Disclaimer: See first chapter.
AN:
This is the fifth of five chapters that all take place during the same time frame. Locations, some characters, and some situations in this chapter are drawn from the Everquest II game. The dialog is not from the game, however. If anyone feels the rating should be bumped up, please let me know.
I'm not dead yet although at my age with my health that is always a possibility. Sorry this took so long but I kept getting distracted and although I had the basics outlined, the details didn't flow like previous chapters. I'll try and do better in the future.
Beta:
Me, Myself, and I, still. There are bound to be mistakes, especially dropped or wrong final letters and suffixes. If you spot plot holes or other mistakes, feel free to let me know.
Created: Started: August 21, 2013, Finished October: 18, 2013
[First Day, The Thundering Steps, Undead Problem]
After watching Hermione and Shampoo leave, Harry and Ranma went in search of Reinkor McCollin. They found him standing out side of the General Store looking a bit worse for the wear and introduced themselves.
"Mr McCollin, we were told that you are the person to talk to about the undead in the area.", Harry began. "We are investigating possible increased or unusual activity among them to try and locate a source for some problems that Norrath is having."
"Aye, I know a fair bit about the walking corpses,", Reinkor informed them. "Not that I want to, mind you. I run a transport business here in the Steppes and they are a hazard of doin' business here. In fact, one of my teams that I was traveling with just got jumped and I trying to arrange some adventurers to go and recover the goods. Interested, me lads?"
"Sorry, sir, but we have to investigate problem spots to find the source of the trouble.", Harry replied. "Perhaps later, we can help. It might be that our mission will be of direct benefit to you."
"Well, lads, ye can't blame a mon for trying.", Reinkor chuckled. "What information do ye be needing?"
"We need to know where the pockets of undead are and if any have changed behavior within the last year or so.", Ranma informed him.
"Well, les see. Th' Dead River Basin has been infested with animated corpses since the cataclysm." Reinkor mused. "Can'na say they be actin' any different o' late. Then there's the dead farmers up north but they stay pretty much on the ol' farmlands. A few hang around an ol' graveyerd ov'r in Thundermist Valley. Biggest bunch are down southeast o' the Southeast Griffin station near th' ruins of Varsoon. Come ta think, Qeynos sent ah agent out to check it out. Now what be her name? Jiana Waterway, that be it. If'n you can find her, she might have some stuff for you."(1)
"So she is near or in the ruins you mentioned?", Harry inquired.
"Should be but its har ta say." Reinkor returned. "Been a while since she passed this way."
"So how do we get there?", Ranma wanted to know.
"Ye take th griffin at the end of the dock ta th Southeast Station.", Reinkor instructed them. "Head north a bit ta get past the worst o' th undead, then east 'til ya get to th valley wall. Then head south an' ye'll find the ruins. Jiana will likely be near the entrance to the buried part."
"Thank you for your help.", Harry said. "Good luck with recovering your goods."
Taking leave of Reinkor, the guys walked to the end of the pier where they met the station keeper that Hermione and Shampoo had talked to earlier. They received the same instructions that the girls had and took off for the Southeast station.
As the griffin took off, Harry shouted, "YAHOO! I'VE GOT TO GET ONE OF THESE!" The people on the docks looked up and shook their heads.
Instead of taking the pass that angled Northwest that the girls had taken, the guys flew down the dried up river they had been told was the Dead River Basin. As they flew, they saw a lot of skeletons and zombies, some oversized centipedes, a few what looked like earth elementals, and a few crab like creatures.
After awhile, they came to a bridge with a keep build on either side, apparently to keep the denizens of the dry river in the basin. The griffin turned south at that point, barely clearing the keep walls and began to follow a south bound road. Near the keep, they saw a lot of guards and some apparent merchants. As they continued south, they began to see lions, a few wolves, centaurs, and only the occasional guard.
Just beyond a guard tower, they flew out into a large valley which contained the same lions, wolves, and centaurs plus antelopes, beetles, bears, and an assortment of birds in a mostly open grassland. The valley was marred in several places by impact craters, some of which appeared to have water in them. One apparently was being mined for something based on the scaffolding set up in it.
Farther south, they began to make out a dead area that seen to contain no living vegetation although they could make out standing dead trunks. Finally, they could make out the griffin station ahead of them, next to a guard tower. The road they were following forked at that point with the main branch heading southwest and the branch generally west.
After landing, seeing no guard manning the guard tower, Harry approached a male centaur standing near it to see if he had seen Jiana. The centaur snarled something about not keeping track of two-legs and trotted off. The guys looked at each other and shrugged. Ranma climbed the ramp up the griffin station tower to talk to the woman in charge of it.
"Excuse me, ma'am.", Ranma began. "Has Jiana Waterway passed this way?"
"Sorry, traveler.", the woman replied. "People rarely tell me their name when they pass through. You might ask the miners at the pit mine to the northeast. It is a bit of a ride but they are the only ones in the area likely to talk to you and the person you are looking for might have stopped by there."
"Thank you, ma'am.", Ranma said. "By the way, I'm Ranma and my friend is Harry."
"Glad to meet you, Ranma." the woman said with a smile. "I'm Sherrie."
"Thanks again for the help, Sherrie.", Ranma said, returning the smile. "We'll stop by and say hi if we are back this way!"
Since it was very late in the day, the guys decided to spend the night on the second floor of the guard tower and set out the next morning.
[Second Day, The Thundering Steps, Undead Problem]
Early in the morning, Harry and Ranma waved to the male station keeper who had replaced Sherrie(2) and set off riding northeast along the road the griffin had followed the previous day. After a bit the road veered more north and they cut across the grasslands toward the mine they had seen from the air the previous day. This caused them to stay clear of the barren area they had seen to the southeast which they assumed was infested with undead creatures. Riding through the grass, they encountered a few lions which would usually attack them on sight. The rest of the animals moved out of their way and the centaurs ignored them.
