Light Wrapped in Darkness
(Folken, Zarra, and Li are hiding behind a wall, gasping for breath.)
Li: Is she gone?
Folken: I'll check.
(Folken looks around the corner. Suddenly, Zarra screams.)
Folken: What?! *Screams too*
Li: What on Earth? *Looks and screams*
Smokegirl: Miss me boys? *Pulls out knife* I'll give you three seconds to run.
Li: Is that gonna be enough time?
Folken: I'm not going to waste it to figure it out!
(The PCs run screaming, Smokegirl in hot pursuit. Magicman appears from behind a vase.)
Magicman: Lets get things going.
***
"To make it to the Shade Lord, we must gather the three symbols of the sun God to form Amaunator's seal" Mazzy told Taurus. "It should let us bypass the dark wards the monster has set to guard itself."
Taurus nodded. "Alright then. Lets get to work."
***
"This light gem will let us cross the shadow wall. My companions and I planned to remove it from this pedestal when the Shade Lord came upon us."
Viconia watched the waves of shadows hurl themselves into the cleansing light only to whither and die. "It would seem that we need only be prepared to fight once we remove it. Given the number of shadows, that could take some time."
"Time enough for a good cup of tea" Jaheira said cheerfully, pulling out her flint and some tinder.
"You and your tea" muttered the drow.
***
"Back you undead monsters! Back! Back!"
"Uh Taurus? They're all dead. Again" Aerie pointed out.
"Oh." Taurus scratched the back of his head sheepishly. The avariel giggled while Viconia rolled her eyes and picked a scrap of ancient parchment from a nearby pedestal.
***
Yoshimo surveyed the skeletal remains of several shadow fiends, two skeleton warriors, and a bone golem. "Minsc my friend, remind me to never upset you."
Minsc grinned. "Evil has often underestimated the might of this man and his hamster!"
Yoshimo smiled and retrieved another ancient parchment from another pedestal.
"He guys!" Taurus called. "We found some ghosts! Real ghosts! And they want those bones that Yoshimo found earlier!"
Yoshimo conked his head. "I wonder what this is all about?"
***
The skeleton's sword cut into Taurus' side. The crintri hissed in pain and ducked another blow. The monster hissed back and prepared to strike again. This time, Taurus managed to duck. He struck back solidly, cracking a couple of bones, but the undead do not feel pain. He swung again wildly, missing and crying out as the skeleton raked his open wound with its bony claws.
Then a surge of clerical energy caused the monster to explode into little bits. A piece of flying armour hit Taurus in the face.
"Ow! You clerics are getting all the fun" he grumbled. Aerie and Viconia only shrugged.
The group had gone through much of the dungeon. After examining the various ancient texts, they had solved the riddle of the talking statue and received the first symbol. Next they had met the ghosts of two former priests further to the south, who told the party they possessed the remains of an ancient priestess of Amaunator (it turns out they were referring to the skeleton Yoshimo had been lugging around for a while). The bones brought that priestess rest after so long in the eternal darkness of the Shade Lord, and she rewarded her priests with peace of their own and the party with the second symbol and a stone; a ward to pass by the shadow dragon.
Now the party stood before a strange room. The floor was patterned with letters, in a seemingly random order. Hieroglyphs were scrawled across a wall and Jaheira was busily deciphering them. The rest of the group had just dispatched yet another band of pesky undead, and once again the clerics' ability to turn the undead was proving most invaluable.
"Ah" Jaheira said, drawing the attention of the others. "The inscriptions say 'Only the name of the Sunlord will save you from the shadow." She glanced at the tiles on the floor, each with its own letter. "I'd guess that we have to walk across this floor on the correct letters that spell the name 'Amaunator'. Wait here." With that, the druid strolled across the letter-floor as though there was a bridge over lava.
Mazzy looked up into the ceiling of the room as the rest of the party scattered to rest. The ceiling still glimmered with a holy light that contrasted greatly with the surrounding darkness. Small sparks of light drifted overhead, and the halfling smiled at the sight. "My heart is always soars in a place of light such as this."
"Really?" Aerie asked, slightly in awe of the halfling.
Mazzy smiled at the elf. "Truly. It was always my dream to serve my Goddess as a true paladin. I will never achieve that goal-what halfling can ever be a paladin? It is simply impossible-but I still can feel Arvoreen's presence, and fight for her as well."
Aerie moved over to sit beside the halfling. "Well maybe you will make it some day. After all, nobody thought that halflings could become as close as you have come. Why not go even further?"
"You are sweet to say so Aerie, but it is not done. When the world was created, it was decided by greater beings than you or I what we could all be. Unless halflings are redesigned, I will remain who I am."
"Maybe" Aerie said, "But we can still dream, can't we?"
"Yes we can. I forget that sometimes." Mazzy smiled. "You're a beautiful soul Aerie."
Aerie blushed. "No, I'm just a silly girl who's trying to get by."
"Well then we could use more silly girls like you in this world."
At about that time, Jaheira came back across the letter floor, once again following some ordained path, a disturbed look on her face. "I'm about to be attacked by a shadow" she warned. A second later, a shade loomed up behind her.
"Foolish half-elf" it hissed. "You really thought I would let you live?" It lunged at Jaheira, tendrils outstretched, but the druid was expecting that. With one sharp smack of her staff, she knocked it backwards. It stumbled onto the tiled floor...
...And screamed in agony as the sparkling lights in the ceiling suddenly burst into sheets of flame. The monster was engulfed as the party scrambled to its feet, weapons drawn. Then when the light faded, there was nothing but some ash.
"Like I said," Jaheira said smugly, "'Only the name of the Sunlord will save you from shadow.' Shall we continue?"
Taurus shook his head with a wry smile on his face. "Lead the way Jahs."
"Oh I wouldn't dream of it. You ARE the omnipresent authority figure SIR after all." She laughed at his rolling eyes. Then she held up a piece of rock with carvings on it. "I do declare, here's our third symbol of Amaunator."
***
The shadowy tunnel opened up into a chamber. The phrase 'big' did not do justice to the immensity of the cavern. The floor was made of surprisingly smooth rock bed, but the walls were jagged as though some great beast had clawed its way into the guts of the temple. The walls sloped sharply upwards meeting in the darkness above.
Viconia couldn't understand what it was, but the room filled her with a dread that she had not experience since her days of worshiping Lolth in the Underdark. Her eyes scanned the darkness, her lithe body poised for flight as a prayer to Shar whispered across her lips. She wanted out of this cavern now, be all the driders in Menzoberranzen waiting for her.
"I don't know what it is" Minsc mumbled to himself "But Minsc is getting a funny feeling in his stomach."
"It's the Shadow Dragon" Mazzy choked, her voice thick with terror. "We've entered its lair."
