"Maccath! Is That you? What are you doing down here?" called out Borovik.
"It's me." responded Maccath. "I came down to the lair to see if you needed me to cast any spells at Arauthator."
"It looks like we chased him away," said Neega, "But he called the ice trolls to come down here. We may need you to help us fight them."
"Don't worry about the ice trolls," explained Maccath. "I already killed them. Now, keep speaking so I can hear you and walk towards your voices."
Mara and Neega kept up the conversation with Maccath and before long she had come close enough for them to see one another. Maccath ran up and hugged the both of them.
"Where is the rest of the group?" she asked.
"On the platform over there," said Neega, pointing to the east.
Maccath looked where Neega pointed and saw the remainder of the party standing on the edge of the platform, waving and smiling.
"Come down here," she said. "I want to give all of you proper thanks for freeing me."
"How did you get down here?" asked Mara.
"Through the chute in the scriptorium. The ice toads rigged up a rope for me to slide down after I killed the ice trolls."
"I suggest we go back up that same route," said Mara to Neega. "That way we don't have to traverse that slippery platform to get back to the other chute."
By this time those on the ledge without darkvision had recast their light spells and they began climbing down to the cavern floor. It was a joyous moment when Maccath and all her rescuers assembled on the floor of the defeated dragon's lair.
"You all need to get up the rope and out of this extreme cold," Maccath said.
"But I want to loot Arauthator's treasure!" complained Bree.
"We can do that after a short rest to recover," said Neega, examining her injuries from the battle. "Then we can come back down to get the treasure."
Bree grumbled, but finally agreed.
They ascended the rope, with the ice toads helping at the top of the chute. The toads croaked and danced with joy at the heroic victory.
Turning to the toads, Maccath said, "I need to talk to Marfulb about what the ice toads plan to do now that Arauthator has fled. He will eventually be back, but he has serious injuries and I think he will spend the next few months recuperating in his main lair under the Lonefang Mountain.
"I also need to talk to the Ice Hunters and tell them that this is a perfect time for them to flee. They should be able to get far enough away from Oyavigatton so that Arauthator will never be able to find them."
Kellen said, "I would like to go with you back up to the surface and see if I can get a Sending spell out to Captain Lerustah, asking him to return to the iceberg and pick us up."
As the rest of the party took a short rest in Maccath's tent, Maccath and Kellen left her quarters and followed the ice toads back to their lair.
"Tell Marfulb I need to talk to her after I have met with the Ice Hunters," Maccath said to the ice toads.
She and Kellen then climbed the stairs up to the Ice Hunter village. As they emerged into the meeting hall, they found that a large portion of the tribe had gathered there. They looked at Maccath with questioning eyes and began speaking to her in Uluik. They chattered excitedly and pointed off to the distance. She responded in their language, and they began to jump and shout for joy.
Turning to Kellen, she translated, "They asked me why Old White Death flew away from the iceberg so frantically. I told them that the adventurers had defeated him, and he flew off, seriously injured. He will be gone long enough for them to flee far away."
The Ice Hunter leader began barking orders, and the tribe immediately prepared to leave. They began packing their gear and their provisions. They disassembled their dwellings and rolled them up into tight cylinders. They began carrying things down to the landing ledge to load their boats. As they toiled, they sang and rejoiced. Bonecarver, the shaman, came up to Maccath and asked her to tell the party that Oomio the gray seal, Grandfather Walrus, the Great White Bear, and the Reindeer Mother all smile on the adventurers. She herself would offer a prayer to Mother Moon and ask that they have guidance and safety returning home.
Kellen then sent a Sending spell message to Captain Lerustah. However, it failed to transmit, once again.
"It seems that Arauthator's magical protections persist even when he's not here," he commented to Maccath, "And they must extend to the entire iceberg, not just the caves below the surface. I'm going back down to talk to the rest of the party about how we will contact the ship."
"I'll go with you," said Maccath. "I need to talk to the ice toads about what they plan to do now."
The both of them descended back into the ice caves. While Maccath went into the ice toad lair to talk to Marfulb, Kellen went back to Maccath's quarters to consult with the rest of the party.