As they rode along they talked about their previous adventures with Harry talking about Hogwarts and his battles against Voldemort while Ranma covered his ten year training trip and his fights in Nemeria. They talked about their various rivals such as Draco and Ryoga, friends, and the adults that had screwed up their lives. Harry talked about walking out to face Voldemort and Ranma told of this fight with the Phoenix God-King which resulted in Akane nearly dying.
"Have you given any thought to what you are going to do after this quest is over?", Harry asked after a while.
"Not really.", Ranma replied. "I suppose the girls and I should talk it over when we get a chance. We are going to need a place so we can live together. Hopefully, we'll earn enough money here to get something. It would be nice to get away from the craziness of the Tendo's home. Some of my rivals are not going to take me being bonded to four women though my mom with be thrilled with how 'manly' I am." He grimaced.
"My 'friend' and my ex-girlfriend may have problems with my bond-mates but I can deal with it. If not, my ladies can.", Harry said. "I'm not looking forward to explaining the bond to my new in-laws, thought. As far as a place to live, my godfather left me with a house although I don't know what shape it is in. At the very least, it is going to need cleaning and refurbishing. It might be best to see if we can find somewhere else to live that is better for the kids I hope to have. Maybe we'll get enough from what we earn here to help out."
"With Nabiki and Daphne working on it, we should have a fair sized nest egg when we return." Ranma noted. "Still, we need a plan for when we return. That money won't last forever and I don't have any real skills except the art. Somehow, running a dojo doesn't seem like it will be enough."
"I know what you mean.", Harry agreed. "I was thinking about become an auror, a kind of magical policeman, but now I don't think so. Not enough pay, too much risk of leaving any kids without a father, and I'm not sure what the bond would do to the girls if I died."
"Speaking of which, we should talk this over with our spouses when we get a chance.", Ranma said considering. "It is their life too and they will have some ideas, plans, and dreams that need to be considered.
Soon, the guys reached the crater that was being mined where two men were surveying what appeared to be recent damage.
"What happened here?", Harry asked as they rode up. "It looks like a typhoon went through here."
"Not a bad description.", one of the men said. "Doomsquall paid us a visit!"
"Doomsquall?", Ranma queried. "Who or what is that?"
"It is a big, powerful weather elemental.", the other man told them. "The last time it was dispersed, it took twenty-four adventurers working together. Took it a year to reform but it is back. Now we've got this mess to clean up before we can get the mine back in operation. I don't know what we'll do about the water."
"Perhaps I can help.", Harry offered. "By the way, I'm Harry Potter and my friend is Ranma Saotome. Let me cast a few spells." He cast Repair at the mine scaffolding and equipment putting it back in order. He then transfigured some nearby ore into a wind powered pump to drain the water from the pit. As the water begin to flow away from the mine, a large antelope splashed through the water hitting Ranma making him Ranko.
"It's weird how often that happens!", Harry said laughing. "Here, let me conjure some hot water."
"Thanks.", Ranma sulked. "I hate it when that happens!"
"What just happened?", the first man asked with wide eyes.
"I have a water activated curse that turns me into a girl.", Ranma growled. "Cold water activates it; hot changes me back."
"Ooookaay.", the first man commented. "I'm Mallus and this is Larany. We mine this crater to provide money so Bridge Keep can buy supplies."
"What do you mine here?, Harry wanted to know.
"A big chunk of Lucien hit here so we are able to get things that were only found there.", Larany informed him. "We get some more common stuff too like ore for weapons and armor. A few gemstones occasionally."
"Ever find any dark crystals?", Harry asked.
"We do a few but we destroy them as soon as we find them.", Mallus said. "They're not good for anything except attracting undead and we don't want to have to deal with them."
"That's good.", Ranma commented. "Those crystals have been causing a lot of problems!"
"What we stopped by was to see if you had seen Jiana Waterway.", Harry explained. "She was sent out from Qeynos to investigate the undead and we are hoping she can help us with information for our task."
"Jiana stopped by awhile back headed towards the Ruins of Varsoon.", Larany informed them. "She wasn't planning on going in, especially by herself so she will likely be near the entrance."
"The entrance?", Harry queried. "A castle or fort?"
"It may have been at one time but anything on the surface got blasted in the cataclysm.", Larany corrected him. "Nothing but rubble and a few broken walls there now. No, the remaining ruins are underground and are quite dangerous. A great many adventurers go in and are never seen again. It is rumored that Varsoon himself still walks its passages as a lich. Even if he doesn't, there are undead, golems, bats, spiders, and other nasty creatures inhabiting its tunnels."
"How do we get there?", Harry asked.
"Head south along the valley wall until you come to a hole in the ground covered by a grate.", Larany explained. "The grate is to keep some of the inhabitants from coming out but you will be able to get in. Beware, they're a lot of skellies between here and there."
"Thank you, kind sirs.", Harry said. "I guess we need to be on our way then."
"Wait a sec, young feller.", Mallus said. "I got something for you." He dug around the mine site and handed Harry a bag. "You saved us a couple of months work getting the mine working again so take these as our thanks."
"I didn't do it for a reward but thank you!", Harry said as he accepted the bag. "I'm sure we can make good use of your gift. Good luck with you mining and we hope Doomsqual doesn't return."
With a final wave, Harry and Ranma turn and rode southeast toward the valley wall. As they moved out of sight of the mine, Ranma asked, "What is in the bag?"
"Don't know. Let me check." Harry opened the bag and pulled out a handful of what appeared to be uncut gems. Replacing the stones, he closed the bag. "I'm sure Daphne and Nabiki will know what to do with these!"
"Wow!", Ranma said, shaking his head.
The guys reached the slope at the edge of the valley and had started south when evening began to approach so they decided to set up camp for the night. Breaking out their bear skin tent and sleeping bags, Harry and Ranma quickly set up for the night with Harry warding the site from intrusion and Ranma preparing a meal. After eating, they talked awhile about what the future might hold, provided they managed to defeat the danger overshadowing both Norrath and Earth. Checking in with their spouses, they retired for the night.
