Part II
Nameless sits outside the corrupted church's doors where Drexx had instructed the group to take Queen Silk and wait for him. The dilapidated building stands dark behind him, an ominous, foreboding silhouette in the night, long shadows cast by the pale moon in the sky. Waiting patiently for his friends, the bard plays quietly on Magdalene, humming to himself. Alone.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Black Dragon Company is taking stock of their injuries and determines that, while they don't have time to recover completely from their battle with the dragon turtle by resting, they can clean out the nearest potions shop of all its available healing draughts. Eli notices that Bill has dropped his sending stone. He picks it up to find a message from Drexx, urging them to meet him below the church with the utmost haste. With their wounds bandaged as best they can, they borrow some Solce horses and leave Hilvada to meet up with Nameless and his captive.
As they approach the derelict cathedral, they notice with some concern a solitary figure loitering outside the entrance. A large, domed shield of magic surrounds the church, and they can see Nameless inside it, waving animatedly, his mouth moving and trying to communicate with them, though no sound can be heard past the barrier. Aro-mon steels his shoulders and strides purposefully through the shield with no ill effects. The others quickly follow.
"Where is Silk, Nameless?" Eli bites out through gritted teeth.
Nameless frantically searches his pockets, checks behind him and under a few rocks, then turns, embarrassed, back to his comrades. "I...I don't know?" He shuffles his feet awkwardly. "But I'm here!" he then adds with a cheeky grin. When they are finally able to coax the tale of what happened to him on the journey from the docks to the church, they learn that while the pair was flying invisibly, high in the clouds, Silk punched Nameless square in the jaw, prompting the poor bard to drop her from his arms. He hasn't seen her since.
Though Drexx is expecting them to bring Silk to the rendezvous, they have no choice but to enter the church empty-handed. They head inside the building and down to the underground chamber where they first battled Glarald during his insidious blood ritual. The unpleasant memories return, darkening everyone's mood.
Drexx is surprisingly unperturbed when he hears that Silk has gone missing. It seems that more important matters are at hand, for Glarald will be arriving at the church in three hours' time. Drexx tasks the Company with retrieving a demi-plane glass that will help banish his brother. This glass is in the possession of the Kol Oracle who resides in a temple 400 leagues southeast of Hilvada. There is no time to run there so Drexx opens a portal directly to the temple. Though still conflicted about their precarious alliance with the dubious wizard, they jump through the portal one by one. "Three hours," Drexx reminds them, as he holds the portal open for the heroes. "Oh, and she won't have fond memories of my father or family, so best not to mention me!"
They arrive in the burning red sands of a desert, leagues from their home, outside of a massive temple. It is too hot to stay out in the sun for longer than a minute, so they go inside through the front door. The temperature immediately drops thirty degrees as they enter the outer room. Myriad footprints disturb the sandy ground, all of them leading in. None leading out. Stone tombs line the walls as the room twists and turns and ends at a massive, heavy stone door. Two giant statues stand in alcoves, acting almost as sentry to the dozen tombs that occupy the room. Beside the heavy stone door, a fully-dressed, mummified corpse lies upon a raised platform. Eli inspects the corpse, carefully lifting the body and finding gold pieces woven into its wrappings. He wisely leaves it alone and lays it back down.
On the walls surrounding the raised platform is strange hieroglyphic text, a mystery to everyone except Nameless who casts a spell and immediately comprehends the pictorial language. It speaks of twelve trials. Everyone looks around the room, regarding the twelve tombs that they passed on their way. Nameless touches each sarcophagus, noting that each one bears a name. He summons his Unseen Servant and instructs it to open the lid of the first tomb. As the lid is pried away, the Servant drops to the floor, crumbling to dust. The lid lies open, and Aro-mon cautiously approaches the tomb to peer inside. He finds a mummy holding a scroll with the word "their" written in Common upon it. Eight coins have been sewn into this mummy's wrappings. Eli gently wedges a dagger into the next sarcophagus, hearing a soft thud as the trap is triggered when the lid is lifted ever so slightly. They remove the lid to find a poison dart sticking into its underside and a mummy with nine coins and a scroll that reads "tomb." Keen Bill proceeds to the next tomb and triggers a fire trap. He continues his way down the line of sarcophagi, safely disarming some but not others, until Zandor takes over, using their monkey rod to open the rest of the tombs completely unharmed. As the twelfth tomb is opened, a thirteenth, empty sarcophagus rises from the ground. When put in order, the scrolls read, "Please help keep my sons safe in their tombs of slumbered repose." Aro-mon takes the mummy on the platform and carefully lays it in the tomb. The two large statues spring to life and walk with heavy steps towards the stone door, lifting it easily and allowing everyone access to the next room.