Taurus nodded then. "Alright. Lets move quickly and quietly. We don't know how reliable the wardstone is; that spirit seemed to think it would work but her power failed once when she was alive. Let's not chance it. Do nothing to attract its attention. Now let's move out."
Jaheira snorted slightly at the clichéd phrase, but did not argue. The dark magic she'd been sensing was sickeningly close now. Almost continuously, she was fighting the rising bile in her throat. They were close.
The party crept through chamber, weapons at the ready. Time seemed to crawl by on broken legs and the darkness seemed to close in even further. Those with infravision were nearly blind, and those without it truly were.
Then with a suddenness as menacing as the hiss of a thousand vipers, freshly disturbed and fiercely angry, the darkness...didn't disappear so much as was out-shadowed. Nevertheless an archway could be made out across the chamber. But the source that out-shadowed the shadows themselves blocked the way. It was immense and draconic in appearance with two points near where the head would be of any normal dragon. It was a dark outline of evil, and it filled the adventurers with terror.
Yoshimo could only collapse to his knees; his eyes squeezed shut and his hands clenched against the sides of his head. Minsc drew back, an unwelcome sense of fear gripping his stout heart. Jaheira and Aerie were torn by the most terrible images of their lives; Jaheira saw Khalid's torn and mutilated body before her eyes. Aerie's wings were hacked from her shoulders by white hot, rusty daggers. The images struck both of them down to the stone floor, sobbing in combined misery. Accustomed to fear all of her life, Viconia managed to maintain her feet, but her body trembled and her head lolled, her bright eyes glazed and dull. Mazzy lay prone on the floor, gasping for breath and clawing at her throat. Even Lilracor was silent, some terrible force overwhelming his own magic.
Images of Taurus' life flashed before his eyes. Gorion. Gorion smiling patiently as he tried to teach his bored pupil. Gorion sternly berating him for some mischievous prank. Gorion skewered on a sword, broken and destroyed for protecting his ward. All throughout it, a dark laugh sounded. Sarevok's laugh. Images of that final battle where he'd taken that terrible arrow wound. His some time lover Branwen, murdered by the half-ogre Tazok. Friends and loved ones he'd known, now gone from him. And standing at the forefront was Gorion, his foster-father.
Gorion...
'My son. Remember.'
Taurus' icy eyes burst open at the voice. One of the images came back to him with ferocity. Gorion was teaching him something. What was it? He'd not been paying attention...DRAGONS.
All at once the words came back to him with crystal clarity. The memory of Gorion's musty old voice that was so wise and so caring rang through the caverns of his mind.
'Each dragon has an ability called the dragonfear. This ability allows it strike the deepest of terrors into the minds of lesser beings. However, dragons need to concentrate to use this ability. If something should break that concentration, pain or strong emotion perhaps, then the dragonfear will be broken.'
Taurus stared hard at the black shape looming ahead. He took a deep breath and whispered his thanks to Gorion and a prayer to Mystra. Then he raised his swords and let loose a blood-curdling shriek as he charged headlong at the foot of the beast. As he reached his destination, he leaped into the air, turning himself over in a flip and landing upon a scaly claw. With a deep breath, he plunged both of his swords deep into the dragon's foot.
The beast gave a growl of surprise, annoyance, and the slightest amount of pain. Suddenly the darkness of the room lifted, revealing the Shadow Dragon in all its twisted glory.
At the same time, the terror lifted from the hearts of Taurus and his companions. Gasps for breath came from behind the crintri and bodies rose to their feet. Taurus had no time to notice them however. The Shadow dragon was staring at him with malice and hatred in its eyes. Those two points of black fire seemed to swell with evil and it hissed with fury.
"What a fool you are to disturb my rest!" it hissed like a fallen wind. "Are you mad? Blind? Deaf? Disturbed? It matters not, for now you will feel my wrath."
The dragon screamed like a thousand banshees and dove to the attack. It lashed with its claws, first right and then left. Taurus ducked the first and leapt aside the second. "Run!" he screamed at his friends. "I'll distract it!"
For a moment, nobody could move. Then Jaheira snapped out of it. "You heard him! Move it! Into the archway!"
"Taurus!" Aerie shrieked. She tried to run to him but Viconia caught her in a strong grip. "Let me go! Let me go damn it!"
"We can't win against that thing!" Viconia snarled to cover up the panic at seeing her heart's desire treading a narrow tightrope of death. But she understood. "Taurus will not die. Do you understand? He won't let himself us that way."
Aerie shuddered in agony and tears streamed down her face, but she stopped struggling as Viconia pulled her through the archway and down another dark corridor.
Out in the chamber Taurus was fighting a losing battle for his life. The dragon was immune to his strongest magic and it was armoured far to well for his weapons to seriously harm. The beast had its own magic, and while Taurus' magical resistance was holding up well, it would not protect him from its teeth and claws and crushing tail. Only his abnormally fast reflexes, combined with his incredible agility served to keep him alive.
Gasping for breath, sweat dripping from his white hair, Taurus glanced and saw his friends had all escaped. It was time to make his own bid for escape. But that momentary glance nearly cost him his life. The dragon took in a deep breath and sprayed its breath weapon all over the room. A deadly acid compound burst out, covering Taurus from head to foot. He screamed in pain as it ate at his skin, dispersing over his enchanted armour. No sooner had he felt the pain had a pair of jaws closed over his body. He felt himself lifted through the air and hurled across the chamber into a pillar. He fell to the floor, a twisted and pain-wracked mess.
Taurus shook acid from his face desperately. He could feel the ground shaking as of heavy footsteps strolling leisurely toward him. When they stopped, he knew that the Shadow dragon was right above him. He could only shiver with pain. He hated pain.
'I guess this is it' he thought to himself in a bleary sort of way. 'It was a good run while it lasted, I suppose. It's too bad I'll never get to see Imoen fall in love, or Minsc fight evil again. I'll miss those talks with Jaheira. I'll never see the girls again.'
'Aerie.'
'Viconia.'
He did not know what happened next, except for the sense of knowing only that he could not let them down. Taurus managed to push aside all the pain and roll. The dragon's spread jaws crashed into the ground two and a half feet from where he was. Surprised and stunned by the impact, it was slightly slower in retracting its head. It was enough time for Taurus to act.
Straddling the beast's snout, he was lifted twenty feet in the air before the dragon blinked and focused on him. Taurus found himself staring right into gaping black right eye of the Shadow dragon. It twitched once in surprise. Then Taurus buried his katana up to the hilt in the one weak point.
A scream of unearthly agony rocked the cavern. Pieces of earth fell from the walls as the dragon reared its head up. Abandoning his perch, Taurus jumped to the ground, leaving his katana protruding from his foe's eye. Rolling, he grimaced as his raw skin burst with pain once again. Ignoring it as best he could, he got up and ran for the exit, leaving the nightmare behind.