[Third Day, The Thundering Steps, Undead Problem]
The next morning, the guys continued to head south, looking for the entrance to the below ground ruins or signs of Jiana. About mid-morning, they came to the end of the grasslands and moved into the barren area of the valley. All animal life disappeared but they found lots of hostile animated skeletons. While Ranma and Harry had no trouble in dispatching the skeletons, there were a lot of them and the guys found it annoying, not to mention slowing them down. After taking out dozens of them, Ranma noticed something.
"Harry, have you noticed that some of the skellies we bash get back up after a bit?"
"Yeah, I was finding it a pain to have to 'kill' them again."
"Well, from what I have seen, the ones we smash the skull or burn don't reform. My guess is whatever is bringing them back is in the skull. Destroying that by crushing or burning seems to keep 'em down."
"Makes sense! The skull is the only cavity of any size to hide anything in so if it is destroyed then what ever is animating them is destroyed too. Let's check out the next few to see what we find."
Matching deed to word, they checked out the next several undead and found a number of objects scribed with runes. Keeping several for later study by Daphne, Hermione, and Luna, they began to use this information to make sure that the skeletons they took down, stayed down.
The area the guys were passing through was a forest before the cataclysm but now the forest existed only as jagged, limbless trunks blackened by the fires in that long ago event. It seemed that even the soil was dead as no plant life had returned to the area over the centuries since that time even though water was present. Harry and Ranma found the area depressing.
As they began encountering the remains of walls and other structures, they also ran into a new monster or rather Ranma did. While the water elementals weren't hostile, a brush by one of them caused Ranma to become Ranko much to her displeasure. Since the elementals seemed to be drawn to the cursed man, there was no point in her changing back until they got past the area.
Around mid-afternoon, Ranko spotted the remains of a building with what appeared to be a be a well or large drain in the center of the mostly destroyed structure. As they got closer, they saw it matched the description they had been given of the entrance to the Ruins of Varsoon. Moving around a portion of the wall, they encountered a woman camped in the lee of the old building.
Greeting the woman and introducing themselves, they found that this was the Jiana Waterway they had been looking for.
"What are you gentlefolk doing in this cursed place?", Jiana asked them.
"We are investigating reports of unusual activity among the undead in the area.", Harry informed her. "We were looking for you because we were told that Qeynos had sent you out here to do much the same thing."
"That is my warrant.", Jiana confirmed. "There has been undead activity in this areas since the time of Varsoon but recently they have been much more active and expanding beyond their normal haunts. I have not been able to figure out why except that it is something in the underground ruins. I'm afraid my skills are not up to tackling those so I try and monitor the situation from here."
"Don't you get attacked constantly?", Ranko wanted to know.
"There are strong wards around the entrance to the underground to keep undead from coming up through it.", Jiana explained. "They keep the ones on the surface away from my camp and give me a place to retreat to if necessary. Most of the undead in the area can't detect me when I'm in stealth so I can move around fairly safely."
"So you are a scout then?", Harry inquired.
"A ranger, yes.", Jiana replied.(3)
"So, can you brief us on what we may find when we enter the ruins?", Harry inquired. "Our task is to find and destroy, if possible, whatever is agitating the undead. We were told there are undead, golems, bats, spiders, and plus unfriendly creatures down there."
"I mostly know what the rare adventurer who makes it back out will tell me and my own very brief explorations.", Jiana told him. "The bats and spiders are the size of large dogs or bigger. There are several different types of both. Most of the undead are skeletons but there may be other kinds farther in. Clay golems patrol the passageways. There are rumored to be three or four liches including Varsoon himself. There is even some living dirt that will attack you if you accidentally provoke it."
"What can you tell us about liches?", Ranko asked. "I'm not familiar with them."
"Liches are undead that in life were powerful mages who choose to perform a ritual to become nearly immortal.", Jiana explained. "They place their soul into a vessel called a phylactery. This allows them to retain their intelligence and their powers." ("Great, more horcruxes!", Harry muttered under his breath.) "If you manage to defeat a lich then to truly destroy it, you must destroy its phylactery which should be nearby. I would suggest you avoid them if you can, though!"
"We will, if we can.", Harry stated. "It may not be possible if they involved in what we are trying to stop."
"If you are going down into the ruins, why don't you camp here for the night?", Jiana suggested. "The day will be over soon and this spot is protected from most things. I could use the conversation."
"Sounds like a plan!", Ranko said. "Harry, could I get some hot water?"
Harry complied and changed Ranko back into Ranma which caused the usual explanations to be given. They settled in for the night, talking with Jiana until they checked in with their spouses and went to bed.
[Fourth Day, The Thundering Steps, Undead Problem]
The next morning, the guys said goodbye to Jiana and climbed down the ladder into the ruins. They found themselves in a tunnel that resembled something a giant drunken gopher might have made, rather than something carved by intelligence or geological processes. There were glowing mushrooms that provided some light beyond what filtered from the grate above. There were also bones that were mostly animal but had one partial human skeleton mixed in. It did not set a cheerful atmosphere to the place.
Proceeding north down the one tunnel from the entrance chamber, they quickly encountered the promised giant bats. What no one had mentioned was that the screeching the bats made was painful and disorienting. Harry quickly silenced the bats and Ranma put them down.
They continued to follow the tunnel as it curved around to the west, eventually coming to a large, circular room with a pit taking up most of the room. Three passages exited the room to the north, west, and south although the western one would be difficult to use as the ledge around the room didn't extend that far. There was a ramp that led down into the darkness.
Rather than risk encountering something in the dark, Harry cast some Blue Bell lights and had them drift down into the pit. What the light revealed was a HUGE spider sitting in an enormous web. He quickly conjured a boulder and dropped it, smashing the spider. There remained lots of 'little' spiders, only a foot or two across so Harry did a scan for dark crystals. Not detecting any trace in the pit, he motioned Ranma to the south passage which was a bit closer.