Once back in Maccath's tent, he explained to the party, "I still can't get a sending spell out past the iceberg. We have to come up with a way to get in contact with Captain Lerustah to come pick us up."
"I could turn into a giant eagle and go look for the ship," offered Mara. "When I find it, I can land and turn back into a half-elf, and then give them the message. The giant eagle should have more strength and toughness than the regular eagle, and I think I can remain airborne long enough to find them."
The rest of the group agreed, and Mara left to go to the surface. She stood outside the meeting hall and transformed into a giant eagle, then took flight. The Ice Hunters stared at her in wonder and chattered among themselves. Once high up in the air, she began looking for the ship.
The ship had moved about a half day's journey away from Oyavigation and hidden behind another iceberg. Lerustah hoped to fool the Ice Hunters into believing they had left, but still be close enough to pick up the adventures if they succeeded in their mission. Frostbite lay on the deck and moped. He was as blue as a white dragon could be.
"No word from the party yet?" he asked Lerustah.
"Not yet," said Lerustah. "It's been a couple of days. By now I fear that they're dead."
Frostbite groaned. "How will I explain this to Talis? She told me to watch over Mara, but I have let Mara be killed. I should have insisted on accompanying her into the dragon lair! I failed the both of them!" He laid his head on the deck and closed his eyes.
Lerustah came up to Frostbite and patted him on the head, trying to comfort him. "Look, Frostbite," he said. "I'm sure Mara knew she might die. She probably knew that if she died in the dragon lair, you would, too. Then, Talis would have lost both of you. She would be alone. At least this way, she still has you."
Frostbite continued to whimper in sorrow. He was not consoled.
About that time, a tired and half-frozen giant eagle landed on the deck, then promptly transformed into a half-elf.
"Mara!" shrieked Frostbite. "You're alive!" He ran over to her and nuzzled her excitedly. She embraced him.
"I have to send a telepathic message to Talis! I have to tell her you survived!"
Lerustah barked an order to the crew, "Bring a blanket for Mara. She's shivering."
He then turned to Mara and asked, "Where is the rest of the party?"
"Inside the ice caves in the iceberg interior. We defeated the dragon and he fled. We found Maccath and she is also in the ice caves. I need you to bring the ship to the landing ledge so they can come on board."
"What about the Ice Hunters? Won't they try to kill us?"
"No. When they heard the dragon had fled, they began preparing to leave Oyavigatton. It turns out they didn't willingly serve Arauthator, He had enslaved them, threatening to kill the whole tribe if they tried to escape. Now they have their chance to flee."
"Then let's get rowing! We need to get back to Oyavigatton!"
Frostbite relayed Mara's news to Talis, then told Mara the response, "Talis says she loves you and is so proud of your success on the mission."
Mara wiped tears from her eyes, "Tell Talis I love her, too. I can't wait to be back in her arms."
Back in the ice caves, Maccath talked to Marfulb about what the ice toads wanted to do now that Arauthator had fled. Marfulb was of two minds. On the one hand, she was tempted to stay at Oyavigatton because she didn't want to leave all the records they had written over the years from their observations of the Sea of Moving Ice. On the other hand, she worried that when Arauthator finally returned, he would be angry and place blame on the ice toads for the adventurers chasing him out of his lair.
"Do you think that Bree's Portable Hole could hold the rest of your records?" asked Maccath. "Then you could leave and take them with you."
"I don't know," said Marfulb. "The Portable Hole looks really big, but there are a lot of tablets and parchments. I suppose we should ask her."
As Maccath was meeting with the ice toads, the party was planning how to get the treasure. There was a very large pile of coins and a chest in the pile. Unfortunately, it was frozen into the ice and it would probably take them half a day to dig it out.
"We can't work down there for 4 hours straight!" complained Kelllen, "We'll all die of hypothermia!"
"What if you cast Leomund's Tiny Hut and we could go into it once an hour to warm up a little?" asked Neega.
"That's an idea," said Borovik. "Let's give it a try."