***
It was a dark time for the party. Nothing had been heard from Taurus since he urged them all to go on. Since then, there had been a terrible shriek from the dragon but nothing. Only the worst could be assumed.
Surprisingly, Aerie and Viconia were taking it the best. They had felt loss in their lives more keenly than even Jaheira, and for once they were united in their feelings. After a cheerless meal of dried trail rations, Aerie approached Viconia and asked if she would like to participate in a ceremony to give Taurus piece in death. Viconia looked at her dispassionately before saying that their people's ceremonies were very different. A mix of the two would be more appropriate, symbolizing Taurus. Aerie agreed.
Away from the rest, the two women created a circle of stones. They had just enough gems left in their combined packs to make the Avariel symbol for peace after death, crossed by the drow rune for honour through conflict. Aerie spoke a prayer, asking that Mystra, Taurus' favoured goddess watch over him. Then Viconia drew a dagger from her belt. She pressed the blade into her hand, sending blood welling up.
"You'd better take care of that. It could lead a nasty scar."
The voice came from behind the two elf-women. It struck both of their souls and had Aerie in tears of joy while Viconia could only stare, incredible mixtures of feelings in her eyes.
Taurus was confused. "What did I do?"
***
The party rested for two days. Taurus spent that time recuperating. Aerie and Viconia refused to let him do anything and snarled viciously should he even object to being confined to his bedroll.
"Come on Jaheira!" he pleaded while Aerie tried to spoon-feed him some vegetable soup. "Stick up for me!"
"Oh I don't know Taurus," the druid replied with a perfectly straight face. "You were pummelled rather badly by that dragon. You deserve some rest."
From across the tunnel, Yoshimo nodded. "An injured leader is a leader who is not at full leading capabilities."
"You have worked hard to meet our needs" Mazzy added. "You deserve some time off."
"Even the greatest of dragon-slaying heroes must rest before beating on evil again!
Viconia smiled sweetly. "Don't bother arguing with me abbil. I don't give up my opinion easily."
Taurus threw his arms in the air. "I give up."
As it turned out, the group knew best. It was a miracle that Taurus had survived to limp down the tunnel. The dragon had bit him in the chest, sprayed him with acid, and flung him into a pillar, not to mention the various small wounds he'd received. By the time he'd stumbled into camp, one of the teeth that bit him was still lodged in his chest, miraculously missing his lungs and heart but cutting two arteries. It was hard work for both clerics and the druid to heal him back from death. Taurus kept the tooth, but he was still miserable at being bedridden. The upside was that Aerie and Viconia kept their infighting to a minimum.
Infighting aside, Taurus was back on his feet and ready to deliver the final knockout punch to the Shade Lord, who was becoming rather irritating apparently. The question arose as to how well he was going fight with only one weapon.
"Aren't you glad I bought this sword now?" Taurus said, clinging to the Blade of Roses when Jaheira broached the question. Jaheira could only roll her eyes as Aerie approached the crintri.
She gazed at him with a pleading look in her eyes. "Promise me you won't get hurt Taurus. Please?"
Taurus would have blushed, if his skin weren't black. "Now Aerie-"
Viconia strolled up to the two. "Relax Butterfly," she drawled arrogantly. "My abbil can take care of himself very well." She glared death at Taurus. "Because if he does take an injury, that injury will be very, VERY severe. Do you understand me?"
Taurus meekly nodded.
Aerie sighed in frustration. "You should be less violent. People would be less inclined to run screaming when they see you."
"You should grow a backbone. People would be less inclined to throw up when you open your mouth."
Taurus sighed as the women went at each other again. Loosening his remaining sword in its sheath, he started to walk down the tunnel. The end of this blasted mission was in sight, and he wanted to get a move on.
At the end of the tunnel was a door. All frivolity forgotten, the party gathered at this door. Taurus took a deep breath and pushed it open.
The party stepped into a place more black and terrible than the dragon's chamber. It was as though a patch of midnight had never been swept away since before the dawn of time. It wasn't even particularly dark, but the stench of evil was suffocating. Jaheira found herself nearly choking. This was the source of all the evil she'd been sensing since her arrival in the hills.
They were on the surface under the sky and surrounded by trees. In the middle of the clearing was an altar. Standing behind the altar was the figure of a human female, dressed in ragged leather. Her eyes were shut tightly and she stood perfectly still. As the companions entered the clearing, she did not respond to their presence.
Jaheira stared at her with mounting horror. Suddenly the strange woman's eyes snapped open and fixed upon the druid. They stared wildly, a flaring red and a dark aura filtered around her body.
Taurus stepped forward. "Jahs? What's wrong?"
Jaheira pointed a finger wildly at the woman. "It's her!" she shrieked. "It's the Shade Lord!"
All weapons pointed at the woman who continued to stare into Jaheira's soul. The woman opened her mouth and a voice unheard upon Faerun came out.
"Something is awry," the Shade Lord intoned. "I sense fresh souls. Who intrudes upon me? More unlucky adventurers to swell the ranks of my dark army?" The voice was cold and dead like the winter wind.
Taurus stepped up beside Jaheira, brandishing his sword. "Hardly fiend! We are the light to dispel your darkness!"
The body of the woman shrugged as the voice continued. "Bravado of course. However, you may have some use to me. The woman could sense my presence for some time, and this body I inhabit grows tired and weak." The Shade Lord made his host body grin evilly at Jaheira. "You shall make an excellent replacement."
It reached out a hand toward Jaheira but stopped suddenly. The halfling warrior Mazzy had interposed her body between Jaheira and the monster, her eyes burning with fury. The Shade Lord smirked again.
"So, my knight miniature had escaped after all. I have someone who might want to talk with you."
The Shade Lord waved a hand toward the altar behind it. It glowed blackly for a few seconds before the black glow transformed into a humanoid shape. A shadow monster. It slunk forward to come to a rest behind its evil master and its eyes burned into Mazzy's.
"Mazzy" it hissed. "You left us...no matter...Join the delightful darkness...ssssttthhhh" It chattered disturbingly. Mazzy gasped in horror.
"Patrick!" Then she paused. "No. Not Patrick. Only his twisted spirit. My poor friends, what has he done to you?"
Shadow-Patrick hissed again. "He's given us back our existence Mazzy...You can join us once again sssthhhhh."
The Shade Lord cackled with delight. "Excellent my servant! Ha ha! Our lady knight shall give the gift of flesh that I might keep my hold on this mortal plane!"
"Twisted fiend!" the halfling snarled, incensed. "Only death will stop me from avenging those noble souls that you have stolen!"
"Gently lady knight! You were to be my consort!" the Shade Lord mocked.
"I would never join with you! Every fibre in my being would resist!"