"You gonna leave those spiders?", Ranma asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You're right.", Harry replied and cast several Fireball spells down into the pit. The light of the burning fires showed nothing left alive. The guys then headed down the south passage where the same drunken gopher had been at work.
As they followed the generally south tunnel, they encountered two different kinds of bats in groups that seemed to think the guys were there to provide their next meal. Harry and Ranma disagreed forcefully and left the bats to provide meals for any rats that might pass by. They battled several spiders that they also donated to the rats. The strangest attackers were the lumps of clay that attacked on 'sight'. Harry figured these were some kind of elemental. There were also several creatures that resembled mounds of garden soil. These last didn't attack unless they were provoked or accidentally hit so the guys skirted around them.
Eventually, the passage ended in a rectangular room that look like part of an ancient dungeon that had been knocked askew by some great force. There were cells with bars along the long walls of the room and to the guys' dismay, there were live prisoners! There were skeletons walking around checking the cell doors as well as skeleton guards stationed at the far end of the room.
"What do you think?", Harry whispered.
"It could be a bit dicey!", Ranma whispered back. "It's not like we have a choice. We can't leave the prisoners here!"
"I count eight, no, make that nine.", Harry said quietly. "Hopefully, we can take out the nearer ones without the others noticing. Undead don't seem to have very good senses."
"Worth a shot!", Ranma replied. "Ready when you are!"
Harry fired a Blasting curse at the head of the nearest skeleton which took it down. Ranma threw a shuriken at the next one before hitting it with a ki blast and smashing it to bits. The next one dodged Harry's spell and threw something at him, which he spun out of the way of. Deciding his opponent was too close for another spell, he used his sword to cleave the skull which ended that skeleton's reanimation. Ranma meanwhile, had taken another two out but by then the remaining four skeletons plus three that had been in another tunnel began to move toward them.
Throwing a wide area Bludgeoning curse while being careful not to hit the prisoners, Harry knocked several of the enemy back damaging a couple. He followed with a Ribbon Cutter curse which managed to slice three of them through the middle. Ranma used Dragon Fist on one of the damaged skeletons to take it out of the fight and Chestnut Fist to pulverize another. Harry blasted one of the remaining two while Ranma polished off the other. Ranma then went around to all the downed skeletons and made sure the skulls were smashed to bits.
While Ranma was doing cleanup, Harry approached the cell with the two prisoners, who turned out to be centaurs.
"Hello, I'm Harry Potter.", he said by way of greeting. "My friend is Ranma Saotome. How did the two of you end up here? It doesn't seem like the kind of place people of plains and forests would explore."
"It is not, Harry Potter.", the male replied. "My companion, Thana Rumblehoof and myself, Grayl Turfstrider were out hunting several days ago after dark and were captured by the lifeless ones. We woke up here."
"Well, we can get you out of here.", Harry said as he cast Unlock at the cell door and opened it. "Do you need help getting out of the ruins?"
"We know not the way and we are weaponless.", Grayl replied.
"I can help with the weapons and tell you how we came in.", Harry assured them. He transfigured some of the debris laying about into spears, bows, and arrows like he'd seen the centaurs in the grasslands use. "These should last for awhile. Now about getting out. Can you climb a ladder?"
"We can manage but it is difficult." Thana told him.
"Hmm.", Harry said rubbing his chin. "I've got it! If you were lighter you could put yourself up with just your arms. You could jump higher and further as well."
"That would indeed help.", Thana said.
Harry cast the Featherlight charm on the two centaurs and described how to reach the exit. "The featherlight spell will last a few hours. Ranma and I cleared out the hostile creatures between here and the ladder up so unless some have moved back into the area, you should be ok. Watch out for the skeletons on the surface, though."
"We will, Harry Potter.", Grayl said with a bow. "The Great Herd is in your debt."
"Be safe, Grayl Turfstrider and Thana Rumblehoof!", Harry said as the centaurs trotted to the exit.
After watching them go, Harry Vanished all the cell doors. He and Ranma then left the room by the other tunnel.
In that tunnel, they dealt with more bats, spiders, and hostile lumps of clay before the passage opened into a room with a raised platform. The two skeletons that guarded the entrance to the room were easily dealt with. Peering into the room, they saw that unlike the prison room, this room had dirt/rock walls and an uneven 'floor'. There were eight to ten more skelies in the room with a number of clumps of the non-hostile 'living' dirt. After a brief whispered conference, the guys decided to take out the skeletons without disturbing the dirt piles, mostly because the dirt was a pain to fight.
Clearing out the room did not take long due to the skeleton's limited perception abilities allowing Harry and Ranma to take them on a few at a time. Once finished, they exited out the other side of the room into a tunnel with more bats and spiders. The guys were getting tired of bats and spiders. Soon, the passageway they were following T'ed into another passage running west-east. Harry did a trace for the dark signal they were following which lead them to follow the west branch.
Not far from the intersection, they found another room, this one larger and squarish with two raised platforms over the dirt floor where it looked like some kind of research had been done. After dispatching the skeletons in the room, Harry and Ranma went through the room, taking the books for later study and any of the equipment that looked useful.
Once again following the western path and bashing bats, the guys found the tunnel curving around to the south until it entered a stone pipe that led to a room finished with stone walls and floor. The room appeared to have been a wine cellar based on the barrels that were there and the furnishings strewn about. Dispatching some more skeletons, Harry took a trace reading that showed a strong indication to the south. Taking the only other exit, a door in the southwest corner of the room, they followed the hallway south, then west, then north, then west again until it ended in an intersection with a north-south corridor. Still following the trace, they went south. Shortly after this, they met their first golem, one that looked like it was made of clay.