They went back down into Arauthator's lair and Kellen cast Leomund's Tiny Hut. They first dug out the chest and opened it. This contained a large number of precious gems, some of which were worth several hundred gp each. There was a Potion of Mind Reading, a Potion of Fire Giant Strength, a Potion of Invulnerability and 5 +2 arrows. Bree smiled broadly as she put the arrows into her quiver. The rest went into the Portable Hole to divvy up later.
Next they started chipping out the coins. There were hundreds of gp and 1000 or more sp in the pile of coins they excavated. They also found a few more of the arcane texts that Arauthator had stolen from the Arcane Brotherhood. The coins and the text went into the Portable Hole. Folding the Portable Hole back up and enclosing the loot in the extradimensional space, Bree laughed at how little the whole thing weighed.
They went back up through the chute into the scriptorium and returned to Maccath's tent. She met them there and made her request on behalf of the ice toads.
"Bree, do you think you can fit the rest of the records the ice toads created into your Portable hole? If so, Marfulb and the ice toads would like to leave Oyavigatton."
"I don't know," said Bree. "Let's see if they'll fit."
They went to the ice toad lair and began putting parchments and tablets into the Portable Hole. All the records went in with no problem.
"If all these can be taken to Luskan, we have no need to stay here," said Marfulb. "We will accompany your ship out of the Sea of Moving Ice."
The entire group climbed the stairs up to the surface of the iceberg. By now, the Ice Hunter tribe had packed everything and departed in their kayaks. Nothing remained of their village but trampled ice.
They walked over to the stairs leading to the landing ledge at the waterline. Maccath stopped at the top of the stairs and gazed sadly at the frozen bodies of crew members from her expedition ship.
"Look!" said Kellen. "The frozen bodies of the Ice Hunters are gone! I guess the Ice Hunters took their dead tribe members with them to dispose of their bodies in a more respectful way."
They soberly descended the stairs to the landing ledge. There they waited for the ship to appear. Presently they saw the Frostskimmr approaching, with Mara standing on the prow pointing at them. The ship came up alongside the iceberg so that Maccath and the party could board.
"Aha!" exclaimed Captain Lerustah, turning to Maccath. "I assume you are Maccath the Crimson, the person for whom we were sent to look. I am Lerustah, captain of the Frostskimmr."
"Indeed, I am. Pleased to meet you, Captain," responded Maccath.
Turning to the adventurers, Lerustah continued, "And you all chased off the big, bad dragon! Congratulations and job well done!"
"Captain, the ice toads, who have come with us down to the landing, would like to accompany us on the way back to Luskan," said Maccath. "They think it would be wise for them to leave the iceberg and they wish to travel to Luskan to learn more about the south-lands."
"Hmmm. How many of them are there? Twelve? That might be a little much extra weight for the ship. Also, I don't know if we have enough provisions to feed all the extra mouths."
Maccath turned to Marfulb and, speaking in Draconic, explained to her Lerustah's concerns. Marfulb responded and Maccath translated the answer.
"Their leader, Marfulb, says that not all the toads have to be on the ship at once. They are capable of swimming in the cold water of the Sea of Moving Ice. So, they would take turns, half swimming alongside the ship for a few hours, then swapping places with the ones who were on the ship. This would reduce the extra weight. The ones in the water could also help push the ship along as they swam. As far as provisions, the toads can catch fish with their sticky tongues so that they can feed themselves and not put a drain on your provisions."
Lerustah scratched his chin and thought about it for a few minutes. "Okay," he said. "Let's see if this works out. Is everyone ready to shove off?"
Everyone nodded. Six of the ice toads jumped into the water and gripped the back of the ship. Everyone else boarded. Lerustah ordered the rowers to pull away from the landing ledge. He then had them turn the ship and head back in the direction of Luskan. As they moved forward, the toads kicked with their back feet to provide additional forward momentum to the ship.
Lerustah had plotted a direct course back to Luskan and, since they weren't spending time looking for the iceberg, he figured they could be out of the Sea of Moving Ice within 2 days.
They sped along without incident for the most of the day and the party was able to relax a little and savor their victory. Frostbite reached out telepathically to Talis, and he and Mara chatted with her for nearly an hour. Kellen sent a message to Dagult Neverember that they had found Maccath and were on their way back to Luskan.
