting changed pitch and volume. It became much louder and much deeper, as if coming from a god, or a very large source of power.
The portal was nothing but a giant white half-circle until then. When Whizbang changed his casting, the portal changed drastically. The portal seemed to explode with radiant energy from the center outward, blowing out every window in Erudin. The the portal stabilized, with blue energy streaming around the opening. "Shall we?" Whizbang said to Nenam. "Lets." Nenam said back. And with those words, the hero's disappeared into the portal.