The golem was about twice the height of either of the guys and shaped if the golem had been a real person, it would have had muscles like a weight lifter. It was obviously not pleased to see them and moved to attack. Both Harry and Ranma dodged to the side as it brought its fist down in a hammer blow that shook the floor. Harry hit it with a Blasting curse with Ranma following with a series of blows to its body. The clay of the body dimpled for a minute but then restored itself.
Seeing this, Harry cast a Cutting curse at the monster which managed to remove its arm. Ranma pulled out a katana(4) and began using it to slice sections off of the construct. While this slowed the golem, it kept fighting until Harry happened to send a spell through the animating core and it 'died'. The guys spent a little time dissecting the remains and identified the location of the core to aid in fighting that type of golem in the future.
Continuing south, they encountered two more golems before the hallway took a ninety degree turn to east. The first Harry hit with a Piercing hex in the core and Ranma used his ki infused katana on the other. Both dropped like puppets with their strings cut.
The hall continued east until it ended in a pile of rubble from a cave in but there was a side hall at that point headed south. Rather than excavated the long closed passage, they decided to see if the clear hall would get them closer to the location the trace indicated to the southeast.
Clearing the sole golem from the new passage, they soon came to a set of doors which Ranma cracked open to see what might await them.
"More skeletons.", he said quietly. "Looks like some kind of cloth workshop."
"We probably shouldn't fire it then.", Harry replied in the same tone. "The smoke and fumes would make it difficult to see what is in there and difficult to fight if the fire didn't get everything."
"So the hard way, then?", Ranma asked with a shrug.
"Yep. Besides, we ought to be used to skeletons by now!", Harry said with a grin.
The battle didn't last long and they soon had the tailor shop cleared of the undead. Ranma found several bolts of high quality cloth and a tailor workstation which he stashed in his pack, thankful for the magic that allow him to carry those kind of things.
There was a ramp on the east side of the room that led north up to a smallish, hexagon shaped room. Since the trace pointed in this direction, they carefully approached the room. Seeing only books scattered around on the floor and a few on the bookcases, they cautiously entered the room.
Suddenly, the books on the floor rose up and began attacking! The guys were caught slightly off guard by the unexpected opponent but quickly began destroying the leather bound opponents. One particularly heavy tome cast spells which would have done serious damage if they had hit. Ranma split it along its spine and it fell to the floor, its magic gone. The other books were quickly dispatched and the guys took a breather.
"Hermione is going to kill me for destroying all these books!", Harry moaned.
"Naw, just don't tell her about them.", Ranma said with a grin. "Seriously, I'm not sure there is anything written in them anyway."
"Most of them don't except for this big one that you split.", Harry said as he rummaged through the debris. "The cover says 'Tome of Life'". Since it seems to be 'dead' now, I'll take it with me and see if the ladies can find anything useful in it. I'll also take the books on the shelves that didn't attack, just in case."
"What about the trace?", Ranma asked.
"It points to the cabinet under the bookshelf on the east wall.", Harry replied as he walked over and opened the indicated cabinet. "Ah ha! We have a rune inscribed dark crystal cube. Want to do the honors?"
"Sure.", Ranma said and walked over and smashed the offending cube. "Now what?"
"There is still a trace indicated to the west but this one is gone.", Harry answered. "Since it is late and this is about as secure a location as we have found, why don't we set up camp here and continue in the morning?"
"Sounds good to me.", Ranma returned and they began securing their room for the night. After they checked in with the girls and had a meal, they chatted awhile before retiring for the night.
[Fifth Day, The Thundering Steps, Undead Problem]
About three hours after midnight, Harry was woken by his sentry alarm ward being tripped. He nudged Ranma awake and they watched as a golem came partway up the ramp before turning around and leaving. Apparently, the notice-me-not and nothing-here wards worked on golems but the guys stayed awake for a little while just in case. When it didn't return after twenty minutes, Harry made sure the ward was still set and he and Ranma went back to sleep.
When they woke up the morning, they decided since the only way left to proceed was north from the three way intersection they had passed through the day before so they returned to that point, dispatching a few golems along the way. The north hall soon curved around to the west and ended in another T intersection. Opting for the south corridor because of the trace, they followed it through a couple of right angles until a hall intersected from the west. Since the trace showed more west than south, the guys took this passage.
After going up a flight of stairs, they came to a four-way intersection. Since the trace was showing southwest at that point, the guys decided to check out the south hallway first. After going down a flight of stairs, they opened a door to a room that appeared to be a storage room for inactive golems. Not wanting to wake any up, they backed out and returned to the intersection and headed west. This led them down another flight of stairs, around a corner, down some more stairs to end in another T intersection. The east-west passageways were much smaller than the one they had been following. The trace was more west now so west they went.
At the next intersection (west, north, east), the trace was stronger and was to the southwest again. A short distance beyond that one, a hall led to the south and the trace was showing slightly southeast. As they proceeded south, the guys came to a short hall to the east blocked by a door. Harry did the trace one more time and concluded that the crystal they had been tracking was beyond the door. Ranma tried the door but it was locked, of course.
Harry cast the unlocking spells he knew but none of them worked. He then cast Mage Sight and examined the doorway.
"Damn!", he said aggravated. "There are runes locking the door powered by three different sources! Somebody doesn't want what is inside to get out!"
"Can you break the rune thingies?", Ranma asked.
"Maybe but the backlash might kill us!", Harry told him. "It would be better to shut off the power sources one at a time."
"How do we find the power sources?"
"I can see the channels that the power is flowing through using Mage Sight. Apparently they were added after this place was built so they look like they follow the halls. One follows the hall south, the other two follow the hall back the way we came."
"So which do we follow first?"
"I don't know. Flip a coin? Heads we go south, tails we go back?"
"Ok by me.", Ranma said with a shrug.
With the coin deciding to go back north, the guys followed the power traces back to the intersection where the channels split up, going west and east. The trusty coin once again made its choice known and they followed the east bound power lead. After a few battles with the ever present golems, they arrived at a door marked 'Workshop of the Summoner'. Carefully opening the door, they were immediately attacked by two of what Luna would later tell them were troglodytes.