"So noble!" the undead monster continued to gush. "You would be a most worthy consort! Don't look so harshly upon me. The laws of Chaos subvert. The noblest souls in life make for some deliciously evil undead."
"You will be fully dead when I am through with you."
The Shade Lord seemed to frown in disappointment at this last challenge. "Is this how you will have it? Regrettable. However, we'd have ruled these weak fools together." The frown disappeared and the altar seemed to glow again with more dark light. "Come my shades, make short work of them and they will join our army, if not our family."
The altar began to belch forth shades as the party moved to attack. Mazzy rushed for the Shade Lord but was halted in her charge by her own damned friend. It seemed to grin and gestured with a darkly gleaming halberd. Mazzy took a deep breath and hardened her heart as she rushed to attack. The clang of weapons and hiss of death filled the chamber.
The Shade Lord exhibited some dark magic early in the fight. It shrieked an unearthly cry and energy seemed to flash outward. Taurus and Minsc were hurled back into a wall, Taurus slumping into the ground. The monster cackled wildly as Yoshimo attacked, leaping from rock to rock. The thief flipped into the air to land right in front of the Shade Lord.
The creature blocked his katana swipes once, twice, three times before jumping back twenty feet. Then it threw its hands out to the sides and something sparkling appeared in them. With a quick motion, it hurled the crystalline darts at Yoshimo. Two missed, but the other two embedded in an arm and a leg, paralyzing both. The thief fell to the floor, helpless.
The Shade Lord laughed again as his horde of shadows had grown even further. Suddenly there was a rush of power and they all exploded in bursts of non-corporeal guts. It stared incredulously with its red eyes then whirled on Aerie, and attacked. Still working her magic, Aerie barely became aware of the attacke before the Shade Lord was upon her. Still, she managed one fast Magic Missile spell, which fizzled harmlessly on the monster's shimmering body. With almost human fingers, it picked up Aerie by the scruff of her robe, despite her desperate thrashing.
Aerie found herself staring, horrified, into the eyes of death. Those eyes were slowly draining her life force from her body. She tried to struggle, but she was so tired. And her body was so heavy... It would be so easy to collapse...
Suddenly the Shade Lord hissed in irritation and whirled, Aerie still in his grip. Jaheira had struck from behind with a magically conjured fire blade. Viconia stood by her side, a similar blade in her hand with which she struck. The Shade lurched to the side and avoided the attack, lashing out and striking Viconia back into the altar. Its attention broken from Aerie, the elf managed to tear her gown, wrenching it free from its grasp and falling to the floor. The Shade Lord hardly noticed as Taurus and Minsc ran up.
"You idiots!" it hissed. "I have existed for centuries before you were born! How can you possibly think to defeat me now!"
"By destroying your power source!"
The Shade Lord's flaring eyes opened wide in alarm as Viconia stood poised over the Shadow altar, her fire blade ready to strike. "No don't!" It flung a handful of black magic at her even as she cried out.
"Lil Alurl! For Shar!" Her magical sword rammed home, striking through the heart of the altar before she was struck by magic. For a second her entire body went rigid. Then she went limp and fell to the floor, where Taurus rushed to her rescue.
The Shade Lord was far from done, however. It shrieked as it hurled more black magic and the mysterious silver darts at the companions. Minsc was paralysed by its shriek and Aerie was forced to conjure a barrier of magical energy to protect herself from the attack, but Jaheira held firm. She had realised something. They couldn't hope to overcome the Shade Lord magically, but its body was weak from so long holding ancient magics. If she could strike but once...
Jaheira cried out a challenge in elven and hurled her magical flaming blade away from her, straight at the Shade's head. Swift as lightning, it swung one hand and knocked the weapon away. That was Jaheira's plan. While it was focussed on the sword, she pulled out and hurled her quarterstaff, then dove and rolled, drawing at her not-much-used scimitar.
The staff caught the Shade Lord in the legs, sending it sprawling to the floor. That was when Jaheira straightened, her scimitar flashing downward in a swooping arc. With one silver slash it struck off an arm. The monster did not just shriek, it howled like a thousand phantoms withering in the dawn's light. Pure darkness was bursting from the hewn arm.
The Shade Lord stared in horror at the hewn limb. "This can not be!" it gasped, its voice and evil growing weak. Weakly, it tried to staunch the flow of evil from the body to no avail. Soon there was nothing left but the human shell the Shade had inhabited.
Merella stirred, under her own will for the first time in months. "Uh..." she groaned, her life's energy spent. She was dying, and she knew it. "Free...from his domination... Thank-..." She lay still, her body at last freed from her mortal suffering.
***
The companions had consecrated the cleansed Shadow altar to stand as a memorial to all those who had suffered the Shade Lord's touch. Mazzy spoke a few words about her companions and the ranger Merella. Then Aerie inscribed words of remembrance into the altar itself. Finally, they began the grim work of salvaging the weapons and equipment that the Shade Lord and its minions had carried.
Sadly Mazzy could not stay.
"I must go my friends," she said, regret in her voice. "I must return to Trademeet. My family is surely worried about me, for it has been several months since I have returned home."
Jaheira nodded. "It is understandable. Perhaps one day we will meet again."
"Minsc hopes it will be soon!" crowed the ranger, giving the halfling a rib-cracking hug.
When Mazzy recovered, she smiled a little breathlessly. "If you are ever in Trademeet, ask for me at the tavern. I am quite well known. Until then my friends!"
"Bye Mazzy! Don't forget to keep dreaming!" Aerie waved goodbye to her friend as she walked off into the rising sun.
Meanwhile Yoshimo was piling the obviously magical equipment from the Shade Lord and Shadow-Patrick near the altar. He could hear Viconia snapping drowishly at Taurus, who was trying to bandage her arm.
"Come on Vicky!" he pleaded, "You were hurt badly by that attack. You need treatment."
"If you think that you can use that tired excuse to feel me up then you've got another thing coming!" Viconia snapped. "And watch where you're putting your hands!"
"But Vicky-"
"And stop calling me that or I'll break your arm!"
"Oh Vicky" Taurus sighed. "You are so stubborn."
Viconia's voice changed to a pleased tone. "Why thank you Taurus! You have pleased me. I have decided that you may bandage my wounds after all."
"Oh. Okay then."
Yoshimo sighed and rolled his eyes. 'Goofballs, both of them!'
***
Magicman: *appears around a corner, looking at his watch* By my calculations, Smokegirl should appear right about n-
Smokegirl: Have you seen a small pack of PCs hiding around here somewhere?
Magicman: Look up.
(Smokegirl looks up. It turns out that Folken and the guys were clinging to a chandelier.)
Smokegirl: Aha!
PCs: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Magicman: On that note, I leave you for the night. Oh, and stay tuned.