The heroes enter the square central chamber. The ceiling rises far above them. Two springs are fed from the eastern and western walls. Eight statues holding mirrored surfaces circle the perimeter of the room, with a single beam of light shining down from the high ceiling onto one of the statues. In the center of the room, a localized wind storm swirls and rages, the source of the gale unknown. A woman's voice echoes throughout the chamber and within their minds. "Calm the storm. Hold back the torrent. Dry my bones."
Bill hesitantly tosses one of the stones from the springs at the swirling vortex. The shape of the storm seems to falter where the stone hits it, but it re-forms itself fully as the stone drops to the ground. Bill thens pulls out a rope, ties a noose at its end, and lassoes the cyclone. Rather than riding it across the desert, Bill is wrenched from his feet and flung into the center of the room, kept from being tossed into a wall only by the strong hands of Loci steadying him as he lands in the pooling waters on the floor. The cyclone fades to a wisp before disappearing entirely. Using the rest of the stones, the heroes plug up the walls where the water runs forth, and the floor empties of the springs. Zandor tests one of the statues, rotating it upon its plinth. He swivels it back and forth, eyeing the beam of light shooting down from the ceiling. As he adjusts all of the statues so that the beam travels from the first mirror until it reflects off of each one, the room is illuminated brightly, the temperature rising so that the water saturating the floor begins to steam and evaporate. The red sand swirls at their feet and rises into a gargantuan shape, coalescing into the Oracle of Kol.
The Oracle reveals that she has been imprisoned here by Drexx's father for five hundred years. There is no love lost for that family, which must be why Drexx sent the Black Dragon Company to retrieve the glass in his stead. The heroes begin to wonder how they can convince her to hand over to them her most precious possession and the source of all her power.
Bill makes his best polite bow before the enormous Oracle, and she nods almost imperceptibly in response. He addresses her, and she forms a smaller tornado of swirling red sand, instructing each of them to consult with her privately. Nameless is the first to volunteer, and he steps into the ochre whirlwind. The remaining members convene together to discuss both their immediate and greater problems- how do they obtain the glass from the Oracle, and, if they are able to acquire it, should they use it to help Drexx as he ordered them to do so? Nameless returns, and the Oracle's mood appears to have soured as she seems eager to dismiss the bard from her presence. Everyone is on edge, wondering what their team member said to cause the sudden shift in mood, so Bill volunteers to meet with the Oracle next and hopefully improve relations.
One by one, she speaks to every hero, granting each one an answer to a single question, offering to relieve them of an evil that stains each of their persons, and tendering a gift that they may choose from a list of words. Loci is the last to see her and, ready with his question after much discussion with his friends, asks simply to know where Drexx's father is. She freezes and stares at him intently for several quiet minutes. Finally, she confesses that she cannot answer his question but will give him something of equal value- the glass. He humbly accepts, and when she offers him the opportunity to be rid of a great evil, he agrees to that as well, and his armor falls from his body until only the amulet is left. With a twist of her wrist, the amulet crumbles to dust, and he feels as if a weight has been lifted from his soul.
Loci returns to join his friends, and the Oracle addresses the seven heroes standing before her. She has answered each of their questions, or given them an equitable substitute, and taken six of their amulets. Each of them has been given a gift after picking from her list, the chosen words branded onto their forearms by the red sands. These gifts are one-time use boons that may help them in their coming battle. Her parting instructions to them are only to come back to the temple with the glass and return it to her possession. They agree and are told to leave by the way they came, the first adventurers to do so in five centuries.
Before they return to Hildan, they must make a decision, once and for all, whether they should trust Drexx and continue to help him, or act for themselves and prepare for the chance that they may have to battle Drexx, possibly with one or two of his siblings at his side. Now that they have the glass, it would seem foolish to hand it over to the powerful wizard, who may have dark objectives in mind for its use. Though there may be little they can do if he insists on taking it from them, they decide to risk his wrath and do whatever they can not to hand it over right away. If they are lucky, Drexx will allow them to keep it, and their lives.
They step back through Drexx's portal, half an hour remaining before Glarald is due to arrive. Drexx is pleased with their success and asks for the glass. With as much courage as they can muster, they refuse him. He narrows his eyes and raises his hand, which he clenches into a tight fist. Nameless instantly starts to collapse to the ground, struggling for breath, as his amulet tightens around his neck. Bill cuts the chain from the bard's neck, and Nameless gasps for air. Drexx looks furiously at the group of heroes, then his face seems to relax. "Very well. You may keep the glass," he says. "For now."
Suddenly, tremors shake the foundations of the cathedral as the powerful magical barrier outside is destroyed. Glarald has arrived.