Harry parried a club with his sword and Ranma dodged the blow aimed at him. Falling back a little to give themselves room to fight, Ranma threw shuriken at both monsters while Harry was casting Storm of Lighting. Ranma moved in after that hit and punched this opponent in the throat smashing its windpipe causing it to grab its neck. It soon lost consciousness due to lack of air and blood loss so Ranma put it out of its misery. Meanwhile, Harry hit his opponent with a Solar Flare followed by Incinerate, capped off by a Fire Ball. The charred remains didn't move.
"A little overkill there, Harry, don't you think?", Ranma smirked.
"There is no overkill!", Harry rejoined. "There is only 'is it dead yet' and 'fire!'"
"Fine, be that way!", Ranma said chuckling. "Time to see what those bozos were guarding!"
Peering through the open door, Ranma groaned, "Not more skeletons! Is there ever an end to these things?"
"Guess not!", Harry replied. "Ready to clean them out?"
"Lets get it over with!", Ranma said with a nod.
Less than half an hour later, the guys had sent the skeletons and a few enchanted tomes to their final rest despite them reviving twice, each time stronger than the time before. Our heroes decided to take a short break. Harry spent the time going over the room looking at the books and putting most of them in his pack. This included several on necromancy which he figured might be useful in finding out how to reverse those type of spells. Fortunately, none of the remaining books were animated. Ranma checked the room for anything else that might be of value but found little they were interested in.
When they finished, Harry looked for the power channel they had been following and found that it disappeared behind a tapestry on the north wall. As they stepped behind the curtain, they were confronted by a horned skeletal creature with a dark aura in the center of a ritual chamber with some kind of demonic pet. The horned monster turned toward them and gestured with a scepter.
"Who dares disturb me, Lord Erbmys Sumyd, in my ritual chamber?!", the creature screamed. "You will pay with your lives and your bodies will serve me forever!"
"I've heard this song and dance before!", Harry said with a sigh. He cast Root followed by Full Body Bind and Flame Spear. Unfortunately, the lich broke the root and dodged the other spells. Sumyd sent a Soulrot followed by a Bloodcoil at Harry forcing Harry to dodge. Harry returned fire with a Solar Flare and Incinerate and used his sword to knock the lich's Pandemic away. The lich cast Vampire Bats and Harry countered by conjuring hawks using his sword in place of his wand. Harry fired a trio of Bludgeon curses at the lich bracketing it and finally landing a spell. While his opponent was stunned and off balance, he hit it with a Flame Spear and a Fireball. The now flaming skeleton tried to get up but Harry was having none of that. He used Blasting hexes to smash it into tiny little pieces.
While this was going on, Ranma moved to neutralize the pet by kicking it. This proved to be a mistake as he felt the shadowy creature drain energy from his leg. "This thing is like the Youma they have over in Jūban. The creature swung a greatsword in an attempt to bisect Ranma but he chose not to be where the sword hit. Drawing his katana and reinforcing it with ki, Ranma struck at the dark monster's forearms in an attempt to disarm it by removing its arms. The shadow creature fell back to avoid the blow and parried with its sword. Ranma dodged again and aimed a blow at the creatures neck. It blocked and tried to return the favor but Ranma slid the sword aside and struck its leg. This slowed the monster down some but did not stop it by any means. Ranma tried a ki blast and it caused the creature to sag. He used this advantage to behead his opponent and began smashing it to bits.
After Ranma finished making monster powder, he turned to Harry to see him watching the pieces of the lich.
"What's up?", he asked the intent mage.
"The lich is trying to draw itself back together.", Harry told him. "The fragments are being drawn toward his scepter. I would bet money that that is his phylactery!"
"You're the expert.", Ranma pointed out. "What do we need to do?"
"After I cast a detection spell to confirm that it is in fact the phylactery, we destroy it, if we can.", Harry replied. "That may be easier said than done depending on what enchantments have been placed on it. We also need to find what powers that conduit we have been following."
Harry nodded to Ranma after casting the spell. He then carefully picked the scepter up using a piece of leather he took from his pack. Wrapping the dark object securely and tying it well, he placed it in his pack.
"We will need to find someplace where I can safely cast Fiend Fire.", he explained to Ranma. "That should destroy it easily. Now let us see where that power trace leads."
The power channel led to the center of the ritual chamber where a runic array had been carved in to the floor.
"From the magic energy this is giving off, this must be tapping a ley node!", Harry exclaimed. "Destroying the runes should cut off the power to the channel we were following."
"Allow me!", Ranma said with a smirk. "You might want to shield yourself."
With that, he used the Breaking Point technique on the floor. The floor shattered leaving a pit about knee deep in the center of the room. In Harry's Mage Sight, the power in the channel winked out.
"That did it!", Harry whooped. "One down, two to go! Now let me cast a fireball from the entrance to make it harder for the lich to reform and we can follow the next channel!"
Returning to the chamber entrance, Harry used his sword to cast Fireball. He and Ranma ducked out the door to the workshop, slamming it behind them.
They returned to the point where the power conduits had split off and began following the other channel. Just as the trace took a ninety degree turn to the west, the guys saw an orange glow directly ahead. Deciding to check it out as it was a short distance off the main path, they crept into what seemed to be a foundry with a huge metal furnace and several metal working stations.
"This will be perfect to destroy the phylactery!, Harry whispered. "We should loot it first because the fiend fire won't leave anything, though."
"I suppose that means taking out the skeletons and big, mean, and ugly over there the hard way?", Ranma whispered back, pointing to an oversized troglodyte.
"Think of the fun you'll have!", Harry returned with a smirk. "Anyway, that is for later. Back to the hunt!"