(Folken, Zarra, and Li are hiding behind a wall, gasping for breath.)
Li: Is she gone?
Folken: I'll check.
(Folken looks around the corner. Suddenly, Zarra screams.)
Folken: What?! *Screams too*
Li: What on Earth? *Looks and screams*
Smokegirl: Miss me boys? *Pulls out knife* I'll give you three seconds to run.
Li: Is that gonna be enough time?
Folken: I'm not going to waste it to figure it out!
(The PCs run screaming, Smokegirl in hot pursuit. Magicman appears from behind a vase.)
Magicman: Lets get things going.
***
"To make it to the Shade Lord, we must gather the three symbols of the sun God to form Amaunator's seal" Mazzy told Taurus. "It should let us bypass the dark wards the monster has set to guard itself."
Taurus nodded. "Alright then. Lets get to work."
***
"This light gem will let us cross the shadow wall. My companions and I planned to remove it from this pedestal when the Shade Lord came upon us."
Viconia watched the waves of shadows hurl themselves into the cleansing light only to whither and die. "It would seem that we need only be prepared to fight once we remove it. Given the number of shadows, that could take some time."
"Time enough for a good cup of tea" Jaheira said cheerfully, pulling out her flint and some tinder.
"You and your tea" muttered the drow.
***
"Back you undead monsters! Back! Back!"
"Uh Taurus? They're all dead. Again" Aerie pointed out.
"Oh." Taurus scratched the back of his head sheepishly. The avariel giggled while Viconia rolled her eyes and picked a scrap of ancient parchment from a nearby pedestal.
***
Yoshimo surveyed the skeletal remains of several shadow fiends, two skeleton warriors, and a bone golem. "Minsc my friend, remind me to never upset you."
Minsc grinned. "Evil has often underestimated the might of this man and his hamster!"
Yoshimo smiled and retrieved another ancient parchment from another pedestal.
"He guys!" Taurus called. "We found some ghosts! Real ghosts! And they want those bones that Yoshimo found earlier!"
Yoshimo conked his head. "I wonder what this is all about?"
***
The skeleton's sword cut into Taurus' side. The crintri hissed in pain and ducked another blow. The monster hissed back and prepared to strike again. This time, Taurus managed to duck. He struck back solidly, cracking a couple of bones, but the undead do not feel pain. He swung again wildly, missing and crying out as the skeleton raked his open wound with its bony claws.
Then a surge of clerical energy caused the monster to explode into little bits. A piece of flying armour hit Taurus in the face.
"Ow! You clerics are getting all the fun" he grumbled. Aerie and Viconia only shrugged.
The group had gone through much of the dungeon. After examining the various ancient texts, they had solved the riddle of the talking statue and received the first symbol. Next they had met the ghosts of two former priests further to the south, who told the party they possessed the remains of an ancient priestess of Amaunator (it turns out they were referring to the skeleton Yoshimo had been lugging around for a while). The bones brought that priestess rest after so long in the eternal darkness of the Shade Lord, and she rewarded her priests with peace of their own and the party with the second symbol and a stone; a ward to pass by the shadow dragon.
Now the party stood before a strange room. The floor was patterned with letters, in a seemingly random order. Hieroglyphs were scrawled across a wall and Jaheira was busily deciphering them. The rest of the group had just dispatched yet another band of pesky undead, and once again the clerics' ability to turn the undead was proving most invaluable.
"Ah" Jaheira said, drawing the attention of the others. "The inscriptions say 'Only the name of the Sunlord will save you from the shadow." She glanced at the tiles on the floor, each with its own letter. "I'd guess that we have to walk across this floor on the correct letters that spell the name 'Amaunator'. Wait here." With that, the druid strolled across the letter-floor as though there was a bridge over lava.
Mazzy looked up into the ceiling of the room as the rest of the party scattered to rest. The ceiling still glimmered with a holy light that contrasted greatly with the surrounding darkness. Small sparks of light drifted overhead, and the halfling smiled at the sight. "My heart is always soars in a place of light such as this."
"Really?" Aerie asked, slightly in awe of the halfling.
Mazzy smiled at the elf. "Truly. It was always my dream to serve my Goddess as a true paladin. I will never achieve that goal-what halfling can ever be a paladin? It is simply impossible-but I still can feel Arvoreen's presence, and fight for her as well."
Aerie moved over to sit beside the halfling. "Well maybe you will make it some day. After all, nobody thought that halflings could become as close as you have come. Why not go even further?"
"You are sweet to say so Aerie, but it is not done. When the world was created, it was decided by greater beings than you or I what we could all be. Unless halflings are redesigned, I will remain who I am."
"Maybe" Aerie said, "But we can still dream, can't we?"
"Yes we can. I forget that sometimes." Mazzy smiled. "You're a beautiful soul Aerie."
Aerie blushed. "No, I'm just a silly girl who's trying to get by."
"Well then we could use more silly girls like you in this world."
At about that time, Jaheira came back across the letter floor, once again following some ordained path, a disturbed look on her face. "I'm about to be attacked by a shadow" she warned. A second later, a shade loomed up behind her.
"Foolish half-elf" it hissed. "You really thought I would let you live?" It lunged at Jaheira, tendrils outstretched, but the druid was expecting that. With one sharp smack of her staff, she knocked it backwards. It stumbled onto the tiled floor...
...And screamed in agony as the sparkling lights in the ceiling suddenly burst into sheets of flame. The monster was engulfed as the party scrambled to its feet, weapons drawn. Then when the light faded, there was nothing but some ash.
"Like I said," Jaheira said smugly, "'Only the name of the Sunlord will save you from shadow.' Shall we continue?"
Taurus shook his head with a wry smile on his face. "Lead the way Jahs."
"Oh I wouldn't dream of it. You ARE the omnipresent authority figure SIR after all." She laughed at his rolling eyes. Then she held up a piece of rock with carvings on it. "I do declare, here's our third symbol of Amaunator."
***
The shadowy tunnel opened up into a chamber. The phrase 'big' did not do justice to the immensity of the cavern. The floor was made of surprisingly smooth rock bed, but the walls were jagged as though some great beast had clawed its way into the guts of the temple. The walls sloped sharply upwards meeting in the darkness above.
Viconia couldn't understand what it was, but the room filled her with a dread that she had not experience since her days of worshiping Lolth in the Underdark. Her eyes scanned the darkness, her lithe body poised for flight as a prayer to Shar whispered across her lips. She wanted out of this cavern now, be all the driders in Menzoberranzen waiting for her.
"I don't know what it is" Minsc mumbled to himself "But Minsc is getting a funny feeling in his stomach."
"It's the Shadow Dragon" Mazzy choked, her voice thick with terror. "We've entered its lair."
