SILVERYMOON
Chapter 32
Alexis was gone for roughly 30 minutes. She had taken Patches with her, but she was back now. "It's all in here now." She tried to pat her backpack after putting Patches down. "I tried not to put anything into it that looked like a folded-up Portable Hole or a Bag of Holding."
Durgeddin told her what she already knew. "If you had, you would be dead, and everything would be gone."
"There was a number of large crystals. I didn't count them since I was in a hurry, but I took those too." Alexis reached for her backpack and pulled one out since what she wanted was always on top no matter what, and she showed it to them.
Rick snatched it from her hand. "Crystal, nothing. That's a diamond! It's not cut, but that's what this is. It's the biggest one I've ever seen. This thing has to be worth thousands. Thousands more if we can find someone to cut it for us."
Kate grabbed it from his hand. "HEY!" Rick complained.
"In that case, you can't have it. Diamonds are a girl's best friend, and all I got was a magical ring when we were married." Kate gave it back to Alexis, who returned it to her backpack.
"Do we leave now?" Alexis asked them.
Kate shook her head; she wasn't quite ready to leave. "Someone was watching us and sending Undead to stop or capture us. We haven't answered that question yet."
"I did find one other thing." Alexis reached into her backpack again and pulled it out. "This." She held up a glowing skull head with luminescent red eyes in both hands.
Rick looked at it closely. "The eyes look like rubies to me. I don't think the head is a diamond. It might only be quartz. Regardless, why does it glow like that?"
"Give me a minute." Eslor cast a spell. "BY THE GODS! In the name of Pelor, that thing is EVIL. As Evil as anything I have ever encountered." Eslor even took a half step back.
"OH SHIT!" Alexis was all set to drop it since she was the person holding it. Instead, Corimin snatched it from her and stuffed it back into her backpack.
"I need to wash my hands now." The problem was she didn't have much with which to do that. So Alexis scrubbed her hands against her pants.
"Phylactery?" Durgeddin queried and looked at Eslor.
Eslor nodded. "That would be my guess. Which means if this is here, so is he, and he will want it back." She knew keeping it was out of the question.
"Throne room." Durgeddin tried to look that way. Not that he could see through walls.
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This imposing chamber had a silvered ceiling brightly illuminated by reflected light. Its walls were of ivory with inlaid gold; the floor was polished agate. In each corner, there stood a statue of black iron, easily nine feet tall. The one to the northeast stood with a saw-toothed two-handed sword raised to strike; in the northwest corner, that one held a huge spike-ended mace; to the southeast, the sculpture held a wickedly spiked morning star, and the one in the southwest had a voulge.
Near the center of the room was a large bronze urn filigreed in gold where a thin stream of smoke issued from a tiny vent in its brass stopper.
To the north was what looked like a door made entirely of gold. To the south sat a massive solid gold chair inlaid with gems and diagrams.
"Try not to touch anything," Durgeddin cautioned.
Kate eyed her husband since she knew he loved to touch things. "Castle?"
"I heard him," Rick responded. Not that he didn't want to touch something. Hell, Rick wanted to handle everything. He chose to start with the chair while everyone else scattered to look.
Soon a grinding sound registered. It was a little soft, and when Alexis looked that way, she saw the solid gold door pivoting in the middle, exposing an opening on each side.
"GUYS!" Alexis yelled.
"MEOW!"
Alexis quickly pulled out her Staff of Wands just as a horde of Zombies came stumbling out each side of the door.
"GUYS!" Alexis shouted this time and said the command word. They looked far enough away that the blast wouldn't include her or everyone else. "MY WAND DOESN'T WORK!"
Alexis put it away and pulled out her Staff of Power to try it in hopes of getting the fireball she wanted.
"MY STAFF DOESN'T WORK!" Corimin called out since he had just tried that.
"By Pelor's might, I banish you!" Eslor held out her Holy Symbol, and just like that, eleven of them turned to dust. Apparently, something worked. However, right behind them were a lot more.
"There had to be at least a hundred columns in there," Alexis reminded them. What if each column hid one of those? That was a lot of Zombies.
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They had dust at the door piling up. And soon found out that none of the Staffs or Wands worked. Not one! Corimin was reduced to casting a simple Magic Missile Spell. Even it didn't work.
However, what came out next looked like a regally-robed skeleton with glowing red eyes. And boy, did it look angry! Assuming a skeleton with no face could look angry.