Before long, they came to the "Workshop of the Sorcerer" which turned out to have the same layout of the workshop they had already visited. It too had a lich which they didn't bother to find out the name of and a rune array to be destroyed. Having looted the valuables, cleared the place of monsters, acquired another phylactery, and flame sanitized the remains, the guys went in search of the final trace.
Returning to the locked door, they followed the remaining conduit south, soon reaching a door labeled "Workshop of the Enchanter". This workshop was basically the same as the previous two with slightly different guards. However, before Ranma could destroy the rune array, Harry stopped him.
"Wait, Ranma!", Harry exclaimed. "We might want to wait on blasting the last thing holding that door locked. "It's getting late, we are tired, and I think we better be fresh to face whatever is locked behind that door."
"Good point!", Ranma agreed. "So what do you want to do?"
"Let me fireball the ritual chamber.", Harry replied. "After the flames die out, we can come back in and camp here for the night. We can then break the final runes in the morning and deal with what is behind the door then."
They proceeded to do as Harry outlined and settled in for the night. Before they went to sleep, they gave each of their spouses mental hugs and kisses.
[Sixth Day, The Thundering Steps, Undead Problem]
The guys had an uneventful night and destroyed the final power source after breakfast. The quickly returned to the door they were trying to unlock and found that it opened easily. Once inside, a short hall curved around to the south. This led to a large, circular room with a dais in the center. They barely had time to notice this when the were attacked by three black creatures resembling large insects that seemed to be shrouded in darkness.
"Don't let them touch you!", Ranma shouted. "These have the feel of youma and may be able to drain your life force!"
"Got it!", Harry replied as he drew his sword. He used the sword to cast Flame Spear at one and then cast Lightning Storm at the group. The speared one went down but was not out of it. The others were stunned a bit and had some injuries. Deciding to use light against dark, he began casting Solar Flare as quickly as he could while parrying and returning attacks. He managed to finish off the severely injured one fairly quickly but the others continued to press he and Ranma and they were reinforce by three more.
Meanwhile, Ranma threw several shuriken and drew his katana. Using it both one handed and two handed, he deflected energy blasts from the dark creatures while attempting to take the fight to them. He managed to remove the apparent head on one but it kept fighting until he cleaved it in half top to bottom after which it dissolved into a dark mist and vanished. Seeing three more monsters come through a portal, he fired a ki blast at the portal hoping to disrupt it. The portal did shrink but began returning to it former size, abet slowly. However they were now facing seven monsters so he signaled Harry to retreat back toward the door.
He and Harry moved back in step still fighting the foul creatures with both managing to take out another beasts as they backed up. Harry cast Lightning Storm again to stun them and allow the guys to open up some space. This allowed Ranma to cleave another one and kill one with a ki charged shuriken. Since Solar Flare seemed to be effective, Harry continued to cast it although he mixed in some Incinerate spells as well. Two more went down to their combined attacks before the last one managed to hit Harry with an energy blast. It was the last thing that it did as Ranma finished it off immediately thereafter.
Dragging Harry out the door and slamming it closed, Ranma was surprised to find him still conscious although badly injured. Harry struggled to sit up and cast Lock on the door. He then slumped back down against a wall.
"Call Kasumi and Luna.", he rasped out. "We are going to need he..."
"Kasumi!", Ranma shouted over their mental link. "We need you and Luna to slide to us! Harry has been injured and we need your help in taking out a portal that is feeding youma into this world!"
"Are you hurt?", Kasumi returned. "Are you still in combat?"
"No, I'm not injured and we are safe for the moment!", Ranma replied. "Wait, you two aren't in combat are you?"
"No, we are working around the Tent this morning.", Kasumi assured him. "I'll get Luna and we will be there as quickly as possible!"
Ranma made Harry more comfortable and about five minutes later Kasumi and Luna appeared. Both girls examined Harry before Kasumi cast some healing spells and Luna cast a spell to dispel dark magic. After he woke up Luna handed him a Pepper Up potion.
"Whatever hit you drained your energy and bruised you pretty badly.", Luna told him. "This will help restore your energy and Kasumi took care of the bruising but you should still rest for awhile. Now what is going on."
"The dark crystal trace we have been following led to this door which was magically locked.", Ranma explained. "It took us all of yesterday to get it opened because we had to find and destroy the locking runes. Once we got it open we discovered a chamber with a portal that is allowing some kind of demon into Norrath. I managed to shrink it with a ki blast but it is opening back up. Harry got hurt battling the creatures that came of the portal."
"What do you want us to do?", Kasumi asked.
"Shield and ward us as much as possible and add to the firepower.", Harry answered weakly. "Luna may need to help me close the portal permanently with Earth magic. We also have a probable lich to deal with in there."
"Sounds like fun!", Luna giggled. "Snowball will help. Hermione and Jane have been having success with transfigured/conjured animals to help fight."
"What, Jane can cast Earth spells?", Harry asked, astounded. "I missed that! I know she is more independent now but I didn't realized she was that much of duplicate of Hermione!"
"More like a twin now.", Luna stated with a smile. "So how do we want to do this?"
Plans in place and Harry recovered, the four got ready to assault the room and take out the portal. Harry unlocked the door. He and Luna then created lions, wolves, and one unicorn on Luna's whim, which they sent down the hall. Harry and Ranma followed the animals; the girls followed them. Just before they reached the round chamber, Kasumi and Luna cast their shields and wards on the guys.
As they entered the room, they saw that the portal was almost back to full size. Ranma hit it with another ki blast and Luna conjured a steel wall right next to it. The animals were still fighting a dozen or so demonic creatures with the unicorn being very effective. Every time she touched a monster with her horn, the beast dissipated. The four began hitting their opponents with ranged spells until the last one fell and was destroyed.
They could hear more monsters trying to get past Luna's wall and figured that given time they would succeed so Harry and Luna began examining the portal while Ranma and Kasumi searched the room for artifacts that might power it.