Taurus nodded then. "Alright. Lets move quickly and quietly. We don't know how reliable the wardstone is; that spirit seemed to think it would work but her power failed once when she was alive. Let's not chance it. Do nothing to attract its attention. Now let's move out."
Jaheira snorted slightly at the clichéd phrase, but did not argue. The dark magic she'd been sensing was sickeningly close now. Almost continuously, she was fighting the rising bile in her throat. They were close.
The party crept through chamber, weapons at the ready. Time seemed to crawl by on broken legs and the darkness seemed to close in even further. Those with infravision were nearly blind, and those without it truly were.
Then with a suddenness as menacing as the hiss of a thousand vipers, freshly disturbed and fiercely angry, the darkness...didn't disappear so much as was out-shadowed. Nevertheless an archway could be made out across the chamber. But the source that out-shadowed the shadows themselves blocked the way. It was immense and draconic in appearance with two points near where the head would be of any normal dragon. It was a dark outline of evil, and it filled the adventurers with terror.
Yoshimo could only collapse to his knees; his eyes squeezed shut and his hands clenched against the sides of his head. Minsc drew back, an unwelcome sense of fear gripping his stout heart. Jaheira and Aerie were torn by the most terrible images of their lives; Jaheira saw Khalid's torn and mutilated body before her eyes. Aerie's wings were hacked from her shoulders by white hot, rusty daggers. The images struck both of them down to the stone floor, sobbing in combined misery. Accustomed to fear all of her life, Viconia managed to maintain her feet, but her body trembled and her head lolled, her bright eyes glazed and dull. Mazzy lay prone on the floor, gasping for breath and clawing at her throat. Even Lilracor was silent, some terrible force overwhelming his own magic.
Images of Taurus' life flashed before his eyes. Gorion. Gorion smiling patiently as he tried to teach his bored pupil. Gorion sternly berating him for some mischievous prank. Gorion skewered on a sword, broken and destroyed for protecting his ward. All throughout it, a dark laugh sounded. Sarevok's laugh. Images of that final battle where he'd taken that terrible arrow wound. His some time lover Branwen, murdered by the half-ogre Tazok. Friends and loved ones he'd known, now gone from him. And standing at the forefront was Gorion, his foster-father.
Gorion...
'My son. Remember.'
Taurus' icy eyes burst open at the voice. One of the images came back to him with ferocity. Gorion was teaching him something. What was it? He'd not been paying attention...DRAGONS.
All at once the words came back to him with crystal clarity. The memory of Gorion's musty old voice that was so wise and so caring rang through the caverns of his mind.
'Each dragon has an ability called the dragonfear. This ability allows it strike the deepest of terrors into the minds of lesser beings. However, dragons need to concentrate to use this ability. If something should break that concentration, pain or strong emotion perhaps, then the dragonfear will be broken.'
Taurus stared hard at the black shape looming ahead. He took a deep breath and whispered his thanks to Gorion and a prayer to Mystra. Then he raised his swords and let loose a blood-curdling shriek as he charged headlong at the foot of the beast. As he reached his destination, he leaped into the air, turning himself over in a flip and landing upon a scaly claw. With a deep breath, he plunged both of his swords deep into the dragon's foot.
The beast gave a growl of surprise, annoyance, and the slightest amount of pain. Suddenly the darkness of the room lifted, revealing the Shadow Dragon in all its twisted glory.
At the same time, the terror lifted from the hearts of Taurus and his companions. Gasps for breath came from behind the crintri and bodies rose to their feet. Taurus had no time to notice them however. The Shadow dragon was staring at him with malice and hatred in its eyes. Those two points of black fire seemed to swell with evil and it hissed with fury.
"What a fool you are to disturb my rest!" it hissed like a fallen wind. "Are you mad? Blind? Deaf? Disturbed? It matters not, for now you will feel my wrath."
The dragon screamed like a thousand banshees and dove to the attack. It lashed with its claws, first right and then left. Taurus ducked the first and leapt aside the second. "Run!" he screamed at his friends. "I'll distract it!"
For a moment, nobody could move. Then Jaheira snapped out of it. "You heard him! Move it! Into the archway!"
"Taurus!" Aerie shrieked. She tried to run to him but Viconia caught her in a strong grip. "Let me go! Let me go damn it!"
"We can't win against that thing!" Viconia snarled to cover up the panic at seeing her heart's desire treading a narrow tightrope of death. But she understood. "Taurus will not die. Do you understand? He won't let himself us that way."
Aerie shuddered in agony and tears streamed down her face, but she stopped struggling as Viconia pulled her through the archway and down another dark corridor.
Out in the chamber Taurus was fighting a losing battle for his life. The dragon was immune to his strongest magic and it was armoured far to well for his weapons to seriously harm. The beast had its own magic, and while Taurus' magical resistance was holding up well, it would not protect him from its teeth and claws and crushing tail. Only his abnormally fast reflexes, combined with his incredible agility served to keep him alive.
Gasping for breath, sweat dripping from his white hair, Taurus glanced and saw his friends had all escaped. It was time to make his own bid for escape. But that momentary glance nearly cost him his life. The dragon took in a deep breath and sprayed its breath weapon all over the room. A deadly acid compound burst out, covering Taurus from head to foot. He screamed in pain as it ate at his skin, dispersing over his enchanted armour. No sooner had he felt the pain had a pair of jaws closed over his body. He felt himself lifted through the air and hurled across the chamber into a pillar. He fell to the floor, a twisted and pain-wracked mess.
Taurus shook acid from his face desperately. He could feel the ground shaking as of heavy footsteps strolling leisurely toward him. When they stopped, he knew that the Shadow dragon was right above him. He could only shiver with pain. He hated pain.
'I guess this is it' he thought to himself in a bleary sort of way. 'It was a good run while it lasted, I suppose. It's too bad I'll never get to see Imoen fall in love, or Minsc fight evil again. I'll miss those talks with Jaheira. I'll never see the girls again.'
'Aerie.'
'Viconia.'
He did not know what happened next, except for the sense of knowing only that he could not let them down. Taurus managed to push aside all the pain and roll. The dragon's spread jaws crashed into the ground two and a half feet from where he was. Surprised and stunned by the impact, it was slightly slower in retracting its head. It was enough time for Taurus to act.
Straddling the beast's snout, he was lifted twenty feet in the air before the dragon blinked and focused on him. Taurus found himself staring right into gaping black right eye of the Shadow dragon. It twitched once in surprise. Then Taurus buried his katana up to the hilt in the one weak point.
A scream of unearthly agony rocked the cavern. Pieces of earth fell from the walls as the dragon reared its head up. Abandoning his perch, Taurus jumped to the ground, leaving his katana protruding from his foe's eye. Rolling, he grimaced as his raw skin burst with pain once again. Ignoring it as best he could, he got up and ran for the exit, leaving the nightmare behind.