Late in the afternoon, one of the ice toads stuck its head out of the water and called out to the occupants of the ship. Marfulb translated its message into Draconic so Maccath could understand, "Two giant octopuses are approaching."
Lerustah ordered the crew to prepare for battle.
"Maccath," he ordered, "ask the ice toad leader if their people can fight."
Maccath asked and reported that the ice toads were not well equipped to fight. They usually survived by hiding or fleeing.
Lerustah then said, "Tell them to do the best they can to stay away from the octopuses. If any who are in the water need to jump on board, have them do so."
Maccath translated Lerustah's order, and Marfulb looked visibly relieved.
He then positioned the crew in the center of the ship where they would be less likely to be within reach of the octopus tentacles. The crew members took up spears and prepared themselves to jab tentacles that reached onto the ship. Lerustah himself took up a greatsword. The party members and Maccath spread out in front of the crew, readying themselves to react to any tentacles reaching up onto the deck. Frostbite took to the air, preparing to swoop down and bite the enemy.
After a few minutes, first one, then another, tentacle popped above the water and reached onto the deck, searching for something to grab. Bree took aim with her shortbow at one of the tentacles, targeting the portion just above the water, where it was widest and easiest to hit. Her aim was true and the tentacle jerked off the deck, waving frantically in the air.. Mara ran over to the groping tentacle of the second octopus and took a swing with her scimitar. She hit and the tentacle writhed, but did not withdraw from the deck. Neega ran up to the tentacle Mara had just hit and attacked it. With 2 blows she severed the end of the tentacle, and the octopus rapidly yanked it back into the water. Preston and Borovik used Magic Missiles to shoot rays of force at the first octopus' tentacle, whereupon the first octopus pulled its seriously injured tentacle back under the water.
The occupants of the ship nervously watched the surface of the sea, and it didn't take long for the octopuses to reach out with uninjured tentacles. Bree again targeted the tentacle of the first octopus and hit. Mara came over and attacked it with her scimitar. It withdrew its second tentacle. Neega went after the tentacle of the second octopus. She hit and once again cut off the end of the tentacle. The combined shock and loss of bodily fluids caused the octopus to slide into unconsciousness. The remaining octopus, nursing heavy injuries, squirted a cloud of ink to conceal its retreat and fled. The relieved crew pulled in the dead octopus, and everyone was delighted at the prospect of octopus for the evening meal.
There were no more encounters that day, and the ship pulled up onto an iceberg for the night. Kellen cast Leomund's Tiny Hut and they settled in for a good night's rest. Maccath was impressed by the hut and decided she would look into learning that spell for herself. The ice toads scraped a trench into the ice and crowded all together in it, seeking shelter from the chill wind off the water. Bree pulled a large canvas out of her Portable Hole and used it to cover the ice toads in their trench.
The next day the sea was calm, and they again made good time. By nightfall they were at the edge of the Sea of Moving Ice. Only a few icebergs remained between them and open water. They chose an iceberg with a broad, flat area just above the water line and pulled up onto it for the night.
Not long after the party got into the Leomund's Tiny Hut, they heard screams and shouts from the ship. Lerustah bellowed at the crew, "Everybody off the ship! Get onto the ice and away from the water!"
The party scrambled to grab their armor and weapons, then get out of the hut to see what happened. They saw crew members jumping off the ship and running toward them. Mara cast Darkvision on Bree. Borovik cast light on Preston's staff.
"Merrow!" one of the terrified crew members cried.
"Get behind us!" called out Neega. "We will take the front line."
"Three merrow are trying to knock the ship over!" shouted Lerustah. "And another two of them just climbed out of the water!"
Frostbite took to the air and fired off a cold breath weapon at the merrow. All 5 were clumped close together and all were within the cone of his breath weapon. Four of them took the full blast from Frostbite's cold breath and were seriously injured. One of the merrow attempting to push the ship over managed to dodge just to the edge of the cone and took less damage.