"LICH!" Eslor called out and tried to turn it, but it ignored her and kept walking.
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"MEOW!"
Alexis jerked awake and sat up quickly like she was scared to death. Looking around, she spotted Patches, and he moved onto her lap and purred. She saw Kate lying on the ground; so was her dad and even Corimin.
"What happened?" Alexis didn't understand. The last thing she could remember was the Lich that was moving. Boy, howdy could it move, and move fast!
Eslor told her by ripping the band-aid off. "You died."
"I what!?" How could she have died?
Then Eslor ripped off the other band-aid. "The Lich got you. It got Rick, Kate, and Corimin as well."
The color drained from Alexis's face, and her heart nearly broke. "THEY'RE... DEAD?"
"I started with you. We need that skull from your backpack. Only for you will it be on top," Eslor told her.
Alexis wasn't able to think. "Skull?"
"Skull. Backpack. NOW!" Eslor shouted. Once Alexis took it out, Eslor snatched it from her. She tossed it to Ghared, who promptly put it on the floor and raised her Hammer to smash the thing into as many little pieces as possible. Ghared actually had to hit it three times. The skull was fractured into pieces easily. However, the red eyes popped out, and she had to chase each one down so she could crush them as well. Once she smashed the last red eye, a smoky ghost rose up and vanished into the ceiling.
"Dead?" Alexis turned numbly to look at each of them. Her dad couldn't be dead. He just couldn't be. Yes, she loved Corimin, but she loved her dad even more.
"For now." Eslor could fix that, only not right now.
"What do you mean, for now?" Alexis was so overwrought she was ready to burst into tears.
"I brought you back; I can bring them back too. But I only have the one spell for that for today," Eslor explained patiently. "Tomorrow, after I pray for new spells, I can bring them back too. But that will have to wait for tomorrow."
"MEOW!"
"I'm fine...I think." Alexis lifted Patches and kissed him. "Where are we?" It wasn't where they were before. This room looked more like the passageway that led to that room.
"We think that room had a permanent Anti-Magic field in place. None of our magic worked there. We had to get you and the others out before I could bring you back and get to that skull," Eslor told her.
"OH." Alexis thought she got it, but things were still a bit slow. "Where's Durgeddin?" He was missing.
"He is searching the next room with Night after he helped carry all of you here," Eslor said.
Ghared wanted to help. Night might be of use, but she was far more help. "I'm going to join him. You good here?"
Eslor nodded. "I am good. GO!" She watched Ghared make her way to that secret door that led to the Throne Room.
Fiona used her Staff of the Woodlands and summoned an exceedingly large Earth Elemental. "Guard that door. No one gets past you," she commanded and watched it move to the other door. Fiona saw Alexis looking at her for an explanation. "I'm a Druid. I can even change my form to look like one of those and many other things. I did so to combat that Lich."
"Do you know where Delmadine is?" Alexis asked, and both of them looked at her with sad faces.
"The Lich got her. I am sorry, but even I cannot bring her back from the dead. Not like that." Eslor felt awful. To be imprisoned for years and then killed. At least she was free. That was about the only good that came from it. "I will pray for her soul tonight."
Durgeddin, Ghared, and Night were back. "Nothing and all of those columns you say you saw? Gone. Every last one. It's one big empty room now," Durgeddin told Alexis.
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Alexis had found the tent and had it set up in this room. It was a tight fit, but it worked. Fiona used her Staff again and had another Earth Elemental guarding the secret door.
With everyone inside the tent and Rick, Kate, and Corimin on cots, Alexis was sitting on the floor holding her dad's hand. It even felt cold to her.
"They will be fine, Alexis. I can fix all this come morning," Eslor told her as she went to her cot and sat down.
Fiona was sitting on her cot petting Night. At least she hadn't lost him. She might die if she had. Her familiar meant everything to her.
"Woof."
"Meow."
No one asked for an explanation; they could guess.
"You know, that Anti-Magic field might have been a blessing. Just think if he was able to cast spells. A powerful Wizard or Cleric casting spells, and able to move that fast." Durgeddin shook his head.
Ghared agreed. "I could do without ever meeting another Lich in my lifetime."
"Why then did he focus on these four?" Eslor inquired. "Because someone is watching them? Was it his job to capture them? Then why kill them?"
"It gave us the time to kill him," Durgeddin suggested. "Their spirits better not be captured and taken somewhere, or come the morning, they might stay dead."