In a small side room, Kasumi found a chest and a large dark crystal covered in runes. After confirming with Harry that this was one of the crystals they were seeking, she smashed it with her hammer. As it turned to powder, the portal closed and they heard a sound from the center dais. As they turned to look, a skeletal lich rose up out of it.
"So someone comes to challenge me in my chamber.", the lich said in a gravelly voice. "You think you can defeat Lord Varsoon in his own home. It took three powerful mages to seal me before and you are too puny to come close!"
"The animals, except for the unicorn attacked and began snipping at Varsoon. The unicorn stood back for a minute with its head cocked, then suddenly leaped at the lich and buried her horn in the lich's skull. Varsoon collapsed into a pile of bones. The Harry, Ranma, and Kasumi turned and looked at Luna who smirked.
"I thought she would be helpful.", was all she said.
After Luna thanked all the animals, they were dispelled and the four humans searched the chamber for Varsoon's phylactery. The only thing left was the chest that Kasumi had found earlier. When unlocked, the chest was found to contain a number of magical items as well as a great dead of money and gems. Harry and Luna examined each of the items until they found a mace that had the aura of a phylactery. Harry added it to the three he had already collected and they set of for the forge room he and Ranma had discovered the day before.
With Kasumi and Luna's help, the room was soon cleared of its undesirable inhabitants. Harry liberated a forge/metal working station and they found large stocks of metals and fuel which the girls loaded into their packs. Placing the phylacteries in a foundry basin and having everybody retreat to a safe distance, Harry cast Fiend Fire. Suddenly there was the sound of four screams and Harry fought to bring the fire under control. Finally, he managed to get it out and Luna inspected the lumps of metal that had been phylacteries, declaring them destroying. They left those lumps there.
On the way out of the forge room, Luna wanted to check out a side hall. They found another library with hostile books but Luna cast Dispel Magic at them and they fell to the floor. The girls then proceeded to raid the library. When they were done, Luna leaped into Harry's arms with her legs wrapped around him and proceeded to snog him thoroughly. Kasumi did the same to Ranma but without the leap.
As Luna broke for air, she leaned back and shook her finger at Harry. "No more getting yourself injured. You have a lot of babies to make and spouses to satisfy."
"Yes, love!", Harry replied in a daze. "Wait, babies?"
"That goes for you too, Ranma.", Kasumi said smiling. "Do take care of yourself! Now, if you don't need Luna and me to finish up, we will recall back to Qeynos."
" , we're good.", Harry stammered.
With that the girls kissed their spouses one more time and recalled back to the Tent.
Deciding to check in with Jiana and fill her in on what happened, Harry side-along apparated Ranma to her camp. After filling her in on their adventures, they made camp there and spent the night.
[Seventh Day, The Thundering Steps, Undead Problem]
The next morning, Jiana mentioned there might be activity like they were looking for south of Thundermist Valley in Deadview Pass. She warned them that the giants controlled that pass but that was where the problem had been reported. After getting directions, Harry apparated them back to Sherrie's griffin tower where it turned out she was on duty. After chatting a few minutes, at Sherrie's suggestion, Harry cast Featherlight charms on himself and Ranma, then Sherrie sent them off towards Thundermist Village Station.
It wasn't long before the began to see giants below them.
"We barely come up to these guys calves!", Harry exclaimed. "How are we supposed to fight them?"
"Give them a hot foot?", Ranma joked. "Seriously, your spells will hit them fine. Or cut the artery in the leg and they will bleed out. Whatever you do, don't let them hit you!"
The griffin turned north and they saw their 'stop' in the distance. As they got closer, they noted several giants guarding the pass and a couple on patrol. They were relieved to see that the giants moved very slowly although they covered ground quickly.
As the griffin passed over the bridge in the pass, the guys jumped off and floated down to the center of the span. Harry quickly canceled the charm to make it easier to fight as four giants began moving toward them. He then cast Lightning Storm and drew his sword. He attempted to Root the giants and managed with two of them but the other two continued to close.
Ranma threw several shuriken and fired several ki blasts. Using his katana, he bounced forward and dodged between the closest giant's legs, slashing deep on the inside just below the knee causing the giant to fold over with nausea. He then jumped up the doomed giants back and slashed his jugular causing the giant to rapidly lose consciousness and fall. As that opponent bled out, he used it as a springboard to land on the shoulder of a rooted giant and before the giant could swat him, drove his katana through the ear into the brain. Leaving the katana in place as the giant clubbed it own ear, he jumped down to see Harry finishing up the last of the others.
Harry had used Cutting and Piercing hexes to open large wounds in the giants and Bludgeoning hexes to knock them back. He then used Solar Flare, Fireball, Ice Spears, and Incinerate to finish them off. They had apparently never even got close.
Fortunately for the guys, the giant patrols were no where in sight, so Harry cast the spell to track the dark crystals. The trace pointed southwest and down so they climbed down the side of the trench the bridge crossed and began searching. The bottom of the trench was home to more of the ever present skeletons but now the guys were old hands at dealing with them. A short distance from the bridge, they found a tunnel opening which the trace indicated that the crystal occupied. With Harry casting some light sources, they followed the tunnel wrecking havoc on the large number of skeletons they found. Finally, at the end, they found the now familiar crystal and smashed it.
Having no more clues to follow up on, the guys dusted themselves off and slid back to the tent and their spouses.
Next: The whole team is together in Qeynos.
TBC
Footnotes:
(1) In case you can't figure it out, Reinkor is supposed to be speaking with a Scottish accent. Needless to say, I'm not real comfortable writing with accents.
(2) Since the griffin towers are maintained 24/7, for the purposes of this story, there is a barracks in the base for the station keepers. I'm not planning on making this significant to the story but it is one of those details I had to fill in.
(3) For this story, Jiana is a ranger. I haven't bothered to see what she is in game or if she is even given a profession. I need a scout so there!
(4) Monks don't normally use swords but Ranma practices 'Anything Goes Martial Arts'.