The 3 merrow attempting to upturn the ship continued their efforts but failed again. The other 2 merrow tried to give chase to the crew who had jumped off the boat. However, they were very slow on land, so they barely had time to get around the bow of the ship before the crew easily outran them.
Bree took aim with her shortbow at one of the merrow pursuing crew members but cursed in Halfling as she missed. Maccath cast Magic Missiles at that same merrow, and 5 bolts of force energy knocked it to the ground, unconscious. Neega went onto a rage and ran up to the second of the merrow who were chasing the fleeing crew members. Her mighty blow with Hazirawn sent it sprawling. She didn't have enough time to run over to the 3 remaining merrow, so she just yelled at them.
"By the sword of Tempus, you will be shark food!" she bellowed.
Preston approached the stern of the of the ship and managed to get close enough to have a line of sight on one of the merrow trying to push the boat over. He hit with a Ray of Sickness spell. While the initial poison damage was small, the merrow wasn't quite tough enough to avoid aftereffects of the poisoning. Borovik ran after Preston because he didn't have a light on himself and was depending on the light Preston carried. Seeing the merrow Preston just hit, Borovik sent 5 darts of force with the Magic Missiles spell, killing it outright.
Kellen ran to the ship's bow, where he could get a line of sight on one of the two remaining merrow and cast Vicious Mockery. The merrow saw him cast the spell and managed to dodge out of the way. Mara then turned into a polar bear and loped as fast as she could up to the 2 remaining merrow but didn't have time to attack. She did, however, let out a terrifying roar, causing them to tremble in fear.
Frostbite's breath weapon recharged, but he didn't want to use it because Mara would be in the line of fire. So, he decided to land next to a merrow and do melee attacks on it. He chose the one that had taken only half damage from his breath weapon. His claw attacks hit and the merrow screamed as it sustained serious injuries.
One of the merrow attacked Mara and hit with both teeth and claws, doing enough damage to make her roar with pain. The second merrow attacked Frostbite but it missed with both attacks.
Bree continued forward and could now see the merrow who just tried to injure Frostbite. She sent an arrow its direction and got it squarely in the throat. With a gurgling moan, it fell to the ground. Maccath finished off the one remaining merrow with Magic Missiles. The party ensured that the unconscious merrow were killed so they could not attack them again and dumped the bodies into the sea.
The crew returned to the ship and the party returned to their hut. After a good night's rest, the ship set off once again. They quickly left the Sea of Moving Ice, and the crew raised the sails so the wind could speed them through the open water. The ice toads took turns clinging to the ship's stern to feel the exhilaration of being pulled along far faster than they could swim. They croaked with excitement.
During the first day on the open water, the party sensed an increase in their power. Everyone felt their total health increase. Casters felt their total magical energy increase, and more powerful spell were within their grasp. Among the new, more powerful spells learned were: Reincarnate by Mara, Haste by Preston, Hold Monster by Kellen, Rary's Telepathic Bond and Wall of Stone by Borovik. Preston also chose to replace the spell Rope Trick, which he never used, with Shatter.
Bree felt her sneak ability had improved, and Neega felt that the damage she could deliver with her most powerful blows had increased. The total amount of healing Kellen could do with his Song of Healing increased. Mother Moon revealed to Mara during her prayers that she could turn into more powerful beasts than she could before.
Mara couldn't wait to try out one of the new wildshapes she had access to, so she jumped into the water and transformed into a killer whale. The party, the crew, the ice toads and Maccath all squealed with glee as Mara became a huge aquatic creature and swam around the ship. She dived down deeply beneath the surface. She practiced using the echolocation ability to detect creatures and features. For a couple of hours, she swam near the ship, scanning for underwater dangers.
The next day, Mara became the killer whale after breakfast and scouted ahead for danger, and again after the noon meal. The day was clear, the sun was bright, and they encountered no more enemies. Their spirits soared and Kellen played his harp to lead them all in singing several ballads.
The next morning, they were within half a day of Luskan, and Kellen sent a message to Dagult Neverember, "Approaching Luskan with Maccath. Will spend about a day to deliver materials brought from dragon lair to Arcane Brotherhood then return to Waterdeep."