"Don't say that. Don't you ever say that! They're all I have." Alexis had been holding it in until now. Now she began to sob so hard that her whole body shook. She couldn't be left alone in a strange land. If she lost all of them, she truly would be all alone.
"MEOW!" Patches rubbed up against her to try and help calm her. He loved her. She was all he had. He had nearly died when the Lich killed her. He could feel her dead body, and he was dying inside.
Thankfully, Alexis picked him up and put him in her lap. One hand held her dad's dead hand, and the other petted Patches.
Patches helped, but he wasn't enough. She loved him dearly, but she loved her dad and the others more.
Though right now, while she still felt like shit, she felt Eslor repeatedly tapping her with a wand. "You are alive but just barely. I need to heal all your wounds," Eslor said. "I will need to do the same for them tomorrow."
"I will help. I will pray for only Cure Wound spells in the morning," Fiona added.
Once Eslor stopped, Alexis did feel better, but her soul still hurt. Her family was still dead.
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Alexis never did move to her cot or even attempt to go to sleep. Finally, she stopped crying and fell asleep by accident while sitting on the floor holding Rick's hand. She hadn't meant to, but she was so incredibly weary.
Now she was sitting there watching Eslor and Fiona praying. One was sitting cross-legged while the other was sitting on her feet and knees. Both seemed to be murmuring to themselves while holding their Holy Symbols.
Soon she had to relinquish control of her dad's hand and watched as Eslor cast a spell, likely the same one she had used on her.
The second she stopped, her dad sucked in a breath, and his eyes snapped open!
"DAD!"Alexis's heart soared. While Rick was still coping with what was going on, Eslor moved to Kate, and she had almost the same reaction. Only Alexis didn't let go of her dad when Kate drew in a breath and opened her eyes.
Alexis was the only one of the three really watching as Eslor did the same for Corimin, and he did the very same thing. Soon they were all watching as Fiona cast every one of her prayed-for Cure Spells, followed by Eslor draining her Wand on Kate. That had Alexis handing Eslor her own Wand of Cure Light Wounds. Eventually, even her Wand was dropped to the floor, completely drained.
No one complained; it had been worth it. Now those three were being told just what had happened.
"We were dead?" Rick asked incredulously. "I didn't see or feel a thing. Where was the white light I was supposed to see?" he queried.
"And Delmadine?" Kate asked since she didn't see her.
"The Lich killed her," Eslor answered. "I cannot do anything for her. The most I could do was scoop up some of the dust that used to be her. Perhaps Dima can recover her. But she is beyond my power."
"We need to stay here for another day yet. I've used up all my spells helping you four," Fiona told them. "I'll replace the Elementals guarding the doors after they're gone." It didn't use up that many charges. They were worth it.
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It gave them time to go over everything Alexis had gathered from that room before they encountered the Lich.
Ninety-seven gems – each worth 50 gold pieces; four huge stones at 10,000 gold pieces; a 12,000 gold piece Peridot; a 50,000 gold piece Emerald; a 100,000 gold piece Black Opal; a 100,000 gold piece Diamond (Each were just stones save for the Pearl of Power. Double their worth if you could find someone to cut them into gems.); a +5 Defender Bastard Sword; a +2 Long Sword of Vengeance; a +2 Spear, 12 Potions; one Scroll with spells on it, all wizard spells; Staff of Frost, 22 charges remaining; Rod of Absorption, 11 charges remaining; Ring of X-ray Vision; Pearl of Power, one Second-level Divine spell; +4 Bracers of Armor; Robe of the Archmagi – white; a box with 250 platinum pieces; a box with 200 gold pieces.
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They never left the tent save for Fiona to replace the Elementals to guard both doors. Come morning, they had to wait for Fiona and Eslor to pray for their spells for the day. Each focused on whatever spells they thought they might need out on the sand.
But first, they had to get back out of this place and find their camels in order to leave here. Without those camels, it would be a very long, very hard walk.
"How do you get your rope back?" Kate asked after the last of them went hand over hand to get across the pit.
"Like this." Durgeddin merely snapped the rope, and the opposite side let go, followed by snapping it again, and it let go of the piton on this side. Now he was coiling it back up to put away.
"We are definitely getting one of those," Rick whispered to Kate. He really liked that rope a lot.
That still left a lot of pits to traverse to get back out again. The sun was even high in the sky when they finally did. Now they had to traverse down to the ground. But Rick, Kate, and Alexis cheated and flew down, then went looking for their camels.