***
It was a dark time for the party. Nothing had been heard from Taurus since he urged them all to go on. Since then, there had been a terrible shriek from the dragon but nothing. Only the worst could be assumed.
Surprisingly, Aerie and Viconia were taking it the best. They had felt loss in their lives more keenly than even Jaheira, and for once they were united in their feelings. After a cheerless meal of dried trail rations, Aerie approached Viconia and asked if she would like to participate in a ceremony to give Taurus piece in death. Viconia looked at her dispassionately before saying that their people's ceremonies were very different. A mix of the two would be more appropriate, symbolizing Taurus. Aerie agreed.
Away from the rest, the two women created a circle of stones. They had just enough gems left in their combined packs to make the Avariel symbol for peace after death, crossed by the drow rune for honour through conflict. Aerie spoke a prayer, asking that Mystra, Taurus' favoured goddess watch over him. Then Viconia drew a dagger from her belt. She pressed the blade into her hand, sending blood welling up.
"You'd better take care of that. It could lead a nasty scar."
The voice came from behind the two elf-women. It struck both of their souls and had Aerie in tears of joy while Viconia could only stare, incredible mixtures of feelings in her eyes.
Taurus was confused. "What did I do?"
***
The party rested for two days. Taurus spent that time recuperating. Aerie and Viconia refused to let him do anything and snarled viciously should he even object to being confined to his bedroll.
"Come on Jaheira!" he pleaded while Aerie tried to spoon-feed him some vegetable soup. "Stick up for me!"
"Oh I don't know Taurus," the druid replied with a perfectly straight face. "You were pummelled rather badly by that dragon. You deserve some rest."
From across the tunnel, Yoshimo nodded. "An injured leader is a leader who is not at full leading capabilities."
"You have worked hard to meet our needs" Mazzy added. "You deserve some time off."
"Even the greatest of dragon-slaying heroes must rest before beating on evil again!
Viconia smiled sweetly. "Don't bother arguing with me abbil. I don't give up my opinion easily."
Taurus threw his arms in the air. "I give up."
As it turned out, the group knew best. It was a miracle that Taurus had survived to limp down the tunnel. The dragon had bit him in the chest, sprayed him with acid, and flung him into a pillar, not to mention the various small wounds he'd received. By the time he'd stumbled into camp, one of the teeth that bit him was still lodged in his chest, miraculously missing his lungs and heart but cutting two arteries. It was hard work for both clerics and the druid to heal him back from death. Taurus kept the tooth, but he was still miserable at being bedridden. The upside was that Aerie and Viconia kept their infighting to a minimum.
Infighting aside, Taurus was back on his feet and ready to deliver the final knockout punch to the Shade Lord, who was becoming rather irritating apparently. The question arose as to how well he was going fight with only one weapon.
"Aren't you glad I bought this sword now?" Taurus said, clinging to the Blade of Roses when Jaheira broached the question. Jaheira could only roll her eyes as Aerie approached the crintri.
She gazed at him with a pleading look in her eyes. "Promise me you won't get hurt Taurus. Please?"
Taurus would have blushed, if his skin weren't black. "Now Aerie-"
Viconia strolled up to the two. "Relax Butterfly," she drawled arrogantly. "My abbil can take care of himself very well." She glared death at Taurus. "Because if he does take an injury, that injury will be very, VERY severe. Do you understand me?"
Taurus meekly nodded.
Aerie sighed in frustration. "You should be less violent. People would be less inclined to run screaming when they see you."
"You should grow a backbone. People would be less inclined to throw up when you open your mouth."
Taurus sighed as the women went at each other again. Loosening his remaining sword in its sheath, he started to walk down the tunnel. The end of this blasted mission was in sight, and he wanted to get a move on.
At the end of the tunnel was a door. All frivolity forgotten, the party gathered at this door. Taurus took a deep breath and pushed it open.
The party stepped into a place more black and terrible than the dragon's chamber. It was as though a patch of midnight had never been swept away since before the dawn of time. It wasn't even particularly dark, but the stench of evil was suffocating. Jaheira found herself nearly choking. This was the source of all the evil she'd been sensing since her arrival in the hills.
They were on the surface under the sky and surrounded by trees. In the middle of the clearing was an altar. Standing behind the altar was the figure of a human female, dressed in ragged leather. Her eyes were shut tightly and she stood perfectly still. As the companions entered the clearing, she did not respond to their presence.
Jaheira stared at her with mounting horror. Suddenly the strange woman's eyes snapped open and fixed upon the druid. They stared wildly, a flaring red and a dark aura filtered around her body.
Taurus stepped forward. "Jahs? What's wrong?"
Jaheira pointed a finger wildly at the woman. "It's her!" she shrieked. "It's the Shade Lord!"
All weapons pointed at the woman who continued to stare into Jaheira's soul. The woman opened her mouth and a voice unheard upon Faerun came out.
"Something is awry," the Shade Lord intoned. "I sense fresh souls. Who intrudes upon me? More unlucky adventurers to swell the ranks of my dark army?" The voice was cold and dead like the winter wind.
Taurus stepped up beside Jaheira, brandishing his sword. "Hardly fiend! We are the light to dispel your darkness!"
The body of the woman shrugged as the voice continued. "Bravado of course. However, you may have some use to me. The woman could sense my presence for some time, and this body I inhabit grows tired and weak." The Shade Lord made his host body grin evilly at Jaheira. "You shall make an excellent replacement."
It reached out a hand toward Jaheira but stopped suddenly. The halfling warrior Mazzy had interposed her body between Jaheira and the monster, her eyes burning with fury. The Shade Lord smirked again.
"So, my knight miniature had escaped after all. I have someone who might want to talk with you."
The Shade Lord waved a hand toward the altar behind it. It glowed blackly for a few seconds before the black glow transformed into a humanoid shape. A shadow monster. It slunk forward to come to a rest behind its evil master and its eyes burned into Mazzy's.
"Mazzy" it hissed. "You left us...no matter...Join the delightful darkness...ssssttthhhh" It chattered disturbingly. Mazzy gasped in horror.
"Patrick!" Then she paused. "No. Not Patrick. Only his twisted spirit. My poor friends, what has he done to you?"
Shadow-Patrick hissed again. "He's given us back our existence Mazzy...You can join us once again sssthhhhh."
The Shade Lord cackled with delight. "Excellent my servant! Ha ha! Our lady knight shall give the gift of flesh that I might keep my hold on this mortal plane!"
"Twisted fiend!" the halfling snarled, incensed. "Only death will stop me from avenging those noble souls that you have stolen!"
"Gently lady knight! You were to be my consort!" the Shade Lord mocked.
"I would never join with you! Every fibre in my being would resist!"