Dagult responded. "Excellent. Will release Talis today."
At hearing this, Mara hugged Frostbite and he nuzzled her.
Members of the Arcane Brotherhood had been alerted by lookouts that the Frostskimmr was returning to port, and they were waiting at the dock when the ship arrived. Upon seeing Maccath, they began shouting her name and hugging her.
"Maccath, you're back." "Are you alright?" "Tell us about your trip." "Why couldn't we contact you?" "Did you see the dragon Arauthator?"
Maccath laughed and said, "Let's go to the Seven Sails Inn for some drinks and I, along with my rescuers, will tell you the story."
The party, Maccath and the Arcane Brotherhood members chattered excitedly as they made their way to the Seven Sails Inn. Meanwhile, Captain Lerustah handed out the pay to his crew, who hightailed it over to the Cutlass to have some ale and tell their tales of the trip.
When they got to the Seven Sails Inn, other members of the Arcane Brotherhood joined them, and a large group assembled there to celebrate Maccath's return. They were enraptured by her story of being taken prisoner by Arauthator. They were thrilled at the description the party gave of their fights with Arauthator and his minions. They cheered when they heard that Maccath had found the magical materials stolen from the Host Tower and stared in wonder at the description of the voluminous records kept by the ice toads. They purchased much wine, ale and food, which put a smile on the face of the Innkeeper. She didn't even make a fuss about Frostbite coming into the Inn with the party.
The celebration went on for hours, and by the time the event broke up, the adventurers were too tired and too drunk to take the materials they brought back to the Host Tower. The members of the Arcane Brotherhood saw to it that the party had rooms for the night and went back to their own residences. Maccath was given a room in the Host Tower to stay in.
The party had 2 rooms to split among themselves, and Mara made sure that she and Frostbite were in the same room. As they were settling in, Frostbite received a telepathic communication from Talis.
"Frostbite, Mara," she said. "I am being released from prison! The City Guard will escort me to the Flagon Dragon Inn to your rooms. I will be waiting for you when you get back."
Mara cried tears of joy. She and Frostbite conversed for a half an hour with Talis, until weariness overtook Mara, and she could no longer stay awake. She dreamed that night that she transformed into a white dragon and gave Talis a ride over the Sea of Moving Ice. She showed her the places they had been and described the adventures they had. Talis' joyous laughter rang through the air and brought intense delight to Mara's heart.
The next day the party met with the Arcane Brotherhood and Bree opened up the Portable Hole. First, she pulled out the stolen magical texts that Maccath had returned. Then she called in Marfulb and began pulling out the ice toad records. The Arcane Brotherhood members stared in wonder at the detailed maps of the Sea of Moving Ice, descriptions of the weather patterns north of the Spine of the World, tales of the activity of the dragon Arauthator, and previously unknown information about the culture of the Ice Hunters.
"We will turn this over to you on one condition," said Marfulb. "We have great curiosity about the south-lands and would like you to teach us about them. We are also willing to be collaborators with you in further explorations of the Sea of Moving Ice."
The Arcane Brotherhood was delighted to accept this offer.
Borovik then turned to the leader of the delegation of the Arcane Brotherhood meeting with them and said, "We have completed the mission for you. Maccath has been rescued and has brought back the magical texts stolen from the Host Tower more than a century ago. Is the Arcane Brotherhood willing to join the alliance in the fight to stop the ritual to summon Tiamat?"
"Yes, we are," came the response. "Our Archmage Arcane has authorized our participation in the alliance. He will send a message to the Open Lord of Waterdeep to that effect."
"Thank you," said Borovik, bowing to the representatives.
After the stolen texts and the ice toad records were delivered, Caramip, who had greeted them when they first came to Luskan, began making arrangements to teleport them back to Waterdeep.
"We should have you home in a couple of hours," she said.
The party gathered their gear from the Seven Sails Inn and met Caramip back at the portal room in the Host Tower. Frostbite sent a telepathic message to Talis saying that they should be back in Waterdeep within a couple of hours. When all preparations were made, each stepped into the glowing circle of runes comprising the portal and found themselves back in the portal room in Waterdeep at the Wizards' guild hall.