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They made sure the camels had enough hay and water and set up the tent to spend the night. They actually left two hours before the sun came up. It wasn't that hard to find the direction they needed to follow.
Three days and nights later, they were sitting outside looking at the night sky.
"Have they given up on us? We've seen nothing," Kate commented.
"We killed everyone," Alexis pointed out.
"If that Lich sent them in the first place. Yet how did he follow us? We had a Crystal Ball once, and we didn't find one of those," Kate countered.
"I only need a pool of water. We find an oasis, and I can pray for that spell to cast," Fiona offered.
"A Crystal Ball doesn't require a spell; you simply use it," Eslor said. "But you are right in that we found none. Perhaps hidden away somewhere?"
"That or the Lich didn't do any of it. He was just another pawn for who did," Durgeddin put forward.
Rick didn't like the sound of that. "Meaning it's not over yet."
Kate briefly closed her eyes and shook her head. "But I still want to know who and why."
"True Evil does not care who they use to advance their goals. They would sell their own sister if they needed to," Eslor added. "We may all work with you again if you ever find out."
"Count me in," Fiona answered quickly.
"WOOF!" Night agreed.
Ghared answered for herself and Durgeddin. "Just come find us." She was sure he would join her.
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Amazingly the trip to Silverymoon was entirely uneventful. There wasn't so much as a scorpion, a pack of wild wolves, or even a hungry bear.
They had dropped off Fiona and Night at Citadel Adbar. She ended up with the Black Opal, two Potions, +2 Spear, and 100 gold pieces. She was thinking of keeping the Spear, selling the Opal, and putting the gold to good use.
Once in Silverymoon, Ghared and Durgeddin took their leave the following morning. They didn't need an escort; they only needed to sell the camels and buy two horses. They left with the +5 Defender Sword, four Potions, 100 gold pieces, the Peridot, and the Emerald.
Eslor prayed over Rick, Kate, Alexis, and Corimin and then hurried to her Temple to check in with Dima. She went home with 100 platinum pieces, two Potions, the Pearl of Power, and the +2 Long Sword of Vengeance. She planned to donate the Sword to the Temple. It was what Clerics did. They worked to improve their Temple, not their personal gold. It meant the Temple to Pelor did well today.
Corimin made his way home with the Diamond, Staff of Frost, 50 platinum pieces, two Potions, and the Scroll.
As they unlocked their front door, Kate said longingly, "I need a bath so badly. PATCHES!" She needed him to sit under the copper tub and heat the water. She was even thinking of burning the clothes she had taken. They were well used and still full of sand.
"I'm second," Alexis called out. Rick moaned a little. He still lived in a house dominated by women, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
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They had come home with a lot but gave most of it away, not that any of them were complaining. After all, they had done it to help Corimin gain some much-needed gold. What he did with what he went home with was his business. Besides, Alexis would tell them eventually.
Still, they had a few platinum pieces, Rod of Absorption (11 charges remaining), Ring of X-ray Vision, +4 Bracers of Armor, and Robe of the Archmagi – white.
Alexis had plans for the Robe once she made up her mind what she was going to do. Kate got another Ring for one of her pockets. Rick kept the Bracers since they learned they lost to the Lich because they had no armor save for their Rings of Protection. Rick also got the Rod of Absorption. He just needed to find out exactly what it was and what it did. If they had to, they would sell it.
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Rick was handing out breakfast before either he or Kate went downstairs and opened their store. It had been closed while they were gone. Alexis needed to get Mops so they could go back to sewing. Besides, she had a lot to tell Mops.
"MEOW!" And with that, Patches raced for the door, followed by a knock.
"That better be Cor. All I've had for weeks to eat is cardboard," Alexis complained and hurried to the door.
"For once, I'm glad I don't need food. That stuff even looked bad," Kate commented.
Rick didn't want to have to do that again. "World War II MREs looked better than that stuff."
Alexis was back. "It wasn't Cor. It was someone from the Palace with a scroll. I even had to sign for it." Alexis handed it to Kate since her hands were empty.
Kate broke the seal, unrolled it, and read it. Then she blinked and read it again. "It's a summons. We're wanted in the Palace this morning." Kate looked at them. "Like right now. And it's signed by High Lady Alustriel Silverhand herself."
"What did we do wrong this time?" Alexis moaned. "Can I please eat my breakfast first? I'm starving."