"So noble!" the undead monster continued to gush. "You would be a most worthy consort! Don't look so harshly upon me. The laws of Chaos subvert. The noblest souls in life make for some deliciously evil undead."
"You will be fully dead when I am through with you."
The Shade Lord seemed to frown in disappointment at this last challenge. "Is this how you will have it? Regrettable. However, we'd have ruled these weak fools together." The frown disappeared and the altar seemed to glow again with more dark light. "Come my shades, make short work of them and they will join our army, if not our family."
The altar began to belch forth shades as the party moved to attack. Mazzy rushed for the Shade Lord but was halted in her charge by her own damned friend. It seemed to grin and gestured with a darkly gleaming halberd. Mazzy took a deep breath and hardened her heart as she rushed to attack. The clang of weapons and hiss of death filled the chamber.
The Shade Lord exhibited some dark magic early in the fight. It shrieked an unearthly cry and energy seemed to flash outward. Taurus and Minsc were hurled back into a wall, Taurus slumping into the ground. The monster cackled wildly as Yoshimo attacked, leaping from rock to rock. The thief flipped into the air to land right in front of the Shade Lord.
The creature blocked his katana swipes once, twice, three times before jumping back twenty feet. Then it threw its hands out to the sides and something sparkling appeared in them. With a quick motion, it hurled the crystalline darts at Yoshimo. Two missed, but the other two embedded in an arm and a leg, paralyzing both. The thief fell to the floor, helpless.
The Shade Lord laughed again as his horde of shadows had grown even further. Suddenly there was a rush of power and they all exploded in bursts of non-corporeal guts. It stared incredulously with its red eyes then whirled on Aerie, and attacked. Still working her magic, Aerie barely became aware of the attacke before the Shade Lord was upon her. Still, she managed one fast Magic Missile spell, which fizzled harmlessly on the monster's shimmering body. With almost human fingers, it picked up Aerie by the scruff of her robe, despite her desperate thrashing.
Aerie found herself staring, horrified, into the eyes of death. Those eyes were slowly draining her life force from her body. She tried to struggle, but she was so tired. And her body was so heavy... It would be so easy to collapse...
Suddenly the Shade Lord hissed in irritation and whirled, Aerie still in his grip. Jaheira had struck from behind with a magically conjured fire blade. Viconia stood by her side, a similar blade in her hand with which she struck. The Shade lurched to the side and avoided the attack, lashing out and striking Viconia back into the altar. Its attention broken from Aerie, the elf managed to tear her gown, wrenching it free from its grasp and falling to the floor. The Shade Lord hardly noticed as Taurus and Minsc ran up.
"You idiots!" it hissed. "I have existed for centuries before you were born! How can you possibly think to defeat me now!"
"By destroying your power source!"
The Shade Lord's flaring eyes opened wide in alarm as Viconia stood poised over the Shadow altar, her fire blade ready to strike. "No don't!" It flung a handful of black magic at her even as she cried out.
"Lil Alurl! For Shar!" Her magical sword rammed home, striking through the heart of the altar before she was struck by magic. For a second her entire body went rigid. Then she went limp and fell to the floor, where Taurus rushed to her rescue.
The Shade Lord was far from done, however. It shrieked as it hurled more black magic and the mysterious silver darts at the companions. Minsc was paralysed by its shriek and Aerie was forced to conjure a barrier of magical energy to protect herself from the attack, but Jaheira held firm. She had realised something. They couldn't hope to overcome the Shade Lord magically, but its body was weak from so long holding ancient magics. If she could strike but once...
Jaheira cried out a challenge in elven and hurled her magical flaming blade away from her, straight at the Shade's head. Swift as lightning, it swung one hand and knocked the weapon away. That was Jaheira's plan. While it was focussed on the sword, she pulled out and hurled her quarterstaff, then dove and rolled, drawing at her not-much-used scimitar.
The staff caught the Shade Lord in the legs, sending it sprawling to the floor. That was when Jaheira straightened, her scimitar flashing downward in a swooping arc. With one silver slash it struck off an arm. The monster did not just shriek, it howled like a thousand phantoms withering in the dawn's light. Pure darkness was bursting from the hewn arm.
The Shade Lord stared in horror at the hewn limb. "This can not be!" it gasped, its voice and evil growing weak. Weakly, it tried to staunch the flow of evil from the body to no avail. Soon there was nothing left but the human shell the Shade had inhabited.
Merella stirred, under her own will for the first time in months. "Uh..." she groaned, her life's energy spent. She was dying, and she knew it. "Free...from his domination... Thank-..." She lay still, her body at last freed from her mortal suffering.
***
The companions had consecrated the cleansed Shadow altar to stand as a memorial to all those who had suffered the Shade Lord's touch. Mazzy spoke a few words about her companions and the ranger Merella. Then Aerie inscribed words of remembrance into the altar itself. Finally, they began the grim work of salvaging the weapons and equipment that the Shade Lord and its minions had carried.
Sadly Mazzy could not stay.
"I must go my friends," she said, regret in her voice. "I must return to Trademeet. My family is surely worried about me, for it has been several months since I have returned home."
Jaheira nodded. "It is understandable. Perhaps one day we will meet again."
"Minsc hopes it will be soon!" crowed the ranger, giving the halfling a rib-cracking hug.
When Mazzy recovered, she smiled a little breathlessly. "If you are ever in Trademeet, ask for me at the tavern. I am quite well known. Until then my friends!"
"Bye Mazzy! Don't forget to keep dreaming!" Aerie waved goodbye to her friend as she walked off into the rising sun.
Meanwhile Yoshimo was piling the obviously magical equipment from the Shade Lord and Shadow-Patrick near the altar. He could hear Viconia snapping drowishly at Taurus, who was trying to bandage her arm.
"Come on Vicky!" he pleaded, "You were hurt badly by that attack. You need treatment."
"If you think that you can use that tired excuse to feel me up then you've got another thing coming!" Viconia snapped. "And watch where you're putting your hands!"
"But Vicky-"
"And stop calling me that or I'll break your arm!"
"Oh Vicky" Taurus sighed. "You are so stubborn."
Viconia's voice changed to a pleased tone. "Why thank you Taurus! You have pleased me. I have decided that you may bandage my wounds after all."
"Oh. Okay then."
Yoshimo sighed and rolled his eyes. 'Goofballs, both of them!'
***
Magicman: *appears around a corner, looking at his watch* By my calculations, Smokegirl should appear right about n-
Smokegirl: Have you seen a small pack of PCs hiding around here somewhere?
Magicman: Look up.
(Smokegirl looks up. It turns out that Folken and the guys were clinging to a chandelier.)
Smokegirl: Aha!
PCs: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Magicman: On that note, I leave you for the night. Oh, and stay tuned.