Mara looked pleadingly at the other party members. "Would you all be willing to carry my pack back to the Flagon Dragon Inn?" she asked. "I would like to transform into an eagle and fly back to the inn as quickly as possible to see Talis."
Neega laughed. "Sure thing," she said. "Be on your way, eagle lady!"
Mara assumed the eagle form and flew straight to the Flagon Dragon Inn. She landed in front and turned back into a half-elf. Talis was sitting in the tavern nursing a tankard of ale, watching for her. As Mara walked into the tavern, Talis jumped up and threw her arms around her.
"Mara! Baby!" she cried. "You're home and I'm free!"
Mara wrapped Talis in a tight embrace. "I love you! I couldn't wait to see you again!" she whispered.
Two smirking City Guards approached, and the more senior officer said, "Alright, you two lovebirds. Let us escort you back to the party's rooms here so you can properly greet each other."
"Who are these people?" Mara asked.
"My current bodyguards," responded Mara. "Lord Neverember assigned them to protect me because word on the street is that the Cult of the Dragon now knows about my betrayal and wants me dead."
"Didn't take them long to find that out, did it?" frowned Mara.
"No," Talis sighed.
They went back to one of the rooms assigned to the party members and Talis took Mara in her arms.
"Darling," she whispered into Mara's ear, "ever since I was taken to prison, I have dreamed of holding you again."
Mara responded with a long, slow kiss. The heat of Talis' body lit a spark of desire in her belly that quickly spread to engulf her entire frame. She gently stroked Talis' lips with her tongue. Talis moaned and parted her lips, meeting Mara's tongue with her own. Mara's pulse quickened as her hands wandered over Talis' face, her neck, her shoulders, her breasts and her hips. Talis ran her hands through Mara's hair and kissed her over and over on the throat.
Talis began pulling Mara's clothing off, covering each part of her body with kisses as each was revealed. Mara shivered with pleasure, calling out Talis' name over and over. Talis pushed her backward onto the bed and continued kissing with ever greater urgency. Mara moaned as Talis built her excitement with kisses, stroking and probing. As desire enveloped her, she arched her back and groaned loudly, letting the waves of passion carry her way.
Mara lay for a while, panting and relishing the feeling of fulfillment. Talis leaned on her elbow and smiled as she watched Mara return to the real world after her excursion to the realm of pleasure. At length, Mara regained her senses and turned to gaze longingly at Talis.
"Sweetheart," she crooned. "I want to make you feel what I have just felt."
Talis grinned. "What do you have in mind?" she asked.
"First thing is to get your clothes off."
Mara rose from the bed and pulled Talis to her feet. She pulled Talis' robe over her head and then removed her boots and leggings. She came up behind Talis and hugged her, wrapping her arms around Talis' waist and pressing herself against Talis' naked body. The heat of Mara's body pressed against her brought a burning desire into the pit of her stomach, and she exhaled a delirious sigh.
Mara began to kiss Talis' neck and stroke her. Her hands cupped Talis' breasts and then slid across her abdomen. Moving her hands lower, Mara knelt behind Talis and rested her cheek on Talis' hip. She stroked the inside of Talis' thighs. Talis threw her head back and inhaled sharply.
"Oh, Mara!" she moaned. "Take me now!"
"No, Baby. I'm going to tease you for a while." Mara said with a wicked smirk.
Again and again, Mara brought Talis to the edge, only to back off just before she went over it. Finally, she once again built Talis' excitement, but this time didn't back off. She pressed her ministrations with renewed fervency until Talis' body tensed and she cried out loudly. She succumbed to the overwhelming pleasure of fulfilled desire and her entire being focused on the intensity of that moment. She groaned several times as the ecstasy played itself out, then relaxed and panted heavily for a while.
When she finally recovered enough to open her eyes. Talis saw Mara looking at her with a dreamy smile. She reached out and took Mara's hand.
"Mara, my love, from now on wherever you go I want to go with you," she said. "I never want us to be separated again."
"I agree with you," responded Mara. "We should never be apart. Never again."